Chapter 132 That was their first encounter in life
Two months after meeting Ruan Yunheng, Xie Yanwen met Xu Nianyi for the first time.
In the hospital.
Ruan Yunheng was lying on the hospital bed. Xu Nianyi was sitting beside the bed, holding Ruan Yunheng's hand, quiet and well-behaved.
When she looked up at him, he saw that the little girl's eyes were very red and she was holding back her tears. When she looked at him, her clear and wet eyes were full of confusion and curiosity.
That was 15-year-old Xu Nianyi.
That was their first encounter in life.
At that time, Xie Yanwen looked at the little girl who was holding back her tears without any emotion, and he never thought that one day she would become the one he would never forget.
In fact, for him at that time, it was not appropriate to bring Xu Nianyi home and live with him.
But Ruan Yunheng entrusted him with this, so it seemed inappropriate for him to hand the girl over to someone else.
After Ruan Yunheng's funeral, when he asked Xu Nianyi about her wishes, she just whispered to him, "My father said that you are his best friend. He asked me to follow you."
Xie Yanwen was silent.
He said nothing more and took her home.
Xu Nianyi's arrival suddenly caused ripples in his peaceful life.
It was also at that time that he understood why Ruan Yunheng was not defeated by such a painful life. Perhaps it was really because this girl was too noisy.
Xu Nianyi is a very lively girl. Xie Yanwen often wonders how Ruan Yunheng raised her and why she developed such a personality.
But sometimes when I look at her, I feel that this is how she should be.
She is actually quite similar to Ruan Yunheng when he was a child.
It seems that nothing unhappy can stay in her heart for long. She is always happy with a smile on her face.
However, Xie Yanwen would occasionally suffer from insomnia at night. When he was about to go to the balcony to smoke a cigarette, he saw the little girl sitting on the balcony swing chair, staring at the starry sky in a daze.
Very quiet, just like she was when he first saw her.
Every time, Xie Yanwen would look at her silently for a few seconds and then step back to the balcony at the back to smoke, and the two of them would not disturb each other.
Until one day, he sat down on the back balcony, lit a cigarette and took just two puffs when she somehow discovered him.
She came over and asked him, "Can't you sleep either?"
Xie Yanwen looked over and saw her sitting down opposite him. "I can't sleep either."
She held her chin with both hands, her eyes red, and whispered to him, "I miss my dad."
Xie Yanwen crossed his legs, leaned back on the sofa, smoked slowly, and did not answer her.
She looked at the cigarette between his fingers and suddenly said, "Can I have one?"
Xie Yanwen narrowed his eyes and asked, "Can you?"
She shook her head, "No."
Xie Yanwen put out the cigarette in his hand in the ashtray, "Then don't smoke."
He glanced at her calmly and said, "If I let you smoke, your father will crawl out of his coffin and strangle me to death."
The little girl sighed, "That's good too."
“…”
"I can see him then."
“…”
Xie Yanwen stood up and said, "Go back to sleep, it's late."
Later, when Xie Yanwen saw her in a daze on the balcony, he would walk over and ask her helplessly, "Are you missing Daddy again?"
She leaned on the balcony railing, gazing at the starry sky. "I know it's fake that people turn into stars after they die, but I still hope that he will become the brightest one."
“I really miss him,” she said.
Xie Yanwen also looked at the starry sky and was silent for a long time: "I am about the same age as him."
She tilted her head to look at him, and he seemed to be in a spur of the moment and said to her: "If you don't mind, you can treat me as your father from now on."
The little girl was silent for a long time, then she looked away from him and muttered, "I don't want to."
She seemed unhappy: "I only have one father, don't try to take advantage of me."
“…”
Xie Yanwen ignored her no longer.
She doesn't know how many people in this world are vying to be his child.
They both fell silent, standing together quietly, looking at the starry sky.
That was the first year that Ruan Yunheng left.
It was also the first year she came to him.
On every sleepless night, there is someone to watch the stars with.
He rarely smokes anymore.
Even since she came to his side, Xie Yanwen's frequency of seeing a psychiatrist has gradually decreased, because he hasn't had an attack for a long time.
Occasionally, when he was in a bad mood, she would appear with a smile on her face and pester him to talk about this and that.
When she doesn't miss her father, she always acts like a little sun.
As long as he has time, she would pester him to take her to various places, to the amusement park, to the beach to set off fireworks, and even to go bungee jumping.
Xie Yanwen didn't know if all little girls were as energetic as her. He just accompanied her helplessly at the beginning, and then willingly accompanied her. Even he himself couldn't explain the process.
I feel that the little girl's smile is bright and beautiful, which really makes people happy.
On their first New Year together, she took him to the garden to play with sparklers.
She held a lit sparkler, the fireworks illuminated her face, her eyes flashed with warmth, she ran with a smile, calling his name: "Xie Yanwen, Happy New Year——"
The little girl was disrespectful and never called him uncle, always calling him by his full name.
Xie Yanwen stood not far away, holding a cigarette between his fingertips, kneading it a few times, and then throwing it away.
He walked over to her side. The fairy wand in her hand had just burned out. He pressed the lighter in his hand, lit another one for her and handed it to her. The warm light of the fireworks illuminated their faces again. He looked at her increasingly bright eyes through the fireworks and whispered, "Happy New Year."
Every year from now on, if there is someone by my side, it seems that it won’t be so difficult.
They are becoming closer and closer.
Although she still called him Xie Yanwen, Xie Yanwen, he felt that she seemed to have started to treat him as an elder whom she could act coquettishly towards. Sometimes, in the middle of winter, she would walk on the floor without shoes on. When he asked her to put on shoes, she would hug his neck and act like a spoiled child, asking him to hold her.
Xie Yanwen was helpless, so he picked her up and put her back on the sofa.
Then he said to her, "Xu Nianyi, you are not a child anymore."
She looked at him aggrievedly: "What's wrong with it not being a child? Can't I hold it just because it's not a child?"
Then she would add, "Lao Ruan always hugged me like this before."
Xie Yanwen fell silent.
He had never had children and really didn't know how to raise a child, but Xu Nianyi was not young anymore, and some of his actions were too abrupt.
But if he rejected her, she would feel like she had suffered a great injustice.
It's like the sun is blocked by dark clouds and it's about to rain.
He couldn't bear to see the rain fall.
So, there is always a compromise.
And that was the second year she came to him.
With a girl who loves to act coquettishly by his side, he feels more helpless, but also more... a lot of happiness.
Until the third year after she came to him.
She is 19 years old.
On her birthday, she kissed him.
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