A Journey by Water

Zhou Xiang has a secret: she likes Cheng Cen.

Cheng Yanxing knows a secret: the person he likes is in love with his cousin, Cheng Cen.

Everyone knows there's only one reason Zhou Xiang lets Cheng Yanxing stay by her side: he has a face that's eighty percent identical to Cheng Cen's.

"I heard Miss Zhou wanted to marry Mr. Cheng when she was sixteen. I wonder which one?" a busybody teased, giving him a sidelong look.

"I don't know," Cheng Yanxing replied coolly. He didn't lash out, feel embarrassed, or look downhearted.

He knew how to be a good stand-in.

He also knew how to seduce Zhou Xiang.

*

To Zhou Xiang, Cheng Yanxing was simple: quiet, obedient, and fond of wagging his tail at her.

The night Cheng Cen rejected her, Cheng Yanxing showed up downstairs with a bouquet of baby's breath. He earnestly confessed his one-sided love, then quietly accepted her rejection.

"He rejected you, and you rejected me. See? Being rejected isn't so scary."

"Shut up." "I can shut up, but don't cry. I can't imitate the way you cry."

Zhou Xiang wished Cheng Cen could be as simple as he was. Then she realized she kept thinking about Cheng Yanxing's scent at the most inappropriate times. Maybe he wasn't so simple after all.

She used to never let Cheng Yanxing into her home, but somehow, somewhere along the way, she gave in:

"You want to marry Mr. Cheng?"

"I want to marry Cheng Yanxing."

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Xiao Shiyuan had no parents, but plenty of grudges and debts. He got by with two things: not caring if he lived or died, and having no shame.

Yan Qing treasured the life he didn't care about, and loved the shamelessness he didn't care to hide.

After Yan Qing fell for Xiao Shiyuan, women with daughters told them never to be like her, while women without daughters couldn't help urging her to give up before it was too late.

Xiao Shiyuan's heart was harder than his bones.

"Doesn't it bother you when they put your name next to mine?"

"Then let's go somewhere no one knows us."

Xiao Shiyuan was fairly obedient, but only listened to half of what she said. He left on his own, leaving behind a letter: "I'm going to America. The property deed is in the bedside table. Don't miss me."

He gave her the money and the house, but wouldn't give her himself, and even went out of his way to avoid her.

*

Yan Qing bet that Xiao Shiyuan wouldn't be able to put down roots in America, and couldn't bear never seeing her again. So she didn't go far, opening a cat cafe near her home to pass the time.

She won the bet.

Xiao Shiyuan had become more careful with his life and even more handsome. She almost didn't recognize him. Only his eyes were unchanged, still looking at her with that cheeky glint, occasionally revealing a hint of what people called devotion.

"An Americano, please."

"You've been in America all these years and that's all you learned to drink?"

"I also learned to say, 'I love you.'"

"I stopped liking you ages ago."

"Is that so, Wanwan?"

A little white fluffball came scampering into Yan Qing's arms with a meow. Pathetically, she remembered how six years ago she'd clung to Xiao Shiyuan and shamelessly asked him if they could name their future child Wanwan.

Theme: Love speaks.