At dusk, twilight shrouded the earth. The city with its flowing traffic ushered in its daily evening rush hour, with long lines of vehicles at a standstill.

Nearly forty minutes had passed since Ruan Mian left home. Outside the car window, large patches of sunset clouds filled the sky, but she was in no mood to appreciate them.

After seeing off Chen Yi’s family in the afternoon, Ruan Mian packed two sets of clothes, planning to visit Fang Ruqing. Before leaving, Ruan Mingke saw her take the car keys and suggested she take the subway at this time, otherwise she’d encounter the rush hour traffic and be stuck on the road for a long time.

However, there was no direct route from Huabang World Trade City to Pingjiang West Lane. She would need to transfer subway lines, and after coming out, she’d still need to take a bus. Ruan Mian found it troublesome and chose to drive anyway. As a result, she was now truly stuck in traffic.

It really was true—if you don’t listen to the elderly, you’ll suffer right before your eyes.

Ruan Mian opened the window halfway. The evening breeze mixed with car exhaust smelled terrible, so she closed it again. At the same time, the traffic began to slowly move.

By the time she reached Pingjiang West Lane, dusk had already fallen. Night came silently, and the traces of prosperity and aging intermingling in this area became increasingly obvious.

Ruan Mian parked her car in a parking lot several hundred meters from the lane and walked back. She didn’t encounter any acquaintances along the way. When she got home, Fang Ruqing was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner.

“Mom—”

“Ah.” Hearing the voice, Fang Ruqing immediately turned off the stove and came out wiping her hands. “Just now Shuyang and I were wondering why you hadn’t arrived yet after so long.”

“The traffic was a bit heavy.” Ruan Mian put down what she was carrying. “Uncle Zhao isn’t back yet?”

“He came back early. As soon as he heard you were coming back for dinner tonight, he pushed aside all his afternoon business and rushed back.” Fang Ruqing smiled. “He took Shuyang out to buy some cold dishes.”

“What about Zhao Shutang? Didn’t she come back?”

Fang Ruqing poured her a glass of water. “She did. Today Lin Cheng’s mother invited her over for dinner, so she’ll probably be back a bit late.”

Ruan Mian made an acknowledging sound, holding her water glass as she followed Fang Ruqing to the kitchen. “When are she and Lin Cheng planning to get married?”

“Early next year, in spring.” Fang Ruqing turned the stove back on. “Lin Cheng’s parents are planning to have both families eat together on New Year’s Day to set a date.”

“That’s coming up soon.”

“Yes, it is.”

Ruan Mian took another sip of water. Just as she was about to mention Chen Yi, Zhao Shuyang’s voice came from the doorway. “Mom! Is my sister back?”

She set her glass aside and walked out a few steps, first greeting Zhao Yingwei who came in after. “Uncle Zhao.”

“Mianmian’s back.” Zhao Yingwei smiled in response. Beside him, Zhao Shuyang called out “Sister” while running over. In the few months since they’d last seen each other, he had grown taller again.

Ruan Mian gestured, “Zhao Shuyang, how tall are you now?”

“One meter seventy-six.” The young boy looked proud. “The tallest in our class.”

“Impressive.” Ruan Mian was wearing flat shoes and was shorter than him by half a head. Thinking of the oppressive feeling when standing next to Chen Yi, she imperceptibly took a small step back.

Sigh.

There were countless tall people in the world—why couldn’t there be one more, namely her?

……

After dinner in the evening, Ruan Mian accompanied Zhao Shuyang back to No. 8 High School to pick up test papers. He had taken the middle school entrance exam this summer and scored high enough to enter No. 8 High School’s honors class.

Coincidentally, his homeroom teacher was Zhao Qi, Ruan Mian’s former Chinese teacher at No. 8 High School. After Zhao Shuyang went off-topic in his essays several times on weekly exams, Zhao Qi called him to the office and casually mentioned a former student of his who was just like him—good at everything except Chinese and English, which were terrible.

Later, when Zhao Shuyang heard the name, he almost cried out. Holding back laughter, he said, “I’m sorry, Teacher Zhao, but this senior is my sister.”

Zhao Qi: “……”

Ruan Mian hadn’t heard Zhao Shuyang mention this before. Hearing him say now, “You don’t know—when Teacher Zhao heard you were my sister, his face immediately went whoosh—instantly turned black. It took him a long time to say a single sentence.”

He deliberately imitated Zhao Qi’s tone. “It’s true what they say—birds of a feather flock together.”

Ruan Mian: “……”

After picking up the test papers and returning, Ruan Mian called Chen Yi in the evening and mentioned this to him, laughing and sighing. “Hey, do you think if Teacher Zhao knew you and I are dating now, would he feel like his prize cabbage has been stolen by a pig?”

Chen Yi said casually, “Whether Teacher Zhao thinks that way, I don’t know, but he’ll definitely think Zhao Shuyang is there to replace you in tormenting him.”

Ruan Mian sat by the desk, seeing the lights across the way through the window, muttering, “My Chinese wasn’t that bad back then, was it?”

He laughed. “Being able to use one example in six essays—I suppose it really wasn’t that bad.”

“……”

Back in high school, when Ruan Mian first learned to write essays from Chen Yi, the only thing she learned was to use examples and cases in her essays. After studying for a while, Chen Yi discovered that for any essay topic related to励志 or perseverance, she used the story of Beethoven.

Out of dozens of essays in a semester including exams, he found six that were identical, even the descriptive order and word count didn’t vary.

Ruan Mian retorted, “But didn’t Teacher Zhao also say that as long as an example can be used, it’s fine to use it a hundred times?”

Chen Yi chuckled softly. “Do you think the graders will enjoy reading the same story a hundred times while marking papers?”

The Beethoven example she cited was typical in high school—basically everyone would use it. Even good stories became boring when seen too many times, let alone articles that weren’t particularly outstanding to begin with.

“I had you buy so many books back then and write so many reading responses. How come you couldn’t use any of them?”

The man’s deep voice in the receiver gradually overlapped with the lazy, teasing tone of the boy in her memory. For a moment, Ruan Mian felt as if she had returned to high school.

—In the noisy, chaotic classroom, the boy held her composition notebook, crossed through the crowd, and walked up to her. His figure was as upright as pine and bamboo. Although the content of their conversation wasn’t particularly pleasant, his face was clean and refreshing, his features vivid and lively, enough to make her unable to forget him for all these years.

After finishing the phone call with Chen Yi, Ruan Mian took her clothes downstairs to bathe. When she came out, she ran into Fang Ruqing going to her room to get a blanket.

“I just saw the weather forecast saying it will rain tonight. I’m afraid it’ll get cold when the temperature drops.” Fang Ruqing followed her in to make the bed.

Ruan Mian stood to the side, lowering her head to see a few white hairs among her mother’s hair, suddenly realizing how much time had passed.

More than ten years ago, when she first moved to Pingjiang West Lane with Fang Ruqing, it seemed like yesterday, yet time spares no one—it left traces, deep or shallow, on everyone.

Ruan Mian suddenly spoke up. “Mom.”

“Hmm?” Fang Ruqing finished making the bed and looked back at her. “What is it?”

Ruan Mian shook her head. “Nothing, I just wanted to call you.”

“You child.” She bent down to smooth the corner of the blanket. On the bedside table beside them was Ruan Mian’s graduation photo from No. 8 High School.

Fang Ruqing picked it up and sat on the edge of the bed, sighing. “Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, you’re already twenty-six. When I was your age, you were already walking everywhere.”

“Really.” Ruan Mian rarely came home these past few years, and it was rare to sit down with Fang Ruqing and openly talk about the past. She vaguely sensed that Fang Ruqing had something to say, so after saying this, she didn’t speak again.

“When you were little, you developed slowly. You started talking much later than other children. Your father and I were so worried and afraid. You were our first child, and we were terrified you’d have some problem.” Fang Ruqing talked about many things from the past, all from before Ruan Mian was seven years old.

Also before Fang Ruqing and Ruan Mingke divorced.

“After your father and I divorced, I knew you resented me more than your father. You thought we’d have a chance to get back together, but you never imagined I’d soon marry someone else and bring you along. After you came to No. 8 High School, you weren’t like before, telling me about everything that happened at school. I didn’t know what friends you made at school, didn’t know who your deskmate was. I didn’t know about you going to other schools for exams, and I didn’t know when you won awards.” Fang Ruqing lowered her head, looking at Ruan Mian in the photo. “I didn’t even know my daughter had someone she liked at school.”

Ruan Mian’s eyes stung. “Mom……”

“When your father told me these things, I really felt so ashamed. I thought I could take good care of you, so I insisted on bringing you into my new life regardless of everything, but I never considered your feelings. Even now with your dating life, I have to interfere so much.” Fang Ruqing cried, saying with self-loathing, “I’m a very failed mother.”

“No.” Ruan Mian lay on Fang Ruqing’s lap. “I don’t blame you. The divorce was between you and Dad. Back then, when you and Dad fought for custody of me, I was actually very happy, because I knew you hadn’t given up on me and wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Although Ruan Mian had thought about living with Ruan Mingke at the time, Fang Ruqing’s determined choice also became an indispensable source of confidence in her growth.

“Uncle Zhao has been very good to me. I haven’t suffered too much here. Instead, I’ve received even more love and protection.” Ruan Mian looked at the photo frame in Fang Ruqing’s hand, seeing the boy standing in the crowd with a bright, unrestrained smile, her eyes red but also smiling. “I even met the person I like here.”

“Mom, Chen Yi and I are together.” She smiled. “I feel so lucky. I’m together with the boy I’ve liked for over ten years.”

Fang Ruqing looked at her, then lowered her head to look at the boy in the photo whose face was somewhat blurred but still clearly handsome, her voice a bit hoarse. “That day when I found out from your father about you and Chen Yi dating, I was actually very surprised. These past few years, except for that one in college, there hasn’t been anyone else around you. Whenever finding a partner was mentioned, you always brushed us off saying you were busy. I didn’t know why you’d suddenly start dating.”

“Later, your father told me about your high school days, about the person you liked, and that you and Chen Yi were classmates. I thought then—could the person you like be Chen Yi?” Fang Ruqing looked at Ruan Mian. “After I came back, I came to your room and saw this graduation photo. I thought and thought, and finally remembered the first time I went to your school for a parent-teacher conference. You asked me to help find your phone, and I accidentally saw in your drawer a draft paper with many mountains and beggars written on it. I didn’t think much of it at the time, thinking you’d scribbled it for fun. Now that I think about it, that must have been the character ‘Yi.'”

Not mountain and not beggar, but Yi.

Chen Yi’s Yi.

When Chen Yi received Ruan Mian’s call, he had just come out of the shower. The crying voice in the receiver made him think nothing of running out directly in his pajamas and slippers.

The front door of the house opened and closed.

Sitting in the living room, Song Jing looked up, then looked at her husband Chen Shuyu, saying flatly, “What’s wrong with your son?”

Chen Shuyu smiled. “Young and hot-blooded.”

“……”

Chen Yi ran in one breath to the entrance of the complex. From a distance, he saw the figure standing under the streetlight, his steps never slowing.

Ruan Mian only heard footsteps. Looking up and seeing the man’s attire, she said in a low voice, “I wasn’t in that much of a hurry.”

“I was in a hurry.” Chen Yi came closer. By the streetlight, he could clearly see her reddened eyes, his brows slightly furrowed. “What happened?”

The temperature was indeed dropping in the evening. The autumn wind swept up the city’s bright lights, swept up the withered fallen leaves by the roadside, stirring up waves of ripples.

Ruan Mian took her hands out of her pockets, walked a small step forward, reached her hands around his waist from the side, fingers interlaced against his back. “Chen Yi.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you.”

Chen Yi pinched the back of her neck, forcing her to look up. “Told me what?”

She looked up at him. When looking at him, her eyes had light in them, filled with passionate admiration. “I really like you.”

—More than you know, more than you can imagine, I like you.

The starlight of autumn was brilliant, yet not worth a fraction of what was in her eyes. In that instant, Chen Yi’s chest felt like it was about to burst.

He lowered his eyes, his dark pupils staring at her without blinking, his Adam’s apple moving slightly, as if unable to control himself. “Me too.”

“I really like you.”

He lowered his head to kiss her.

There were passersby all around, but Chen Yi still didn’t care, even though this had already broken his principle of not being intimate in public places.

He raised his hand to cradle her head, deepening the kiss.

The streetlight was dim yellow. On the road surface, two lingering, entwined shadows were reflected. This time, there was no mix-up, no so-called optical illusion.

The two shadows silently continued kissing, just like the two people beside them.

……

After a long while, Chen Yi let go. For a moment, he had the impulse to take her back with him. The rustling autumn wind dispersed some of the surging emotions and impulses.

He took a small step back, pulling her from the windy spot to a corner beside them. “When did you come over?”

“This evening.”

“To eat at Auntie’s place?”

“Mm.” Ruan Mian hooked his fingers. “My dad told Mom about us before. I also talked to her about it tonight.”

Thinking of her reaction tonight and her obviously tear-stained eyes, Chen Yi’s heart skipped a beat. Using a joking tone to probe, he said, “So you didn’t come here because Auntie doesn’t approve of us being together, wanting to elope with me, did you?”

“What are you thinking?” Ruan Mian was both annoyed and amused. “My mom isn’t some unreasonable person. She just wants to meet you.”

Chen Yi breathed a sigh of relief internally. “Now? Then I need to go back and change first.”

“No need to be in such a hurry. My mom will be home these next few days.” Ruan Mian said, “See which day you’re free.”

“I’m free right now.”

“……”

He ruffled her hair. “How about tomorrow evening?”

“Okay.” Ruan Mian released the fingers she’d hooked around his. “It’s getting late. I should head back. You go back too.”

But Chen Yi held on and wouldn’t let go. “Come on, I’ll walk you back.”

“Okay then.”

The two of them walked through the lane with the internet cafe. When they reached her doorstep, seeing the low temperature at night, Ruan Mian urged him to go back.

Chen Yi was just about to leave.

Suddenly, a voice came from the second-floor window. “Mom! Come quick! My sister’s downstairs! And my future brother-in-law is here too!”

—

Author’s Note: Taking a day off tomorrow