Chapter 19: The Night Before

"May I see it live?" Jiang Lü said to the wall.

"Slower," said Tang Yu.

"May I see it live."

"Don't make it a command. Make it a question."

"May I see it live?" Jiang Lü tried again, with her head tilted and her eyes very wide.

Tang Yu sat on the floor of her own flat with her back against the bed and laughed until her stomach hurt.

"That's perfect. Do it exactly like that."

"I have said it forty times."

"Then say it forty-one at the investors."

It was Thursday night, and everything that could be done had been done.

Lin Jie had wired the test to the tile and gone home to hide.

Mei had gone to buy a leather jacket for Jiang Lü to wear tomorrow.

She had called back to say no jacket in the city could hold sleeves like hers.

Jiang Lü had decided to go in robes.

Tang Yu had stopped arguing.

Now the flat was warm and cluttered and full of the smell of instant noodles.

Jiang Lü had refused to let her cook, and then burned the rice.

"I have a confession," Jiang Lü said, poking the noodle cup with her chopsticks.

"Another one?"

"A small one. These are the best thing I have ever eaten."

"They're nine yuan."

"I know. It is outrageous."

They ate on the bed, shoulder to shoulder, with the monitor lamp the only light.

They did not talk about tomorrow.

They talked about the first time Tang Yu had ridden a bicycle.

They talked about a winter in the Tang dynasty when it had snowed in Chengdu for three days.

They argued about whether the neighbor's cat was a cat.

When the cup was empty Jiang Lü set it aside.

"This is the last quiet night," she said. "I wished to spend it here."

"Why here?"

"This is where you let me in out of the rain."

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Immortal Cultivator Signed Up for a Dating App from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.