CH 15

Chapter 15: Beef Noodles

Ruan Zhizhi returned home and took a hot bath. Just as she planned to lie down on the sofa and watch TV comfortably, she realized that she seemed to be missing something. Looking around, it turned out to be her keychain.

She always carried her house keys with her, and her basement and office keys were also strung on the keychain. Although she didn’t need it urgently at this moment, it would be very troublesome to lose. 

Strange, where had she dropped it?

She must have brought it with her when she went out early this morning because she distinctly remembered locking the door, and also seizing it in her hand when she went to dinner with Lu Wanyi after work, and then…

Just as she was considering it from all angles, her cell phone began to vibrate abruptly. Ruan Zhizhi picked it up and found that it was a WeChat message from Shi Yan.

She opened it to see a picture. The image showed a simple, honest, and adorable little yellow duck. The duck’s broad neck had three keys which were extremely familiar-looking.

Okay, this duck was definitely the keychain she lost. Now that she thought about it, it was probably dropped in his car when she was going home. 

Ruan Zhizhi was ashamed of her carelessness as she compiled a reply to him: (囧), just now I was still looking for it. It turns out it was with you.

Shi Yan: What time do you go to work in the morning?

Ruan Zhizhi was a little baffled, but still responded: 8:30, what’s up?

The other party’s reply was very quick: Tomorrow morning at 7:15 I’ll be downstairs waiting for you. I’ll deliver your keys and take you to eat breakfast.

7:15 a.m.? Delivering her keys? And even eating breakfast?

Ruan Zhizhi bit her nails and thought about it for a long time. Should she tell him that he didn’t need to go through this much trouble? That it would be the same for her to find him at A University after work? But after considering it for a bit, she still didn’t say anything. 

That night, Ruan Zhizhi had a strange dream with a logically chaotic plot. She dreamt that Li Sichen returned to City A from the United States. On an early morning with the sun shining brightly, he stood downstairs from her home. With a smile, he told her that he was back. Then, Li Suchen suddenly began to pursue her frantically. He was a completely different person from seven years ago. Ruan Zhizhi almost suspected that he was insane.

The three characters that made up “Ruan Zhizhi” used to be the name he dismissed most. When they parted ways, he discarded her like worn out shoes. He was not at all reluctant to leave her.

Would Li Sichen come back to look for her? Ruan Zhizhi laughed at herself mockingly. This was simply a fantasy. It was so ridiculous that even she didn’t believe it. 

Ruan Zhizhi applied makeup and walked to her wardrobe to change her clothes at exactly seven in the morning. The weather forecast said that today’s temperature would slightly warm up. After thinking about it, she selected a white, double-breasted Korean-style overcoat and encased her feet in a pair of black, round-toed ankle boots. 

It was only a few minutes after seven when she went downstairs. Thinking of how she arrived more than ten minutes early, Ruan Zhizhi hummed a song and walked out of the community unhurriedly. On the way, she happened to come across her upstairs neighbour and the two chatted for a while.

When walking to the gate of the community, she saw the familiar black Land Rover at a glance, as well as the man dressed in a black windbreaker. At present, he was leaning against the car door watching her. His eyes were light, and his back was straight. He stood there at a distance, gloomy as if cut off from the rest of the world. And yet he was as enticing and attractive as a poppy.

He had already arrived? In an instant, she felt that her leisurely appearance was awfully annoying. Ruan Zhizhi hurriedly trotted a few steps, feigning an anxious appearance: “Why did you arrive so early? I specially left ten minutes ahead.”

“Afraid you would wait,” Shi Yan replied with a light countenance. In passing, he reached out and helped her pull the car door open. This gentleman was going to be the cause of her death.

Ruan Zhizhi felt like she was sitting on pins and needles in the passenger seat. She felt nervous after realizing it in her heart. After some time, she still took the initiative to speak, breaking the silent atmosphere: “Shi Yan, where do you plan to go for breakfast?”

The man who was driving asked her without looking over: “What do you want to eat?”

Ruan Zhizhi paused. Soy milk, deep-fried breadsticks, steamed dumplings, and duck blood with vermicelli soup swept across her mind one after another. In the end, she swallowed her saliva and replied in a very polite and reserved manner: “Whatever you like, I can eat.”

The other party raised his eyebrows, turned his head to look at her, and said “oh” meaningfully.

Ruan Zhizhi: “……”

Approximately five or six minutes later, Shi Yan parked his car at a roadside restaurant called “Lu Ji Noodle House”. Ruan Zhizhi got out of the car and glanced at it. This noodle restaurant had many customers inside. It was crowded, and it looked like business was flourishing quite a lot.

Her nose could already smell the aroma from the restaurant. Ruan Zhizhi exhaled. It was very fortunate, it seemed that Shi Yan also liked to eat noodles. The two of them just happened to walk in when a table of customers finished eating and were paying the bill. The boss cleaned the tabletop and enthusiastically greeted them to sit down.

In roughly ten minutes, two bowls of steaming hot beef noodles were served.

Ruan Zhizhi, whose stomach had been rumbling with hunger for a long time already, reached out to take her bowl. In the next second, she was immediately scalded and withdrew her hand with tears gleaming in her eyes. Shi Yan regarded her blankly, a look of “you’re so troublesome” on his face. He reached out and brought one of the bowls on the edge of the table to her. Then he took a pair of clean chopsticks and picked out all of the cilantro floating on the soup’s surface. Finally, he handed the chopsticks to her. “Eat.”

Ruan Zhizhi lifted her head in surprise. “You know I don’t eat cilantro?”

Shi Yan chuckled. “Ruan Zhizhi, you still have many habits. I know them all.”

“Last time I went to A University, I heard from Gu Nian that you used to study at UCLA. Have we…met somewhere before?” Ruan Zhizhi was silent for a long time, but at last made a firm resolution to ask the question she had been wanting to ask since the first time they met. 

Shi Yan didn’t answer her. He looked down to glance at his watch, then unhurriedly split the chopsticks in his hand.

Due to his long eyelashes, whenever his eyes hung down, it was always difficult for people to clearly see the emotions in his eyes. Just like at this moment. He sat calmly and quietly while maintaining his composure. Ruan Zhizhi had no idea what he was thinking in his heart at all. 

This person seemed to know everything, and yet he never revealed anything. Although he could see everything clearly, he was merely like an onlooker.

After a long time, Shi Yan began to speak. His insipid voice lacked emotion, as if he was reading from a textbook: “When I was a second-year student, I was at the library and threw away the first draft of a paper I was dissatisfied with. You happened to be sitting in the row behind me. You thought I had thrown it away by mistake, so you picked it up from the trash, flattened every sheet of paper, and returned it to me. At that time, I thought: How could there be someone so stupid?

“Ruan Zhizhi, we’ve already met many times. Do you really have no impression of me?”

He raised his head to look at her. His deep, dark eyes were just like the first time she had seen them. Turbulent and ardent. The emotions tangling in his eyes were hidden and fragile.

Ruan Zhizhi’s eyes slowly widened. Astonished, it took a long time for her to regain her senses. It turned out that it wasn’t her misperception. They really had met before.

“So…it’s like that.” She pursed her lips subconsciously. Scenes from her university days flashed through her mind like flickering lights and passing shadows. Regarding the matter at the library that Shi Yan had mentioned, Ruan Zhizhi indeed had a little memory of it. It’s just that, back then, she was merely exerting a small effort out of good intentions. She hadn’t cared about Shi Yan’s appearance at all. 

Perhaps it was truly as Gu Nian had said. In her four years of university, she devoted herself to Li Sichen’s side with all her heart. She hadn’t cared about the surrounding scenery or people at all. 

Shi Yan watched her expression. The emotion in his eyes dimmed a little. Under the table, his left hand clenched tightly, fingernails sinking into the hollow of his palm.

He wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her, even possess her and imprison her. In the past seven years of Shi Yan’s life, he thought many times: If he could have Ruan Zhizhi, even if he had to sell his soul to the devil, he would offer it with both hands without the slightest hesitation.

At seven years old he lost his mother. After that, he personally sent his biological father to prison, where he was sentenced to life. Since then, the relatives and classmates around him regarded him as a monstrous beast. They said that he subdued his father and mother, that his emotions and blessings were weak, that he was born under a star of calamity, and that he was an inauspicious person. 

Shi Yan’s life had no light, no warmth, no love. His soul was as dark as his shadow, and his corporeal body was as cold as his heart. 

He once thought that the world was hell, that his birth was the original sin. Until he met Ruan Zhizhi.

If he was a wild animal incapable of controlling his own words, deeds, and thoughts, he might have torn Ruan Zhizhi apart and eaten her into his stomach long ago, so that he could fuse with her blood and bones and stay together forever.

But more than that, he wanted to obtain her soul. 

Because he had already delivered his.

Shi Yan looked down. There was a fire rising in his eyes, reflecting the radiance of the sky before extinguishing. He took a deep breath and tried to restrain the wild animal screaming and struggling in his head. 

“Your noodles will get cold.”

Ruan Zhizhi, who had been immersed in her own thoughts, was startled. She followed his voice and came back to her senses.

She couldn’t help staring at Shi Yan. Seeing that the other party still appeared calm and collected, Ruan Zhizhi thought that perhaps she had simply left the impression of being more of a hindrance than a help back then, nothing more. If she allowed the wishful thinking that he was interested in her due to such a trivial matter, that would simply be having no sense of shame.

Thinking this way, Ruan Zhizhi instantly felt at ease. Just as she picked up her chopsticks and was about to continue eating her noodles, she suddenly felt as if there were eyes staring at her from behind. Her eyebrows creased and she turned around, only to see a black silhouette at the door of the noodle shop flashing by. 

This figure. She knew it all too well. Even if she was burnt to ash, she would never be mistaken. 

For a split second, the world was noiseless. The fingers grasping her chopsticks began to tremble unconsciously, and even her body became ice-cold.

Translator’s Note: If you’re confused about how Zhizhi got inside her house without her keys, I’m assuming she has a keypad and the physical key is just another way to get in.