ID card
Lu Er was about to escort Ruan Xiyan downstairs when, before she reached the door, the sound of rustling footsteps blocked her way. The door was unexpectedly pushed open, and Ruan Song and Ruan Tang came into view.
Ruan Xiyan stopped in her tracks, momentarily unsure of what to do: "My mom and my cousin are back."
"Xiyan, you're awake? Hey, is this—your classmate?" Ruan Song noticed the unfamiliar girl next to her, her eyes widening slightly.
Ruan Xiyan met her mother's gaze, scratched her head, and chuckled awkwardly, "Ah...Hello, Auntie."
"You are..." Ruan Song's eyes widened as if she had discovered a new continent, and then she exclaimed in surprise, "You're Xi Yan's class monitor, right? The one who's in the top ten of the grade, the girl with excellent grades. Your name is, is it Lu Er?
Ruan Xiyan hadn't expected this, but at that moment he vaguely recalled his mother... who seemed to care about Lu Er quite a bit. It seemed that after the parent-teacher meeting, on the way to dinner with Ruan Song, she had talked to him a lot about the girl in their class named Lu Er.
"Your homeroom teacher said that the top student and the last student in the class crossed a Mount Everest. They scored over 300 points and over 600 points respectively, a difference of half."
As Ruan Song drove, she exclaimed, "There are students in regular classes with such good grades. They're ranked seventh in the grade. Xi Yan, you should learn from them." She continued to mutter, but Ruan Xi Yan was playing a game and only gave a few perfunctory replies before forgetting about it.
“Sigh, I really wish someone could tutor you.” Ruan Song glanced at Ruan Xiyan, then gave up. “…Never mind, I’d better not let you drag them down.”
That parent-teacher meeting was before the winter break. More than half a year has passed, and Ruan Xiyan was genuinely surprised that his mother would still remember Lu Er.
"Come, come, sit down. You weren't just about to go back, were you? It's not easy for you to come to our house, let Auntie treat you well."
Ruan Xiyan had no choice but to retreat to the sofa, unable to avoid the enthusiasm. Ruan Song instructed Lu Er, who was actually sitting nearby, "Xiyan, go get some dates. They're by the cupboard; I brought them back from Egypt."
Lu Er didn't speak, and went to the kitchen to get something. After finding it, she didn't rush out, but leaned slightly against the door frame to look in the direction of the sofa. Ruan Xiyan's mother was strikingly beautiful, with a striking and elegant appearance. Ruan Xiyan's lips seemed to have inherited hers, appearing thin and soft.
What struck Lu Er most was the radiant warmth that the three of them exuded from within. The old woman said that some people are born with a gentle aura, possessing an attraction and soothing quality towards all things. The Ruan Xiyan family were such people.
Before meeting Ruan Xiyan, Lu Er was not very trusting.
Now... she snapped out of her thoughts, tore open the packaging of the dates, and handed them to Ruan Song.
"Try this. There are other ways to eat dates, but Auntie hasn't had a chance to try them yet. Hey, little one, why don't you wait for Auntie? I just bought the ingredients and I'll make you some cocoa." Ruan Song acted as if she wanted to shove something into his hands.
Mom, do you know that the person in front of you is your own son? Would you still be so enthusiastic?
Ruan Xiyan thought to herself, then hurriedly waved her hand frantically, "Auntie, no need, I just have something to discuss with Ruan Xiyan. I need to go home now, I'll visit you again when I have time. I'll be going now."
Lu Er followed behind Ruan Xiyan: "I'll take her."
As Ruan Xiyan left the villa, she was still thinking about the scene from earlier and smiled, "Look at how she treated you like a Buddha. That's how my mom is. She values top students a lot. She's been paying attention to you for a long time, saying that your grades are exceptionally good... blah blah blah and so on."
“By the way, with such good grades,” Ruan Xiyan remembered something and looked at her to ask, “why didn’t you go to the honors class? You’re in the top ten in the grade for science, you could have gotten into the top class, right?”
There are more than 20 classes in the senior year of No. 3 Middle School. Class 1 is the top and most outstanding class, also known as the Rocket Class.
“I had a fever during the placement exam,” Lu Er said simply.
"...Oh. That's a pity."
"It's a waste of her talent to be assigned to Class 18," Ruan Xiyan thought.
—
Ruan Xiyan was worried about Lu Er being alone, so he waited outside when she went to her art class. His concern was one reason, but he also had nothing else to do.
"Victory." The words flashed brilliantly on the screen. Ruan Xiyan turned her head to look into the distance, and after spotting Lu Er's figure, she turned off her phone.
He asked her, "Are you alright?"
“No mistake.” Lu Er nodded. Her words were always short and detached, and coupled with her expressionless face, she gave off an icy aura. The key point was that Ruan Xiyan was almost used to it.
"Let me go back with you and cook now." It was past four o'clock in the afternoon, and the section chief was speaking.
"good."
In the summer's daylight, the sun almost scorched the city of Huai'an. Even the few cicadas chirping among the sycamore trees sounded withered and lifeless.
The streets were nearly deserted as Ruan Xiyan and Lu Er walked along. Looking at the bright, sunny sky, Ruan Xiyan suddenly had a thought: "Do you think if it stays sunny forever, we'll never change back? Or perhaps we won't need to change at all?"
"Theoretically speaking, that is indeed the case."
Ruan Xiyan started to daydream: "Then why don't we stay in a place where it never rains? For example, a desert, like the Atacama Desert in Chile, where it seems like it hasn't rained for over four hundred years."
"...That's impossible, isn't it?"
Ruan Xiyan's mind seemed to have sprouted wings and flown away: "If we make this public, wouldn't it be the first case in history?"
Lu Er couldn't resist putting her hand on his forehead to touch it, but then she remembered that Ruan Xiyan was using her body, so she gave up: "I don't want to be taken to a mental hospital."
"..."
The two stopped at a traffic light. Ruan Xiyan glanced at Lu Er, then mustered her courage and said, "I heard my aunt is hiring part-time workers, and I think it would suit you perfectly. Why don't you give it a try?"
Lu Er looked at him, and he immediately avoided her gaze as if he had something to hide: "She owns a flower shop, and they're short-handed recently. If you're looking for a part-time job, you might consider her."
"...I just happened to find out that she needed someone to help her out."
Ruan Xiyan fanned herself with her hand, as if casually dissipating the heat from her cheeks.
Lu Er had no doubts: "Can I?"
"It should be possible. We're going that way anyway, let's go to her shop and ask."
Ruan Xiyan's aunt's flower shop is located at the intersection of the subway station, which is convenient for transportation and has a fairly high customer flow.
"Xi Yan?"
A woman in an apron with her hair in a bun was squatting in front of the tulips, fiddling with them. After greeting them, she noticed the girl next to her and, after a moment's thought, said, "Oh, you must be your classmate who needs a summer job. Come with me."
"My job here is very simple: sweeping, unloading goods, and taking care of the flowers. That's about it. Since you're Xiyan's friend, you don't need to tell me if you need to take time off. Come in the afternoon, and it'll be eighty-five yuan for an afternoon, okay?"
Ruan Xiyan looked at Lu Er from a distance and saw her nod affirmatively, so she nodded as well: "Of course, store manager."
"Then let's come starting tomorrow."
"Oh, there's one more thing. I can't hire child laborers who are too young," the aunt instructed. "Little girl, are you over sixteen? Add me on WeChat, take a picture of your ID card and send it to me for my records."
After leaving the flower shop, Lu Er heard Ruan Xiyan mention this and replied, "I'm sixteen years old. My ID card should be tucked inside my first-year high school English textbook. Look for it on the bookshelf."
—
Lu Mingyi was home today, and the two of them were afraid of being discovered, so they cooked the whole thing with bated breath. Of course, the one who was even more furtive was Ruan Xiyan.
Before leaving, Lu Er thanked Ruan Xiyan, saying, "Thank you for helping me find a part-time job."
"It was just a small favor. Goodbye." She really enjoys thanking people.
Lu Er had one more thing to say: "I also want to tutor you. Whenever you need me, I can help you."
Ruan Xiyan had almost forgotten, and casually said, "Then let's do it tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, you can come to my house to tutor me."
Okay. Bye-bye.
Lu Er returned to Ruan Xiyan's house. Ruan Song heard footsteps in the kitchen and poked his head out: "Xiyan, dinner is ready."
Lu Er did as instructed, put down her things, washed her hands, and prepared to eat. Ruan Song, with a very clear purpose, put a piece of pork rib in her bowl, and then asked gossipily, "Are you and that classmate getting along well now?"
“It’s alright.” Lu Er recalled Ruan Xiyan’s speaking style and added, “She’s in the same tutoring class as me now, so… we got to know each other over time.”
"Then you should invite more people over to your house. She's a little girl, so well-behaved and quiet, and she's so good at studying. She's just like you."
Hearing someone else's mother praising her, Lu Er felt a pang of unease, as if her heart was being scratched by a cat's claws. She suppressed her anxiety and said, "...She will come tomorrow. I...I asked her to tutor me."
Ruan Song's eyes lit up: "Really? Then you have to learn from that girl. She's definitely a top prospect for Tsinghua or Peking University. You'll have to go to training camp when school starts, right? Make the most of that time to improve your academic scores."
Ruan Tang, standing nearby, interjected, "Cousin, you actually need tutoring now? You've changed." She let out a mock, heavy sigh, stroking the golden retriever's head, "Mao Mao, isn't that right?"
"Woof woof!" The golden retriever barked twice. Ruan Tang noticed that it hadn't eaten the ribs, but instead was picking up each piece and piling them up on the side, as if it were hoarding something. She asked curiously, "Mao Mao, are you trying to hoard something like a hoarding mouse?"
The golden retriever barked again, repeatedly looking back. A black and white cat was resting on the windowsill behind it.
Ruan Tang solemnly told it, "Mao Mao, cats don't eat this."
She remembered that Ruan Xiyan had brought it back. Her gaze fixed intently on Lu Er. Considering recent events, Ruan Tang sensed something unusual: "Cousin, this cat you brought back, it wouldn't be that sister's, would it?"
Her cousin brought home a cat that had undergone surgery in the middle of the night, saying that a friend was too busy to take care of it. The next day, he brought a girl he had never met before home. Ruan Tang felt that she had guessed correctly.
"..." Lu Er ate his rice and silently pretended to be dead.
On the other side is Ruan Xiyan.
He washed the dishes and went back to his room. Before going to bed, he looked for his ID card on the bookshelf. Sure enough, just as Lu Er had said, Ruan Xiyan found his ID card in her first-year high school English textbook.
This ID photo was taken in her third year of junior high school. Her bangs were shorter then, and her features were more youthful. Only her eyes, staring at the camera, remained dark and serene, unchanged from now.
As Ruan Xiyan took the photo and was about to send it, a ripple suddenly appeared in her eyes.
Date of birth: July 24, 20x.
His fingertip slowly landed on the last number.
Her birthday is coming soon.
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