◎ “Now I have you, Lu Rangchen.” ◎

August. Nanchen City in the height of summer, the scorching heat relentless and unceasing.

This was Yunque’s first summer vacation since coming to Yuhua High School.

The day the final exam results were announced, Lu Rangchen led Jiang Sui and the others back from their competition abroad with impressive scores. The boys cheerfully returned to the club to shower and change, preparing for that evening’s gathering.

Lu Rangchen, however, had Yunque on his mind, and didn’t spare a single thought for seeing the others off. The moment he stepped out of the airport, he drove straight home.

Home was that three-story Western-style townhouse just outside the city’s third ring road.

A proper small villa, the entire residential community built in the same style. In summer, willow trees cast deep shade, and the scenery was pleasant and welcoming.

To be frank, property in this part of Nanchen wasn’t priced at a premium by the city’s standards — but it certainly wasn’t cheap either.

The residents here were mostly middle-class or above. Luxury cars came and went in a dazzling parade.

Yunque only learned after moving in that Lu Rangchen carried some mortgage on the property.

The loan wasn’t much — from the moment he’d bought it, he’d covered the payments by renting it out.

And it was only after Yunque came back into his life that he decided to reclaim the place.

The tenant had been running a short-term rental business out of it. When he found out, he was none too pleased — said Lu Rangchen was ruining his livelihood.

Lu Rangchen was the kind of person who, once he made up his mind about something, never wavered. But by the same token, he was also a fair man. He refunded the tenant an extra half year’s rent on top of everything else.

The tenant packed up the place with a bellyful of grievances and left. Lu Rangchen then put his own money into renovating — mostly soft furnishings, so the whole thing went quickly.

Even so, as fast as it all happened, Yunque hadn’t expected Lu Rangchen to have things ready this early.

After all, the two of them hadn’t even reconciled yet at that point.

They’d even had an argument at Old Liu’s place, and he’d said something cutting — said that when it was over, it was over.

And then he turned around and spent the entire night drinking.

Hard to say whether he’d made peace with it or was simply full of regret. But when Deng Zhe happened to mention that party venue in passing, something in Lu Rangchen’s head snapped, and on impulse he called the tenant.

Deng Zhe told Yunque this story at the housewarming gathering.

He said he’d been right there beside Lu Rangchen when he made that call — the tenant had been furious, had given Lu Rangchen a thorough tongue-lashing.

And Lu Rangchen, who had notoriously zero patience with athletes and coworkers, hadn’t made a single sound.

Slumped there, reeking of alcohol, with a tone that couldn’t quite be called a negotiation or anything else, he’d simply said, out of nowhere, “Then I’ll compensate you. Is that acceptable.”

The tenant had gone quiet for a moment.

Then he’d laughed, exasperated. “Brother, you in a hurry to get married or something?”

Lu Rangchen hadn’t confirmed it. Hadn’t denied it either. Just lowered his gaze, expression unreadable, and repeated himself.

The tenant had been thoroughly worn down.

But what could he do — refuse all he liked, the property still belonged to Lu Rangchen. So there was nothing for it. He let Lu Rangchen take the place back.

And that was when Deng Zhe understood.

Understood that this was simply how Lu Rangchen was — that for the rest of his damn life, he was going to be completely at Yunque’s mercy.

But the thing was, Deng Zhe’s personality meant he couldn’t keep anything to himself.

So on the very night the two of them first moved in together, he found his moment and told Yunque everything.

It was after Deng Zhe and the others had left.

Yunque brought it up with Lu Rangchen.

The night air was soft and languid, the mood tender and entwining.

Lu Rangchen had genuinely drunk quite a bit — otherwise he wouldn’t have let Yunque off so lightly, only pressing close to touch and kiss her.

At least he’d kissed her to his satisfaction. Then it was Yunque’s turn, curled against his chest, making the most of her advantage over him.

The alcohol on him was rich without being unpleasant, mingled with the scent of oud and dark sandalwood — even more intoxicating than usual. His shirt collar hung half-open, entirely Yunque’s doing, a picture of lazy, unhurried intimacy.

Faced with Yunque’s questioning, he kept that same unhurried, devil-may-care manner — tugging the corner of his mouth with easy nonchalance, saying: “What else would I be thinking? Obviously that the future lady of the house should be comfortable.”

As he spoke, his long fingers kneaded gently at Yunque’s slim, soft, snow-white shoulders.

Lu Rangchen exhaled a quiet breath. His dark eyes dropped low, gazing at her with warmth and total attention. “I thought you should have your own separate study — somewhere you could be undisturbed. A space all to yourself to read, prepare lessons, mark papers.”

“And it felt too cramped to squeeze your vanity table and me into the same bedroom. I thought maybe there ought to be a dressing room for you — somewhere to put all the clothes and shoes and bags I’ll buy you. So you can choose a new outfit every day and walk out the door looking your loveliest.”

“And then there’s the future to think about. We’ll want children, won’t we. A room for them, a study for them.”

“If we bring in a housekeeper too, there’ll need to be a guest room.”

The more he said, the wider the curve of Yunque’s lips grew.

Until at last she simply couldn’t hold it back and laughed.

Seeing her laugh so freely, Lu Rangchen’s mouth curved in turn, something resigned in it, and he said: “Yunque. Laugh again and see what happens.”

Yunque faked a serious air and cleared her throat. “Alright, I won’t laugh.”

Lu Rangchen gave a low, suppressed laugh — and then couldn’t stop himself from dipping his head, teeth closing lightly around her lip in gentle punishment, tip of his tongue following.

A sensation that was both desire and teasing, impossible to pull away from.

As he drew back, he fell into that pair of clear, limpid deer-bright eyes.

Yunque looked at him steadily, her heart trembling and expanding with feeling. “Do you know — when I was small, what I wanted most was a study of my own. Or at least a bedroom that was a little bigger, a little more comfortable. Somewhere no one could intrude on me.”

The Yunque of ordinary moments was cool and remote.

As though even great effort couldn’t bring you close to her inner world.

But in this moment, speaking these words, Lu Rangchen could clearly feel she was different.

It was as if — body and heart both — she was willing to open herself for him.

No longer hiding anything from him.

His throat moved. Lu Rangchen’s voice came low and rough. “Just that small a wish?”

Something complicated stirred in his chest. He smiled suddenly. “So my little Yunque had such a hard time of it when she was small?”

“……”

People are probably just that kind of creature.

You can stand in the rain and be strong. You can hold back tears.

But the moment the rain stops — the moment the person who loves you asks — the walls around your heart give way, and the softness underneath becomes unbearable.

Yunque’s eyes misted with a faint, shallow fog. She shook her head. “But it’s not hard anymore now.”

“……”

“Now I have you, Lu Rangchen.”

“With you, my future can only be sweet.”

She couldn’t recall which friend it was who had once said it — said that Yunque was beautiful, certainly, but hardly an ideal match. That where other girls were tough on the outside and soft on the inside, or soft both ways, she was hard on the outside and hard on the inside too.

Back then, Lu Rangchen had only known he was the one who’d been left behind.

When he heard that, he’d just laughed it off, at most twisting his lips in a self-deprecating smirk.

But it wasn’t until that night that Lu Rangchen finally understood: everyone, every single one of them, had misread Yunque.

She was the most fiercely self-sufficient creature in the world — a shellfish, armored and impenetrable on the outside.

But crack her open, and you’d find the softest interior and the warmest heart of anyone alive.

Even the way she coaxed people was something no one could withstand.

Because of what she said that night, Lu Rangchen had his club manager help him select things the very next day, and added a few eco-friendly pieces to the home — all so her study and dressing room could be arranged a little better, a little more comfortable.

But by the time it was all truly finished and Yunque could use it, Yuhua High School’s summer vacation had also arrived.

Yunque had barely used her new computer and new desk a few days before Deng Jiao arrived, sent by Deng Zhe for tutoring, and promptly took it all over.

Deng Zhe’s exact words: this little one’s grades are a complete disaster — consider it borrowing from a brother and an old friend, let Yunque give her a proper education.

Besides, Deng Zhe needed to renovate the supermarket during that stretch of time and had no bandwidth to manage Deng Jiao.

Asked about it later, it turned out he’d saved up a bit of money and wanted to expand the storefront, earn a little more.

Yunque had no real objection to looking after Deng Jiao.

She was mostly wondering what the situation was between Deng Zhe and Xu Linda after they’d seen each other at that gathering — whether they’d been in contact.

Going by what she’d observed that day, the two had seemed perfectly at ease — laughing and joking, enjoying themselves, as if nothing were the matter.

But Yunque knew better. Deep down, Xu Linda was quite melancholy.

After all, this had been someone she’d cared for deeply during those adolescent years. How could seeing him again leave her unmoved?

So Yunque had asked.

But experience proved that some questions yield nothing even when directed at the person concerned. In the end, Deng Zhe had just laughed and brushed it off, saying: aiya, at our age, can’t we think about something practical?

Practical. What that meant, Yunque didn’t know, and she didn’t pass the remark on to Xu Linda.

What she did know was that Xu Linda was no longer as stubborn about things as she’d once been. She could face Deng Zhe with ease, and had turned around to accept the pursuit of a wealthy young man — throwing herself into dating with full enthusiasm.

As for Deng Jiao, Deng Zhe’s only living relative —

This little gossip, from the moment she’d laid eyes on Xu Linda in person that day, had been fascinated beyond all reason.

Deposited here by her brother like an orphan in someone else’s care, the very first thing she’d found an opportunity to ask Yunque was: “Sister-in-law!! Does the beautiful woman who used to like my brother really have no chance with him?!?!?!?”

The girl’s eyes went wide as the full moon.

Having just been forced to memorize twenty English vocabulary words and finally getting a brief rest, she chased Yunque downstairs to cut fruit, hopping along like a little rabbit.

And as luck would have it, she’d just finished saying it when Lu Rangchen came home.

It was a morning dripping with sunlight.

The man, tall and lean, stood at the doorway with one hand tucked in his pocket — an air of unharnessed, unruly ease. In his other hand he carried two cups of the milk tea Yunque liked. He raised an eyebrow at Yunque, then turned the force of his words on Deng Jiao: “How many times have I told you — call her Teacher.”

Five or six days without seeing each other.

The moment Yunque saw him walk in, her heart skipped a beat.

Perhaps this was what it meant when a first love finally came to fruition.

No matter what you’d been through — you’d find yourself falling for him again and again, helplessly, over and over.

Yunque set down the fruit knife, lips curving just slightly, and looked straight at Lu Rangchen. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be back until evening?”

Lu Rangchen cast her a meaningful glance, changed into his slippers with unhurried nonchalance, and drawled: “Wasn’t afraid a certain someone would miss me too much at home.”

Still that same infuriating, lovable tone.

Deng Jiao rolled her eyes so hard she nearly hurt herself. “Lu Rangchen, can you at least acknowledge my existence? I’m a minor here.”

Yunque snorted with laughter.

She went forward and took the milk tea Lu Rangchen held out, passing one cup to Deng Jiao.

As for Lu Rangchen — other than Yunque, he indulged no one. He jutted his chin at Deng Jiao and said: “If you can’t stand it here, go back to your brother’s corner shop.”

He took Yunque’s hand and pulled her to his side, half-circling an arm around her, and gave Deng Jiao a dismissive smirk. “You’re the one playing third wheel — and you’re complaining about it.”

The words landed.

Yunque’s lips twitched. She wanted to laugh.

But Lu Rangchen happened to glance sideways and catch sight of the plate of cut fruit. His dark, deep eyes turned toward her with a flash of dissatisfaction, brow arching with pointed accusation. “Well, look at you, Yunque.”

“How come I’ve never once seen you cut fruit for me at home?”

“……”

The laughter died on her face immediately.

Yunque pressed her lips together, with an expression of mild exasperation. “That’s because you never let me get to it.”

Author’s note: Deng Jiao’s internal monologue: DAMN IT ALL!!! Am I just some wretched dog you people exist to torment?!!