Under the Dusk - My Dear Brother

The next day, when Ruan Shu didn’t see the neighbour from across the hall but she wasn’t in a hurry. She went downstairs to a small restaurant at the street corner and ordered a bowl of pig’s trotter noodles, carefully observing her surroundings.

In July, the heat in Kanyang was already intense, with temperatures climbing above 38°C for several days. Even though there had been a heavy rainstorm yesterday, the temperature didn’t drop by much.

The restaurant only had the owner’s wife working.

The old-fashioned fan was blowing strongly, creating a whistling sound. As Ruan Shu grabbed her chopsticks, she had to take a moment to remove the hair tie on her wrist and gather the hair hanging on her shoulders into a ponytail.

In that brief moment, the owner’s wife glanced at her. A very slender young girl, looking somewhat malnourished, with a neck that appeared thin and white.

Maybe it was because the weather was so hot, her cheeks were flushed from the heat, tiny beads of sweat appeared on her porcelain-white skin. She eventually chose a seat by the best ventilation, where the fan was blowing directly at her. The wind was forcefully rushing toward her, making the loose T-shirt cling to her body, outlining her slim waist, and her full figure was completely visible.

The owner’s wife quickly reconsidered her earlier thought.

She thought, such a beautiful young girl living alone in a place like this might be a bit dangerous.

Ruan Shu knew the owner’s wife was secretly eyeing her, but at that moment, she didn’t have time to pay attention. Her phone, which she had placed on the wooden table, had been vibrating non-stop for several minutes. Sang Wanling was sending her continuous messages.

Lingbao: “No, I’m saying…”

Lingbao: “Brother, my real brother, why did you move again?”

There were several more messages. Most of them were complaints that Ruan Shu hadn’t notified her about moving. The place she stayed last time was quite good — a small community near the school with security, access control, and roommates. The safety level there was much higher than where she was now, living alone in a village in the city.

But that was part of the problem.

The rent there was too expensive. She could only afford to rent it for one month, and after that, she had to move again.

Staying in the school dormitory would also be cheap. A shared room with eight people would only cost 900 yuan for the entire academic year. Even though the space was small and the beds were bunked, it wasn’t a big deal. However, with so many people, there were also too many opinions. Ruan Shu couldn’t stand the fact that seven of them had created six group chats. The key issue was…

The key issue was, one of her roommates was quite bizarre.

She had mental health problems and often made the whole dorm uncomfortable. Ruan Shu discovered that she was secretly taking medication late at night. Wanting the best for everyone, Ruan Shu kindly advised her to visit the school’s counselling centre. However, her roommate ended up falsely accusing her, reporting to the counsellor that Ruan Shu had mental issues.

She said Ruan Shu was depressed and had attacked her.

The entire dorm situation became tense because of her.

Ruan Shu: ?

I really do have a problem!

Being falsely accused like that made Ruan Shu quite angry. She admitted she wasn’t very good at dealing with people, that she could be too direct, and people with fragile emotions usually couldn’t handle her words. But she didn’t expect the counsellor to believe the accusations and think Ruan Shu had serious social issues.

After being summoned several times for talks, Ruan Shu learned to calm down and not get angry.

But before leaving, she sincerely suggested to the counsellor, “Teacher, if you’re free, you should get your brain checked. Honestly, I really think there’s something wrong with your thought process.”

After saying that, she bowed at a 90-degree angle, seriously and respectfully.

Generally speaking, college students are polite. Ruan Shu also thought she was very polite. The most impolite moment was when her takeaway arrived too late, and she didn’t thank the delivery person.

But for some reason, the counsellor got so angry that she started subtly criticizing Ruan Shu around the academy, saying: “There’s a student who’s really not okay, her mental health is very serious…”

After that, no one wanted to switch dorms with her, so Ruan Shu decided not to stay in the dorm anymore and simply moved out to rent a place.

Her first time renting a place was on campus, and it was a shared rental. After living there for a week, she found out that her neighbours were a couple. Her second shared rental was clearly much better, all the roommates were girls. When they saw her still awake in the middle of the night, they invited her to eat instant noodles together.

There are still a lot of good people in this world, Ruan Shu thought.

So, she ignored Sang Wanling’s incessant chatter and furrowed her brow, replying to her earlier comment: “Don’t call me brother.”

Ruan Ruan: “Even though I’m a girl, if your dad agrees, you can call me daddy.”

Sang Wanling, who originally had a bunch of things to say, could only hold it in and mutter, “…Damn.”

****

Ruan Shu politely declined Sang Wanling’s suggestion to come visit her.

Now that school was on break, they weren’t locals of Kanyang. A flight from Yibei would cost around 800 to 900 yuan one way. Ruan Shu didn’t want her to waste that money.

Besides, she was doing fine where she was; she had moved everything that needed to be moved.

In the evening, Ruan Shu went to the supermarket to buy some daily necessities she was still missing. It didn’t take long before she was carrying a large bag back home.

The urban village was an old village squeezed between a bustling city.

The buildings were crooked and uneven, with high-voltage wires intertwined in a mess, the alleyways narrow and crowded. Rats scurried across the walls, and villagers sold vegetables, fruits, and cured meats in the street.

The only relatively open area was the building she lived in.

But she found it strange—how could cars drive into this narrow alley to repair? Could they make money from it?

Just as she was thinking about it, the sound of laughter came from a shop nearby. The air was filled with smoke, and several men were smoking. Perhaps there was nothing else to do at the moment, they were gathered around a small table playing cards.

The roll-up door was wide open, so Ruan Shu could clearly see what was going on inside.

Under the yellowish light, a tall man was lazily leaning on the couch, holding a few playing cards in his hand. He didn’t smoke the cigarette he was holding in his mouth. His chin was clean-shaven, and his profile was so strikingly handsome that Ruan Shu thought these were the most beautiful lines she had ever seen in her life.

Just like that, with one glance, the man noticed her.

He turned his head and his dark eyes swept past everyone, landing on her. The noise in the room seemed to stop, and Ruan Shu could only hear her own heartbeat.

“Yan Ge…” she said.