The neighbor friend next door.
Jiang Congli silently repeated these words in his mind.
He watched Pei Shuyi standing before Rong Xu, looking up with a smile that curved her eyes, her entire being glowing.
Suddenly, Pei Shuyi turned around and glanced at him, as if realizing something.
“This is my brother’s friend Rong Xu. He watched me grow up since I was little.”
Jiang Congli looked at her without speaking.
Instead, Rong Xu walked over to Jiang Congli and extended his hand: “Hello, Rong Xu.”
Jiang Congli looked at that hand and shook it: “Jiang Congli.”
Rong Xu’s gaze lingered on his face for a moment, the corner of his mouth curving into an ambiguous arc.
“Mr. Jiang, thank you for taking care of Shuyi all this time.” Rong Xu had already heard about him from Aunt He when he arrived today, his tone polite and considerate.
Rong Xu called her name so naturally that Jiang Congli’s brow furrowed slightly.
He released the handshake: “It’s only right.”
Then Rong Xu turned to look at Pei Shuyi: “Let’s go inside. I’ll check your pulse to see how your health has been this past month.”
Rong Xu was the head of the Blood Eagle medical team, with exceptionally refined medical skills.
Once, when Pei Yanxiao was injured during a mission and nearly died, it was Rong Xu who single-handedly pulled him back from the brink.
Pei Shuyi nodded and followed Rong Xu into the courtyard. After a few steps, she suddenly stopped and glanced back at Jiang Congli.
“Jiang Congli, you should go back and rest first. You worked hard this morning.”
Jiang Congli’s gaze had been fixed on her the whole time. Hearing this, he nodded and stood in place, watching her follow Rong Xu into the side room.
Jiang Congli remained standing there for a while before turning and walking back to his own side room next door.
The moment the door closed, he leaned against it, closed his eyes, and heard nothing but her calling “Brother Rong Xu” in his ears—her voice so light and cheerful, carrying an intimacy he had never heard before.
On the other side, inside the side room, Rong Xu placed a pulse pillow under Pei Shuyi’s wrist, rested three fingers on it, and listened with lowered eyes for a moment before looking up at her.
“Your health has improved quite a bit. Aunt He mentioned you changed the prescription?”
Pei Shuyi told the truth: “It was Mr. Jiang next door.”
Rong Xu withdrew his hand and glanced at her: “He treats you well.”
Pei Shuyi leaned back in the chair, unconsciously tracing circles on the table with her fingers: “Yes, he treats me well.”
Rong Xu noticed the faint smile at the corner of her mouth that she herself hadn’t realized was there. He put the pulse pillow back into the medicine box: “Brother Pei asked me to come for two reasons: first, to check on your health, and second, to ask if you’re bored up here in the mountains and if you want to go back.”
“I’m not bored,” Pei Shuyi answered quickly.
Rong Xu raised an eyebrow: “Because of that Mr. Jiang?”
Pei Shuyi glanced at him but didn’t deny it: “We’re getting to know each other.”
Rong Xu closed the medicine box and looked at her thoughtfully.
“How long have you been seeing each other?”
“A little over a week.”
“What’s his background?”
“The Jiang family from Hong Kong, Jiang Congli.”
“The Jiang family from Hong Kong.” Rong Xu repeated the title, nodded, and said nothing more.
“Does Brother Pei know?”
Pei Shuyi pouted: “He’s probably busy in Yecheng trying to win over his father-in-law. How would he have time to worry about me?”
This was true. Pei Yanxiao had been busy lately with his marriage to Qin Zhi. Although, thanks to his “secret maneuvers,” it was already a done deal, Qin Guanlan was, after all, an elder and, more importantly, Qin Zhi’s father. The proper formalities still had to be observed.
After all, while Qin Guanlan was trapped abroad, Pei Yanxiao had just plucked the flower bud that had been carefully nurtured for eighteen years. No one could accept that.
The next morning, when Jiang Congli came to deliver breakfast, Rong Xu was already sitting at Pei Shuyi’s table, with the porridge and dishes prepared by Aunt He laid out before him.
“Shuyi hasn’t gotten up yet. You’ll have to wait a little longer,” he said, sitting there as naturally as if he were the master of the house.
Jiang Congli placed the food container on the table and sat down opposite Rong Xu.
The two men stared at each other across the table, neither saying a word.
At exactly eight o’clock, this was the scene Pei Shuyi walked into—two men sitting face to face, the air between them frozen.
“Good morning.”
She walked to the table and took a seat between them.
Jiang Congli opened the food container and placed the osmanthus cake to her right.
Rong Xu, as if deliberately opposing him, pushed the bowl of porridge toward her. “Drink the porridge first. It’ll warm your stomach.”
Pei Shuyi glanced at the osmanthus cake on her right, then at the bowl of porridge in front of her. She picked up the bowl and took a sip, then picked up the osmanthus cake and took a bite.
Jiang Congli watched her movements, and so did Rong Xu.
The gazes of the two men collided in the air.
This wasn’t the only incident of its kind.
On the evening of the second day, Pei Shuyi was sitting in the courtyard. Jiang Congli walked over and had just taken a seat beside her when Rong Xu emerged from the side room, holding a shawl. He walked behind Pei Shuyi and draped it over her shoulders.
“The evening wind is strong. Don’t catch a cold.”
Pei Shuyi looked up and smiled at him. “Thank you, Brother Rong Xu.”
Jiang Congli’s brows furrowed slightly, and he slipped the osmanthus candy he had been about to take out back into his pocket.
The turning point came on the third day. In the morning, Jiang Congli stood at the entrance to Pei Shuyi’s courtyard as usual, holding the food container, and knocked on the door.
Aunt He answered.
“Mr. Jiang, Miss left early this morning with Mr. Rong. They said they were going to the hospital for a check-up and won’t be back for lunch.”
Jiang Congli stood at the door, holding the food container, and paused for a few seconds, frowning.
“What time did she leave?”
“Around six-thirty.”
Jiang Congli nodded and handed the food container to Aunt He.
“You can have these.”
Then he turned and walked back to his side room, took out his phone, and sent a message to Pei Shuyi.
“What time will you be back?”
There was no reply.
Jiang Congli didn’t leave his room all morning, occasionally glancing out the window at the courtyard gate next door.
Suddenly, he wondered if this was how Pei Shuyi had felt that day when she was waiting for him in the courtyard.
In the afternoon, Jiang Congli sat at the table, his phone placed in front of him. He waited all day, but the screen never lit up.
It wasn’t until dusk, when the evening sunset dyed the entire courtyard amber and the ginkgo leaves rustled in the evening breeze, that faint footsteps could be heard at the courtyard gate. There was laughter and conversation, and Pei Shuyi’s voice drifted in from outside.
She walked through the courtyard gate, with Rong Xu following behind her, carrying a bag of something—whether it was medicine or something else, it was unclear. He was leaning down, saying something to her.
A smile lingered on her face—relaxed and unguarded.
Jiang Congli stared at that smile for a few seconds.
When Pei Shuyi saw him, the smile on her face hadn’t yet faded. “Jiang Congli, you—”
Before she could finish, her wrist was grasped.
Jiang Congli’s hand closed around her wrist, not with great force but firmly enough that she couldn’t break free. “Come with me.”
He pulled her, heading straight toward his side room.