Compared to Yu Xue in his memory, Yu Fei was older, more mature, with a calm and restrained scholarly air.
She dressed elegantly and appropriately, her long hair pinned back with a clip, her appearance simple and neat.
Time seemed to particularly favor beautiful people. Even though there were fine lines at the corners of her eyes, they didn’t diminish her beauty, and her every movement was graceful and captivating.
Jiang Nan’an had originally thought he wouldn’t dare look at Yu Fei, but after summoning the courage to meet her gaze, he found he couldn’t look away.
In his memories, Yu Xue was always cold and wooden.
She always wore tattered clothes, her hair messy and dusty, her face and lips dry and cracked, sitting numbly under the tree, her gaze empty as she looked into the distance.
Perhaps only when talking to him about the “outside world” would a little light enter her eyes.
Yu Fei and Yu Xue had similar appearances, but their style and temperament were worlds apart.
The greater and more obvious this difference, the more Jiang Nan’an realized-Yu Xue should have been like this too.
If not for those people, if…
If not for him.
“I’ve seen your movies and TV dramas before. At the time, my friend joked that I probably couldn’t give birth to a child who looked so much like me. I didn’t take it seriously and just laughed it off. Now thinking about it… there are really such coincidences in the world.”
Yu Fei sat by Jiang Nan’an’s bedside, quietly looking at him.
At first, Jiang Nan’an could meet her gaze, but later he couldn’t help but look away. After a moment of silence, he only said:
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re not the one who should apologize, child.”
Yu Fei sighed softly:
“My visit may have been somewhat presumptuous, but I really wanted to see the last remnant she left in this world. Yet sitting here now, I find there seems to be little for us to say… However, I’ve heard that she taught you well.”
“But I still couldn’t do what she asked me to do, otherwise…” Jiang Nan’an frowned slightly, his voice much lower:
“I failed her.”
Yu Fei had learned about the general situation from Yan Jie before coming, so she understood what Jiang Nan’an was referring to.
“Although I’m reluctant to admit it, in that environment, even if you had succeeded, her chances of success would have been very small. So child, don’t blame yourself for this. In that situation, no one could have done anything, and there were no better choices. You did everything you could. If you hadn’t kept that ID card, I’m afraid I might still not know what happened to her, and she might have remained buried in that mountain, unknown and unclear, for her entire life.”
Yu Fei looked at Jiang Nan’an, as if trying to find traces of her lost loved one in his features that resembled Yu Xue’s:
“Neither you nor she did anything wrong. Others are to blame, and I will make them pay the price.”
“…”
Hearing this, Jiang Nan’an remained silent for a long time.
Finally, he opened his mouth and asked:
“Could you tell me what she… was like before?”
“Her?” When speaking of Yu Xue, Yu Fei unconsciously curved her lips:
“She was more lively and cheerful than me, and sweet-tongued. The elders all liked her very much. After she started school, everyone in her class was her friend. She was also very smart, winning first place countless times from childhood to adulthood. She was very likable. In middle school, she received so many love letters they could fill a drawer, but she didn’t like those boys.”
Jiang Nan’an listened attentively, and couldn’t help but ask:
“Then what did she like?”
“Trees.”
Yu Fei answered with a smile:
“She liked trees, liked flowers and plants, liked the warm smell of sunlight on plants in summer, liked the ‘rustle’ sound when wind passed through branches and leaves. So after the college entrance exam, despite her parents’ objections and without considering job prospects, she resolutely chose forestry. She loved her major and told me she wanted to continue studying all the way to a doctorate, to become a student of the professor she admired most, then follow her to do research for a lifetime, always staying with forests and trees.”
How wonderful.
The Yu Xue that Yu Fei described was so bright, but sadly, Jiang Nan’an had never seen her that way.
He wanted to find more topics to discuss with Yu Fei, but after thinking for a long time, he could only come up with:
“She really liked sitting under trees.”
“Yes. She also gave you your former name, right? ‘A-Shu’?”
“Mm.”
“That’s nice. What else did she tell you?”
“She said… to go out and see the world.”
That afternoon, Yu Fei and Jiang Nan’an talked about many things, most of which were related to Yu Xue.
Finally, before Yu Fei left, after a brief hesitation, she said to Jiang Nan’an:
“If you have a chance to visit Nanjiang in the future, you can come find me. I’ll take you to see the home where she and I used to live. Although our parents are gone, the house is still there, with many photos and memories of her.”
As she spoke, Yu Fei opened her handbag and took out a photo from the inner compartment, handing it to Jiang Nan’an.
Jiang Nan’an took it, lowered his eyes to look, and saw a large osmanthus tree and a young woman hugging the trunk, making a peace sign, smiling brightly.
“This was taken in her sophomore year. Keep it as a memento.”
“…”
Jiang Nan’an held the edge of the photo, gazing across time and death at her smile.
After a long while, he finally said softly:
“…Thank you.”
–
With the approval of both his attending physician and psychological expert, Jiang Nan’an was successfully discharged from the hospital. He moved from the hospital room back to his own home, but was still watched by Yan Jie, who made sure he ate nutritious meals on schedule and regularly went for psychological counseling.
The few pounds Jiang Nan’an had lost were fed back by Yan Jie with interest. Every day when he opened his eyes, he saw Yan Jie’s face, and as soon as he woke up, he heard Yan Jie chattering endlessly in his ear. Yan Jie filled his life, leaving him no time to think about other things.
He didn’t know that Liang Cheng was caught in a scandal as a scumbag dating countless women simultaneously, his already poor reputation worsening, becoming like a rat crossing the street, mocked by everyone who saw him.
He didn’t know that Qijiang was suddenly exposed for tax issues. Not only that, a certain Mr. Liu, a senior executive at Qijiang, was suspended pending investigation for embezzlement, forgery of accounts, and other charges. The company temporarily ceased operations for self-examination and rectification, and eventually even uncovered issues with a major shareholder involving tax evasion, bribery, and misappropriation of funds.
The news made headlines for several days, with people discussing whether Qijiang had been targeted, but finding no evidence, the discussions scattered after some speculation.
Jiang Nan’an hadn’t looked at Weibo for a long time.
He hadn’t reopened the alternate account he temporarily created to respond to Lin Disheng, and his main account was still being held by Qi Hong. He knew that Qi Hong had used his account to have the operations team post an official response some time ago, but she didn’t let him see it, only telling him the feedback was good, without saying much else.
Both Yan Jie and Sister Hong said that before this matter was settled, he didn’t need to manage it or pay attention to it.
They just wanted him to live well and focus on his own affairs.
Perhaps because Jiang Nan’an often complained about the noise, in order to give him a fixed, comfortable, and quiet time and environment, Yan Jie had recently resumed his livestreaming.
His fans called him a scumbag, saying he was becoming less and less ambitious, that the dust in his streaming room was almost as high as the soil on a grave.
There were always people in his livestream asking questions about Jiang Nan’an. Yan Jie only denied outrageous rumors when he saw them, without responding much to other questions.
On this day, after having lunch with Jiang Nan’an, Yan Jie went downstairs. He played a few games, but for some reason, none of his regular duo partners were online. Playing solo, he encountered trolls in every match, which he found boring, so he ended the stream early, turned off the computer, and planned to go upstairs to seek comfort from Teacher Jiang.
But to his surprise, today Jiang Nan’an wasn’t sitting in the lounge chair reading as usual, so when Yan Jie opened the door, he couldn’t see him at first glance.
“Baby? Nan Nan? Husband?”
Yan Jie called out while searching, finally spotting Jiang Nan’an in the kitchen.
Jiang Nan’an knew how to cook, but never entered the kitchen. Before, Yan Jie didn’t know why, but now he understood.
So, although they had known each other for so long, and had lived together for quite some time, Yan Jie had never seen Jiang Nan’an cooking.
But today, Jiang Nan’an was wearing Yan Jie’s special bear apron that he usually wore when cooking, looking down at something he was working on at the island counter, occasionally glancing at the tablet placed beside him.
As Yan Jie got closer, he could see that Jiang Nan’an was making a cake.
Jiang Nan’an was spreading cream on the cake base, intently watching the video tutorial, too focused to even respond to Yan Jie’s approach.
“What are you doing, baby? Craving cake?”
Yan Jie hugged Jiang Nan’an’s waist from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder.
“No.” Jiang Nan’an obediently allowed himself to be embraced, not stopping his work, his tone flat:
“Isn’t your birthday coming up?”
“?” Yan Jie was taken aback.
Then, recalling in his mind, he realized it was true.
His birthday was indeed approaching, just a few days away. With so much happening lately, he had forgotten himself, but Jiang Nan’an had remembered and even thought to make him a cake by hand.
Yan Jie’s heart swelled like a bubble being blown larger and larger, filled with nothing but Jiang Nan’an.
He couldn’t help but smile:
“So this cake is for me?”
Jiang Nan’an raised an eyebrow slightly: “Who else?”
“What made you decide to bake me a cake?”
“Don’t you eat cake on birthdays?”
“Yes, but why did you decide to make it yourself?”
“…”
This question stumped Jiang Nan’an.
He thought for a moment, and only answered:
“I don’t know. I just did it.”
“I know,” Yan Jie answered for him:
“Because you like me, and you thought a handmade cake would be more meaningful, you wanted to make me happy, so you did it yourself, right?”
“I don’t know.”
Hearing this, Jiang Nan’an felt a bit uncomfortable, but after thinking, he hesitantly said:
“…I suppose so.”
Yan Jie’s smile deepened. He kissed Jiang Nan’an’s earlobe and released him:
“Let me see, wow, this cake base is so soft and fluffy, really nice.”
“Store-bought,” Jiang Nan’an revealed the truth before Yan Jie could launch into elaborate praise:
“I tried making it myself but failed.”
He pointed to the trash can.
Yan Jie swallowed the string of compliments he had already drafted in his mind and walked over to look in the trash can.
Well, a basket of charcoal.
“It’s okay! Failing at something this difficult on the first try is completely normal!”
Yan Jie took a chopstick and tasted some of the cream:
“You whipped the cream yourself, right? Wow-it’s so well done-”
Before he could finish, his eyelid suddenly twitched:
“…Did you add too much sugar, baby?”
“Mm.” Jiang Nan’an didn’t catch his subtlety, just lowered his eyes and answered:
“You like sweet things.”
Yan Jie didn’t know what to feel in his heart.
It was as if the overly sweet cream in his mouth had become delicious again.
“Oh my, you’re getting better at sweet talk, I love you so much, baby.”
Yan Jie couldn’t resist leaning over to kiss Jiang Nan’an’s cheek.
Jiang Nan’an didn’t feel his conversational skills had improved anywhere, he just knew that the gesture made his hand shake, and the cream he had carefully smoothed was now marred by a groove from the scraper.
“Tsk.”
He frowned at Yan Jie.
Yan Jie was still smiling like a flower:
“Oh my, even frowning impatiently looks so good, haha, okay, okay, give me a kiss, baby, give me a kiss and I’ll stop bothering you.”
“…”
Jiang Nan’an stared at him for a while, and finally compromised, slightly lowering his eyes, leaning in to briefly touch his lips.
Yan Jie broke his promise, holding his chin to deepen the kiss.
Fearing they might ruin the cream frosting with all this commotion, Jiang Nan’an simply put down the scraper and raised his arms to embrace Yan Jie’s neck.
Yan Jie held Jiang Nan’an’s waist, taking the opportunity to lift him up and place him sitting on the island counter. Just as he was about to continue the kiss, the phone in his pocket made an untimely sound.
Yan Jie sighed with a smile, replacing the kiss with an embrace, holding him while answering the phone and putting it to his ear:
“Hello?”
Jiang Nan’an had no particular reaction to the interrupted kiss.
He leaned against Yan Jie’s shoulder, pressed his lips together, tasting the lingering sweetness on the tip of his tongue, thinking that perhaps they had indeed added too much sugar to the cream.
The room was very quiet, and Jiang Nan’an was very close to Yan Jie, so even the slightest sound became particularly noticeable.
Jiang Nan’an quietly waited for Yan Jie to finish his call, not paying much attention initially, but at one moment, he suddenly heard a certain name mentioned on the other end of the phone.
Soon, Yan Jie hung up, but didn’t continue their earlier kiss.
He released Jiang Nan’an, seeming to have become much more irritated during this brief phone call.
“Was that Sister Hong’s call?” Jiang Nan’an looked at him and asked.
“Mm.” Yan Jie responded.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, baby.”
“It’s about Lin Disheng, isn’t it?”
After saying this, Jiang Nan’an realized that he could now naturally say that name.
This could be considered a kind of progress.
“…Yes.”
“Is he asking Sister Hong for money?”
“You heard everything? Yet you still ask.”
Yan Jie smiled helplessly.
“Mm.” After a pause, Jiang Nan’an added:
“Don’t give him money.”
“I know, baby, we won’t let him have his way. But this kind of behavior is called extortion, and we need to find a way to make him pay a price.”
Yan Jie raised his hand to brush aside the hair near his cheek, and told him seriously.
Jiang Nan’an nodded.
He was quite knowledgeable about this aspect:
“You want to meet him and gather evidence, right?”
“Yes.”
Having received the answer, Jiang Nan’an fell silent, lost in thought.
After a moment, he looked into Yan Jie’s eyes again, his calm and determined gaze causing Yan Jie’s eyes to flicker slightly.
“Take me with you.”
His tone was light and casual, as if he were talking about an ordinary matter, but perhaps only he knew how much courage it took to say these words, and how great a determination he had made:
“…Let me see what he looks like now.”
#
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
