Chen Qingqing had a dream too.
She dreamed Xu Ye had come to her house, and that the two of them were alone there, sitting on the sofa watching television. Then he suddenly started getting fresh with her and insisted on kissing her. She wouldn’t let him, but he was far stronger than her, and before long he had her in his arms. All she could do was clap a hand over his mouth and go on refusing.
“No — no — you rotten…”
Xu Ye, half asleep himself, was woken by her talking. When he opened his eyes he found that Chen Qingqing, who had been lying on the far side, had crossed the middle line at some point and was now on the same pillow as him. She was still repeating his name in broken little snatches.
Before he could gather himself she finished her last you big rotten thing and opened her eyes.
The two of them looked straight at each other.
Close enough to feel each other breathe.
Chen Qingqing’s eyes flew wide and she sat bolt upright, and Xu Ye sat up with her.
“What were you dreaming about just now?” He rolled his neck as though nothing had happened.
Chen Qingqing kept her head down. “Nothing… I wasn’t dreaming about anything.”
“You were saying my name the whole time.”
“That’s because—”
“Because what?”
“Nothing!”
Xu Ye put his shoes on, pulled a couple of tissues out of the box on the nightstand and handed them to her with a wicked grin. “Better wipe that. Your drool’s about to drip.”
Chen Qingqing stared for two seconds, then took them and scrubbed at her face — and when she found she really had been drooling in her sleep, her pale little face went scarlet on the spot.
This is your fault.
You can’t even behave in a dream.
She complained inwardly, and was climbing off the bed when what he said next left her too embarrassed to answer at all.
“Qingqing. Would you say the two of us just slept together?”
The room was silent for a full half minute before she answered in a rush, “No. Definitely not.”
“Why not?”
“It just doesn’t count, all right? And you’re not to tell anybody about this. If you do I’ll never speak to you again.”
Xu Ye let it go at that, put his phone and the key card in his pocket, and took her out to dinner.
…
Qin Zhiwei had a headache.
Shen Xinyi’s birthday was at the weekend and he still hadn’t worked out what to get her.
He had sat in the dorm searching Baidu ever since class finished, and every answer online was different.
Some said chocolate, some said lipstick, some said a handbag or perfume…
He couldn’t make up his mind.
By evening he had decided to call Xu Ye. When it came to this sort of thing Xu Ye was the master, and whatever he suggested was bound to be right.
Xu Ye had just sat down with Chen Qingqing in the restaurant. He saw the call and picked up.
Qin Zhiwei: “Xu Ye, I want to ask you something.”
Xu Ye: “Don’t tell me. Let me guess what it is.”
Xu Ye: “You want to ask me what to get Shen Xinyi for her birthday this weekend.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Christ. How did you know?”
Xu Ye: “Your old man is half a fortune-teller.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Then give me some advice, quick. My head’s a mess.”
Xu Ye: “Haven’t you got any ideas of your own?”
Qin Zhiwei: “I saw a lipstick gift box online. The kind where you open it and it lights up and plays music.”
Xu Ye: “…”
Xu Ye: “Are you brain-dead?”
Xu Ye: “Shen Xinyi isn’t three. Do you think a girl is going to want a present like that from a blunt instrument?”
Qin Zhiwei: “Then give me some advice, would you.”
Xu Ye was still thinking when Chen Qingqing said quietly, “Xinyi’s been wanting an SK-II skincare set for ages, but she’s never let herself buy it.”
Xu Ye passed that on at once, and Qin Zhiwei was so delighted he sounded like an idiot.
Xu Ye: “Right, I’m hanging up if there’s nothing else. I’m in the middle of dinner.”
Qin Zhiwei: “Got it. Thank your girlfriend for me.”
Xu Ye hung up and picked his chopsticks back up, and had barely eaten a few mouthfuls before the phone rang again.
“That dog. It’s always something with him.”
He had assumed it was Qin Zhiwei, but the voice on the other end turned out to be Pei Youwei’s.
“Xu Ye, what are you doing at the moment?”
Xu Ye laughed. “Having dinner with Qingqing.”
Pei Youwei: “Oh. Well, the designs are done. I’ll send them over now, and if there’s nothing wrong with them I’ll get started right away.”
Xu Ye: “Send them. I’ll call you back tonight.”
Pei Youwei: “All right.”
Seeing him hang up, Chen Qingqing asked, “Who was that?”
“The boss.”
“What did she want?”
“She’s changed trades. She’s going into the business I told her about.”
Chen Qingqing was genuinely surprised. She had been there when it was discussed, and had taken the whole thing for a joke at the time. It had never occurred to her that Pei Youwei would actually go and make lingerie.
“She’s… she’s really going to make that kind of… clothing?”
“Mm. The factory’s already been taken over.”
“But won’t the boss find it embarrassing?”
“There’s no way around it. If you want to make money now, the only way is a trade ordinary people won’t set foot in. It’s all right for the next couple of years, but a couple after that and every trade will be difficult — by then it’ll be too late to get in.”
Chen Qingqing pursed her lips and gave him a look of distaste. “You know what’s happening two years from now, do you? If the boss loses money, you’re the first person she’ll blame.”
“Don’t worry. She won’t.”
Chen Qingqing didn’t bother answering that. She picked two pieces of streaky pork belly out of her own bowl and put them into his.
After they had eaten they walked for a while outside, and it was past eight by the time Xu Ye dropped her back at the dorm. Once he was back at the hotel he showered straight away, then lay down on the bed and went through the designs Pei Youwei had sent.
Five minutes later he started a video call with her.
Pei Youwei hadn’t finished work yet and was still in her office. Once it connected she came straight out with it. “You’ve looked at the designs? Any problems?”
“Yes. Quite a few.”
“I did all of it to your suggestions.”
“I wouldn’t call them problems, exactly. There’s just still room to refine it.”
“Go on, then. Where does it need refining?”
“Let’s take them one set at a time. First set — could the sides of the briefs be pearls instead? So it’s two panels, front and back, and pearl strings joining them at the hips.”
“Second set. Black stockings with this one would probably make the whole thing hang together better.”
“Third set. There should be a suspender strap where the fishnets are.”
“Fourth set feels more like nightwear. Could it be sheerer? I want that half-hidden-behind-the-pipa quality.” [TL: 犹抱琵琶半遮面, from Bai Juyi’s Pipa Xing — the musician comes out to be seen but keeps the instrument raised across her face. It has long since become the standard phrase for showing just enough to hold the attention.]
“Fifth set is all right, but I think you could add cat ears, or a collar. Both together would work too.”
“…”
Pei Youwei didn’t interrupt once from beginning to end. She simply kept writing.
When he had finished, she said in all seriousness, “Xu Ye. Let me ask you something serious.”
“Ask.”
“Are all eighteen- and nineteen-year-old boys as filthy as you are?”
Xu Ye rolled his eyes, exasperated. “Boss, let me stress this to you one more time. You and I are discussing work. Work. In my personal life I’m actually a very innocent person.”
Beep — beep — beep—
“Hello? Hello!”
(End of Chapter 213)