milestones

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/36456931.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: F/M
Fandom: 你是我的荣耀 | You Are My Glory (TV)
Relationship: Qiao Jingjing/Yu Tu
Character: Qiao Jingjing, Yu Tu
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Slice of Life, Sharing Clothes, Pre-
Relationship, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, 3 Sentence Ficathon, Texting,
Embedded Images, Social Media, Married Couple, 3 Sentence Fiction
Series: Part 18 of Chang'e and her Jade Rabbit
Collections: Three Sentence Fic-a-thon
Stats: Published: 2022-01-16 Updated: 2022-01-25 Chapters: 23/? Words:
3783

milestones
by huanzhuyulu (RuanChunXian)

Summary

Moments in Yu Tu and Jing Jing's relationship, in increments of three sentences

(sometimes). Not in chronological order.

1. borrowing a sweater // 2. no such thing as too many rabbits // 3. occupational hazard of

an actor (mild) // 4. working late // 5. occupational hazard of an actor (serious) // 6. raisins
// 7. stray cat on set // 8. sunshine on a rainy day // 9. outsider perspective // 10. traffic jam
// 11. wake up call // 12. last item on a lengthy to-do list // 13. an intrusive thought // 14.
treehouse // 15. professional mermaid // 16. out of the shadow // 17. moments // 18. bunnies
// 19. shopping // 20. power couple // 21. hairstyles // 22. red carpet // 23. first kisses
 borrowing a sweater

“Do you own any clothes that isn’t black or grey or navy?” Jing Jing asked, eyeing the contents of
Yu Tu’s closet the second time she made the impromptu decision to stay over at his house – this
time, without her own luggage, thus the current raiding of his closet.

“White?” he asked, the corner of his lips twitching.

Jing Jing sighed dramatically, before reaching for a pullover (black, of course) and waved away
Yu Tu’s concerns that it was not freshly laundered; “It smells like you,” she said with a satisfied
smile, before adding, “I'm going to have to introduce some colour into your wardrobe from now
on, though.”
 no such thing as too many rabbits(-shaped things)
Chapter Summary

For someone who was supposedly over her crush on Yu Tu, Jing Jing sure owns a lot
of rabbit-shaped things.

Jing Jing supposed it started in high school, when her affinity for rabbit-shaped and rabbit-themed
things, from erasers to giant stuffed toys, was a semi-conscious manifestation of her hopeless crush
on Yu Tu, which gave Pei Pei so much ammunition to tease her frequently enough that it would
have destroyed any friendship not forged in the fires of the necessity of a shared desk at school.

In the years that followed high school, it had developed into a habbit, and over time, her Taobao
algorithms learnt to feed her a continually stream of rabbit-shaped paraphernalia. So of course Jing
Jing wasn’t surprised when, about two weeks before the KPL award ceremony and exhibition
match, she got a push notification advertising a pair of sparkly rabbit earrings, and buying it was
only another few taps of the phone away.
 occupational hazard (mild)
Chapter Summary

"Are you sure this is real chocolate?"

When shooting period drama scenes involving some mysterious unidentified compact brown
medicinal pill, you’d usually be fed chocolate instead, and sets of period dramas that anticipate
such scenes are never short of Maltesers. Jing Jing didn’t mind them – it wasn’t like she was ever
in enough of these scenes to develop an opinion of any sort about them – but today, she could
barely swallow the dry, crumbly piece of tasteless honeycomb and chocolate in time to catch her
next dialogue cue.

“I almost feel like I should ask how long that packet’s been opened or if it was even within date,”
she grumbled quietly to Xiao Zhu after the director had called cut, “it still tastes like sand in my
mouth.”
 working late

The strange occurrence that day was that for once, Yu Tu was home from work before Jing Jing,
who came in at nearly eleven o’clock, slamming the door, then just managed a “Sorry, my hand
slipped” in a voice that oozed of lingering exasperation. She changed into slippers before flopping
down next to where Yu Tu had been reading on the couch, allowing him to kiss away the knit of
annoyance on her brows.

In answer to his questioning look afterwards, she said with a soft sigh, “I’ve just had the most
trying evening with a producer who shall remain mostly nameless but who unfortunately shares
your surname – a fact I will forever be resentful about – anyway, I think Ling Jie and I managed to
turn down his offer of a collaboration in the end, but it was still exhausting!”
 occupational hazard (serious)
Chapter Summary

Prompt: frantically checking someone for injuries (they're hurt, it's bad)

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

It happened as if in slow-motion, and yet Xiao Zhu would think later that it also seemed to all
happen at once, like dominoes crashing: someone must have not taped down a wire securely
enough, because a passing script supervisor tripped, fell against the gaffer who knocked a light into
the boom operator, making the long pole of the boom mic jerk upward, knocking the roof and a
whole wall of the easily disassembled set down on the only actor in the scene…

“Jing Jing?” Xiao Zhu whispered in a tiny voice when they finally got to her artiste, and found her
not bleeding, thankfully, but definitely unconscious. As the AD frantically called for the on-set
medic, the only thought in Xiao Zhu’s head was how she dreaded the call she would have to make
next to Yu Laoshi.

Chapter End Notes

I'm not definitely saying this snippet is a teaser for the next full-length fic because I'm
not sure if I'd get around to finish it ever, but it might be.
 raisins
Chapter Summary

...are only disappointing because you expected chocolate chips instead

The news that Jing Jing was bringing her boyfriend home for the holidays was enough for her
grandmother forget her car sickness and consent to be driven down to Yixing. When Jing Jing and
Yu Tu arrived at her house after having lunch with his parents, the fragrance of lamb meat
permeated through the house.

At dinner time, Jing Jing spent at least ten minutes meticulously picking raisins out of her polu, to
Yu Tu’s amused gaze.

“When I was little, I thought the raisins were supposed to be chocolate and was so disappointed
they weren’t that I can’t stand the taste of them,” she explained when he asked what she was doing.

He gave her an even more confused look. “Why would you expect chocolate in a lamb rice dish?”

“I was five!”
 stray cat on set

Just like the actual Forbidden City, cats also freely roam Hengdian, growing fat with the
abundance of prey for hunting that hide in the nooks and crannies of the world’s largest film
studio. Many a take has been ruined by a cat wandering into shot, but today, before the director can
call “Cut!”, Jing Jing simply places her arms securely around the tabby that has jumped onto her
lap and strokes the soft fur lazily without missing a beat in her monologue. It’s been a good take,
and it would be a shame to allow such an adorable uninvited guest to ruin it.

(The take makes it into final cut of the drama.)

 sunshine on a rainy day (photos on their phones 1)

It is a certifiably miserable day in Shanghai, the sky grey with smog and the rain can’t seem to
make up its mind whether to fall or to stop. Jing Jing’s phone buzzes with a message from Zhai
Liang:

Zhai Liang: Sorry to break it to you, girl, but I think your boyfriend might have found a new love

Her mood, which prior to this has been mirroring the Shanghai sky, suddenly brightens as she
gazes at the photos with a silly smile on her face for a long moment.

Jing Jing: Your dog?

Zhai Liang: Might be his dog after this, to be honest, if he can figure out how to get it from
Shenzhen to Shanghai. Does either of your buildings allow pets?

Jing Jing: You think we have time for a dog?

Zhai Liang: Oh right, with how you both work, getting either of you a pet probably counts as
animal abuse

Jing Jing:

Jing Jing: Cute though.

Zhai Liang: The dog?

Jing Jing: The engineer

 outsider perspective (photos on their phones 2)

The accompanying note only read: “Nushen jiejie, for some reason these remind me of you and
your husband – happy birthday!”

Jing Jing sent the photo to Pei Pei.

You know, in a strange way, I sort of see what they mean.

 traffic jam (photos on their phones 3)

Yu Tu: When do you get home?

Jing Jing: No idea

Jing Jing: Still on the expressway. Traffic's horrible.

Jing Jing: I'll let you know when we get off the expressway.

Yu Tu: Ok

Jing Jing:
 wake up call (photos on their phones 4)

Yu Tu: Morning.

Yu Tu: Are you up yet?

Jing Jing: Yes, early call today

An hour later

Yu Tu: I guess it's not this cold even in Beijing

Yu Tu: but keep warm

Jing Jing: Yes sir.

Jing Jing: You stay warm too ❤️❤️

Yu Tu: It'd be warmer if you were here

Jing Jing: Where's here?

Yu Tu: That's classified

 last item on a lengthy to-do list
Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

“You need a prenup,” Ling Jie announced to Jing Jing, after they had decided to go with the option
of just signing up for the research institute’s group wedding.

“What?” Jing Jing stared at her. “We don’t need a prenup, what are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say, I know your relationship is very strong, but that’s no reason to be needlessly
unrealistic and foolish, Jing Jing.”

“Jie - “

“Listen, I’m not denying that the reason I’m suggesting is mostly to protect you and your assets,
but it’s to protect him as well. Didn’t you say his house is still on mortgage? Are you planning to
contribute to that after you two get married? You can still keep the Lu Jia Zui apartment and the
apartments in Beijing and Hengdian your own because you purchased it well before your marriage,
but if you want to help Yu Laoshi pay off his Tian Yu apartment, which I’m guessing you will,
then that house becomes shared asset. Having a prenup that lays it out in the open from the
beginning how to divide just all of that is going to give him some security as well.”

For a moment, Jing Jing continued to look ambivalent about this idea.

“I know you breaking up is going to be an extremely unlikely and undesired event, but let’s be a bit
practical about this, Jing Jing,” Ling Jie said. “I know that people tend to think prenup is just about
preparing for divorce, but it also lays out conditions for death and incapacitation as well. Not to
mention, if you later have kids, you'll thank yourself to have already planned what to do in the
event of any of those above three things from the beginning.”

Jing Jing sighed heavily, knowing that, on a practical level, her manager was right. But how did
one even bring this subject up?

“Do you want me to talk to Yu Laoshi?” Ling Jie asked.

“No, no,” Jing Jing immediately waved that idea way. There was no way she’s going to let her
manager be the first to broach the idea with Yu Tu. Sighing again, she admitted, “You are right.
All right, I guess I’ll talk to him about it when we see each other this weekend...”

Chapter End Notes

Ok this realisation comes after I actually started thinking about Jing Jing’s finances.
She really probably would already have a base in Beijing, considering she would spend
a lot of time there for work, and real estate is a popular form of investment in China. I
think considering the amount of time she would spend in Hengdian, it’s not a stretch
she’d have her own place there as well.

*Cue me now having to go back to edit previous fics to reflect this...*

 acting upon an intrusive thought

He doesn’t know you exist, a part of her brain tells her, while the other part argues, more insistently
and stubbornly, but how do you know if you don’t ask?

Jing Jing feels like she can burst with nervous excitement all through lunch, after which she makes
excuses to part from her friends, clutches her books almost like a shield to herself and finds her way
to the boy sitting in a circle of light by the river.

A mere five minutes later – the longest five minutes of Jing Jing’s life, it has felt like – she walks
away, spring gone from her steps, and tries to shut out a passing giggle as the horror of realising
she has been overheard settles at the pit of her stomach.
 treehouse

“You know you’re the only person in the world who requires the materials to build your kids’
treehouse to be space-worthy,” Jing Jing says.

Yu Tu shrugs, and answers, “Well, if immigration to Mars is going to happen one day, then maybe
by then our descendents can dissasemble this treehouse and take it to Mars with them.”

Jing Jing bursts out laughing: “You must have a lot of faith in the progress of the aerospace
industry to think this treehouse’s going to last long enough to be moved to Mars.”
 (meeting the) professional mermaid

Apparently there is such thing as being a professional mermaid, and one has been hired to be on-set
of Jing Jing’s latest movie; this is news to her on the first shooting day, considering the mermaid in
the movie, last Jing Jing heard, is supposed to be CGI-ed in, post-production.

“In the day I’m one of the actors for the Little Mermaid at Shanghai Disneyland and I also model
for fantasy photoshoots,” Ai Li says upon introducing herself to Jing Jing.

“The idea is that the mermaid will still be largely CGI, Jing Jing,” the director says, “but more mo-
cap than completely CGI, so Ai Li will both do the mo-cap and be there for you to interact with so
you at least won’t be acting with air.”
 out of the shadow (social media photos 1)

[Weibo] daqiaowozhouyuah: I would like to bow down to whichever brilliant, kind, wonderful
reporter present at the launch of the Search for God probe who took these photos of the Chief
Engineer...you are doing the god’s work and I hope you get at least a raise, and whatever else you
might desire! I know we got a treat when they appeared on Happy Camp together years ago...but
there's nothing like an engineering man in his natural habitat is there????

Ling Jie: Do you want to do anything about this?

Jing Jing: Weren't the photos included in an actual Xinhua report about the launch? How do you
expect we buy off the state news agency?

Ling Jie: Of course we can't throw money at this, but we can ask they take Yu Laoshi's photo out
of it though. They might not want your husband's face to take attention away from the launch.

Jing Jing: They approved the use of these photos, they probably actually do want him to draw
attention to the launch/article.

Jing Jing: Let's just leave it, it's harmless enough. It's not like we have to keep his involvement
with Search for God a secret anymore.
 moments (photos on their phones 5)
Chapter Summary

Posts from Qiao Jing Jing's official Weibo

[18 April 2029] Qiao Jing Jing: Xiao Bei Dou, hello. 2029.4.16

[16 April 2030] Qiao Jing Jing: Sometimes I miss days like this, miss having you still inside me
beneath my heart. Time flies and now I wish you would not grow so fast...Happy 1st birthday, my
little starlight ❤️❤️❤️❤️
[28 January 2031] Qiao Jing Jing: Little brother, now that you’re here, let’s arm wrestle
2031.1.25

[21 December 2031] Qiao Jing Jing: All I want for my birthday and Christmas is you.
 bunnies (photos on their phones 6)
Chapter Summary

Moments from Jing Jing and Pei Pei’s WeChat conversations

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

[~July 2029]

Jing Jing: Aunty Pei Pei, Xuan Xuan got your present ❤️❤️❤️

Pei Pei: Yaay!

Pei Pei: It fits?

Jing Jing: Yes perfectly

Jing Jing: I tried take some photos while she was awake but she's in a wriggly mood today, so
enjoy these videos

Pei Pei: Is the stuffed rabbit the one you got in second year of uni ages ago?

Jing Jing: Yes

Pei Pei: I guess your obsession with rabbit-related stuff comes in handy now

[23 January 2031 - Lunar New Year]

Pei Pei: Happy new year!!!

Jing Jing: Happy new year~~~~

Jing Jing: Xuan Xuan woke up this morning and said she wanted to wish little brother happy new
year

Jing Jing: and then did this

Pei Pei: Cute~~~~

Jing Jing: Well, that was a re-enactment

Jing Jing: We didn't get it on camera the first time

Pei Pei: How's new year in Shanghai?

Jing Jing: Boring

Jing Jing: Not because it's Shanghai, mind you

Jing Jing: Just because I'm like two days from having this baby and thus can't go anywhere

Pei Pei: It's not like you can go anywhere even if he has come out

Jing Jing: True

Jing Jing: But at least I would be kept busy...

[25 January 3031]

Jing Jing: Aunty Pei Pei, meet Yu Ying Heng (映衡)

Pei Pei:

Pei Pei: There’s going to be an essay on the meaning of his name, isn’t there?

Pei Pei: Let me guess, it’s another star

Jing Jing: Of course

Jing Jing: But no essay

Jing Jing: Just Baidu 玉衡

Pei Pei:

Pei Pei: You’ve spent way too much time with Yu Tu, you’re starting to sound like him

Jing Jing: You know I can only take that as a compliment right?
 [27 January 3031]

Jing Jing: First pic at home. Your present is definitely going to get lots of use

Pei Pei: I had to keep up traditions

Chapter End Notes

映 = shine, 衡 = brightest star in the Bei Dou constellation

 shopping

Normally, Jing Jing would have all her online shopping delivered to the studio, where her team
would receive them, and when the driver picked her up and brought her home from wherever she’d
drifted, he’d deliver her purchases to her house as well. Now that she was living with Yu Tu and on
vacation, and had gone on a certifiable shopping spree in her attempt to inject some colour and
cheer into her boyfriend’s minimalistic apartment, it seemed rather excessive to turn her driver into
a delivery man for her personal purchases. So she set the default delivery address on her Taobao
app to Yu Tu’s apartment instead.

It was supposed to be a routine delivery, as Ah Feng knocked on the door of an unassuming

looking apartment in one of the usual buildings on his usual delivery route.

“Delivery for Yu Xiao Q-“ the last syllable of the name died in his throat as Ah Feng took in the
person who’d opened the door and was now standing in front of him. His eyes drifted to take in her
casual clothes, hair in a hasty ponytail, fluffy slippers and lack of makeup.

The person before him just smiled serenely and held out her hand. What else could Ah Feng do,
but silently hand her the package and electric signature pad to sign, which she did while he
continued to stare at her in astonishment.

“Thanks,” she said, still smiling, before taking the package from him. Ah Feng continued to stare
as she closed the door.

Left alone out in the hallway, still dazed and in disbelief, Ah Feng looked down at the signature on
the device in his hand. Then, he pulled out his phone and quickly typed in an image search for
“Qiao Jing Jing signature”.

Sure enough, the results that came up showed him a signature identical to the one on his delivery
receipt.

How the hell did he just deliver a package to Qiao Jing Jing, and what was a famous actress like
Qiao Jing Jing doing here, in this most random, normal-looking apartment in the world, all the way
here in the outer ring?

(A week and another six deliveries to the same address later, signed for by the same person, Ah
Feng was still none the wiser about any of these questions.)
 power couple

“I still don’t understand why you’d want to make a movie about us,” Yu Tu said, looking
uncomprehendingly at the young duo of script-writer and producer sitting opposite them, looking
at them with hopeful eyes.

“Yu Laoshi, surely you see how extraordinary your story is, to have been high school classmates
who lost touch for ten years then reunited by fate when you have both established unique careers,
and then you both went on to attain such individual great successes in your chosen fields – I mean,
you were the lead engineer on our country’s first deep space probe! – it has all the beats of a
wonderful, beautiful love story, especially now that your work is no longer classified and we can
portray it on screen.”

Jing Jing exchanged a look with Yu Tu, unable to help laughing at the still baffled expression on
his face, then said, “I’m not saying that from a…creative standpoint, your proposal doesn’t have
potential, but honestly, you’d probably have to take an abundance of creative liberties to make this
potential movie actually have something resembling a plot, because I can see why my husband is
so confused; you’re so excited to tell a story about how we reconnected ten years after high school,
but from our perspectives, we just sat at home playing video games for a month, hardly the stuff of
edge-of-your-seat narratives.”
 hairstyles
Chapter Summary

Prompt: brushing and/or braiding someone else's hair

Xuan Xuan likes it best when Mama helps her get ready for the day, not because she doesn’t like it
when Baba does it, but Baba doesn’t know how to do as many nice hairstyles as Mama. Baba
usually just puts Xuan Xuan’s hair into two pigtails or the simplest braid, which are fine, but Xuan
Xuan likes how Mama can make the braids look inside out, or like a mermaid’s tail, or weave
colourful ribbons into her hair, making it all look so much more pretty. Once, Mama even brings
Xuan Xuan to work, and the aunties there does this thing to Xuan Xuan’s hair that in the end she
looks like she had rabbit ears, and Mama takes a photo of it to send to Baba, who says that Xuan
Xuan is the cutest bunny rabbit in the world, and Xuan Xuan likes that even more than the bunny
hair.
 red carpet
Chapter Summary

Prompt: “if I say the wrong thing / or I wear the wrong outfit / they’ll throw me right
over the side”

The award ceremony took place in Hainan on a beach, in the middle of a typhoon – or at least, that
was what the wind felt like on the red carpet; Jing Jing was thankful that her manager had
somehow had the foresight to check the weather and informed her stylist, who had then wisely put
her hair in a tight updo, cemented with half a can of hairspray, and then chosen for her a dress
sufficiently weighted that the skirt held its form by itself and also acted as anchor to keep Jing Jing
herself upright – oh, and the stud earrings were a godsend against the wind.

“All the media coverage praised your look, Jing Jing,” Xiao Zhu said the next day, grinning, “and
all your photos definitely turned out much better than Zhou Xiao Qi’s.”

“Of course they did,” Jing Jing said, unable to help feeling just a little bit smug at the memory of
witnessing Zhou Xiao Qi trying to make it down the windy red carpet in a floaty, gauzy dress that
ended up twisting around her body, becoming almost like a sail helping the wind try its best to
whisk her away – so it wasn’t nice, but it wasn’t as if Zhou Xiao Qi would be above making thinly-
veiled insults publicly on Weibo if it had been Jing Jing who had to spend an entire red carpet walk
trying to keep loose hair being blown wild and still half of her photos ended up with her having
hair in her face; at least Jing Jing was keeping her vindictive glee to herself.
 first kisses

If you were being really precise about it and counted, Jing Jing had had more on-screen, acting
kisses where she was being paid to kiss the person in front of her, than actual, real kisses with
people she actually wanted to kiss – if that didn’t paint a picture of her love life, she didn’t know
what did. Right now, this was not a film set, even if it might as well be, with her entire old high
school class staring at her and Yu Tu, as he leaned in towards her; it felt like she was floating in
some idol romance drama, her mind having turned to mush, and she could hardly react, even with
pleasure, to the soft brush of his lips against hers.

Later, standing in the hallway outside their old classroom, Jing Jing couldn’t help feeling
uncharacteristically shy when the blazing look in his eyes made her forget what she had been
intending to say; as she leaned in to this second, much longer, kiss, welcoming it wholeheartedly, a
part of her was also transported back over a decade, as she wondered if his kiss would still have
tasted this sweet in high school, if she hadn’t had to wait so many years for it.

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