Weakness Trap - Chapter 21

Winter break had begun.

After checking her semester grades, Yu Qingluan stepped through the front door and was greeted by the familiar scent of cooking oil.

“Mom, you’re already making dinner?” It was only two o’clock, why was Yu Shuhua starting dinner so early?

“Oh, you’re back?” Yu Shuhua emerged from the kitchen holding a spatula, glancing at her daughter.

“So early.”

“Break starts today.” Yu Qingluan set her things on the sofa, brushed off her clothes, and collapsed into the cushions.

“That explains it. We’re having guests later. If you don’t want to see them, go hang out somewhere else.” Yu Shuhua had already returned to the kitchen.

The clatter of spatula against pan made Yu Qingluan cough reflexively.

Yu Shuhua was cooking something spicy.

“Who’s coming? Aunt Zeng?” Yu Qingluan called toward the kitchen while leaning over the sofa.

“Yeah, who else eats spicy food like her?” Yu Shuhua’s voice faded in and out, occasionally drowned by the sizzle of oil.

“Then I’ll stay in.” Yu Qingluan settled back on the sofa, taking out her needlework to resume the project she’d paused for final exams.

“Not going out with friends?” Yu Shuhua asked casually.

Yu Qingluan’s hands stilled briefly before she responded without hesitation. “They’re all busy.”

Xiang Yan was on a date, and as for Yu Lingxue.

Yu Qingluan scratched her collarbone. She’d forgotten her scarf today, and the cold wind had seeped into her collar, making her skin itch.

The ointment was grass-green, carrying a subtle floral scent. Whenever she applied it quietly, Yu Qingluan would inevitably think of Yu Lingxue.

The Yu Lingxue who’d said they didn’t need a contract, yet never came to see her.

Yu Qingluan pushed her needle through the fabric, slowly and meticulously filling in a small petal.

She knew it had always been because she had too much free time.

Beyond studying and embroidery, she had nothing else to do.

As long as Yu Lingxue existed, she would just keep thinking about Yu Lingxue, as if she had no other concerns.

Yu Qingluan recalled a book she’d read.

In it, a little fox said, “If you come at four in the afternoon, I’ll start feeling happy from three o’clock.”*

Yu Qingluan felt she was like that foolish fox.

Perhaps even more foolish.

If Yu Lingxue planned to meet her in the evening, she’d grow restless the moment she received the message.

If they made plans to go out on the weekend, she’d open her sparse wardrobe on Friday night, trying on outfit after outfit.

Even if Yu Lingxue hadn’t mentioned meeting, just thinking about her made Yu Qingluan’s heartbeat quicken.

Yu Lingxue had long since tamed her, and might eventually leave her too.

She was the tamed, foolish fox. But who was Yu Lingxue’s rose?

Yu Qingluan set down her needlework.

She remembered how, half a month before finals, Su Lian had approached her.

Emerging from the library into the dimming light, the campus stood empty and serene with only scattered groups of people along the paths.

Su Lian had waved to her under a streetlamp.

“You’re Yu Qingluan, right?” Seeing Yu Qingluan’s hesitation, Su Lian stepped closer.

“It’s about Lingxue. If you don’t mind, let’s talk somewhere else?”

Despite Su Lian’s polite demeanor, the moment Yu Qinglue heard Yu Lingxue’s name, she bristled like a startled cat, all her defenses rising.

“There are too many eyes and ears here,” Su Lian hinted meaningfully.

Yu Qingluan had no choice but to follow her some distance away.

She followed Su Lian into her car.

She left the door open, and when Su Lian didn’t tell the driver to start the engine, Yu Qingluan felt slightly reassured.

*Reference to “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint Exupery

“You’re one of the reasons Yu Lingxue rejected me, aren’t you?” Su Lian played with her hands before turning her gaze to Yu Qingluan.

Yu Qingluan pressed her lips together, the thin line trembling slightly, her nasal passage giving Su Lian an affirmative response.

“Then I’ve found the right person. I don’t like beating around the bush, so I’ll be direct.”

“You’re not suitable for her.”

Yu Qingluan stared fixedly at Su Lian, her face turning pale.

The second one.

What has Yu Lingxue been doing lately?

Yu Qingluan felt somewhat irritated, yet couldn’t freely vent her frustration.

“Why?” Yu Qingluan bit out the words.

“Because you like her?” She gazed into those eyes she had never paid close attention to before, hoping to find a trace of selfishness to prove her own innocence.

Su Lian appropriately revealed a hint of selfishness, just like her. “I won’t deny it.”

But then she added: “I won’t deny that because I like her too, I would genuinely think so. But that alone isn’t enough reason for me to come find you.”

Yu Qingluan’s eyelids flickered for a moment.

“The reason I came to you is because you’ve caused her a lot of trouble.” Su Lian’s attitude was so casual, her tone so languid.

To the point where Yu Qingluan felt like a complete joke at that moment.

It seemed everyone knew what Yu Lingxue was doing.

Only she didn’t know.

When she asked, Yu Lingxue would only tell her she was busy with family matters, busy seeing doctors.

Then send her emojis and kaomoji to act cute.

She was like a wolf desperately defending, desperately attacking, only to have its spine gently shattered by an iron rod.

Her efforts were insignificant in the face of higher-level weapons.

“I don’t know if you can understand. Her family is different.” Seeing Yu Qingluan like this, Su Lian knew she didn’t mean any harm she was just ignorant.

Which made it even more infuriating.

“Because of you, she called off her engagement with her fiancée. So her fiancee’s family is retaliating against her. Can you understand that?”

Yu Qingluan nodded stiffly.

She wasn’t that stupid.

“In her family, she doesn’t hold the most authority. So her family is also dissatisfied with her actions.” Su Lian simplified the situation as much as possible.

“Lingxue isn’t doing well right now. I can accept your existence, I can accept just being friends with her and maintaining contact. But you’ve gotten her into trouble.” Su Lian incidentally laid bare her own thoughts too.

“I came to you out of my own selfishness. She doesn’t know. If she found out, she’d definitely scold me. But I still have to tell you.”

She admitted her selfishness, and Yu Qingluan couldn’t even bring herself to blame her.

“What you do is up to you.” Finally, she tossed out these words, leaving Yu Qingluan unable to advance or retreat.

Yu Qingluan only remembered feeling dazed that day, thanking Su Lian, tensing her muscles, and returning to her dorm.

She thought about many things.

Family background, ability, money…

She wasn’t worthy of Yu Lingxue in any aspect.

So for the next half month, she truly didn’t seek out Yu Lingxue again.

Yu Lingxue never told her what was happening.

She couldn’t bring herself to offer help, nor did she know how she could help.

She was too cowardly to even say the word “breakup.”

All she could do was wait foolishly in the wheat field where she had appeared, like that little fox.

If,

If after this, Yu Lingxue really never contacted her again.

Then so be it.

Give her some dignity. So she wouldn’t break down in front of Yu Lingxue.

Yu Qingluan thought that perhaps this more than a month of silence had already been the em dash signaling their breakup.

Listening to the range hood whirring and the stove flame extinguishing, she put away her needle and cloth.

This unfinished gift her feelings, her confession.

Perhaps there would never be a day to give it.

But she still wanted to finish embroidering it, if only for herself.

The door knocked.

“Qingluan, get the door,” Yu Shuhua called from the kitchen.

“Coming.” Qingluan composed herself and opened the door.

“Qingluan!” Two greetings greeted her as soon as the door opened.

“Auntie Zeng, Lanlan-jie.” Qingluan obediently addressed them.

The visitors were Zeng Min from the association and her daughter, Zeng Lan.

Zeng Min and Yu Shuhua were close friends who often drank tea and embroidered together.

Zeng Lan and Qingluan had been inseparable as children, but after starting school, they only kept in touch during holidays, occasionally sharing a meal.

“You’re in your second year of university, right?” Zeng Min inquired about Qingluan’s studies at the dining table.

“Yes, winter break just started today.”

“How were your exams? Did you pass them all?”

Qingluan choked on her rice.

She had passed. Calculus with a 61, just scraping by thanks to the teacher’s mercy.

Zeng Lan shot her mother a look, chiding her for bringing up a sore subject, and changed the topic. “I saw your university’s anniversary celebration. Did you embroider those opera costumes?”

Qingluan nodded.

“That’s impressive. As expected of Master Meiying’s granddaughter.”

Qingluan lowered her head. “Not at all, I’m still very amateur.”

She was far from her grandmother’s level.

If Yu Meiying was a hall-level master, then Yu Shuhua could be considered a school-level instructor.

As for Qingluan, she was at best an unremarkable apprentice.

Her grandmother often said she wasn’t even up to apprentice standards more like an extracurricular hobbyist.

And it was true; whether in speed, quality, or mastery of techniques, she was nowhere near her grandmother, who was also her teacher.

“No, no. You’re really good,” Zeng Lan said, getting excited halfway through her meal and pulling out her tablet.

“Can’t you leave work aside during a meal? Don’t drag your Qingluan-mei into your half-baked plans,” Zeng Min rolled her eyes.

“Of course not! Traditional Chinese themes have great potential, both domestically and internationally. I guarantee within five years, this will be the new trend,” Zeng Lan rolled her eyes back, mirroring her mother perfectly.

But Qingluan understood.

Zeng Lan was here to propose a collaboration.

“Would you be interested in working with me after graduation?” Zeng Lan laid out her company blueprint, product plans, and development steps for Qingluan.

Qingluan was so stunned she forgot to eat.

“Enough already, let her eat,” Zeng Min finally intervened, pressing the thoughtful Qingluan back to her meal.

While cleaning up and washing dishes, Qingluan kept thinking about Zeng Lan’s words.

Originally, she had planned to follow the conventional path like her mother and grandmother, toiling and embroidering her whole life.

She was content with that, regardless of poverty or wealth.

At least she wouldn’t starve. She was willing to embroider until she died.

But things like money and status weren’t achievable through hard work alone.

Qingluan pinched her reddened wrist.

Even if it wasn’t for being with Yu Lingxue.

What if it was for herself, for Chu embroidery?

Qingluan quietly asked Yu Shuhua.

“What does Mom think?”

Yu Shuhua was unusually serious. “Your sister Lanlan has a sharp eye. Recently, the association has been debating cultural export issues. It’s foreseeable that higher-ups will offer support for such content.”

“Don’t follow in your grandmother’s footsteps stubbornly clinging to her traditional craft, unwilling to innovate or improve, wasting three generations of effort. Call it ‘artisan spirit’ if you want to sound nice, but frankly, it’s just obstinacy.” Yu Shuhua didn’t hold back when criticizing her own mother.

Yu Qingluan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Better not let Grandma hear that.”

“Definitely. If she hears, I’m done for.” Yu Shuhua ran her damp hand through her daughter’s hair.

Drops of water slid silently from the ends of Yu Qingluan’s hair.

“The choice is yours, my girl. The future belongs to you and your generation. I shouldn’t make decisions for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Yu Qingluan pressed her lips together.

She really did feel a stirring to take on this task to bring the traditions their family had upheld for generations to a wider audience, to let them become a new trend.

Yu Shuhua smiled back at her daughter.

The rebellion she had never completed her daughter could now boldly venture forth.

By the time Yu Qingluan finished discussing the matter with Zeng Lan, it was past ten o’clock.

She rowed the boat, ferrying the two to a spot near the bus stop, then picked up a lantern and leisurely made her way back home.

At the shifting boundary between light and shadow, a figure emerged.

Yu Qingluan raised her hand, letting the lantern illuminate the person, then froze in place.

Her boat drifted past Yu Lingxue, just like that.