The train station announcement indicated the train would soon arrive. The high-speed train began to slow down as it approached the platform. Lin Yiran put away her laptop into her large backpack and stood up, preparing to disembark.

The high-speed train seats were almost full during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The platform was crowded with people coming and going. Some men lit cigarettes immediately after getting off the train, regardless of those around them, inhaling deeply with satisfaction and exhaling smoke directly into people’s faces. Lin Yiran adjusted her mask and walked quickly on the platform, though the crowd prevented her from moving too fast.

Qiu Xing called, and Lin Yiran answered. He asked, “Have you arrived?”

“I’ve gotten off the train, but haven’t exited the station yet,” Lin Yiran said.

Qiu Xing said, “I’ll wait for you at the square.”

Lin Yiran asked in surprise, “You’re here?”

“Mm,” Qiu Xing replied, “Don’t go underground.”

Though Qiu Xing hadn’t replied to Lin Yiran’s text message that night, he also hadn’t refused when she later sent him a screenshot of her train ticket order.

They hadn’t been in contact for the past few days, and now Qiu Xing suddenly called to say he was there. After hanging up, Lin Yiran stood still for a few seconds. Her face was hidden behind her mask, but her eyes revealed her smile. She quickened her pace to leave the platform.

As soon as Lin Yiran exited the station, she spotted Qiu Xing immediately.

Qiu Xing stood in the square wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, jeans, and canvas shoes. He stood there with an indifferent expression, not looking at anyone, resembling a student trying to look cool.

What a handsome Qiu Xing, Lin Yiran thought.

Lin Yiran walked over and directly linked her arm with Qiu Xing’s. Qiu Xing looked at her, and she tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes curving into beautiful arcs.

Qiu Xing didn’t pull his arm away, but took her bag with his other hand.

“It’s so heavy,” Qiu Xing said as he carried it.

“There’s a laptop inside, a set of clothes, and my facial products,” Lin Yiran said with a slightly rising intonation, in a somewhat happy tone.

Qiu Xing glanced at her and chided, “So troublesome.”

“It’s not troublesome,” Lin Yiran smiled again, holding Qiu Xing’s arm as she followed him to the car.

Qiu Xing had driven the factory car to pick her up. Once in the car, Lin Yiran immediately removed her mask and took a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” Qiu Xing asked.

“So many smokers, the smoke is suffocating.” Lin Yiran rolled up her mask, tucked it into her pocket, and rubbed her nose, saying, “I feel particularly uncomfortable smelling cigarette smoke now.”

“There are many smokers at train stations,” Qiu Xing started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

Lin Yiran hadn’t expected Qiu Xing to come pick her up, since he hadn’t spoken to her during these days, but Qiu Xing had arrived early.

As for how Lin Yiran knew Qiu Xing had arrived early, it was because when they exited the parking lot, the payment terminal showed he had been there for forty-six minutes.

Seeing the screen, Lin Yiran turned her head toward the window and smiled slightly.

Qiu Xing asked, “What are you smiling at?”

Lin Yiran shook her head without turning back and simply said, “Nothing.”

Qiu Xing now lives at the repair shop. The factory had a dormitory area for workers who weren’t local. Qiu Xing’s room wasn’t with theirs; it was in another part of the compound, connected to the office area.

This wasn’t Lin Yiran’s first visit; she had come during previous holidays as well.

Qiu Xing brought her back to the factory, put her bag in his room, and told her, “If you’re tired, lie down for a while. I have something to take care of. I’ll take you to eat afterward.”

“Okay, we don’t need to go out to eat. We can eat here,” Lin Yiran said. “You go ahead with your work.”

“Fine,” Qiu Xing added, “If you get bored, feel free to look around.”

“Okay,” Lin Yiran smiled with curved eyes and said, “Don’t worry about me.”

Having just gotten off the train, Lin Yiran indeed wanted to take a shower. She locked both Qiu Xing’s room and bathroom, quickly showered, changed her clothes, and immediately washed the clothes she had just taken off.

After finishing everything, Lin Yiran didn’t go out on her own but continued working on the manuscript she hadn’t finished writing on the train.

When Qiu Xing returned, she had just finished saving her work. Qiu Xing brought her a bottle of water.

“Let’s go eat,” Qiu Xing said.

“Okay,” Lin Yiran stood up and followed Qiu Xing to the dining hall.

Lin Yiran hadn’t worn a skirt when visiting Qiu Xing, fearing it would be inconvenient. She wore a camisole top with a gray shirt over it, and a pair of slim, light-colored, thin jeans. She had tied her hair up high after showering. Though dressed casually, her outfit accentuated her slender figure even more, with her long, straight legs.

Qiu Xing took her to eat, and all the workers in the room greeted them. Lin Yiran smiled and waved to them. Xiao Zhang and several other younger workers grinned and called out, “Hello, Sister-in-law!”

Lin Yiran felt a little embarrassed, but they had called her this before, so she was somewhat used to it.

Originally, everyone ate together at two large tables in the dining hall. Qiu Xing went to the kitchen to find his lunchbox, used for when food was saved for him in the kitchen. He served Lin Yiran some rice, selected some dishes for her, carried it back to the table, pulled out a chair, and said to Lin Yiran, “Sit here.”

Lin Yiran sat with a table of workers in work clothes covered in engine oil. The scene looked somewhat incongruous, but Lin Yiran integrated quite naturally.

Seeing her arrival, Master Guo specially fired up a small stove for her and made sweet and sour poached eggs.

Lin Yiran thanked him with a smile. Qiu Xing picked one for her and himself, and the remaining few were quickly taken by Xiao Zhang and others with fast hands.

“You only make poached eggs when Sister-in-law comes, you never make them for us!” Xiao Zhang complained, “I’ve been saying for a long time that I want to eat them!”

Master Guo didn’t eat with them; he had to watch over them and add dishes and rice. Usually, he would eat quietly after they finished. Now Master Guo was standing beside them, and hearing Xiao Zhang’s words, he gave him a knock on the back of his head and scolded, “Only young ladies like sweet and sour flavors. You’re a grown man, what are you eating that for?”

“Who says grown men don’t eat sweet and sour flavors? I’ve loved it since I was little!” Xiao Zhang exclaimed.

“I’m just not making it for you,” Master Guo teased him.

“Sister-in-law, you should stay here for a few more days so I can share your dishes,” Xiao Zhang said to her with a chuckle.

Lin Yiran nodded with a smile, eating from her lunchbox.

Qiu Xing had served her too much rice, and Lin Yiran was noticeably eating more slowly toward the end.

“Can’t finish?” Qiu Xing asked her.

Lin Yiran nodded slightly, about to say she could try a bit harder.

Before she could speak, Qiu Xing directly took her lunchbox away, finished it in a few bites, grabbed two oranges, stood up, and said, “Let’s go.”

Lin Yiran said goodbye to the others and quickly followed Qiu Xing.

When they were here, Lin Yiran would sit beside Qiu Xing while he repaired cars. When Qiu Xing went out, he would take her along, even if it was just to pick something up, he would have Lin Yiran follow his car.

This reminded Lin Yiran of the time when she was with Qiu Xing on the truck. She had followed Qiu Xing everywhere then, too. Qiu Xing would occasionally look back at her, keeping her within his sight.

This made Lin Yiran’s heart even softer. That memory in Lin Yiran’s heart was like cotton that had been sun-dried for a long time—though somewhat old, it was soft and gentle.

“Pass me the wrench,” Qiu Xing lay under the car and reached out toward Lin Yiran.

“Which size?” Lin Yiran picked one up and asked, “This one?”

“Not that one, the number twelve,” Qiu Xing said.

Lin Yiran looked down, searched for a while, and gave him a different one.

Qiu Xing had changed out of the clothes he wore when picking her up in the morning, switching to a dirty set of work clothes.

Lin Yiran didn’t mind his dirtiness. As Qiu Xing lay under the car, repairing it, Lin Yiran squatted beside him, leaning on her arm, watching him.

Before her eyes was this dirty Qiu Xing, and in her mind was the spirited, magnificent Qiu Xing that Zhou Keke had described.

She was also someone toyed with by fate. She had long accepted it all, relatively calmly, with a resigned attitude.

But occasionally she wondered, why them?

Qiu Xing lost everything he had in a single night—why? He was just an ordinary young man who was shining brightly at the time.

These thoughts directly caused Lin Yiran’s gaze toward Qiu Xing throughout the entire day to contain emotions beyond just attentiveness.

Qiu Xing noticed Lin Yiran looking at him that way again and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Lin Yiran’s gaze had always been warm and soft, but today, besides that, Qiu Xing felt there was also something else… a sense of heartache.

Qiu Xing exchanged a glance with her, then turned back to continue his work.

Night.

Qiu Xing’s room.

Workers who went home went home, those who slept slept. The courtyard was so quiet that only the rustling sound of wind blowing through leaves could be heard. A dim bedside lamp remained lit in Qiu Xing’s room, with folding curtains tightly drawn.

Qiu Xing had showered but didn’t carry any dampness; instead, he was dry and warm.

He had repaired cars all afternoon, and the smell of engine oil wouldn’t wash off. Despite wearing gloves, his hands still bore some stubborn black oil stains that couldn’t be completely cleaned.

Yet Lin Yiran didn’t mind this smell, nor did she mind Qiu Xing’s hands.

Qiu Xing looked down at her, staring deeply into her eyes, and asked, “Why have you been looking at me like that all day?”

Lin Yiran didn’t say anything. She just reached out her arms, encircled Qiu Xing’s neck, and held him gently.

Qiu Xing could feel her light breathing and the faint fragrance on her body.

Lin Yiran was always so clean, while Qiu Xing always seemed dirtier in contrast.

Qiu Xing turned his head slightly and kissed her ear.

Lin Yiran closed her eyes, and the skin behind her ear broke out in little bumps following Qiu Xing’s movement.

They were intimate and entangled.

And in this ultimate intimacy, though Qiu Xing could hardly be called gentle, he never hurt her. They had never done anything without protection measures. This was a line Qiu Xing firmly held, never attempting to cross it even once.

The last time she was here, Lin Yiran had personally opened that gray box, struggling with the plastic seal until Qiu Xing forcefully tore it open.

So Lin Yiran remembered clearly that from that box, they had used two, leaving one.

Therefore, when Qiu Xing took out a piece from an already-opened black box, Lin Yiran became somewhat distracted as they kissed again.

Qiu Xing noticed her change, wiped her lips with his thumb, and asked softly, “What are you thinking about?”

Lin Yiran was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly gently pushed Qiu Xing away and opened the bedside drawer.

“What are you doing?” Qiu Xing’s expression showed confusion, somewhat bewildered.

There was no gray box from last time in the drawer, only several black boxes, one of which was open. Lin Yiran bit her lip, picked up the opened one, and found one piece inside. Counting the one Qiu Xing had just taken out, this box had already been used once.

Lin Yiran clutched the box and turned to sit up.

She was wearing a camisole, her hair loose and messy, covering her shoulders as she stared at Qiu Xing in a daze.

Qiu Xing was completely confused: “What’s wrong?”

Lin Yiran kept biting her lip. Qiu Xing frowned, pushed her lip away, and said, “If you have something to say, say it. Don’t stare at me.”

“You…” Lin Yiran cleared her throat, “Where’s what was left from last time?”

“What?” Qiu Xing didn’t understand, “What was left?”

Lin Yiran shook the box in her hand, her eyes slowly reddening: “Last time it wasn’t this one that was opened.”

“Condoms??” Qiu Xing’s face was full of question marks as he asked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Don’t pretend,” Lin Yiran’s eyes no longer held the softness of the day; they had become fierce, which was rare for her.

“What am I pretending about?” Qiu Xing’s brows were almost knotted together.

Lin Yiran threw the box next to Qiu Xing, her chest heaving, and said to him: “The piece left over last time was gray.”

Lin Yiran stared at Qiu Xing and asked directly: “Did you use it with someone else?”