Lin Yiran hadn’t come down from the mountain for half a year; she had some of her matters to attend to.

After returning, she first went to report to her teacher. She had sent ahead several short stories and one full-length novel that she’d created during this period. Her teacher kept her at school for two weeks and, together with several other prominent figures, gathered their respective students to organize a manuscript revision session.

A director friend of her teacher also participated and took an interest in Lin Yiran’s long novel about mountain life, intending to adapt it into a film. During dinner, this was mentioned half-jokingly twice, but was deflected by her teacher.

“There’s no rush, let’s put it aside for now,” her teacher later told Lin Yiran privately. “Good things can’t be hidden away even if you want to, but it’s still a bit early. Encountering fame and fortune too early can make one restless, which might cut short a writer’s path. You don’t have anything solid enough to stand on yet; accumulate more for a few years.”

“Yes, teacher,” Lin Yiran said.

“Don’t think I’m blocking your way. You’re my student, and I need to help you avoid detours,” her teacher spoke slowly, telling Lin Yiran, “There are no shortcuts in this world. Every path must be walked step by step with solid footing. The places where you tread lightly, you’ll eventually stumble over them later.”

Lin Yiran listened attentively, nodding to show she understood.

“I haven’t accepted any external doctoral students this year, just one doctoral position.” Her teacher smiled at her and said, “Professor Yu’s master’s student wanted to study for a doctorate with me. Even with Professor Yu personally speaking for them, I refused, saying I want to take on my student. Remember to submit your review materials.”

Lin Yiran pressed her palms together in front of her face, smiling gratefully at her teacher, “I’ll study hard.”

“I didn’t think much of that student anyway. I don’t like young people who try to fake profundity in their writing through distorted sexual concepts, mentioning genitalia every few pages—it’s terrible,” the teacher made no effort to hide her disdain, always finding her students more likable no matter how she looked at them. She gazed at Lin Yiran with appreciation and maternal affection in her eyes, saying, “You will go further, just go a little slower, a little more steadily.”

Lin Yiran indeed didn’t have many distracting thoughts; she was fundamentally very simple.

Perhaps because Qiu Xing had protected her so well these past few years, holding her in his hands. Although he wasn’t often by her side, Qiu Xing had subtly built a safe nest for her. She was stable and secure, protected from any harm, always having an inner confidence, which allowed her naturally peaceful and strong mindset to continue.

She didn’t care much about external things—whether fame or money, Lin Yiran had no obsession with either.

After all, during these years, the only thing she had persistently wanted was Qiu Xing.

Now that she even had Qiu Xing, she had nothing more to ask for.

After finishing her business at school, Lin Yiran went directly to Aunt Fang’s home.

When Lin Yiran returned, Aunt Fang held her hand, taking her out shopping, buying her clothes, and walking together in the park hand in hand.

Aunt Fang missed her like a mother missing her daughter.

The two of them were very happy at home, never finding anything boring. They found interest in reading books together or visiting flower markets to buy new plants for the house.

The housekeeper said they were like mother and daughter. Lin Yiran held Aunt Fang’s arm, smiling as she rested her head on her shoulder.

Qiu Xing came home whenever he had free time; previously, the frequency wasn’t so high, but now he returned every few days. Aunt Fang was getting impatient seeing him so often.

This day, Lin Yiran woke up in the morning saying she wanted to eat walnut pizza from a restaurant far from home, so the two went there for lunch. After finishing lunch, they decided to browse a nearby supermarket to buy some things.

When Qiu Xing called, Lin Yiran had just taken a shopping cart and put her coat in it.

“Qiu Xing?” Lin Yiran answered the phone.

Qiu Xing asked, “Where are you?”

Lin Yiran told him the name of the supermarket, then added, “Buying things with Aunt Fang.”

“I just got off the highway, coming to find you both,” Qiu Xing said.

Lin Yiran smiled, “Alright, call me when you arrive, and I’ll tell you which floor we’re on.”

After hanging up, Aunt Fang looked over and asked, “He’s back again?”

“Yes, he said he’ll be here soon,” Lin Yiran answered.

Aunt Fang asked with slight surprise, “Didn’t he just leave two days ago?”

Lin Yiran felt embarrassed on Qiu Xing’s behalf, saying, “Who knows what he’s thinking…”

Aunt Fang looked at Lin Yiran, didn’t say anything, and turned away with a smile.

Since they had confirmed their relationship, Qiu Xing hadn’t changed much on the surface. He was still the same as usual, except that the frequency of his calls increased, and he came home more often.

Apart from that, only the two of them knew about the other changes.

Taking advantage of having an extra pair of hands, they bought many things, including some items needed for the New Year. At checkout, they had several large bags of goods.

Qiu Xing had no complaints, willingly helping to carry things. When Lin Yiran tried to help him carry some, Qiu Xing blocked her with his arm, not letting her take any, saying, “Your hands will get cold when we go outside.”

“It’s fine, otherwise it’s too heavy for you,” Lin Yiran said.

Qiu Xing still wouldn’t let her touch anything, only saying, “Not necessary.”

When they arrived home, the car was parked outside the residential complex, and Qiu Xing still carried all the bags himself.

They had bought shrimp to make stir-fried shrimp for dinner. As they approached the building, Aunt Fang remembered they might not have enough garlic at home and turned to go to the small supermarket at the entrance of the complex to buy some.

“I’ll go,” Lin Yiran said.

Aunt Fang waved her hand, “I’ll go, I’ll go, you two go upstairs first.”

“Come open the door,” Qiu Xing called to her.

Lin Yiran quickly came over to help open the entrance door. As Qiu Xing entered, he bent down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

“What are you doing?” Lin Yiran asked with a smile.

Qiu Xing pretended not to hear and walked straight in. Once they were in the elevator, he tilted his head again and kissed Lin Yiran on the cheek.

Lin Yiran looked up at the security camera, caught between laughter and exasperation, and said to Qiu Xing, “There’s a camera here.”

Qiu Xing raised his eyebrows indifferently, “So what?”

“People will laugh at you if they see,” Lin Yiran said.

“Let them laugh,” Qiu Xing said.

When they were alone, Qiu Xing, after confirming their relationship, was much more cheerful than before, sometimes a bit mischievous, showing shadows of his childhood self. Lin Yiran couldn’t do anything about it, but at the same time, she found it endearing.

“Didn’t you say you had something this week? You even said yesterday that you had to meet someone today,” Lin Yiran asked him.

“I’ll meet them another day,” Qiu Xing glanced at her, “Come back with me?”

“I need to keep Aunt Fang company. I promised her I wouldn’t leave before the New Year,” Lin Yiran shook her head.

The elevator opened, and Qiu Xing gestured for Lin Yiran to go first, saying behind her, “Can’t you accompany us both? Give me a few days.”

Lin Yiran smiled until her eyes curved, opening the door while saying, “No.”

Qiu Xing had both hands full, and Lin Yiran was opening the door in front. As the door opened, she was about to turn back to continue talking to Qiu Xing when she suddenly frowned—

The room was filled with thick smoke. Lin Yiran quickly looked back, almost instinctively, and immediately pushed Qiu Xing, who was about to enter, back out. Caught off guard, Qiu Xing was pushed back a large step, his back hitting the elevator hall with a loud bang.

“Lin Yiran!” Qiu Xing called her name with furrowed brows.

By the time Qiu Xing got up and rushed in, Lin Yiran was already in the kitchen. Dense smoke enveloped her; Lin Yiran stood in the fire, as if about to be swallowed by the flames. In that instant, Qiu Xing’s heart stopped.

“Don’t come over!” Lin Yiran shouted with her back to him, coughing violently.

Qiu Xing didn’t listen and rushed over to pull her out.

Only when he got closer did he see that Lin Yiran was holding a small fire extinguisher. In just a few seconds, the fire on the cabinet was extinguished.

The aerosol quickly put out the fire. There were no more flames in the kitchen, but the temperature was still scorching, and the thick smoke made it difficult to enter.

Qiu Xing grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her away.

Lin Yiran dropped the empty fire extinguisher and immediately hugged Qiu Xing as she turned around. One hand pressed against the back of his head, and after coughing a few times, she comforted him, “It’s okay, it’s okay, Qiu Xing, don’t be afraid…”

Qiu Xing pressed his hand firmly against her back, holding her in his arms for two seconds, then went to the bathroom to get two wet towels, one covering his face, and one wrapped around his hand to turn off the gas stove.

From the moment Lin Yiran opened the door until Qiu Xing turned off the gas stove, the whole process took only about ten seconds.

Qiu Xing dragged Lin Yiran by the wrist out of the apartment, and they stood in the hallway, with Qiu Xing holding Lin Yiran tightly in his arms.

Lin Yiran could feel Qiu Xing trembling. This was the first time she had seen Qiu Xing panic.

“I have six fire extinguishers at home, don’t be afraid, Qiu Xing…” Lin Yiran suppressed her cough, comforting him with concern, “This fire extinguisher works well, you saw how quickly it put out the fire!”

Qiu Xing didn’t say a word, only buried his face in Lin Yiran’s shoulder, his arms holding her still trembling.

Lin Yiran stroked his head and patted his back, “Qiu Xing, don’t be afraid.”

*

The housekeeper had heated a pot of oil to fry meat. It took some time for the half pot of oil to heat up, and she went to wash the mop in preparation for cleaning the kitchen floor afterward.

At that moment, she received a call saying a delivery had arrived. She put down the mop and went downstairs, going to the back gate of the complex to pick up the package, completely forgetting about the pot.

The housekeeper was a good person, but had a momentary lapse today. She cried as she apologized to Fang Min. Fang Min had a good relationship with her but was still somewhat angry, as today’s incident was truly dangerous.

Qiu Xing didn’t say a word. He had been like this since turning off the fire—silent, with an extremely grim expression.

It was Lin Yiran who asked the housekeeper to leave first, saying they would discuss the matter later.

There had been a safety presentation at the school, where a retired firefighter came to lecture students and teachers, sharing many fire safety tips. After the lecture, they sold fire extinguishers, saying they could extinguish a fire in an entire room within seconds. Few students bought them at the time, as most were just there to make up numbers and didn’t take such product promotions seriously.

Only Lin Yiran directly bought ten, at three hundred yuan each, spending three thousand yuan on fire extinguishers.

Her classmates said she was paying an intelligence tax, saying such things would never be used and that she had wasted so much money.

Lin Yiran just smiled at the time and said, “It’s even better if they’re never used.”

She placed one in every room of Aunt Fang’s house, one in Qiu Xing’s place, and had them in her dormitory and rented a small room as well.

Qiu Xing was afraid of fire. At the time, Lin Yiran didn’t think they would ever be used, but felt more at ease having them at home.

Today, Lin Yiran was incredibly grateful for the three thousand yuan she had spent back then; otherwise, the kitchen fire would have been difficult to extinguish. The cabinet was already burning, and the oil pot was particularly troublesome.

She had rushed in without hesitation, only wanting to quickly put out the fire. In the emergency, she hadn’t even thought about danger or fear.

But even though she had extinguished the fire as quickly as possible, the incident left Qiu Xing in an off state for the next two days.

After cleaning up what needed to be cleaned, negotiating compensation with the landlord, finding people to remeasure and install new cabinets, and hiring cleaners for the walls and floor—

Qiu Xing took care of all these matters but otherwise didn’t talk much.

Especially not to Lin Yiran.

“Qiu Xing?” Lin Yiran walked over and sat on the sofa next to him.

Qiu Xing just sat there without making a sound.

Lin Yiran reached for his hand, only to find it cold.

“Are you not on good terms with me anymore?” Lin Yiran asked softly, “Really not talking to me anymore?”

Qiu Xing neither squeezed her hand nor pulled away. He just sat there in profound silence, his eyes deep and heavy.

Lin Yiran tried to coax him for two days but couldn’t improve his mood.

During the day, Qiu Xing wouldn’t speak to her, but at night, he would hold her tightly while sleeping.

Lin Yiran was awakened several times by Qiu Xing’s arm squeezing her too tightly.

The incident had indeed made Qiu Xing very unsettled. He often woke up in the middle of the night. He frequently had dreams about his father and also about Lin Yiran.

The image of Lin Yiran standing frail in the fire repeatedly appeared before his eyes. That scene left a hollow in Qiu Xing’s heart, and no matter how tightly he held her, he felt he couldn’t fill it.

Once, an electrical fire had taken away everything from Qiu Xing’s youth.

If fire had engulfed Lin Yiran, then all of Qiu Xing’s future would also be gone.

At night, Lin Yiran was once again awakened by being squeezed too tightly, with Qiu Xing embracing her from behind.

She heard Qiu Xing’s heavy and rapid breathing and quickly reached to touch his arm.

“Qiu Xing, wake up…” Lin Yiran called to him softly.

After a while, Qiu Xing suddenly woke up and immediately held her tightly.

Lin Yiran patted his arm, comforting him, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid.”

Qiu Xing pressed his face against Lin Yiran’s neck, his scorching breath burning her skin.

“Lin Little Boat,” Qiu Xing’s voice was a bit hoarse, with a raw vulnerability in the night, as he held her and said, “Don’t stand in the fire, I’m scared.”