SWG Chapter 9
by VolareThat night, Ruan Shengyi slept very well, perhaps too well, so that when she woke up, the autumn morning sun had already begun to evaporate the dew. The glistening dew on the window frame shimmered in the light, even with a few hints of color.
Ruan Shengyi squinted at the light outside the window for a while, then suddenly woke up and sat up straight.
She went to bed early last night so she could get up early today to watch Xiao Wenyu eat breakfast, otherwise that person would definitely buy a bunch of buns to get through the day again. Judging from what she said last night, Xiao Wenyu’s stomach wasn’t very good, so she shouldn’t torment herself like that.
But it was already past seven o’clock. Xiao Wenyu had to go eat breakfast at five-thirty yesterday, so she probably already finished eating and was back preparing to open shop.
Ruan Shengyi scratched her hair, feeling a little annoyed.
She glanced at her phone, but there was still no reply. Most of the messages were from last night, with only one from Ye Min two hours ago when she finished her shift, saying that she had cleaned up.
This Xiao Wenyu…
Ruan Shengyi clicked her tongue softly.
But since she was already awake, she didn’t have the habit of lazing in bed. Or rather, staying in bed for too long always made her recall some unpleasant things, so she simply grabbed her clothes, got up, went downstairs, and went into the back room on the first floor.
This was her dressing room and her washroom. Usually, if someone got drunk and threw up all over themselves, they could use it to clean themselves up a bit.
Today, Ruan Shengyi took out a long-sleeved T-shirt and paired it with black sweatpants.
She looked in the mirror for a while, frowned, and then took out her work black vest from the closet. With the sleeveless vest, it looked a little better.
She was too lazy to style her hair, so she casually combed it a few times and left it loose behind her, quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth, and then went out.
She had to eat breakfast herself too.
Almost unconsciously, she sat down at the last of the row of breakfast stalls, which was also the stall where she and Xiao Wenyu had sat together yesterday. Today, it was just her alone, so she ate much less.
The owner smiled as he brought over the soy milk and buns, and said kindly, “It’s almost time for the students to go to school, so it might be a bit noisy later.”
Ruan Shengyi pondered for a moment and still asked for a takeaway bag.
It was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and she heard that the high schools here had adjusted their schedules so that they didn’t have a break for the two weekends before the holiday, so the students were probably full of resentment right now. She still didn’t want to face the noisy kids.
Ruan Shengyi carried her breakfast and strolled into the small park. The scent of fresh grass was strong in the morning, making the air feel much fresher. Waves of coolness were swept out of the park’s artificial lake by the wind.
There were still aunties diligently doing their square dancing at the entrance of the park, so Ruan Shengyi walked towards the artificial lake.
In the early morning, that place was the quietest, and there happened to be a long bench, perfect for her to clear her mind and eat breakfast.
Unfortunately, the bench was already occupied today.
When she first discovered this bench, Ruan Shengyi had sighed that the person who designed it was too aware of the beauty of harmony.
The northwest was arid, and yellow was the basic color here, but there would always be that small lake, with two rows of willows swaying in the wind. It was unclear whether the wind moved the ripples or the willow leaves stirred the lake water.
And that designer had placed a long bench by the lake, next to the charming willow tree, surrounded by a comfortable coolness and harmony, outlining a beautiful landscape.
This made the woman sitting on it today seem like she had walked out of a painting.
It was Xiao Wenyu.
Although she only saw a beige back and familiar chestnut brown curly hair, Ruan Shengyi was sure it was Xiao Wenyu.
The sunlight stopped just behind her, scattering some of it onto her back, onto the light-colored shawl, warm and comfortable. She looked like a woman fairy, leisurely sitting in the mortal world, making one’s heart suddenly stop for a moment.
She tiptoed over, but found that this person was looking down…
Nodding off, with a book in her hand.
Ruan Shengyi: …
Hey, that’s something only she would do. Although it wasn’t the coldest time of late autumn, it was still a bit chilly in the morning. Sitting here nodding off, only Xiao Wenyu would do that.
Ruan Shengyi sat down quietly, unwilling to disturb the beauty’s rest, and unwilling to break the tranquil scene.
Xiao Wenyu wasn’t wearing makeup, so when a few strands of hair fell on her cheek, they, along with the sunlight, made her lips look somewhat pale and her face somewhat fragile. Her long eyelashes moved slightly, dark and intense, enough to pierce through a strand of warm light.
Today wasn’t considered cold. After all, Ruan Shengyi had gone out with just a T-shirt and vest, but she was still wearing very warm clothes. She wore a very thick long dress and a shawl over it, which was crossed in front of her, blocking some subtle curves, but the veiled appearance was even more charming.
Ruan Shengyi stared at her like this, unable to help but sigh in her heart.
People are greedy for beauty, and people can’t say no to beauty.
She was too.
She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there, or how long she hadn’t called out to Xiao Wenyu, but she was always paying attention to the temperature of the exposed skin, so that this leisurely rest wouldn’t turn into a terrible cold.
Until Xiao Wenyu’s dark eyelashes pressed down heavily and then slowly lifted, a few traces of confusion and fragility flowed from her misty eyes, and her voice was still a little hoarse: “Boss Ruan?”
She saw a girl with long hair sitting next to her, her arms resting on her knees, peeling a tea egg.
She couldn’t see her face clearly. The initial haze made her a little dazed. Before she could say more, that person turned her head and smiled brightly, “It’s me.”
Xiao Wenyu thought that Ruan Shengyi seemed to have an excessive obsession with this sentence pattern, as if she must get a reply from her, such as, “Yes, it’s you.”
“Yes, it’s Ruan Shengyi.”
But her body was not completely under her control now. Before she could think of a way to respond, a feeling of nausea suddenly rushed up.
She couldn’t bend over, so she simply held onto the armrest and stood half-up, stroking her chest.
Scared, Ruan Shengyi quickly stuffed the half-peeled tea egg back into the bag, took out a tissue with one hand, quickly wiped her hands, and came over to gently pat Xiao Wenyu’s back.
Why did she suddenly feel like throwing up? Was it because she caught a cold?
Ruan Shengyi frowned, wondering what medicine she had in her place, and regretting that she hadn’t called out to Xiao Wenyu just now, letting her sleep in the cold for so long, and that’s why she had fallen into the pain of a cold that she hated the most.
Xiao Wenyu was just retching, not throwing anything up.
She stopped Ruan Shengyi, who wanted to go buy water, took out a thermos from her arms, shook it gently, and said in a hoarse voice, “I brought it, hot water.”
“Sorry.”
Ruan Shengyi: “…? What are you sorry for?”
“Your egg, it fell on the ground.”
“…!” Ruan Shengyi hurriedly looked back, and the half-peeled egg had indeed rolled onto the ground. The bag only hooked the back half of it, but that part already had the eggshell covering it.
Her poor egg sisters…
Ruan Shengyi’s heart ached symbolically twice, she kicked the egg into the nearest tree pit, turned her head and said, “I don’t have anything to worry about, are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice was trembling.
Ruan Shengyi: “Go back and drink some ginger tea, you might have caught a cold.”
Xiao Wenyu paused slightly and said, “Okay.”
After a long time, Xiao Wenyu pretended to be relaxed and opened her mouth: “Boss Ruan, I really didn’t guess that it was you, and there’s no need to tell all your employees not to come and take care of my business, right?”
This wasn’t about this morning’s matter, but about the message Ruan Shengyi sent in their shop group last night.
She knew that someone would definitely pass it on to Xiao Wenyu, so she went to bed after sending it, but she didn’t expect to hear a reply this morning.
Ruan Shengyi tilted her head to look at her and smiled, “Boss Xiao knows pretty quickly.”
“Someone forwarded it to me right away.” Xiao Wenyu smiled appropriately, without showing any of the shyness of the other person.
Ruan Shengyi chuckled, “Then why didn’t you send me a message last night?”
Xiao Wenyu raised her eyes and smiled gently: “First, I didn’t know whether Boss Ruan was asleep or out working, so it wasn’t good to respond.”
“Second, the boss is too childish, I didn’t want to reply.”
“…”
She deliberately concealed the surname, and slightly raised the corners of her mouth, not knowing whether she was laughing at Ruan Shengyi’s childishness, or saying that her teasing yesterday was childish.
Ruan Shengyi decided to vote for the latter.
She supported the long chair with one hand, propping up her upper body and slowly approaching the gentle person leaning on the side, until their breaths were almost intertwined, and even the falling hair could lightly touch the other person’s hair, Ruan Shengyi then said softly: “It’s me.”
“Can’t you really tell?”
Ruan Shengyi had a pair of clear black and white eyes. Whenever she looked directly at someone, it always made people feel a little awe-inspiring in their hearts, and they couldn’t help but start thinking about whether they had done something wrong or said something wrong…
But Xiao Wenyu just smiled, “Yes, it’s Boss Ruan, I’ll change the note when I get back.”
“Boss Ruan, is it just after waking up or just after closing? Sitting here and chatting with me. Is it appropriate?”
“It’s appropriate.” Ruan Shengyi pointed to the big tree pit next to her, “My egg is gone, otherwise we can eat and chat.”
“…” The two people’s conversation always intermittently turned to a level that Xiao Wenyu didn’t know how to reply to.
But the warm morning sun was still warming people, and those beautiful eyes with clear black and white were still looking at her, and the light shining in her eyes was so captivating, as if urging Xiao Wenyu, answer quickly, answer quickly.
If she didn’t answer, she was going to be pitiful and heartbroken.
Xiao Wenyu smiled helplessly and said, “Why don’t I accompany Boss Ruan to buy some breakfast?”
“Have you eaten?”
“I’ve eaten.”
“Didn’t buy a bunch of buns?”
After getting a negative answer, Ruan Shengyi finally satisfiedly retracted her gaze, supporting the armrest with one hand, and nodded, “That’s good.”
“Eggs aren’t that important anyway, anyway, you can eat them at noon.”
Xiao Wenyu belatedly reacted and chuckled a few times, “Boss Ruan, are you going to take care of all my three meals a day?”
“Why?”
She put away the book, propped her head on one side, and smiled lightly, “Or is it that Boss Ruan is habitually so nice to all her neighbors?”
Hearing this, the woman turned around and approached, looking at Xiao Wenyu from below, her clear black and white eyes slightly curved, and said, “I’m not so nice to everyone.”
“Do you really want to know?”