"Mmgh…"
Feeling the discomfort welling up in her chest, Fang Qiu, curled up on the bed, knitted her brows and forced her eyes open with effort.
Confusion and a dazed haze flickered through her crimson eyes.
"Is it raining?"
Hearing the soft pitter-patter of rain beyond the window, Fang Qiu murmured under her breath.
The sound of it didn't seem all that heavy.
Another damp day.
Today was the day to hand in the sales figures.
She wondered whether Sister Bai would come by…
Chasing manuscripts, reviewing manuscripts, handling the copyright side of things, and on top of all that, coming over to deliver the data sheets and pay out the royalties.
Being an editor really was hard work…
She'd better prepare some snacks for Sister Bai.
And if Sister Bai didn't come, well, she'd just eat them herself.
With that thought, Fang Qiu tried to prop herself up, only to find that moving was terribly difficult.
What was more, her body felt a little strange…
She looked down to see a clean, fair hand gripping firmly at…
What was more, her back seemed to be pressed tightly against something.
In other words, someone was holding her from behind.
Only then did Fang Qiu remember that after the screams outside had startled her awake the night before, she'd fled to Hu Tao's room to sleep.
Which meant the one holding her from behind was Hu Tao.
Only…
Hu Tao's hand…
Before Fang Qiu could react, a warm, moist breath spilled against the base of her ear.
A shiver ran through her, and she tried to twist free of the hold.
But her strength was far too slight; she couldn't break loose at all.
When Hu Tao gave no response, Fang Qiu asked, "Hu Tao… are you awake?"
Silence.
After a good long while, Hu Tao finally released her, rolled over, and drifted back to sleep.
Fang Qiu gulped in air and tried to sit up, but the instant she raised herself, her body went limp and she flopped back down onto the bed.
Lucky the bedding was soft, or that little tumble would have hurt something awful.
After another good while, she finally managed to crawl up off the bed.
Casting a reproachful glance at Hu Tao, whose clothes lay in disarray beneath the covers, Fang Qiu sighed, straightened her own garments, tucked the quilt snugly over Hu Tao, and made her way back to her own room.
Looking at her bashful, pretty face in the mirror, Fang Qiu gave her cheeks a light pat.
Fang Qiu, oh, Fang Qiu, don't let your mind wander.
Hu Tao was simply a restless sleeper, that was all.
She slipped off her nightdress, and at the sight of the red handprint on her body, she touched it without thinking.
At once a scorching heat flared up.
Fang Qiu shook her head quickly, shaking every last one of those muddled thoughts out of her mind.
After wiping herself down with a towel, Fang Qiu changed into a moon-white robe and walked out to the courtyard corridor.
The rain came down in a soft, steady patter.
As the cool, crisp air wrapped around her, the heat that had burned in her body cooled away.
She sat down in the corridor, watching the hazy veil of drizzle fill the sky, and her restless heart quieted along with it.
The rain went on falling in its gentle patter, striking the courtyard ground and throwing up little sprays of water.
As though nothing remained in all the world but the sound of rain against the earth.
Before long, Hu Tao woke.
She came and found Fang Qiu.
"How did you sleep?"
Fang Qiu asked softly.
At the question, Hu Tao's pretty face flushed faintly, and she couldn't quite bring herself to meet Fang Qiu's eyes. "Slept pretty well…"
"That's good, then."
Seeing the evasive look on Hu Tao's face, Fang Qiu went still, and an absurd notion rose up in her.
Could Hu Tao…
Surely she hadn't been awake just now?
If Hu Tao had been awake and still done that to her, then could it be…
Fang Qiu didn't dare follow the thought any further.
Because she could feel that her face had gone completely red.
Hu Tao, for her part, was every bit as mortified.
The night before, she'd had a dream…
She'd dreamed that she and Fang Qiu had married.
And that fellow Zhongli had, from who knew where, dug up an herbal remedy that let two girls conceive a child together.
So, on their wedding night, she'd fed the herb to Fang Qiu…
And then…
At the memory, her whole face burned crimson.
Nothing was more dreadful than the air suddenly going quiet.
Fang Qiu felt a pang of regret — why did she have to go poking at the one sore spot…
She looked over at Hu Tao. "Hu Tao, what would you like for breakfast?"
"Plain noodles are fine."
Hu Tao said.
"Mm, I'll go down and make some for you, then."
Fang Qiu got to her feet and fled all the way to the kitchen.
Only once she'd escaped into the kitchen did Fang Qiu realize that what she'd just said had, once again, come out sounding utterly outrageous…
Thankfully, Hu Tao probably wouldn't catch the meaning.
Fang Qiu patted at her cheeks, the slaps ringing out with a crisp pat-pat-pat.
She lit the fire, poured in the water, and waited for it to boil.
Then she set to making the noodles.
Before long, two bowls of steaming plain noodles were done.
She set the two bowls on a serving tray and carried them out of the kitchen.
But the moment she stepped out, she found there was more than one person in the hall — Hu Tao was deep in conversation with a woman.
"The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is running another limited-time grand promotion! Buy any funeral service from Wangsheng, and not only do you get a second one free, we'll throw in a complete set of Mora cinerary urns on the house. How about it? Tell you what — seeing as you're Fang Qiu's editor, I'll sweeten the deal even further: after you pass on, I can lay you to rest in a cliffside plot up on Wuwang Hill. The wind and water there are just splendid — you could call it the back garden of one's life, a lifelong resting place, buried facing the sun, worth treasuring for all your days."
Hu Tao's face was bright with excitement as she rattled on without pause, while beside her sat Bai Qing, listening with a helpless expression, her eyes brimming with conflict, unsure for the moment whether to keep listening or to put a stop to Hu Tao's sales pitch.
The sight of Fang Qiu emerging with the noodles brought Bai Qing a wave of relief.
Earlier, when she'd knocked and found that the one opening the door wasn't Fang Qiu, she'd been stunned for the longest time.
She'd thought she must have knocked on the wrong door.
Only afterward did she learn that Fang Qiu was in the kitchen making plain noodles.
Hu Tao had offered to go to the kitchen and call Fang Qiu, but Bai Qing had stopped her.
Saying they'd wait until Fang Qiu had finished the noodles.
As it turned out… to her dismay, no sooner had she sat down than Hu Tao pulled her into a pitch on the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's services…
From corpse collection to funeral rites, and just now on to the choice of burial plot — clearly she meant to keep her cornered for a good while longer.
Who on earth wants to hear all this first thing in the morning…
No, wait — even if it weren't first thing in the morning, no one would want to hear this…
Had she known, she'd have just let Hu Tao go fetch Fang Qiu from the kitchen.
"Morning, Sister Bai," Fang Qiu said, setting the noodles down on the table.
"Morning. I've come to drop something off."
Bai Qing wore the look of someone who'd just found her savior, nodding quickly with a smile before she went on.
"You two go ahead and talk — I'll eat my noodles first."
Now that Fang Qiu was out, Hu Tao dropped the sales talk, waved a hand, and headed straight to the table to start on her noodles.
Bai Qing, meanwhile, drew out a stack of documents and said, "These are the sales figures. Oh, right — Yae Publishing House would like to invite you to the Irodori Festival over in Inazuma. Have you given it any thought? Are you planning to go?"
At Bai Qing's words, Hu Tao, eating her noodles off to the side, gave a start, her chopsticks going still.
…
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