In mid-August, as Yan Tingli had predicted, their dining table finally featured green stir-fried lettuce.

Five days later.

Yan Tingli punctually served stir-fried pork with peppers.

But the farm-grown peppers were different from what Yan Tingli was accustomed to eating—they were extremely spicy.

After one bite, Yan Tingli choked and gulped down half a bottle of water.

Shi Sui bit her chopsticks, laughing uncontrollably.

Watching him finish dinner, as if in revenge, he picked all the remaining peppers and packed them in bags.

“What are you going to do?”

Yan Tingli: “Send them to Su Ye.”

Shi Sui: “…?” Was he plotting to harm his mentor?

Yan Tingli said lazily, “Consider it an apology gift for standing him up all summer.”

“Just sending peppers?”

“I grew them myself—the gift is light but the sentiment is heavy.”

Shi Sui could almost imagine Professor Su’s angry, glaring expression.

His sudden mention of Su Ye made Shi Sui realize that for over a month, Yan Tingli had been idle every day, his phone never ringing once. When asked, she discovered he had turned on airplane mode, willfully blocking all messages.

Yan Tingli returned to the room and tossed the bag of peppers into his suitcase. He seemed to finally remember to take out his phone that had been lying in a corner, dead and automatically shut off, slowly picking it up and plugging it in to charge.

Once it turned on and connected to the network.

Yan Tingli’s phone began vibrating violently.

Messages flew everywhere.

He slid his finger across the screen, and the curve of his lips slowly disappeared. His eyes were half-bright and half-dark, hidden in the dim light of dusk.

Shi Sui was sitting in her reclining chair, enjoying the cool air. Watching his movements, her fan-waving motion gradually slowed, and her expression became somewhat dazed.

It seemed that in an instant.

The Yan Tingli, who had been playfully fooling around with her in the small town, disappeared.

He became once again that person who stood on high stairs looking down at her, gripping her chin demanding and threatening.

Shi Sui felt her heart tighten as she watched, lowering her eyes.

Suddenly, Yan Tingli let out a strange laugh from his throat.

“I have another brother, two months old.” He tilted his head.

Before Shi Sui could process the news, she heard him laugh with delight: “But fortunately, he’s already dead.”

Such a terrifying topic was spoken by Yan Tingli in such a light, cheerful voice.

Shi Sui felt a chill of horror, her black and white eyes looking at him in panic.

“Don’t be afraid, it wasn’t me,” he laughed again, taking two steps forward to squat in front of her, propping his chin and looking up to comfort her.

A beautiful young man’s face, yet the words he spoke were dark and chilling: “I didn’t have time to strike.”

Like a cold draft blowing through.

Shi Sui felt stiff and cold.

But Yan Tingli’s pupils were very bright.

With a strange yet calm sickness, he crouched by her knees, talking nonstop.

“Thanks to my good mother. With her around, I don’t even need to do it myself.”

Yan Tingli kept laughing as he spoke.

But Shi Sui couldn’t feel any trace of happiness from him, yet was forced to receive the information in his words.

—During the month they had been away from the capital, another earth-shattering event had occurred in the Yan family.

Those words Yan Zecheng had said to Yan Tingli during that argument weren’t threats as Shi Sui had thought.

After Yan Tingli repeatedly defied and violated the family’s arrangements, Yan Zecheng truly followed through on his words to have another heir to raise.

But the results were unsatisfactory. In several months, only one mistress became pregnant.

Yan Zecheng valued this pregnancy highly, but no matter how well he hid it, Song Jie still discovered it.

The child was just two months along and confirmed to be male when Song Jie burst through the door after hearing the news.

After a struggle, the child was unfortunately miscarried.

When Yan Zecheng learned of this, he flew into a rage.

But when the hospital test results came out, they showed sperm abnormalities—even without Song Jie’s interference, this pregnancy would have been difficult to maintain.

This meant Yan Zecheng could hardly produce healthy children anymore.

Song Jie was almost laughing to tears. The Yan family villa was smashed to pieces during their argument.

Now, both of them were searching the world for Yan Tingli.

“Sui Sui, do you know?”

Yan Tingli’s lips curved in a cold arc, his chest trembling with laughter: “My family is finally going to have no descendants.”

Just listening to this, Shi Sui was already overwhelmed by intense darkness and oppressive emotions. She couldn’t even imagine what Yan Tingli, who was in the midst of it all, was feeling.

She parted her lips but made no sound.

She only slowly raised her hand to gently brush through Yan Tingli’s hair, removing a bit of dust that had gotten there while cooking.

She was lost in thought.

If only all these messy things surrounding him could also be brushed away with a gentle touch.

“A fortune teller said I bring misfortune to close relatives and brothers,” he laughed lowly, gripping her wrist and lowering his head to press a cold kiss with his lips, “quite accurate.”

Yan Tingli’s gaze fixed on her face.

The heavy emotions suppressed within almost made Shi Sui unable to bear it.

Shi Sui closed her eyes and bent her neck.

She cupped Yan Tingli’s face, blocking whatever he was about to say next.

Perhaps sensing that peak summer was fading, the cicadas filled the sky with their calls, yet couldn’t hold onto the fleeting summer.

Late at night, a violent storm poured down. It made the leaves rustle loudly with thunder and lightning.

Rain fell from the tiles like a water curtain, splashing against the frosted glass windows.

The mixed white noise covered the vague, sticky sounds inside the room.

With the rain, it wasn’t as stuffy, so the air conditioning wasn’t turned on in the room.

Yan Tingli had one hand covering his eyes.

Through the gaps between his knuckles, his raven-black eyelashes trembled up and down. His Adam’s apple rolled slowly, his breathing heavy.

“Sui Sui…” His fingers in Shi Sui’s hair suddenly tightened. Due to her inexperienced movements, veins bulged on the back of his hand.

Shi Sui slowly released, her eyes misty with moisture, cheeks flushed: “I was already being very careful, it’s because you’re too…”

She couldn’t help but stumble.

But Shi Sui couldn’t say it out loud.

Through the faint light from the window.

She saw Yan Tingli’s eyelashes dampened by her ministrations.

Even with such stumbling, he seemed to still feel very good, his pupils dilated, chest constantly rising and falling, hair also damp with sweat scattered across his forehead.

His wrist pressed against his eyes, somewhat unable to bear it as he covered his expression.

His voice was also low, completely lacking his usual fierce demeanor.

“Just don’t bite me.”

Previously, he had always been more dominant, controlling all her reactions, watching her display various awkward states.

This kind of transgressive intimate method had never been within Shi Sui’s understanding.

Shi Sui had never thought that one day, she could also make Yan Tingli lose his composure like this.

A new perspective was opened. She felt unprecedented excitement from her initiative today.

She looked down at Yan Tingli from above, blinking: “But I don’t know how.”

Hearing her deliberate delaying mischief, Yan Tingli tightened his grip on her fingers.

Thinking of how she used to suck on candy while doing homework, making her cheeks bulge.

The darkness in his eyes deepened: “You usually know how to eat lollipops well enough.”

Shi Sui was easily made to blush by his single sentence.

“How is that the same?”

“It’s the same.” His Adam’s apple swallowed, almost unable to bear it, his palm pressing on her head again.

He coaxed: “Try it.”

This person was too domineering, always wanting to immediately regain control.

Shi Sui didn’t like it. She pressed hard on his Adam’s apple while tightening her other hand: “Stop ordering me around.”

Being suddenly pressed like that.

Yan Tingli frowned and closed his eyes, a hoarse sound escaping his throat as his whole body trembled violently.

Shi Sui was stunned, looking down blankly.

How did he just…

A few seconds of silence.

Yan Tingli opened his eyes, his face looking terrible, his pitch-black gaze staring at her like a wild beast.

Shi Sui shuddered under his stare.

Before she could react, she was already flipped over.

Yan Tingli slapped her bottom, his voice cold and low: “Lie down properly.”

Outside the window, the rain poured harder.

The rain curtain flowed down the windows, blurry and unclear.

After going crazy all night, Shi Sui was exhausted.

When she gradually fell asleep, the rain also gradually lessened.

Listening to the rain sounds under the eaves, Shi Sui closed her eyes.

It seemed she hadn’t closed her eyes for long when she was awakened by being held too tightly in the heat.

Without the cool breeze, the air became sweltering.

Shi Sui was embraced until she sweated.

She drowsily opened her eyes, directly meeting Yan Tingli’s pitch-black eyes above.

She mumbled, “Stop fooling around, I’m still sleepy.”

“I had a dream.” Yan Tingli stared at her.

Shi Sui didn’t take it seriously, yawning and asking in a vague voice: “What dream?”

“The dream was full of fog.” Yan Tingli’s complexion was very poor, very pale. “I kept looking, but couldn’t find you.”

Shi Sui’s heart jumped violently, instantly awake.

Her eyelashes trembled lightly as she looked at him.

“I couldn’t find you.” He buried his head in her neck, soft hair brushing against her ear. Seeming to find it amusing, he laughed lowly, “How could I possibly not find you?”

“If Sui Sui disappeared, even digging three feet underground, I would find you.”

Yan Tingli’s voice was slow and sinister, his fingertips circling her forearm, his gaze like falling into some kind of diseased nightmare, “Then I’d lock you up, put chains on you, lock you to the bed. You could only see me every day.”

Shi Sui felt a chill run down her spine, her body also becoming stiff. That instinctive, physiological fear swept over her.

She said tensely: “Don’t say such crazy things.”

Yan Tingli laughed softly, his tone becoming gentle again: “Of course. How could Sui Sui possibly leave me?”

“Right?”

Like a robot executing a program, Shi Sui could only, and only dared to, utter affirmative words: “…Right.”

Yan Tingli seemed very satisfied.

The gloomy aura around him dissipated as he held her tightly.

“I have to return to the capital tomorrow.” Yan Tingli paused, kissing the top of her head, “If you want, go back to Hangzhou, stay with uncle and aunt for half a month.”

“When school starts, I’ll come here to pick you up and go back.”

He thought for a moment and added: “And pick the tomatoes while I’m at it.”

Shi Sui was stunned: “…You’re leaving for half a month? What are you going to do?”

Coldness flashed in Yan Tingli’s eyes: “Deal with some trash.”

He was referring to the cousins in the family who wanted to take advantage of the chaos for a piece of the pie.

Shi Sui felt puzzled.

Didn’t he care about these things? He was always hoping for the family to collapse.

Yan Tingli: “My things, even if I don’t want them, can only be mine.” He smiled: “What are they worth?”

Shi Sui felt completely drained, not speaking for a long time.

Yan Tingli seemed sleepy, yawning and murmuring: “You want legitimacy, so I’ll legitimately marry you.”

“In the future, no one will dare say half a word.”

Yan Tingli finally kissed her cheek: “Sleep.”

“Today I won’t let Ping An come in to make noise.”

The storm stopped.

The horizon was already showing fish-belly white.

Yan Tingli’s breathing was even.

But Shi Sui had no desire to sleep and couldn’t fall asleep anymore.

Half a month later, in September.

When he returned here, she would already be enrolled in California.

She had thought they still had at least a week together, never imagining separation would come so suddenly.

Shi Sui’s heart was pierced with continuous needle-like pain.

This pain came suddenly, but was so intense it almost made her mind go blank.

She couldn’t find any way to relieve it.

Shi Sui curled up.

Her nose tingled with sourness, but she dared not make any sound.

In the morning, Yan Tingli packed most of his luggage. From here to the provincial capital airport still took most of the day, so he bought an evening flight back to the capital.

Yan Tingli called an expensive private car for pickup.

Shi Sui used the most normal demeanor to see him out of the small courtyard and into the car.

Watching the car drive away, Shi Sui stood in a daze, unconsciously picking at the bamboo gate with her fingertips.

Until sharp pain struck.

A hangnail deeply embedded in her flesh.

Shi Sui didn’t care, turning around and walking back to the small courtyard in a lost state.

Hugging her knees, she sat under the eaves in the bamboo chair she always leaned against, staring blankly outside.

Perhaps sensing something, Ping An stepped over, looked at her, and rubbed against her calves.

Shi Sui bent down and held it in her arms.

Summer weather was always changeable. The sky suddenly darkened with heavy, dark clouds.

Shi Sui glanced at the sky and continued staring blankly at the gate.

She didn’t know how much time had passed.

Ping An started meowing, probably hungry, constantly rubbing against her hands.

Shi Sui mechanically got up and went to where Yan Tingli usually processed small fish to make cat food.

He had left many fish here, enough for Ping An for over ten days.

When her hand went into the water, piercing pain struck. Shi Sui realized what had happened, seeing the hangnail embedded and her already swollen finger.

She frowned slightly, absently planning to go back to the small house to find a needle to pick out the splinter.

But passing by the water basin, she tripped over the bucket containing fish.

Fortunately, it didn’t hurt much when she fell.

Next to her was the vegetable garden, where Yan Tingli had dug the soil.

Shi Sui quietly propped herself up with her arms.

Her vacant gaze fixed on the ground, on the vegetable seedlings beaten crooked by the storm.

The last row of tomatoes had fallen in patches, looking completely lifeless.

Shi Sui stared for a while.

She felt something drop from her eye sockets, tasting something salty and bitter.

At this moment, the emotions she had been suppressing suddenly burst like a flood.

Shi Sui finally couldn’t hold back anymore.

Like a child, she began crying loudly.

She regretted it.

Why had she brought Yan Tingli here?

They should have separated decisively and cleanly.

There shouldn’t have been any entanglement.

Rumbling thunder sounded dully.

Large raindrops began falling.

Until Shi Sui was pulled up from behind, and in her blurred vision, she met Yan Tingli’s displeased expression.

He pulled her back into the small house.

With a cold face, he used a towel to wipe the rain and mud from her body: “What are you doing?”

Shi Sui’s mind was still in a daze, tears dried on her face as she looked at him stupidly: “…How did you come back?”

“If I hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have seen you acting like a lunatic.” He looked at her with disgust, but his fingertips gently wiped her eye corners. “What are you crying about?”

Shi Sui’s heart was a mix of emotions. Looking at him, she needed all her strength to suppress her breakdown.

“My hand hurts.” She slowly showed him her finger, “And I fell.”

“Our vegetables died too.”

Yan Tingli wiped her face: “If they died, we’ll just plant them again.”

He took her hand and saw her swollen fingertip. Frowning, he carried her to the room, squatted down, and got a needle to treat it.

“So…” Shi Sui looked at him absently, “Why did you suddenly come back?”

“The driver said there would be thunderstorms tonight,” Yan Tingli focused on her finger, “you would be scared.”

“Tomorrow I’ll take you back to Hangzhou, then fly back to the capital from there.”

Shi Sui sniffled lightly.

“Also,” Yan Tingli’s expression was strange and somewhat cold.

“Mm?”

“I felt very uncomfortable.”

Shi Sui was stunned.

But accompanied by the sharp pain in her fingertip, he squeezed hard.

Shi Sui hissed.

Yan Tingli lowered his head and took her finger in his mouth, the warm sensation relieving the pain.

After sucking for a while, he let go.

She looked at his actions in amazement, her eyelashes trembling lightly.

“Leaving this time, I felt very uncomfortable.”

Seeing her disheveled state, Yan Tingli found the reason for this discomfort.

“Forget it.” He clicked his tongue, “Don’t wait for me here when school starts. I’ll come early to wait for you, and we’ll go back together.”

After that night’s storm, the next day was bright and sunny.

Before they left, Yan Tingli replanted the last row of tomatoes.

“They’re not completely dead.” He said casually, “Maybe they can still be saved.”

“Sui Sui.”

Li Yin looked at her daughter, who had been silent and withdrawn since returning home, “What’s wrong recently?”

Suspecting it was because going abroad was imminent and her daughter had never gone so far alone, she said worriedly: “If it doesn’t work out, don’t go? Studying domestically is also quite good.”

Shi Sui slowly raised her eyelashes to look at her mother’s worried face.

For a moment.

Yan Tingli’s face appeared in her mind, and she wavered slightly.

But the next second.

She vigorously shook her head and closed her eyes.

Are you crazy?

To escape from him, you made so much effort.

Just because of a little kindness, you forget all the previous difficulties and pain.

Do you want to go digging for wild vegetables?

What makes you think your tiny bit of energy could make Yan Tingli change?

Do you want Mom and Dad to be looked down upon because of you?

After thoroughly scolding herself in her mind, Shi Sui felt somewhat better.

She gently shook her head and said firmly to Li Yin: “I want to go.”

Li Yin reluctantly rubbed her head and sighed: “You’re right, when you’re young you should venture out more. Go ahead, Sui Sui, mom and dad support you.”

“That’s right, see more of the world,” Shi Yue said cheerfully from the side, “In England, go see and do whatever you want. If you don’t have enough money, ask dad.”

Similarly, even her parents only knew she was going to England.

Shi Sui’s nose tingled as she looked at them and nodded.

She choked up: “I’ll miss you.”

“Mom and dad will come visit you when we have time.” Shi Yue said with a smile, “Also, you’ll definitely come back during holidays.”

Shi Sui was at a loss. Even she didn’t know when that day would be.

The remaining time passed almost too quickly to grasp.

In the last few days, Shi Sui went back to the small town alone once more.

She left Ping An with Granny Zhao’s family, who had always been kind to her since childhood. The grandmother had a granddaughter who loved Ping An tremendously, asking with wide eyes: “Sister Sui Sui, can I keep Ping An forever?”

Shi Sui gently shook her head, saying hoarsely: “A brother will come to pick it up.”

Ping An meowed at her.

Shi Sui didn’t dare look anymore and ran out with red eyes.

Back at the small courtyard, everything was arranged as before.

Shi Sui noticed that the tomatoes Yan Tingli had replanted before leaving were growing well in the sunlight, with one already bearing a small fruit.

She took a deep breath, slammed the door shut, and ran outside.

Running along the town’s stream upward, she ran up the mountain.

Only after leaving everything in the small courtyard behind could she catch her breath.

She concentrated and continued climbing up the mountain.

She looked up toward the black dot at the highest peak—there was a small temple there. Although it couldn’t compare to the grand temples in the capital, the townspeople were very devout about it, hiking up to worship whenever they had concerns.

Her father, Shi Yue, always told her that during his college entrance exam year, he climbed three kilometers alone before dawn to offer incense and make wishes at the temple.

That year, he became the only university student from the small town.

The mountain path was steep and distant. Even Shi Yue took several days to recover after climbing up.

But father said this was the Buddha’s test of sincerity.

The town’s protective deity would bless all devout pilgrims who made wishes.

Shi Sui didn’t have great physical strength.

Climbing alone from morning to evening, when she arrived, her legs were trembling, and her face was pale as paper.

Shi Sui knelt before the temple.

She closed her eyes and pressed her palms together.

The temple was small, with only one monk who lived there year-round.

From him, Shi Sui obtained a blessing sachet.

The day before leaving, Shi Sui met with Zhou Xuyan, who had specially come to see her. The cheerful expression on her face disappeared, and she looked at her with tearful eyes.

Shi Sui pushed the prepared items toward her: “Yanyan, please help me put these there.”

“Don’t worry about this.” Zhou Xuyan choked up, “I guarantee I’ll complete the task.”

Before leaving, Zhou Xuyan hugged her.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “Sui Sui, see more of the world.”

“Looking forward to meeting a better you.”

Shi Sui hugged her back and nodded heavily: “Mm.”

The airplane crossed the sky, cutting through clouds. Shi Sui looked down through the window.

For a long time.

She pressed her aching chest and slowly closed her eyes.

At the end of August, the small town was shrouded in continuous drizzle.

Rain threads fell on the lake surface, slowly spreading ripples. Like an ink painting of Jiangnan, every frame was beautiful as a picture.

The bamboo gate of the small courtyard creaked as someone with an umbrella pushed it open.

Ping An, who had been brought back, circled his pant legs, meowing happily.

The lights in the old-style house stayed on for two nights.

Someone waited for three days.

On the third day.

The small tomatoes that had just grown well were crushed under someone’s shoe sole into the earth, bursting with bright red juice.

“You lied to me.”

He let out a low laugh.

But his voice was already trembling uncontrollably.

“Lied to me again.”

“Sui Sui.” Yan Tingli’s lips held a calm curve, but his pupils were pitch black without a trace of light, his whole being filled with an impending storm.

“This time, when I catch you, how should I punish you?”