When Ruan Mian came downstairs with Chen Yi after seeing Duan Ying, Zhao Yingwei had just arrived home. He was actually not a complete stranger to Chen Yi. Back when they were in school, he had seen Chen Yi a few times at Li Zhi’s supermarket. Later, after graduating, they had run into each other a few times during Spring Festival holidays.
They had never spoken, but at least they recognized each other.
Chen Yi also felt the same way about Zhao Yingwei. After greeting each other and sitting down, he said to Ruan Mian, “I’ve seen your uncle many times at Li Zhi’s place before.”
Ruan Mian was eating an apple. “Oh? Did you guys ever talk?”
“No.”
Chen Yi turned his face to look at her. “Back then I probably seemed a little unapproachable. I also didn’t really like talking to strangers.”
Ruan Mian completely agreed with this. “I had the same impression when I first met you.”
Chen Yi raised his eyebrows, setting a trap for her. “Didn’t you say you don’t remember when we first met?”
Ruan Mian didn’t say anything.
He bumped her knee with his knee, and asked in a low voice, “You really don’t remember?”
“I remember. The first time I saw you was in Class 1’s classroom, right?”
Ruan Mian was still stubbornly unwilling to admit it, and instead poured a bowl of so-called dirty water1 on him. “You weren’t very friendly to your new deskmate at the time.”
In the time since their reunion, Chen Yi had deliberately tried to recall some things from the past. Of course he also remembered the first encounter that Ruan Mian spoke of.
It was the last day of August. He had started school a day late because he was participating in a competition. That morning he put down his schoolbag and immediately went to Zhou Hai’s office. Later he went with Jiang Rang to the supermarket to buy water. On the way back the morning reading bell rang, so they ran back and arrived in the classroom right as the second bell finished ringing.
Amidst the sound of books opening, Chen Yi sat down. He was sensitive to people’s gazes, so his new deskmate’s undisguised staring quickly caught his attention.
But this new deskmate seemed to be much bolder than most girls. Even after he had spoken to her, she still stared at him in a daze.
Chen Yi thought it was funny, but still maintained his lazy, aloof demeanor, and didn’t pay it any mind. Later, many more things were like scenes from a movie playing through his mind.
The biology textbook open on the desk during morning reading.
The school’s top student that Jiang Rang mentioned.
A perfect score in biology.
That name occupying two-thirds of the textbook cover in bold, energetic handwriting, so different from her demure appearance.
It turned out that when someone doesn’t pay attention, they really do automatically ignore many things.
“Back then I thought you were…” Chen Yi murmured, but quickly realized saying that now would be like pouring oil on the fire, so he stopped abruptly.
Ruan Mian only heard it vaguely. “Thought I was what?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
Ruan Mian wanted to ask more, but Fang Ruqing called them for dinner from the side, so she had to temporarily drop the topic. Dinner was noisy and lively.
After dinner, Fang Ruqing called Ruan Mian into the kitchen to talk. Chen Yi sat on the sofa in the living room watching TV with the Zhao siblings.
Zhao Shutang glanced at Chen Yi sitting next to her and thought it was unbelievable no matter how she looked at it. In her impression, Chen Yi and Ruan Mian were like two parallel lines, with no intersecting point to be found. But then she thought of herself and Lin Cheng – they had known each other for so many years, had even attended the same middle and high schools, yet they had barely exchanged a few sentences. It wasn’t until they were reunited in college that the two parallel tracks overlapped in each other’s lives.
Zhao Shutang chatted with Chen Yi for a bit before Zhao Shuyang, sitting to the side flipping through channels, started stealing glances at Chen Yi.
There was curiosity mixed with probing in his looks.
Soon after, Zhao Shutang got up to take a phone call in her room, leaving just the two of them in the living room. Zhao Shuyang put down the remote control, hesitating over how to start the conversation.
Chen Yi noticed Zhao Shuyang’s hemming and hawing. He picked up his teacup and took a sip, trying to keep his tone gentle. “I heard from your sister that your Chinese teacher is Zhao Qi?”
“Oh, right, do you know him too?”
Only after speaking did Zhao Shuyang react. “Oh, I forgot, you were classmates with both my sisters.”
Chen Yi smiled. “Your two sisters were treated quite differently by Teacher Zhao at the time.”
“I know, right? My sister got a perfect score on the gaokao Chinese essay. You can still find her model essay online now.”
Zhao Shuyang had found an opening in the conversation, and was no longer hesitant. “But I think my other sister just missed it by a bit. Ah, now I’m the same as my sister.”
“What your sister lacked at the start was more than just a bit.”
Chen Yi said, “I tutored your sister at the time. If you want to learn too, you can come to me.”
“Sounds good, let’s exchange WeChats?”
Zhao Shuyang took out his phone and exchanged contacts with Chen Yi. When entering the name, he casually asked, “Gege, your grades were pretty good back then in school, right?”
Chen Yi was modest. “They were alright.”
“Well, you were in the gifted class after all.”
Zhao Shuyang asked, “Were you close with the top student in your grade? I heard from my sister that she was classmates with the top student, and said she wanted to introduce us.”
“Oh?”
Hearing footsteps behind him, Chen Yi glanced back to see Ruan Mian walking over carrying a fruit plate. He stood up to take it from her. “Where’s Auntie?”
“She went to grab something.”
Ruan Mian asked, “What are you guys talking about?”
Zhao Shuyang took the initiative to reply, “We were talking about you and Gege’s top student from when you guys were in school.”
Ruan Mian looked at Chen Yi, then turned to face Zhao Shuyang. “Didn’t I say I wanted to introduce you to them before?”
“Huh?”
“Here.”
Ruan Mian jerked her chin sideways, and said with a straight face, “Gege, the top student from our grade back in school.”
Zhao Shuyang: “…”
Chen Yi at the side couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He played along with his girlfriend’s words, reaching his right hand out towards Zhao Shuyang. “Nice to meet you.”
Caught off guard, Zhao Shuyang reflexively shook Chen Yi’s hand before realization hit. This wasn’t funny at all!
Was tricking a little kid really that entertaining?
That day, before leaving, Fang Ruqing gave Chen Yi a red envelope with 10,001 yuan, to reflect the meaning “one in a million”, the same amount Ruan Mingke had given.
After coming back, Song Jing told him to ask Ruan Mian if she was free on New Year’s Day to come over to their house for dinner, but considering Ruan Mian’s busy work schedule especially during holidays, Chen Yi declined the New Year’s gathering and changed it to Spring Festival instead.
Ruan Mian finished her vacation a day earlier than Chen Yi, returning to City B on the 6th, while Chen Yi didn’t come back until the morning of the 8th due to some matters at home.
That day happened to be Ruan Mian’s night shift, so she got home a bit earlier. As she was just getting out of the shower and preparing some toast in the kitchen, she heard the sound of the door opening, and when she turned around, Chen Yi was standing there with his black suitcase, the open kitchen leaving everything in full view.
Chen Yi slowly walked over, his gaze sweeping past the kitchen counter. “Having breakfast?”
Ruan Mian hmm’d, her fingertips touching the glass of warm milk, “Have you eaten? Do you want me to make you something?”
“No.”
Chen Yi touched her fingers, picking up the milk and taking a sip. “Noodles or dumplings? I think I bought a pack of dumplings before leaving.”
“Will you make them?”
Chen Yi teased, “Or else you’ll do it?”
“I’ll do it then.”
Ruan Mian wasn’t too tired this time, and was provoked by him into a fighting spirit. “Noodles or dumplings for you?”
Leaning against the counter, Chen Yi chose the lower difficulty option. “Dumplings.”
“Okay, noodles it is then.”
Ruan Mian turned and took out noodles and two eggs from the fridge, boiling water in the pot and cracking the eggs into a bowl to beat. Once the water boiled she added the noodles, waiting until the right time to pour the eggs in. It looked like she had everything under control.
When it was almost time to dish up, Chen Yi went to wash up, taking out the salt shaker before leaving and reminding her, “You seem to have forgotten the salt.”
Ruan Mian: “……”
He chuckled lowly, and Ruan Mian plainly heard the mocking in it. She nudged him in the shoulder with her arm. “I like my food on the blander side, got a problem?”
Chen Yi found her even more adorable, reaching to grab her arm and pull her into his embrace.
Before Ruan Mian could react, two cool, soft pieces suddenly pressed against her lips, carrying a gentleness different from his own as they moved firmly against hers.
Her waist was pressed against the edge of the counter, forced to crane her neck back as her breath was stolen away, mumbling to get away, “The…the stove is still on.”
But Chen Yi held the back of her neck firmly, his fingertips threading through her hair to grip the skin of her neck, his entire body pressing down as Ruan Mian felt her waist would snap.
The consequence of not turning off the stove was the pot of perfectly good noodles ended up flavorless and clumped together. Chen Yi didn’t seem to mind though, taking out a bottle of mushroom and beef sauce from the fridge and turning the boiled noodles into a cold noodle dish.
After eating breakfast and cleaning up, Chen Yi went to shower while Ruan Mian, full and sleepy, brushed her teeth and went to bed. But she still couldn’t fall asleep.
She played on her phone for a while until Chen Yi came in from outside. By then she had fallen asleep, phone left on her pillow.
He walked over quietly, fully covering her with the blanket. Picking up her phone, his finger touched the screen and it lit up.
Chen Yi subconsciously glanced at the screen, his gaze pausing for a moment before he lifted his hand to tap the screen a few times and put the phone aside. Lifting up the covers, he got into bed.
Ruan Mian slept until evening this time, waking up to find Chen Yi no longer in the room, his pajamas he had changed out of draped over the nearby sofa.
There were sounds of pots and bowls from outside the room, sounding very reassuring.
Ruan Mian laid there for a while before picking up her phone to check the time, touching the unlock button. The screen jumped back to the page before it locked.
It was her WeChat contacts.
Ruan Mian didn’t think much of it, immediately putting her phone back down. The next second her gaze froze, and she picked up her phone again.
She hadn’t changed Chen Yi’s name before, but now, the CY in the chat became ‘boyfriend’.
Ruan Mian rubbed her eyes, confirming she didn’t see wrong before clicking into Chen Yi’s profile pic. His WeChat nickname was still the previous one.
Holding her phone she went outside, Chen Yi standing in the kitchen, his figure tall and slender, the exposed bit of his forearm looking slender yet faintly muscular.
Ruan Mian stared at that figure for a while, suddenly losing the urge to ask. Whatever, it was changed anyway, and it was the truth after all.
She returned to the room, charging her phone before coming out washed up. Chen Yi had already served up three dishes and a soup on the table, wearing the gift apron Ruan Mian had gotten from the supermarket before.
The bright red peony against him had a somewhat comedically harmonious feel.
Ruan Mian held in her laugh as she sat down. “What time are you leaving today?”
“Around 7.”
Chen Yi took off the apron, draping it on the back of a chair as he started explaining his schedule. “I’ll be going southwest this time for a month.”
He went there often, and Ruan Mian hmm’d without paying it much attention.
Chen Yi looked at her. “When I get back I’ll be flying directly to West Asia, probably for a while too.”
The room was quiet for a few seconds before Ruan Mian finally realized something, carefully choosing her words. “So this month and while mean there’s no vacation in between?”
He nodded.
“So how long is this period?”
Ruan Mian felt strangely disappointed. This would be the longest she and Chen Yi had been apart since getting together.
Chen Yi pressed his lips. “Not sure yet.”
The tasks were random, the times uncertain. Could be 1-2 months at most, or just a few weeks at shortest, it was hard to say.
Ruan Mian lowered her head to eat, not wanting him to feel too burdened. “Then it works out, I’ll be going to H City with Professor Meng and them later to attend an academic conference, plus I’m really busy with work at the end of the year anyway, even if you’re on vacation I might not have time.”
It was the truth, but Chen Yi still felt he owed something to her, and said before leaving, “I’ll try my best to get back before your birthday.”
“Okay.”
Ruan Mian let go of his hand, seeing him out the door. When he was about to get into the elevator, she suddenly pressed the down button.
The door opened.
She ran in, crashing into his embrace and tipping her head back for a kiss before he could react, the movement a bit fierce as her teeth knocked against his lip.
After some time.
Chen Yi drew back a little, hand at her waist as his forehead touched hers.
His breathing, his pants, every look in his eyes all carried the previously deeply hidden desire beneath that calm.
Like throwing a tantrum, Ruan Mian clung to his neck tightly, eyes tinged red, impossible to tell if it was arousal or reluctance to part. “Chen Yi.”
He deeply hmm’d in response, fingers stroking the corners of her eyes.
She had so much, so much she wanted to tell him, to ask him not to go, to say how she would miss him, but in the end only one sentence.
“Stay safe, I’ll be thinking of you.”
- ??? (po zang shui) – idiom meaning to slander/frame someone ↩︎
Leave a Reply