Chapter 6, "As you wish."

Tang Ci, holding the helmet, hesitated for a second and said, "You should wear it. It's more dangerous for you to be in front."

"Enough with the nonsense." Sheng Yu impatiently raised his chin towards her chest: "Open the braces."

Tang Ci didn't know what a helmet strap was, but wisely, she didn't ask any questions. She fumbled to open the buckle under the helmet, spread out the foam on both sides, and put the helmet on her head.

Seeing that Sheng Yu did not show any dissatisfaction, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The motorcycle was almost taller than her, and Tang Ci couldn't get on at first. She tried twice before she finally climbed on in a clumsy manner.

After she settled in, Sheng Yu asked her, "Where do you live?"

Tang Ci held tightly to the back seat: "Huaiyang Street, Tianyun Residential Area."

Sheng Yu twisted the handlebars, and the motorcycle sped off in an instant.

Caught off guard, Tang Ci was pushed by inertia and bumped into Sheng Yu's back.

On a cool autumn night, Tang Ci could feel the warmth emanating from Sheng Yu's skin through her thin clothes.

Her cheeks flushed, and her hot breath circulated inside the helmet. Dizzy, Tang Ci apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Sheng Yu did not slow down, her clear voice softened by the night breeze, "Hold onto my clothes."

Tang Ci hesitated for a moment, then reached out and grabbed the hem of the dark, thin jacket.

The distance from Beishan to Huaiyang Street is twelve kilometers. After driving through several old streets, the motorcycle arrives at the brightly lit night market. At the pass of the night market, a taxi that has just picked up a passenger stops again.

When Tang Ci saw the "Available" sign on the taxi, she suddenly felt nervous, afraid that Sheng Yu would just leave her there and make her take a taxi home, even though that was the most likely thing to happen.

But Tang Ci prayed silently in her heart that Sheng Yu could not see the empty car.

But God did not hear her prayers; the red light came on at the intersection, and the motorcycle stopped right next to the pass.

Sheng Yu naturally made eye contact with the taxi driver who was waiting to pick up passengers.

The driver honked the horn and called out, "Going or not?"

Sheng Yu didn't speak.

Tang Ci swallowed hard, unable to keep up the act any longer. With the delight of someone who had just seen a taxi, she exclaimed, "There's an empty taxi! I'll take it back..."

She let go of her jacket, grabbed the car seat, and got out. Before her feet even touched the ground, a young couple came out of a convenience store on the street and got into a taxi before she could.

The driver changed the light sign, stepped on the gas, and drove into the street.

Tang Ci awkwardly climbed back into the back seat and said sheepishly, "What a pity, someone else beat me to it."

Sheng Yu, who had been watching the whole thing with a cold eye, sneered, "It's no pity. Even if you went down there at that speed, you wouldn't have had a chance to snatch it."

"..."

When the car arrived outside Tianyun Residential Area, it was already past midnight. When Tang Ci got out of the car, her legs were much more nimble. As she landed, she heard a sharp screech of brakes from across the street.

Tang Ci took off her helmet and looked over. Under the dim streetlights, a flower-selling tricycle was overturned on the ground, with bunches of flowers scattered all around.

An elderly woman with gray hair bent over, her hands trembling as she picked up the flowers from the ground.

Without hesitation, Tang Ci walked across to the other side. Her ripped pants revealed reddened knees, and a closer look showed that she was clearly in pain as she walked.

As Tang Ci walked to the middle of the road, the helmet in her hand suddenly tightened, and she turned her head in confusion.

Sheng Yu gripped the helmet strap, looking at her indifferently, "Is your hobby meddling in other people's business?"

Tang Ci pursed her thin lips and then relaxed them. She handed the helmet back to Sheng Yu, and instead of answering his question, she whispered her thanks: "Thank you for bringing me back. Goodnight."

Sheng Yu casually hung his helmet on the handlebars, walked past Tang Ci, and headed straight for the overturned tricycle.

Tang Ci was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed. She wanted to help lift the tricycle, but by the time she got closer, Sheng Yu had already bent down and lifted the vehicle smoothly back to the ground.

The old lady wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked up, and said gratefully, "Good child, thank you for your trouble."

Tang Ci squatted down to help pick up the flowers. After waiting a few seconds without hearing Sheng Yu's reply, she smiled and said to the old woman, "Of course, you didn't fall, did you?"

The old lady smiled and took several bouquets of flowers from Tang Ci's hands. "I'm fine, it's just a pity about these flowers, they were so fresh."

Looking at the petals flattened by the car and the old woman's simple clothes, Tang Ci felt a pang of sadness, thinking of her deceased grandmother.

"Grandma, how much are these flowers?" Tang Ci rummaged through her schoolbag and pulled out her empty wallet. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I'll buy... a bunch."

The old lady quickly reached out and pressed her hand down, saying urgently, "Good child, take any bunch you like, I won't take your money."

As the old man spoke, he stuffed the only intact bunch of ranunculus in his arms into Tang Ci's hands. Tang Ci felt as if she had received a hot potato and was at a loss for what to do, wanting to return the flower.

Sheng Yu suddenly said, "Take it."

The old lady smiled and comforted her, saying, "It's not worth much."

Tang Ci sighed softly and had no choice but to accept it.

After helping the elderly woman into the driver's seat, Tang Ci noticed that the old woman's cloth bag was still in the back of the tricycle after it had driven half a meter away.

She was about to step forward to remind him.

Sheng Yu raised his hand to make a "shh" gesture to her, then he took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills, stuffed them into the cloth bag, and then picked up the bag and handed it to Tang Ci.

Tang Ci took the bag, quickly ran to the tricycle, and handed the bag to the old lady.

The old lady didn't notice anything unusual in the bag, waved her hand and told her to go home quickly, then slowly drove her tricycle into the night.

Tang Ci walked back to Sheng Yu's side and thanked him on behalf of the old man: "Thank you, you're so kind."

"If you really want to thank me, then don't bother me again." Sheng Yu hopped on his motorcycle and prepared to leave.

Hearing his cold words, Tang Ci should have given up, but the fragrant ranunculus gave her courage.

She took out a scholarship brochure from her bag and held it out to Sheng Yu, saying, "Why don't you take a look at the tutoring information before you decide? The scholarship is quite generous."

Sheng Yu glanced at the promotional material. "Do you think I'm short of that little bit of money?"

Tang Ci swallowed hard, looked up at him sincerely, and said, "But I lack it."

Sheng Yu raised her eyes expressionlessly, "What does this have to do with me?"

“It’s okay.” Tang Ci shook her head, her clear pupils blinked, and then, looking at his reaction, she tentatively said softly, “I have an immune system disorder and have to go to the hospital for check-ups every week, so this scholarship is really important to me.”

Sheng Yu frowned, "Don't your parents care about you?"

Thinking of Tang Jianwei and Qin Ling, Tang Ci was already numb, but she still managed to squeeze out two tears. "My mother passed away a long time ago, my father remarried, and now my stepmother is pregnant, so they don't care about me anymore."

"..." Sheng Yu tugged at the corner of her lips, "Are you acting out a melodrama?"

Tang Ci rubbed her eyes hard, her eyes red and swollen, and asked in a low voice, "Would that move you?"

"If you're really that short of money, have Old Chen organize a fundraising event for you, and I'll donate a big sum." Sheng Yu lowered his head to adjust the helmet strap, looking indifferent and unwilling to say anything more to her.

Tang Ci sighed with a droopy look in her eyes. After Sheng Yu put on his helmet, she asked again, "Are you going to the Beishan competition this weekend?"

Sheng Yu said, "Compare."

Tang Ci looked at him expectantly and asked, "Can I go?"

Perhaps because she had just shed tears, her voice became sticky and soft.

Sheng Yu said coldly, "Have you ever listened to me?"

Tang Ci blinked her dark eyes and asked again in a low voice, "Is it possible or not?"

"what ever."

Sheng Yu said calmly, then bent down, started the engine, and drove the car out of the alley.

/

Tang Ci watched his figure disappear around the corner before slowly entering the residential area.

When I opened the front door, the house was pitch black inside.

Tang Ci initially thought that Tang Jianwei and Qin Ling hadn't come home yet, but when she changed into slippers and went to the living room, she found that there was light shining through the crack in the master bedroom door.

Hearing footsteps, Tang Jianwei, still in his pajamas, opened the door and was stunned to see Tang Ci carrying a schoolbag. "You just got back?"

Tang Ci nodded.

Tang Jianwei frowned. "What time is it? Is the billiard hall that busy?"

Before Tang Ci could speak, Qin Ling, heavily pregnant, walked to the bedroom door and whispered, "Old Tang, don't disturb the baby in the middle of the night. Let Xiao Ci go to sleep."

After hearing this, Tang Jianwei sighed, waved to Tang Ci, and turned to go back to his room.

Tang Ci returned to her bedroom, put down her schoolbag and the bouquet of peonies, and took her pajamas and towel to the bathroom.

Light was still shining through the crack in the master bedroom door, and faint voices could be heard coming from inside.

Tang Jianwei was still complaining, "What kind of behavior is it for a girl to come back in the middle of the night? What if the neighbors see her..."

Qin Ling chuckled, "Didn't you see the bouquet of flowers she was holding? She's probably dating someone."

Tang Jianwei retorted, "Is now the time for her to be dating?"

Qin Ling said in a melodious tone, "Xiao Ci will be an adult soon, it's normal for her to have a boyfriend. Besides, wouldn't it be just what you want if you actually started dating?"

Tang Jianwei asked in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

"Young people these days are open-minded. If they fall in love, they move in together, and then just move out..."

Tang Jianwei immediately understood what Qin Ling hadn't finished saying, but although he agreed in his heart, he couldn't resist his sense of responsibility as a father and muttered, "I'm just worried that she'll run into bad people."

Qin Ling scoffed, "With her health, she'd be lucky if anyone wanted her. If you ask me, she should get married while she's still young, have a son and make a contribution, then her in-laws might pay for her medical treatment out of respect for their grandson."

Hearing her blunt words, Tang Jianwei lowered his voice and said, "Keep your voice down!"

Qin Ling's voice immediately softened, and the two whispered a few more words before turning off the lights.

Tang Ci silently opened the bathroom door, stood by the sink and looked at her ashen face in the mirror, her eyes numb and empty, like a machine without emotions.

She suddenly remembered that in the early spring of the year her mother passed away, she had also had a heated argument with Tang Jianwei.

The six-year-old carried her mother's urn home from the funeral home, her hands frozen stiff.

The doorbell rang for a long time, but Qin Ling opened the door instead. The woman, wearing bright pink lipstick, smiled and touched the child's cold cheek: "This child is so pitiful, losing her mother at such a young age. I'll be your mother from now on."

Tang Ci pushed her hand away, tilted her head back with tears in her eyes, and questioned Tang Jianwei in front of all the relatives in the room why he hadn't visited the hospital even once during the last three months of her mother's treatment.

Tang Jianwei didn't say anything, so Tang Ci pounced on him and bit him.

The relatives stepped in to break up the fight, saying that the child was being unreasonable.

Finally, Tang Ci left a bloody tooth mark on Tang Jianwei's wrist and received a stinging slap on her own face.

When he was young, Tang Jianwei cared more about his reputation than he does now. He roared and kicked Tang Ci, who was covered in tears, out of the house.

Tang Ci, barefoot and with her teeth chattering, waited until all the guests had left. Finally, Qin Ling came out and pushed her, stiff and cold, back into the warm room.

Tang Jianwei had downed two ounces of baijiu and was now fast asleep on the sofa.

Qin Ling considerately covered him with a blanket, but Tang Jianwei grabbed her arm and called her "wife" in a muffled yet familiar way.

Tang Ci looked at the scene before her, her tears already frozen on her face. She curled her itchy fingertips to touch the phoenix carving on the urn.

In that moment, she suddenly realized that she was an outsider in this family.

Outsiders have no right to cry.

Later, she was diagnosed with the same disease as her mother. Whenever fear overwhelmed her, she could only hide in a secluded corner of the hospital and secretly wipe away her tears.

At that time, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University was still in the old city. Outside the walls of the inpatient department were endless fields, and the lake not far away was bright and pure like a gemstone.

That was Tang Cicheng's vulnerable, secret place, where she could freely space out and shed tears.

Until one day, an uninvited guest suddenly barged in.

Even with an eye patch, the arrogant boy couldn't hide his arrogance. Leaning against the wall, he accurately looked at where she was sitting, his voice as lazy as the July breeze.

"If you cry again, I'll throw you into the lake."

Tang Xi, who had just received an injection, cried even harder, and awkwardly hiccuped between sobs.

The boy clicked his tongue impatiently, groped his way into the flower bushes and approached her, his cool fingertips touching Tang Ci's damp cheek.

He took a tissue out of his pocket and gently wiped away her tears.

Tang Xi smelled a faint scent of soap on him, and the warmth of the sun.

Tang Ci, who had just graduated from elementary school, didn't know the art of conversation. She bluntly asked the boy who was a head taller than her, "Brother, why are you wearing an eye patch?"

"Swimming infection." The boy casually lifted his blindfold to show her. "Oh no."

Tang Ci looked at his beautiful, dark, but unfocused eyes and was shocked.

She clearly remembers that before her mother passed away, she pointed to the organs in her stomach and told her, "It's bad."

For her at a young age, "bad" meant death.

Tang Ci clenched her fingers, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said to him as if she had made up her mind, "Don't worry, I'm dying soon. When I die, I can donate my eyes to you."

The boy was stunned for a moment before he forced a smile and calmly ordered her, "Then you can't cry anymore. I want a pair of perfectly intact eyes."