Couple of Mirrors Novel Extra

‘According to this book, everyone has their own unique scent.’ Xu Youyi closed the book in question, a thick volume of European essays bound in lambskin. The flames in the grate cast a rosy glow on her fair complexion. ‘Only someone who loves them can smell it.’ She glanced at the other woman, who was sitting on the floor with her back to Xu Youyi. There was a sly gleam in Xu Youyi’s eyes.

‘Really?’ said the other woman, with heartbreaking indifference. She was fiddling with an antique camera.

Xu Youyi refused to give up. ‘What do you think my scent would be like? Jasmine, like the perfumed powder from Fenghuang Cosmetics? Rose, like imported nail polish? Or sandalwood, like well-aged incense?’

‘I don’t know,’ said the other woman.

‘Why don’t you guess, then?’ Persistence was one of Xu Youyi’s virtues.

‘I won’t be able to guess.’

In this case, however, persistence seemed unlikely to yield results.

‘Fine, Yan Wei, fine. Why did I even ask, knowing how boring you are?’

The volume of essays landed on the carpet. Yan Wei looked up, expecting a look of petulance on Xu Youyi’s face, but all she could see of Xu Youyi was her disdainful back. It put Yan Wei in mind of a cat contemptuously turning its backside on her.

‘Are you still reading that book?’ asked Yan Wei.

‘Leave it there,’ Xu Youyi replied instantly. ‘At least it’s less boring than you.’

Yan Wei looked away. She stared intently into the fireplace, as if the flames held some sort of unsolvable riddle.

***

It was late at night, and Xu Youyi was fast asleep in bed. Yan Wei slipped quietly into the room, drew a blanket over Xu Youyi, and stroked a stray lock of hair that had fallen across her pillow.

Suddenly, Yan Wei smiled.

It was rare for her to smile. It was even rarer for her to smile this way.

‘Your scent is the fragrance of the first crab-apple blossom of spring.’

***

This is an extra for the Couple of Mirrors novelisation, written by Li Zongchen (李宗晨), the scriptwriter for the Couple of Mirrors drama. The original post can be found here on Weibo.

Version control: Source text posted on 25 August 2021 on Weibo and retrieved from Weibo on the same date.