Ruan Mian went to bed late last night, and since she was still on leave, she allowed herself to sleep all the way until the afternoon.

The master bedroom curtains were drawn tightly with high opacity, so much so that when she woke up and grabbed her phone to see the time, she thought it was two in the morning.

After lying there for a few minutes, Ruan Mian threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. She pulled open the curtains—outside was clear weather with brilliant sunshine.

She did a simple wash-up and went to the living room, only then discovering Lin Jiahui was home. She casually asked, “What time did you come back last night?”

“I only came back this morning.” Lin Jiahui was holding a small bowl of strawberries. “I brought back breakfast for you when I came home, and at noon I ordered you takeout, but you never got up. Come on, tell me, what did you do last night? Could it be…?”

She smiled meaningfully. Ruan Mian hadn’t done anything, but this smile made her somewhat uncomfortable. Without changing her expression, she finished a glass of water and walked toward the kitchen while emphasizing, “I came back past ten.”

Lin Jiahui put down what she was holding and followed her into the kitchen. “So yesterday when you went out with Chen Yi, did anything happen?”

“What could happen? Just friends having a meal.” On the kitchen counter were the small wontons Lin Jiahui had bought in the morning and the takeout ordered at noon. Ruan Mian put the takeout in its aluminum foil container directly into the microwave to heat up, then took out a packet of instant soup to prepare and eat with the rice.

“Just ate a meal, didn’t do anything else?”

Ruan Mian tore open the seasoning packet and poured it into a bowl. While waiting for the water to boil, she repeated yesterday’s itinerary in detail from beginning to end.

She just skipped over the part after coming back last night.

After listening, Lin Jiahui didn’t have much of a reaction. She was just curious about what movie the two watched, who picked it, and where the seats were.

Ruan Mian told the truth. “‘More Than Blue.’ Chen Yi chose it. The seats seemed to be Row 4, Seats 5 and 6.”

“So you two sat in the optimal viewing area and watched a tragedy?”

“…” Ruan Mian’s hand tapped the counter twice. “Just randomly picked the nearest showing time. Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh, if it was randomly picked then there’s no problem.” Lin Jiahui was experienced. “But next time you should remember, under normal circumstances it’s best to choose a lingering romantic love story or a thrilling suspenseful horror film, and the seats must be chosen well.”

Ruan Mian was somewhat surprised. “The optimal viewing area isn’t good?”

“How silly. Who goes on a date and sits in the optimal viewing area? Everyone goes to VIP halls to choose couple seats, or at worst the dark back rows. Have you ever seen couples openly making moves while sitting in a crowd?”

“…” Ruan Mian nearly got caught up in her logic. Just then the water happened to boil, making a whistling sound. She unplugged it, and while pouring the water emphasized again, “We’re just friends, not on a date.”

“Fine, just friends.” Lin Jiahui blinked. “Just the kind of friends who might develop into a couple in the future. I’m not wrong, am I?”

“…”

Ruan Mian stopped moving, wanted to say something but didn’t know how to say it. In the end, she could only deflect. “I’m eating first.”

Lin Jiahui didn’t pursue the topic further and walked back to the living room with a smile to continue watching her movie.

After eating, Ruan Mian still felt somewhat sleepy. She cleaned up the aftermath and prepared to take an afternoon nap. Before sleeping, she played with her phone for a while.

Close to three-thirty, she received a WeChat message from He Zechuan asking if she was free tonight—he was treating to dinner.

Thinking she had nothing going on tonight anyway, Ruan Mian made a seven o’clock dinner appointment with him. Afterward, drowsiness surged up. She set her alarm for five and fell asleep again.

…

The place He Zechuan was treating for dinner was a Japanese restaurant near his company. Ruan Mian left at six, afraid of traffic, and took the subway directly.

On the way, she chatted with He Zechuan on WeChat, though he was working overtime in a meeting today, so his replies weren’t that timely.

While waiting for a reply, Ruan Mian returned to the WeChat chat page and saw a chat window without a saved name. She clicked into it.

The chat history started and stopped last night, not even filling one page. It was very much like high school back then—she’d mustered up great courage to add him on QQ, but in the end still couldn’t manage more than a few words. Those sparse few pages of chat records spanned her entire youth.

However, this time, seeing that sentence Chen Yi sent last night, Ruan Mian’s heart felt like a calm lake surface that suddenly had a small stone thrown into it, stirring up tiny ripples.

The subway quickly arrived at the station. Ruan Mian followed the crowd winding around. When she emerged from the subway station, the sky outside was already shrouded in twilight.

He Zechuan had reserved seats in advance. Ruan Mian arrived at the restaurant and waited half an hour for him. “Inviting someone to dinner and still being late—if it were anyone else, you’d have already lost me as a friend.”

He Zechuan had just come from a meeting. He rarely wore a black suit—tall with long legs, tie, cufflinks, watch all present and accounted for. He actually looked quite the part.

He took off his jacket and draped it to the side, picked up the menu and handed it to Ruan Mian. “As compensation, order whatever you want tonight.”

That’s what he said, but the two of them couldn’t eat that much anyway. Ruan Mian ordered a few items following the menu recommendations. Later He Zechuan added five or six more things. When the dishes were brought up, the small table could barely hold them all.

Japanese cuisine emphasized the most original fresh flavors of ingredients. The colors were vivid and looked very appetizing. Ruan Mian took a photo with her phone.

No editing, no filters—she shared it directly to her Moments.

The meal finished close to nine. The evening breeze was gentle. He Zechuan drove Ruan Mian home. “How long is your break this time?”

“Three days. Tomorrow’s the last day.” Ruan Mian propped up her elbow, her gaze looking toward the high-rise buildings outside the window. As if casually bringing up a topic, “He Zechuan, let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“It’s just that I have a friend—”

Before she could finish speaking, He Zechuan interrupted her with a laugh. “With our relationship, do we really need to use the ‘I have a friend’ routine?”

“…”

There was a red light ahead. He Zechuan slowly stopped the car, his fingertips tapping the steering wheel twice. “Alright, just say whatever it is directly.”

Ruan Mian clicked her tongue. After thinking for a while, she still didn’t know how to say it. She lowered her arm to rub her temples. “Forget it, it’s not a big deal anyway. Let’s talk about it next time when there’s a chance.”

He Zechuan turned his head to glance at her and didn’t ask more.

For the remaining stretch of road, the two chatted sporadically about recent events. He Zechuan was going on a business trip out of town tomorrow. After dropping her off at her destination, he left.

Lin Jiahui wasn’t home again tonight. After showering, Ruan Mian had a video call with Meng Xinglan for a while, tentatively setting plans to go back at the end of the month if free to accompany her for wedding dress fittings.

“By the way, Mianmian, I heard from Liang Yiran that you ran into Shen Yu and Chen Yi in the disaster area?” In the video, Meng Xinglan had a bare face. She hadn’t changed much over these years, just gained some charm in her features that hadn’t been there in her youth, looking even more beautiful.

“Mm, didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence.”

“The two of them seem to be in City B now too.” Meng Xinglan turned her head to look off-screen. “Liang Yiran, ask Shen Yu later when they’re off duty. We’ll go to City B to get together with them.”

After graduation, both Meng Xinglan and Liang Yiran returned to Pingcheng. Now one was doing artificial intelligence work and the other was teaching at Pingcheng University.

Small cities weren’t like big cities—the pace of life and work pressure were relatively more relaxed, and time was more abundant.

Ruan Mian didn’t chat with her for too long. After hanging up, she saw the WeChat notification showing an additional number—Moments activity.

Opening it, there were others’ likes and comments.

Ruan Mian casually scrolled down and saw that Chen Yi had liked her latest Moments post ten minutes ago.

She was startled, not expecting that even being so busy, he still had time to scroll through Moments.

Ruan Mian replied to a few friends’ comments. Before exiting, she thought for a moment and clicked into Chen Yi’s Moments. She hadn’t expected that he not only had time to scroll through Moments but also had time to post.

The content of his new post was very simple.

—Leave ended

The accompanying image was a photo that looked like it was taken from inside a moving car facing out onto the street. The image was somewhat blurry, lights mottled.

Ruan Mian also reciprocated by giving it a like, then exited his Moments and got up to go blow-dry her hair in the bathroom.

The last remaining day of leave also quickly ended.

On the first day back to work at the hospital, Ruan Mian felt like she had Monday syndrome—uncomfortable everywhere. By evening shift change, she and Lin Jiahui solved dinner at the noodle shop across the street from the hospital.

Ruan Mian ate quickly. After finishing, she sat there scrolling through her phone and saw that Chen Yi had posted another Moments update around noon.

—.

The accompanying image was blue sky and white clouds.

She thought for a while and still gave it a like.

Over the following days, Ruan Mian kept seeing Chen Yi’s Moments posts at different times. One per day, all in the same format.

A period plus a photo. The content photographed was sometimes blue sky and white clouds, sometimes night sky with stars, rarely repeating.

Ruan Mian basically liked them whenever she saw them, but never commented.

At the end of the month, the department couldn’t arrange shift swaps. Ruan Mian couldn’t go back to accompany Meng Xinglan for wedding dress fittings. However, she and Liang Yiran decided to come to City B the weekend after next, telling Ruan Mian she absolutely had to keep those two days free.

Because of this, during the three days of Qingming Festival, Ruan Mian gave up the only one day of rest she had and specially swapped shifts with colleagues for two days. She also gave Meng Fuping advance notice before finally clearing out a complete weekend.

Meng Xinglan and Liang Yiran’s flight was early on the morning of the thirteenth. The afternoon before, while Ruan Mian was writing medical records in the office, she received a WeChat message from Chen Yi.

He and Shen Yu were off tomorrow. They’d come out from the military district a bit later and asked if she had time tonight for everyone to have dinner together.

Ruan Mian pressed the pen cap and typed a few words.

[Ruan Mian]: I’m on night shift tonight and can’t leave. You all go eat.

[CY]: Okay.

[CY]: Got it.

[Ruan Mian]: Mm.

[CY]: .

Ruan Mian stared at that period, thinking of the Moments posts he’d been making recently. She inexplicably smiled.

…

Past seven in the evening, the emergency department sent over a patient, calling Meng Fuping for consultation. Ruan Mian was brought along with him.

By the time they finished, it was already late at night. Meng Fuping and Director Zhou from the emergency department still had matters to discuss. Ruan Mian returned to the department alone. Passing the nurses’ station, she was stopped by the nurse on duty. “Dr. Ruan.”

“Mm?” She raised her head to look over. “What is it?”

“There’s something here for you.” The nurse took out two beautifully packaged food boxes from the side. “A handsome guy brought them.”

Ruan Mian’s eyes flickered slightly. She walked over and said, “Thank you.”

The nurse smiled. “No problem, just something easy to do.”

She gave half to the people at the nurses’ station and carried the rest back to the office. She wasn’t in a hurry to eat, but instead rummaged through the drawer for her phone.

Three missed calls and two unread WeChat messages, all from the same person.

[CY]: Bought you a late-night snack and left it at the nurses’ station. Remember to pick it up.

[CY]: I’m heading back.

—

*Author’s note: Captain Chen’s first move to establish presence: One Moments post per day (this Moments thing is a sweet plot point that will be written about later, the blind date is also coming soon)*

*Oh.*

*Also.*

*The late-night snack he bought for Mianmian is—*

*Japanese cuisine.*

*From the same restaurant Mianmian posted in her Moments :)*

*Sorry sorry, I wrote too late last night and forgot to set the timer in the draft box T^T*

*Drawing fifty red envelopes for this chapter!*