Xiao Die missed the summers after the turn of the millennium with a particular ache.
In childhood, the summer wind had been dyed sky blue.
She would sit in front of the television, waiting for different cartoons to come on. Her father, coming home from his factory job, would bring her a big watermelon.
His factory uniform was blue—the color of melancholy, like the sky she saw at this very moment, at eighteen.
The countdown slogans for the college entrance exam, the mechanical exercises like an AI doing calisthenics, and the gleaming bald forehead of her homeroom teacher—these things formed her youth.
"Little Butterfly, don't you think Wen Nan has been acting strange lately?"
"He lost both his parents overnight. It's normal for him to be in a bad mood."
"He looks calm to the point of cruelty, and there's this smug little smile on his face."
"I don't have time to worry about other people right now. The mock exams are coming up, and I'm still worried about university tuition."
Xiao Die finished every problem in her reference book. She didn't notice how quickly evening self-study had drawn to a close.
Tonight, the road home was as long as ever.
A few rowdy boys from her class crowded onto the corridor outside the classroom, chattering excitedly about something.
"A Rolls-Royce Phantom, and a gorgeous woman—Wen Nan really hit the jackpot!"
"Can't blame him, with a face like that…"
"Do rich older women all like pretty boys like him?"
Xiao Die glanced down. She saw Wen Nan stepping into the luxury car with Su Mosheng's mother.
Remembering her best friend's warning, Xiao Die seemed to realize something. She decided to go home early and test the waters with Su Mosheng.
Tonight, the road home was as long as ever; only the stars in the night sky, like beacons, lit her wounded heart.
She returned to the apartment building. The light in Su Mosheng's apartment was still on. Gathering her courage, she went up and knocked on his door.
Su Mosheng was dressed in blue-and-white striped loungewear. In the dim light, he looked tall and coldly striking, his features sharp and defined—yet not at all unkind. What he left her with was an indescribable tenderness.
"Gege…" She hesitated, words stuck in her throat.
"Little Butterfly, summer is almost here. You'll be leaving this apartment building that never really belonged to you, too."
"Mosheng gege, can I ask you something about your mother? If you don't want to talk about it, I'll just go home and sleep."
"Did she come and make trouble for you?"
"No. It's just that when I saw you arguing with her the other day, I was worried about you."
"Don't worry. She won't do anything to me. I still have value to her."
"What kind of person is your mother?"
"She dominates the business world, but she has a fragile side too. We pursue different things. So I'm willing to spend my whole life as a fragile blind man."
"Don't blame yourself like that. You still have me as your friend."
"Be careful of the boy downstairs. He's been watching me for a long time now."
"Okay, thank you for the warning, gege. I'll head home and rest now. But I want to tell you something—you're not a fragile blind man. To me, you're irreplaceable."
Xiao Die said goodbye to Su Mosheng and began to turn the lock on her own door.
She had read in a book as a child that a person who turned the lock on their door at night must be terribly lonely. But she wasn't lonely at all now—because her world was made of two people.
Su Mosheng felt the approach of summer, because he couldn't control the beating of his heart at that moment. Even the business documents spread across his desk felt warm now, because the girl had come.
A year ago, in the summer, there had been no wind this gentle. Back then, he was still the vice president of BR Group.