That day was a weekend in late autumn. Despite the faint sunlight, the autumn wind still scattered the phoenix tree leaves.

Yan Xi put down his game controller, answered the phone, hung up, and hurriedly rushed out wearing a beige windbreaker.

“Why are you leaving in such a hurry, without even eating?” Si Wan was bewildered. He and Yan Xi had been playing games all morning, getting dizzy from it. Zhang Sao had urged them several times to come down for lunch, but the battle situation was too intense for them to step away.

“Food!” Yan Xi shouted.

Si Wan was startled by the young man’s loud voice.

Then, the boy thundered down the stairs, complaining as he ran: “Such an annoying girl, my green monster just reached level eighteen when her phone call ruined it. Wen Si Wan, take your girl away, I want a refund, a refund!”

Putting on his shoes crookedly, he disappeared in a flash, faster than a rabbit.

That phone call was probably from A Heng asking him to come home for lunch. Si Wan rubbed his brow, muttering helplessly: “A refund? Would you let her go?”

Their days continued as before, neither good nor bad. Though A Heng’s warm smile was the main theme of their story, Yan Xi would get scolded when he played games until the food turned cold.

“It’s the weekend today, I need to tutor Xiao Xia this afternoon,” A Heng said, walking toward the entrance with her bag after reheating the food.

“When will you be back?” Yan Xi asked with his mouth full, “Still at four?”

A Heng checked her wristwatch, frowning: “Not sure. I want to help Grandpa He is watching his stall today. But I’ll be back before dinner.” Before he could respond, she hurriedly left home.

Yan Xi watched A Heng leave home, completely whole and clean.

Later, Yan Xi kept regretting – if only he hadn’t been so focused on getting his green monster past level eighteen. If only he had reached Grandpa He’s stall earlier.

Though he knew he had a bad temper, in reality, he truly got angry very rarely. But that day, he wanted to unleash all his violence on those people.

In the afternoon, before four o’clock, he received a call, from a somewhat serious voice: “You’re Wen Heng’s family member, right? She’s had an accident…”

He was passing a game level at the time, distracted: “What what, what did you say?” When it registered, his head was buzzing, as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over him from head to toe. He yelled at the person, feeling his heart and lungs trembling: “Damn it, say that again!”

The person was startled: “Uh… while she was manning the stall, a tricycle’s brakes failed and hit a Mercedes.”

Yan Xi had never realized his imagination could be so vivid. He even pictured A Heng riding Grandpa He’s tricycle colliding with the four-wheeled speed monster: One car come one car go, two car peng peng, hitting A Heng.

The scene replayed in his mind many times like a movie.

“Which hospital?”

“Huh?” The person was confused.

“I’m asking you which fucking hospital A Heng is in!” His fingertips touching the receiver were wet with sweat.

“Please come to XX Police Station now, she’s here.” The person, sensing they’d provoked trouble, kept it brief, hung up, and wiped their cold sweat.

When Yan Xi rushed to the police station, his girl was crouching in a corner, her fair face smudged with dirt. Seeing him approach, she became dejected almost instantly, then smiled at him apologetically.

A young police officer in a wide-brimmed hat came over. “You must be Yan Xi, this young lady asked me to notify you. Her tricycle hit a gentleman’s parked car.” It was the voice from the phone call.

A Heng was embarrassed, feeling she had truly troubled the young man: “Yan Xi, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

“Stand up.” He ignored the police officer, glaring directly at A Heng, his large eyes taking up nearly half his face.

A Heng hesitated, then stood up.

“Where are you hurt?” He looked at her, his tone flat, showing no anger.

A Heng smiled brilliantly, shaking her head while hiding her arms behind her back.

“Show me your hands.” Yan Xi spoke, something rising in his heart, needing careful, thorough guidance.

She smiled: “Just small wounds, it’s nothing.”

Then Yan Xi looked at her, his beautiful large eyes fixed on her, stubborn and unyielding.

A Heng sighed helplessly and extended her hands. On the back of her hands were two clear red swollen cuts, while her wrists were scraped and bruised.

Then, he looked up, but she smiled at him, gentle as water.

Behind them, a well-dressed man approached, his manner intimidating: “Are you this little girl’s family? Her broken tricycle hit my newly bought Mercedes, what do you say we should do about this!”

A Heng apologized, repeatedly bowing: “Uncle, I’m sorry, the brakes failed. I didn’t mean to, really sorry.”

The man raged: “What good is saying sorry? What kind of excuse is brake failure? If the brakes were broken, you shouldn’t have come out to set up a stall!”

A Heng gently tugged at the man’s clothes, carefully speaking: “Uncle, please don’t be angry, I will compensate you.”

But he shook off A Heng’s hand, looking at her with eyes as if seeing something disgusting and dirty, his tone aggressive: “How could a poor street vendor like you afford compensation? That Mercedes cost me over a million! It’s not like your broken tricycle! Not to mention you people, being poor is one thing, but you can’t even speak proper Mandarin, and have no quality at all, this whole B City will eventually be dirtied and ruined by people like you!”

A Heng lowered her head, silent.

The young police officer coughed lightly, feeling these words had gone too far.

But Yan Xi grabbed the man’s collar, roaring thunderously, blue veins bulging between his fair knuckles: “Who the fuck do you think you are! It’s just a Mercedes, showing off your wealth here, putting on airs! Never mind a Mercedes, even if my girl crashed into a BMW, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Bugatti Veyron, even if she crashed into all four at once, see if I can’t afford to pay!”

The man was frightened, stumbling over his words, pointing at the police officer: “Officer, look at this person’s quality, are you going to… going to handle this!”

Yan Xi’s face was red from shouting, breathing heavily: “This is exactly my quality, what of it! Me, my father, and my grandfather are all B City people, my family has been in B City for eight generations, this is B City people’s quality, what of it! Who are you to pretend to be from B City, when my great-grandfather was fighting to liberate B City, you were probably somewhere eating dirt!”

The man was dumbfounded, having never met someone with such a sharp tongue.

The young police officer was also startled, feeling things had escalated, stepped between them and said to Yan Xi: “Brother, let go, this is too much!”

Yan Xi sneered, gripping tighter: “A perfectly fine girl, just went out to mind a stall, ends up hurt all over, and gets bullied like this, who says I’m going too far? What part of this is too far!”

Seeing the man being choked by his tie in Yan Xi’s grip, the police officer became urgent, pointing his baton at Yan Xi: “Let go, quickly!”

Yan Xi snatched the police officer’s baton and threw it to the ground, looking at him contemptuously, his voice rising eight octaves: “Today if he doesn’t apologize to my girl, I’m not letting go!”

The police officer got angry too: “You want to assault an officer?”

“Yeah, I’m assaulting an officer, do whatever you want!” Yan Xi turned his head, and glanced at A Heng, just one glance at the grey coat, yet his eyes inexplicably reddened, “My girl won’t take this humiliation, won’t suffer this wronging!”

A Heng became anxious: “Yan Xi, let go, let go!”

Yan Xi was silent for several seconds, seriously gazing at his girl, tender yet awkward.

“Yan Xi, I’m not wronged, not wronged at all.” A Heng looked into Yan Xi’s eyes, speaking softly, startled, her nose feeling uncomfortable.

Pat, pat. Full tears suddenly fell uncontrollably.

Yan Xi froze, released his grip, walked to A Heng’s front, and pulled her into his embrace. Then, A Heng buried her head in the young man’s chest, crying and sobbing like a child, unrestrained, uninhibited.

The young man only clumsily wiped away her tears with his fingers, his other hand gently patting her back, teasing her lightly: “If you’re not wronged, why are you crying?”

A Heng continued dropping tears pat, sniffling, mumbling nasally: “Don’t know, wasn’t wronged before, but seeing you, felt wronged.”

Who knows, wasn’t wronged before, but just happened to see you.

“I’m wronged too. My green monster died again because of you!” Yan Xi smiled, his appearance devastatingly handsome, yet his eyes grew even redder.

What a trivial matter, how strong we both are, yet easily defeated by each other.

In his leisure time, he constantly pondered.

These ten years, there was no shortage of bumps and bruises. He and she, even when not together, would still live actively according to their understanding of truth. Sometimes even feeling fortunate that because they weren’t together, even sky-high grievances wouldn’t defeat them.

So, the black-haired, black-eyed girl who loved wearing grey clothes and lived vibrantly in his life became a gentle thorn, in his eyes, impossible to remove. Occasionally, because of her grievances, that thorn would be touched, and he would similarly redden his eyes. Heaven knows, some things normally couldn’t move him, but because they were her grievances, they unconditionally, simply became his grievances.

Like the transmission of flu, from her to him. While she smiled in forbearance, he, because of the pain in his eyes from the thorn, couldn’t help but turn this grievance upside down. Only by exacting double revenge from others, stopping, ceasing, making her hurriedly comfort him to forget all unhappiness, did it seem to truly end.

Afterward, that thorn, like a tentacle, silently retracted, clearing his eyes, only then finding peace.

After rain comes sunshine.