Chapter 52: 50

50 - We Will Face Everything Together

As Qin Juran read the words on the screen, she couldn’t help letting out a choked laugh. For some reason, she wanted to tease him a little, replying with:

【Dad, just who is your daughter – Ruan Nan or me?】

After a moment, Qin Haotian replied: 【You both are.】

He followed with: 【As long as Nannan has accepted you.】

……

Alright, it seemed the arrangements have already been made to welcome her into the family.

Qin Juran turned off her phone and ate the rest of her breakfast contentedly, then relocated to the sofa. Since the remote was right at her side, she automatically leaned back and pressed to turn on the TV without asking Ruan Nan for permission.

The TV immediately turned on to show a shot of two girls hugging and kissing on the screen. Qin Juran yelped in surprise, hurriedly hitting the off button and tossing the remote away.

Just then, Ruan Nan came over, holding a plate of blueberries in her hand. Noticing Qin Juran’s red face, she asked curiously while offering the blueberries to her: “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” Qin Juran coughed lightly, avoiding Ruan Nan’s eyes: “Ah-Ruan, that, that—”

Unable to come up with an explanation, she only followed with: “The disc quality is really good.”

Ruan Nan peered at her suspiciously, then sat down beside her on the sofa. She picked up the remote from the side and turned the TV back on. On the screen, it seemed that the two girls had just broken apart from the kiss, and one of the girls was wiping the lipstick smudges off the other’s lips. The girl sitting on the table stared at the other lovingly, then gently kissed her fingers.

Ruan Nan immediately realized what Qin Juran had been thinking. She quickly changed the channel to an opera channel, and the high-pitched singing voice helped to ease the awkward atmosphere just then. Ruan Nan whipped her head towards her, blushing: “Qin Juran, that was just a TV drama.”

“I, I wasn’t watching a DVD…..”

Qin Juran retrieved the remote from her hands and flipped it back onto the channel from before. Indeed, it was just a drama showing on a TV channel; there was even a schedule of broadcasts on the left side.

Wow, the TV shows in this world were this explicit?

Qin Juran asked curiously, “They’re allowed to broadcast relationships between women on these shows?”

Ruan Nan nodded. “There are also depictions of relationships between men too. It’s just that they’re usually side characters, and they’re so sparse.” Ruan Nan was about to ask Qin Juran whether she ever watched TV but then thought back to how she didn’t even see a television set in her home that time she stayed over. Perhaps because of her family conditions, she didn’t have the opportunity to watch much TV. She placed the remote control into her hands and told her to watch whatever she liked.

“Ohhh—” Qin Juran drew out the word, nodding. She reached out to pluck a blueberry from the plate, pinched it gently between her fingertips, then deftly popped it into Ruan Nan’s mouth. Mimicking the scene from the drama just then, she brushed a finger against the corner of Ruan Nan’s lips, then leaned to whisper into her ear:

“Just as I thought, there’s no reason for Ah-Ruan to watch a DVD like that. After all, Professor Qin is able to offer free lessons whenever Ah-Ruan wants.”

Ruan Nan gently jabbed her, face flaming. For the next while, the two sat on the large sofa and continued to watch TV, Qin Juran with her arms wrapped around Ruan Nan, occasionally feeding her blueberries. The living room glowed with warm sunshine, and the small green plants on the coffee table even seemed to be plated with a layer of gold.

Since it was already winter, the gypsophila flowers on the balcony had gone, leaving only the white rack. A gust of wind blew, rustling the dreamcatcher windchime that hung on the balcony.

Hearing the gentle metallic chime from afar, Qin Juran hugged Ruan Nan tighter, wafting in the scent of lilies emanating from her.

“Ah-Ruan, is this a new scent?”

Ruan Nan hesitated, shrinking from within her arms: “I thought it smelled nice even since before.”

It was the smell of the Blue Moon detergent that Qin Juran had once mentioned.

Qin Juran curled her lip: “Then how come you weren’t using it until I told you to?”

Ruan Nan stiffened as she tried to come up with an excuse. Finally, she declared proudly: “Last time when I returned them to you, I didn’t realize the scent, so I never got the chance to buy them, alright?”

The Blue Moon brand only had two or three different scents to begin with, so even if someone purchased all of them before, it would be easy to differentiate between them. Ignoring Ruan Nan’s blatant lie, Qin Juran wrapped her arms tighter around her: “Isn’t it because you want to smell like the scent that I like?”

Ruan Nan felt as if she’d be exposed. However, Qin Juran didn’t press any further, only wearing a smug expression on her face she continued to watch the TV.

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Since the lesbian couple only played the supporting roles in the drama, Qin Juran soon lost interest once the show resumed in the melodrama between the male and female main leads, even letting slip a few yawns. Meanwhile, Ruan Nan seemed very focused, with her back held straight and her eyes concentrated on the screen. Qin Juran couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

She let go of Ruan Nan and pulled out her phone to check out the recipes that Qin Haotian had sent her. Although they seemed to be simple dishes, with ingredients that she could easily find at the market, she was unsure of just how much “one spoonful” or “a dash of” something would equal as written in the directions.

Sensing Ruan Nan looking at her, Qin Juran quickly shifted away so that she couldn’t see the contents of her phone screen. When she glanced at her, Ruan Nan quickly shook her head. “I didn’t see anything.”

Qin Juran lowered her eyes and opened the settings app of her phone. She took Ruan Nan’s right hand and pressed the index finger against the sensor of her phone. Ruan Nan initially thought that Qin Juran was just playing around with her finger, but after a few presses, she realized that she was saving her fingerprint to unlock the phone.

Ruan Nan immediately pulled her hand back. “You don’t need to go that far, Qin Juran. Since you already told me so, I won’t have any more doubts.”

Qin Juran once again grasped her hand and poked Ruan Nan gently with her finger. She stared at her intently and replied, “Ah-Ruan, I’m not doing this because I’m worried that you don’t trust me; I’m doing this precisely because I trust you so much.”

“I trust that you will respect my privacy, but since in this world, my phone contains so much valuable information, if anything were to happen to me one day and I couldn’t access it…..”

“Stop right there!” Ruan Nan didn’t know why Qin Juran was suddenly spouting such nonsense, but she didn’t want to argue. She held her hand back out and let her finish recording her fingerprints.

Afterward, Ruan Nan thought for a moment, then pulled out her phone and recorded Qin Juran’s fingerprints into it as well.

As Qin Juran stared at Ruan Nan’s face, deep in concentration, she couldn’t help laughing. She patted her head lovingly, then boldly pulled out the chat conversation with Qin Haotian to show her, asking whether she wanted to eat any of the dishes listed.

Ruan Nan’s eyes widened as she looked through the messages: “Un – Uncle knows?”

Qin Juran nodded: “He knew about it ever since you stayed over at our home.”

Ruan Nan was a little flustered. Her mind frantically replayed the memory of that day, thinking back to whether she had done or said anything wrong. When Qin Juran sensed her thought process, she laughed, “You were perfect that time, very authentic and considerate. My dad was so excited that he even sent us out to the supermarket as a chance to be alone together. And you also helped us out with our restaurant’s permit, so I have to thank you and Zhou Ziqing for that.”

Having brought up the incident with Zhou Ziqing, the two of them were unwittingly reminded of their argument from that day.

Trying to change the topic, Ruan Nan glanced downwards and spoke with a hint of envy in her voice: “I never could’ve imagined that in this lifetime, there would be parents who could so calmly accept their child like this, and even support them so wholly.”

Qin Juran also agreed: “I didn’t dare imagine it either at first. Up until I came out to him, I was so nervous about it. But then he told me that, what he wanted for me wasn’t necessarily to become incredible and successful, but only for me to be truly happy.”

Ruan Nan nodded her head, feeling rather moved. She sighed ruefully, sniffling: “I’m sure that’s very rare.”

Qin Juran raised a brow: “You don’t think your father would accept it?”

Ruan Nan turned her head: “I don’t know.”

“It seems that from the time I was 13 and onwards, he never really cared much about me. In middle school, I was once wearing a brand-name backpack and had it stolen from me. After school, I tried to tell him about it, but he only said that he was too busy. Then later, I confronted the people who stole my bag and beat them up. When the school called him about the incident, all he did was lecture me.”

He merely tried to resolve the conflict and lecture her, but didn’t even care to ask whether she got hurt or not.

“And you know about high school – since the Ruan family business was booming throughout the country, none of the other students dared to bully me. But even as I dyed my hair, wore high heels, and painted my face full of makeup, he didn’t care.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t care if I liked girls, either. After all, I’m not the Ruan family’s only successor.”

Although that’s what she said, Qin Juran sensed a hint of underlying bitterness. She understood the feeling completely. In this kind of society that tended to adhere to the status quo, as long as you were in the minority, it didn’t matter whether you were “right” or “wrong,” but nonetheless, you’d be labeled as “different.”

Especially in “high-profile” families like Ruan Nan’s family or Qin Juran’s past family, each member’s every word and action, the upbringing of the children, and even who they chose to marry, were all heavily scrutinized. If they were careless, then they’d be the topic of many dinner table conversations, or even become a laughingstock.

As she thought back to Qin Xuanmin’s attitude from her final moments, Qin Juran squeezed Ruan Nan’s hands tighter and asked quietly, “Ah-Ruan, are you afraid?”

Ruan Nan shook her head, but she was unable to say actual the words “I’m not afraid” out loud.

Qin Juran pulled her into an embrace, responding softly: “Ah-Ruan, when you talked about getting into fights, dying your hair, and pretending to smoke earlier, how many people were involved in that?”

Ruan Nan didn’t understand what she was trying to say. “I chose to do all of that myself.”

“Exactly.” Qin Juran turned to look straight at her, her eyelashes glinting with gold under the bright rays of sunshine: “This time, it will be different. Ah-Ruan, from now on, no matter what happens, no matter what difficulties come our way, the two of us will face them together.”

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