Chapter 23 Parting: Every subtle, almost negligible moment…
The next day, the last period before school ended was biology class. After class, Ye Yuying followed the biology teacher to the office one after the other, and she felt more relaxed than ever before.
So easily that it could completely cover up the fact that she failed, she was even a little impatient to let the biology teacher appreciate her beautiful and unique handwriting.
More importantly—she has parents now.
The biology group's office door was half-open, the corridor was dimly lit, and a breeze rustled through the old bulletin board in the corner.
She stood in the doorway and gently knocked: "Report."
The biology teacher didn't even look up: "Come in."
She walked in with her head down and handed over the test paper with both hands.
"The parents have signed."
The biology teacher took the test paper and glanced at it casually.
However, the next second, her gaze paused noticeably, and she glanced around again as if uncertain.
"Cheng Mingdu?"
When she uttered the name, her tone paused slightly, a hint of doubt lurking in her voice, but more so a thoughtful one.
Ye Yuying's fingertips twitched slightly, and she responded softly, "Mm."
"Is this your parent?" the biology teacher asked, her voice rising almost as if she were questioning him with some suspicion.
Ye Yuying wasn't sure if being unrelated by blood or not on the same household register counted. She hesitated for a moment, hiding some selfish motives, and nodded with a mix of guilt and pride.
The biology teacher scrutinized the neat, flowing handwriting, seemingly wondering if it was just a case of someone sharing the same name.
Who is he to you?
"Brother." Ye Yuying's voice was more composed. This title had been extremely unfamiliar to her for the past ten years, but recently she had developed many longings for it.
I heard that Ge Jie's arrogance and domineering attitude is not because of her complicated and powerful family background, but because she has an older brother who is involved in organized crime and has a certain "reputation".
Everyone assumed that her brother would provide her with protection, so they all tolerated Ge Jie's behavior, fearing that she might call her brother if she became unhappy.
Ye Yuying sighed countless times in her heart, wishing she also had a powerful older brother...
She wouldn't have to bow down and submit to Ge Jie, nor would she have to maintain her last place ranking to stay away from the students' "strife," sitting in that humiliating yet safe "special position" under the scolding of all the teachers.
The biology teacher said "Oh," immediately realizing something. Knowing that the two had different surnames, she couldn't help but guess what was going on, but she didn't press the matter further.
She turned her gaze away from the exam papers, glancing at Ye Yuying beside her, and said in a cool and casual tone, "Since you have such a brother, you should learn more from him."
Ye Yuying suddenly looked up at the teacher, her gaze pausing for half a second on the hand that was rapidly grading homework.
She silently shook her head in her heart. It was no use; Cheng Mingdu was only returning to China briefly and would leave soon for the other hemisphere, separated by the entire Pacific Ocean…
After a while, the biology teacher looked at the somewhat distracted little girl in front of him and suddenly said, "If this really is Cheng Mingdu from Rongcheng No. 1 High School, he will be a remarkable person. With such a good role model by your side, you should think more about how to improve yourself."
For some reason, the biology teacher's tone softened considerably. Before, he had clearly been looking at her coldly, but now he spoke to her with more earnestness.
Ye Yuying's hand, hidden beneath her sleeve, was unconsciously picking at the rough edges of her nails, again and again, secretly and subconsciously.
Could it be because of Cheng Mingdu? So that name works so well at Laishan Middle School...
Just how outstanding does a student have to be to be known by teachers from other schools?
However... even if Cheng Mingdu, a top student, really is her brother, it's not as practical for him to be a petty thug. After all, she knows she's still in a violent group where the strong rule and the weak are ruled by their fists.
She was actually a little reluctant to involve Cheng Mingdu, because if a conflict broke out, his delicate face would also be beaten into a pulp.
Ye Yuying responded softly, put her test paper away, took two steps back, turned and walked out of the office.
Yes... she had ulterior motives for getting Cheng Mingdu to sign, some unspeakable motives.
She wanted others to know that she also had an older brother...
Perhaps he can't protect himself with force, but he will become a "mascot" so that she remembers she has a backer when she occasionally rebels.
Even though this support was fabricated by her.
*
That day, Ye Yuying returned to the Cheng family home an hour later than usual. When she got to the side door, she found that someone had already closed it, probably because one of the aunties thought she had already returned.
She moved to the side door and stared blankly at it. She felt herself becoming more and more transparent in the cold wind, like a soul walking in the sunlight, invisible to everyone, with no sense of existence, and scattered when the wind blew.
She spent five minutes outside the door mentally preparing herself before hesitantly ringing the doorbell.
The person inside saw her through the monitor and quickly opened the electric door. She bent down, picked up her dirty schoolbag from the ground, and slowly and wearily walked inside.
She moved slowly because she hadn't had time to check how many scrapes she had. All she knew was that in November, she still couldn't roll up her clothes—it was too cold.
The wound beneath the fabric hurts whenever it touches the clothes. What's worse than the pain is the fear that the clothes will stick to the wound and tear off, causing excruciating pain.
Yes, she was hit, more seriously than before, but it was all superficial injuries.
But this time, it wasn't Ge Jie who hit her, but Ge Jie's nemesis, a group of female thugs from another school, a group that was even more difficult to mess with.
The incident started when she was asked to deliver something to Lin Zhiyan after school. However, Lin Zhiyan was away at a competition and not at school. On her way back, she was alone and, by sheer coincidence, encountered this group of people smoking in a secluded corner.
The female thug in the lead recognized her, threw away her cigarette butt, and walked towards her menacingly.
"You know that bitch Ge Jie, right?"
Ye Yuying stood in the wind, her fingertips stiff with cold. Faced with those words that were laced with hostility, she didn't speak, but instinctively wanted to turn around and walk around.
However, those men were unwilling to let her leave.
Ye Yuying was already experienced in dealing with this kind of situation. The first questioning was when the other party's defense was weakest. Don't wait until the conversation was about to escalate to the point of attack before running away. Instead, strike unexpectedly.
"I'm talking to you, are you deaf?" The girl in the lead had already walked up to her and was about to grab her school uniform collar.
But she missed her target and Ye Yuying burst out of the crowd, running wildly down the road as if her life depended on it.
She dared not turn around; all she could hear was the sound of the wind, and she didn't even have time to see the figures of passersby clearly.
She has had good explosive power in sprinting since she was a child; at least among girls, she runs very fast.
She felt she had gone far enough, and as she slowed down, panting, and was about to turn around, someone suddenly grabbed the back of her school uniform collar.
A strange girl grabbed her from behind and yelled menacingly, "Run! You think you can get away?"
She was surprised that someone in the crowd could catch up with her.
Ye Yuying stumbled as she was pulled, her schoolbag almost slipping off her back, and her knee accidentally hit the edge of a nearby stone brick, immediately burning with pain.
Their leader arrived late, grabbing her by the collar of her school uniform, clearly enraged.
"Why the hell are you running away when I ask you if you know Ge Jie?"
"I...I'm not her friend..." She had never seen anything like this before, and it seemed even more terrifying than what Ge Jie had done. She gritted her teeth and explained in a low voice, her voice as thin as grass trembling in the wind.
"If you're not friends, why are you in the same school as her? And why are you delivering things for her?"
Another girl scoffed, "Pretending to be innocent? Who would believe that someone with your 'tail-wagging' manner isn't one of her lackeys?"
“Last time Ge Jie beat someone up, you were standing in the crowd, and you even said you weren’t part of the group.”
"That bitch is spreading rumors about me outside. She better not get caught by me, or she'll suffer a terrible fate!"
The next second, several people surrounded her, kicking, shoving, and pinching her wrists... without any scruples or attempts to hide.
"Don't hit her in the face, leave her some dignity." Someone shouted, and then her back and waist became the focus of the attack.
Ye Yuying gritted her teeth and endured it, without making a sound, without resisting, and without even crying—
She knew that if she cried, the other party would hit her even harder and would only think she was "weak." She could only endure it and bear it.
The group dispersed, grumbling, only after some parents passed by.
She collapsed to the ground, her hands bracing her against the earth, her fingertips stained with ash and blood, her teeth clenched, but she didn't feel like crying for a moment.
She didn't know when this intense pain would end. One wrong step led to another, and now she was facing both internal and external troubles.
She closed her eyes, wanting to fully experience the pain in her body, using this extreme method to ignite the suppressed anger and courage within her.
She still wanted to fight back, but this was a world where might makes right.
She didn't want to solve everything with violence like they did, but if she didn't deal with them, they would deal with themselves, and the torment would be endless.
Ye Yuying changed into a looser set of clothes, avoiding the crowd, and quietly cleaned her wounds in the washroom.
She bent down to wash her wound, her sleeves rolled up to reveal a shocking patch of old, purplish-blue bruises and fresh abrasions on her arm. The water washed away the faint red streaks of blood, making her fingers tremble slightly.
Cold water flowed over my fingertips, dripped down my wrist onto the edge of the pool, the sound subtle yet exceptionally clear.
She bit her lip, her shoulders trembled, but she forced herself to hold it in.
She was lost in thought about how to resolve the situation next time, mentally reenacting the scene of her being taken advantage of today, and she was seething with resentment.
Suddenly, a very light footstep came from the direction of the corridor—clear and powerful, like the wind piercing through the bamboo forest, with a faint yet unusually clear presence.
Ye Yuying froze for a moment.
The footsteps stopped just as they passed the water room.
She didn't look up, but her body stiffened as if she had been acupunctured.
The water murmured softly, and the air seemed to freeze.
Until that familiar, deep voice slowly and deliberately fell:
"You got bullied again?"
She suddenly looked up.
The figure standing in front of the water room was tall and upright, at the junction of the corridor and the water room. His eyebrows and eyes were as calm as the surface of a lake after a snowfall, but there was a rare hint of doubt in his eyes.
Cheng Mingdu.
He was dressed in sportswear, his collar slightly open, just enough to cover his fair collarbone. His hair was slightly damp, and he was carrying a tennis racket in his other hand. He must have just finished exercising at the tennis court in the backyard and happened to be passing by.
The weather was gloomy today, with no clear sunlight, but his tall figure blocked the light from outside the courtyard, leaving a clear shadow on the floor of the washroom that enveloped her completely.
Ye Yuying choked on her words and almost lost her grip on the water pipe.
She lowered her head guiltily, quickly turned off the tap, and hurriedly pulled down her sleeve.
She said, "I accidentally fell..."
"Did you fall on your own?" Cheng Mingdu's voice was as cold as ever, his lips were tightly pressed together, and his eyes were slightly dark. "To fall like a blunt force injury, you need to find a step that can lift you up and throw you down. I'll believe you."
His tone wasn't intense, even somewhat cold, but every word seemed to relentlessly peel away her protective layers.
She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything; her expression was somewhat dazed due to nervousness.
The air grew heavy in her silence.
After a long pause, she whispered, "...Don't ask anymore."
Ye Yuying's breathing suddenly became a little erratic. She didn't understand whether Cheng Mingdu's words were out of curiosity that it was none of his business, or... concern?
Regardless of the type, she subconsciously pushed away the only possible light.
She was really scared.
She was afraid he would find out how wretched she was, as pathetic as a rat in a sewer, never once stepping into the sunlight.
Her life was like that of an ant, and even her wounds made her feel that they were destined to be hidden in the darkness.
Because she got into trouble, she was afraid he would know how pathetic and helpless she was, afraid he would know that she had bowed her head before his fists, like everyone else, and submitted to Ge Jie, becoming a lackey who followed her every command.
Someone like him would probably look down on her...
“I don’t want anyone to know…” she said softly, her eyelashes drooping low as if trying to hide all her grievances in the shadows, while she said firmly, “I will solve this myself one day.”
Ye Yuying's eyelashes trembled, and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
These tears came suddenly and unexpectedly, yet she clearly hadn't felt this way when she was being beaten.
Cheng Mingdu always seemed indifferent, like a detached bystander, but his words were always incisive.
That's it... that's enough.
She doesn't need concern, nor does she expect to have a protective umbrella; just asking occasionally is enough.
"Name." He asked again in a short, curt tone, devoid of any warmth, yet more somber than before, making the air pressure drop several degrees.
"I don't know him." She quickly shook her head.
Cheng Mingdu's gaze darkened, and he asked:
"Will you have a driver pick you up from school from now on?"
Remembering Jiang Xinxue's instructions and warnings, she shook her head more vigorously, staring at her toes, and whispered:
"I'll handle it myself."
"Let me know if you need anything," Cheng Mingdu said before disappearing through the doorway.
Looking at the empty door frame, Ye Yuying wondered if she had misheard.
Did he really say that? What if, when she actually sought help, she realized she had only imagined it...?
With her feet firmly on the ground, she considered chasing after him to ask if she had misheard.
She didn't have the courage to ask, and just shook her head, pretending she had misheard.
Perhaps she desires too much, and some things are simply luxuries, so she has certain fantasies.
She stood at the door of the washroom, staring blankly at his retreating figure, feeling a strange mix of warmth and loss in her heart.
*
After that day, Ye Yuying miraculously discovered during a quiz that the solution to every math problem was already in her mind.
She discovered for the first time that some changes in knowledge happen gradually and imperceptibly.
Before she began to write, she hesitated for a moment, then instead wrote down the complete solution steps on the draft paper, just as she does every midnight.
When copying the answer sheet, she hesitated for a while, but decided to avoid writing the correct answers and only write one result in the major questions.
The result is correct, so I'll get two to three points. I'll deduct all points for the solution process, and get two to three correct answers on both the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. That way, I can...
After all that happened last night, the bell rang, and she handed in her paper on time.
Before school ended, there was a class meeting. Just as the meeting was over, the math teacher appeared at the door, walked in with a livid face, and said, "Ye Yuying, come to my office after school."
Seeing this, Ge Jie's group of friends had no choice but to quietly put the small gift that Ye Yuying was going to give to Lin Zhiyan back into the table box.
Ye Yuying knew that on the way back to the Cheng family after delivering the gifts, she would pass a bridge in a high-lying area, so she had to find a way to get the teacher to keep her there and avoid taking on the task of delivering gifts.
She successfully passed all the quizzes and continued to hold the last place position, with teachers from each subject taking turns to invite her to their offices for a lecture every day.
She was actually quite happy to be scolded, since being lectured didn't really cause any real harm, even if the words were sometimes harsh. It was still better than being beaten up by a group of people.
Even after being reprimanded, she would slyly follow the teacher out of school, thus avoiding getting into fewer and fewer troubles.
She got her wish and reduced her participation in the "sisterhood" bullying activities.
This is the survival method she painstakingly discovered.
Of course, her troubles were not completely resolved. The female thugs were elusive, and for a while, some students at the school were frequently extorted for "protection money" by people from other schools, who would beat them if they didn't pay.
When Ye Yuying went home, she paid close attention to her surroundings and would run frantically to the bus stop as soon as she left the school gate.
But once she encountered that group of people, she could never escape; every time she ran, she used all her strength to escape.
Sometimes she would be caught and forced to empty her pockets as "tribute".
Sometimes she would successfully escape and return to the Cheng family safely and happily.
As she became more experienced at escaping, she avoided being caught more and more often, and when she was caught, she simply accepted her bad luck and paid up.
Every time Cheng Mingdu came back from outside, or passed by the water room after exercising, he would subconsciously glance at it out of the corner of his eye.
If the water room is empty during that time period, it means she has successfully escaped.
If she is cleaning her wounds, it means she has been captured again.
She seemed to be playing a thrilling cat-and-mouse game, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing.
But as she appeared in the washroom less and less often...
He knew that she would solve everything in her own way, just as he had said that day.
*
One late night.
The working women gathered in the break room, chatting animatedly.
"Lost your pen again?"
"Yes, I just got the new pen the day before yesterday, and I've only unpacked it for a couple of days..."
"You know what, this isn't the first or second time this has happened. Before, we said we misremembered, but now, even a broken pen has vanished. No matter how big the Cheng family is, they won't tolerate such dishonest practices."
"Tsk, don't talk nonsense, what if Madam hears you..."
"Are you stupid? These people in the family don't have time to care about us. It's that little girl who's in charge—"
"Shh!"
Just then, footsteps came from outside the door.
Cheng Mingdu was returning from outside when he happened to pass by. He was usually uninterested in such trivial matters, but today he unusually stopped and asked, "Did you lose your pen?"
An older woman quickly smiled and said, "It's nothing serious."
Another woman, however, was not willing to let the matter rest and complained from the side, "We've been losing pens lately, and we suspect someone is stealing them."
The third person added, "I often see that little girl surnamed Ye wandering around here late at night. And, if I may say something..."
Cheng Mingdu glanced at her, his expression neither angry nor pleased. Everyone immediately fell silent and went about their business.
The next morning.
The maid noticed that a row of neatly arranged pens had suddenly appeared in the cabinet under the duty roster.
They had all kinds of ballpoint pens, fountain pens, and markers in various thicknesses and colors, and even some brands with Japanese and Korean writing on them that they had never seen before.
They were arranged very neatly, as if they had been carefully selected, stacked horizontally and vertically under the originally messy cabinet.
One aunt exclaimed, "Who is this person who is so meticulous?"
What they didn't notice was that at midnight, at a small dining table in the corner of the kitchen, Ye Yuying was slowly drinking a bowl of warm milk. Her hair, which had just been washed and was still slightly damp, was casually tied back with a hair tie, looking neat and tidy.
Unlike usual, she didn't sneakily grab a rice ball and start eating in the corner. Instead, for the first time, she bent down and examined the pens.
Just as she was about to reach for it, she hesitated...
Yes, she took all those pens because if she got caught once, all her pocket money had to be "given away," and she was even deprived of the money to buy pens, so she could only take the pens from here.
But when she suddenly found herself with so many exquisite imported stationery items, she felt embarrassed to take them.
This means that someone noticed she had the pen.
She took a bite of her rice ball, made up her mind, and went back to her room to think about it all night.
Over the weekend, she asked the aunties for a sharp pair of scissors.
Back in her room, she looked in the mirror and let her hair down. She took small scissors and carefully cut her shoulder-length hair into short hair below her ears. The hair fell to the ground, like a kind of ritual.
She couldn't explain how she made the decision. She used to care a lot about her hair, but she found herself being pulled by the hair a lot, and the pain was so intense that she was powerless to resist.
This shows that while her hair may be beautiful, it was a burden to her at that moment.
On Monday morning, she stared at her messy, short hair that looked like it had been chewed by a dog as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed out the door. Even though her injuries hadn't fully healed, her figure was more composed and determined than ever before, even carrying a hint of anticipation.
When she got home that night, Cheng Mingdu opened the door for her.
Her school uniform was more disheveled than usual, covered in yellow dirt, with mud splattered on her trouser legs, and two tears in the cuffs. Her face was dirty and had scratches, and her wrists were also covered in injuries.
Like ducklings after the rain, even though they are covered in dirt, they are full of the breath of life.
She looked at Cheng Mingdu, and for the first time, seeing herself in his eyes in her disheveled state, she could look him directly in the eye and let out a relieved smile.
Perhaps a young girl's smile isn't breathtakingly beautiful, but when she appears at the door with her scars, patting her bulging pockets, without saying a word, her eyes shine with hope and the light of triumph.
She didn't tell Cheng Mingdu the whole story, but she did manage to get the money back.
Not a penny less.
No one knows what she went through after school that day; she was probably more reckless than ever before.
Later, the Cheng family's private doctor knocked on her door to examine her injuries.
Ye Yuying initially wanted to refuse, but the private doctor said, "Don't worry, I'm only responsible for treating patients and won't ask any questions."
She breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, quietly pulling up her sleeve.
The doctor put on gloves, didn't ask any unnecessary questions, and carefully examined the wounds under the light.
The outer side of the arm was covered with large bruises, with scattered red spots mixed in with the bluish-purple color, which were marks left by repeated blows from a blunt object or the sole of a shoe;
Several abrasions on my side are still scabbed over; if not treated properly, they can easily become infected.
The knee is red and swollen, and it hurts slightly when moving. It was probably caused by falling and hitting a hard object.
The doctor treated the injuries very carefully, saying while applying the medicine, "These injuries are not minor. Although you don't need to be hospitalized, you will need to rest for at least three to five days. It would be best to take sick leave."
Ye Yuying paused for a moment: "No...no need, I can still go to school."
The doctor didn't look up, but simply said, "This isn't a suggestion, it's a doctor's order. If you continue to endure it, it will leave scars or hidden injuries, especially since your constitution isn't very strong and your immunity is average."
After the bandaging was finished, the doctor left a small bottle of oral vitamin C and anti-inflammatory medication.
The door clicked shut, and the room fell silent once more.
Ye Yuying stared at the bottles of medicine for a long time before slowly reaching out to pick them up. She ran her fingertips over the words on the labels, and for some reason, her eyes welled up with tears again.
She vaguely knew who it was; no one else in the house would do such a thing, and no one knew that she might be going to duel with someone.
That night, her body, which she had been holding up with her willpower, finally succumbed to overwhelming weakness. The pain in her muscles and bones became very pronounced after the adrenaline subsided.
She dragged her aching body down the stairs with difficulty, and habitually went to the lounge to get rice balls. There were many more things in the refrigerator. Although there were no notes, she knew they were all for her.
It's all high-quality protein.
Several years later, when Ye Yuying opened her diary and saw her description of the food from that night, a warm feeling finally flowed through her heart.
Because those... are all foods that are beneficial for wound healing.
After that day, she listened to the doctor's advice, called her teacher, and asked for sick leave.
Finally, I can rest in bed for a few days without any worries.
Once, Ye Yuying heard someone coming upstairs in her room. She guessed it was Cheng Mingdu and thought he was coming to the attic to get something.
The footsteps stopped outside the door, followed by the sound of a paper bag being put in.
She struggled to get out of bed, and despite the pain, she flung open the door. Cheng Mingdu had just turned around to go downstairs.
She glanced down at the contents of the bag.
A box of medicated plasters, a muscle pain relief spray, several medical cooling patches, a small bottle of high-protein nutritional milk, and several packets of instant oatmeal. At the very bottom, there were even two packets of medical dressings and a box of bandages.
Each item was unassuming, yet each one happened to be helpful in recovering from her injuries during this period.
She couldn't help but call out to Cheng Mingdu, and the word "brother" seemed to come out much more naturally than before.
"Do you really dislike me and my mom?" She didn't know where she got the courage to ask that question so bluntly.
It carries the sensitivity and anxiety that a young girl has kept bottled up inside for so long.
She wasn't sure if Cheng Mingdu had heard her, but seeing him stop meant he had.
Cheng Mingdu slowly turned his head, his gaze falling, his tone devoid of enthusiasm.
"To be precise, I have no feelings for Jiang Xinxue. She forced your way into this family, but you have much more backbone than your mother."
The lights on the porch were a warm yellow. Cheng Mingdu was facing away from the light, his silhouette seemingly blending into the night, but his back was exceptionally straight.
"Why did you help me?" she couldn't help but ask, her voice barely audible, "Just because I'm your 'nominal sister'?"
Cheng Mingdu glanced sideways, but didn't turn around completely. He simply said, "No."
Ye Yuying held her breath.
"Because I don't like seeing people who are trying so hard to live, yet aren't even allowed a shred of dignity."
His voice was extremely soft, like dust being brushed off a windowsill, landing cleanly and gently on her wounded heart.
The air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
"Go to bed early." After saying that, he turned and went downstairs, his steps as steady and deliberate as ever.
Ye Yuying stood at the door, not closing it for a long time, watching his figure disappear completely at the top of the stairs.
In the past, Ye Yuying could feel a huge block of ice between her and Cheng Mingdu, making their relationship so awkward.
She never felt like she truly belonged here.
Cheng Mingdu has never acknowledged her "entry".
Their relationship, though described as siblings, is separated by numerous ethical and blood ties—they share no blood relation, no shared memories, no emotional foundation built from childhood acquaintance, and are only bound by a marriage certificate hastily sewn together by their parents.
In the small family that Jiang Xinxue and Cheng Jianian formed, there is only room for themselves.
Ye Yuying and Cheng Mingdu both had to split their bodies in two to give half of each half to this family.
Ye Yuying often felt that they were more like two actors who had been forced into the same script, awkwardly acting alongside their respective parents.
She firmly believed that everyone here was just drifting aimlessly, but in this story, the one who helped her was not her mother, but Cheng Mingdu, a complete stranger with whom she had a high degree of estrangement.
But recently, the ice between them has begun to loosen and crumble.
Every minute moment, so subtle as to be almost negligible, is the starting point for cracks to appear in that layer of ice.
*
Over the next few days, Ye Yuying quietly rested in her room.
The Cheng family seemed unusually peaceful; no one bothered her, and the servants stopped nagging in front of her.
She takes her medication on time as prescribed by the doctor every day, and when the doorbell rings, someone delivers her meals. She always goes to the door to say thank you.
In the afternoon, she would occasionally sit by the window and look at the gloomy sky outside for a while.
On the third day, there was a knock on her door at mealtime. When she opened the door, it was Cheng Mingdu.
She paused for a moment, then instinctively blurted out, "How could you—"
"I'll be going back next week." His tone was so calm, as if he were reporting something that had nothing to do with her.
Ye Yuying didn't react for a moment: "You're... going back to America?"
Cheng Mingdu nodded, his gaze sweeping lightly over her forehead and under her eyes: "The doctor said you are recovering well. As long as you continue to take your medicine on time, you will be able to go downstairs and move around in three or four days."
She said "Oh," lowered her eyelashes, and spoke in a voice as soft as the wind rustling through leaves: "You came... to say goodbye to me?"
He didn't answer immediately, but took a flat envelope out of his bag and handed it to her: "This is a list of items in my attic. There are many books that might suit you. If you're interested, you can find them yourself. You don't need to ask me."
"Come to the kitchen sometime, and I'll tell you where the ingredients are. You can make rice balls yourself from now on."
Ye Yuying took it in a daze, and only when her fingertips touched the cover did she realize that this was not the "farewell letter" she had imagined, but a heavy "transitional arrangement".
"After you go back... we won't keep in touch much anymore, right?" She looked up at him, her tone calm, but with a hint of caution in it.
Cheng Mingdu's eyes finally flickered. After a moment of silence, he said, "My return to America is not to cut off everything."
"If you have any questions, send an email, or ask your housekeeper to relay the message. Do you know how to send emails?"
"Hmm..." Her nose twitched slightly. "I've never sent it before, but I know how."
He looked at her and finally nodded slightly: "Okay."
The distance between them was no more than the width of a door frame, yet it felt as if they spanned an entire ocean.
Ye Yuying lowered her head and held the letter tightly. The bitterness in her heart was not because of parting, but because of some kind of connection that was about to be formed but was completely severed in its infancy—she had never had a "brother".
It was already time to say goodbye.
"Where are you..." she couldn't help but ask, "Are you very busy?"
Cheng Mingdu looked at her for a moment, then said seriously, "It will be very busy. But I will check my emails every morning."
After saying this, he sighed softly, as if he had let go of something or suppressed something, and then turned to leave.
Ye Yuying suddenly called out to him, "Brother."
He stopped in his tracks.
Her lips moved, but in the end she only whispered, "Have a safe journey."
Cheng Mingdu turned around and looked at her standing under the warm yellow light, wearing loose loungewear, her hair messy and hanging behind her ears, like a kitten that had just walked out of the snow, but her eyes were bright—
Like a child struggling to look towards a distant lighthouse in the darkness of night.
He nodded: "I'm not leaving until next week, no need to rush to say anything."
Ye Yuying nodded without saying anything.
-----------------------
Author's Note: A really long chapter!!
50 red envelopes! [Sprinkling flowers]
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