A dark veil was rolling across the sky. In the art district, foot traffic had thinned. A warm amber streetlamp glowed beside the fountain, softer than even the round moon overhead.

The candy in his palm had been warmed through. The plastic wrapper was filmed with a thin layer of moisture—it looked as though someone had been clutching it for a long time.

Xie Yichen bowed his head. He looked at Ning Sui’s lashes, still trembling faintly with dampness, and his heart stopped for a beat—then surged back to life in a near-frantic rhythm, refusing to slow.

Without another thought, he bent down abruptly, breath falling heavy, and pulled her against him with force.

In an instant, Ning Sui caught the familiar clean, wonderful scent of him. Xie Yichen’s grip was firm—a thick, steady warmth enveloping her from all sides, wrapping around her slender back. Ning Sui suddenly felt something release inside her. She made a muffled sound and gathered her arms around him, hugging him back just as tightly.

Her cheek pressed deep against his warm, rising and falling chest, where she could feel the steady, powerful beat of his heart—thudding against her ear, real enough to bring tears to the eyes.

The wide street was quiet except for a slight chill in the evening air. Under the lamplight, the two of them held each other in stillness, as though giving all their warmth to one another—as though pressing themselves into each other’s bodies, one fitting into the other.

Xie Yichen’s breath fell heavily against her ear. After a long while, he finally murmured: “Baby—were you frightened just now?”

Ning Sui clutched the fabric of his shirt at the back, voice muffled: “……Mm.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay now.” He rubbed the top of her head like comforting a small child, voice very low. “I’m right here.”

Ning Sui pressed her lips together and gave another small sound: “Mm.”

Xie Yichen’s warm palm pressed firmly against the back of her head, stroking her shoulders slowly, again and again. After a good long while, the two gradually drew apart.

Ning Sui had run so fast getting here. She was still breathing slightly unsteadily now, a few strands of hair disheveled at her temples, cheeks flushed, the tear stains on her face not yet dried.

Xie Yichen’s gaze deepened. He raised his hand, the pad of his thumb moving very gently along the outer corner of her eye, brushing away the tear that hung there, not quite yet fallen.

Her cheek radiated warmth against his palm. His throat moved involuntarily. He kept his eyes lowered, his voice carrying a faint, clear, low roughness: “You were looking for me for a long time?”

Ning Sui’s lashes fluttered. She just looked at him—and said nothing.

Xie Yichen paused. His gaze drifted down to the small candy in his palm.

His voice softened: “You were in such a rush to get here, and you still brought candy?”

Ning Sui: “Just—in case you wanted one.”

She sniffled quietly and held back a waver in her voice: “……This one is very sweet.”

Xie Yichen’s eyes pressed downward sharply. The dim light made his expression deeply unreadable.

After a moment, he lowered his head. Both hands cupped her face. He looked at her fixedly, intensely, unable to look away.

Ning Sui’s dark eyes were glistening, her worry etched plainly across her expression—and yet she was holding herself back from asking him anything.

Something in Xie Yichen’s chest was touched, very gently, by something soft. He bent down, with great restraint, and pressed a kiss to her eye. Then, voice controlled, he said: “Don’t worry. It’s not as serious as you think.”

Ning Sui nodded—as if whatever he said, she would believe it—and carefully replied: “Mm……”

But then she recalled what Lin Shuyu had said, and her voice tightened slightly as she tugged at the hem of his jacket: “I heard that someone jumped off a building—after losing everything?”

“No.” Xie Yichen cleared it up immediately: “They wanted to jump, but they were found in time. The rescue team laid out a safety mat at the bottom and caught them. The person is okay.”

Ning Sui exhaled deeply: “——As long as they’re okay.”

If a life had actually been lost, the matter would have been nearly impossible to recover from.

Fortunately, heaven had been kind, and had not let that happen.

Her relief was written clearly all over her face. Xie Yichen’s fingers tightened, and he held her gaze for a moment before leaning in to kiss her face several more times.

The warm amber light from the vinyl record shop’s entrance spilled over them both, stretching their shadows out long. He asked: “Hungry?”

Ning Sui: “Mm.”

Xie Yichen’s fingers slid down and took hold of her hand, steady and unhurried: “I saw a place nearby selling red bean and sesame paste—do you want some?”

……

Night deepened. The only dessert shop in the area had not yet closed for the evening, though there were no other customers left inside. The two walked in hand in hand and chose a corner table.

Only when she finally sat back down did Ning Sui belatedly realize that her legs were aching beyond reason, barely holding any strength.

Her expression shifted—barely perceptibly—and he caught it immediately. He watched her closely from head to toe: “Where does it hurt?”

Ning Sui’s lashes fluttered. She looked down, her voice small: “……My legs hurt.”

Xie Yichen was seated right beside her. His gaze stilled, then moved over her.

Ning Sui reached down and felt the tense muscle. She must have run too hard coming here. Before she could say a word, Xie Yichen lifted her calf and draped it across his knee, saying: “I’ll rub it.”

“……”

There was no one else in the shop. The cashier counter was some distance from their table. Ning Sui’s fingers curved in the shadow below the table. She gave a small nod: “Oh. Okay.”

That wide, warm hand pressed down, covering the sore and aching muscle, and began to knead naturally.

His palms were warm. The warmth seemed to spread into her heart as well. After a while, Xie Yichen looked up. His dark, dark eyes held her without blinking, his voice low: “Does that feel better?”

Ning Sui’s cheeks warmed. She kept her composure: “Mm.”

Xie Yichen seemed to curve his lips barely into a smile, then dropped his gaze again and continued kneading carefully and steadily, the pressure measured and just right. Ning Sui watched the clean, defined contour of his profile, and felt something unsteady and bittersweet ripple through her chest—a small boat rocking on water.

“A’Chen.”

“Mm?”

“So—what exactly happened?”

Xie Yichen’s expression shifted slightly. He knew what she was asking. His hands didn’t stop. His voice was calm: “It was my uncle.”

“……”

His lashes fell. He tugged at the corner of his mouth: “In the company’s restructuring for the listing, my parents hadn’t left him any shares.”

Perhaps the psychology of someone who couldn’t have something and so had to destroy it—harboring resentment, and choosing to do this.

No one had anticipated that when they crossed paths briefly in the company that last time, Qiu Zhao had actually been planning for his departure abroad.

Whether it was retaliation, or a wolfish ambition that had been there all along—the friction had been building for a long time. For the past two years he had been playing the part of the reformed and obedient subordinate, quietly plotting to seize greater gains, and now he had delivered them a fatal blow.

Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun had perhaps never once imagined that after a lifetime of careful calculation in the business world, the one who would trip them up in the end would be their own flesh and blood.

The principle they had always adhered to was clear-eyed interest and carefully calculated relationships—yet when no warmth was woven into the weave, even that couldn’t hold an unbalanced heart in place.

Qiu Zhao’s appetite and audacity had been vast. Several billion—enough for him to live comfortably overseas for the rest of his life without lifting a finger.

Ning Sui didn’t know what situation Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun were facing now, but just thinking about it was enough to know they were overwhelmed and scrambling. Qiu Zhao had left them this disastrous mess to clean up—however “not serious” it might be, it would still be utterly frantic.

All those years of hard work. They couldn’t be allowed to come to nothing.

Ning Sui opened her mouth, at a loss for where to begin. But Xie Yichen looked up at her abruptly and said: “It’s fine. It’s not that big a deal.”

His emotions had remained steady throughout. He held her gaze quietly for a moment, then spoke in a light tone, even with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth: “All we need to do now is clear the debt.”

Ning Sui looked at him. The corners of her eyes grew imperceptibly wet again, a clear mist slowly gathering.

She turned away slightly, and answered softly: “Mm.”

“Really, it’s fine.” Xie Yichen kept his eyes on her. His throat moved in one slow, deliberate moment. He reached out his arm and pulled her entirely into him.

Ning Sui instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. The two drew very close. Xie Yichen held her firmly by the waist, eyes lowered.

The faint, clouded sheen in her eyes—not yet fallen, but swirling at the edges—reflected clearly in his gaze.

“Crying again.” Xie Yichen’s eyes darkened slightly. After a moment, he gave a soft, quiet sigh and said with a half-smile: “Ning Coconut—are you a little crybaby.”

Ning Sui’s eyes were wet. She paused, then gave a small, hitching breath: “I’m just……”

“What?”

“I just feel so sorry for you.”

“……”

Xie Yichen’s gaze stilled for a beat.

Ning Sui didn’t know how to put her feelings into words. She pressed her head deep against his shoulder and held on.

She thought of all those voices on the forums—people betting with certainty, laughing and spectating, saying that after something like this, his scholarship qualification would definitely be revoked.

She didn’t know how the school would handle it. But why should it be? This was in no way Xie Yichen’s fault. An event caused by a distant relation—was he supposed to bear the consequences?

She had never in her life felt so aggrieved, so utterly indignant on someone else’s behalf. So pained for him. And through all of this, he himself had not said a single word about it.

——Why did he have to keep sacrificing himself? It had been that way in third year of high school during the national team selection, and now it was happening again.

Back then, he had been rightfully placed on the national team—and for the sake of his grandmother who had taken ill, he had given up that hard-won opportunity.

Was it going to happen all over again now?

They said that because he had enjoyed the advantages his parents’ affluence had given him, he was naturally bound to share in everything that came with them. But Ning Sui felt that if he had a choice, maybe he would have preferred not to have any of it.

——All these years, the one thing Xie Yichen had wanted most was simply to be accompanied, cared for, and loved by his parents.

And those things—missing from his childhood—had never been sufficiently made up for even in adulthood.

A person could never truly cut themselves off from the family they came from. Ning Sui had no desire to evaluate or pass judgment on Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun’s choices—but in this moment, her chest felt raw as a pinprick, an aching she could barely contain.

Ning Sui blinked hard, her breath coming slightly thick and muffled. She couldn’t hold it back: “I feel sorry for you.”

The phone on the table was still dark. But at the side of his neck, warm, damp breath was gathering. Xie Yichen’s lashes moved. He tilted his head down and looked at the person in his arms.

At this moment, she was pressed right against the place closest to his heart. That place felt as though it had been drenched through to its depths—a faint, scorching heat slowly kindling.

Wind howled outside the window. The young man’s eyes were dark as a bottomless pool, black and dense. His throat moved. He raised his right arm and held her close, completely, tightly.

A pressing, blazing heartbeat drummed on and on inside his chest. How earnestly and clumsily she tried to tend to the wounds on him—the scalding tears soaking into his skin, setting his deepest core trembling.

Xie Yichen’s eyes went very dark. His palm stilled for a moment, then began to stroke her soft dark hair. Ning Sui looked up at him. Xie Yichen’s thumb brushed over her face several times, wiping every trace of those tears away.

After a moment, in a low, hoarse voice, he said: “Don’t cry anymore.”

“……”

His voice was soft as he coaxed her: “If you keep crying, your eyes will be swollen by morning.”

The surroundings were very still. All that could be heard was the sound of each other’s heartbeats.

Ning Sui stayed in his arms for a long while, breathing in that cleanest, coolest scent of him, perfectly motionless.

After a good while, she sat up straight, rubbed her eyes: “……Okay.”

Their bowl of sesame paste had long been prepared and was sitting at the self-service pickup counter. Xie Yichen kept his eyes on her without saying a word—yet Ning Sui looked up again, reached out, and took hold of his hand: “A’Chen.”

Her fingertips were soft. Her gaze was soft. And yet both carried a thread of something firm and earnest.

“……”

“There is no difficulty that cannot be crossed.”

“As long as we walk forward hand in hand, neither letting go of the other—I truly believe that after the storm comes the clear sky, that the darker the night the brighter the stars shine, and that however the road may twist and wind, there will always be a new path ahead.”

Xie Yichen had been watching her the whole time. His gaze grew more and more intent.

His eyes were dark and luminous. After a long pause, he laughed softly: “Why do those words sound so familiar to me?”

They were indeed words he had said to her, back in their second year of high school, to encourage her. Ning Sui’s eyes carried an undeniable brightness. She moistened her lips, and with complete sincerity: “Quoting a master.”

Xie Yichen’s lips curved. He pinched her cheek and pressed an audible kiss to the side of her face: “Surpassing the master himself.”

The sesame paste had gone almost lukewarm. Neither of them was in the mood to sit inside and finish it. They packed it up and took it with them, hand in hand, walking through the soft, clear night air.

Xie Yichen’s phone screen was indeed too shattered to use. They first stopped at a small shop to have it repaired, then rode back together.

His phone predictably lit up with a flood of unread messages. All the way home, Xie Yichen kept his head down dealing with them—but the two of them, side by side, never let go of each other’s hands. Ning Sui sat beside him and stole glances at his face, found his expression relatively relaxed, and finally felt her heart settle—wobbling slowly back down into place.

When he finally put down his phone, Ning Sui looked at him again—but then pressed her lips together, thinking about how to phrase what was on her mind.

Xie Yichen noticed quickly, turned his head, and said in a low, unhurried voice: “Whatever you want to ask—just ask.”

Ning Sui gave a small “mm” and looked at him carefully: “So—what’s the current situation with your aunt and uncle?”

“They’re still busy making explanations to the investors. The debt needs to be repaid in installments. And at the same time, they need to negotiate with the major shareholders.”

The biggest problem right now was, in fact, the reputational crisis. Once the shareholders and the capital market lost confidence, not only would the listing plan be put on hold—the company’s valuation would also plummet. Private equity firms were already circling, ready to move, wanting to sign ratchet agreements with Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun—taking advantage of their vulnerability to attempt an acquisition at the absolute bottom.

If these problems couldn’t be effectively resolved, even Xie Zhenlin and Qiu Ruoyun might have no choice but to sell the company at a loss.

Ning Sui’s heart sank.

She had just noticed that Xie Yichen’s phone showed a missed call from a department teacher. She didn’t need to think hard to understand how significant the impact was. The defense was in three days—and everything was still uncertain.

She looked at him, full of worry—then felt Xie Yichen squeeze her fingers firmly, his palm very warm: “Don’t worry.”

“Mm?”

His voice was calm: “I’ve been thinking just now—about what kind of solution there might be.”

Ning Sui looked at his eyes, searching: “And? What did you come up with?”

The young man’s fine features lifted slightly: “I actually came up with one.”

Ning Sui: “Hm?”

He glanced up quickly and said: “Come with me somewhere.”