The Tips of His Ears Quietly Turned Red
Fang Anyan turned his head and met Fang Anyu’s face. In an instant, he was like a balloon pricked by a needle—his arrogance vanished with a soft pffft.
Almost by reflex, he shook off Jun Yueyue’s hand and tried to explain. He reached out toward Fang Anyu for the little notebook, only to realise that Fang Anyu was looking past him at Jun Yueyue. Fang Anyan froze.
His older brother could not hear, nor could he understand what people were saying. It wasn’t that they had never tried teaching him lip-reading and sign language, but his reactions were far slower than normal people’s, even slower than other deaf-mute people’s. He also forgot things very easily. After learning for a while with no progress, he would only become depressed because he still could not grasp it.
Instead, writing things down in a little notebook made it easier for him to understand. He just needed some time to process it. Because his brother often read books, even though his memory was poor and he forgot what he had read not long afterwards, he could read the same book many times. Yet he had never once given up.
Fang Anyan stepped sideways, blocking Fang Anyu’s line of sight, then reached out again, asking him for the little notebook he always carried with him.
Fang Anyu was holding the notebook and pen in his hand. His hand moved slightly, but he did not give them to Fang Anyan. Instead, he looked once more at Jun Yueyue behind him.
It was obvious. His brother was refusing to communicate with him and wanted to speak with that damn woman behind him instead.
Fang Anyan immediately felt as if his heart had taken ten thousand points of critical damage. He looked at his brother in disbelief, stiffly withdrew his hand, glared at Jun Yueyue, and walked past Fang Anyu toward the door, wounded to the core. But when he reached the doorway, he still could not help saying to Jun Yueyue, “Anyway, you’re not allowed to trick my brother into doing that kind of thing with you again… When we come back from Grandfather’s place, we’ll talk after we’ve finished discussing things.”
This time, Jun Yueyue did not retort. She nodded. She had never planned to do anything to Fang Anyu again anyway. Besides, Fang Anyan was indeed overthinking things. What did he mean by “trick”? Fang Anyu might look foolish, but from what Jun Yueyue had observed, his reactions were only a little slow. He was not actually stupid.
Besides, he was so tall, and he was still a man after all. She was no longer the mutated King Kong Barbie she had once been. Her current body was small and delicate. If Fang Anyu had not been willing, who could have done anything to him?
Of course, a woman after taking that kind of drug could not be counted as a normal woman. Once someone drank the aphrodisiac found in romance novels, no matter how pure and holy they were, they would become wanton. No matter how weak they were, they would become incredibly strong. After all, lust could make courage reach the heavens.
And when Jun Yueyue thought back to that night, her memories were not complete, but after serious deduction, she concluded that she had probably won by catching him off guard.
But after things had started, it did not necessarily mean she had forced him. The bite mark she had discovered on the back of her neck while bathing earlier was evidence.
If he had not enjoyed it, why bite someone?
Thinking this, Jun Yueyue could not help recalling the feeling from back then. It had indeed been quite good. But since she had decided to break away from the main plotline, she could not provoke Fang Anyu again. Once she and Fang Anyan talked things through, it would be best to sign the divorce agreement early.
That way, she could go find someone who suited her tastes. At the very least, it could not be someone who could neither speak nor hear. Communication was too difficult. But it did not have to be mutual love either. After all, she was a rich young lady. She had money. These days, things bought with money looked even more real—and tasted even better.
Jun Yueyue was just imagining the comfortable days she would have after breaking away from the main plotline when she saw Fang Anyu hand her a small notebook.
Jun Yueyue reached out and took it. It was a neat little square notebook, about the size of her palm. Written neatly on it were two words—
Thank you.
Jun Yueyue raised her brows. He clearly was not stupid. He even knew to say thank you.
Fang Anyu hesitantly handed her the pen as well. Only now did Jun Yueyue understand. So the method she had used earlier had been wrong. To communicate with Fang Anyu, she needed to write things down in the little notebook…
Jun Yueyue took the pen, thought for a moment, then wrote two words beneath Fang Anyu’s neat “Thank you”—
You’re welcome.
Then she handed the notebook back to Fang Anyu and began looking for clothes to change into.
She would have to go out tomorrow. She could not keep wearing Fang Anyu’s clothes. They did not fit anyway. As for the original owner’s white dresses that looked like they were specially made for hanging oneself—forget it. And she also needed to do something about this long, straight black hair. Otherwise, if she went to the toilet in the middle of the night and saw herself in the mirror, she would scare the hell out of herself…
Jun Yueyue was changing clothes, but Fang Anyu did not leave her side. Jun Yueyue did not mind either. She generously rummaged through Fang Anyu’s wardrobe and found a T-shirt. When she put it on, it covered past her thighs. Only then did she turn to look at Fang Anyu in confusion.
“Do you need something else?”
After saying it, she remembered that Fang Anyu could not hear. She reached out to take his little notebook. Fang Anyu handed it to her. Jun Yueyue looked down and saw that a few more words had been written on it—
I’m sorry about earlier.
His handwriting was quite beautiful. At least it was much prettier than Jun Yueyue’s dog-crawl handwriting. It had a broad and graceful style to it. Jun Yueyue glanced at it and knew he was talking about having thrown up all over her earlier. She smiled indifferently and wrote beneath it—
It’s fine. But do you need anything else? Why do you keep looking at me?
After writing, she handed it to Fang Anyu. Fang Anyu took it and lowered his head, reading it word by word. Several minutes passed. By the time Jun Yueyue had already finished changing all her clothes, drunk half a glass of water, and started looking for her documents and wallet in preparation for going out tomorrow, Fang Anyu finally seemed to understand what she had written.
Fang Anyu wrote something else on the paper, then walked over to Jun Yueyue, who was rummaging through the bedside cabinet, and handed the little notebook to her again.
Jun Yueyue looked down and could not help lifting her head to look at Fang Anyu. His reaction was far too slow. Looking at it this way, he did seem a little stupid…
Jun Yueyue was not a patient person. This overly primitive method of communication made her extremely resistant. But Fang Anyu was an exception in one regard. After all, the two of them had slept together. So she took the notebook again and simply wrote down the question she had wanted to ask since yesterday—
Is there anything you want?
After writing it, Jun Yueyue stuffed the little notebook back into Fang Anyu’s hand and continued rummaging for the original owner’s documents. At last, in the large cabinet she had messed up completely, underneath a pile of white mourning-like dresses, she found a handbag. Inside were the original owner’s ID, cards, and phone.
Jun Yueyue held the phone and fiddled with it for a moment. It had a password. She did not know the original owner’s password and was just thinking that it might be unusable when the phone automatically recognised her face and unlocked.
There were over a hundred missed calls and message notifications. Jun Yueyue looked and saw that the phone was on silent mode. No wonder there had been so many calls, yet she had not heard anything.
She casually looked through them, ignored the messages, gathered everything properly, kicked the messy dresses back into the cabinet, then lay down on the bed and sprawled out.
The bed was so soft. This place was so clean. There were no zombies howling every now and then. This quiet and safe environment, with only herself in it, was simply too comfortable. Jun Yueyue closed her eyes and enjoyed it…
Of course, she was not the only one in the room. Fang Anyu was sitting soundlessly on the sofa, still staring blankly at the little notebook.
Is there anything you want?
No one had ever asked Fang Anyu this question before. He understood what the sentence meant, yet at the same time, it felt as though he did not understand.
Since childhood, everything he owned had been prepared for him by his family. Fang Anyu knew they were all the best things, but he could no longer remember when he had stopped taking the initiative to ask his family for anything.
It seemed to have been after one time when he saw impatience on his mother’s face…
As the years passed, Fang Anyu had already lost the ability to ask for things on his own. So he only stared blankly at those few words, his head lowered. His half-dry curls clung to his forehead, covering his brows and eyes, and also covering the ripples that rose in his eyes because of the few words lying quietly on the page.
After Jun Yueyue finished tidying up, she saw Fang Anyu sitting on the sofa. She walked over to him, patted him, snatched the little notebook from his hand, and continued writing—
Have you thought of anything?
She handed the notebook back to Fang Anyu. Fang Anyu took it, looked at it, and continued sitting there in a daze. Jun Yueyue had nothing else to do anyway, so she simply sat beside him. She glanced at the clock on the wall, picked up the phone she had found in the cabinet, and started playing with it.
Missed calls: 123 — Brother Lei.
Based on the call history and messages between the two of them, Jun Yueyue quickly determined that their relationship was not pure. This Brother Lei was the original owner’s lover. Even if they had not yet hooked up, he was at least a reserve candidate in the ambiguous stage.
She opened the chat app again and randomly tapped on someone’s WeChat. A man’s voice came out—
“Baby, what are you doing? I miss you. Come out and have fun. I’m at Money Island.”
Jun Yueyue gave a scornful laugh and casually looked through a few more messages. Most had been sent last night. Some had even been sent at three or four in the morning. They were all asking the original owner to come out and play.
She deleted them one by one, starting with the chattiest ones. When she finished, she looked at the time. A full fifteen minutes had passed.
Jun Yueyue looked at Fang Anyu. He was still dazed. She could not help raising her hand to brush aside the hair near his brow bone. Only then did Fang Anyu finally move. He wrote a few words in the little notebook and handed it to Jun Yueyue.
I can’t think of anything. Why are you asking me what I want?
Jun Yueyue took it and wrote swiftly.
To give you something. As thanks for last night, and also as a divorce gift. Anything I have is fine. If I don’t have it, I’ll try my best to get it.
After writing this, Jun Yueyue handed the little notebook to Fang Anyu. But halfway through, she pulled it back again and added another sentence:
Did you enjoy last night?
After stuffing it into his hand, she ignored him and let him slowly process it while she played on her phone and watched TV by herself.
The whole afternoon passed like this, all the way until evening. When a servant came to call the two of them downstairs for dinner, Fang Anyu finally wrote a sentence and handed it to Jun Yueyue.
I can’t remember. When are we getting divorced?
He had avoided Jun Yueyue’s last question, making her laugh. She pointed at the bite mark on the back of her neck and showed it to him as evidence.
After Fang Anyu looked at it, he seemed to have no reaction. But he avoided Jun Yueyue’s probing gaze, and the tips of his ears quietly turned red.
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