At some point, the man’s eyes had opened slightly. Ruan Mian met that slightly hazy gaze, and the hand supporting her weight beside him suddenly went weak. She collapsed softly onto him, and then completely lost consciousness.

Qi Yan waited for a good while. Feeling the small, soft bundle in his arms breathing evenly and slowly, he confirmed the fact that she had fallen asleep and couldn’t help but laugh dumbly.

He glanced at the coffee table and understood. The little girl had stolen some of his wine, and her tolerance seemed quite poor; she had passed out after drinking just that little bit.

In the days before returning to the country, the London stock market had been volatile. His team had held meetings overnight to discuss plans, and he had barely closed his eyes.

He was truly tired when he returned from the airport this morning, but he couldn’t fall asleep. At noon, he received a call from Chang Ning, saying he was in a bad mood and wanted to come over for a drink.

Presumably, another accident had occurred during a surgery. The surgeon, who usually advised him to drink less, drank exceptionally hard. A bottle of wine hit the bottom in no time. Qi Yan drank a bit with him, but the empty bottles scattered around were mostly Chang Ning’s masterpiece.

He was a little drunk, but mostly tired. He seemed never to have been this tired before. But thinking that the little girl was still waiting for news of his return, he sent her a message.

Conditioned by habit developed over many years, he sensed it the moment she pushed the door open. But he was too sleepy, his eyes wouldn’t open, and he didn’t want to speak, so he just continued to sleep.

Until that breath, carrying the sweet scent of red wine, drew near—

The moment those soft lips gently pressed against his, his groggy brain went blank for a split second. He almost couldn’t believe what had just happened…

When did the little girl develop such feelings for him?

The wind blew, moving the window. The grandfather clock chimed five times in succession.

Qi Yan snapped back to reality. He looked at the person sleeping quietly against his chest, and his unsettled heart seemed to calm down as well.

A few strands of hair fell across her cheek. The little girl wrinkled her nose in discomfort. He reached out and tucked them behind her ear—revealing her completely red ear.

“It’s not the time yet. Do you know that?”

She actually gave a well-behaved “Mm” in her sleep.

Qi Yan sat up slightly, and she slid onto the sofa. He took his jacket from the side and covered her with it, planning to go upstairs to shower first, then take her home.

When he returned, Ruan Mian was still sleeping in the same position. He sat down beside her and called her softly, “Ruan Mian.”

No reaction.

Qi Yan sat and waited for another half hour. Twilight was closing in outside. He looked at his watch; it was nearly six o’clock. He had to take her home.

It was a bit tricky.

How to explain this to her family?

Although he knew Ying Haodong had always been indifferent to this daughter, having a young girl brought home drunk by a man… if this reached others’ ears, it would likely cause her considerable trouble.

But letting her spend the night out… would be even more troublesome.

The two houses weren’t far apart. Soon, the car slowly stopped in front of Ruan Mian’s house.

Qi Yan pressed the doorbell for a while, but no one came to open it. He had to find the keys in Ruan Mian’s schoolbag, open the door, and carry her inside.

The nanny was lying on the sofa watching a rerun of The Voice of China at high volume, peeling a banana and stuffing it into her mouth. A long shadow slanted in from the doorway, scaring her into thinking the master of the house had returned. But when she looked back, it was a strange young man.

Could it be a home invasion robbery?

She shot up from the sofa. When she saw the person in his arms clearly, her suspended heart relaxed a little, only to suck in a sharp breath of cold air.

“Where is her room?”

The nanny swallowed, answering almost reflexively, “The a-attic.”

Seeing them go upstairs, she wanted to follow, but a cold glance from Qi Yan automatically dispelled the thought.

Although she hadn’t seen much of the world, she knew this man wasn’t someone she could easily offend.

There was only one small room in the attic. It had a lot of things, but looked neat and organized.

Qi Yan placed her on the bed. Smelling a familiar scent, she rubbed the tip of her nose against the pillow and fell into a deeper sleep, her hands still tightly clutching his jacket.

Qi Yan had no choice but to let her be. His gaze was drawn to the entire wall of starry sky opposite him. He walked over and found the two familiar letters “rm” at the bottom, his eyes darkening to the extreme.

A soft thud came from outside the door. He looked over to see a small boy standing in the doorway, holding a toy gun, looking at him with a face full of guard. When the boy looked toward the person on the bed, the concern on his small brow almost overflowed.

From the messages the little girl had sent earlier, it wasn’t hard for Qi Yan to guess who this was. He also knew she had complicated feelings toward this half-brother.

“She’s fine. Just drunk.”

Ying Minghui looked at him while cautiously inching inside. He moved to the bedside and checked on her personally before relaxing.

But the guard in the child’s eyes didn’t disappear. He probably misunderstood Qi Yan as someone with bad intentions. Qi Yan rarely had experience dealing with children and helplessly pressed his forehead with a curved index finger.

He really couldn’t bring himself to say something like “I’m not a bad guy” to a child. He simply took out his phone and dialed Ruan Mian’s number.

The schoolbag placed on the bedside table began to sing.

Qi Yan took out her phone. Seeing the single character “Yan” (儼) on the screen, he paused slightly.

Ying Minghui couldn’t read, but this person had his sister’s number and had brought her back unharmed, so he shouldn’t be a bad guy, right?

Qi Yan could feel the child’s gaze softening. “You like your jiejie very much?”

Ying Minghui nodded. Besides his parents, his jiejie was the person he was closest to.

“In the future, in this house, help me protect her. Can you do that?”

Light seemed to burst in the child’s eyes. He nodded heavily with excitement, as if he had received a man’s promise.

When Ruan Mian woke up, the sky was completely dark. She sat up in bed, and something slipped from her waist. Picking it up, she saw it was a man’s suit jacket.

Her brain was a bit messy. She only remembered drinking a few sips of red wine; she had absolutely no memory of what happened after. Though later, she seemed to have had a dream…

Thinking back on the content of the dream, she buried her face in her knees, blushing and smiling.

Could this be… his jacket? And did he bring her back?

Why didn’t she have any impression of it at all?

Ruan Mian was extremely annoyed with herself.

At this moment, downstairs.

The nanny was describing the scene vividly. “She was drunk. A man carried her back…”

Wang Jiaxin was surprised. “A man?”

“Yes!” The nanny lowered her voice. “He was very good-looking, just like a celebrity on TV. To think she learned to hook up with men at such a young age. Those seductive tricks, she probably learned them from her mother…”

Before she could finish, she caught a glimpse of Wang Jiaxin’s face darkening, terrifyingly clouded over. She wished she could slap herself. How could she forget that the woman in front of her had used those exact tricks to push out the first wife and become Mrs. Ying…

The nanny swallowed and hurriedly went into the kitchen to busy herself.

During dinner, Wang Jiaxin pretended to ask casually, “Mianmian, I heard you have a boyfriend? You’re in your third year of high school now; it’s a critical time…”

Ying Haodong paused in picking up food, his eyes widening as he looked over. “What is this about?”

Wang Jiaxin calmly recounted the story of Ruan Mian being brought home drunk by a man. Ying Haodong threw his chopsticks down in a rage, yelling at her, “You don’t learn the good things, but you learn the bad things thoroughly!”

Ruan Mian’s hands entangled tightly under the table.

So there really are people in this world who do harm in the name of concern, and act so self-righteous about it.

What if someone bullies me?

Bully them back.

“At least,” she looked up, gazing out the window straight ahead. The gentle night gave her courage. Her voice sounded tremulous, but her gaze was inexplicably firm. “I didn’t give birth to a child at eighteen like you did, did I?”

The family of three fell silent. No one spoke again.

The little one couldn’t speak, and the adults were choked into silence.

Ruan Mian got up from the table and went upstairs.

The taste of bullying back wasn’t as wonderful as she imagined. She didn’t like it at all.

Life is so short, and there are so many beautiful things in the world. She couldn’t bear to waste time on meaningless people and things.

The next day was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The weather was cool.

Ruan Mian went to the old house early again. The old man was sitting among the flowers and trees, splitting bamboo with one hand. Seeing her standing at the door, he smiled. “You’re here.”

“Have you had breakfast?”

She shook her head.

He put down the things in his hand and went into the small hut to get her a carton of milk and a mooncake.

Ruan Mian ate while watching him skillfully split the bamboo. “What is this for?”

The old man smiled and said, “It’s the festival. I’m making a few lanterns to celebrate the season. I’ll make one for you to take home later.”

Ruan Mian agreed happily. “Okay!”

The two chatted about everything under the sun. The door to the main house opened, and the man appeared in the doorway.

Ruan Mian’s eyes lit up.

“Go on,” the old man said. “When the lantern is done, I’ll put it on the table. Don’t forget to take it.”

He glanced at her schoolbag. Thinking of studying even during the holiday, she will definitely get into a good university in the future.

But, since when did that busy man have the leisure to tutor a little girl?

The old man shook his head and continued his work.

Inside the house. Ruan Mian sat in the same spot as yesterday, sipping her milk in small gulps. Just as she was bracing herself to ask if she had said anything inappropriate while drunk yesterday, he spoke first. “Besides lanterns, do people release lotus lamps for the Mid-Autumn Festival?”

It seems so.

According to local custom, people would also release lotus lamps to make wishes and pray for blessings during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

“Do you want one?”

Want what? Ruan Mian didn’t react immediately.

The scene that followed remained clear in her memory even years later—

The man sat on the sofa filled with sunlight, his head lowered, his silhouette slightly blurred.

She watched unblinkingly as he turned the washed milk carton inside out, revealing the silver side. He used scissors to cut it into small petals, twisting them with two fingers and layering them…

A few minutes later, a silver lotus flower bloomed in his hand.

She memorized the appearance of the lotus, the soft expression on his face at that moment, and the faint smile on his lips, treasuring them for a lifetime.

“How do you know how to make this?”

Qi Yan’s movement paused for a moment, then quickly returned to calm. “Learned it from someone else.”

It was too long ago. So long that he had somewhat forgotten that person’s silhouette. How many years had it been since they met? Eight, or nine?

Although his tone was deliberately distant, Ruan Mian heard the weight of the words “someone else.” That shouldn’t be just anyone; it was likely someone very close.

Could it be Director Zhou, his father?

It seemed that due to the life-and-death choice in that earthquake, a rift had indeed formed between father and son. They didn’t even spend such an important holiday together.

At this moment, the old man came in carrying the finished lantern. Ruan Mian quickly went to greet him. “It’s so beautiful.”

On the lantern paper, a monkey fishing for the moon was creatively drawn—lifelike and full of charm.

The old man chuckled. “Glad you like it.” He glanced at the two of them, then turned and went out.

Ruan Mian stared at the lantern joyfully, looking at it over and over again.

Qi Yan chuckled lightly. “You like it that much?”

“I do!” Her eyes curved into crescents. “No one has ever made me a lantern for the Mid-Autumn Festival before.”

Qi Yan thought of her family situation and guessed that this festival of reunion was more of a regret for her. He could also feel that her constraint when speaking to him had faded a lot. Moreover, this bewildered little girl was truly bad at hiding her thoughts. Based on his understanding of her, the fact that she could interact with him so openly meant she had probably completely forgotten about yesterday’s events after getting drunk.

Rarely in the mood to joke, he pushed the finished lotus lamp in front of her. “Which one do you like more?”

Ruan Mian hesitated for a good while. “Can I like both?”

“Of course.”

She gave him another answer in her heart: I like the lotus lamp more. I like the lotus lamp you made for me more.

Qi Yan smiled again.

Seeing that his mood seemed good, Ruan Mian spun the lotus lamp in her palm. “Can I stay here today?”

“You can.”

She was even happier.

She wanted to say more to him, but looking over, she saw the sunlight had retreated behind him, leaving mottled shadows on the floor. She hadn’t looked closely just now, but now she realized his face looked somewhat pale.

Grandpa Wang said his schedule was different from most people’s. So… did he deliberately wait up until now for her?

“Do you want to go rest first?”

Qi Yan rubbed his brow, nodded to her, and went upstairs.

So Ruan Mian sat and waited.

At noon, the old man came in to invite her for lunch. There were three simple dishes and a soup on the table, which he cooked himself. He kept telling her to eat more, saying she was at the age where she was growing and her studies were heavy… From beginning to end, he didn’t ask why she wasn’t spending the Mid-Autumn Festival with her family.

Ruan Mian nodded repeatedly, her gratitude beyond words. For the first time, she ate two small bowls of rice.

After eating, she helped the old man wash the dishes, dried her hands, and returned to the main house.

The phone on the coffee table kept spitting out message notifications. Clicking it open, she saw it was Pan Tingting and Zeng Yushu engaging in a war of words.

Ruan Mian watched with interest. Slowly, drowsiness crept up. She tilted her head and fell asleep nestled in the sofa.

It was three o’clock when she woke up. Her phone, which was low on battery, had been bombarded by WeChat messages until it shut down. Ruan Mian took the iPad out of her schoolbag and played the game to pass the time.

Unknowingly, the sun outside had set in the west.

That tall, slender figure finally walked down from upstairs. Ruan Mian ran over, holding up the tablet to show him. “I cleared the level.”

Not bad. Much faster than he imagined.

Qi Yan remembered a psychology book he had read the night before. It mentioned that for children lacking self-confidence, the most important thing is encouragement, especially when they achieve small accomplishments…

He smiled slightly. “What reward do you want?”

Reward?

Ruan Mian blinked. You can get a reward for clearing a level?

She thought and thought. “Can you accompany me to release the lotus lamp?”

By the time the two reached the lakeside, the twilight had deepened.

Ruan Mian first wrote a wish on a piece of paper, folded it, and placed it in the center of the lotus lamp.

“Ready?”

“Mm.”

Qi Yan helped her light the candle with a lighter and lit the one inside the lantern as well.

Ruan Mian held the lotus lamp, reciting silently in her heart over and over, “I have one more wish. I hope the man beside me can wait for me. Wait for me to grow up, wait for me to become better…”

The lotus lamp entered the water, the candlelight flickering slightly.

The moon rose above the lake.

Ruan Mian’s gaze followed it into the distance, as if seeing the candles filling the ground after the Linshan earthquake that year. She remembered Director Zhou’s words again, and only now did she truly understand—

This man lived with his days and nights reversed, smoked and drank without restraint, swam in the lake to feel the suffocation of being one step away from death…

He used all sorts of ways to make his life hard because he had been carrying such a heavy past.

He encouraged her to walk out, yet he remained trapped himself.

“She said, ‘Live well.'” Under the cover of night, she tried hard not to look into his eyes, slowing her speech to make her voice sound more natural.

A sentence out of nowhere, but Qi Yan understood.

The little girl stared at the lake surface, her long eyelashes lowered. Her cheeks were soaked in moonlight, lustrous and white as jade. The cool evening breeze seemed to lift something up and gently blow it away.

He looked at her thoughtfully. The depths of his dark eyes seemed to be dyed with a glimmer of light. After a long while, he nodded. “Okay.”

Ruan Mian let out a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted. She couldn’t stay any longer, couldn’t look at him again. He only needed to look into her eyes once to know she was lying.

She rose hurriedly. “I’m going back now.”

Qi Yan watched her walk away. Her slender figure was about to disappear. The lantern in her hand was still lit, flickering in the small woods like a firefly on a summer night.

Only when that speck of light was no longer visible did he withdraw his gaze.

The cluster of firelight in the center of the lake swayed gently in the wind.

Qi Yan walked toward the old house. Thinking of how she had squatted on the ground to write her wish, he had inadvertently glanced over and seen the words she wrote stroke by stroke on the paper: Hope Ruan Mian will be okay alone in the future.

Silly girl, how could you be alone?

When Ruan Mian returned home, only the nanny was there. The table was full of mooncakes and fruits, and a bottle of red wine was open. The nanny was feasting.

The nanny’s lack of fear indicated that the family of three must have gone out to celebrate the festival together. Every year at this time, City Z would grandly hold a Lantern Festival. She had gone with her mother once last year. They got separated in the crowd. She stood waiting under a brilliantly lit osmanthus tree at the entrance. When the fireworks went off in the square, her mother’s anxious face appeared amidst the festive lights.

Strangely, she wasn’t afraid at the time. Probably because she knew her mother would always find her. But now—they could never find each other again.

Ruan Mian returned to her room and hung the lantern by the window. The moonlight was excellent tonight, round and bright, plating the lantern in silver light, filling it with brightness once again.

She looked up at the sky full of stars.

She thought of that man again.

To her, he was as distant as the stars in the sky, yet sometimes so close. In a sense, in Linshan City nine years ago, they had been inseparable…

Her hand held a pen and moved lightly across the paper, then moved away, revealing a row of elegant characters: Hand can pluck the stars.

After taking a shower and drying her hair, Ruan Mian lay on the bed, not wanting to do anything.

Her phone was charging. Pan Tingting called out to her on WeChat: “Soft Cotton, did you eat mooncakes tonight?”

“I did.”

Besides the lantern, she had brought back a small box of mooncakes. The portion wasn’t large, only three, each separated by a small wooden box. Looking at the packaging, one could tell they were expensive, and the taste was exceptionally good. She ate one and couldn’t bear to eat more.

She felt that since these were given to her by him, she didn’t want to finish them so quickly.

Ting Ye: “Heh heh heh, I ate a kind of fruit mooncake at home. It was so delicious! I’ll bring some for you when we get back to school.”

Ruan Mian typed two words, “Won’t.” Won’t be as delicious as the ones I just ate.

She thought about it, deleted them, and resent: “Thank you.”

Ting Ye: “Cough, why are you being polite with me?”

Pan Tingting chatted enthusiastically with her for about half an hour. Ruan Mian felt this wasn’t quite right; on Mid-Autumn Festival, one should spend time with family.

Pan Tingting sent another voice message. The background sound was a man’s voice, sounding a bit blurry, but it wasn’t hard to tell he was singing.

“When will the moon be clear and bright? With a cup of wine in my hand, I ask the blue sky…”

The somewhat comical Cantonese-accented Mandarin gave this melancholic song a different flavor.

Ruan Mian gently hummed along, “…May we all be blessed with longevity, though far apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.”

Pan Tingting didn’t send any more messages. Ruan Mian exited the page and noticed a red “1” floating on the top right corner of Zeng Yushu’s avatar. She clicked it open—

Deskmate, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival. Remember to eat lots of mooncakes.

Above this message was a line of text that stood out: “Zeng Yushu” recalled a message.

Ruan Mian didn’t think much of it and typed in the dialogue box: Thank you, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you too.

Soon, the screen showed the other party was typing…

She waited for a while, but no new message came from that side. Ruan Mian looked at the time; it was time to sleep. She disconnected the phone from the charger, turned it off, and put it away.

Perhaps because she had slept too much during the day, she tossed and turned in bed for a long time without feeling sleepy.

The window wasn’t closed, and the room was shrouded in a layer of soft light. She looked out; an orange light was floating slowly in the sky. Someone was releasing a Kongming lantern.

It was one o’clock in the morning, and she still couldn’t sleep.

Her movement caused the book on the bedside table to sweep onto the floor with a clear thud, echoing in the silent night. Ruan Mian reached out to pick it up, but it had fallen a bit far, out of reach, so she sat up.

Her gaze suddenly fixed on a jacket at the foot of the bed.

A fine-quality black suit jacket. It was that man’s. She had intended to wash it before returning it, but now… she sort of didn’t want to return it.

Ruan Mian’s hand gently stroked the fabric. Unknowingly, she hugged the jacket into her arms. The crisp, masculine scent belonging to him made her inexplicably reassured, and she gradually sank into a dream.

NOTES

The Voice of China: A popular reality talent show mentioned in the text to ground the setting in a specific cultural/temporal context.

Kongming lantern: Sky lanterns released for wishes/prayers.

Hand can pluck the stars: A line from a Li Bai poem (“The Dangerous Height”), referencing the painting in her room and her feelings for Qi Yan.