The true meaning of life never lies in the number of breaths you take, but in the moments that take your breath away. Those voices roaring inside—some are suppressed deep in the heart, while others echo lonely against the ear. Once, you were like a warrior, unafraid to gallop alone through the wilderness; now, you are willing to cast aside your armor and surrender completely before your lover, leaving yourself with nowhere to hide.
Mai Shining was right. Professor Liang was indeed a "pig eating the tiger."
That night, Liang Jueyun was as gentle as water, cautious and tender, treating the person in her arms like a precious treasure. After completing her "coming-of-age ceremony," Xia Yinuo rolled over and climbed onto Liang Jueyun like a small cub, nibbling at her soul-stirring collarbones.
The human body has 206 bones. Back when she took human anatomy, Xia Yinuo had decided that the collarbones and the "butterfly" shoulder blades were the crowning jewels of the human form, as beautiful as works of art.
Liang Jueyun couldn't help but giggle. She pulled Xia Xiaobao’s head closer and brushed away her stray long hair. Xiaobao’s cheeks were flushed crimson, her eyes burning bright.
"Aren't you tired?" Liang Jueyun asked.
Xiaobao replied, "To defend the dignity of the motherland and prove that it is indeed an ancient Oriental dragon, I am prepared to show you through practical action. Even if China's youth sex education isn't great, you mustn't forget—I am a medical student!"
Liang Jueyun laughed until tears nearly came to her eyes.
Xiaobao narrowed her eyes. "You don't believe me?"
Liang Jueyun cupped Xiaobao’s face. "Whatever you want, I can give you. Whatever you say, I believe you."
The room was filled with the lingering warmth of spring.
***
When Xia Yinuo woke up the next morning, it took her several seconds to realize she was in Liang Jueyun’s bedroom and that Liang Jueyun was not beside her. She sat up abruptly, only relaxing when she heard faint sounds coming from the kitchen. Looking down at herself and recalling the events of the previous night, she clutched the quilt and collapsed back onto the bed, burying herself in the covers.
After a long while, her face still flushed, she whipped the covers aside and loosely wrapped a bathrobe around herself. Hanging on the wall facing the bed was the photograph Mai Shining had taken in Dongzhuang and given to Liang Jueyun. Xia Yinuo stared at it blankly for a moment before opening the door.
Liang Jueyun was in the kitchen, wearing casual loungewear with a hoodie. One hand leaned against the stove while the other held a wooden spatula, stirring something in a pot. The sunlight streamed through the window, bathing her in a warm glow. To Xia Yinuo’s eyes, the scene was—utterly, devastatingly sexy.
Xia Yinuo crossed her arms and stood at the kitchen doorway, watching her for a long time without making a sound.
It wasn't until Liang Jueyun turned around that she jumped in surprise. "Why are you standing there so quietly?"
Xia Yinuo gave a pure, innocent smile, stepped forward to hug her, and nuzzled against her face. "Why didn't you sleep a bit longer?"
With a gentle expression, Liang Jueyun kissed Xiaobao’s cheek and then pulled back slightly to answer, "Jet lag. Do you feel... uncomfortable anywhere?"
"Huh? Oh, no!" Xiaobao’s face instantly turned as red as a cooked shrimp.
Seeing this, Liang Jueyun ruffled her hair and smiled. "Go take a shower, then come out for breakfast?"
Xia Yinuo immediately stood at attention; a salute would have made the pose perfect. "Yes, ma'am!"
When they finally sat down at the dining table, Xia Yinuo realized that breakfast was the noodles she hadn't had time to cook the night before. Clearly, Liang Jueyun’s culinary skills were much better than her own.
Liang Jueyun watched as Xia Yinuo slowly picked at a small bowl of noodles. She frowned. "Still only eating this much?"
Xia Yinuo drawled innocently, "You cooked this breakfast; I can't bear to finish it..."
Ignoring Xiaobao’s lame excuse—knowing full well she usually ate very little for breakfast and had actually done quite well today—Liang Jueyun didn't push her. She simply said with pointed meaning, "You're so thin. You should eat more."
Xia Yinuo protested, "Where am I thin?!"
*I have everything you have, except for those lethal sculpted abs!*
Liang Jueyun swept a calm glance over her and said nonchalantly, "You're thin everywhere."
Embarrassed, Xia Yinuo muttered under her breath, "I clearly managed to counter-attack..."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing!"
***
That morning, in the cell culture room, the fellow disciples Ke Dinghao and Xia Yinuo sat back-to-back, each processing cells at their respective clean benches.
As they chatted, Ke Dinghao said, "I got a call from Senior Sister Gu Yizhi. She knows I'm graduating next March and asked if I'm interested in joining her company."
"Oh? She talked to me about that too."
"She's certainly playing the long game to catch the big fish. How did you answer?"
"I said I still need to think about it."
"I told her the same thing," Ke Dinghao said, getting excited. "Hey, think about it—I graduate in March, you graduate in June. If we could work at the same place, that wouldn't be bad at all."
Xia Yinuo couldn't help but tease him. "Would your family agree? Isn't yours a family of police officers? You don't plan on becoming a civil servant?"
Ke Dinghao snorted. "Do I look like the type who would obediently follow family arrangements?"
"Oh? Otherwise, Professor Tang is quite set on you continuing for a PhD!"
"Don't just focus on making fun of me. It's rare for it to be just the two of us—tell me, has something good happened lately? You're absolutely glowing."
Xia Yinuo laughed. "Give it a rest."
As they talked and laughed, Liu Yan changed her clothes and shoes and entered the culture room. "Senior Sister Xia, Senior Brother Ke, I didn't have much to do, so I came to watch you guys do experiments."
Xia Yinuo nodded. "Sure."
Ke Dinghao continued, "Don't say I didn't warn you. Before, you had Brother Ji Kang as a shield. Now that he's graduated and you have Sister Mai, the wolves and tigers in the neighboring labs are eyeing you hungrily!"
Xia Yinuo acted as if it were nothing. "Is that so? What does that have to do with me?"
Ke Dinghao chuckled. "Spoken so lightly, as if it really doesn't matter."
Liu Yan suddenly chimed in, "Senior Sister Xia, do you have a boyfriend?"
Xia Yinuo answered crisply and cleanly, "No. Hey, Senior Brother Ke, could you help me open this bottle? It's too tight."
"Oh, don't be so polite, I can't handle it," Ke Dinghao said with a grin. He put down his work and slid his swivel chair over to Xia Yinuo. Liu Yan quickly and perceptively handed him the alcohol spray. After Ke Dinghao carefully wiped his gloves with alcohol and cotton, he reached into Xia Yinuo’s workstation and twisted the cap off a bottle of cell culture medium with a single flick.
Ke Dinghao turned his head to smile at Liu Yan while saying, "Our Eldest Senior Sister is quite delicate. In the future, you juniors need to protect her well. You can't let the Eldest Senior Sister be snatched away by a monster, you know?"
Liu Yan nodded like a chick pecking at grain, saying she understood.
Xia Yinuo could only think: *You little brats better watch out.*
***
That evening, Xia Yinuo waited for Liang Jueyun to get off work. The two of them had a simple meal at the school cafeteria and walked back toward the faculty housing area.
Winter had fully set in. The ginkgo leaves along the road had turned yellow, and the air was growing colder. Xia Yinuo wrapped her coat tighter, looked up at the sky, and said, "It's so cold. I wonder when it will snow this year."
Liang Jueyun touched Xia Yinuo’s hand. It was icy. She pulled Xia Yinuo into the neighborhood supermarket. The air conditioning inside was cranked up high, making it comfortable enough to forget the chill outside.
Neither was in a hurry to get home, so they began to browse. After picking up some snacks, they wandered into the household goods section. Xia Yinuo leaned half her body against the shopping cart, watching with great interest as a supermarket employee demonstrated how to use an electric mop.
Looking at Xia Yinuo’s profile, Liang Jueyun felt a surge of warmth in her heart. "Xiaobao?"
"Hmm?" Xia Yinuo shifted her gaze from the mop to Liang Jueyun. Just then, her phone rang. Liang Jueyun signaled for her to take the call first.
"Hello, Xiao Yan? Did you miss your sister?" Xia Yinuo spoke into the phone while playfully sticking her tongue out at Liang Jueyun. "Mhm... Wow, that's amazing! Okay... I'll check my schedule... Brother Xiuheng is very busy too. Okay, okay, fine! You have to listen to Mom and Dad, and no being a picky eater!"
*I wonder who the real picky eater is,* Liang Jueyun thought, looking down with a smile.
After hanging up, Xia Yinuo asked what she had been about to say.
Liang Jueyun stepped forward and gently took hold of Xia Yinuo’s wrist. "Why don't you move in with me?"
Xia Yinuo’s lips curled upward. Without a second thought, she said, "Okay!"
Having said that, she immediately started pushing the cart toward the checkout counter.
Liang Jueyun pulled her back. "Didn't you say you wanted to buy laundry detergent?"
Xia Yinuo replied with grand bravado, "Not buying it! I've just been taken in by a sugar mommy; I need to go home and pack my bags!"
On December 2, 2013, after a relationship lasting exactly one hundred days over three months, Xia Xiaobao moved into the Liang residence.
Lying in bed together once more, Liang Jueyun had already changed into fresh sheets. Xia Yinuo stared at the ceiling, giggling foolishly. Liang Jueyun asked what she was laughing about.
Xia Yinuo said, "I was thinking about how impatient Professor Liang was yesterday!"
Liang Jueyun raised an eyebrow. "You didn't like it?"
Xia Yinuo turned onto her side, smiling mischievously. "I liked it. They say every woman likes being pinned against a wall and kissed by the person she loves."
Liang Jueyun toyed with the strands of Xia Yinuo’s hair scattered across the pillow. "Is that so?"
Xia Yinuo hugged her and whispered, "Do you want to try it?"
Liang Jueyun’s lips curved, but she didn't speak. She simply closed her eyes and snuggled into Xia Yinuo’s embrace.
Liang Jueyun had only gotten off the plane the night before, yet she had been active until midnight, woken up early to make breakfast, and then gone to work. Even someone made of iron couldn't sustain that. Xia Yinuo felt a dull ache of sympathy in her heart and tightened her hold. "We have plenty of time ahead of us. We'll try it next time. For now, sleep."
With her eyes still closed, Liang Jueyun wrapped her arms around Xia Yinuo’s waist and murmured a soft "good night." Before long, she was fast asleep.
Xia Yinuo kissed her forehead and closed her own eyes.
*I will spread my love like a blue sky, so that whenever you feel uneasy, you can see it just by looking up. I will burn my heart into a flame, so that you, who fear the dark, can sleep wrapped in warmth. From now on, we will walk through many, many more hundreds of days together.*
***
Mai Shining called to ask about Xia Yinuo’s weekend plans.
Xia Yinuo replied, "Senior Sister has to attend defense meetings those two days. I have experiments on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, I'm taking Xiao Yan to some exhibition at the Children's Palace. On Sunday, Uncle Li and my brother are on duty, so my mom asked me to go shopping with her and Grandma."
Mai Shining said, "Okay, then I'll head over on Sunday evening to scrounge a meal."
When Sunday arrived at the Li household, Mai Shining was as charming as ever, coaxing Grandma into a beaming smile with her sweet talk. Grandma remarked that "Maimai" hadn't visited in a while and asked if work was too hard, as she seemed to have lost weight.
"Not at all, I'm not nearly as thin as Xiaobao," Mai Shining said, taking a loud crunch out of an apple. she leaned in toward Xia Yinuo with a cheeky grin. "Our Xiaobao has always been the most 'shou'—I mean, slender—right?"
Xia Yinuo pinched her, making Mai Shining yelp in pain. "Is it not true? I only said you were thin! Grandma, look at how violent she's being lately, you have to scold her!"
Once Grandma had stepped away, Xia Yinuo said casually, "A few days ago, I moved in with Senior Sister."
Mai Shining nearly jumped off the sofa. "Holy crap!"
"I've told you eight hundred times, please use civilized language."
"Xia Xiaobao!" Mai Shining glanced toward the kitchen and lowered her voice. "Did Professor Liang ask you to move in, or did you shamelessly stick yourself to her?"
Xia Yinuo looked triumphant. "Am I the kind of person who is shameless?"
Mai Shining threw up her hands. "You're not. You're just a girl whose 'submissive' energy has gone off the charts!"
"Say whatever you want."
Mai Shining beat her chest in mock despair. "How can there be someone as unmotivated and unambitious as you?! How has this master been training you all this time, huh?!"
Xia Yinuo replied, "Master, the Eldest Senior Sister has been snatched away by a monster..."
Mai Shining retorted, "Give me a break! That monster is just Professor Liang!!!"
After fooling around for a while, Mai Shining finally asked, "When do you plan on telling Ji Kang? You have no idea how much I've been afraid of letting it slip lately!"
Xia Yinuo asked, "You haven't told him?"
"It's better if you're the one to tell him..."
"True. I think he'll understand."
Mai Shining sighed. "Understanding is one thing, but he's not as magnanimous as I am. Given how he's treated you like a biological younger sister since you were kids, he'll probably feel like the cabbage he painstakingly raised was uprooted by a pig, no matter who you're with!"
Three black lines appeared on Xia Yinuo’s forehead. "Who's the cabbage, and who's the pig?"
"Uh, pretend I didn't say anything..."
Xia Yinuo sighed softly. "As for my family, I'll tell my brother first, then my parents. As for Grandma..."
Mai Shining interrupted, "Don't you dare act rashly. Coming out isn't something you just do on a whim."
Xia Yinuo gave a helpless smile. "I know."
"It's not like they're pressuring you to get married yet," Mai Shining added. "You're still young. Stall for a few years; make it a war of attrition. Otherwise, there's bound to be a bloodbath."
Li Qinglan called from the kitchen, "Xiaobao, come help bring out the dishes. It's time to eat!"
Xia Yinuo called back, "Oh! Coming!"
During dinner, Li Qinglan happily served food to Mai Shining. "Maimai should come over more often. Mumu is coming back at the end of the month too. I'll invite Ji Kang over then, and we can all have a meal together."
"You bet!" Mai Shining chirped. "Oh, I almost forgot the important part. Auntie Lan, here's a ticket. My studio is hosting a family-themed photography salon soon. I saved a ticket for you guys. When you have time, come to the studio to take a set of family portraits. You can even enter the competition!"
Grandma said, "That's wonderful. It feels like it's been a long time since we took a family photo!"
Mai Shining boasted, "Hehe, and what's more, I'll be the one behind the lens personally!"
Li Qinglan said, "Alright, we'll pick a time when the hospital doesn't have us on duty. Xiaobao’s schedule at school is more flexible."
Mai Shining said with exaggeration, "Auntie Lan, you have no idea. Our Xiaobao is the 'Eldest Senior Sister' now; she's very busy! She has to oversee every little thing in the lab. Her juniors are still young and so inexperienced—she has to teach them hand-in-hand. She's practically worrying herself to death..."
Xia Xiaobao deadpanned, "Maimai, why don't you go become a stand-up comedian?"
Instead, Li Qinglan asked Xia Xiaobao with a smile, "Eldest Senior Sister, is that how it is?"
Xia Xiaobao looked pained and lowered her eyes mournfully. "Master... the Eldest Senior Sister has been snatched away by a monster!"
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 蝴蝶骨 | Butterfly bones | A poetic term for prominent scapulae (shoulder blades). |
| 成人礼 | Coming-of-age ceremony | Used here as a metaphor for a first sexual experience. |
| 超净工作台 | Clean bench | A sterilized laboratory workspace (laminar flow cabinet). |
| 少年宫 | Children's Palace | A public facility in China for children's extracurricular activities and classes. |
| 出柜 | Coming out | The act of revealing one's LGBTQ+ identity. |
| 白菜被猪拱了 | The cabbage was uprooted by a pig | A common idiom meaning a beautiful/precious girl has been taken by an unworthy or "greedy" partner. |
| 大师姐被妖怪抓走了 | The Eldest Senior Sister has been snatched by a monster | A play on a famous recurring line from *Journey to the West*. |
