He gave her care and warmth, things that Yan Qingsi needed most in her life. With him, she felt grounded, as though a solid wall of support stood behind her after a lifetime with nothing to lean on.
She did not need to be afraid—not when she had a cornerstone to look to whenever she turned back.
…
You Yi watched Yue Tingfeng carry Yan Qingsi onto the car at the entrance of the graveyard and leave. The corners of his lips lifted upwards. That young man was not too bad of a choice.
He had thought of Yan Qingsi, who had taken a ride in his car here. He had wondered how she would go back alone, so he had hurried back, intending to offer her a ride.
He did not expect to see Yue Tingfeng there.
He was also a man. He was able to tell the sincerity of Yue Tingfeng’s feelings toward Yan Qingsi. He was very much unlike his nephew, who took women but treated them as playthings.
Yan Qingsi’s mother would want to see her find a suitable life partner. That would be her biggest wish.”
You Yi wheeled around and climbed back up the hill. He was 17 years too late for her; he wanted to be by her side for a little while longer.
…
They drove till the city, then Yue Tingfeng abruptly pulled the car over. “Wait for me,” he told Yan Qingsi. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Yan Qingsi saw the pharmacy by the roadside and roughly knew that he was going to buy band-aids. She nodded. “Go on.”
Yue Tingfeng went down to buy alcohol swabs and plasters, and then he bought ice cream at a convenience store several meters down the road before returning to the car.
He thrust the ice cream into Yan Qingsi’s hands. “Eat this first to cool yourself.”
Yan Qingsi smiled. “I’m not a kid,” she said. “You know that I don’t like sweet stuff.”
Yue Tingfeng raised his chin. “It doesn’t matter,” he said earnestly. “I’ll feed you in a while.”
Yan Qingsi was stunned. The memory of Yue Tingfeng feeding her the last time made her cheeks redden.
Yue Tingfeng took her foot up, dipping cotton buds in alcohol and swabbing around her wounds and cleaning the dirt. “Hold on. This might sting a little.”
Yan Qingsi tore off the wrapper from the ice cream. “No problem,” she said. “Just do it. It won’t hurt.”
Yue Tingfeng raised her head to look at Yan Qingsi, who was using a spoon to scoop up a mouthful of ice cream and deposit it distastefully into her mouth. It was as though she could not feel the pain in her feet at all.
Yue Tingfeng’s heart prickled. If she had a different childhood, she would have been like other girls, who acted like spoiled princesses with their parents and boyfriends when they had the tiniest cut.
As for her, though…
Yue Tingfeng unwrapped a band-aid and plastered it over her wound. “Women who wear heels are bound to suffer.”
“Wait till that blister becomes a callus,” Yan Qingsi said around a mouthful of ice cream. “It won’t hurt then.”
“It won’t hurt, but it’ll become ugly.”
“What can I do about it? This world is prejudiced toward women, so…I have to suffer a bit more. How could I have a place here otherwise?”
“You won’t have a place? But you have me. I will carry you—you don’t have to stand alone.”
Another spoonful of ice cream was just about to enter Yan Qingsi’s mouth, but she stopped when she heard Yue Tingfeng’s words. She lifted her eyes so that her gaze was level with his.
He always said something like this unconsciously. It made feelings of joy bubble in her, and warmth filling her heart.
“All right…” Yan Qingsi said.
She shoved the spoonful of the fast-melting ice cream toward Yue Tingfeng’s mouth. “Your reward.”
“It’s so hard to get you to feed me,” Yue Tingfeng said, grinning.
One moment, he was opening his mouth and swallowing the ice cream. The next, he pulled Yan Qingsi into his arms.
The taste of the vanilla ice cream slowly melted between their teeth…