“You’re buying a gift for my daughter, so why would I try to stop you? The more you buy, the happier I am.”
Ye Zhiqiu had already grown accustomed to others doting on Yaya. The more people who liked her daughter and treated her well, the happier she felt.
Her little girl deserved to be loved—and she deserved all the best things this world had to offer.
“It makes us happy too, knowing you feel that way.”
Han Siyang and Fan Xue exchanged a glance, then waved at Ye Zhiqiu. “Alright, go ahead and make your call to your husband. We don’t need to listen in on that.”
As the two turned to walk back, Fan Xue suddenly nudged Han Siyang. “Siyang, look over there—is that Wen Shengnan?”
She’d glanced back by chance and spotted a figure in the distance, but her eyesight wasn’t great, so she couldn’t be sure if it was really Wen Shengnan.
Han Siyang nodded. “That’s her. What’s she doing over there?”
“Let’s wait and see,” Fan Xue said, pulling Han Siyang into a hiding spot.
After Wen Shengnan left, the two approached the spot where she’d been standing and realized it had a clear view of the telephone booth.
“I also noticed her jotting something down on paper earlier,” Han Siyang said, finding it quite odd. “She was probably spying on Zhiqiu’s phone call—but what was she writing?”
Fan Xue shook her head. “No idea.”
When they got back to the dorm, they told Ye Zhiqiu about it.
Ye Zhiqiu recalled that while she’d been on the phone earlier, she’d had this strange feeling—like someone was watching her. So it wasn’t just her imagination; it must have been Wen Shengnan lurking in the shadows.
“Siyang, did you see whether she wrote just a few strokes or kept writing continuously?”
Han Siyang was certain. “She only wrote a few strokes.”
Ye Zhiqiu guessed, “She might have been jotting down a number.”
Other than that, she couldn’t think of anything else worth recording—unless it was notes on what she’d said during the call.
“Jotting down a number?”
Han Siyang’s eyes lit up. “Right! It really could be a number. That’s why those two strokes looked so familiar—she was writing digits!”
“She was recording a phone number? Yours?”
Fan Xue quickly dismissed her own guess. “No, no—there’s no point in her getting your home number. She was writing down Yue Mingyuan’s number!”
Ye Zhiqiu nodded. “That’s probably it.”
Han Siyang shuddered. “That woman is way too calculating. It’s frightening.”
Fan Xue agreed wholeheartedly. “Totally.”
“I wonder if she managed to memorize it all—and whether she’ll actually call Yue Mingyuan.”
Fan Xue gave Ye Zhiqiu a gentle nudge. “Zhiqiu, you should go call Yue Mingyuan right now and tell him about this.”
But Ye Zhiqiu knew her husband well. “He doesn’t even know who Wen Shengnan is.”
“Huh?”
Fan Xue was stunned. “How is that possible? Wen Shengnan publicly told Yue Mingyuan she liked him! Sure, he turned her down, but how could he not remember her?”
“To Yue Mingyuan, Wen Shengnan is just another female soldier. And in his eyes, the only difference between female and male soldiers is gender.”
Earlier, when Yue Mingyuan had come to the arts troupe to see her, she’d noticed that the way he looked at other women was exactly the same as how he looked at male soldiers—completely devoid of any emotion.
Well… actually, that wasn’t entirely true. The way he looked at Ling Hang and a few others in his team was different.
“Is Yue Mingyuan really that amusing?” Fan Xue burst out laughing.
Han Siyang found it funny too, but she still advised Ye Zhiqiu, “Zhiqiu, even if that’s the case, you should still give him a heads-up. Just in case Wen Shengnan calls him up to try something, or badmouths you.”
“If he can be easily lured away, then that man isn’t worth keeping.”
“And if he doesn’t trust me, then there’s no point in us staying together.”
Han Siyang and Fan Xue thought about Ye Zhiqiu’s words for a moment and realized she had a point.
“My aunt-in-law once told me: never waste your energy trying to keep watch over a man or control him. A man who needs watching can’t be watched no matter how hard you try, and a man who doesn’t need watching—well, you don’t need to bother. Same goes for trying to control him.”
Wang Shuying had specifically shared this piece of advice with Ye Zhiqiu, worried that after having a child, she might stop dancing—or even stop working altogether. She’d mainly urged her to never give up her career, no matter what. A woman must have a job and her own money—that’s what gives her confidence. Never revolve your whole life around a man.
Han Siyang spoke up, “That really does ring true. My neighbor’s uncle is exactly the kind of man you’re talking about—the one who can’t be kept in check.”
“That auntie practically wants to tie him to her belt loop, watching him like a hawk. But the moment she lets her guard down, he’s off somewhere cozying up to another woman.”
“I heard they’ve been fighting about this since they were young, but the uncle never changes—and the auntie refuses to leave him.”
Han Siyang shook her head. “I don’t get what she’s holding on to.”
“It’s probably just resentment.”
Ye Zhiqiu sighed. “Resentment that he chose to be with her, and yet still goes after others. The more unwilling she is to accept it, the more she wants to be the only one in his heart—but the more it backfires.”
“I think it’s more that the uncle knows she’ll never leave him, so he feels free to do whatever he wants without consequences.”
As Fan Xue said this, she thought of her own situation. Back when Han Li said and did those things, she’d felt hurt too—but because she loved him, she’d swallowed it all, hoping that one day he’d see her sincerity. Instead, all she got was him pushing even further.
“My mom says men are no good.”
Han Siyang sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. “She told me not to get married at all. But if I do, she said to find a man who’s either rich or powerful—and most importantly, one who’s crazy about me, not the other way around.”
“She said that if a man loves you, he’ll treat you well. But if you’re the one who loves him, he won’t treat you better just because you like him—he’ll just think you should be good to him since you’re the one who fell for him.”
Fan Xue felt those words hit straight home. She nodded firmly. “Your mom is absolutely right.”
“Love is complicated—hard to put into words. Of course, mutual affection is ideal. But if you have to choose one-sided love, it really depends on the person. Some people would rather pursue who they want, even if that person doesn’t feel the same. Others just can’t accept someone they don’t have feelings for, no matter how much that person adores them.”
Ye Zhiqiu didn’t really have much relationship wisdom to share with Han Siyang and Fan Xue, because she felt she’d been incredibly lucky.
Sure, she’d dealt with Chen Can—the ultimate scumbag—before. But she’d never had real feelings for him. Back then, she’d agreed to date him simply because Wang Fengqin said he had decent prospects.
When Chen Can betrayed her and got together with Shen Liya, she wasn’t heartbroken—just disgusted.
As for her and Yue Mingyuan, they hadn’t gone through much hardship. There had been a few small misunderstandings along the way, but they were cleared up quickly. All in all, she felt things had gone fairly smoothly for them.
Before they knew it, the Beginning of Spring had arrived—and with it, the day of the final evaluation.
Just as Ye Zhiqiu had predicted, they were told to perform freestyle.
