Afternoon.
Milk tea shop.
Qin Guanglin made slurping noises as he drank his carrot juice, which was quite delicious here, not bitter at all, with strands of sweetness.
"Do you want a sip?" he pushed it toward her, "They choose great carrots here."
"You’ve already drunk from it, I don’t want any."
"I even eat your leftovers." Qin Guanglin complained, "You have to try a sip."
"I’m delicious, you’re stinky."
He Fang put away her phone, leaned over, and took a tiny sip to savor it, "What’s so different about it?"
"Don’t you think it’s very tasty?" Qin Guanglin took another sip, "Feels like the carrots were just pulled out of the ground."
"..."
He Fang couldn’t be bothered with him; a simple carrot, fresh pulled or not, would that make a difference?
"Let me try yours." Qin Guanglin eagerly moved closer, curious if hers was just as good.
"My lemon was just picked too." He Fang pushed her drink toward him, then remembered yesterday’s ice cream and warned, "Don’t take too big a sip."
"I’ll just try a taste."
Qin Guanglin took a cautious sip and his smile vanished instantly, his face contorted, "Why is it so sour?!"
The lemon tea he ordered at Starbucks last time was sour but still bearable, this one was like biting directly into a lemon.
"It must be three-parts sugar," He Fang found it amusing and took out her phone, "Quick, take another sip."
"No more for me, you enjoy."
Qin Guanglin lowered his head and took a big gulp of carrot juice; his was definitely tastier, her taste was just too strong.
"Got a shot of you even without drinking it." He Fang giggled looking at the image of Qin Guanglin squinting and grinning on her phone.
"Not allowing me to take your photo, but you take mine?"
"Is that not okay?"
"It’s okay, definitely okay."
Anyway, he hadn’t actually deleted the photo he sneakily took of He Fang eating, so they were even.
Yeah, quite fair.
"You could compete in that online lemon-eating contest." Qin Guanglin suddenly recalled an activity, "There’s one called Wei’s Daily Food, seems pretty popular, I think you could outdo him."
"Daily eating?" He Fang shook her head in disbelief, "That’s impressive, I can’t compete."
"It’s truly impressive." The mere thought made Qin Guanglin salivate a bit, he nodded admiringly, "Way too impressive, I hold great respect for him."
After almost an hour spent in the milk tea shop, the two of them strolled aimlessly for a bit without finding anything interesting and simply decided to head back to where they were staying.
He Fang lay lazily on the bed, and Qin Guanglin immediately had the cheek to come over, wanting to lie down together.
"Don’t hold me, being too close for too long will tire us out, we need to maintain distance, distance brings beauty." He Fang pushed him away, the guy was getting too clingy.
"We won’t get tired, how could we possibly tire of it." Regardless of her pushing, Qin Guanglin kept inching closer, "You are a fairy, you remain beautiful without any distance."
The feeling of holding her in his arms was truly inexhaustible. The soft touch, the faint scent, the warm temperature, a bliss that filled his entire heart and still managed to overflow. It was an intoxicating sensation.
Cradling the soft, warm jade in his arms, Qin Guanglin fell asleep without realizing it. When he opened his eyes again, the sky had already darkened. He Fang was curled up in his embrace, eyes still closed, and he didn’t know when she had fallen asleep. She hadn’t woken up yet.
The room was dark and silent without the lights on. He leaned down to quietly kiss He Fang’s cheek, then hugged her tighter, feeling immensely satisfied.
When he was alone, occasionally he’d sleep from the afternoon until the world turned dark. Waking up to pitch blackness could make him feel a sense of loneliness, like being abandoned by the whole world.
But with two people, that feeling was completely absent. There was a warm feeling in his heart, as if he was embracing the entire world. He didn’t want to move at all, preferring to quietly savor the moment’s beauty.
He Fang woke up from his kiss, wriggling a little closer in his arms and murmured comfortably, "What time is it?"
"Just past six," Qin Guanglin checked his watch before wrapping her up in his arms again. "Let’s lie here a bit longer and then go eat."
"Okay."
Neither of them spoke again, and silence returned to the room.
After a while, Qin Guanglin kissed her again and reluctantly climbed out of bed. "I’ll go downstairs to get takeout. What do you want to eat?"
"Let’s go eat together."
He Fang stretched and sat up, yawning before she continued, "It’s such a hassle to get takeout, let’s just eat something simple outside."
"It’s no trouble, what do you want to eat? Cold noodles? Or stir-fry?"
As he spoke, Qin Guanglin put his wallet and phone in his pockets and headed for the door, "You lie down a little longer, or take a bath. I’ll be back quickly with the food."
"Alright then," He Fang settled back onto the bed as she spoke. "I’ll have the cold noodles."
She was so sleepy from lying down so long that she didn’t feel like going down and then back up.
"Okay, I’m off then."
Qin Guanglin shouted a goodbye and left, heading downstairs to get dinner.
He Fang lay in bed for a while and, seeing that Qin Guanglin hadn’t returned yet, decided to get up, find her pajamas, and went to take a shower. After her shower, while drying her hair, she saw Qin Guanglin crouching by his backpack, sorting through things.
"Why did it take so long?" He Fang wrapped her hair in a towel to prevent the drips, "What did you eat?"
"Cold noodles too," Qin Guanglin turned around, opening up the takeout container on the table and proudly showed it to her, "I got two portions for myself."
"Why didn’t you have three portions?"
He Fang broke apart her chopsticks and hugged him, kissing him once. "Thank you for the effort. Help me blow-dry my hair after we eat."
"Fetching meals for you is my duty," Qin Guanglin also started eating with his chopsticks. "Is that enough for you? If not, I can share some of mine."
"It’s enough."
He Fang’s face still had a faint blush from the shower, glowing with moisture as if she could squeeze water from her cheeks. Watching her, Qin Guanglin’s appetite increased, and he quickly finished his two portions of cold noodles while she had only eaten a little more than half of hers.
"What are you looking at?"
"Looking at how beautiful you are."
Qin Guanglin sat aside, watching her eat a little at a time, and the more he looked, the more he felt in love.
His feelings grew a little more each day.
"Sweet talker, but there’s no reward," He Fang placed her container on the table and reached out to him, "Pass me some water to drink."
"Here." Qin Guanglin passed her the water and couldn’t help but laugh, "Do you know what?"
"What?"
"Your words are even sweeter," Qin Guanglin teased her with a raised eyebrow, "super sweet."
"Get lost."