“Are you two together now?”
On the other end of the phone, Yang Shan’s voice was cheerful and teasing.
Chen Xi: “Yes.”
She grabbed her work gloves, her voice carrying a smile.
“I’m getting busy now, no time to listen to your chatter.”
Chen Xi put on her gloves and opened the car hood.
She glanced toward the VR arcade. Qin Lie was busy with the Tunnel 3.0 launch and rarely came over these days.
She worked until evening when she suddenly heard Qin Zhan’s whistle.
She was lying under a jeep’s chassis, pushed off with her feet, and poked her head out to look toward the shop entrance.
Qin Lie had arrived at some point and was striding into the shop.
The evening sun at the doorway outlined his sturdy frame, making him look like a male lead making his entrance in a movie.
Their eyes met, and Chen Xi smiled at him. “Not busy today?”
Qin Lie hummed in response and walked over to the car.
Chen Xi slid back under the car and continued working.
Qin Lie crouched down, listening to the sounds of wrenches clanking against the metal chassis from underneath.
A fair hand extended from under the car.
Qin Lie was momentarily stunned, then reached out to hold it.
He played with Chen Xi’s slender fingers, placing them on his open palm.
Dark and fair skin, a striking contrast.
A soft chuckle came from under the car. “Screwdriver.”
Qin Lie smiled, picked up a screwdriver from the toolbox, and handed it in.
A flashlight was passed out, Chen Xi’s voice carrying a hint of amusement.
“Help me hold this.”
Qin Lie took the flashlight, half-kneeling beside the car, leaning down to look underneath.
Just like the first time he saw Chen Xi lying under the chassis, repairing a car.
A beam of light enveloped her, with tiny dust particles dancing lightly in the air.
That was the first time he thought even dust could be beautiful.
After finishing work, Chen Xi got into Qin Lie’s car.
She leaned back in her seat, massaging her tired, aching shoulders, and said casually, “Take me home.”
Qin Lie glanced at Chen Xi, the corners of his lips lifting slightly. “Which home?”
Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, looking at him with a half-smile. “My home, of course.”
Qin Lie: “Is that convenient?”
Chen Xi laughed and gave him a push. “What are you thinking? Just drive me home.”
Qin Lie started the car, slowly turning the steering wheel. “Stay at my place tonight.”
Chen Xi said disdainfully, “You don’t even have slippers there.”
Qin Lie smiled and drove the car out.
On the road, Qin Lie suddenly asked, “Are you free tonight?”
Chen Xi nodded. “What for?”
Qin Lie held the steering wheel, saying quietly, “I want to take you to meet Yang Guan.”
Chen Xi was amused by his words. “Do I need you to take me to see Yang Guan? I can see him myself.”
Qin Lie looked ahead at the road, a barely perceptible warmth appearing on his cold face.
After a moment of silence, he said slowly, “It’s different.”
Chen Xi suddenly understood what Qin Lie meant—he wanted to take her to meet his most important friend.
Although Chen Xi, Yang Guan were also among her most important friends and family members.
Chen Xi looked at Qin Lie and nodded gently. “Alright.”
The two drove to Dr. Yang’s clinic. As soon as they entered, they saw the old man with his eyes closed, concentrating intently on taking someone’s pulse.
Chen Xi pulled Qin Lie along, quietly lifting the curtain to enter the massage room on the side.
Yang Guan was sitting at a desk by the window, running his fingers over an open braille book.
Hearing the sound, his slender fingers stopped, and he turned his head toward the door.
“Who’s there?”
Chen Xi didn’t speak, smiling as she looked at Qin Lie.
Qin Lie took Chen Xi’s hand and led her to the desk. “It’s me.”
Yang Guan smiled. “Free today?”
Qin Lie hummed. “I brought someone to meet you.”
Yang Guan’s half-lowered eyes opened slightly, as if sensing something, and a warm smile suddenly appeared at the corners of his lips.
The next second, he heard a familiar voice.
Cheerful and carrying a hint of playful lightness.
“Yang Guan, it’s me.”
The smile on Yang Guan’s lips spread, reaching deep into his eyes.
“Chen Xi.”
Chen Xi hummed in response.
Yang Guan suddenly leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.
He lifted his head toward Qin Lie’s direction, laughing as he said, “So you did get the advantage, you kid.”
Chen Xi leaned on the desk, saying with a grin, “Yang Guan, should we make him treat us to a meal?”
Yang Guan nodded. “That’s a must.”
Qin Lie: “Tonight then.”
While the three were talking, Yang Guan’s phone suddenly rang.
He fumbled to answer it, and Han Susu’s loud voice came through the receiver.
“Yang Guan, my parents are coming to see you.”
Yang Guan’s expression tensed for a moment, then became calm again as he quietly hummed in acknowledgment.
The phone’s reception wasn’t good, and Han Susu’s anxious shouting echoed in the quiet room: “Yang Guan, I’m warning you, if you dare back out, I… I…”
Chen Xi listened from the side, breaking into a cold sweat for Yang Guan.
Han Susu: “I still wouldn’t have the heart to break your legs.”
Chen Xi almost laughed out loud.
Yang Guan hung up the phone with a speechless expression, lowering his head in silent contemplation.
Chen Xi gently patted Yang Guan’s shoulder.
“Let’s go eat.”
Yang Guan shook his head. “Susu’s parents are coming. I’ll wait for them.”
Chen Xi and Qin Lie exchanged glances, then Chen Xi said to Yang Guan, “Then we’ll wait here with you. We can all go eat together after you’re done talking.”
Yang Guan knew that Chen Xi was worried about him facing Han Susu’s parents alone.
He smiled, saying with an air of calm detachment, “That’s fine.”
Soon enough, Han Susu’s parents indeed arrived.
Dr. Yang was still seeing patients and pointed toward the inner room without looking up.
Although his eyes were already dim and his hearing wasn’t what it used to be, he couldn’t be fooled about Yang Guan’s affairs.
Last night, he had called Yang Shan and Yang Guan to his side and took out two bank cards.
One for Yang Shan, one for Yang Guan.
He divided all his life savings equally between his two grandchildren, showing no favoritism.
As for property, Dr. Yang discussed with Yang Shan: “Shanshan, your brother will be running this clinic in the future, and it’s convenient for him to live in the front and back courtyards. So this clinic and courtyard will go to your brother, and the courtyard by the Yang Family Bridge will go to you. What do you think?”
Seeing her grandfather suddenly dividing family property, Yang Shan thought he had some incurable disease and burst into tears on the spot.
She threw herself into Dr. Yang’s arms, crying as she asked, “Grandpa, are you sick?”
Dr. Yang was both amused and exasperated, lifting his hand to pat Yang Shan on the back of her head.
“What nonsense are you talking about? I’m not sick.”
Yang Shan: “Then why are you dividing up property when you’re perfectly fine?”
Dr. Yang glanced at Yang Guan, then turned back to look at Yang Shan.
With a stern face, he said, “I have too much money and it’s burning a hole in my pocket.”
Yang Shan made Dr. Yang swear and promise repeatedly before she believed the old man’s words.
She stopped crying and waved her hand dismissively. “I don’t want it. Give it all to my brother.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she got another pat on the back of her head—this time from Yang Guan.
In the end, neither sibling would accept the old man’s money.
Dr. Yang helplessly sank back into his reclining chair and shooed the siblings out of the room.
He worried for a while, then smiled for a while.
He believed Yang Guan would live well, but still couldn’t help feeling anxious.
He couldn’t help wanting to give everything he had to help him along.
“Uncle and Auntie are here.”
Yang Guan stood up, smiling faintly toward the door.
Seeing the handsome young man before them, Han Susu’s parents were both momentarily stunned.
Han Susu’s mother hesitantly asked, “Are you Yang Guan?”
Yang Guan nodded, his voice calm. “Let’s talk in my room.”
His gaze was serene, looking steadily ahead.
For a moment, it created the illusion that he was earnestly gazing at them.
Han Susu’s parents had originally come to confront him, but seeing Yang Guan, those harsh words they’d been holding back suddenly didn’t know how to come out.
“Auntie.”
Seeing their gaze constantly fixed on Yang Guan, Chen Xi proactively greeted them.
Only then did Han Susu’s parents notice there were others in the room.
The couple absentmindedly greeted Chen Xi and continued studying Yang Guan.
“This way.”
Yang Guan turned and walked toward the back courtyard. Han Susu’s parents stared at his broad-shouldered, long-legged silhouette for a while before following.
Chen Xi also wanted to follow, but was held back by Qin Lie.
Yang Guan navigated the narrow room with practiced ease, walking to the back door.
He turned back to remind those behind him, “Watch the step.”
Han Susu’s parents exchanged a complex look and carefully stepped down as instructed.
Crossing the clean little courtyard and entering Yang Guan’s room, the couple were immediately startled by the wall of braille books.
Han Susu’s father couldn’t help asking, “Are all these books you read?”
Yang Guan nodded, pointing to a small sofa by the window. “Please sit.”
Han Susu’s mother followed her husband to the sofa, her gaze still shocked and glued to the bookshelf.
She couldn’t help asking, “What kind of books are these?”
Yang Guan stood opposite the couple, saying casually, “Most are medical books, and some novels.”
Han Susu’s mother instinctively felt envious.
“Reading is such a good habit.”
Unlike her daughter, who only loved reading comics and still hadn’t finished the first The Glow of Dusk – Chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber.
She used to be determined to cultivate her daughter into a talented woman skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but achieved none of it, leaving her with lifelong regret.
Han Susu’s father couldn’t help interjecting, “Traditional Chinese medicine?”
Yang Guan bent down to open the teapot lid and poured some Longnan green tea into it.
“Part of it is traditional Chinese medicine classics, some basic Western medicine theory books, and the required textbooks for the traditional Chinese medicine practitioner’s license exam.”
Han Susu’s mother listened in bewilderment.
She’d heard the saying “advising someone to study medicine invites divine punishment,” showing how difficult the path of medicine was.
There was a handsome boy in Han Susu’s high school class who got into medical school, and when he came back after one semester, his hairline had receded an inch.
He said it was from the exhaustion of memorizing medical books as thick as bricks.
She looked at Yang Guan in disbelief, stammering, “Studying medicine is so difficult, you… you…”
Yang Guan knew what she wanted to say, smiled, and said with calm composure, “It’s alright. Once you settle your mind, it’s not hard to memorize.”
The couple had heard from Han Susu that Yang Guan was a top student, but they hadn’t expected that even without sight, he remained a top student.
His presence made them, parents of an underachiever, feel diminished by three inches on the spot.
Yang Guan took the thermos from the coffee table, poured hot water into the teapot, and covered it.
The entire sequence flowed like water, as if his eyes could see perfectly.
On the coffee table’s walnut wood tray sat several small, delicate tea cups.
Yang Guan picked up the teapot and poured two cups of tea, placing them in front of Han Susu’s parents.
“Drinking green tea in summer clears heat and reduces internal fire.”
Han Susu’s father accepted the tea, saying “thank you” somewhat awkwardly.
Han Susu’s mother stared at Yang Guan in a daze, suddenly blurting out:
“Yang Guan, can you see a little bit? You’re not completely blind, are you?”
Yang Guan couldn’t help but twitch the corners of his lips, smiling somewhat speechlessly.
So Han Susu’s innocent streak of being a bit dim was hereditary, not self-taught.
He spoke, saying calmly, “Auntie, I cannot see.”
The surrounding air suddenly became still. After a long while, Han Susu’s mother awkwardly spoke up.
“Yang Guan, we know you’re excellent, but our daughter has never suffered hardship since childhood, and she lacks perseverance. We cannot agree to your relationship.”
Yang Guan listened quietly, his expression remaining calm and undisturbed.
He was silent for a while, then slowly said, “I won’t let her suffer.”
He turned and walked to the bed, took out a brown paper envelope from the bedside table, and came back to hand it to Han Susu’s mother.
Han Susu’s mother opened the envelope and pulled out a property deed and several bank cards.
Looking at the bank cards and property deed on the table, the elderly couple understood.
No matter how lively Dunhuang was, it was still a small city in the Northwest, incomparable to Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou.
With a booming economy and opportunities everywhere, people could live better lives just by working hard.
But for people in this small city, there weren’t so many opportunities.
Everyone rushed about from morning to night, just trying to make a living.
And making a living inevitably involved worldly things like houses and money.
As a woman, Han Susu’s mother understood the weight of what Yang Guan had laid out.
Outside the door, Chen Xi was listening intently with her ear pressed close.
Seeing her practically trying to embed herself in the door, Qin Lie couldn’t help tugging at a strand of hair hanging by her shoulder.
“Isn’t this inappropriate?”
Qin Lie said quietly.
Chen Xi glanced at him. “Haven’t we seen enough already?”
She pressed back against the door, continuing to eavesdrop.
Yang Guan’s voice came through the door panel to Chen Xi’s ears.
“I bought the house last year—three bedrooms, two living rooms. There’s 500,000 yuan in savings in the bank cards.”
“I should be able to get my medical practitioner’s license this year without any surprises, and I’ll take over my grandfather’s clinic. The annual income is quite substantial. Susu won’t suffer any economic hardship in the future.”
“I can do housework—cleaning, laundry, cooking—all without any problems. She won’t need to take care of me.”
“As for genetics, my blindness is due to a genetic mutation and won’t affect the next generation.”
The room suddenly fell quiet. After a long time, Chen Xi heard Yang Guan’s gentle yet firm voice again.
“Uncle and Auntie, young people in love don’t like discussing practical matters. Talking about reality hurts feelings and is quite vulgar.”
“But I can only use this vulgar method to put your minds at ease—Susu won’t be wronged if she’s with me.”
After another long silence, Chen Xi heard Han Susu’s mother’s voice, carrying a hint of regret and helplessness.
“Yang Guan, you’re wonderful, and we can see your sincerity.”
“But we only have this one daughter. We still cannot agree to you being together.”
Chen Xi gently bit her lip, her heart sinking halfway.
After a long time, she heard Yang Guan’s calm voice.
“I understand, but Uncle and Auntie, as long as Susu doesn’t give up, I won’t give up either.”