Ruan Mian stared intently at the man, afraid that everything in front of her was just a dream, that he would disappear as soon as she blinked.

She blinked twice, three times.

He was still there.

Someone behind her nudged her forward. Ruan Mian leaned slightly, and was propelled into the room. The homeroom teacher, who had been chatting with a parent, saw her and gave her a warm smile. “Ruan Mian, come in.”

He had heard a bit about this student from his colleagues, she had excellent grades, but in her second year of high school, she began taking frequent leaves of absence, zoning out in class, and her scores plummeted… He had intended to use this parents’ meeting to have a good talk with her guardian.

Ruan Mian had no choice but to walk in and pull a chair up next to her seat.

The classroom was crowded. The space in the corner was small. A slight movement would cause her to brush against the man’s leg, and she could almost feel his warmth through the fabric.

She secretly peered at him from the corner of her eye.

Her voice was barely a whisper. “Why are you here?”

He probably didn’t hear clearly. He tilted his head slightly and leaned closer. “What?”

The distance between them suddenly closed, closer than it had ever been. Ruan Mian could almost see her own reflection in the depths of his eyes. She instantly forgot what she had been about to ask.

Qi Yan smiled faintly.

Just then, the homeroom teacher finished his conversation with another parent and walked over. Having taught for over ten years, he considered himself skilled at dealing with all sorts of parents, but now he wasn’t sure how to begin.

The identity of the man before him was simply too hard to pin down. How should he put it? Although he was just wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers, he looked like a social elite, his presence too commanding. Even his casual glance at people was cool and detached.

A man like this appearing at a parents’ meeting felt utterly incongruous.

The homeroom teacher gathered his thoughts and cleared his throat. “Hello, are you Ruan Mian’s guardian?”

“Hello.”

Qi Yan nodded to him, then turned his head to look at Ruan Mian.

His gaze was as calm and still as ever, but Ruan Mian felt she saw a fleeting glint of amusement in its deepest recesses. She quickly realized—

He was waiting for her to give him a reasonable identity, one that would explain why he was at her parents’ meeting.

“He is…”

Who was he to her?

How should she answer?!

Ruan Mian took a deep breath, looking into his eyes, her gaze trembling slightly. “He is my… maternal uncle.”

She did, in fact, have a maternal uncle.

Her mother had told her that her younger brother, who suffered from congenital heart disease, had been abandoned by her grandparents on the way to the provincial capital. He was only three or four at the time, and they hadn’t heard from him since.

She didn’t even know if he was alive or dead.

The homeroom teacher’s confusion cleared up slightly. Breaking from his usual routine, he skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point. “It’s like this. I wanted to talk to you about Ruan Mian’s academic performance lately…”

A long twenty minutes passed. The conversation finally drew to a close. The homeroom teacher regained his composure, his voice even rising a few notes. “In short, the third year of high school is a critical period. We hope parents will cooperate closely with the school. Everything is for the child’s future.”

“That is only right.” Qi Yan’s tone was that of a responsible guardian. “I will pay closer attention to these matters from now on.”

Ruan Mian listened, feeling a mixture of sweetness, sourness, and bitterness. A hundred flavors turned in her heart.

The homeroom teacher nodded repeatedly, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then moved on to the next parent.

“What are you thinking about?”

Ruan Mian stared blankly at his pale, long fingers tapping the desk. “I’m thinking about what to eat for dinner.”

The little girl clearly had all her emotions written on her face, yet her voice feigned nonchalance.

Qi Yan chuckled softly. Instead of exposing her clumsy lie, he asked with curiosity, “Have you decided?”

“The noodles from last time seemed quite good.”

“Mm. Then let’s go eat together after this.”

Ruan Mian’s heart inexplicably calmed down. She quietly curved her lips. “Okay.”

When the parents’ meeting ended, and they stepped out of the classroom, a man waiting outside immediately greeted them. “Mr. Qi.”

Ruan Mian looked at him curiously. Her gaze involuntarily drifted past him, landing on Wang Linlin who was standing behind him, and she was slightly surprised.

If she hadn’t mistaken him, this man was Wang Linlin’s father, also a major shareholder of their school. She had seen him once at the club, and Pan Tingting had pointed him out again later, but at the time, her entire focus was on someone else.

Qi Yan nodded with a smile. “General Manager Wang.”

“What a coincidence,” Wang Linlin’s father laughed warmly. “I never expected to run into a busy man like you here!”

He glanced at the girl following Qi Yan. His thoughts raced, and he finally had a clue. “You must be Ruan Mian?”

Ruan Mian was surprised he knew her name. Just as she was about to nod, his gaze had already turned away. “About the incident last time, I am truly sorry. My daughter has been spoiled by her mother since childhood…”

So, so Wang Linlin had apologized to her not because of the homeroom teacher, but because of him?

But how did he know about that incident?

Ruan Mian tightly hugged the school bag in her arms, looking at his tall, slender back, her mind a mess like a patch of wild grass.

Qi Yan smiled faintly, but did not respond directly.

Wang Linlin’s father awkwardly wiped the sweat from his forehead, worried whether he should continue speaking. His daughter was clearly in the wrong, which put him in a disadvantageous position, especially since…

His sleeve was subtly tugged twice from behind. Qi Yan’s expression remained impassive, but his voice was extremely faint. “It’s normal for conflicts to occur between students. What’s past is past. General Manager Wang shouldn’t dwell on it.”

Wang Linlin’s father understood the subtext: Let what can pass, pass. If anything happens in the future that cannot pass, it will be a different matter. He immediately said repeatedly, “Yes, of course.”

He gave his reluctant daughter a look full of meaning, then continued to smile obsequiously. “How about I treat you to a meal today? It would be my apology.”

His sleeve was tugged lightly twice more.

“Unfortunately,” Qi Yan smiled. “I already have a dinner engagement.”

“In that case, what a shame,” Wang Linlin’s father laughed dryly. “Then… next time.”

Wang Linlin couldn’t stand her father’s behavior. She stomped her foot and walked away. Her father’s face stiffened. He exchanged a final greeting with Qi Yan and quickly went after her.

Other parents from different classes began to walk out of the classrooms. The hallway was filled with lively chatter.

Qi Yan slid his hand into his pocket, silencing his constantly vibrating phone. “Let’s go.”

The two walked downstairs, one after the other.

School rules prohibited vehicles from entering, so the driver waited outside the school gate.

Once they were in the car, the driver skillfully turned the steering wheel, and the car smoothly merged into the traffic.

At this moment, the questions in Ruan Mian’s heart were interlocked like a nine-ring puzzle, impossible to unravel. After a long moment, she finally gave up trying and asked directly, “Why?”

Qi Yan took out his phone. Skipping the long list of missed calls, he dialed a number.

Soon, Ruan Mian felt her phone in her bag vibrate once, twice… continuously. She took it out and saw an “a” flashing on the screen.

Thinking of a certain possibility, the color instantly drained from her face. She tentatively tried to swipe the screen, successfully answering after several attempts. Just like the first time she called this number, she didn’t dare to breathe too heavily. “Hello.”

A deep voice came from the other end. “Do you understand now?”

She understood everything.

Why he knew about Wang Linlin shredding her books.

Why he came to her parents’ meeting.

It was all because

He was the new owner of her mother’s number. He hadn’t just received the school communication notices; he had also received her private messages.

With this, everything made sense.

But why… was it him?

Qi Yan hung up the phone.

She listened to the beep-beep-beep of the disconnected call, still unable to recover. Then she heard him say, “Hand me your phone for a moment.”

Seeing the SIM card he held between two fingers, Ruan Mian understood what he intended to do and quickly shook her head. “No need…”

He seemed unable to grasp her thought process, his brow lightly furrowed. “Didn’t you want this number back all this time?”

She used to.

She had even thought that if he asked for anything in exchange, she would willingly hand it over with both hands.

But she gradually realized that some things that were once heavy and seemed impossible to accept would slowly fade with the passage of time.

Now, she was trying to emerge from the grief of her mother’s death and slowly adjust to life on her own.

More importantly, the person using this number was him. It was as if a life that had ended was somehow brought back to life in his hands.

Since fate had mysteriously intertwined them, she was happy to accept this result, even hoping this bond could deepen.

Ruan Mian smiled with relief. “You can keep using it.”

But… she couldn’t keep treating him like a stranger and sending him all her inner thoughts anymore, right?!

A wave of heat suddenly rushed to her cheeks. “Did you read every message I sent you before?”

“Not necessarily.”

Ruan Mian breathed a sigh of relief, secretly hoping he hadn’t seen the one where she said she thought she had fallen in love with someone.

But fate was contrary to her wishes. Unbeknownst to her, that particular message was the one he had read the most intently, almost word for word.

The driver dropped them off near the noodle shop, then went off to find dinner himself.

Forty minutes later, the two emerged from the noodle shop. The driver was already waiting for them in the car.

The entire city was now ablaze with evening lights. A thin layer of twilight had nowhere to hide.

It was rush hour, and the traffic flowed continuously.

The orange light leaped from their faces and fluttered out the window.

“Ruan Mian.”

The way he called her name always had a unique flavor that belonged only to him. Ruan Mian’s heart sped up a beat.

“Remember to bring your books and homework to my place tomorrow.”

“Ah?” Was he going to tutor her?

She remembered the man seriously telling her homeroom teacher that he would supervise her studies.

But even after they got out of the car, he didn’t give her a definite answer. Ruan Mian could only go upstairs to her room with a stomach full of questions.

She turned on the light, the soft glow chasing away the darkness. She saw a small cake on the desk, with a little note tucked underneath: Jiejie, eat cake.

The childish handwriting was thin and long, looking as though it might fall apart.

Ruan Mian put down the note, lowered her head, and sniffed. The fresh cream scent was exactly the same as she remembered.

She sat down, took a spoonful. The sweetness in her mouth, and the sweetness in her heart, finally spread uncontrollably.

Qi Yan, Qi Yan.

The two characters pulsed in her heart, deafeningly loud.

She finished the cake and started doing her homework.

The room was quiet, only the shushing sound of her pen on the paper.

A light rain began to fall outside late at night.

Ruan Mian rubbed her brow, folded the finished exam paper, and tucked it into her English book.

She took out her phone, opened her contacts. The first name was still “a.” She opened the message page and typed two words: Goodnight.

She tapped the send button.

She originally thought this message wouldn’t receive a reply either, but when she returned after washing up, there was one new message in her inbox. Ruan Mian immediately clicked it open

Get some rest.

She smiled softly at the four characters, and suddenly, she was filled with countless expectations for tomorrow. They were like meteors in the dark night, intangible and fleeting, yet they brought her immense joy just by looking forward to them.

He was so excellent. She had to strive to be better, too.

She changed the contact name from “a” to “Qi Yan.” She thought about it, then deleted the “Qi,” leaving only the single character “Yan.”

She lay on the bed, staring at that single character over and over. The uncontrollable smile blossomed amidst the pattering rain, and the girl’s secrets flickered brightly and dimly in the quiet night…

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