Of course, Fang Yongnian could not possibly stay at Lu Yixin’s house.

Under the insistence of the particularly serious, particularly proper, drunk version of Lu Yixin, he temporarily entrusted the fat cat to her care and booked a room at a convenient hotel near the entrance of her residential compound.

As always, when no one was home at Lu Yixin’s place, he checked all the doors and windows for her, cleaned the cat litter, filled the food and water, and only after making sure she drank another half glass of water did he turn around, ready to leave.

It was already past one in the morning.

The whole residential area was so quiet that only the sound of crickets could be heard.

Lu Yixin stood by the entryway, watching Fang Yongnian put on his shoes.

The leather shoes he wore today had laces, so he could only sit down to wear them.

After a full day of work and a long drive on the highway, he was a little tired. Sitting on the stool, he rolled his neck before beginning to tie his shoes.

His movements were focused; his long, slightly curled eyelashes cast a circle of bluish shadow on his face.

Lu Yixin, who had not completely sobered up, took a step forward with her hands behind her back.

Fang Yongnian didn’t notice. He had already put on the shoe over his prosthetic leg and exhaled softly.

He didn’t know why, but he had already forgotten when it started—that he no longer wanted Lu Yixin to see his prosthetic leg.

He didn’t want to think too deeply about the reason, only attributing it vaguely to the fact that Lu Yixin had grown up.

Lu Yixin took another step forward.

Too close. Fang Yongnian looked up.

She was still wearing the T-shirt and jeans from earlier when they went out, her hair still a bit messy. The redness on her forehead and between her brows from the alcohol had faded somewhat.

She seemed paler.

The thought surfaced suddenly in Fang Yongnian’s mind, somewhat out of place.

He straightened up, intending to ask her what was the matter.

She was the one who had said she would keep her distance from him, so why was she now standing so close again?

He wanted to scold her; her promises were truly worthless.

That was when Lu Yixin threw her arms around him.

She opened both arms, wrapped them around Fang Yongnian’s neck, and pressed her entire body against him.

Carrying the faint, worldly scent of lobster and beer from earlier.

Fang Yongnian froze completely at the sudden touch, awkwardly taking a step back, trying to stand up.

But he couldn’t stand.

The stool scraped sharply against the marble floor at the entryway, then fell silent.

“Lu Yixin!” Fang Yongnian forced his voice back to its usual sternness, trying hard to ignore the feeling of her body pressed against his, the sensation of skin on skin.

“Fang Yongnian.” Lu Yixin buried her head in his chest, her voice barely above a whisper. “My heart aches for you.”

Fang Yongnian’s pupils contracted sharply.

“I just… my heart aches for you.”

The girl’s voice was soft and sticky, her whole body leaning against his, not leaving even the slightest gap.

Fang Yongnian could even feel that the temperature of Lu Yixin’s body was lower than he had imagined.

Clearly, she had been drinking, yet she still felt a little cold.

He froze completely.

Because of Lu Yixin’s recklessness, and because of what she said.

It was as if he had swallowed a mouthful of the most bitter Chinese medicine; from the depths of his throat down to his internal organs, everything contracted all at once.

His hands, having nowhere to go, wavered in midair before finally landing on Lu Yixin’s shoulders.

He firmly pushed her away.

“Don’t drink again next time.”

He looked as though what had just happened hadn’t happened at all. His tone was steady, even the end of his voice unwavering.

“Go to sleep. It’s late.”

He was pretending.

Pretending that it had never happened.

She was only drunk.

And he, was only tired.

“Turn the air conditioner higher tonight.”

He even reminded her specially as he was leaving.

Lu Yixin said nothing, didn’t even say goodbye.

Her head hung low.

Only after Fang Yongnian finally closed the door behind him did her tears fall.

When he left the house, his shoes weren’t even properly on.

On his intact left foot, the shoelaces were still undone.

He used all his strength to maintain the dignity of an elder, then fled in disarray.

Lu Yixin crouched down at the entryway.

She had finally done something she had always wanted to do. She had hugged him when he looked like he needed a hug the most.

The night was too quiet, so she could clearly feel that when she threw her arms around him, Fang Yongnian had trembled.

His instinctive reaction had been to lift his arms, to return the embrace.

She had felt him hesitate for a long time before he finally pushed her away.

She broke down and wept.

On the day the college entrance exam results were released, Lu Yixin got into the major she wanted, and she witnessed her friend’s love.

She had finally fulfilled her drunken impulse.

And finally realized, that her Fang Yongnian was hers.

That was why he had infinite patience for her.

Why, even while awkwardly keeping his distance, he still brought her Dingsheng cakes.

Why he fled in panic.

That was why the cap on her mineral water bottle was always loosened; Why, when she wasn’t around, there wasn’t even a napkin left in his car.

He was hers. Always had been. Always would be. Forever.

୨୧ ⏔⏔⏔⏔♡⏔⏔⏔⏔ ୨୧ 

After that night, Fang Yongnian never returned to Hecheng again.

Even the fat cat—he had asked Lu Boyuan to bring it back for him when he went there on a trip.

He never mentioned Lu Yixin again.

He even blocked her on WeChat, without the heart or the energy to complain about how childish that behavior was.

Lu Boyuan still liked to show off his family at the company. Lu Yixin would be coming to Huating for university in the second half of the year, and this was a major event for the Lu family.

Fang Yongnian knew that Lu Boyuan and Liu Miqing had recently been looking for a house in Huating. They wanted to rent a two-bedroom apartment near Lu Yixin’s university for her, so that when Liu Miqing came to Huating to visit, she would have a place to stay. Also, if Lu Boyuan did not want to stay in the company dormitory sometimes, he would have a place to rest in Huating.

Lu Boyuan had initially wanted his help. The apartment Fang Yongnian owned in Huating had been directly placed under his name by Yu Hanfeng as a company asset. It was very close to Lu Yixin’s university. Lu Boyuan wanted Fang Yongnian to help ask if there were any apartments for rent in the area around his residential complex.

“No.” Fang Yongnian refused without even thinking.

If it weren’t for the fact that the apartment he currently lived in was actually Yu Hanfeng’s asset, he would have even considered putting it up for sale on the secondary market.

The farther away from her, the better.

This was the most important thing for Fang Yongnian now.

He had frightened himself, almost scared to death.

That night, the night Lu Yixin rushed over and hugged him, he had actually wanted to hug her back.

He had actually felt an awareness of her as a member of the opposite sex towards a girl fourteen years his junior, a girl who called him Uncle.

He had actually felt his heart wrenched into a tight knot because of her saying she felt sorry for him, and felt his eyes sting a little.

He had actually truly become a pervert. In that moment, he had genuinely wanted to pull that small, soft girl into his arms and embed her into his heart.

So he fled in panic, unable to even remember whether he had revealed any flaws in front of Lu Yixin.

Probably not.

He comforted himself after waking from a nightmare.

He had seemed very composed at the time. Having acted as her uncle for so many years, the tone he was most familiar with was the one used to scold her.

She didn’t seem to have much of a reaction either, probably thinking she had done something wrong, so she kept her head down and didn’t even say goodbye to him.

Fang Yongnian poured himself a glass of water.

It was a weekday. In the middle of the day, it was thundering and lightning outside.

The weather forecast had been predicting thunderstorms for the past few days. His phantom limb pain had flared up repeatedly several times, and Lu Boyuan had forced him to stay home and rest.

His connection with Lu Boyuan wasn’t severed yet. He probably had to wait until the clinical research for these three generic drugs ended at the end of the year and they applied for production approval before he could have the peace of mind to look for a place to retire in the future.

He wasn’t used to owing people money. The help and financial assistance Yu Hanfeng had given him over the past few years meant he likely wouldn’t be able to extricate himself for the next five years.

Five years. Lu Yixin would have graduated from university by then.

Fang Yongnian rubbed his temples. Because his phantom limb kept itching, he was somewhat irritable.

Ever since he blocked Lu Yixin, his phone rarely rang outside of work hours.

He glared at the black screen of his phone. For some reason, he found its current silent state extremely irritating.

Fang Yongnian stood up, threw the utterly useless phone onto the sofa, and made a loud, venting smack.

The fat cat sleeping on the sofa was startled. It opened its odd-colored eyes, its oval cat eyes staring at Fang Yongnian for two seconds.

The shit-shoveler seems very irritable lately.

The fat cat narrowed its eyes, assessing the combat power between the two of them.

It ultimately decided to swish its thick, long tail, turn around, and go back to sleep.

Can’t win. The castrated fat cat felt deeply resentful.

The doorbell rang at this moment, around three o’clock in the afternoon. As it rang, a thunderclap exploded outside.

Fang Yongnian frowned as he opened the door, his phantom limb twitching violently.

Lu Yixin stood outside the door, carrying a backpack larger than herself and holding a pull-along suitcase.

Fang Yongnian: “…”

In that instant, his entire body began to ache.

Lu Yixin, her face slightly flushed, smiled at Fang Yongnian.

She even seemed a little shy.

She had really graduated from high school and would never wear a school uniform again.

Today she wore a cotton white dress, her hair in a ponytail, looking fresh and clean, her skin seeming even fairer.

Fang Yongnian gripped the door handle, considering whether he should pretend he didn’t see her and just close the door.

He had little authority left in front of her; he could even do something as childish as blocking her on WeChat. Pretending not to see her and closing the door was actually feasible too.

Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled again. Fang Yongnian’s home was on a high floor; with a bolt of lightning, his entire room lit up.

Lu Yixin hunched her shoulders and rushed directly into the room, taking off her shoes while talking rapidly.

“I originally wanted to wait until tomorrow to come over, but this lightning is too scary.” She searched for slippers barefoot. “I was almost scared to death alone. Let me stay until the rain stops!”

She was still barefoot, her toes curling on the entrance hallway floor. Her face showed no abnormality, but her toes couldn’t help curling tighter and tighter.

“…The slippers are in the shoe cabinet.” In the end, he didn’t actually drive her out. He left the door slightly ajar and followed her into the entrance.

“School started?” It was only the end of July; did school start so early?

“Not yet. My dad told me to move my things over slowly.” Lu Yixin opened the shoe cabinet and found a whole row of slippers inside Fang Yongnian’s house, all uniformly black slippers for men.

“…Move over?” Fang Yongnian repeated slowly.

“Yeah! Move over.” Lu Yixin put on the slippers and kindly solved the mystery for him. “Sister Yu helped me find a rental, right across from your house.”

Fang Yongnian: “…”

For a moment, he was a bit unsure whether the main issue with that sentence was “Sister Yu” or “across from your house.”

“The apartment is quite big. She said this whole building is hers, originally intended as dormitories for company executives, but it’s not needed for now.” Her words came tumbling out.

“She initially said no rent was needed, but my dad said we can’t take advantage of others.”

Fang Yongnian maintained an expression of not knowing what to say.

“You…” Lu Yixin glanced at him, her face blushing a little again. “Blocked my WeChat.”

She used a declarative sentence.

In a tone that was extremely coy and shy, she used a strange inflection to say this matter, which was childish to the extreme, suddenly making Fang Yongnian’s ears turn red.

“So I had no way to tell you.” She even sounded quite reasonable.

“So.” She clapped her hands and drew a conclusion, “We are neighbors from now on!”

Fang Yongnian: “…………”