Chapter 5

I couldn't stop crying.

By the time Shi Yi came home, my eyes were swollen.

He came over, cupped my face and asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"

"You owe me an explanation."

I handed him the pink envelope.

He froze when he saw it.

That only made my heart hurt more.

"So you really do still have feelings for another woman. Why did you marry me, then?"

My tears started falling again.

He fumbled to wipe them away.

"Ranran, don't cry. Can we look at what's inside first?"

"It's bad enough you kept another woman's love letter. Now you want me to read it?"

I cried harder.

Shi Yi looked torn between distress and amusement.

He opened the envelope, the knuckles of his elegant hand clearly defined, and took out the letter.

"Read it first. Then you can cry."

I looked down.

Once I saw what it said, my tears stopped.

I'd written this love letter!

So many girls had written to Shi Yi back then. He'd thrown all their letters away.

I'd never imagined he'd kept mine.

And that wasn't all.

At the end of my letter, which ran to thousands of words, I'd written, "Will you be my boyfriend?"

Beneath it was another line, in handwriting that clearly wasn't mine.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

Shi Yi had picked up on something being wrong.

After I told him about Du Xiaochen, his expression turned thunderous.

"Du Xiaochen is my head secretary. I had her make that fake medical report. I never imagined she'd cause so much trouble."

He gritted his teeth, apparently considering what to do about her.

Shi Yi didn't waste time once he'd made a decision.

The next day, he insisted on taking me to the company.

We'd only just entered the building when he looked at me.

"What's wrong? Did you twist your ankle?"

"Huh?"

When had I twisted my ankle?

I was still baffled when he bent and lifted me into his arms.

He carried me straight inside, bridal-style.

Amid all the envious looks, I saw a gray-faced Du Xiaochen being escorted away by the police.

"Making things up and spreading rumors has legal consequences," Shi Yi told me.

Only then did I understand.

He wasn't just dealing with Du Xiaochen. He was clearing my name too, showing everyone who'd gossiped about me that he loved me.

The realization filled my heart with sweetness.

24

I asked Shi Yi to have a medical checkup.

Once we'd confirmed that drawing the energy I needed from him did him no harm, I happily clung to him every day.

But something seemed to be wrong with my body again.

Lately, I'd been throwing up a lot.

At first, I meant to endure it on my own.

But after being examined at the hospital, I finally couldn't help calling Shi Yi while I waited for the results.

He arrived as fast as he could and pulled me into his arms.

His breathing was still ragged in my ear. My nose stung.

"Shi Yi, if I'm terminally ill, you can find someone else right away. I won't blame you."

I'd had so many strange illnesses growing up.

Several times, I'd nearly died.

I'd actually prepared myself for death long ago.

Before, I'd only been unable to bear leaving my parents.

Now there was Shi Yi too.

"Don't talk nonsense," he scolded, his voice stern.

"You're going to be fine."

He was trying to comfort me, but I could feel him trembling.

Trembling with fear.

Half an hour later, the doctor came out holding my results. Seeing our red eyes, the doctor looked puzzled.

"Aren't you two married? Is a pregnancy really that hard for you to accept?"

"What? Pregnant?"

After a brief moment of shock, I was overwhelmed with joy.

My health had been improving, but Shi Yi still wasn't reassured. He took me for another thorough examination to make sure having the baby wouldn't harm me.

Only then did he relax.

25

When we shared the good news with both sets of parents, they all looked stunned.

Mine secretly asked me, "Ranran, did you... have an affair? And with your health, having a baby..."

His secretly asked him, "Yi, did you do something desperate just to carry on the family line...?"

Both sets of parents were deeply uneasy.

Shi Yi and I compared notes.

Neither of us knew what to say.

He spoke first.

"The medical report was fake."

I hurried to add, "I've been getting healthier since we got together. I don't have trouble breathing anymore. I can have a baby too."

After questioning us and confirming we were telling the truth, my parents were overjoyed.

His parents grabbed a broom.

"You ungrateful boy! You lied to us about something this serious? We'll beat you to death!"

After a spell of complete chaos, both sets of parents began discussing how they'd help us look after the baby.

The noise was giving us an earache.

We exchanged a glance. I pointed upstairs.

He nodded and followed me.

I led him into my bedroom and went to the window.

"You used to like reading in the courtyard. I'd always stand here and sneak looks at you."

Shi Yi embraced me from behind.

"Ranran, reading outside in winter is actually very cold. But whenever I thought of you waiting at the window for me, I didn't feel cold anymore."

So he'd known all along.

My heart swelled.

I turned around and rose onto my toes.

And kissed him.

26

Bonus Story — Shi Yi's Point of View

When I was eight, my parents moved us to a new house.

On moving day, a little girl fell right in front of me.

She was tiny and thin, with huge eyes brimming with tears.

I couldn't help picking her up and soothing her gently.

My parents stood nearby and teased me. I hated physical contact, they said, yet here I was, patiently comforting a child.

I hated adults' teasing.

But just then, I didn't care what they thought.

I could only think how soft and light she was, and wonder if that fall had hurt badly.

School kept me busier and busier.

The little girl seemed to grow up all at once, into a very pretty young woman.

But she seemed to be getting frailer too.

I often heard my parents say she was ill again.

At some point, she started sneaking looks at me.

Plenty of girls liked me. I knew what that look meant.

For the first time, it didn't bother me.

When the power went out at home, I went outside to read.

From there, I could see her bedroom window.

Oh?

She seemed to be watching me from behind it.

The weather grew colder.

It really was cold, reading in the courtyard.

But if she didn't see me, she'd surely be upset all day.

Oh, well.

It didn't seem so cold after all.

Love letters filled my schoolbag, making a mess of the books inside.

I threw them all straight into the bin.

Then my parents mentioned that An Ran next door had written me one too.

I forgot everything else and spent the whole night digging through the rubbish.

At last, I found it.

In her letter, she'd asked me to be her boyfriend.

But she was in her final year of high school, the most important time for her studies. And I was about to go abroad. I couldn't be there for her the way a boyfriend should.

I'd wait.

Wait until I came home.

I came home.

And she hid like a frightened quail.

Several times, I found excuses to visit her house. Every time, she ran upstairs and refused to see me.

She rarely sneaked looks at me anymore either.

Didn't she like me now?

Did she like someone else?

For the first time, I felt regret.

Why hadn't I made a move sooner?

I stopped caring about anything else.

My parents had urged me to go on blind dates again and again.

I agreed.

I took a fake medical report along, letting the rumor spread that I couldn't perform. That would stop anyone else trying to set me up.

After all, if I couldn't spend my life with An Ran, I'd stay single forever.

I never expected my parents to tell me to marry her.

Wedding music pulled me back to the present.

I looked ahead.

The girl I'd watched grow up was in a white wedding dress.

Step by step, she was walking toward me.

The End