Wen Ran saw the cut fruit and freshly baked cookies placed on the table – things Aunt Zhu had prepared before leaving, which Xie Yunli had brought out.
She hesitated for a moment, then said: “Your work today… was it okay? Did it… delay your work?”
Xie Yunli said: “No, I don’t have work today. Did you wash your hands?”
Wen Ran lowered her eyes and briefly showed him her clasped hands, then quickly pulled them back, indicating that she had already washed them clean.
“Then have some fruit. It’s not quite time for lunch yet.”
Wen Ran sat on the sofa. The TV was already on, showing the program she usually watched – Animal World.
Xie Yunli sat on the sofa at some distance from her. Wen Ran looked at the fruit and cookies on the table, quietly took a deep breath, then reached out and gently pushed the plate of freshly baked cookies toward him.
Xie Yunli was startled and looked at her: “You want me to eat them?”
Wen Ran quickly nodded. “Yes, these are for you to eat. Aunt said you don’t like things that are too sweet, so she didn’t… didn’t put too much sugar in them. You can try one. If they’re not good… don’t eat them. If they’re good… then eat more.”
Her voice was still unclear and soft, but every word was earnestly spoken in her own voice.
Xie Yunli glanced at the plate of cookies. When he had brought them out earlier, he had taken a closer look because the plate was completely full – quite a lot had been baked, and they still gave off the aroma of being freshly made.
Most importantly, they were arranged in a very unique way – not just randomly placed on the plate, but clearly arranged one by one in a pattern, like building a castle.
Obviously, this was someone’s handiwork.
Xie Yunli looked at her. Wen Ran still had her eyes lowered, her hands placed together with her slender fingers intertwined. Her gaze seemed somewhat innocent, somewhat distant, and also as if she was nervous about something.
Xie Yunli picked up the cookie placed on top and put it in his mouth.
It was indeed freshly baked not long ago, with a rich cookie aroma.
“Very delicious, thank you.”
Wen Ran blinked. She didn’t look at him, but you could tell she cared about his reaction. When she heard him say they were delicious, her body moved slightly as she straightened up, looking somewhat happy.
Normal people’s emotions, whether directly expressed or subtly hidden, can easily let others perceive whether they’re happy or dissatisfied. But Wen Ran was different – her emotions needed to be observed. Only by carefully watching her body language and micro-expressions could one understand what emotions she was expressing, or what she wanted to express but couldn’t.
Xie Yunli picked up another one to eat and saw her bend over to pick up a fork to eat fruit, then immediately focus her attention on the TV.
Aunt Zhu had once told him that Wen Ran couldn’t stay alone in the same space with someone she wasn’t close to for too long – ten minutes at most before she would feel uneasy.
So during this time, it was best to let her do things she usually liked to do.
And now, five minutes had already passed.
Xie Yunli got up and added some water to his cup. She didn’t seem to notice his movement, with all her attention focused on the TV program.
The interests of people with autism are very narrow. They will like the things they enjoy very much and spend long periods studying them, but for things they don’t like, it’s very difficult for them to learn.
So receiving education in childhood was very difficult for them.
Although Wen Ran didn’t belong to the severe category and had received intervention treatment quite early, autism ultimately cannot be cured – it follows one for life.
So even though she was already in her twenties, in many matters she was still the same as before, unable to change.
However, when Xie Yunli saw the fairy tale world in the basement that she had created with her own hands, he suddenly felt that even a child who only liked to stay on her own planet would surely have her own brilliant colors on that little planet.
“Wen Ran.”
Xie Yunli called her name.
She was watching TV seriously. He had originally thought she wouldn’t hear or pay attention to his voice, but Wen Ran immediately tilted her head slightly and softly hummed in response.
Very serious, and very well-behaved.
But her gaze was still on the TV, only leaning slightly in his direction.
Xie Yunli didn’t speak, but called her name again: “Wen Ran?”
Wen Ran’s eyes indeed moved a little more in his direction.
But only a little. More noticeable were her two small fists that she had clenched, which seemed to lift up in response to him.
Xie Yunli looked at her delicate and innocent face, then at her hands raised to her chest, and said: “Do you like small animals?”
Her gaze wasn’t on him, but it was obvious her attention was actually focused on his question. Xie Yunli saw her answer without thinking, pointing at the little squirrel scampering around on screen: “I like them.”
Xie Yunli glanced at the TV, then looked at her and said: “What small animals do you like?”
Wen Ran thought for a moment, then said: “I like little squirrels, little white mice, cats, dogs, tigers, monkeys, lions, elk, whales…”
She continued naming dozens of animals without pause before stopping.
Most were mammals, with some sea creatures mixed in – probably all things she had seen in books and on TV.
It seemed that when it came to liking animals, her preferences weren’t narrow.
“And your favorite?”
Wen Ran said: “My favorite is little dogs.”
As expected.
Xie Yunli was about to say something else when he saw her brow and eyes droop down, and her fingers also became entangled together.
Her emotions had changed, and this change clearly turned toward sadness.
Xie Yunli frowned.
Those stray dogs in the paintings… where exactly had she seen them?
Online?
Or somewhere else?
From what he understood, when Wen Ran’s mother was still alive, she didn’t always stay cooped up at home – occasionally she would go out with her mother.
Perhaps she had encountered some outside before, so the impression was very deep.
Wen Ran’s emotions clearly dropped. On TV, hostile animals began fighting, with somewhat cruel scenes that looked like they were about to be disemboweled.
Seeing that she had no reaction at all, Xie Yunli reached for the remote and changed the channel. A TV drama was playing where the male lead was about to kiss the tearful female lead. Xie Yunli quickly changed channels again.
After switching through several channels, he finally stopped on a cartoon.
Wen Ran looked at Pleasant Goat on TV and suddenly asked in confusion: “Xie Yunli, do you like watching… Pleasant Goat?”
Xie Yunli: “…There’s nothing much to watch. What else would you like to see?”
She shook her head.
Perhaps in his subconscious, he still treated her like a child, or simply regarded her as a special girl with certain defects in her nervous system and intelligence.
So when giving her gifts, he would also choose things that most little girls liked, such as the strawberry cake from two days ago, and the castle puzzle that Zhou Wei had delivered during New Year’s.
He also knew that autistic children weren’t interested in most toys – there were very few things that could truly interest them. But Aunt Zhu said she didn’t have anything she particularly wanted, so he could only choose randomly.
Just as Aunt Zhu had said, she was no longer a child, and she wasn’t one of those little girls who would like dolls and cartoons. Much of her time and patience seemed to be devoted to painting.
Even from his perspective of having little contact with art, her talent would definitely be outstanding even among normal people.
If not for her natural defects, perhaps that entire fairy tale world in the basement would amaze many people and gain much recognition.
Wen Ran didn’t know that while she was watching TV, Xie Yunli had been watching her.
When she saw Big Bad Wolf get launched away on TV, her eyes suddenly widened for a moment, and her hands unconsciously moved.
Actually, she hadn’t watched cartoons for a long time because she didn’t like watching them since childhood, but today she suddenly found them quite interesting.
Just as she was watching intently, Xie Yunli got up and walked away for a while. Then Wen Ran felt a figure approaching her. Just as she was about to react, she heard Xie Yunli’s voice say: “Wen Ran, your hand.”