Weakness Trap - Chapter 23

“Really?” The moment Yu Qingluan asked, her heart plummeted.

A sudden sense of weightlessness made her bite her lip, losing her composure.

But fortunately, they were in her old home.

They hadn’t turned on the lights or lit any candles.

A small window on the ground floor was cracked open too small to let in the moonlight, yet large enough for the curtains to rustle noisily.

Perhaps Yu Lingxue hadn’t heard her instinctive doubt.

Perhaps Yu Lingxue hadn’t seen her conflicted and twisted expression.

“Mm.” But Yu Lingxue, by a faint glimmer of light, had clearly seen everything.

So now, when she made a promise, her little bird’s first reaction wasn’t joy or anticipation.

It was doubt.

“I’ll work hard,” Yu Lingxue said, pulling her close, pressing her head against her chest, holding her tightly, not wanting to see any more of her expressions.

“Okay,” Yu Qingluan grasped Yu Lingxue’s collar, closed her eyes, and tried not to dwell on the unpleasant thoughts.

“I believe you.” She believed Yu Lingxue loved her.

Otherwise, on such a cold night, why didn’t she feel itchy all over?

It must be because Yu Lingxue’s warmth had enveloped her entirely, preventing any allergic reaction.

Yu Qingluan leaned against Yu Lingxue’s chest and slowly drifted into sleep.

Yu Lingxue, too, felt unusually at ease, surrendering herself to Yu Qingluan’s embrace, clinging to her as they curled up into a small, tight ball.

In the dead of night, Yu Lingxue woke with a start. Seeing Yu Qingluan beside her, she let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Little bird.” She brushed the hair stuck to Yu Qingluan’s forehead, gently clearing it away.

“Good little bird.” Yu Lingxue shifted positions, resting her head against Yu Qingluan’s chest again. Unconsciously, a trace of confusion flickered in her eyes, like a shattered mirror.

She lay still for a while, unable to fall back asleep, and quietly retrieved her phone, slipping under the covers.

Fortunately, there were no new messages.

Yu Lingxue opened her inbox and saw Yan Wenying’s “ultimatum” in the friend requests. Without hesitation, she blocked the sender.

She had been annoyed by her for twenty-two years. Now, she had a more adorable lover, and her connections and strength were no longer what they used to be.

Even if things were a bit difficult now, Yu Lingxue felt it was worth it.

From now on, they should have no further intersection.

Yu Lingxue turned off her phone. Though not sleepy, she closed her eyes.

The next morning, Yu Qingluan opened her eyes and, to her surprise, found herself still holding someone in her arms.

Such an experience was rare. Instinctively, she pushed the person away, only to recognize her face through their tangled hair.

“Don’t hate me” Yu Lingxue murmured, half-asleep, turning over to embrace Yu Qingluan.

Yu Qingluan let out a sigh of relief.

“Lingxue” she whispered softly.

“Mm.” Without waking or opening her eyes, Yu Lingxue responded to her little bird.

It really was Yu Lingxue.

Unable to contain her joy, Yu Qingluan tentatively reached out, tightening her arms as soon as she confirmed she could feel the warmth and softness.

She hugged Yu Lingxue and rolled over with her.

The two nearly fell off the bed. Yu Qingluan’s hair slipped free, cascading onto the floor.

Yu Lingxue finally opened her eyes and casually gathered Yu Qingluan’s hair. “Good morning, little bird.”

It seemed she had rarely said this to Yu Qingluan before.

In the past, whenever they spent the night together, she always had various more important matters to attend to the next day.

She had to attend to patients, make home visits, deal with Yan Wenying, and meet the young master of her family…

Like a curse, every time she wanted to spend a few peaceful days with her little bird, she would become busy.

Now, Yu Lingxue felt as if she had finally broken free from one of her shackles.

She had called off the engagement.

She had cut ties with her family as a threat, but also as a statement of her stance.

After all, Jian Xi had already been brought to Chu City, and only then did Yu Lingxue dare to defy her family.

She was like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, believing that after the pain, she would grow and transform.

This winter break, she finally had time to spend leisurely with her beloved.

“Are you staying at my place again today?” Yu Qingluan rescued her hair from Yu Lingxue’s grasp and asked casually, though her heart was filled with anxiety.

“If you don’t mind,” Yu Lingxue pinched Yu Qingluan’s cheek.

“Of course I don’t mind, right?” She rubbed Yu Qingluan’s face as if teasing a child.

“Ah,” Yu Qingluan stood up and pulled the silly girl to her feet. “I need to ask my mom.” She paused for a moment, hearing the sound of slippers tapping against the kitchen floor. “My mom must be up.”

“I’ll go ask.”

“Why don’t you go freshen up? Make yourself at home.” Yu Qingluan was a bit nervous and seemed unusually busy.

Yu Lingxue couldn’t help but laugh at her. She wrapped her arms around Yu Qingluan’s neck, stood on her tiptoes, and gently kissed her earlobe.

“Don’t be afraid. If she doesn’t agree, we can go out. You can take me boating, we can find a teahouse, or visit an exhibition…”

Her voice was soft and hazy, drifting by Yu Qingluan’s ear.

Yu Qingluan’s entire ear turned red, and she hurried out of the bedroom with her head lowered.

Yu Lingxue, satisfied, went to freshen up.

She looked at the tidy bathroom Yu Qingluan had arranged and felt happy.

Some places were just old but not shabby or messy, and the homeowner kept them clean and orderly.

In the small bathroom, Yu Lingxue could still catch a faint scent of oranges.

After quickly washing up, she thought for a moment and took out the rose perfume she always carried with her, spritzing a bit on the ends of her hair.

Yu Qingluan dawdled and finally made it to the kitchen door.

“Mom.” She didn’t know how to bring it up.

Should she just say she was in a relationship and had brought her girlfriend home?

Or should she continue to say it was just her friend?

It would be strange to be so inseparable with a friend all night long.

Yu Qingluan didn’t know how close straight female friends were.

Even when she and Xiang Yan stayed together, they never shared a bed.

It wasn’t intentional; it was more like an unconscious effort to avoid suspicion.

Once, when they went out to play, she only realized afterward that Xiang Yan had already booked a twin room.

After all this thinking, Yu Shuhua finally reacted to her daughter’s strange call of “Mom.”

“What? Aren’t you going out with your friend?” Since her daughter didn’t say anything, Yu Shuhua pretended not to know.

“Ahem.” Yu Qingluan was choked up by her mom’s remark.

“She, she might need to stay over for a while.” Yu Qingluan buried her head even lower.

Yu Shuhua looked up from her cooking and noticed her daughter’s reddened earlobes.

Oh.

“Anyway, she can sleep in your room. I don’t mind.” What else could she say?

Break them up?

There was no need for that. As long as her daughter was happy.

Yu Shuhua didn’t see anything wrong with it. The real headache was what to cook for the two kids today.

“Um… thanks, Mom!” Yu Qingluan shouted, boosting her own courage, and then dashed back to her bedroom.

Yu Lingxue had already finished freshening up and was sitting on her bed, flipping through a picture book.

“Hey, don’t look!” Oh heavens. When did her mother put this thing in her room?

“Why not? It’s so adorable.” A little birdie.

Yu Lingxue raised her hand and leaned back.

She had never seen Yu Qingluan’s childhood photos this was her first time!

“No.” Yu Qingluan lunged forward to snatch it back.

“It’s embarrassing, don’t look.” The memory of Yu Lingxue seeing her photographed like a chubby cheeked apple, her face red as a monkey’s bottom, made her want to cry from shame.

“I think it’s really cute.” Yu Lingxue still let Yu Qingluan take the album back.

What a pity. She’d have to rely on memory to savor it.

“Even if you think it’s cute, you can’t look!” Yu Qingluan hugged the album, her ears still flushed, the warmth and color refusing to fade.

“So domineering.” Yu Lingxue stood up and suddenly pounced on Yu Qingluan from behind.

“How could you bear to let me miss out on such an adorable little bird?” She nibbled Yu Qingluan’s reddened ear, chiding her.

Yu Qingluan felt a bit vexed. “Next time.”

She’d show it when she was ready.

Who asked Yu Lingxue to be so good at compliments? She hadn’t planned to show it to anyone.

Even the photo Xiang Yan cun had taken was forcibly deleted at a high price.

“Then it’s settled for next time. I’ll remember, okay?” Yu Lingxue was satisfied.

“What did your mom say?”

“She agreed.” Yu Qingluan turned her back to Yu Lingxue and hid the album in a corner.

“It’s cold in the morning, so let’s stay home. I’ll take you boating in the afternoon.” She rubbed her ears to even out the color, then looked at Yu Lingxue.

“Whatever you say.”

“What are you embroidering?” It had been a while since she’d asked about this.

Yu Lingxue leaned against Yu Qingluan’s shoulder, watching her adjust the patterns with one hand, utterly fascinated.

“It’s for you.” A love letter.

Yu Qingluan covered part of the design.

“It’s a surprise. You can’t look now.”

“Alright, when will the ban be lifted?” Since it was for her, she’d see it sooner or later. Yu Lingxue didn’t rush, obediently closing her eyes.

“Not sure. It’s a bit complicated. I’ll try to finish it before spring.”

“That’s still so far away.” Yu Lingxue opened her eyes again, growing restless. “Give me a little spoiler, please?”

“Fine.” Yu Qingluan frowned slightly.

She unfolded a folded section, revealing just a tiny part to Yu Lingxue.

“Don’t laugh at me.” Yu Qingluan quickly hid the messy part away again.

Yu Lingxue stared, her eyes curving into smiles.

“How could I?” So it was a love letter.

But why embroider a love letter? They were already dating.

Yet Yu Lingxue still felt a wave of warmth. She sniffled.

“Just because you glanced back at me once, I think of you morning and night.”*

Yu Qingluan embroidered this line surely to express how she felt when they first met.

Actually, she felt the same about Yu Qingluan.

This is trouble. Such a grand gift, almost like a proposal so formal. She couldn’t not return the gesture.

What should she give Yu Qingluan in return?

Yu Lingxue genuinely started thinking about gifts one prepares for a proposal.

She laughed at her own overthinking.

Now it’s definitely not the right time, is it?

In the afternoon, Yu Qingluan pushed the boat out, looking up at the gray sky and the rare glimpse of sun, feeling quite pleased.

The wind was mild it wouldn’t give Yu Lingxue a chill.

“Let’s go. I’ll show you the Chu Yun River without snow.” Yu Qingluan adjusted Yu Lingxue’s hat and scarf, then carefully helped her put on gloves.

Her movements were fluid and practiced.

Yu Lingxue watched intently, her cheeks flushing pink.

Note: The line “Only because of a single glance from you, I think of you morning and night” is a classical Chinese poetic expression, here loosely translated to convey the romantic sentiment of being smitten from a single glance.

Peeking secretly from the bedroom, Yu Shuhua watched the two youngsters with astonishment.

“I’ll say it first it’s really ugly.”

“That’s fine, as long as you’re here with me?”

Yu Shuhua was equally amazed by what she heard.

It felt as though her daughter had been possessed by someone else.

Since when did her daughter become so sweet-talking and considerate?

Even her own mother was stunned.

The two of them reverted to the state of their honeymoon phase, clinging to each other so affectionately that it took them fifteen minutes just to leave the house.

After dawdling for another half an hour, they finally neared the riverbank.

“Qingluan ” A voice suddenly interrupted their interaction.

Yu Qingluan looked up, following the direction of the voice, and spotted Zeng Lan.

“Lanlan Jie,” she greeted Zeng Lan.

Yu Lingxue reined in her overly cheerful smile, stood behind Yu Qingluan, and wrapped her arms around her, eyeing Zeng Lan warily.

Zeng Lan glanced at her dismissively, as if she were insignificant, and simply pulled out a tablet to show Yu Qingluan a design.

“The trademark I registered, what do you think?”

“You actually used my design? It’s beautiful!” Yu Qingluan examined it and noticed Zeng Lan had made a few modifications to her original drawing, improving it nicely.

“I’ll come find you for a meeting in a couple of days.” She cast another glance at Yu Lingxue, patted Yu Qingluan’s back, and left without disturbing them further.

“Little Bird.” Yu Lingxue’s gaze followed Zeng Lan’s departing figure, her voice tinged with unease.

Yu Qingluan took her hand and said casually, “Lingxue, I might be expanding overseas in the future.Her voice trembled noticeably, almost overshadowing the hint of probing in her words.