Leaving those words behind, Lu Rangchen stepped out to make a phone call.

He was already tall by nature, and the way he walked was effortlessly commanding — a breeze seemed to trail in his wake.

It was a strange feeling.

On the surface, it was no different from that heart-stirring, untamed energy he’d always carried — yet compared to when he was young, there was now a few extra layers of clear, solid steadiness.

For a moment, the past and present versions of him overlapped into one.

Yunque’s gaze followed Lu Rangchen involuntarily, tracking him until his silhouette disappeared at the far end of the corridor. Only then did she finally realize — the him of today was already worlds apart from the boy he used to be.

He would not vanish when she needed him most.

He had accumulated the kind of strength that could cross mountains, and he could now shield her from the wind and rain.

Her heartbeat quickened, subtly and strangely.

The palms of Yunque’s hands grew warm without her noticing.

Ye Tian, who had been holding back for quite a while, chose this moment to speak. “Sis,” he said, “what exactly is going on between you two right now?”

Honestly, the way Lu Rangchen had acted just now felt quite natural — nothing at all like someone who had broken up and sworn never to meet again.

What Ye Tian hadn’t expected even more was that just a short while ago, Yunque had been trying and failing to see Lu Rangchen — yet in just a few days, the two of them were getting along this harmoniously.

But in truth, Yunque herself was quite confused too.

She didn’t know what she and Lu Rangchen counted as to each other.

She only knew that when he was around, she felt happy — felt at peace — like a lifeless shell that had finally been given a soul.

But faced with Ye Tian, she couldn’t say something so plainspoken. She simply shook her head and said, “For now, still exes.”

That answer clearly caught Ye Tian off guard.

Yunque offered no further elaboration, turned, and walked into the temporary ward.

Deng Jiali was keeping company beside the sleeping Zhu Yuxuan, her mood appearing relatively calm — until she saw Yunque, at which point she immediately became agitated.

Afraid of waking the child, she pulled Yunque outside to talk.

In this flustered woman’s eyes, apart from Zhu Ping’an, the only person in the entire family who made her feel she had someone to lean on was Yunque. Without hesitation, she laid out the difficult situation she was currently facing.

It came down to two things: the dispute with the other child’s parents, and the matter of Zhu Yuxuan’s congenital heart condition.

The diagnosis was essentially certain — surgery was needed as soon as possible.

The problem, however, was that Zhu Yuxuan couldn’t get an appointment with a specialist. And even if he could get into the queue, the surgical costs would be enormously expensive.

Deng Jiali had already called Zhu Ping’an, but Zhu Ping’an had no real solution — he could only say, “Then we wait in the queue, I suppose.”

Deng Jiali was thoroughly exasperated by his helpless, resigned demeanor, and immediately turned her sights on Yunque.

It wasn’t the first time. With a mournful expression, she pleaded with her in a gentle, honeyed voice: “Yunque, don’t you still have connections at this hospital from when you were abroad? Couldn’t you pull some strings?”

The “connections” she was referring to were the male friend Yunque had gotten to know overseas — a wealthy second-generation returnee named Xie Han.

When Yunque had come back to Nancheng, she had met up with him once.

Xie Han had also treated Yunque’s whole family to a meal.

At the time, he had mentioned casually to Deng Jiali that his family’s pharmaceutical company was a long-standing partner of this hospital, and that he also had relatives working there — she could call him whenever she needed anything.

He had said it without thinking; she had taken it to heart.

Yunque hadn’t expected Deng Jiali to still remember it all this time later.

This sort of thing wasn’t the first time, either. Exploiting the fact that Ye Tian had once gotten into a fight on Feng Yanlai’s behalf and ended up at the police station, Deng Jiali had used that to manipulate Yunque more than a few times.

Yunque didn’t much like this about her.

But the reality was that she had no choice — Zhu Yuxuan was her little brother.

The boy was well-behaved, and she had a decent relationship with him. She couldn’t just stand by and watch.

But the thought of actually reaching out to Xie Han made it very difficult.

Xie Han’s feelings for her had never been fully extinguished, not since their time abroad. Yunque had rejected him many times, yet he had still been willing to help her deceive Lu Rangchen.

Over the years, the two of them had been in sporadic contact.

It was after that meal that Xie Han confessed to her once more — and once more, Yunque turned him down.

Xie Han was not like Lu Rangchen. He had a kind of Western-style openness when it came to feelings: if you agreed, they’d be together; if not, no hard feelings — they could still be good friends.

Not long after that, Xie Han had found a new girlfriend. Yunque had seen her on his social media — a mixed-heritage model, quite striking. The two of them had gone overseas for a holiday; she wasn’t sure if they’d come back to Nancheng yet.

Watching Yunque remain silent, Deng Jiali grew anxious, gripping her arm and beseeching her sweetly: “Yunque, it’s not that Auntie is trying to make things hard for you — but look, who in this family can actually be relied on? If I can’t rely on you, who can I rely on? Xiao Xuan’s condition really can’t be left to tough out any longer. I truly can’t keep waiting like this.”

Then she broke into quiet sobs.

Yunque’s brow furrowed by reflex. Before she could get a word in, Lu Rangchen’s voice sounded from behind her.

Low and magnetic, his voice threaded through the sound of his footsteps. He said, “What’s going on?”

Yunque’s breath caught. She turned around.

Following the sound, Deng Jiali also caught sight of Lu Rangchen.

He had a few things in hand — snacks, fruit, and milk, all clearly bought for the child.

Lu Rangchen first glanced at Yunque, then shifted his gaze to settle on Deng Jiali.

Deng Jiali hadn’t actually met Lu Rangchen before, only heard his name — yet inexplicably, she felt instinctively that this man’s relationship with Yunque was not ordinary.

She looked at Yunque and lowered her voice: “This is—”

Yunque had just opened her mouth to speak when Lu Rangchen introduced himself: “I’m Lu Rangchen. A friend of Yunque’s.”

Deng Jiali’s mind went momentarily blank. She turned directly to Yunque and asked, “Have you two gotten back together?”

“……”

A flash of embarrassment crossed Yunque’s face. She denied it immediately: “No.”

Lu Rangchen glanced at her sideways — a look full of performative gravity that made it hard to meet his eyes.

Yunque held herself stiff and refused to look at him, instead steering Deng Jiali back toward the ward. “You should head back in first,” she said. “What you mentioned — I’ll think about it some more.”

At that, Deng Jiali came alive. “Don’t think about it!” she insisted. “Zhu Yuxuan is your little brother — you have to help me solve this.”

Her manner was wheedling and clingy.

Lu Rangchen’s brow furrowed slightly.

It was the first time he had ever seen that kind of expression on Yunque’s face — no longer calm and indifferent, but instead looking as though she were being held captive by something invisible, her hands tied, with nowhere to turn.

He suddenly felt quite impatient with that woman.

But in the end he restrained himself, choosing not to interfere in the matter between the two of them.

When Yunque finally came out after placating Deng Jiali, she found Lu Rangchen leaning casually against the wall at an angle.

His hands were tucked in his pockets, his long legs slightly bent, the plastic bag of things hanging from his wrist. When he saw her come out, he raised an eyebrow and said, “Ran into trouble again?”

Yunque: “……”

For some reason she couldn’t quite name, she didn’t particularly like Lu Rangchen looking at her that way.

Perhaps it was rooted in her deep-seated pride and self-respect. Perhaps it was the fracture between them — between their two families — all those years ago.

Yunque lowered her eyes and said, “No. I can handle it.”

Lu Rangchen’s expression made it clear he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t press her on it. He simply held out the plastic bag. “Here.”

Yunque paused, then took it.

Lu Rangchen regarded her with a languid, unhurried gaze. “Coming back with me?”

Those words carried a pull that was hard to describe.

For one fleeting moment, Yunque genuinely wanted to cast everything behind her and leave with him on impulse.

But she was the kind of person who placed too many shackles on herself.

In the end she could only shake her head, helpless. “No. You go ahead. I’ll stay and keep them company for a while longer.”

Lu Rangchen had known it would come to this.

There was nothing more to say — after all, Yunque was not his girlfriend right now, and he had no standing to pull her away.

A possessiveness that made no sense at all burned like a flame lodged in his chest. In the end, he gave a single nod and said, “Alright.”

Not long after Lu Rangchen left, Deng Jiali did just as expected — she latched on to Yunque and kept pestering her with questions.

What she was most curious about was what was going on between the two of them: they had broken up so many years ago, so how had they ended up together again like this?

But knowing Yunque’s temperament — when she didn’t want to talk, not even Lu Rangchen could get anything out of her, let alone someone else.

Yunque paid Deng Jiali no mind at all, only reached over and held Zhu Yuxuan’s hand for a moment.

It was only afterward that she remembered — Lu Rangchen had stepped out to make a call earlier… She had no idea what he’d actually said.

A pity he’d already left.

She didn’t feel comfortable going after him to ask.

She thought about messaging him on WeChat, but it felt a bit abrupt — after all, Lu Rangchen had only said he’d make a call; he’d never said he was actually going to help.

She had never had the standing to ask anything of him.

Not in the past, and not now either.

After a long internal struggle, Yunque ultimately didn’t say anything to Lu Rangchen. But she couldn’t help opening up his WeChat Moments.

Still the same account number as before.

Even the cover photo on his profile hadn’t been changed.

The one thing that caught Yunque’s eye was the brief bio beneath his profile picture: “The wind rises.”

The wind rises.

Reading those words, something tightened in Yunque’s chest.

She remembered clearly — back when they had first added each other, there had been no such phrase beneath Lu Rangchen’s profile picture.

……

That evening, once it had been confirmed that Zhu Yuxuan’s condition was temporarily stable, Deng Jiali and Ye Tian took the child home.

By the time Yunque returned to her own place, it was already well past midnight.

The exhaustion of a long, hectic day surged up after her shower — yet even at this hour, Deng Jiali didn’t “leave her in peace,” sending message after message urging her to find a solution and get Zhu Yuxuan an appointment with a specialist. The implication was clear: she and Zhu Ping’an didn’t have much money saved either, and when it came to the surgical costs, they would probably need Yunque to cover those as well.

As for the dispute with the other child’s parents, Deng Jiali acknowledged that Yunque couldn’t do much about that — they could probably only offer money to appease the other family.

Yunque had grown fairly numb to all of this.

She simply glanced at the messages and tossed her phone aside, pulled the covers over her head, and went to sleep.

By the following morning — a perfectly good day off — Yunque was again roused by Deng Jiali’s phone call.

This time, though, it wasn’t any of the usual troublesome things.

It was good news.

Deng Jiali told Yunque cheerfully, “It’s about the parents of that child who had the conflict with Zhu Yuxuan — this morning they drove over specially, bringing fruit and gifts to come see him. I never could have imagined something like that; I thought they were going to come and make trouble again. But it wasn’t even the father — it was a fairly young driver who came to inquire about the child’s condition and well-being.”

“I was completely stunned at the time. You should’ve heard how that family’s person carried on the day the incident happened — the boy barely got a shallow cut on his forehead, but you would’ve thought someone had killed their child, the fuss they made.”

“And now look — not only are they not causing trouble, they’re actually coming to apologize and make amends. I don’t know what on earth happened.”

“Oh, and he also said — their child won’t be bullying Xiao Xuan anymore.”

At that, Deng Jiali’s relief was palpable, as if a great weight had finally been lifted.

Yunque, however, was quietly stunned.

She truly hadn’t expected that this matter had simply been resolved by Lu Rangchen.

After hanging up, Yunque thought about calling Lu Rangchen to thank him — but after much deliberation, she decided to send a message instead.

Perhaps it was that they hadn’t had this kind of private, one-on-one exchange in too long.

Yunque felt a subtle, odd nervousness.

After turning it over for a long while, she settled on a single line: 【Awake yet?】

To her surprise, Lu Rangchen replied very quickly.

Chen.: 【Just woke up】

It was nearly eleven o’clock and this man had just woken up — being your own boss really did mean having money and not a care in the world.

Yunque couldn’t help mocking him silently, though the corners of her mouth curved upward without her realizing. She was still working out what to say next when Lu Rangchen got in first.

He said: 【It’s a holiday today. You’re home?】

Yunque’s fingertips stilled for a beat before she typed: 【Yeah, home】

Lu Rangchen said: 【I’m home too】

A perfectly ordinary sentence — yet in this particular moment, it quietly gave rise to a warmth that hovered in the air.

Yunque pursed her lips, deliberately paused a few seconds, then replied: 【Have you had breakfast yet?】

Lu Rangchen’s reply speed was genuinely impressive.

He replied almost instantly: 【No. Nothing to eat at home anymore】

“……”

Yunque was briefly rendered speechless.

A man this grown, she thought, and there’s actually nothing in his house to eat.

She couldn’t quite say whether what followed was an impulse or some other feeling at work — by the time she came back to herself, the message had already been sent.

She had said: 【I have some here】

Lu Rangchen replied instantly again: 【I want scallion oil noodles】

Chen.: 【The kind you make】

Three words, like an incantation that hooked at the soul — Yunque’s heart rate couldn’t help but climb.

They were both adults.

Both of them understood perfectly well what these exchanges implied.

But she simply couldn’t hold herself back.

She couldn’t hold back wanting to see him, to thank him — even if all it amounted to was making him a bowl of noodles.

And so she went upstairs just like that. Yunque carried a bag of gathered ingredients to Lu Rangchen’s front door, knocked lightly no more than twice — and the door swung open with sudden, startling immediacy.

The familiar scent that belonged to him rushed outward to meet her.

A faint aroma of dark agarwood mixed with the clean freshness of shower gel — deep, brooding, captivating.

Yunque pressed her lips together, her gaze traveling from top to bottom — and found herself looking at Lu Rangchen, who stood before her bare-chested, with nothing below the waist but a pair of loose, easy-fitting lounge pants.

Broad shoulders, narrow waist, with firm, supple abdominal muscles. Below the crossed lines of his lower abdomen, tucked into the folds and texture of the waistband, was that unmistakably masculine low-hanging curve.

“……”

The realization hit — and Yunque’s mind let out a sudden blank buzz. The thin skin of her face went red in an instant.

Lu Rangchen, by contrast, was utterly calm and composed, observing her with an air of amusement.

His expression hovered between a smile and not quite a smile, laced with a teasing recklessness. He curled the corner of his mouth shamelessly and said, “It’s not like you haven’t touched it before.”

“……”

“What is there to be embarrassed about?”