During her leisure time, Ah Heng crouched in the small flower bed, pulling out clusters of withered yellow weeds and loosening the snow-dampened soil.

Yan Xi lay sprawled at the second-floor window watching her, his hands opening and closing a beautiful box as he hummed an aimless tune with innocent abandon.

The box glinted golden in the sunlight, its semi-transparent material seeming to contain an inlaid picture, though the strong light made it difficult to see clearly.

He opened the box and asked, “Ah Heng, want some candy?” He plucked out a piece and lazily tossed it down from the second floor, letting it land on the freshly turned soil.

Ah Heng picked it up and unwrapped it, popping it into her mouth, but nearly choked on its sweetness. She frowned, “Why is it so sweet?”

Yan Xi laughed triumphantly at his successful prank: “I just soaked it in the sugar jar for ages.”

Speechless, Ah Heng lowered her head, gathered some remaining snow, turned, and hurled it upward.

Caught off guard, Yan Xi took it square in the face. Seeing his disheveled state, Ah Heng burst into laughter.

Yan Xi helplessly wiped his face, muttering, “What a petty child.” Then, he fished out something else from the box, saying, “This time, catch it properly.”

His fair face slightly flushed, he turned away and reached up to draw the curtains, cutting off their eye contact.

Eye contact had always been something difficult for him to handle, especially when facing someone who was already hard to process.

The arc of his throw gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.

The small silver object landed at her feet, spinning before coming to rest.

Ah Heng crouched there, squinting at it for a long while. The sunlight was so bright it unconsciously brought tears to her eyes. With slightly dirty hands, she picked up the small, light ring.

A ring.

Thumb, index finger, middle finger, pinky.

One by one, some wide, some narrow.

Only the ring finger remained.

She closed it in her palm, no longer trying.

She looked up at the light-colored curtains drawn on the second floor, smiled faintly, took out a handkerchief to wrap it carefully, and placed it in her pocket.

Then one day, this ring mysteriously disappeared.

Ms. Wen very casually said she didn’t know where she’d lost it, while Mr. Yan clutched his chest in despair, asking if she’d ever considered it a token of their love.

Ms. Wen: “No. I always thought it was a toy. Just like that silk scarf – you tossed it like a brothel’s top courtesan, and I just picked it up like a grateful patron at a volcanic resort.”

Mr. Yan was devastated.

So who would dare call this love? It was so melodramatic, so shocking, so masochistic, so… comical.

Before returning to school, Wen’s eldest brother tried to reason with her emotionally, tears flowing – Yan Xi wasn’t a suitable match!

Ah Heng looked bewildered: “What does that have to do with me?”

Si Wan frowned deeply, his eyebrows knotted together, lamenting: “You and him, him and you, what exactly… is your relationship?”

Ah Heng said: “There’s not much of a relationship. You’ve seen Tom and Jerry, right? I’m the cat, he’s the mouse.”

Si Wan: “Could it be… you’re forced to live under the same roof, actually Yan Xi has always been wary of you, hated you, actually you’ve always been enemies…”

Ah Heng glanced at him, smiling faintly: “Yes, yes, yes, we’re enemies.”

Many years later, when the Wen family twins pestered their father for stories, Si Wan emotionally told the tale of the cat and mouse enemies.

His wife directly spat grape seeds in his face: “Why do I feel like we watched different versions?”

Si Wan said: “How is it different? I glimpsed it a few times when I was young, wasn’t it Tom and Jerry? Those mortal enemies…”

His wife: “Oh, I didn’t watch much when I was young either, I just know there was this little rascal cat always chasing a hooligan mouse, chasing and chasing, never settling down, it was quite… something.”

Something… emotional?

They were the actors, we were the audience, who’s emotional, and emotional about what?

When Ah Heng returned to school, Mama Wen insisted on accompanying her.

Yan Xi said: “I have an announcement tonight, so I won’t go along.”

Ah Heng said: “Alright, there’s a portion of ribs in the fridge, heat it in the microwave for dinner.”

Yan Xi nodded while brushing his teeth, mouth full of foam.

As she left while he was washing his face, Yan Xi said to have a safe trip, Ah Heng said thank you.

The door closed, and the curtain fell.

The white foam still on his mouth, he peered out, looking at the wall obscuring the entryway, so white… it hurt his eyes.

The braised pork rice flew over, calling “Ah Heng, Ah Heng.”

Yan Xi smiled.

He said: “How do you even know who Ah Heng is to call her name? Before when Lu Liu taught you his name, everything from tables to chairs to the toilet was ‘Lu Liu.'”

Then, would this word also freeze, becoming that terrible thing… called memories?

She said, that unless buried in yellow earth and white bones, she’d guard his peace for a hundred years.

But forgot to ask, whose white bones would bring peace.

After the new year, Yan Xi was busy, very very busy. As Xin Dayi put it before I could get a good look at him, whoosh, he’s gone. Does he think he’s Superman with his underwear on the outside? That guy would just be a public eyesore in China.

Yan Xi spread his hands: “I have two hosting gigs in the morning, need to finish three hundred cover shots in the afternoon, and there’s Sometime at night. Kid, it’s not that I don’t want to hang out with you, I don’t have the energy.”

Just as he lifted his leg, about to whoosh away again, Xin Dayi pounced and grabbed his leg, crying: “Yan Xi, you can’t be so unfair! Brother is only asking this one thing of you in this lifetime!”

Yan Xi: “Let go. You said the same thing a month ago.”

Xin Dayi said: “Last time the old man refused to give me startup funding, I had no choice but to borrow from you.”

Yan Xi looked at him coldly: “Who told you to keep thumping your chest saying, ‘I’ll join the government, I’ll bring glory to the family name, I’ll make people know I’m your grandson rather than you being my grandfather.’ If I were your grandfather I would’ve beaten you to death already, your words are just hot air!”

Xin Dayi sheepishly: “Wasn’t it all Ren Yao persuading me? He said construction companies have great potential right now. Anyway, we studied this in our major, if we do well we can make money and become famous just the same, without having to depend on a fixed salary and worry about pleasing people…”

Yan Xi kicked him: “I don’t care about your little schemes. Go away, stop pulling my pants, if you have something to say just say it, when did you become as fussy as Chen Juan?”

Xin Dayi looked at Yan Xi with sparkling eyes more reverently than God, very sincerely: “Beautiful one, could you help us with some promotion? The company opens next month.”

Yan Xi: “You want me to wear a yellow hat and blue uniform to attract business for your construction group, what’s next, want me to drink with clients too?”

Xin Dayi: “Damn, am I that kind of person? Just counting on your fame to build some customer base. Don’t think everyone’s as crafty as Lu Liu and Wen Si Wan!”

Yan Xi clicked his tongue: “You think highly of yourself, those two have already evolved into honeycomb briquettes, are you even in the same weight class?”

Xin Dayi rubbed his head, grinning foolishly: “So you’ll help?”

Yan Xi grinned wickedly: “Depends on my mood, time, and payment.”

Xin Dayi made a phone call: “Ah Heng, let me tell you something…”

Yan Xi coughed: “Tomorrow afternoon or the morning after, those are my only free slots.”

Xin Dayi jubilantly: “Oh, it’s Third Sister, not Ah Heng. Third Sister, your Tianjin accent sounds so nice. You’re asking what business I have with Ah Heng. Hehe, nothing much, just missing her. Yes, I’m her brother Xin Dayi, we’ve chatted on MSN before. Yes, yes, yes, see you!”

Yan Xi gritted his teeth: “Damn, to stoop so low, you’ve outdone yourself.”

Ah Heng had always been in the habit of calling Yan Xi from the public phone booth at school. Usually, generally, it was Yan Xi who would Balabala non-stop, while Ah Heng just agreed, continuously feeding coins into the slot, listening to him attentively.

Sometimes, she couldn’t remember most of what he said. Later, thinking back, all that remained was the sound of herself inserting coins.

Ding, clang.

Hidden in the tiny phone box, clear and crisp, carrying tenderness, lingering.

He said: “I miss you.”

Ah Heng inadvertently saw through the phone booth her once-close friends Gu Feibai and Du Qing walking along the endless academy road, and felt in her heart that this is what they meant by “things remain but people change,” then chuckled, tilting her little face, and said to the other end of the phone: “I don’t miss you.”

“Don’t miss you, calling every day, you’re so annoying.”

The weather had grown much warmer, Jiangnan gradually reviving, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers.

Yan Xi’s phone had been unreachable for some days. Calculating the time, it seemed he was doing a case for Dayi’s company, probably too busy to pay attention to her.

But before, Yan Xi would answer calls no matter what he was doing. Ah Heng thought about it and felt something seemed a bit strange.

She called Dayi four times in total. The first three times no one answered, the fourth time it connected, and she asked if he’d seen Yan Xi. He hemmed and hawed for a while, saying Yan Xi had a fever. Then there was a rustling sound, apparently someone had grabbed the phone.

It was Yan Xi.

His voice was okay, just tired. He said: “Ah Heng, I’m fine, just had a fever, haven’t carried my phone these couple of days.”

Ah Heng asked him: “You have a fever? Just a fever?”

Yan Xi made an “mm” sound, saying: “I’m already better, feeling a bit sleepy now, going to catch up on sleep, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Ah Heng breathed a sigh of relief: “Oh, then rest well.”

After hanging up, she grabbed an application form and ran like the wind to Professor Li’s office: “Professor, I want to sign up for the volunteer group.”

At that time, a stubborn virus infectious to all humanity was spreading. The World Health Organization hadn’t yet given it a proper scientific name, but it had already started breaking out extensively in the West, and early signs were showing in southern China.

As a leading southern academic institution, Z University’s medical school Professor Li, a female professor, had applied for a research group specifically studying this virus, planning to take students to observe mild cases in the wards personally. Many students from the college had signed up, not because they weren’t afraid of death, but because going through life and death with Professor Li would secure future opportunities for doctoral studies and exchange programs.

Ah Heng had done well, her final exam ranking had shot back to first in the grade, so she qualified. However, when Professor Li saw her, she just shook her head and sighed: “Ah, these kids nowadays, why are they all so utilitarian?” Professor Li had a fixed bad impression of Ah Heng, fortunately, her pride and joy Gu Feibai hadn’t gone all the way down that path.

Ah Heng looked up, her eyes clear, stammering: “Professor, are we going to take care of those people who got pneumonia from fever?”

Professor Li frowned, saying: “Not just that, the focus is on researching the virus.”

Ah Heng was somewhat embarrassed, saying softly: “Professor, I indeed have impure motives, and indeed have no intention of researching what kind of virus this is. I just want to take care of those who are ill, I don’t know if that’s allowed?”

Professor Li was slightly startled, but her expression softened: “Why?”

Ah Heng rubbed her nose, saying: “I don’t know why either, it’s just an impulse, um, Professor, you know about impulses, right? It’s when you want to seriously do something.”

Professor Li smiled: “There must be a source.”

She took the application form and waved her hand, letting her go.

Then, Ah Heng thought and thought, this impulse was… inexplicable.

Yan Xi had a fever, she was too far away to care for him, so she wanted to care for people who were sick like him. It seemed that if she devoted herself like this, others would also devotedly take care of her, Mr. Yan.

If only, all hearts were the same.