Pat Me Please

Usually, at this point, an eccentric character would descend from the sky, breaking the awkward and slightly suggestive atmosphere.

That was Xiao Lin.

She was standing next to Su Chang, scrolling through her phone while quipping, “This is quite interesting; Even the author and the voice actor now have their own shipping fandom.”

Xiao Luo, who likes gossiping, leaned in, “What’s that?”

“Something I found yesterday,” Xiao Lin showed her, full of amusement, “A ship called ‘Qin Yi Mian Main’[1]; belongs to our author and Miss Xu. Apparently, it’s because our author sama complimented Miss Xu on Weibo.”

Ah… what an unusual arrangement this character had to offer? Yu Zhou chuckled awkwardly, stealing covert glances towards Su Chang.

Su Chang didn’t respond, her gaze lingering on the observation window, appearing visibly disinterested.

The one who did respond was Director Zhao, who leaned back in the chair, causing it to slip slightly. She reached out to grab Xiao Lin’s phone and asked, “Is it true? Chaichai and Mianmian?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh my,” Director Zhao exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief, as she examined the fanart in the Super Topic. “Our audio drama is going to become a hit!”

Yu Zhou, almost vomiting blood, felt like those fervent shippers had conquered earth. Despite the parties involved being present, the ladies continued to gossip excitedly, completely disregarding her feelings.

Yu Zhou glanced at Su Chang once more, and their eyes met. Su Chang slowly raised an eyebrow in response.

In Yu Zhou’s mind, her message was clear, “Online shipping is usually fictitious, you know that right? The idea of ‘CP’ usually represents fans’ fantasies about love and friendship. Having been in the circles for so many years, you don’t need me to teach you right?”

She received Su Chang’s brainwave.

One single word, “Mm.”

“Chaichai,” Director Zhao interrupted their unspoken communication by turning back and nudging Yu Zhou’s chair.

“Huh?”

“You’ll be coming to the releasing free talk, right?”

“Huh…” Yu Zhou turned stiffly, touching her nose before replying in a whisper, “When is it? I need to check my schedule.”

“Coordinate with your schedule, as you’re both the author and the screenwriter, you must attend,” Director Zhao remarked.

“I see.” Yu Zhou nodded, inhaling sharply as she glanced at Su Chang.

Miss Su continued to stay aloof, fingers idly stroking her sleeve, showing no intention of joining the conversation.

Oh, the jig was up! Yu Zhou continued to bite her lip, considering if her initial refusal wasn’t firm enough. Was she portraying a coy and shy persona, hiding her anticipation?

Su Chang wouldn’t assume that she was looking forward to the free talk with Xu Wangmian, right?

Yu Zhou gulped, feeling the need to examine her reflection to see if her unwashed beauty was still charming enough, and if the Queen would accept her apology when she returned home this evening.

The Queen who came to visit the fief… no, rather, the one who came to visit the recording studio, Su Chang, didn’t show much reaction. She quietly watched Xu Wangmian’s performance, then warmly embraced her with a light laugh, leaning against the wall as they exchanged some words. After that, she smoothly accepted the team’s invitation to dine at the nearby Cantonese restaurant.

Yu Zhou assumed it wouldn’t be a big crowd, but coincidentally, she ran into the director and the teachers from the next studio who had just finished their work. Since everyone knew each other well, they decided to gather together.

This gathering was harmonious, only Yu Zhou, who had mild social anxiety, was out of place. After all, she was just an author, and wasn’t very adept at engaging in inside gossip. To add to the intrigue, Su Chang conveniently ended up sitting between Xu Wangmian and herself.

Really…how amusing.

If she was to write a novel and lay out such a dramatic scene, she herself would’ve called it cliché.

But clichés are fine; everyone loves such melodrama. (Except Yu Zhou.)

The atmosphere was pleasant at the table, the VAs and the Staffs ordered some wine and began casual conversation. The center of the talk, naturally, circled around Xu Wangmian, who had finally returned to Jiang City. Skilled chitchat participant, Xiao Lin casually asked while picking up a piece of food, “Did Miss Xu and Miss Yu know each other before?”

Yu Zhou sneered internally, casting a watchful glance at Xiao Lin, memorizing her face.

With the crisp sound of chopsticks, Su Chang on the right side ladled a spoonful of soup.

Xu Wangmian gently glanced at Yu Zhou, “Not at all, we got acquainted after taking this project.”

Hearing the phrase ‘got acquainted,’ Yu Zhou’s eyelids twitched.

Predictably, Xiao Lin and Xiao Luo let out a collective ‘whoa.’

Yu Zhou committed Xiao Luo’s face to memory as well. Crazy shippers, the two of you aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.

Just you wait, if Su Chang gets irritated, the antagonist in the next novel of Ba Da Qin Chai will surely bear the surname Lin and Luo.

While Yu Zhou’s internal drama played out, Xu Wangmian seemed oblivious, idly brushing aside her long black hair and arching her eyebrows, “Why are you laughing?”

She was easy-going, so everyone at the table was joking around even more, “Your CP with her on the internet is somewhat on fire, did you know it, Miss Xu?”

“CP?” Xu Wangmian raised her fine eyebrows.

“Yeah, the fans think you guys make a good couple, a good match.”

“Oh,” Xu Wangmian nodded, smiling at Yu Zhou, “Really?”

No…it’s not, you are just taking someone’s word for it, aren’t you? One can’t just casually blurt out such a MATCH thing, right? It can’t be said easily without checking the birthdates[2], right? The little person inside Yu Zhou was shaking her head with tears but she herself was in a dilemma, not knowing whether to admit or deny it.

She only knew one thing for sure, her half body that was leaning towards Su Chang had gone numb.

Su Chang was eating her vegetables, the pursed lips present an elegant sight yet the subtle sound of her chewing didn’t escape Yu Zhou’s ears.

It was the vegetable’s fault, growing too soft, not crisp at all, making it difficult for Su Chang to chew, otherwise she wouldn’t possibly chew over 30 times for one bite.

…… This soft, was certainly not referring to Xu Wangmian’s mian[3].

She hoped not.

Yu Zhou stifled a burp, smiled slightly before she licked her lips, her eyelashes fluttered as she sipped her mango juice.

Leaning forward slightly, Xu Wangmian looked past Su Chang towards Yu Zhou and asked, “But I’ve heard, it seems like Zhouzhou has a girlfriend?”

Ah? Yu Zhou instinctively wanted to gauge Su Chang’s reaction.

Su Chang was taking a second bite of her vegetable.

Yu Zhou had no choice but to muster her courage to reply, “Ah yes, yes, yes.”

“Oh, my girlfriend, she’s pretty amazing,” she said, seemingly pulling the words out from thin air.

To her side, a soft laughter resounded – Su Chang laughed. The rest of them, ignorant to the situation, turned their heads towards Su Chang. Su Chang, her eyelids drooping slightly, resumed her indifferent demeanor at a nonchalant pace and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

Yu Zhou’s heart pounded ferociously, with Su Chang sitting beside her, it felt like she was toying with her, even her laughter and the way she was sitting had deeper implications.

But Yu Zhou’s disguise skill was rapidly improving so that to the outsider’s she appeared calm. Xiao Luo was still excitedly engaging in the conversation, while eating her custard-filled bun, she asked, “So Chaichai has a girlfriend now, and people still ship you two, will your girlfriend get angry?”

“Err..”, Yu Zhou rubbed her nose, “She, she might not know, she doesn’t really care about these online things.”

Su Chang was eating her third bite of vegetable.

But to Yu Zhou’s ears, it was as if Su Chang was chewing out a Morse code that said “Oh? Am I not concerned?”

Yu Zhou was at a loss, these people at the table, all thirty something, should be more sensible right? Yet they still engage in pointless gossip, can’t they see her girlfriend is right there?

They couldn’t.

“Alright, let’s not delve into Zhouzhou’s private life anymore,” Xu Wangmian said.

Sensing Yu Zhou’s discomfort, she gave a faint smile and tactfully changed the subject, extending her glass towards Yu Zhou, “Let’s clink, rumor girlfriend.”

Rumor girlfriend…

She gave a very gentle smile. But Yu Zhou kicked her legs in her mind as if she was going to die. She raised her mango drink dumbfoundedly and clinked it with Xu Wangmian’s cup in front of Su Chang, then pulled away before gulping down her drink.

Have a good meal[4], she told herself.

With the clink of the glasses, the topic seemed to finally pass. Yu Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, when she was about striking up some small talk with Su Chang, she saw her put down the napkin and softly said to the person next to her, “I’m going to the restroom.”

Director Zhao and Xu Wangmian pointed in the direction of the restroom, nodding their heads.

The chair slid back and Su Chang stood up. Yu Zhou was about to scoot the stool aside for her, but saw her halt her motion. With her left hand perched on the table, Su Chang turned her head slightly towards Yu Zhou and asked, “Aren’t you coming with me?”

There was no title, no author, no ‘Miss Yu,’ no ‘Zhouzhou’ — just a simple “you.”

But it was like a small proclamation of sovereignty.

Going to the restroom together was a phenomenon that often occurred among school-age girls. Only the two who were closest in the class would always go in pairs. During her high school years, Yu Zhou would also wait during breaks for her closest girlfriend to find her, saying, “Let’s go.”

Then, naturally, they would become the recognized best friends of the class.

But now that this was happening to Yu Zhou, in her twenties, she sat in the suddenly quiet room, Su Chang, also quiet, lowering her head to say to her, “Let’s go to the restroom together.”

As long as she stood up. As long as she stood up, they would become the besties at the dining table.

So subtly besties.

More precisely, the subtle atmosphere no longer cared how Yu Zhou would react. When Su  Chang asked, everyone sensed something was off.

During this evening, Yu Zhou and Su Chang had virtually no interaction, it was as if they hadn’t seen each other since their collaboration. Yet, Su Chang felt that Yu Zhou should be the one to accompany her to the restroom.

This slight anomaly stranded everyone in the sea of speculations, as they tried to guess what was behind it.

The frequency of dishes and glasses colliding lessened, Yu Zhou only stared at Sister Su, but her keen peripheral vision caught everyone covertly or overtly staring at them. Her ears remained hot, but a trace of warmth began to settle at the bottom of her eyes.

Because when Su Chang looked at her, it suddenly occurred to Yu Zhou that all the hiding and confusion over the journey were unnecessary. She’d overthought the reactions of everyone, except that she’d forgotten to look at Su Chang.

Like right now, Su Chang was staring at her unbothered, conveying with her eyes: Yu Zhou, you’ve made a mistake again.

You promised to take a good look at me, to watch me carefully, meticulously.

Not the irrelevant people, not the ones who don’t even speak half a word to you.

Yu Zhou took a deep breath, feeling somehow guilty. Su Chang had tolerated so much nonsensical talk throughout the meal, yet her eyes still enveloped and accepted Yu Zhou.

So Yu Zhou, not even bothering to wipe her mouth, stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

Su Chang smiled, held the back of Yu Zhou’s chair, and effortlessly slid her hand up to rest it on her shoulder.

The room fell into silence. When the private room door opened, a wave of suppressed noise went rushing in.

They dined in an upscale restaurant, where there weren’t many people and the restroom was exquisitely decorated. Su Chang was not really in there to use the facilities, but leaning obliquely against the mirror by the washbasin, under the warm light, watching Yu Zhou.

Waiting for her to speak.

“Su Chang,” Yu Zhou held her wrist, her voice soft, trailing a second behind.

“This Su Chang, it feels different than when you called me Miss Su just now,” Su Chang allowed her to hold onto her, her body relaxed and her voice languid.

Yu Zhou pursed her lips and asked hesitantly, “Are you upset?”

Su Chang put her arms around her, her eyelashes dropping down heavily as she lowered her head and pressed a kiss onto Yu Zhou’s lips.

There was a taste of mango juice mixed with the unique wooden scent of Su Chang making Yu Zhou dazed. She almost forgot that someone could walk in at any moment.

She heard Su Chang sigh in between their kisses, and also felt a slight bite of revenge when their lips met again.

Su Chang, with subtle gestures, told her that she felt a bit wronged, upset about being masked, hidden and not recognized.

Upset that she could toast to a “rumor girlfriend”, yet still call her “Miss Su”.

Then they sneak away to a corner where nobody is looking, softening her tone as if their relationship was something shameful.

Yu Zhou ended their kiss, her heart still pounding. Holding Su Chang, she struggled to explain, “You suddenly showed up today without prior preparation. I wasn’t sure if it should be made public.”

“Why not?” Su Chang spoke with her words carrying Yu Zhou’s breath.

“I don’t know, I…”

Yu Zhou suddenly realized why she instinctively desired to gauge Su Chang’s reactions? Why did she feel the urge to hide? Why couldn’t she confidently acknowledge their relationship, treat it as not a big deal?

“Because, I’m not familiar with your colleagues. I don’t know if there’s any special circumstances, and although I have much more confidence now, I occasionally worry about whether I will cause disturbance to you or not,” Yu Zhou clarifying her mind while pondering her feelings.

“What do you mean by ‘disturbance’? Do you mean you being around me is a disturbance? Or is our relationship a disturbance?” Su Chang patiently asked her.

“I…” At a loss for words, Yu Zhou sighed.

Su Chang’s hand moved gently and soothingly across her waist to comfort her.

After some thought, Yu Zhou confessed, “I guess I’m worried that we’ve just reconciled and I’m not very strong yet. I’m afraid if too many people know and they start gossiping, making me start to worry and upset you again, what will I do?”

She still felt uneasy, still torn by the sight of Su Chang choking out the words “You can’t”, afraid of history repeating itself.

Su Chang gave a slight smile, shaking her head. “Don’t be so nervous. I’m not forcing you to come out, nor would I presumptuously tell you not to be afraid.”

“But what I want to say is that there’s not just one step and a hundred steps. We can take it slow. Two steps today, three steps tomorrow. Not a sudden whirlwind for all to know, we can be casual in a small scope, right?”

“Because I also worry, why my girlfriend constantly refuses to acknowledge me, is it because I’m not good enough, or does she not really like me?” Su Chang said seriously.

“How could you possibly not be good enough?” Yu Zhou felt fluffy, resting her forehead on Su Chang’s shoulder.

“Is that so? How good?” Su Chang asked with a smile.

How good?

In Yu Zhou’s heart, Su Chang had always been so, so good, so good that Yu Zhou once thought that the moon would pale in comparison.

But she didn’t respond, because this wasn’t the most important thing now. What was more important was that Yu Zhou was aware, clearer than ever, that her relationship with Su Chang was really progressing. For instance, Su Chang was openly showing her vulnerability, and she was also able to honestly voice her own concerns.

As long as they could speak up, they wouldn’t repeat their mistakes.

Yu Zhou felt encouraged by her own thoughts and quietly proposed to Su Chang, “Later, can we go out hand in hand?”

Su Chang was about to respond when she suddenly heard footsteps. Xu Wangmian came around the corner and froze at the sight of them entwined together, blinked before making eye contact with Su Chang.

Ah this… Yu Zhou drew a sharp breath, burying her face in Su Chang’s neck, she didn’t dare look up.

This was too embarrassing, just moments before they were acting indifferent and now they were caught huddled together. How would Xu Wangmian see her, wouldn’t she seem like a drama queen?

While Yu Zhou was mentally searching for a mask for herself, while she heard Su Chang nonchalantly chuckle and lightly stroke her neck, “Miss Xu is here.”

She couldn’t hide anymore.

Ostrich-like Yu Zhou popped her head out, greeting Xu Wangmian with her face flushing, “Miss Xu.”

Xu Wangmian cleared her throat, gave a knowing smile before she walked past them towards the cubicle.

“She reacted quite normally,” Su Chang tilted her head, looking at Yu Zhou, “The world didn’t explode, did it?”

Yu Zhou paused, it seemed that way, she even remembered walking into the stalls in a straight line.

Speechless, she found herself analyzing how someone went to the toilet. That was truly insidious.

“Let’s go.” Su Chang grabbed her hand. “It’s time to go out.” Otherwise, they would indeed have been hiding for too long.

Yu Zhou took a quick look in the mirror, fixed her hair, then quickly took two steps to catch up with Su Chang’s pace.

“We are actually match too, don’t you think?” Yu Zhou abruptly made this remark as they turned the corner behind the screen.

“Yeah, at least, we’re a better pair than Qin Yi Mian Mian.”

“But why don’t we have any CP fans? We’ve collaborated before too.”

“Don’t you have a registered account?”

“Huh?”

“Go create a thread.”

“…”

It didn’t really have to be this serious. Yu Zhou chuckled mischievously, agreeing with Su Chang’s thoughts. They had better take slow steps, as they still had plenty of years ahead together, surely they would reach the end someday.

2/100, progress bar advancing.

Chinese netizens like to give a four-character CP name that contains two characters from the name of the two people and sounds like an idiom. For example, Qin Yi Mian Main here contain Qin in Ba Da Qin Chai and Mian in Xu Wangmian, and the whole word sounds like qingyimianmian(情意绵绵), which means everlasting love.In ancient China, there was a feudal superstition tradition that examined the compatibility between two people’s birthdates to determine whether they were suitable for marriage. The code behind the birthdate was called Bazi(Four Pillars of Destiny – Wikipedia) Xu Wangmian’s mian(绵) can mean “soft”.Here Yu Zhou thought she would die soon so she’d better have a good last meal.