Ruan Mian, guard your heart.

How… could that be?

How could she possibly guard it?!

…Sharing Time With You by Linyuan Yu’er

It was the height of summer.

Great swathes of dark clouds hung from the horizon like layers of stacked lotus blossoms, threatening to press down upon one’s head. The roaring wind swept hot air past Ruan Mian’s ears, causing her to instinctively speed up her cycling.

She finally struggled up the slope when a fire snake, its face ferocious, suddenly leaped out from behind the dark clouds. The very next instant, a clap of thunder seemed to explode right beside her. The bicycle wobbled. Ruan Mian jumped off and fumbled to pull out the umbrella from her school bag.

She hadn’t expected the umbrella to be immediately inverted by the fierce gale as soon as she opened it…

Half an hour later, Ruan Mian stood shivering under the eaves of a private club’s corridor, her gaze timidly surveying the glittering, magnificent lobby not far away.

The only part of her that wasn’t soaked was the slip of paper she clutched tightly in her hand. It bore the club’s address; her father had told her to come here to find him.

High school supplementary lessons started a week ago. During the break, the class representative had found her and tactfully informed her that she was the only student who hadn’t paid the exercise book fee and the school uniform fee.

Four hundred and eighty yuan in total.

Ruan Mian silently repeated the number to herself.

She didn’t have that much money.

When her mother was gravely ill, her father would occasionally visit the hospital. But after hiring a caregiver, he simply stopped inquiring altogether.

Most of her life savings had been spent on her mother, and after paying this semester’s tuition, she had little left.

And the card used to pay her tuition and monthly living expenses had been stopped three months ago.

The only person she could rely on now was him.

But… Ruan Mian peered inside again. Will they even let me in?

She turned her head and looked at her reflection in the glass pillar, disheveled hair, wet clothes, utterly miserable. The school uniform skirt, heavy with absorbed water, clung tightly to her legs…

Just then, a white car slowly pulled up, and a middle-aged man holding a black umbrella hastily got out. Ruan Mian was pleasantly surprised to recognize him as a friend of her father’s, someone who had even visited their home before.

She called out, but the man didn’t seem to hear and continued walking.

He quickly ascended the steps, and seeing that he was about to push the door open, Ruan Mian quickly took a step forward, clutching her school bag, and called out to him a little louder, “Uncle Sun.”

Sun Yiwen squinted at the girl in front of him for a long while before remembering who she was. Though he couldn’t recall her name, he remembered the person. He smiled and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I, I came to find my dad,” Ruan Mian said softly. “His phone has been unreachable…”

“What a coincidence,” he smiled again. “Come with me.”

She hadn’t expected it to be this easy. Ruan Mian secretly sighed in relief.

Sun Yiwen seemed to be in a hurry and took large strides, forcing Ruan Mian to almost run to keep up.

A moment later, he seemed to realize this and finally slowed his pace.

Ruan Mian quietly followed behind him.

The corridor was too silent. So silent that she could hear the “gurgle-gurgle” of water squelching from her canvas shoes as she stepped on the soft carpet. She looked around awkwardly. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the two of them stopped in front of a dark, somber sandalwood door.

“Wait here for a moment. I’ll go in and call your father.”

Ruan Mian softly “mn-ed,” and said, “Thank you, Uncle Sun.”

Sun Yiwen didn’t look at her again and pushed the door open, walking in.

Large peonies were etched into the door, the layers of petals outlined by dark golden light, giving off an indescribably overbearing sense of wealth. Ruan Mian couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it.

It turned out to be carved.

She was astonished.

Just as she was leaning in to get a better look, laughter drifted out from the slightly ajar door, and Ruan Mian subconsciously glanced in.

She thought she recognized that person.

The famous rich businessman in City Z, and also a shareholder in their school, wasn’t he the one Pan Tingting jokingly said always looked down his nose at people?

When did Father connect with someone like him?

Ruan Mian suppressed her doubt and finally found that familiar figure in the corner. He was saying something, his face full of ingratiating smiles. Confused, she followed his line of sight.

She only saw a long, slender hand reach for a wine glass on the table and throw its contents back in a single gulp.

It was a young man.

Ruan Mian frowned slightly. That looked like hard liquor, didn’t it? Yet he drank it all without even a twitch of his brow…

The next second, Ruan Mian saw the major shareholder stand up. She faintly heard him say, “…Good tolerance… Let me toast you again.”

Her father, Uncle Sun, and the few others around them echoed the laughter and simultaneously raised their glasses.

Ruan Mian had never seen that sort of almost fawning smile on her father’s face.

They had originally lived in a small fishing village. Her father made his fortune in aquaculture, and later, guided by others, he ventured into real estate and the stock market, unexpectedly finding success all along the way.

Even now, their family was the village’s oft-told example of getting rich overnight.

After her father became successful, he became arrogant, desperately trying to squeeze into the so-called upper class. After a few years, he had somewhat adopted the mannerisms of those people.

Ruan Mian looked at the young man again.

The others around him were all in suits, yet he alone wore a simple white shirt. His entire demeanor was as refined and clear as the moon. He gently swirled the wine in his glass, tilted his head back, and finished another drink.

It was somewhat lazy, bordering on a lack of interest.

Yet those men didn’t seem to mind his casual attitude, still circling him like the stars surrounding the moon.

Who was he?

Ruan Mian didn’t know.

But she knew that this person’s status was higher than everyone else’s present.

After three rounds of drinks.

Ruan Mian saw Uncle Sun sit next to her father and whisper something in his ear. Immediately, the smile on her father’s face faded slightly, replaced by a hint of impatience.

Her heart sank abruptly.

Sure enough, he quickly rose, his face grim, and walked toward the door.

The door opened and then closed.

Ruan Mian’s feelings for the man in front of her were complex.

The Ying family’s preference for sons over daughters was hereditary. Born into such a family, she had received almost none of the fatherly love she should have, and she wasn’t even qualified to bear his surname.

In recent years, he had been constantly busy with business, making the time they spent together even rarer.

But he had, after all, given her life, provided her food and shelter, and given her money to spend.

“How much do you need?”

Ruan Mian stared at the floor, at the wet patch where she had just stood.

“F-four hundred and eighty.”

Ying Haodong frowned and flipped through his wallet. There wasn’t much cash inside. He pulled it all out, finding only four hundred yuan.

“Take it.”

Ruan Mian didn’t reach for it.

“What is it?” His tone was already impatient.

“It’s not enough.”

Ying Haodong put away his wallet. “If it’s not enough, ask your mother for the rest.”

It took Ruan Mian a long moment to finally utter a sentence, her voice extremely soft, like the buzzing of a mosquito.

He suddenly frowned. “What did you say?”

Ruan Mian looked up at him, her bloodless lips trembling slightly as she repeated, “My mother is already gone. Have you forgotten?”

Yes, how could he remember? It had only been one hundred days since her mother’s passing the day before yesterday, and yesterday the mistress he kept outside swaggered right into the house! His illegitimate son was already five years old!

Ying Haodong realized his slip of the tongue, but the air of authority he always maintained was not easily dropped. He simply shoved the money into her hand and sternly rebuked, “Take it. Don’t throw a tantrum!”

Was this considered a tantrum?

After Ying Haodong slammed the door shut and went back inside, Ruan Mian squatted in the corner and rubbed her eyes, squeezing out two tears.

She didn’t know if her father had ever loved her mother. She had once suspected their marriage was merely a temporary compromise. Otherwise, how could the relationship between husband and wife have become so cold?

Even if, even if her mother had loved him, years of cold looks from her mother-in-law and emotional neglect from her husband would have been enough to make her heart turn to ashes, wouldn’t it?

Ruan Mian remembered her mother suffering from cancer, reduced to a dry skeletal figure. In her final moments, she clung to one last breath, yet she never waited for that man to arrive.

She couldn’t keep thinking about it…

Ruan Mian stood up and went to the washroom to splash water on her face. Looking back, she saw a few dirty footprints she had made on the floor. She knelt down again and carefully wiped them with a tissue.

She didn’t want to cause trouble for anyone.

She had been used to it since she was a child.

After tossing the tissue and washing her hands again, Ruan Mian walked out, just as someone walked past her, white shirt, black trousers, and headed straight into the men’s washroom next door.

The sound of running water erupted.

She looked at the white figure leaning over the sink. She hesitated for a moment, but then turned and walked away.

She couldn’t afford to provoke a person like that.

But she hadn’t taken many steps before she turned back.

From about half a meter away, the man must have sensed her presence and turned around, his gaze as cold and hostile as a frigid moon, sweeping over her.

The light was directly above him. He stood in a halo of soft light, his features sharp and cold.

And she stood in his shadow, her face full of alarm.

Like a startled fawn in a deep forest.

Ruan Mian finally saw his face clearly. She could even smell his breath, an intoxicating, alcoholic scent.

Those narrow eyes, with corners that curved slightly upwards, had a shallow flush of red around them, likely from the drinking.

She wanted to find a more dignified word than “beautiful” to describe him.

But she couldn’t.

His overall bearing already overshadowed his physical appearance.

The man’s thin lips moved, a slightly hoarse voice that sounded rich and textured.

But Ruan Mian didn’t quite catch what he said. She only stared at his face, which was covered in water droplets, and blankly held out the item in her hand. “Tiss…” She took a deep breath. “Tissues.”

He propped one hand on the sink, his eyes hazy, looking at her with a half-smile.

He didn’t speak, nor did he take her tissues.

The material of the summer school uniform was thin. Now soaked, the lovely shape wrapped by the pale yellow brassiere was fully revealed. Her slender waist was also exposed…

Yet she seemed completely unaware of it.

She was very pale, a clean kind of paleness. Her slim body was hunched slightly, and her eyes seemed veiled with a film of water, giving her a look of utter vulnerability.

She probably wasn’t the kind of woman he suspected who just ‘conveniently’ showed up here.

Qi Yan looked away indifferently.

His expression softened slightly. “Thank you.”

He took the tissues.

Coming out of the club, Ruan Mian felt inexplicably much lighter. She cycled quickly all the way home.

By the time she neared the house, a faint twilight had painted the sky. Ahead, a tree that had been struck by lightning lay across the middle of the road, its leaves scattered everywhere.

Trees, like people, once the root is damaged, they fall, and that’s it.

For some reason, Ruan Mian suddenly didn’t want to go home so quickly anymore.

She got off and slowly walked back, pushing her bicycle. Before she knew it, the moon was out.

Moonlight was crushed and scattered into the puddles on the ground.

Ruan Mian lingered on the way. It was already dark when she reached home. After putting away her bike, she stepped over the threshold and was suddenly startled by a black shape that moved occasionally behind a pillar.

Her heart nearly jumped into her throat. Her voice tight, she called out, “Who’s there?!”

After a long pause, a small, short boy finally walked out.

His round little face was smeared with something, all patchy and dirty. He was clutching an old, small leather ball and grinned at her, his two missing front teeth visible. A suppressed look of hope seemed to glimmer in his dark, round eyes.

The two strangers, sister and brother, met for the second time, both feeling a little lost.

Ruan Mian quickly recovered, glanced at him indifferently, and pushed the door open to go inside.

Ruan Mian, ignore him.

Ignore this annoying little mute.

Back in her room, Ruan Mian unzipped her school bag and carefully pulled out a small bundle wrapped in tissues.

“Jii.“

A small bird was craning its neck, its beak wide open toward her.

The tree had fallen, its nest destroyed. The other birds had scattered and vanished, leaving only this one, still unfledged, huddled under the leaves. Perhaps feeling a sense of shared misfortune, Ruan Mian had brought it back.

Unfortunately, she had no experience keeping pets. She didn’t know what to feed the little thing, so she had only given it some clean water and a few grains of rice.

The window was wide open. The wind blew, casting layered shadows from the lamp.

Ruan Mian wrote her homework, and the bird slept with its head cocked.

The night was silent.

After finishing her homework, Ruan Mian found a small notebook with a password lock. She opened the first page, which contained only one sentence…

April 23rd, owe Dean Zhou 3,278 yuan.

She stared at it for a while, then slowly wrote:

August 11th, owe Father…

She crossed out the rest of the line and meticulously wrote again:

Owe Ying Haodong 400 yuan.

NOTES

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