Chapter 9
Grandma had noticed it just now too.
Her wild daughter had kissed her grandson until his whole face was covered in lipstick marks. She had originally planned to take Lin Huaixi home first to wash his face before letting him come back out to play, but she had not expected Lin Huaixi to move so fast. He had already run off to find Qi Wang.
After coming back to his senses, Qi Wang gave him a faint glance, turned around, and left. Lin Huaixi remained standing where he was, tilting his head in confusion.
Grandma walked over and gently patted his shoulder. “Xixi, why don’t you come home with me first and wash your face?”
“Why?” Lin Huaixi instinctively rubbed his face and felt that it was sticky.
He lowered his head and saw the lipstick smeared onto his pink-white fingertips, instantly understanding. “Mommy’s nice smell got all over my face again!”
Grandma smiled and took Lin Huaixi’s hand to lead him back, but unexpectedly, the door opened.
Qi Wang came out with a tense little face, holding a mirror in one hand and a towel in the other.
He glanced at Lin Huaixi and handed him the mirror.
Only then did Lin Huaixi realize that his entire face was covered in lipstick marks. The lipstick he had smeared with his little hand earlier had turned into a big red circle right on his cheek.
Lin Huaixi’s mouth fell open in a perfect O, shocked by the sight of himself.
Without saying a word, Qi Wang took back the mirror, turned on the faucet, and signaled Lin Huaixi over with his eyes.
Lin Huaixi immediately understood. He squatted in front of the faucet in the yard and seriously began washing his face, while Qi Wang stood beside him holding the towel and waiting.
Grandma smiled but said nothing. Knowing Lin Huaixi no longer needed her help, she quietly turned and left, closing the yard gate behind her.
The sunlight was just right. The stream of water cut through the air, reflecting tiny flickers of light like flowing diamonds.
Lin Huaixi scooped up water and splashed it onto his face, rubbing in little circles like a cat washing its face. Then he looked up at Qi Wang. “Did I wash it clean?”
Qi Wang’s brows drew tightly together.
No, he had not washed it clean. He had only spread the lipstick around more evenly, and now his whole little face had turned pink.
Lin Huaixi remained utterly unaware, blinking his sparkling eyes and smiling the whole time.
Qi Wang resigned himself to it. He set the towel aside, turned around, and brought over a little stool for Lin Huaixi. “Sit here.”
Lin Huaixi obediently did as told without asking why.
“Close your eyes,” Qi Wang said next.
Lin Huaixi shut his eyes, but his thick, curled lashes kept fluttering, as though they were about to pop open at any second.
Qi Wang spread foam over Lin Huaixi’s face. “Wash it properly yourself.”
Once his sight was gone, every other sensation became much clearer. Lin Huaixi felt something light and slippery on his face. When he reached up to touch it with his hand, he discovered it was dense foam.
Instinctively, he was about to open his eyes and speak, but Qi Wang noticed in time and ordered fiercely, “No opening your eyes, and no talking either.”
Lin Huaixi could only shut his mouth and use his little hands to rub the foam around, washing his face while half playing with it. Only after Qi Wang gave his approval did he rinse the foam away.
Qi Wang had a slight neat-freak tendency. Only after seeing Lin Huaixi’s little face return to its soft, fair, clean state was he finally satisfied. Then he lent Lin Huaixi his own little towel.
Lin Huaixi covered his face with the towel and rubbed at it haphazardly a couple of times. His hair and face shook along with it, just like a little puppy shaking water off.
Qi Wang did not understand why, when one could clearly just wipe with one’s hands, Lin Huaixi had to use such a strange method to dry his face. He stared at him for a while, and only looked away after Lin Huaixi lowered the towel.
“Qi Wang, is my face clean now? Is Mommy’s nice smell still on it?” Lin Huaixi asked in a sweet childish voice.
Nice smell?
Qi Wang paused, then guessed that he meant lipstick, and only then nodded.
Very politely, Lin Huaixi folded the little towel neatly and handed it back to Qi Wang. After that, he sat obediently on the stool without running around or making a fuss, though he gazed eagerly at the tightly closed door.
Qi Wang knew he wanted to go inside and play. He had already prepared himself for that, so he calmly stood up. “Come in, then. But I’m telling you first, our house doesn’t have little bunny cakes.”
“That’s okay.” Lin Huaixi held up two short, stubby fingers. “I already ate three yesterday, so I can’t eat any more today.”
Qi Wang: “…”
He looked at those two fingers, then at Lin Huaixi’s shining eyes. In the end, he swallowed back his words and silently led the way.
Lin Huaixi was an endlessly curious little baby. Although he did not run about or touch things at random, his eyes were practically not enough for him. He kept looking everywhere, almost wanting to press his face right up against things to study them closely.
Their families were neighbors, and the houses were exactly the same in size and layout. But Lin Huaixi’s home was bright and warm, while Qi Wang’s home felt colder and emptier. Even the sunlight stopped only under the eaves, unwilling to step inside.
Qi Wang led Lin Huaixi straight back to his room. The moment Lin Huaixi stepped one foot inside, he saw the room piled full of toys in the middle and let out a startled “Wow!”
It was as if he had returned to his happy hometown. He immediately threw himself joyfully into the pile, a train in one hand and a rocket in the other, chattering away about who knew what, entertaining himself to no end.
Qi Wang had no interest in those toys. He only stood to one side and watched.
He had understood worldly matters far too early, and had already learned to read people’s minds. In advance, he had hidden the better toys away in the cabinet and only left out the ones that were merely somewhat nice.
Lin Huaixi’s toys had all been gifts from his mother, and it was obvious that Lin Huaixi liked them very much. Qi Wang was worried that if he compared them, Lin Huaixi might feel inadequate and become unhappy.
But Lin Huaixi was only a carefree little sticky rice ball with no extra thoughts. As long as he could play with toys together with Qi Wang, he would be happy.
Qi Wang accompanied him with little enthusiasm. Whenever Lin Huaixi spoke to him, he answered. Whenever Lin Huaixi came up with some strange idea, he cooperated. And since Lin Huaixi was the sort of silly-happy kid who could have fun even playing with the air, the two little boys ended up getting along quite pleasantly.
After a while, Lin Huaixi suddenly clutched his stomach, his face scrunching up in obvious distress.
Qi Wang got frightened and hurried over, asking anxiously, “What’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?”
Lin Huaixi nodded in his usual muddled way and looked at Qi Wang timidly. “I want to go to the bathroom.”
“…” He pulled Lin Huaixi to his feet and opened the door again. “The bathroom is right across there. I’ll take you.”
Lin Huaixi nodded and followed behind in little quick steps, one hand clutching his stomach.
While Lin Huaixi was in the bathroom, Qi Wang stood guard outside with a stiff little face. Based on his fixed impression of Lin Huaixi, he was genuinely worried that this little fool might somehow fall into the toilet and get flushed away.
Fortunately, Lin Huaixi emerged safely in the end, his smile back on his face.
“Come on, I’ll take you to find something to eat.” Qi Wang walked into the living room, opened a tall cabinet, and started searching through it.
After a while, Qi Wang emerged from the cabinet with messy hair and said awkwardly, “It’s not here. I’ll keep looking.”
Lin Huaixi nodded, just about to speak, when the door opposite opened.
A woman in a white dress with very long hair walked out.
At such a young age, Lin Huaixi already had a thing for beautiful faces. He loved looking at pretty people, and his eyes went straight. His whole expression practically screamed I like her. “Is that your mommy? She’s so pretty, just as pretty as my mommy!”
Qi Wang’s reaction was the complete opposite. The moment he saw his mother, it was as though someone had struck him on the head. His whole body froze in place. Only after a few seconds did he come back to himself, biting his lower lip and showing something close to humiliation on his face.
Qi Wang’s mother happened to walk toward them. Lin Huaixi’s head turned along with her movement, his eyes sparkling, clearly wanting to go cuddle up to her.
But the beautiful aunt brushed past them without even glancing their way, completely ignoring their existence.
The blood drained from Qi Wang’s face at once. He turned and stared hard at Lin Huaixi, trying desperately to preserve his shaky self-respect, terrified that Lin Huaixi might ask questions and tear through that last thin layer of cover.
But he was overthinking.
Back then, Qi Wang himself had acted much colder and far more aggressively, yet that still had not scared Lin Huaixi away. How could his beautiful mother scare him off?
Though Lin Huaixi was young, there was a powerful force inside him, one that supported him in staying cheerful and happy, constantly shining like a little sun.
He ran up to Qi Wang’s mother and loudly invited her, “Pretty Auntie, do you want to eat little bunny cake?”
That one sentence briefly pulled Wen Qianshu out of her own world. Her dull eyes slowly shifted twice before finally coming to rest on the child who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in her home.
When Wen Qianshu looked at people, her gaze was fixed and lifeless, with no ripple of emotion in it. Her focus seemed to be aimed at some empty void.
“Okay.” Only after quite a while did Wen Qianshu nod. Her movements were stiff and slow like a rusty puppet, as if she might freeze up completely from losing power in the very next second.
But children always focused on strange things. And besides, Wen Qianshu was a super beautiful auntie, so Lin Huaixi did not find anything odd about her. Instead, he was delighted.
“Okay! I’ll bring Auntie little bunny cake tomorrow!” Lin Huaixi even tried to cuddle up to her. “Pretty Auntie, can I go see your paintings?”
Wen Qianshu had not closed the door when she came out. Through the open gap, one could see easels filling the room and paintings covering the walls. A faint smell of paint floated through the air.
“Okay.” Wen Qianshu agreed, though it sounded more like a mechanical response. No matter what question she was asked, this seemed to be the only answer she had.
Overjoyed, Lin Huaixi broke into two sweet dimples and immediately tugged at Qi Wang with his little hands, wanting him to come look at the paintings together.
But Qi Wang dodged his touch and backed away again and again, as though he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world. He was trembling all over with fear.
Children were instinctively attached to their mothers, but Qi Wang’s fear of paintings had already surpassed instinct. All he wanted was to stay as far away as possible.
He had wanted again and again to hug his mother, to act spoiled in her arms, but his mother’s response had always been cold and indifferent, as though he did not matter at all.
He had been very sad, but he never gave up trying to get close to her—until the day he deliberately took away her paint palette.
A small blob of yellow paint had fallen to the ground. It looked like murky grease, melting and spreading over the floor into a limp little puddle.
Qi Wang had only looked at it once before the scene in front of him changed violently. His body suddenly felt weightless, and by the time he came back to his senses, his legs and bottom hurt terribly, so badly that his vision turned foggy.
Through the blur, he saw his mother kneeling in front of that blob of paint, tears sliding down her beautiful face and falling onto the yellow smear.
Before that day, Qi Wang had always felt that his mother was too quiet, like a beautiful porcelain doll. But this time, she had an expression—she had gone mad.
Qi Wang could never forget that scene. His mother had flung him away so hard that all he could do was sit on the floor to one side, watching her collapse in a broken heap, trembling as she tried to scoop up that little smear of yellow paint with her hands. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not gather it back up. She cried until she nearly broke apart, screamed as she clutched at her chest, stained her white dress, got yellow paint all over her face and hair, and finally convulsed as she fell to the floor. The easel beside her toppled over too, and papers and paint were scattered everywhere in a chaotic mess.
Qi Wang had been terrified, but he had been even more worried about his mother. Crawling forward, he tried to touch her hand, only to be scooped up by a servant who had rushed in. The only thing his fingertips had managed to brush was that yellow paint.
From that day on, he stopped trying to get close to his mother, and those paintings became a psychological shadow for him.
Every time he saw them, the paints seemed to twist together and turn into a black human-shaped figure.
It would come toward him, leaving streaks of paint on his body, whispering over and over against his damaged left ear:
Mother cares more about oil painting than she cares about him.
…
Qi Wang’s eyes were wide open, terror spilling out of them. His back was soaked in cold sweat, and his clothes clung to him damply.
“I-I’m going to the bathroom.” After leaving behind those words, he ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Deeply worried about his good friend, Lin Huaixi hurried over and knocked experimentally. “Qi Wang, what’s wrong? Does your tummy hurt too?”
He waited for quite a while before a blurry “Mm” finally came from inside.
Lin Huaixi pouted in confusion, his face scrunching up. But this problem was far too complicated for him to deal with; his little brain was almost spinning out.
“Then you mm hard, really hard. After you poop, your tummy won’t hurt anymore.” As Lin Huaixi said this, even his face and body tensed up in effort.
Qi Wang made another sound of agreement.
Only then did Lin Huaixi feel reassured. Turning around, he noticed that Pretty Auntie was still watching him, as though she were waiting for him to come see the paintings.
He ran over with quick little steps and took the initiative to hold Pretty Auntie’s hand.
Feeling that soft warmth at her fingertips, a faint ripple stirred in Wen Qianshu’s eyes. Instinctively, she curled her fingers around Lin Huaixi’s.
Lin Huaixi walked into the studio.
There was no extra furniture inside the studio, only a rough-edged stool. The corners were piled full of art supplies, and the walls were covered completely. Finished paintings had been tossed casually to one side in layer upon layer, stacked so high there had to be hundreds of them.
Driven by curiosity, Lin Huaixi looked here and there until his eyes were almost dizzy.
Wen Qianshu layered all sorts of dark colors together to sketch out twisted patterns. Some looked like eyes, others like vines. One entire wall was covered in these paintings, blending together into a blackness so richly layered it almost became colorful.
But every so often there would be a few paintings with a clump of bright paint in the middle—dense, intense, and striking against the surrounding darkness, as though it were the only color left in the world.
Lin Huaixi brought his eyes close to one of the paintings, blinked, and pointed at a round blob of yellow paint. “Is this the sun?”
Wen Qianshu’s gaze fell onto the painting, as though something had been stirred inside her. In a slow, light voice, she said, “This is my baby…”
“Baby?” Lin Huaixi often named his toys, but he had never thought to give the sun he drew a name. He thought this was a great idea. Pointing to a red circle beside it, he asked, “Pretty Auntie, what’s this one called?”
“Baby.”
Lin Huaixi pointed at another green circle. “What about this one?”
“Baby.”
Every time Wen Qianshu repeated those two words, her tone and gaze grew gentler. Her whole person seemed to come alive a little more, as though her soul were breaking through layers of restraints and returning again to this numb body.
Lin Huaixi tilted his head. “Are they all called Baby? Pretty Auntie, do you really like them a lot?”
“I like them.” The corners of Wen Qianshu’s mouth twitched slightly. It seemed she wanted to smile, but because she had gone so long without expressions, her muscles had grown stiff. It looked as if a thread were tugging at them, making her smile a little eerily.
Standing beside her, Lin Huaixi could only see Wen Qianshu’s gentle jawline when he looked up. He did not notice her expression and only asked curiously, “Why does Auntie like them?”
This time, Wen Qianshu did not answer him. She gazed tenderly at the round shape in the frame, pouring all the love in her heart into it. She carefully stretched out a hand, but her fingertips only touched rough paper, as if there were a barrier keeping her shut outside.
A hurt look appeared on Wen Qianshu’s face. Her dry eyes became wet again. “Baby is angry and won’t let me hold him.”
Lin Huaixi stared at that yellow circle, his head practically overflowing with question marks, enough to crush his tiny self.
How was someone supposed to hold a circle? Like this? Or like that?
Lin Huaixi thought of several possible ways to hug a circle, and his little hands kept gesturing through them. His two short, stubby arms nearly got tangled together.
Wen Qianshu answered his confusion through action. One hand supported the shoulders, the other cradled a plump little bottom. Her movements were very gentle, and her eyes were full of love.
Lin Huaixi instantly understood.
Just like how Mommy used to hold him when he was little.
He stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck as far as he could. Even his mouth and hair seemed to be straining, as though he truly believed there was a circle there in her arms.
“Baby is letting you hold him now!” Lin Huaixi said in his sweet little voice, his eyes shining. “So he isn’t angry anymore.”
Wen Qianshu turned to look at Lin Huaixi. Without any trace of an adult’s maturity or steadiness, she looked more like a child who had made a mistake. Her expression was cautious and helpless, while her gentle eyes were full of hope. “Really?”
“Of course it’s true!” Lin Huaixi pointed earnestly at the bundle of air in her arms. “Isn’t he right there in your arms?”
Wen Qianshu froze, then lowered her head to look. A faint frown appeared on her face, as though something were drilling into her temples and stirring wildly through her brain, hurting so much it felt as if her skull might split open.
But the pain quickly blurred, turning into a heavy dull ache. It had been suppressed too brutally, ground down so harshly that even her emotions had been worn away. Wen Qianshu’s expression went blank. Though she was clearly in terrible pain, her emotions did not rise or fall in the slightest, as though she were speaking of someone else’s life.
“My baby fell onto the ground. I knew I was wrong. I wanted to pick him up, but no matter what, I couldn’t touch him. He got on my hands and on my clothes, and then in the end he disappeared. I called for him, but he wouldn’t answer me. I don’t know where he went.”
If an adult heard those words, they would immediately realize something was wrong. But children had their own special way of thinking, and Lin Huaixi did not find it strange at all.
Following the direction Pretty Auntie pointed, Lin Huaixi crouched down into a tiny ball on the floor and stared intently for a long while. Then he stuck up his round little bottom and pressed his face right against the floorboards. Sadly, the gaps between the boards were too narrow for his little hands to pry open, so all he could do was try to push his gaze down into them.
He wanted to see what Pretty Auntie’s baby looked like. Maybe he could even bring him back with him, and then Pretty Auntie would not have to be sad anymore!
Wen Qianshu did not notice the little dumpling on the floor. Like a puppet being yanked by strings, she lifted her head. Her stiff joints made cracking sounds as she stared straight at the yellow paint. Suddenly she let out an “Ah,” as if she wanted to laugh. The muscles on her face twitched once before stiffening back into place. “He hid inside the painting. I have to paint for a very, very long time before I can see him.”
Hearing that, Lin Huaixi pushed himself up from the floor with his little hands, scrambled to his feet, and ran over to the painting. Standing on tiptoe, he stared at it for a while, and then suddenly understood.
Pretty Auntie knew magic, and her baby knew magic too. He could go inside paintings!
Lin Huaixi looked at Wen Qianshu with starry eyes, unable to wait to get to know him. He asked seriously, “Pretty Auntie, what’s your baby’s name?”
“Baby…” Wen Qianshu murmured the word again. Light briefly returned to her eyes, only to be pressed down once more and worn back into emptiness. “It’s Wangwang.”
Wangwang?
He had called that name before too. Very quickly, he recognized that the baby was Qi Wang.
Lin Huaixi immediately ran to find Qi Wang. Just then, the bathroom door had opened a crack—Qi Wang had wanted to secretly check what was happening outside. He had not expected the little meatball to ram straight into the door and shove it open.
Qi Wang pressed his lips together and lowered his head without speaking.
To a child, parents were the most important people in the world. But his parents did not love him. That fact weighed down on his tender little shoulders like some original sin.
He was afraid Lin Huaixi had already figured this out and would ask him why.
Qi Wang kept his lips tightly pressed together, his little face tense, not letting a single trace of emotion leak out. But the slight trembling of his shoulders had already betrayed him.
Yet what he got instead was an eager childish voice. “Qi Wang, you can go inside the ground and also turn into the yellow circle in the painting. That’s so amazing! Can you teach me?”
Qi Wang stared blankly and lifted his head. “W-what?”
This was Lin Huaixi’s first time encountering magic, and he was excited beyond belief. Without caring about anything else, he grabbed Qi Wang’s little hand and dragged him toward the studio.
Lin Huaixi had been raised very well and still had baby fat. His arms and legs were plump and sturdy. Although he was shorter than Qi Wang, he was no weaker. Qi Wang’s wrist was caught in his grip, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not break free. He was actually dragged all the way to the doorway of the studio.
Qi Wang’s body turned stiff. His eyes fixed on empty space in the corner, not daring to look at his mother.
His mother did not care about him and always ignored him. Qi Wang could neither accept that nor solve it, so he could only choose to avoid her, like a hedgehog cub curled up into a ball, the only way he knew to protect himself being to raise his spines.
Lin Huaixi did not notice anything wrong with the atmosphere. He ran over and gently tugged at Wen Qianshu’s clothes. “Pretty Auntie, I brought your baby back!”
Wen Qianshu’s perception of the outside world was very blurry, but the words baby touched something in her. She lowered her head to look at Lin Huaixi, and that soft, beautiful little face and those eyes full of stars made her remember something.
“Wangwang?”
Lin Huaixi instinctively turned to look at Qi Wang, only to discover that Qi Wang’s face looked awful, even paler than Mommy after putting on her nice smell.
He asked worriedly, “Qi Wang, does your tummy still hurt?”
Lin Huaixi’s voice caught Wen Qianshu’s attention, and finally she saw Qi Wang standing in the doorway.
Mother and son’s gazes met. Yet Qi Wang took a step backward, fear showing in his eyes.
He had gone into the studio again. Would Mom get angry? Would she throw him out again?
But this time it did not happen the way he feared. That patch of yellow paint, which had always been the most important thing to his mother, suddenly lost her attention. Those beautiful eyes stayed fixed on him, and her lashes trembled once, very slowly.
Like a beautiful doll, Wen Qianshu tried to retrieve the soul that had been suppressed and worn away, and tried as well to recover the most precious treasure she had left behind in the real world.
Tilting her head, she looked at her own son. Her expression was somewhat uneasy and helpless, but her voice was filled with love, as though she had called these words inside her heart tens of thousands of times.
“Wangwang, can Mommy hold you?”
