Wen Ran instinctively looked at her own hands, then found a glass of juice pressed into them.
She picked it up and looked – it was the orange juice she often drank.
No wonder there had been sounds from the kitchen earlier; he had been making juice.
She carefully glanced at his hands. He didn’t have any juice, only she did.
She tried hard to recall – within her field of vision, she had seen his upper body sitting upright on the sofa and those long legs in dress pants. Further up… should be the face she had seen on Aunt Zhu’s phone yesterday.
Wen Ran suddenly felt a bit curious about what he looked like in real life.
But this kind of thinking didn’t belong to her habits, and she was someone who couldn’t have her habits disrupted, or she would feel very conflicted and uncomfortable.
But at this moment, she really was a bit curious.
However, suddenly looking over like that – not only would she herself not be used to it, she also felt it might startle him.
But if she didn’t look at him today, perhaps the next time he came would be several months later, or maybe not until New Year’s.
Seeing her expression seemed off and her body swaying back and forth, Xie Yunli thought she might be uncomfortable: “What’s wrong? Are you hungry?”
Wen Ran immediately said: “No, I’m not hungry.”
She quieted down and stopped swaying, but after a while, she suddenly softly called his name tentatively: “Xie Yunli?”
“Mm.”
Xie Yunli said: “I’m here. What do you want?”
“Um…” Wen Ran hesitated, then said: “What are you doing?”
As if thinking about something, her voice sounded soft and unclear. Xie Yunli didn’t know what she was thinking and could only answer honestly: “Nothing much, just sitting on the sofa, to your side.”
Wen Ran: “To my side?”
“Right.”
Wen Ran tilted her head slightly in his direction, and her eyes gradually moved over as well.
However, just as her gaze was about to make contact with him, it stopped midway.
She saw a bit of his shoulder and a bit of his hair.
Most people with autism cannot make normal eye contact or conversation with others, whether in childhood or after growing up.
Regardless of whether they’ve received intervention treatment, some things already exist in their bones and cannot be easily changed.
Childhood intervention treatment could only help them become as self-sufficient as possible and receive education like normal people.
She knew all the measurements of his physique from the shoulders down, but had never formally made eye contact or conversed with him.
Wen Ran lowered her eyes.
This was really, really difficult for her.
“What’s wrong?”
Xie Yunli noticed her expression seemed strange.
Wen Ran shook her head: “Nothing.”
Then she began staring blankly at the TV again, but wasn’t interested in what was playing – just staring vacantly at the screen.
Xie Yunli looked at the time. It was almost mealtime. Aunt Zhu had already prepared lunch before leaving – it just needed to be heated in the microwave.
Just as he was about to get up, Wen Ran suddenly stood up too.
The two of them stood up almost simultaneously, surprising even Xie Yunli: “Do you need to use the bathroom?”
Wen Ran shook her head: “It’s time to eat. I’m going to the kitchen… to prepare for eating. Aunt Zhu already made the food. She said to put it in the microwave… just heat it up.”
Xie Yunli said: “I’ll go. You just sit and wait.”
But Wen Ran insisted: “No, I’ll go. You can’t.”
“…”
Xie Yunli looked at her insistent manner – she had even straightened her back as if ready to compete with him for the right to heat the food in the kitchen. He found it somewhat amusing: “Why can’t I?”
Wen Ran hesitated, then said: “Aunt Zhu said you only… only work, very busy.”
Xie Yunli understood.
Aunt Zhu telling Wen Ran this was actually somewhat helping him explain why he didn’t come often.
Yes, it was because he was busy with work that he couldn’t come frequently.
However, in any family, even the busiest working man would come home after work hours. Even if he couldn’t come home every day, he wouldn’t be like him – unable to come even a few times a year.
Marriage could give him the rightful reason to care for Wen Ran, and was the most convincing identity that allowed him to openly care for her.
But aside from providing the house, living expenses, and occasionally coming to check on her, he hadn’t fulfilled any other responsibilities he should have.
In her understanding, her husband was busy with work and couldn’t do anything except work.
Just like in his understanding, she was a little girl who could only watch cartoons, needed care in every aspect of life, and liked to stay alone in her own world.
But actually, her world wasn’t monotonous at all, and she wasn’t a little girl who couldn’t do anything. On the contrary, she was someone with great artistic talent who could take good care of herself and knew to prepare meals when it was time.
Of course, he also wasn’t just the person who could only work and do nothing else in her eyes.
“Wen Ran, I want to tell you something. Listen carefully.”
Wen Ran nodded: “Okay, I’ll listen carefully.”
“I don’t just work. I can do many things.”
Xie Yunli looked at her lowered eyelashes and said word by word: “Including things like heating food – I can do that too. You don’t need to feel it’s troubling me. Some things are what I should be doing.”
Facts proved Xie Yunli wasn’t bragging. Heating food wasn’t difficult for him.
After all, he had lived alone for years and was used to being independent. Aside from occasionally having someone clean, he didn’t like having outsiders cook at home, so there were plenty of things he needed to do himself.
Aunt Zhu had specifically mentioned that if she couldn’t return in time for lunch, she must make sure Wen Ran ate on schedule.
Wen Ran’s meal tray was one she had used since childhood – four compartments for meat, vegetables, staple food, and a separate bowl for soup.
Heating the food and placing it in the tray compartments was certainly not difficult for Xie Yunli.
What actually felt magical was Wen Ran’s experience. All these years, Aunt Zhu had cooked for her. She was used to seeing Aunt Zhu’s busy figure in the kitchen, but this time it was replaced by someone else.
Xie Yunli was very tall – over six feet – with his shirt tucked into his pants, showing his lean waist. His back was tall and straight, with thick black hair above a pale, clean neck.
Wen Ran watched him roll up his sleeves and wash his hands, then pick up her meal tray to rinse under water, and wipe it dry with kitchen paper.
The microwave dinged – the food was heated.
Xie Yunli turned his head toward the microwave, and in that instant, his profile happened to enter her line of sight.
Wen Ran, who had been staring at the back of his head, suddenly saw his profile and was momentarily stunned.
She instinctively wanted to look away, but the next second looked back again.
She saw his profile – from forehead, nose bridge, corner of his lips, to the curve of his chin – everything clearly visible.
So this was what he looked like.
Wen Ran’s whole body tensed up, even unconsciously biting her lips. She stared at his profile almost without blinking until he turned his head back.
Aside from the sound of spoon against plate, there was no other sound around.
In less than a minute total, she memorized every curve and line of his profile.
Xie Yunli looked at the filled meal tray. Aunt Zhu had calculated Wen Ran’s portions, and he had served according to how he’d seen her serve before, but today’s staple food – shaped rice balls – Xie Yunli had never seen Wen Ran eat.
He turned back and asked: “Wen Ran, how many rice balls do you eat?”
Hearing his voice, Wen Ran’s body stiffened again. She was stunned for a few seconds, then held up three fingers, paused, then retracted one finger to make it two.
Her habits wouldn’t change easily. Either she had remembered wrong, or she wanted to eat less today.
Xie Yunli served her three round rice balls that Aunt Zhu had shaped. Aunt Zhu had also made regular rice for him.
When bringing it up, Xie Yunli told her: “You can leave what you can’t finish.”
But he knew she wouldn’t leave any.
Wen Ran was always very quiet when eating. Only the sound of chopsticks and bowls clinking could be heard at the table. Xie Yunli wasn’t very hungry and ate only a little, mostly just drinking coffee and quietly watching her eat.
When Wen Ran ate with her head down, she finished every bit of food.
They quietly finished the meal just as Aunt Zhu returned.
Xie Yunli glanced at his watch – it had only been two or three hours, yet the two of them acted like they hadn’t seen each other for days, exchanging warm greetings.
Aunt Zhu even half-embraced Wen Ran like hugging a daughter, asking if she had eaten well.
Xie Yunli picked up his suit jacket. Aunt Zhu’s return meant it was time for him to leave.
“Thank you for coming to take care of Ran Ran, Mr. Xie.”
“It’s no trouble.”
Xie Yunli said: “This is what I should do.”
Aunt Zhu asked him: “Was the food not to your taste? I saw you ate very little.”
“I wasn’t very hungry.”
Xie Yunli paused, looked thoughtfully at Wen Ran, and asked quietly: “Those rice balls you made today – how many does she usually eat per meal?”