“Should have let Si Wan come,” A Heng said to Yan Xi with a smile.

So impetuous, the two of them had cried their hearts out at the police station, kicking up a storm. Now back home thinking about it, it was truly embarrassing.

Yan Xi rolled his eyes: “Why didn’t you give that young officer Wen Si Wan’s number? Then this young master’s green monster wouldn’t have died such a tragic death!”

A Heng awkwardly replied: “I forgot by accident.”

At that time, with the Mercedes owner being so aggressive and the police officer’s green uniform catching her eye, when asked for a phone number, she didn’t think much and just gave Yan Xi’s mobile number.

So, A Heng thought for a moment and earnestly found a reason, sighing: “Ah, Yan Xi, I just felt I needed to be claimed at that moment…”

Even if she had called Si Wan, he would still have handed her over to Yan Xi. That would have been too troublesome, so why make such a roundabout journey?

Yan Xi narrowed his eyes: “That reason, good, very good!” Then, bang bang, he went upstairs and slammed the door.

Bam!

A Heng sighed helplessly, this guy’s temper was getting worse and worse.

Not two seconds later, Towel Little Grey Comrade was thrown out. A Heng jumped in fright, diving to catch it.

The towel dog was already streaming with tears and snot. Just for taking an evening nap in the beauty’s room, what was wrong with that…

The beautiful one’s voice came from afar: “Control your dog!”

A Heng smiled, gently patting the dog’s fluffy little head: “How should I control you?”

Fool, he doesn’t like you…

Si Er, as Si Wan wished, got into Xi Lin.

Si Wan had advanced to the third year, naturally stopping his student council work to focus on July’s narrow bridge of college entrance exams.

Mary dismissed it: “With Si Wan, there’s no need to worry, right?” Top five in the grade, plus bonus points for National Outstanding Student, what school couldn’t he choose?

Xin Da Yi raised his head: “What do you know, my brother’s preparing to be the top scorer in the college entrance exam for the Wen family!”

Mary pondered something, making a bland joke: “I might not know much, but you don’t know much more than me about what your brother Wen Si Wan is thinking.”

Xin Da Yi glanced at the slender figure ahead: “What could he be thinking about? Isn’t it just worrying about getting into the same university as the beautiful Yan?”

Mary’s look at Xin Da Yi suddenly became strange: “You… know something?”

Xin Da Yi said matter-of-factly: “They’ve always been in the same school, why would the university be any different?”

Mary’s face darkened: “What kind of logic is that!”

“The three of us plus Lu Liu, oh, you don’t know Lu Liu, anyway he’s like an immortal, right, though we four grew up together, anyone could see Si Wan was closer to Yan Xi. Back in junior high, Yan Xi and I got into No. 7 Middle School, while he and Lu Liu got into No. 1 Middle School. That little guy didn’t say a word, just packed his bag and transferred to No. 7, that was something. Later seems he got a good beating from Uncle Wen, hehe…” the youth rambled on.

Mary smiled devilishly: “Monkey, are you jealous? You sound so sour, what a sad childhood, no one paid attention to you…”

Xin Da Yi spat: “Dead demon, why would I be jealous? If anyone’s jealous it would be Wen Si Wan!”

“What do you mean?” Mary’s eyes flashed with a sharp light, unconsciously touching her phoenix eyes.

“Before Lu Liu went to Vienna, he and Yan Xi were practically joined at the hip. Though we were all childhood brothers, to put it bluntly, forget about me, even Si Wan was just a transparent nobody in front of those two!” Xin Da Yi muttered.

Mary looked at Xin Da Yi sympathetically.

Xin Da Yi shuddered: “Damn it, demon, can you control yourself? Stop looking at me with that maternal glow!”

Mary smiled innocently: “Can’t help it, in this whole story, you’re the most pitiful!”

“No way! How am I pitiful? How am I pitiful? You tell me tell me tell me!”

“Xin Da Yi, what are you gesturing wildly about? Stand up and tell us, what’s the answer to question three!” The English teacher, known as Mediterranean, was angry.

Ahem, children, it’s still class time.

Xin Da Yi was dumbfounded. All those attributive subjects object predicates, that without commas, made the silly child break out in a sweat.

Meat Strips sat alluringly, the corner of her mouth curved in schadenfreude.

A Heng coughed lightly, hand curved in a C shape, placed by her ear.

“C!” Xin Da Yi puffed out his chest, confident now.

“Why is the third choice?” Mediterranean had taught for half his life and was quite tricky.

Xin Da Yi stammered: “Because… um Because, it says, something flying something when something um my um…”

Mediterranean gritted his teeth: “Repeat! Why?”

Xin Da Yi burst into tears. A Heng hadn’t said…

The autumn colors grew deeper, and in just a few days, the leaves had completely fallen.

In her spare time, A Heng was learning to knit things by following TV shows.

She turned her head to ask the youth: “Si Wan and Mary want scarves, and Da Yi wants a pair of gloves. What about you, Yan Xi, what do you want?”

Yan Xi counted on his fingers, one two three… four, somewhat dejected: “I don’t want anything.”

“Is that so.” A Heng lowered her head smiling, her voice soft.

In the evening, the sky was somewhat gloomy, and before night fell, the wind had already shaken the tree shadows into fragments. Soon after, torrential rain poured down. One autumn rain brings one spell of cold.

A Heng and Yan Xi went up and down closing windows. Just as A Heng reached the bathroom, suddenly darkness fell – a power outage. She looked toward the window; besides the eerie tree shadows, there wasn’t a trace of light around. The power cables must have been broken by the wind. At this hour, with weather this bad, even emergency repairs would be troublesome.

“A Heng.” Yan Xi fumbled his way downstairs.

A Heng rubbed her eyes, gradually getting used to the darkness. At the stairs, there was a slender figure.

“A Heng, come here.” His voice slightly caught.

A Heng walked over, lightly touching, and feeling the slightly rough linen texture of his jacket.

He took her hand in his, his originally tense nerves relaxing, the spaces between his fingers filling with gentle wind, becoming soft and steady. The youth smiled, making a ghost face in the darkness.

A Heng smiled helplessly, saying softly: “Yan Xi, I’m not scared.”

So, no need to try to scare me.

“What if I’m scared?” Yan Xi rolled his eyes, head peering out the window, “Daughter, on such a fine evening, shall we go out to find food?”

A Heng glanced at the kitchen: “My millet porridge, just finished cooking…”

Yan Xi drooled, pretending not to hear: “Daughter, I know there’s a new hotpot restaurant on West Small Street, they say it’s very good.”

A Heng continued: “Ahem, I just finished stir-frying vegetables…”

Yan Xi shook his ears: “And in front of East Temple Gate, Old Lu’s beef noodle shop opened a branch.”

A Heng feigned anger: “Ah, I get it, always so willful.”

Yan Xi spread his hands, smiling craftily.

The two kids rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find raincoats, carelessly threw them on, and rushed out.

“Where are you two going?” In the distance, there were somewhat glaring car lights.

That car drove slowly, stopping by the tree nearest to them. Looking carefully, in the darkness that silhouette was Si Wan.

“Power’s out, getting some food.” Yan Xi looked at the car twice, “Oh, Young Master Wen, using your grandfather’s official car for personal use again?”

A Heng looked at the car, indeed it was Secretary Li’s usual vehicle and smiled.

Si Wan looked up, hands lightly resting on the steering wheel, his tone mellow and emotionless: “Where to? Let me drive you there.”

Yan Xi shook his head and laughed mockingly: “You’re driving without a license, I want to live a few more years.”

Si Wan didn’t insist, smiled faintly, gazed at the two of them gently, and stepped on the gas.

A Heng lifted the hood of her raincoat as she watched the car leave, only then noticing someone sitting in the passenger seat, a figure like a girl’s, but not Si Er. Slightly naturally curly hair, clearly it was… Lin Wan Wan, whom she had met long ago.

Her thoughts stirred, remembering something, and she glanced at Yan Xi, but his expression showed no change.

They thought about finding a taxi, but the rain was too heavy and there were very few vehicles on the road. After searching for a while, seeing they were almost at East Temple Gate, they gave up, treating it as a pre-dinner walk.

“A Heng, there’s a small shop in front of East Temple Gate that makes very exquisite masks. After dinner, let’s buy some to take home to play with.” Yan Xi pointed enthusiastically at a spot not far away.

East Temple was originally just a small Buddhist hall, built during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. It was said to have been built under the supervision of the Fourth Prince, who later became Emperor Yongzheng, and used for the family’s women to offer incense to Buddha. When it was first built, the Fourth Prince named it “Four Cool Studio.” When people asked what the four cool things were, the prince said: “Foolishness, ignorance, laziness, and scattered thoughts – these four things corrupt the mind and should be cooled.”

Yan Xi insisted on coming here for the Lu family’s beef noodle shop, which had passed down their secret recipe for a hundred years. Despite the rain, the old Lu shop was still packed, and many customers spoke with out-of-town accents, probably tourists who had heard of the shop’s reputation and came to try it.

The table next to A Heng and Yan Xi was like this, a group of young people, lively and chattering, speaking Mandarin quickly and softly, probably from the Jiangnan region.

The beef noodles were indeed very delicious. A Heng bit into the glistening noodles, carefully tasted the soup, and frowned slightly: “Yan Xi, this noodle soup, there are too many Chinese herbs.”

“That’s why it’s called Nourishing Beef Noodles, look at the sign.” Yan Xi slurped away, unconcerned.

A Heng shook her head: “Using Chinese herbs for flavor and nourishment is excellent, but the amount must not be excessive or mixed carelessly. For noodles, when making the soup base, a small amount of ginseng leaves, almonds, cloves, and dried tangerine peel roasted fragrant, along with mushrooms and Chinese yam for seasoning is enough. The medicinal properties are mild, and though they might not have remarkable therapeutic effects, at least they don’t harm the digestive system. This beef soup, to enhance the flavor, added red cardamom and amomum villosum – red cardamom disperses cold, amomum villosum warms the stomach, both are warm, putting them together should be done cautiously, but this soup has too much…”

Yan Xi, the novice, stared with his bright eyes: “Red cardamom, amomum villosum, what?”

The group at the neighboring table had somehow stopped their chatter and grown quiet. After a while, someone laughed, nudging the youth wearing a white sweater: “Fei Bai, you’ve been outdone. See that? There are always better people out there. Don’t be so arrogant in front of your junior sisters next time, you’ll scare them, and Dean Gu will scold you again for being immature despite your youth.”

The group of girls started making faces and winking.

The youth called Fei Bai was peculiar, wearing a knitted white sweater, spotlessly clean as if he had a cleanliness obsession. His voice was extremely cold and deep, and though his words carried the lightness of southern tones, each word carried arrogance, like sharp ice on a snow mountain: “If ordinary people understand a bit of medical theory, must you compare them with me?”

Yan Xi whispered: “A Heng, what are they saying?” Yan Xi had learned some Jiangnan dialect, but couldn’t keep up when it was spoken too quickly.

A Heng smiled faintly: “Nothing.” She unconsciously took another sip of soup, her tongue detecting a hint of sour sweetness, and smiled, “Yan Xi, the soup is fine now.”

Yan Xi burst into tears: “Heng Heng, what are you talking about? Why can’t I understand a single word!”

A Heng smiled and explained: “The soup also has hawthorn cooking in it, which has cooling properties, just right to balance the heat toxicity of red cardamom and amomum villosum, making it harmless to people.”

The youth in the white sweater’s expression softened somewhat, his lips curving slightly as he lifted his eyelids to glance at A Heng.

Yan Xi snorted: “Originally, the shop’s big sign says ‘Hawthorn Large Bowl Beef Noodles’!”

Hm? A Heng turned her head, and indeed it was so, eight large gold-embossed characters. Hehe, she blushed, smilingly changing the topic: “Yan Xi, ah ah, your mouth is full of oil again…”

Yan Xi burst out laughing, emboldened, and reached out with his glistening index finger to lightly brush A Heng’s mouth corner, his finger slightly cool: “Silly child, you’re no better yourself!”

A Heng blushed, realizing that throughout the meal, she had become the troublesome one.

There was a custom at East Temple Gate – at nine o’clock at night, red lanterns would be lit along both sides of the street, a tradition said to have continued since before the Republic period, considered a local feature. If it weren’t for the rainy night, it would have somewhat resembled a Jiangnan lantern festival.

Yan Xi pulled A Heng along, familiar with the way, heading across the street. The handicraft shop had been there for some years, uniquely choosing not to use artificially carved flooring, but instead laying the ground with green bricks.

Walking in, it was indeed as Yan Xi said – hanging on all four walls were exquisitely crafted masks. One after another, under the red silk-wrapped lanterns, they gleamed with beautiful, spirited luster.

A Heng had just picked up an ugly but intricately crafted scarface pirate mask when Yan Xi had already eagerly rushed toward the many masks painted with beautiful women.

By chance, between the two walls were many layers of white mink fur, mostly hanging with Manchu accessories – small daggers, earrings, bracelets, packed full, making human figures appear indistinct through them.

A Heng put on the pirate mask, another layer of skin, soft and real. Remembering something, she smiled toward Yan Xi’s direction.

The blurry figure seemed to become distant despite being just steps away, separated by those several layers.

Light coffee-colored jacket, light straight gray pants, rarely subdued colors, but unfortunately turning into red canvas shoes at the feet. Around the shoes was a slowly deepening puddle of water, gradually seeping into the soil. A combination that gave people a sense of illusion and contradiction, yet strangely carried beauty.

She gazed at that figure, with such focused, gentle eyes, quietly dead still to the point of harmlessness. Her left hand lightly placed on her chest, only to find its beating had approached desperate madness.

A Heng sighed softly.

If not for wearing the mask, how much trouble would such a gaze cause him? Only she knew how… unseemly her current gaze was.

“Du Qing Qing, have you played enough? Stop messing around!” In a slightly annoyed cold voice, someone took off her mask.

The person opposite, wearing a white sweater, saw A Heng and froze.

“I’m sorry, you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” A Heng smiled slightly, took the mask from his hand, and gently put it back on.

She smiled and nodded, turning to leave, not knowing that another twist of fate had quietly begun.

She had never cared about this accident, only walked to Yan Xi’s front, amusingly wondering if he would also mistake her like others did.

But he smiled, finger stroking the long scar on the pirate mask: “A Heng, this is made very realistically.”

Through the mask, such finger warmth, yet warm enough to make one suffocate.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

The final ten seconds.

She looked at him, smiling like mountains and waters slowly being painted.

At the final glance, something in her eyes fell away, the misty haze across the sky dispersing to perfect stillness.

He gently removed her mask, still the same black hair and bright eyes, so… beautiful.

Then, she was still his familiar A Heng.

The A Heng who would never lose control.

The capable A Heng.

The gentle A Heng.

Forever… only the A Heng who would be exactly as he imagined her to be.