After finishing today’s shoot, Yan Chi sat in the dressing room removing her makeup. Although she would see Gu Qingtong in about half an hour, she still habitually glanced at her phone.
The filming schedule on the set was quite tight and hectic, and except for scenes where they acted together, the two of them were usually separated. Gu Qingtong was naturally clingy.
While she maintained a reserved demeanor on the set, behind the scenes, she would send countless WeChat messages every day.
But now, the chat box with “瞳瞳” was still stuck on yesterday, unusually devoid of familiar chatter and coquetry that would usually come as soon as she had a moment. What was going on? Yan Chi’s eyes flickered, and she wiped the input box with her fingertip.
Just a moment later, she knew the whole story.
Because Yuan Jingyu inadvertently let slip, she told Yan Chi about it so that she could be mentally prepared before facing her wife’s questioning.
Yan Chi chuckled, knowing without a doubt that her little wife was probably digging through her aliases at this very moment. She hadn’t deliberately hidden anything since she started editing videos, which made it easy for her colleagues to see. She had known for a long time that there would be a day when Gu Qingtong would find out. Unlike the secretive manner in which her little wife liked her, afraid of being discovered by others, she couldn’t help but feel a mischievous urge to scare Tongtong a little.
“If she finds out, she finds out,” she said with a light laugh, openly and candidly. Yuan Jingyu, seeing Yan Chi like this, suddenly understood. She hadn’t stirred up trouble at all; she had simply assisted!
Despite Yan Chi’s reserved nature, who knew how much she had done for her foolish wife behind the scenes?
What a worrywart she had been for nothing!
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Gu Qingtong was curled up in Yan Chi’s room, clutching her phone tightly, as if her palms were sweating profusely. Her face was flushed red, and she had bitten her lips until they were almost white.
The faint glow of the video on her phone cast a hazy light into her eyes, leaving them blurry and unfocused. Gu Qingtong felt like her whole face was burning with embarrassment. Despite feeling too embarrassed to watch, she couldn’t help but open the video. As she waited for Yan Chi to return, she repeatedly opened and paused the video, trying to calm her racing heart and the unknown emotions filling her chest. It was completely different from the first glance she had taken at the videos in Xiao Jun’s room; she didn’t even know what she was watching anymore—all she could see was Yan Chi. Even though she was familiar with the scenes and plots of these videos, just hearing the background music brought back vivid images.
Watching them now, after imprinting them with Yan Chi’s mark, evoked a completely different set of emotions and feelings. After what felt like an eternity, Gu Qingtong finally heard the sound of the door opening behind her. Although she had been anticipating Yan Chi’s return, now that the moment had arrived, she was so nervous that her mind went blank. The video was still playing, with the background music and Gu Qingtong’s exuberant words from the variety show almost unabated. Everything was falling into Yan Chi’s ears.
Still watching?
She walked into the foyer, noticing Gu Qingtong curled up in a small bundle on the soft bed with her back to her. Although she was trying to maintain her composure, the slight trembling of her shoulders betrayed her current agitation.
“Tongtong.”
Yan Chi’s voice was soft, uttering only that affectionate name without any questions, the syllables filled with endless tenderness. Compared to before, there was now a unique bond in her voice.
This sound made Gu Qingtong’s already restless heart tremble violently. The next moment, she couldn’t help but lift her head and meet Yan Chi’s eyes. Her crimson, hazy eyes seemed to focus solely on Yan Chi. By now, Yan Chi had reached the edge of the bed, a slight smile on her lips as she quietly watched Gu Qingtong.
She knew everything but patiently waited for Tongtong to speak. However, she didn’t expect Gu Qingtong, who was kneeling on the bed, to suddenly reach out and tightly wrap her arms around Yan Chi’s waist, burying her small face in her embrace. Without saying a word, she clung to Yan Chi, relying on her completely.
She said nothing, simply relying on Yan Chi, holding her tightly. Yan Chi let her stay in her arms, gently patting her back intermittently. After a while, Gu Qingtong’s voice finally emerged from the embrace:
“I know what you’ve done for me.”
She mustered the courage to lift her head, her eyes already glistening with tears, yet she stubbornly gazed at Yan Chi, as if foolishly believing that only by doing so could she respond to Yan Chi’s sincerity.
“Mhm, and now I know Tongtong knows,” Yan Chi’s voice, tinged with the warmth of spring, held a tenderness that belonged solely to Gu Qingtong. “I’m very happy.”
The more Yan Chi showed such gentleness, the more Gu Qingtong’s eyes welled up, her voice eventually tinged with a slight nasal tone:
“Big sister…..you’re so good. Tongtong is so stupid for only realizing it now. I don’t even know what to say or do….my mind is just filled with how good you are to me.”
Gu Qingtong was almost incoherent, simply speaking from the depths of her heart.
Yan Chi gently ruffled her hair before saying: “It’s not just to help you, Tongtong. I’m six years older than you and I never had a chance to leave a mark on the first twenty years of your life.”
“Ever since we got married, I’ve always wanted to be more involved in your life. Even if it’s in ways you can’t see, I wanted to leave something behind.”
As she spoke, Yan Chi’s gaze grew more intense, focusing on Gu Qingtong: “So, in reality, it’s my own selfishness.”
Hearing these words, a glimmer of resolve appeared in Gu Qingtong’s eyes. After a long pause, she finally spoke, “Actually, there’s a secret I’ve never told you, big sister…”
Yan Chi hadn’t expected Gu Qingtong to say this and was momentarily taken aback. Under the influence of this candid moment, was she finally going to reveal that long-held secret?
Though Yan Chi already knew that TT was Tongtong, she still looked at her earnestly, waiting for her to voluntarily speak the truth she had kept hidden.
“It’s not like what you think, big sister. I…I’ve known you for a long time, much longer than when you first saw me at the film studio!” Gu Qingtong’s voice grew louder as she finally voiced her secret, her previous hesitation and shyness dissipating.
Yan Chi’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. This wasn’t the revelation she had expected. She stayed silent, waiting for Gu Qingtong to continue.
What Gu Qingtong was about to share was their true first encounter, one only she remembered.
At that time, Gu Qingtong was just seven years old and had just started elementary school. She had always struggled with her memory and grades, learning everything more slowly than others. As a result, not many children wanted to play with her because she couldn’t even keep up with simple arithmetic. Little Qingtong often found herself alone.
In this private elementary school, there were also a few other children who were not well-liked. Most of them were either unacknowledged illegitimate children or the offspring of mistresses, inherently shunned by the parents of other children.
One day, little Qingtong stumbled upon some classmates bullying those few children. Naturally strong-willed and somewhat spoiled, with a surprising fighting spirit, she intervened and scared off the bullies. As a result, she was invited to join their small group.
Coincidentally, the central figure of this group was Yan Song.
At first, the children got along well, and little Qingtong also considered them the friends she had finally made. She would bring them snacks and exotic toys that Gu Shuyu brought back from abroad and eagerly invite them to play at her family’s villa on weekends.
The villa’s backyard, designed by Gu Shuyu, was like Alice’s Wonderland, exciting the children to no end. They all gathered in the garden to play games.
One day, while they were playing hide-and-seek in the villa complex, Yan Song returned from hiding near a neighbor’s house with a changed expression. He stared at the floor-to-ceiling windows, mimicking the adults’ tone, and angrily said to the other children: “I saw that little bastard! It’s because she’s always badmouthing me in front of my grandfather that he doesn’t like my parents. I need to get revenge for them!”
Little Qingtong didn’t understand what “little bastard” meant, but she had heard the term used derogatorily when others bullied Yan Song. It was a hurtful word. She wondered why he would use such a word to bully someone else when it had made him so sad.
Confused, she looked toward the distant floor-to-ceiling window, where she could vaguely see a figure leaning against the window. It seemed to be a girl, but she couldn’t make out her features clearly.
Despite her confusion, the other children all agreed with Yan Song, eagerly helping him plan how to teach the “little bastard” who spoke ill of him a lesson.
Even though she didn’t know yet who they wanted to teach a lesson to, little Qingtong instinctively retorted: “You all said others shouldn’t call you little bastards, so why are you saying it yourselves? Only bullies use that word. And Yan Song, you said last time that your grandfather never sees you. How do you know she’s badmouthing you to him if you’ve never heard it yourself?”
Yan Song was at a loss for words, only managing to argue: “My parents said so. I haven’t seen it, but they must have. They wouldn’t lie to me!”
The other children, who had played with Yan Song for a long time, clearly knew who he was talking about. They began explaining to Gu Qingtong, all at once:
“She’s Yan Song’s sister, Yan Chi. Her mom is a crazy woman, and she’s also a big troublemaker.”
“Yeah! Ever since she was taken in by Yan Song’s grandfather, he hasn’t paid any attention to Yan Song’s parents. It must be her fault!”
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After hearing the name “Yan Chi,” little Qingtong couldn’t hear any other words. It seemed like a very familiar and important name. But why couldn’t she remember anything about it? She thought maybe her brain was slow and she had forgotten someone she knew from before.
When little Qingtong came back to her senses, she heard them preparing to pick up big rocks to smash the French windows. They wanted to scare Yan Chi so she wouldn’t dare to badmouth them again. Some timid children asked, “What if the rocks hit Yan Chi?”
Yan Song laughed: “Then wouldn’t that be avenging my parents?”
“I won’t allow it! She’s not some big villain, and you’re not allowed to bully her either.” Little Qingtong almost reflexively shouted, glaring at Yan Song. If someone was important, she wouldn’t allow others to bully them!
This was the first time little Qingtong scolded them, and Yan Song, who was nothing but a paper tiger, was scared into tears in an instant.
“You made him cry! You should apologize to him!”
While comforting Yan Song, the other children blamed little Qingtong.
Little Qingtong wasn’t afraid of them. If her friends were like this, she’d rather not be friends with them.
So she stood with her hands on her hips and her chin up, speaking even more confidently: “I don’t want to! Clearly, you’re the ones trying to bully others!”
The children all knew about her fighting ability, obviously unable to beat the little tyrant Gu Qingtong, so they gathered together to threaten her:
“If you, if you don’t apologize, we…..”
Before they could finish, little Qingtong interrupted: “I’m not going to be friends with you! I won’t be friends with people who bully others, hmph!”
As long as she spoke faster than the others, it meant she was the first one not to play with them, and the embarrassing ones were them.
These children didn’t expect Gu Qingtong to be so quick. Although they regretted that they wouldn’t receive snacks and fancy toys from Gu Qingtong anymore, they couldn’t beg her to continue being friends. Wanting to annoy Gu Qingtong, they said to each other:
“We’ll continue playing hide and seek by ourselves, without her. Let her watch by herself!”
“Gu Qingtong is so dumb, no one would play with her if we didn’t. I didn’t want to play with her a long time ago because she always lost in games…..”
Little Qingtong was always good at annoying people. She grinned at them calmly:
“The backyard of my house is only for my friends to play in. You guys are not welcome. Leave.”
The children, realizing they were still in someone else’s backyard, were frustrated but had no choice but to huddle together and leave. As they departed, Yan Song was still crying. Initially, he cried out of fear, but later it was because he felt deeply humiliated by Gu Qingtong. His resentment towards Gu Qingtong took root here and persisted as he grew up, leading him to secretly target her within their little group.
The backyard became empty, and little Qingtong suddenly didn’t know what to do. She then remembered the sister named Yan Chi. With a surprised “Ah!” she immediately ran towards the neighboring villa.
Although the children had left her backyard, they were still within the villa complex. Fearing they might still try to smash the French windows, little Qingtong hurried over to help. However, as she got closer, she didn’t see any of the children. Instead, she saw, through the transparent French window, a girl quietly sitting by the window reading a book.
Seven-year-old Gu Qingtong didn’t know how to describe her. She only felt that this girl was the most beautiful person she had ever seen, even more beautiful than the fairies on TV. The girl seemed about thirteen or fourteen years old, yet she exuded a maturity and coldness that didn’t match her age. She wore a white dress, with soft hair draped over one side. On the side closer to the French window, her hair was tucked behind her ear to prevent it from blocking her view of the book.
The girl’s skin was pale, almost sickly, and she had a cold, aloof aura, as if untouched by the mundane world. Her slender neck and wrists gave her an inexplicable fragility. Even the sunlight shining on her didn’t warm her up.
Little Qingtong didn’t know why, but she suddenly thought of the little mermaid who would turn into foam at dawn and disappear, and felt a wave of sadness. She stared blankly at the fairy-like sister, her mind going blank for a long time before she slowly came back to her senses.
Was this the sister named Yan Chi? It seemed like she had never seen her before.
Little Qingtong knew that no matter how forgetful she was, she wouldn’t forget such a beautiful fairy-like sister. She felt a bit frustrated that she didn’t recognize her. But the big sister was reading a book, and she shouldn’t be disturbed!
So, little Qingtong tiptoed around and ran to a spot under the French window where she could both secretly watch her and guard the window. It was a small flower bed under the window.
Little Qingtong crouched down by the wall, diligently guarding the spot. By observing so closely, she almost memorized everything about the fairy-like sister, ensuring she wouldn’t forget her next time.
Yan Chi’s hand turning the pages caught little Qingtong’s attention. She suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a white “bandage” on the back of her hand, the kind used after injections. Squinting to look more closely, she could see some needle marks around it as well.
“Huh? Is she sick?”
For little Qingtong, who was afraid of pain, nothing was scarier than getting injections. The thought of the sister possibly having to get injections every day made her heart ache. How painful that must be. Poor sister.
But before she could think further, Yan Song brought the group of children back. They were sneaking closer, holding stones they had picked up from outside. She couldn’t care about anything else and only wanted to protect this poor fairy-like sister. Leaping out from the flowerbed, she shouted at them: “What are you guys doing?!”
The children clearly hadn’t expected that Gu Qingtong would be haunting the place like a ghost, scaring them off immediately. As she turned around, satisfied, planning to continue watching in secret, she unexpectedly found herself meeting the fairy sister’s light-colored eyes.
At this moment, Yan Chi was still sitting in her chair, but since she had looked up, the strands of hair tucked behind her ear had slipped down to her cheek. When little Qingtong had scared away the other children, she had also startled Yan Chi, who had been reading.
Despite almost being stunned again by the fairy sister’s beauty, little Qingtong noticed the curious look in her eyes. Maybe….she could really get to know this sister named Yan Chi?
Remembering the strange familiarity of the name she had just heard, little Qingtong felt a bit more courageous. But then, the fairy sister quietly watched her, and her beautiful lips suddenly curled into a slight smile. This smile, more capable of melting away the millennia-old ice and snow than the sunlight filling the room, instantly dispelled the cold aloofness around the girl.
Little Qingtong didn’t understand why the sister was smiling and reflexively looked down at her own pink dress. She quickly found the reason—while squatting in the flowerbed and secretly watching, her pink gauze dress had picked up some dirt and grass!
The grey-green stains were very conspicuous on the pink hem, making her look like a dirty child. Being someone who always cared about her appearance, little Qingtong suddenly lost all thoughts of getting to know the beautiful sister. She felt utterly embarrassed and couldn’t bear to stay in front of her any longer.
Her face turned as red as a cooked shrimp. She gave the fairy-like sister a smile that looked worse than crying, covered her dirty dress, and ran away. As she ran home, she thought about changing her dress, making it smell nice and look clean, braiding her hair in a complicated style, and adding little butterfly clips. She wanted to look beautiful and redeem herself in front of the fairy sister.
But when she got home, nobody was there. Not only were her parents not home, but even the nanny who took care of her was missing. She waited and waited until the evening, and instead of the nanny who could braid her hair, it was Gu Shuyu, who was clumsy and incapable of doing anything right. Little Qingtong refused to let Gu Shuyu touch her hair and patiently waited until the nanny returned from her day off the next day.
Finally, all dressed up, she ran to the neighboring villa and knocked on the door. To her surprise, it wasn’t the fairy sister who answered the door, but an older girl she had never met before. The older girl looked at her curiously and asked: “Little one, what’s the matter?”
“Is…..is Yan Chi here?” Little Qingtong nervously twisted her hands together, afraid that the fairy sister might have disappeared like the little mermaid turning into foam in the sunlight.
“Little sister knows Yan Chi? She just left this morning. Do you need something from her?”
It was only then that Little Qingtong realized she didn’t really know her and didn’t have a valid reason to find her…..
If she said she just wanted to be friends, it would sound so childish!
She couldn’t say it. If she did, it would be even more embarrassing than last time.
Thinking of this, little Qingtong shook her head heavily and once again ran away. Missing the fairy sister left little Qingtong, who usually forgot things in three seconds, feeling gloomy for nearly two days. She had hoped the fairy sister would come back, but instead, moving trucks arrived and took everything from the house next door.
She was extremely upset and ran to ask Gu Shuyu what was going on.
“The house next door belongs to the Song family. They always lived abroad. They came back recently because they sold the house and were moving their things out.”
“What about Yan Chi?” Little Qingtong’s tears were about to fall, and she asked with a glimmer of hope.
Gu Shuyu, who never paid attention to celebrity gossip and was only interested in his own artistic pursuits, frowned and asked: “Who is Yan Chi?”
Finally, little Qingtong burst into tears, thinking she would never get the chance to meet the fairy sister again.
Little Qingtong didn’t expect that just a year later, she would see Yan Chi again on TV. That year, she was eight, and Yan Chi was not yet fifteen. But by then, Yan Chi was no longer just her fairy sister.
She thought this was an opportunity to reunite with the fairy sister, but instead, they seemed to grow further apart. Yan Chi became an overnight sensation, known by everyone. Even Gu Shuyu, who had previously asked, “Who is Yan Chi?” now knew her and complained every day about Yan Chi’s team rejecting his script.
It was then that little Qingtong realized the older sister she had met at the neighboring house was Yan Chi’s cousin and manager, Song Lian.
Even the school’s convenience store started selling bootleg book covers with Yan Chi’s characters on them. Little Qingtong, who originally wanted to buy one, saw that everyone else had the same covers and decided against it. She resolved that she didn’t want anyone to know she liked Yan Chi too.
She told herself she wasn’t a fan of Yan Chi. On the contrary, she wanted to work hard to become as famous as Yan Chi herself. Then, she would formally meet the fairy sister and fulfill her childhood wish.
Though she said this, she couldn’t resist watching Yan Chi. She would sneak off to the cinema to watch Yan Chi’s movies and wait at video stores for her latest releases, but she made sure no one knew.
Since that chance encounter at age seven, Yan Chi had never been absent from her life as little Qingtong grew up.
