The visibility was poor at night, and Jian Ran couldn't quite make out the license plate. Just as she hesitated whether to go over, the driver's door opened and a man stepped out. It really was him—Ji Yisen. He walked toward her. Jian Ran stood there, frowning instinctively. Why was he here so late?
When Ji Yisen drew near, he discreetly took in Jian Ran's appearance, his gaze pausing briefly on the plastic bag in her hand. "Have you had dinner?" he asked.
Jian Ran paused, then gave a soft "Mm." Noticing that under his black coat he wore a well-fitted suit, she guessed he had come straight from work. "You... here for something?"
Ji Yisen looked at her with a neutral expression. "Nothing much. I was passing by to pick up something from a place nearby." Then, as if remembering something, he added, "I don't live here."
Jian Ran opened her mouth to say she hadn't meant that, but in the end, she said nothing. For a moment, neither spoke.
Ji Yisen looked at her, a flicker in his eyes behind his glasses. After a moment of thought, he asked, "How have you been lately?"
"Fine," Jian Ran replied, unable to gauge his intent, then habitually returned the question, "And you?"
Ji Yisen nodded slightly, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. "I've been fine too."
Jian Ran nodded lightly. Silence fell again.
Autumn in Jing City saw a big temperature difference between day and night. The wind had picked up, and Jian Ran's coat was clearly not enough; she subtly shrank her neck. Ji Yisen noticed, his gaze briefly sweeping her face, then dropping to the popsicles in her hand. "I've nothing else. You should go up."
Jian Ran frowned slightly, puzzled as she looked at him. After a long pause, she said nothing more, gave a slight nod, and turned to leave. But before she had taken a few steps, she heard Ji Yisen's voice behind her: "Don't worry. Uncle Jian is fine too." Jian Ran's body stiffened for a moment. She didn't look back, only replied softly, "I understand."
Watching her figure disappear from sight, Ji Yisen let out a deep, slow breath. He stood there quietly, head slightly raised, lost in thought, the sparse lights casting his shadow long and thin. Only when the light came on in that familiar window upstairs did Ji Yisen slowly turn and drive away.
Back home, Jian Ran distractedly placed the popsicles on the dining table in the living room and went to the window. She watched Ji Yisen's car gradually drive away, her thoughts drifting.
When she was eight, Jian Ran had a sudden whim—she saw a classmate with a brother and started pestering her parents to give her a brother, fussing for half a month until they were at their wits' end. Eventually, she calmed down, but one day her father took her to an amusement park, where she met a woman and a little boy at the gate.
"Ranran, haven't you been begging for a brother? This is Brother Yisen. From now on, you two can play together."
Brother Yisen?
Jian Ran was young and understood nothing, but she was overjoyed. She finally had a brother. Young as she was, she thought that although her brother didn't talk much, he was very good-looking—much better than her classmate's brother.
For a long time afterward, her father often took her to play with Brother Yisen behind her mother's back—sometimes to the amusement park, sometimes to the zoo, sometimes to his home...
"Brother Yisen, I made this in arts and crafts class. I'm giving it to you."
"Brother Yisen, can I have a popsicle? Just one, okay?"
"No, you have to eat first, or your stomach will hurt."
"Brother Yisen, your home is so small. I wish you lived at my house."
"..."
Then one day, that woman really moved into her home with Ji Yisen, but she and her mother had to move out. On the day she left, her father tried desperately to keep her, pushing Ji Yisen in front of her. "Ranran, you've always wanted to live with your brother. He's here now."
Jian Ran clenched her fists in fury and shoved Ji Yisen away, glaring at him with loathing. "You and your mother are both thieves!" They stole her father and her home. She didn't want a brother anymore.
That year, Jian Ran was only ten. Too young to understand adult matters, she took all the blame upon herself, thinking that her parents' divorce was because she had asked for a brother. She was an accomplice to her father's affair. Filled with that guilt, she followed her mother away from the home where she had grown up.
After that, she never returned home even once. But when she was fifteen, her mother died by suicide due to depression, and Jian Ran returned with a heart full of hatred. For a few years, living under the same roof, she vented most of her resentment on Ji Yisen. He never fought back or argued, silently bearing all her anger. Until one day, she suddenly woke up, feeling that it was all pointless, and she left that home for good.
Since her mother's death, her relationship with her father had gone from bitter hostility to tepid indifference. So many years had passed, times had changed, and she was no longer that little girl. Naturally, she had come to understand that she couldn't really blame Ji Yisen for any of it. After all, he had just been a child too.
Jian Ran sighed softly, pulling her thoughts back. Over the years, Ji Yisen, aware of his sensitive position, had always avoided her whenever possible. He would never show up at her doorstep without a reason.
As if remembering something, she fell silent for a moment, then took out her phone and found the WeChat of a female lawyer at Zhou Yu's firm whom she had a good rapport with.
[Sister Lin, I wanted to ask you something. Is the partnership between Senyuan Tech and your firm about to expire?]
Senyuan Tech was Ji Yisen's company. When Zhou Yu first joined the firm and had no clients, Jian Ran wasn't sure if it was because of her, but Senyuan Tech proactively reached out and became Zhou Yu's first client.
The reply came quickly, first with three exclamation marks, then a text message.
[Have you heard something?!]
Jian Ran didn't understand. [???]
This time, the response wasn't instant. After a while, a message came.
[Senyuan Tech terminated its contract with our firm. It happened this afternoon. They suddenly brought it up. Apparently, they were just one month away from signing a renewal. Our firm was quite invested because Senyuan Tech has grown fast in the last two years. No one expected it to fall through.]
Jian Ran held her phone, a clear picture forming in her mind.
*
When Jian Ran looked into the intangible cultural heritage interview program that Su Jin had mentioned, she was surprised to find that the host was someone she knew.
On the scheduled interview day, Jian Ran arrived at the Embroidery Workshop early and changed into a modified outfit rich in Jing embroidery elements. What her master meant by "reception" was essentially appearing on camera for the interview.
Before long, Xiao Ning led the program crew over.
"Jian Ran?" Li Wei looked at her in surprise.
Jian Ran smiled at her. "Hello."
Li Wei sized her up and down as if meeting her for the first time. "I never expected you to be Master Su's youngest apprentice!"
"Sister Li, do you know each other?" the cameraman beside them asked.
Both women smiled and nodded. Although Jian Ran didn't know that Li Wei had defended her against Xie Tong after leaving her club that day, she had always had a good impression of Li Wei.
"Great! Familiarity makes for good communication. Looks like we can finish on time today," a crew member chimed in.
Whether other familiar people made for smooth communication was uncertain, but as it turned out, Jian Ran and Li Wei communicated very smoothly, as was evident from the pre-interview run-through of the process.
The interview was roughly divided into two parts: first, a tour of the workshop for the crew, and second, a demonstration of specific techniques.
The workshop, founded under the leadership of Su Jin, a Jing embroidery inheritor, was a traditional employment workshop integrating the design, development, production, and sale of embroidery products. It operated on an "embroidery base + inheritor + embroiderer" model.
Throughout the morning, Jian Ran led the crew through every part of the workshop, explaining each step in detail and with patience. With her good looks and professional background in broadcasting, she was very camera-friendly, and the entire shoot went exceptionally smoothly.
However, none of this surprised Li Wei much. What truly amazed her came in the afternoon during the technique segment, when she saw Jian Ran sit down in front of an embroidery frame.
The embroidery technique segment emphasized demonstration over narration. According to the interview plan, this segment required a high level of professionalism from the demonstrator. Before coming, Li Wei had specifically learned that most of Su Jin's apprentices had appeared publicly, except for the youngest. She had assumed that person was new to the craft, perhaps just an apprentice. Meeting Jian Ran only deepened that assumption—after all, she had never heard of any connection between Jian Ran and Jing embroidery.
"You're going to demonstrate?" Li Wei asked, a bit uncertain.
Jian Ran nodded with a smile. She guessed what Li Wei was thinking, but instead of explaining, she chose to prove it through action.
Li Wei hesitated for a moment, then decided not to interrupt. The core of this segment was to use a physical object as a medium—starting with making a specific piece on the spot to naturally guide the process.
Jian Ran calmly pulled out a modern floral design from a stack of drafts she had prepared earlier. Li Wei skillfully stepped in with a question: "I've seen many embroideries online that just follow a pattern. Why do you have so many design drawings?"
Jian Ran picked up the design and showed it to the camera with a smile. "Jing embroidery upholds the principle that 'every design must have meaning.' Before we start stitching, we must have a 'fenben'—in simple terms, a draft. Every line and pattern in this draft has its own significance." She then pointed out details on the draft, explaining their symbolic meanings one by one.
After this design-fixing step came color selection and draft transfer. Jian Ran pushed the production process forward while explaining. Li Wei occasionally interjected with small questions, and Jian Ran answered them one by one. They worked well together.
Finally came the core step: actual embroidery. Li Wei's heart was still in her throat. She had chosen not to interrupt Jian Ran earlier, but if Jian Ran's technique proved inadequate, they would have to replace her, rendering all the footage shot so far useless. Luckily, Jian Ran's performance didn't disappoint. With skilled hands, she demonstrated one of the representative Jing embroidery stitches: seed stitch.
The camera zoomed in on her nimble fingers as gold thread flew between them, tiny raised "seeds" gradually taking shape. Then she demonstrated flat gold stitch and coiled gold stitch, and even invited Li Wei and the crew to try it themselves. The staff members' clumsy attempts at threading the needle added a lighthearted touch to the program.
The rest of the shoot went very smoothly, and Li Wei completely revised her opinion of Jian Ran's hidden talents. The level of skill she displayed could only come from at least a decade of practice.
The crew managed to wrap up before evening, all in high spirits.
"Sister Wei, what are you thinking about so intently?" the cameraman asked as he loaded the equipment into the trunk, noticing Li Wei lost in thought.
Li Wei shrugged, a hint of schadenfreude in her voice. "Nothing important. Just thinking about how to make a big splash." Once the program was edited, she planned to casually share it in the A University alumni group chat. She couldn't be the only one whose perception had been refreshed.
*
Jian Ran, meanwhile, had no idea about Li Wei's plans. After the shoot, she left the workshop and drove straight to A University to pick someone up. Since returning from the hot spring resort, both of them had been extremely busy. It had been a whole week since they'd last seen each other.