“Mr. Qi, where to next?”

The person in the back seat didn’t respond. The assistant waited so long he thought he had fallen asleep, but when he looked back, he met a calm, unruffled gaze.

The eyes were clear, and there seemed to be no trace of intoxication.

The assistant steadied himself and asked again, then waited quietly.

After a moment, a faint voice drifted from the back: “Home.”

The driver nodded, started the car, and headed into the depths of the night, guided by the streetlights.

The assistant glanced back again. Half of the man’s face was submerged in shadow. Occasionally, light from outside the car window would slip in, darting across his straight nose, illuminating even his pale complexion.

He sighed inwardly.

Entering the city center, the bustle of the metropolis, mixed with the cool night air, rushed in.

Outside, the traffic flowed endlessly, lively and noisy, but inside the car, it was excessively quiet.

A ringtone suddenly broke the silence.

“Mr. Qi, it’s Dr. Chang’s call.”

A long, slender hand reached out to take the phone and answered.

The person on the other end spoke first. “How is it? Are you settling back in?”

“Do you want me to round up the guys for a gathering, maybe a welcome home party? And also…”

“Chang Ning.” The tone was flat.

“Fine, fine, let’s talk business,” Chang Ning said slowly. “Didn’t you ask me to keep an eye on the old man? A few days ago, I saw some very unusual files on his desk. I believe you’ll be interested.”

Qi Yan drew his gaze back from the window. “What files?”

Whatever the person on the other end said, his brow furrowed slightly, then quickly relaxed.

The call ended.

He still held the phone, clenching it, his thumb sliding from the left side of the screen to the right, back and forth. Only after several passes did his mood calm a little.

“Help me look up a person.”

The assistant was startled at first but quickly reacted, assuming it was an important person related to work. He even pulled up the notes app on his phone.

He was poised, ready.

But the person in the back seemed to have no further instruction.

He waited for a while before finally getting three words: “Named Ruan Mian.”

The surname “Ruan” was pronounced clearly and correctly, but the “mian” sound… The assistant hesitated, looking at the string of characters on his screen: 绵, 棉, 眠…

“The mian from shuimián (sleep).”

He nodded, quickly entering the information.

Half an hour later, the car came to a stop in front of a tightly closed gate. Hearing the noise, the light in the small gatehouse flickered on with a snap, and someone quickly emerged.

It was an elderly man with only one arm, walking over while yawning.

The assistant leaned out of the car. “Uncle Wang.”

The old man nodded, quickly opened the gate with his single hand, and then stood aside for the car to enter.

A few minutes later, the car drove out, and he swiftly closed and locked the gate.

He looked up at a lit room on the second floor, then turned and slipped back into his little house.

Qi Yan first took a shower, washing off the smell of alcohol. With his hair half-dry, he went to the study, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

There were three computers in front of him.

One screen displayed the security footage of the entire building.

The left side of the second screen showed a stock market curve, and the right side displayed dense, constantly updating data.

The screen facing him was dark, in standby mode.

He sat motionless, like a wooden carving.

The wind picked up outside, with a rustling sound of leaves. The tree shadows on the window glass swayed, like a black-and-white movie playing.

After an unknown period, the wind stopped, and the room was filled with silence.

With a notification chime, the screen lit up. A new email had arrived.

A very complete set of files.

Basic personal information, ID photo, candid photos, and even copies of her school transcripts and application to join the Communist Youth League from childhood, everything was there.

Qi Yan first looked at the small, red-background photo in the upper right corner. The girl’s face was fair and clean, her lips slightly curved in a faint smile.

His eyes gradually deepened.

He had seen her hours ago, at that club. He had even taken a tissue from her hand.

No mistake.

He was known for his photographic memory when it came to people.

Qi Yan’s gaze slowly scanned down.

Name: Ruan Mian.

Date of Birth: September 199x

Place of Origin, Home Address, Family Members… He continued down the list.

He didn’t find anything unusual.

His eyes returned to the photo.

After a long silence, a complex emotion suddenly surged in the depths of those narrow eyes, churning like black ink.

So it was her.

It turned out to be her.

After a long period of quiet, he went through all the files meticulously again. It wasn’t until the sky was faintly starting to lighten that he returned to his room to sleep.

The sky was completely bright.

Ruan Mian woke up, washed, and prepared for school.

She had woken up later than usual. Carrying her school bag, she hurried downstairs, but was stopped by the conversation coming from the living room.

“This financial crisis is fierce. While the company won’t go bankrupt, its vitality has been severely damaged…”

Ruan Mian pressed herself against the wall and listened for a while.

She heard the woman asking, “Who exactly is that Mr. Qi you spoke of last night? How could he just…”

The man’s loud coughing covered the rest of her words.

Ruan Mian knew her father had a heavy smoking habit that had damaged his lungs years ago, and once he started coughing, it wouldn’t stop. Seeing that she was about to be late and not wanting to walk through the living room, she had to go out the back door.

She was still late.

The homeroom teacher was currently scolding a boy. Ruan Mian secretly slipped in through the back door and returned to her seat.

To boost the college admission rate, the school held another placement exam at the end of the second year of high school. She had not performed well and had dropped from the key literature class to the secondary key class.

Seats in the new class were arranged according to the placement exam results. Ruan Mian was now sitting in the last row of the fourth group.

Her deskmate, Zeng Yushu, the boy being scolded in the corridor, was the second-to-last in the whole class.

Ruan Mian took out her English textbook and glanced at Pan Tingting in front of her. Her book was held high, and sure enough, she was, without fail, busy shelling sunflower seeds. An open romance novel lay on her lap, which she read with great interest.

She really had a lot of nerve.

Just then, the English teacher on the podium looked toward the corner. Ruan Mian immediately lowered her head. “d…”

After morning self-study, Ruan Mian went to the office to find the homeroom teacher, planning to submit the exercise book fee.

She hadn’t expected to hear her own name as soon as she stepped through the door.

“I remember Ruan Mian in your class now, wasn’t she first in the entire grade on the entrance exam? How could she…”

“Her grades dropped so fast. Could she be dating?”

Hearing this, Ruan Mian’s heart gently trembled.

“Ruan Mian?”

The homeroom teacher had spotted her. He cleared his throat and asked, “What is it?”

“I came to… pay the fees.”

The homeroom teacher took the money, put a check mark next to her name in the logbook, and looked at the reserved and slender girl in front of him. He asked gently, “Are you having any difficulties with your studies lately?”

He was practically a different person from the red-faced, angry man scolding the student in the hallway earlier.

Ruan Mian shook her head, her voice tiny. “No.”

“If you have any questions you don’t understand in the future, you can always come and ask the teacher.”

Realizing the homeroom teacher was watching her as he spoke, she straightened her back and listened intently.

“You’re in the third year of high school now. Time is urgent. Nothing is more important than studying… Do you understand?”

“…I understand.”

The homeroom teacher nodded in satisfaction. “Go back. Class is about to start.”

Ruan Mian returned to the classroom.

Zeng Yushu was slumped at his desk, his permed, highlighted hair looking like a rainbow mushroom cap.

Pan Tingting turned around, cracking a seed, and spoke to him. “This new look is good, no wonder Old Chen gives you a relentless mouthful of spit every time he catches you!”

Old Chen was their homeroom teacher.

“But didn’t you crown yourself the Class Tree? What kind of tree is this? Trees in summer are usually green…”

Zeng Yushu’s lips twitched.

Catching sight of Ruan Mian out of the corner of his eye, he quickly sat up straight, making space for her to enter.

Pan Tingting crunched open another seed and laughed heartily, slapping the desk. “Ruan Mian, you should thank your deskmate. If he hadn’t covered for you this morning, you probably would have received a spit baptism from Old Chen, too.”

Ruan Mian wasn’t close with her new deskmate, but she still said, “Thank you.”

Pan Tingting had only been teasing, but seeing Ruan Mian’s serious expression and the thanked person awkwardly looking around, she laughed even harder.

“Right, Ruan Mian,” Pan Tingting asked again, “Do you still paint?”

She knew this middle school classmate had not only been a top student but was also very good at painting, having won many awards.

Ruan Mian’s movement of taking out a book froze. She was silent for a moment. “I don’t paint anymore.”

She simply… couldn’t paint anymore.

“That’s such a pity!” Pan Tingting dumped her seed shells into the trash can and pulled out the paper she was sitting on. “Look, the city-wide painting competition is offering a ten-thousand-yuan grand prize!”

Pan Tingting’s parents ran a clothing factory in Dongguan. She studied alone in City Z and used to have generous pocket money every month, but since the financial crisis, the money deposited into her card had drastically shrunk.

Unfortunately, her two biggest hobbies still required financial support… Now, the sight of money made her eyes gleam.

Ruan Mian glanced at her watch. Three minutes until class.

She pursed her lips. “Tingting, do you know what birds eat?”

Before leaving this morning, she couldn’t even get the little creature to swallow the rice. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to keep it alive.

“Depends on the bird,” Pan Tingting chuckled mischievously. “Some birds eat bugs.” She leaned in and whispered in Ruan Mian’s ear, “Some birds specialize in eating women…”

Ruan Mian looked thoughtful. “Bugs?”

Seeing her main point ignored, Pan Tingting sighed and patted her hand. “Ruanmianmian, please keep your distance from me until your eighteenth birthday. I can’t let you turn bad, be a good girl.”

Ruan Mian wanted to ask what she meant, but the class bell rang just then. Students who were chatting in small groups in the corridor filed back in, and the Literature teacher appeared at the door with a stack of papers. So, she didn’t ask.

As soon as the teacher stepped onto the podium, he went straight to the test review. Ruan Mian merely stared blankly at his constantly moving lips, unable to take in a single word.

This state had started in her second year of high school when her mother’s illness relapsed.

She was physically in class, but her heart was constantly burning with anxiety, wishing she could fly to the hospital to watch over her mother. She couldn’t focus on the lectures at all. Ruan Mian knew this was bad, very bad, but she just couldn’t pay attention, no matter what.

She didn’t know what to do.

The short hand on the wall clock moved seven times. Outside the window, the dark clouds hanging in the sky grew heavier. A red plastic bag, bloated with wind, drifted aimlessly.

With the sound of “Class dismissed,” Ruan Mian stood up in a daze with the other students, slightly bending at the waist in a bow. “Goodbye, Teacher.”

Huh?

The Geography teacher on the podium had a completely different face. She thought she was seeing things and rubbed her eyes.

The severe, serious person was clearly the History teacher.

So, this was already the last class of the day?

A burst of commotion filled the classroom. Before long, most of the people were gone.

“Ruan Mian, aren’t you leaving yet?”

Pan Tingting tapped her desk.

“I’m going now.” Ruan Mian started gathering her things.

She had to find some bugs outside before it rained.

The path home passed a small patch of woods. Cutting through it led to a patch of green grass and a crescent-shaped lake. Ruan Mian liked to stop here after school to watch the sunset and feel the breeze.

She spent a long time searching the grass, but didn’t even see the shadow of a bug. Instead, she got several red bumps on her calves from mosquito bites.

Ruan Mian sat up.

A large green caterpillar slowly crawled toward her.

Her face brightened. Just as she was about to use a twig to pick it up, she noticed a small cluster of ants constantly moving underneath the caterpillar. She quickly pulled her hand back.

This caterpillar was already taken.

Ruan Mian pulled at a blade of grass and looked out at the lake, her gaze gradually drifting to a house on the opposite side.

The house was old, looking like it had seen some years. Its walls were covered in vines, making it lush and green, like a patch of vitality crawling out of the barrenness.

Something occurred to her, and she suddenly stood up.

A few minutes later, Ruan Mian stood outside the wall, peering through the gate. Seeing a figure among the flowers and trees, her heart relaxed. She called out, “Grandpa Wang.”

“It’s you.”

The old man came out, swinging an empty sleeve while holding a pair of pruning shears in his other hand. With a hook of his foot, the gate opened.

Ruan Mian walked in and explained why she was there.

The wind was already strong, causing the hem of her school uniform skirt to billow up.

The old man nodded, then looked at her. “Your mother…”

Ruan Mian lowered her head, her eyes turning red.

He understood, sighed, and wanted to say something to comfort her.

Bang! A flowerpot on the stand was blown off and shattered on the ground. The old man quickly ushered her into the small house. “Sit down for a moment. I’ll move the flowers inside.”

Ruan Mian put down her school bag. “I’ll help you.”

The old man waved his hand. “No need. I can manage by myself.”

The floor was covered in wet mud and fragments.

He carried a few pots inside with one hand, then noticed the main house windows were all wide open. Seeing that the heavy rain was about to start, he turned back. “Help me close the windows in that house.”

Ruan Mian nodded and quickly ran over.

She couldn’t find any shoes to change into, so she took off her sandals and walked in barefoot.

The air conditioning inside was turned up too high, yet all the windows were open.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, the soles chilled, like stepping onto a frozen winter lake. Ruan Mian shivered.

She closed all the windows on the first floor, but the banging sounds still echoed in the vast room. She looked around and spotted a flash of black fabric stirring at the staircase leading to the second floor.

There must still be an open window up there.

Ruan Mian hurried up the stairs.

Stepping onto the last stair.

She sensitively caught the scent of rain carried by the oncoming wind, and a faint… smell of smoke.

Smoke?

Ruan Mian looked up in confusion.

The next moment, she saw…

The floor-to-ceiling window not far away was wide open, framing a grayish sky.

A man was leaning against the window, smoking.

The sash of his black bathrobe was loosely tied, exposing a large part of his chest, and the hem of the robe fluttered.

He held a tiny spot of red light between his fingers, and white smoke curled around them.

He was barefoot, just like her.

Ruan Mian felt like she had stumbled into a secret realm and instinctively tried to hide behind the wall.

But it seemed to be too late…

The man’s gaze had already found her, tracking her movement.

It was still those beautiful peach blossom eyes, his expression completely calm.

NOTES

Peach blossom eyes: A common Chinese term for a specific eye shape, often described as having long eyelids, deep sockets, and slightly upturned corners. They are traditionally associated with charm and a romantic/alluring appearance, fitting the description of Qi Yan.

Ruanmianmian: Ruan Mian’s nickname, literally meaning “soft and fluffy/cottony.”

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