Chen Yi didn’t arrive home until almost eleven-thirty. He had an apartment in the eastern part of City B, bought with joint funding from his grandfather and grandmother when he was eighteen. Now he only came back to stay for a couple of days during leave.

After getting out of the car and checking his phone, he saw the message Ruan Mian had sent. He thought there was something urgent and was still replying as he walked. It turned out someone else wanted to poach him, and she was here helping make the connection.

Chen Yi found it funny, but on second thought, he felt it was normal. After all, the two of them were currently just ordinary friends. The fact that she came to ask him was already quite considerate.

He was about to reply when he received a call from his grandmother. He chatted with the elderly lady for a while, saying he’d come over tomorrow before hanging up.

By then it was almost midnight. Chen Yi stood in the living room filled with moonlight and carefully typed out those few words—both a refusal and a hint.

Ruan Mian replied with a polite “okay.”

He wasn’t sure if she understood the subtext of that message. After waiting a while without receiving another reply, he put down his phone and went into the bathroom.

When he came out, it was already the next day. City B in the early morning was still brightly lit and never resting. The roar of luxury car engines echoed on the roads.

Chen Yi closed the balcony door. The room suddenly became quiet. The abruptly ringing phone in the deep night seemed especially jarring.

It was a call from Shen Yu.

His parents had been staying in City B for the past six months. Today they’d called him back home and caught him off guard by arranging a blind date. Shen Yu, to save face for his parents, forced himself to hold it in until he went back at night before exploding. After arguing until now, he’d directly stormed out.

At this hour, going back to the unit wasn’t convenient. He thought of Chen Yi, which led to this call.

“Leave the door open for me. I’ll be there in half an hour.” Shen Yu said, “Want to drink? Let’s drink. Go buy me a few cans of beer, and it’d be best if you got some barbecue too. I was so angry tonight I barely ate.”

“Look at me spoiling you.” Chen Yi laughed. “Same old barbecue stand we used to go to. I’ll wait for you there.”

“That works too. Not talking anymore, I’m calling a cab first.”

“Mm.” After hanging up, Chen Yi went back to his room to throw on a black t-shirt. He preferred dark-colored clothes. Most of his daily wear was predominantly black.

Coming out of the residential complex, the streets outside were bustling with activity. Various shops of all kinds lined both sides of the road. That barbecue stand was right across the street, just a few hundred meters away.

Chen Yi and Shen Yu had been coming here frequently over these two years in City B. Occasionally their unit’s group dinners were also held here. The owner recognized him. Seeing him come alone, he asked with a smile, “The usual today?”

Chen Yi nodded in acknowledgment. “The usual, portions for two.”

“Right away!”

Chen Yi found an empty table in the outdoor canopy area and sat there looking at his phone. The owner’s wife opened two bottles of beer and brought them over. He raised his head to thank her, then put down his phone.

He’d just scrolled through Moments and saw the latest photo Li Zhi had posted, with the location tagged in the Sahara. Following this post, Chen Yi clicked into Li Zhi’s Moments.

Li Zhi updated his status once a month, each time with a different location. He scrolled down and quickly reached a post from the winter before last.

A photo of him and Ruan Mian at a hotpot restaurant. Chen Yi had no mutual friends with him. Below was only one reply from Li Zhi, probably someone asking if the person in the photo was his girlfriend.

His unified reply: Don’t ask anymore, not a girlfriend, just a very good friend. Ask again and I’ll block you as a warning. /smile/ /smile/ /smile/

In that photo, Ruan Mian had her hair casually tied up, revealing her smooth forehead. Her lips were slightly pressed together in a somewhat reserved smile, but her eyes were bright and clear.

That was Chen Yi’s most recent impression of Ruan Mian before their reunion. Compared to the Ruan Mian of this period, there seemed to be some differences.

At this moment, Chen Yi exited Li Zhi’s Moments and clicked into Ruan Mian’s. The page displayed “Friend only shows Moments from the past month.”

“…”

Shen Yu arrived much faster than expected. Chen Yi watched him get out of the taxi and picked up the beer bottle to pour him a drink.

His steps were hurried, his expression not looking very cheerful either. Sitting down, he drank it all in one gulp and sighed. “I’m done for. In all my years, I’ve never seen my parents that angry.”

Chen Yi didn’t respond, just let him pour out his grievances. Shen Yu rambled on at length, then irritably ran his hand through his buzz cut. “How come I’ve never seen your parents pressure you about this? Aren’t they anxious?”

“They do pressure me.” Chen Yi said, “But they’re far away, not as anxious as your parents.”

Shen Yu sighed knowingly at length. After chatting for a few sentences, he remembered something and gossiped again. “Hey, didn’t you go find Ruan Mian today? How’d it go?”

Chen Yi’s movement of pouring wine paused. The bottle mouth clinked against the glass cup, making a tinkling sound. He lowered his eyes, his expression natural. “Nothing much.”

Shen Yu scoffed, sat in a lazy posture, took a sip of wine, and said, “But I’m quite puzzled. How did you suddenly develop feelings for Ruan Mian?”

This question made Chen Yi stop moving and fall silent. At that moment, the table suddenly became quiet, leaving only the sounds of Shen Yu drinking and eating skewers.

Shen Yu finished the last lamb skewer, his fingers tapping the table edge twice. Just when he thought he wouldn’t get an answer from Chen Yi, the person sitting across from him suddenly moved again.

“I can’t really explain it clearly either. If you must ask what the reason is—” Chen Yi turned his head to look elsewhere and laughed lightly. “Maybe it’s just destiny.”

Destiny that on the day the earthquake occurred, he hadn’t been out on a mission. Of all the places needing rescue, he just happened to go to Luolin.

And it just so happened that when the aftershock occurred, he was right there, seeing Ruan Mian’s reckless behavior and hearing those words of hers that put righteousness first.

Later, Chen Yi thought about it for a long time. If that person hadn’t been Ruan Mian, he actually wouldn’t have paid much attention to that doctor he’d never met.

But sometimes fate is just that marvelous.

That person he thought he wouldn’t have much intersection with turned out to be an unexpected old acquaintance. The unexpected reunion made Chen Yi both delighted and surprised.

He was amazed by Ruan Mian’s changes over these years, even immersed in it. Before he realized it, he had already placed too much of his attention on her.

And often, being moved by a person originates from the initial excessive attention and care. By the time he came to his senses, it was already too late.

But a new story had only just begun.

…

That night, Chen Yi and Shen Yu chatted until the latter half of the night. Both had decent alcohol tolerance, but even that couldn’t withstand drinking like that. By the time they got to the doorway, they nearly got into a fight because the key wouldn’t go in the lock.

Pushing and pulling their way through the door, Chen Yi went to the bathroom first to wash his face, sobering up a few degrees. Coming out, he saw Shen Yu sprawled out sleeping on the living room sofa. He didn’t wake him, went to the guest room to get a blanket, and covered him with it.

By the time he finished showering and lay down again, it was already four in the morning. Chen Yi was too lazy to fuss anymore and fell asleep with wet hair.

He slept until daybreak. He was woken by the commotion Shen Yu was making outside. Reaching out to grab the phone beside him—only eight o’clock.

Chen Yi rubbed his temples, which were aching from the hangover, and sat up. He grabbed the long pants and t-shirt beside him, put them on, walked over to open the door. Shen Yu was just rubbing his arm as he stood up from the floor.

“Damn, your coffee table is way too hard.” He’d accidentally rolled off just now, half his body slamming into the coffee table.

Chen Yi was too lazy to talk to him. He turned and went back to the bedroom bathroom to wash up. After getting ready, he grabbed his car keys to head out. “I need to go to the compound today. You can go back yourself later.”

Shen Yu was still lying in the living room. Hearing this, he didn’t get up either, his voice lazy. “My phone’s dead. Order me some breakfast.”

What responded to him was the merciless sound of Chen Yi closing the door.

“…”

Chen Yi’s grandparents lived in the military compound in the western part of the city. When he left, he happened to hit morning rush hour. While stuck in traffic, he ordered takeout for Shen Yu.

When he arrived, it was already past ten. His grandmother, Liu Wenqing, was holding a hose watering flowers in the courtyard. Seeing him come in, she handed the hose to the housekeeper and walked over with a smile. “The roads were congested at this hour, right?”

“It was alright.” He let the old lady pull him along. “Where’s Grandpa?”

“Sitting in the living room. He got up early this morning to wait for you. Who knew you’d come so late.” Liu Wenqing got him slippers at the entrance and called inside, “Old man, Xiao Yi is here.”

Chen Yi walked in. The old man was sitting by the chessboard studying. He naturally sat across from him and began playing out the endgame position.

The grandfather and grandson went back and forth. Liu Wenqing stood to the side asking this and that, finally circling back to Chen Yi’s lifelong matter. “Your mom called your uncle the other day, asking him to keep an eye out for some prospects. Tell Grandma, what kind do you like? So I can help you check them out too.”

Chen Yi held a black piece in his hand, answering carelessly. “Good-looking ones.”

The old man captured one of his pieces, raised his eyes to look over. “One mustn’t be so superficial.”

He smiled, touching his nose, and played two pieces before speaking. “Tell Uncle, don’t trouble himself with my affairs. I know what I’m doing.”

Liu Wenqing and her husband exchanged glances, understanding. She pulled over a chair and sat beside them. “So you have a situation? Which family’s girl? How come you never mentioned it before? Otherwise, whenever you have time, bring her home for a meal?”

Chen Yi was rendered speechless by the old lady’s attitude of wishing to know today and get married tomorrow. He demurred, “It’s not even close to that stage yet. Let’s talk about it once things are settled.”

Seeing this, the two elders didn’t ask more. When Song Huai returned in the evening and heard about this, he asked at the dinner table, “Which family’s girl? You’re not just making someone up randomly to avoid blind dates, are you?”

Chen Yi nearly choked. He put down his chopsticks to take a sip of soup. “Uncle, I’m not as reckless as you think, am I?”

“That’s hard to say.”

“…”

After dinner, Chen Yi followed Song Huai’s car back to the military district. On the road, he somewhat boredly scrolled through his phone. When he came back to his senses, he’d clicked into Ruan Mian’s Moments again.

But this time it was no longer a blank page. Ruan Mian had shared a new post two hours ago—a food photo.

Chen Yi opened the photo to look. It was a table full of Japanese cuisine, laid out abundantly. Only two sets of utensils were placed on the table.

Besides that, the upper right corner of the photo also captured a hand.

A hand wearing a men’s watch.

—

*Author’s note: /The one who moves my heart has always only been you/*