Actually, even though she had been living at her sister’s house for the past three years, she rarely came downstairs on a normal day.
When she was free, she mostly stayed upstairs in what she considered her own private space.
If she weren’t worried about Xiao Ran, she wouldn’t still be sitting here.
The bored girl gazed at the tightly shut study door, and her mind uncontrollably drifted back to the year she had first arrived.
When she had just started university, she was actually in a pretty bad state.
Yan Xici wasn’t from Shanghai. Back then, Yan Li wasn’t as wealthy as she was now and hadn’t bought their parents a house in the city, so the family was still living in a small county in Suzhou.
At seventeen, she had just arrived in the big city. The unfamiliar environment, classmates, and teaching methods suddenly made it impossible for Yan Xici, who had always been an excellent student, to adapt.
University was a world apart from high school. The professors flew through their lectures and rarely called on students.
Yan Xici’s advanced math professor, in particular, spoke with a bit of a dialect, which left her feeling completely lost every day as she was already struggling to adapt.
A girl who had always excelled in her studies couldn’t bear this, and she began to doubt herself.
She was in a funk over it for a long time.
Her brother-in-law must have noticed that she wasn’t doing well. He called her into the living room, and they talked for a good half hour.
After that, every afternoon she didn’t have class, her brother-in-law would take her to the library and personally tutor her in advanced math. If she didn’t get it the first time, he’d go over it a second time, and if that wasn’t enough, a third.
’At the time, she thought her brother-in-law was incredible. A history major, and he was *that* good at advanced math!’
’She even felt he shouldn’t be a librarian—he should be a teacher!’
That is, until she happened to be passing an office one day and saw her advanced math professor explaining problems to her brother-in-law!!!
Only then did she realize that her brother-in-law wasn’t a math genius. To be able to teach her, he had been secretly getting tutoring from the professor himself!
To teach her, he had first become a student himself.
Upon learning the truth, the girl was completely dumbfounded. She stood awkwardly behind the half-open office door for a long time.
She still remembered hearing her brother-in-law’s voice through the door just before she left. He was saying, "My sister-in-law’s grades in high school were actually excellent. It’s just that she’s new to university and probably having a hard time adjusting. If she’s not doing well, please don’t say anything to her in front of her classmates. Girls can be sensitive, you know? If there’s a problem, just tell me. I’ll be the one to talk to her."
The girl stopped in her tracks. Right then and there, she secretly vowed that one day, she would definitely repay her brother-in-law’s kindness!
After that, her grades skyrocketed. She went from being first in her class to first in her entire department.
Everyone envied her academic performance, assuming she had a strong foundation and was just one of those people who were naturally gifted.
But only she knew the truth: she had simply met a very good teacher.
Now, her brother-in-law was in trouble, and the kind-hearted girl wanted to be like he once was for her—to learn how to pull him out of his failed marriage and guide him through this dark time.
At this thought, the girl sighed.
*Huuu.*
’I’d better Baidu how to get over a divorce.’
The girl picked up her phone, opened her browser, and searched "how to get over a divorce," all while keeping an ear cocked for any sound from the study.
Sure enough, a slew of methods for getting over a divorce instantly appeared on her screen.
The girl read with rapt attention.
"Seek professional psychological treatment, such as sandplay therapy, narrative therapy, humanistic therapy, etc."
The girl shook her head. ’That’s definitely not going to work.’
With a flick of her finger, she scrolled down and kept reading.
"Seek help from friends and family. While in the throes of heartbreak, one might become withdrawn and unwilling to communicate with others. This will only intensify feelings of loneliness, isolation, and pain. Therefore, it’s necessary to participate in social activities, such as chatting with friends, going shopping, or seeing a movie. You can also confide in them to gain understanding and support, allowing for a healthy release of negative emotions."
The girl’s eyes lit up when she read this one.
’This one makes a lot of sense,’ she thought. Her conviction only grew as she glanced at the closed white door to the study.
’He’s clearly withdrawing into himself. My brother-in-law can’t just shut himself away! If he does, it’ll only get worse!’
After a moment’s hesitation, she resolutely stood up, walked into the kitchen, and took a carton of milk from the fridge. She carefully poured it into a clear glass and placed it in the microwave.
’I’ll bring my brother-in-law some milk!’
She told herself she was just bringing him some milk, but really, it was an excuse to check on how Xiao Ran was doing.
They say feelings of despair are magnified tenfold at night, a time when people are most sentimental and likely to brood.
’I have to go check on how he’s doing right now.’
She walked to the study door and knocked lightly before turning the handle and tiptoeing inside.
Xiao Ran had been staring blankly at his computer. He was startled when he snapped out of his daze and saw someone walking toward him.
He clutched his chest, saying irritably, "Why aren’t you in bed yet?"
’Are you part cat or something? You don’t make a sound.’
Hearing this, the girl sniffled, her tone impossibly demure. "I just... came to bring you a glass of milk..."
After speaking, she carefully placed the steaming glass of milk on Xiao Ran’s desk.
Looking at the warm milk, Xiao Ran’s tone softened considerably.
"Don’t you have class tomorrow?"
She usually went to bed very early. Sometimes her lights upstairs were out by ten o’clock.
It was almost eleven now, and she was still awake. ’Either she has something on her mind, or she doesn’t have class tomorrow.’
As a dutiful ex-brother-in-law, Xiao Ran was still very familiar with her routine.
The girl shook her head. ’Who said I don’t have class? I do, and it’s an early one! Class is at eight!’
"Brother-in-law, you’re still up. Are you feeling upset? You can talk to me, you know. I promise, I absolutely, positively won’t make fun of you, and I’ll never tell anyone!" the girl said, each word full of sincerity.
Seeing her worried expression, Xiao Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
"I’m really fine. I’m just working on a new book. It’s a genre I’ve never tackled before, so it’s a bit of a brain-drainer."
Xiao Ran’s writing session wasn’t going very smoothly.
They say starting is the hardest part, and that was certainly true. He had only managed a few sentences before getting stuck.
The main sticking point was the character’s personality. He didn’t really have any friends who were the "girl-next-door" or "little sister" type, which made it rather difficult to write about one.
Hearing Xiao Ran say this, the girl finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She smiled. "If you don’t mind, you could discuss it with me. I haven’t read a ton of novels, but another person means another perspective, right?"
Xiao Ran shook his head. "It’s all right, I’ll think about it some more. You go to bed first. Even if we do discuss it, that’s a conversation for tomorrow."
The girl in front of him was sincere and so well-behaved. As he looked at her, the vague character in his mind suddenly came to life, her personality taking on a more concrete form.
’Cute, a little ditzy at times, but also sensible to the point it made your heart ache.’
’Quirky and clever!’
’Yes. I’ll write her just like that.’
Since Xiao Ran said so, the girl didn’t dare to disturb him any further. In her mind, her brother-in-law was an amazing author whose works were adapted into television series. How could she possibly interrupt him?
"W-well, remember to drink the milk," the girl said before tiptoeing out and thoughtfully closing the door behind her.
Once outside the room, the girl quietly walked to the kitchen, grabbed a handful of soybeans from the cupboard, and put them in a small bowl to soak. Only then did she tiptoe upstairs.
’Soy milk for breakfast tomorrow it is!’
Xiao Ran sat alone at his desk and began to write furiously.
A moment ago, he felt like he couldn’t squeeze out a single word, writing one line only to delete two. But now, it was like a dam of inspiration had burst. His fingers flew across the keyboard in a furious CLATTER.
Xiao Ran’s typing speed was actually quite fast. After all, he had five or six books under his belt. He could manage around four thousand characters an hour. In a single evening, he wrote over ten thousand characters, successfully completing a solid opening for his new book.