Wang Haiyan, sitting beside Su Yun, quickly noticed something off.
“Are you sick?”
She reached out, pressing the back of her hand against Su Yun’s forehead to check.
“No, no,” Su Yun replied hurriedly, her voice tinged with embarrassment.
“Then why’s your face so red?”
“Well…”
“If you’re sick, we can go to the hospital first,” Su Fulin chimed in from the front seat, glancing at Su Yun with concern. He, too, sensed something wasn’t right.
But in truth, Su Yun was just sensitive and prone to blushing. Her fair skin made the flush on her cheeks stand out, giving the impression she was ill.
“Baby, say something!”
“…”
Faced with her parents’ urgent words, Su Yun lowered her head, feeling helpless.
“I kissed her goodbye, and then… this happened,” she admitted.
“Let’s get going.”
“…”
Her confession stunned all three people in the car, including Wang Haibin.
“Oh, wow,” Su Fulin said, surprised for a moment before chuckling and turning back, his expression suggesting Su Yun had grown up.
“A kiss goodbye? Oh, a farewell kiss! Young people are something else,” Wang Haibin teased bluntly, starting the car with a grin.
“Baby, you’re amazing! I told you she’s your girlfriend, but you kept denying it,” Wang Haiyan said, her face lighting up as she leaned over to hug Su Yun.
“She’s not,” Su Yun protested, her tone noticeably weaker.
In her haste, she’d blurted it out. Ugh… I regret it.
On the drive to Wang Family Village, her mother kept pestering her with questions—most pressingly, how much dowry Qin Xue’s family would ask for and what their background was like. Su Yun had no desire to answer. They weren’t that kind of relationship—just friends. And a dowry? For a family like Qin Xue’s, it’d probably be astronomical…
From a societal perspective, two girls couldn’t possibly be a couple. So why was her mother, who should’ve been more traditional than younger folks, so quick to accept it?
But there was something about Qin Xue that puzzled Su Yun. Bathing together was normal, and yesterday’s antics could be chalked up to Qin Xue’s odd quirks. But what about the tongue kiss before they came here? Qin Xue had been so bold, and Su Yun hadn’t even flinched. Was that normal for close friends?
To figure it out, Su Yun searched on her phone during the drive: Is it normal for girls to tongue kiss?
The results were split. Some said it was a sign of being gay; others claimed it was normal among friends. So, was it normal or not? The “normal” side explained that girls’ lips were much softer than boys’, and some girls enjoyed kissing other girls because of it.
Was that true?
Su Yun touched her lips, dazed. They were pretty soft.
So, was it normal?
She was a bit shocked. As a “boy” before, she’d never considered kissing her old roommates.
…
After getting lost in her thoughts for a while, the car finally stopped. The second half of the trip had been bumpy, leaving her backside sore.
“Baby, we’re here. Get out to meet your grandpa,” Wang Haiyan said cheerfully, stepping out first.
The car was parked in front of the first house in the village, a three-story building. Unlike city homes, it had no front gate and could be opened without a key. Seeing she was the only one left in the car, Su Yun snapped back to reality and followed her parents out.
The roads here were made of dirt, uneven, with only the house’s foundation built from stone.
“Dad, you’re up so early!”
“Of course! I was just out checking the fields. If you hadn’t come, I’d have worked till noon,” said an elderly man with white hair and a slight hunch, greeting them at the door. Despite his age, his voice and energy rivaled any young person’s.
“Haiyan, where’s Su Yun? Didn’t you say you were bringing him to show me? I need to have a word with him. Why give up being a man?” Wang Wenbing, Su Yun’s grandfather, spoke with a hint of anger.
Clearly, her parents hadn’t been entirely honest with him. In his generation, the preference for boys over girls was deeply ingrained. While he was willing to help, that didn’t mean he approved.
Su Yun, standing behind her mother, was partially hidden. Her height was similar to Wang Haiyan’s, but her smaller frame made her less noticeable.
“Grandpa…”
Su Yun stepped out timidly.
“You’re Su Yun?” Wang Wenbing’s eyes widened as he saw the girl emerge from behind Wang Haiyan.
“Mhm…” Su Yun nodded cautiously, too nervous to speak.
“Is that really Su Yun? How’d you end up like this? After all that, your body must be wrecked, right?”
“Listen, I heard people who transition don’t live past thirty. What were you thinking? Look at you now…”
Wang Wenbing, fired up, had planned to scold her for not looking like a proper man or woman—ugly, in his view. He’d read online that transitioned people often retained masculine traits: broad shoulders, male-like faces, or deep voices.
But now, staring at the fair-skinned, delicate girl before him, he couldn’t spot a single masculine feature. And how had her height and body shrunk so much?
“Su Yun, if you become a girl, you’ll have to marry out. You’re your parents’ only son. Who’s going to take care of them if you’re like this?”
Feeling his knowledge was lacking, Wang Wenbing didn’t stop talking, shifting to future concerns.
Su Yun stood there, head bowed, listening to his reprimands. She knew her grandpa had always been kind to her, giving her red envelopes worth over a thousand yuan every New Year.
When he finally stopped, Su Fulin and Wang Haibin took him to meet someone.
“Baby, don’t be sad. I don’t mind. As long as you’re happy, that’s enough,” Wang Haiyan said, stroking Su Yun’s head to comfort her.
“Hm? I’m fine,” Su Yun replied, lifting her head with no trace of sadness.
She’d long made peace with life during college. Being scolded didn’t faze her, especially by someone who genuinely cared about her.
“Really?”
“Really, really.”
Seeing Su Yun was truly unbothered, Wang Haiyan headed to the kitchen to cook with Grandma. In the village, mornings usually meant eating leftovers, but with so many guests from out of town, they were cooking fresh to entertain.
Now, Su Yun sat alone, dazed. She looked around, found a chair, and plopped down. Then she opened her phone.
Qin Xue had woken up and sent her a message:
(Qin Xue: Sister Xiaoyun, where are you now?)
(Location sent)
And so, Su Yun sat there, chatting with her.
(End of Chapter)