“You go on out first. I need to change into my pajamas.” Lou Fan should have said that, but she opened her mouth several times and ultimately failed to get the words out.
The bath towel was neither too long nor too short, barely wrapping around her body. Lou Fan sat on the edge of the bed and bent over to take the hair dryer out of the bedside table drawer.
Leaning back against the soft upholstered headboard with her legs resting on the floor, Lou Fan listened to the continuous buzzing of the hair dryer. In front of her, Qin Peiran was squatting by the bedside, holding a bottle of iodophor and a cotton swab in one hand while lifting Lou Fan’s ankle with the other.
“Lift it up.” The sound of the hair dryer was too loud, so Lou Fan could only rely on lip-reading to catch those three words.
Qin Peiran always approached tasks with intense focus and immersion, acting like a precision instrument devoid of any emotion.
Just like now, she lifted Lou Fan’s leg onto the edge of the bed, sat down beside it, and uncapped the iodophor bottle, dipping the cotton swab in one fluid motion. She didn’t even spare a single extra glance for Lou Fan.
Lou Fan gently pulled a thin blanket from the side and draped it over her body, which was wrapped in nothing more than a bath towel.
Qin Peiran’s hand, holding the cotton swab, paused for a fraction of a second.
The noise of the hair dryer masked their erratic breathing. Lou Fan kept her head down while drying her hair, but her gaze couldn’t help wandering toward Qin Peiran’s hand holding the cotton swab.
Her hands were naturally well-formed, long and distinct at the joints. They weren’t particularly slender, possessing just the right amount of strength.
Along with the calluses left behind from years of working part-time jobs.
The iodophor-soaked cotton swab felt cool as it brushed back and forth a few times over Lou Fan’s ankle bone, before being caught by Qin Peiran’s warm palm.
Holding Lou Fan’s ankle, Qin Peiran leaned in close and gently blew the iodophor dry, looking as earnest and calm as she did when she was working.
Lou Fan felt a sudden sting in the bridge of her nose, and all her messy thoughts vanished. She quickly finished drying her hair until it was almost dry and put the hair dryer away.
“That’s enough.” Lou Fan pulled back her foot, took the cotton swab from Qin Peiran’s hand, and tossed it into the nearby trash can. “I didn’t buy myself a servant. You don’t need to do these things.”
“You treat me well,” Qin Peiran said, gazing earnestly into Lou Fan’s eyes, “so I have to treat you well, too.”
Lou Fan’s ears felt a bit hot. Averting her gaze from Qin Peiran’s naked stare, she waved a hand. “Go take a shower. There are bed sheets and things in the closet of the small guest room next door. They’re all clean, so just take them out and make the bed.”
After chasing the girl off to shower, Lou Fan felt utterly exhausted. She left a small nightlight on, clutched her phone, and slipped under the covers.
Barely half an hour after she lay down, someone knocked on Lou Fan’s bedroom door.
There were only the two of them in this apartment, so naturally, it was obvious who was on the other side.
She raised her voice and called out, “It’s unlocked, come in.”
The bedroom door was pulled open from the outside, and Qin Peiran stood in the doorway holding a large bundle of fabric.
“What’s wrong?” Lou Fan had already changed into her nightgown. She kicked off the blanket, got out of bed, and walked over to Qin Peiran.
Qin Peiran calmly shook out the bundle of fabric in her hands. That pile of material, which appeared to be a bed sheet, had somehow torn into several ragged strips.
Lou Fan felt a bit awkward. She had made a grand declaration about sponsoring the girl, only to find out that even her bed sheets were torn.
“I must have accidentally torn it at some point.” She genuinely couldn’t remember when she had managed to slice up a bed sheet.
“It’s fine. Then I can just sleep on the sofa tonight,” Qin Peiran said with an accommodating, gentle smile. “I always slept on sofas when I was working part-time anyway.”
Lou Fan thought: What is that supposed to mean?
Initially, Lou Fan figured that in the dead of summer, sleeping on the sofa for one night wouldn’t be a big deal. The air conditioner would be left on for her, and she would have a blanket to cover herself with. More importantly, a single man and woman sharing a bed might feel like nothing to Qin Peiran, but Lou Fan certainly couldn’t handle it.
Still, what did she mean by “I always slept on sofas when I was working part-time anyway”?
Just a few hours ago, the girl had been proclaiming, “I’ll support you in the future,” and now she was expected to go off and miserably sleep on the couch?
“No way.” Lou Fan thought she was truly despicable. Just because of some unmentionable little thoughts buried deep in her own heart, she was about to make a pitiful little university student sleep on the couch.
“Then…” Lou Fan’s gaze drifted for a moment, and her words came out a bit muddled. “Then you can just squeeze into bed with me for tonight.”
“You’re so good to me.” A faint, satisfied smile appeared on Qin Peiran’s cold face.
Lou Fan felt even more remorseful.
The sheets had been newly changed and still carried the scent of the sun after drying. Lou Fan lay on the side closest to the wall, staring up at the ceiling.
Nobody had ever told her what she was supposed to do in a situation like this!
Turning her back to the other person felt weird, facing Qin Peiran felt weird, looking at her phone felt weird, and staring blankly at the ceiling like this felt even weirder.
After turning it over in her mind, she decided sleep was the best option.
“It’s getting late. Let’s turn off the lights and go to sleep.” Lou Fan shifted her body up slightly, reaching for the switch by the side of the bed.
“I’ve got it.” Qin Peiran propped herself up into a sitting position, reached out to take hold of Lou Fan’s outstretched arm, gently placed it back over the blanket, and clicked the light off with a sharp snap.
In the suddenly darkened bedroom, it took Lou Fan several seconds for her eyes to readjust.
Dim, mottled moonlight filtered through the curtains, barely illuminating this corner of the room. Her peripheral vision was involuntarily drawn to the person beside her.
A slender jawline, a straight bridge of the nose, cool and refined brows. Lou Fan couldn’t help thinking of bamboo leaves damp with morning dew.
“Sister?”
Qin Peiran spoke up suddenly. Lou Fan hurriedly closed her eyes in the darkness, putting on an air of casual nonchalance. “Hmm?”
“What Lü Wang said today. Don’t take it to heart.”
“Lü Wang?”
“That boy at the school gate today.”
Lou Fan realized who she was talking about. “That green toad?”
“Green… What?” Qin Peiran turned her face sideways, her long hair brushing against the bridge of her nose and falling across her slightly parted lips. The sight made Lou Fan’s heart skip a beat.
Combined with her naturally pure looks, this slightly dazed expression made Lou Fan want nothing more than to thoroughly ruffle the girl’s hair right now and tuck her into her arms to sleep.
“Yeah.” Qin Peiran let out a low chuckle. “Green toad.”
“What did he say?” Too many things had happened today, and Lou Fan hadn’t remembered right away.
“He said…” Qin Peiran lowered her eyes, looking at the distance separating the two of them. “We’re lesbians.”
“Oh.” Lou Fan froze, momentarily unsure of what to say.
Should she turn around and comfort Qin Peiran by telling her not to take it to heart? Or should she tell Qin Peiran: Sorry, honey, but I actually am a lesbian. Not only am I a lesbian, but I’ve also got my eyes on your body, do you believe me? If the withdrawal symptoms hadn’t been so excruciatingly hard to bear, I might even be keeping you as a sugar baby for another four years in this lifetime, do you believe that too?
“Cough, cough.” Lou Fan shook her head, banishing these messy thoughts from her mind. “Maybe we were standing too close together back then. Ah, well, it’s fine. If you hadn’t mentioned it, I would’ve forgotten all about it. Don’t take it to heart either. People like that are best ignored.”
“I didn’t take it to heart.” Qin Peiran trailed off as if she hadn’t finished her sentence. Lou Fan inquisitively turned onto her side, waiting for the rest.
On the not-so-large bed, the two of them stared at each other across a close distance, their breathing tangling into a mess, though only Lou Fan’s breathing was a mess. Qin Peiran still looked completely calm, carrying just a trace of gentleness that hadn’t been present in their past life.
Could it be that their simple sponsorship relationship had made her lower her guard? Lou Fan always felt that this lifetime’s Qin Peiran was a bit more delicate and spoiled.
“I was just curious. What kind of view does someone like Sister hold toward homosexuality?”
Lou Fan’s heart skipped a beat, and she found herself lost for words.
This was probing, right? This was definitely probing!
It was normal, Lou Fan consoled herself. Even though Qin Peiran hadn’t received much love growing up, leading her to easily trust strangers, she was still an eighteen-year-old young woman after all. It made sense for her to have some sense of wariness!
She absolutely couldn’t give herself away.
Lou Fan deliberated repeatedly before adjusting her tone. “Homosexuality? I think it’s completely normal. Liking whoever you want is other people’s freedom, so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
“What about Sister? Who has the older sister liked, then?”
Oh boy, Lou Fan sighed inwardly. At this point, she might as well have hung a sign around her neck saying “Are you a lesbian or what?”
Did she really trust her that little? Lou Fan thought with a flash of resentment as she replied, “I’ve never been in a relationship before, and I don’t have much interest in dating right now anyway.”
“No interest?” Qin Peiran shifted her head. Lou Fan noticed a strand of long hair from her shoulder falling straight into the slightly wide collar of her pajamas.
Lou Fan: “Yeah. Dating is nowhere near as interesting as making money. Am I right?”
“Mhm.” Qin Peiran murmured. “That’s true. Once you have money, you can have whatever you want.”
Like a bed partner, Qin Peiran thought as she closed her eyes.
Like freedom, Lou Fan thought as she turned away to gaze up at the silent ceiling.
Harboring their own thoughts, the two of them feigned sleep for a long while before finally drifting off.
The next afternoon, Lou Fan was woken up by a cool, sliding sensation against her arm.
She opened her eyes to see Qin Peiran holding her own arm, with a single finger resting right beneath the shoulder strap of Lou Fan’s nightgown.
Lou Fan: “…”
Qin Peiran: “…”
Qin Peiran quickly withdrew her hand, a flush of red instantly blooming across her pale, clean cheeks. She averted her gaze and lightly shook Lou Fan’s shoulder with her fingertips. “It slipped down. I was just fixing it.”
Lou Fan’s nightgown was made of soft silk, and she had adjusted the straps very loosely for maximum sleeping comfort. The only problem was that if she tossed and turned at night, they slipped off easily.
Lou Fan bit her lip, squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again. “Get up and wash up. I’m going to make lunch.”
After lunch, Lou Fan drove Qin Peiran to a nearby shopping mall. After picking out a bedding set for the small guest room, Lou Fan casually bought herself a modest yet cool and breathable pair of pajamas.
Just as they were stepping off the escalator to head toward the parking garage, they happened to run into an acquaintance.
“Hey, how come you guys are here too?” Lü Wang was still wearing those fluorescent green basketball shoes, which complemented the purple cap on his head. “What a coincidence, what a coincidence.”
Lou Fan found this person utterly annoying and tried to walk straight toward the elevator car without looking back.
“We’re going up,” a young woman with a baby stroller inside the elevator said, pointing upward.
Fine, Lou Fan had no choice but to back out and wait for the next car.
Lü Wang continued his relentless chatter. “Didn’t get to properly greet you yesterday. Sorry about that, I really misunderstood you guys. How about this, treat it as my apology. Can I invite you guys out for lunch?”
Lou Fan glanced at Qin Peiran. After all, he was her classmate.
“We’ve already eaten.” Qin Peiran stood slightly behind Lou Fan, blocking Lü Wang’s attempt to move closer to Lou Fan with a cold tone. “No need.”
“How can that do?” Seeing that the path on Lou Fan’s other side was clear, Lü Wang seized the opportunity to dart over, rubbing the brim of his baseball cap. “Qin Peiran knows what kind of person I am. Among other things, I’m all about brotherhood! If I’m in the wrong, I’ve got to make it right. Don’t you agree, Sister?”
Hearing him say “Sister” in such an uncomfortably familiar tone made Lou Fan shiver. Before she could say anything, she heard Qin Peiran speak. It was a coldness tinged with a sharpness Lou Fan had never heard before:
“Who is your sister?”
“Oh, oh, right.” Lü Wang nodded, completely ignoring Qin Peiran’s long eyes, which had narrowed slightly into sharp slits like a feline about to hunt. He rubbed his hands together, looking somewhat embarrassed. “I don’t even know your name yet.”
“Lou Fan.” Lou Fan had no desire to keep listening to this guy address her as “Sister” over and over again.
Seeing that the elevator was about to arrive, Lou Fan gently tugged on Qin Peiran’s arm, signaling that it was time to go.
To her surprise, Qin Peiran didn’t budge an inch.
Lou Fan frowned and turned around to see Qin Peiran standing right beside Lü Wang, who wore a triumphant expression. The younger girl flashed Lou Fan an ingratiating, flattering smile.
“Sister, shall we go watch a movie together?”