After a while, Jiang Yi, carrying his change of clothes, headed to the bathroom. Before entering, he left a box of diarrhea medicine on Cheng Chao’s bedside table.

It took Cheng Chao another half hour to recover mentally.

He swore he would never stay at this hotel again, and once he left, he would write an anonymous review harshly criticizing the hotel’s lack of toilet paper.

Cheng Chao sighed, still frowning as he reached for his phone on the bedside table, only to notice the box of diarrhea medicine.

He stared at the box, thinking Jiang Yi was being way too innocent.

Tomorrow was the final. With one less competitor, there would be one less person to beat, increasing his chances of winning the championship.

Giving him medicine now was basically digging his own grave.

But staring at the box, Cheng Chao realized this was exactly something Jiang Yi would do.

He took the medicine, opened it, and swallowed it with water.

At 10 p.m., the lights went out. Lying in bed in the darkness, Jiang Yi hesitated for a moment before softly asking, “Cheng Chao, are you asleep?”

Cheng Chao turned over and replied, “No.”

Hugging his blanket, Jiang Yi thought for a moment and said, “I won’t tell anyone about what happened today.”

Cheng Chao didn’t reply.

Now he understood why the eldest son of the Lu family, a legitimate heir, liked to call Jiang Yi, an illegitimate child, every day.

He had to admit, Jiang Yi was very good at comforting people, making them feel at ease.

After a while, Cheng Chao’s voice was low as he said, “Thank you.”

Jiang Yi’s eyes brightened, “No need to thank me.”

“Can I ask you for a favor, though?”

Cheng Chao: “What is it?”

Jiang Yi shyly asked, “If anyone asks at what time I’ve been going to bed recently, can you tell them I usually go to sleep at 9 p.m.?”

Cheng Chao: “…”

“That’s it?”

Jiang Yi: “Yeah.”

Cheng Chao: “…Alright.”

He thought it would be something serious.

Turns out, it was just this.

Lying in the dark, Cheng Chao suddenly said, “The tide in City A usually goes out around 5 a.m.”

Jiang Yi blinked, not quite understanding.

Cheng Chao continued, “The shells on the beach look much nicer after the tide recedes.”

Only then did Jiang Yi realize. Cheng Chao must have overheard his phone conversation with Lu Li in the hallway, when he mentioned wanting to collect some seashells for Lu Li as a souvenir.

Just as Jiang Yi was about to say thank you, Cheng Chao added, “Remember to wake me up when it’s time.”

“I’ll take you to a quieter beach to collect them.”

Jiang Yi was stunned for a moment, and seeing that Cheng Chao wasn’t joking, he replied, “Okay.”

The next day, the final went smoothly, and the results would be announced within one or two months.

The students from the Rocket Class, who had participated in the competition, all breathed a sigh of relief.

That evening, the teacher in charge of the competition treated everyone to a meal. Jiang Yi noticed that when they sat down, Cheng Chao naturally came over to sit next to him.

After dinner, the group returned to the hotel to pack their things. They rested in the morning and were scheduled to leave for S City in the afternoon.

On the sixth morning, Jiang Yi woke up early, only to find that Cheng Chao was already fully dressed, wrapped up tightly, as if he didn’t want to get any sand on him.

The two of them took a cab to a quieter part of the Honghai beach.

Jiang Yi was wearing slippers, bent over, picking up shells in the dim morning light. He seemed very meticulous, walking and stopping on the beach, occasionally holding up a shell, comparing it carefully. Cheng Chao, wearing a mask and a hat, stood on a rock by the beach with his hands in his pockets, thinking how hard Jiang Yi must have it as an illegitimate child.

After a competition, here he was, early in the morning, collecting shells to please the young master of the Lu family.

By the end of the morning, Jiang Yi had carefully selected several shells he thought were the most beautiful and took them back to the hotel to clean. However, he discovered one of the shells had a small crack.

Feeling disappointed, Jiang Yi wanted to throw it in the trash but noticed Cheng Chao, who was wrapped up in layers, staring at him silently.

Jiang Yi hesitated for a moment and cautiously asked, “One of the shells is missing a piece, but it’s really clean. Do you want it?”

Cheng Chao extended his hand. Jiang Yi dried the shell with a tissue and handed it to Cheng Chao.

Only then did Cheng Chao turn around to start packing his luggage.

At noon, the bus arrived on time. After Cai Fang finished loading the luggage, he noticed Cheng Chao sitting next to Jiang Yi, with his arms crossed, seemingly dozing off.

Jiang Yi was also resting with his eyes closed, and both seemed to be in a deep sleep.

Scratching his head, Cai Fang chose a different seat.

Half an hour before arriving in S City, both Jiang Yi and Cheng Chao woke up. Jiang Yi rubbed his eyes and saw that Lu Li had sent him several messages, as well as his father.

After replying to Lu Li, Jiang Yi read the message from his father, his eyes lighting up. He sent back an affirmative response.

Cheng Chao noticed Jiang Yi looking particularly happy through the corner of his eye and felt a bit frustrated.

He figured Jiang Yi would return to being at the beck and call of the young master of the Lu family, easily swayed by even the smallest reward.

Cheng Chao critically thought that although Jiang Yi was the top student in the class, he lacked emotional intelligence and was far too naive.

Half an hour later, the bus slowly came to a stop in front of the High School, and the students started disembarking one after another.

Cheng Chao waited for everyone to collect their luggage before wiping his suitcase handle with a disinfecting wipe and retrieving his bag.

Dragging his luggage, Jiang Yi waved at Cheng Chao and said, “Goodbye, Cheng Chao.”

Cheng Chao nodded, his usual smile playing on his lips, but the next second, his smile froze as he stood staring blankly ahead.

Not far from Jiang Yi, a middle-aged man who bore a striking resemblance to him waved and smiled warmly, calling out, “Jiang Yi! Daddy’s here!”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yi’s face lit up, his dimples deepening with joy. He started to walk briskly toward the man, pulling his suitcase, but the man stopped him, telling him to stay put.

Standing in place, Jiang Yi joyfully exclaimed, “Dad, when did you come back?”

“Dad, have you been waiting long?”

Jiang Yi’s father ruffled his hair with a smile. “I just got here, haven’t been waiting long.”

“You’ve grown taller, haven’t you?”

As he spoke, Jiang’s father noticed a boy standing behind Jiang Yi, staring blankly at the two of them.

Jiang Yi also noticed and turned around. Casually, he introduced, “Dad, this is our class vice-president. I shared a room with him during the competition.”

Jiang Yi’s father smiled and said, “Oh, one of Jiang Yi’s classmates! It’s our first time meeting, and I didn’t bring any gifts. How about coming over to my house for dinner?”

Caught off guard, Cheng Chao stiffly smiled and declined, “No, thank you, Uncle.”

Although Cheng Chao was able to smoothly converse with the middle-aged man in front of him, he was still in a state of shock.

The man clearly shared a resemblance to Jiang Yi. His features weren’t as refined as Jiang Yi’s, but their eyes were strikingly similar.

This was his real father.

The thought suddenly struck Cheng Chao. He stood stiffly as Jiang Yi waved at him, walking away with the man, chatting warmly, clearly showing a close relationship.

Who on earth had told him that Jiang Yi’s father was the president of the Lu family?

Who had spread the rumor that Jiang Yi was an illegitimate child of the Lu family?

Cheng Chao exhaled, calmly took out his phone, and immediately blocked and deleted the friend who had once assured him that Jiang Yi’s background was extraordinary.

Sitting in his father’s car, Jiang Yi sent Lu Li a message, telling him he would sleep at home tonight and would bring him the shells he had collected tomorrow.

Although Lu Li was usually domineering and bossy, he respected Jiang Yi’s father. Upon hearing that Jiang Yi’s father had returned, Lu Li didn’t say much and just told Jiang Yi to rest well at home.

That evening, Jiang Yi’s father cooked up a large meal and even turned on the TV for him. He assumed Jiang Yi still liked watching cartoons, just like when he was a kid. After searching for a while, he finally found the old cartoon channel and played it.

During dinner, his father asked if studying had been tough, if he was feeling tired, and whether they should consider switching classes if the pressure in the Rocket Class was too high.

Jiang Yi replied that he wasn’t feeling pressured and was keeping up, but that Lu Li was struggling in his other class.

His father chuckled, feeling reassured that Jiang Yi and Lu Li were still as close as they were when they were kids, with no barriers between them due to their backgrounds.

At 9 PM, after taking a bath, Jiang Yi lay on his bed playing with a puzzle when he heard a few taps on the window.

He sat up, put on his slippers, and opened the window to find Lu Li climbing over the wall. Wearing pajamas, Lu Li easily hopped over the window ledge and into Jiang Yi’s room.

As he climbed in, he casually took in the laundry that was hanging outside, including Jiang Yi’s underwear.