Although Qi An’an knew that Jiang Lu would not show her a good face, she did not expect him to detest and reject her to this extent.

However…… it was understandable. After all, in the original story, once Book Qi An’an appeared, she had never done anything likable. Her affection had been shallow, directed only at appearances, and carried an undisguised contempt and sense of superiority.

Jiang Lu continued walking forward without sparing her a single glance.

Qi An’an thought for a moment, then ran into a shop by the street and bought a small black box. She ran back to catch up with Jiang Lu.

“……Jiang Lu, you can put the kitten in here.” Calling him by his full name for the first time made her feel a little nervous.

Jiang Lu said nothing. Qi An’an, trying to patch things up while recalling the plot, added, “Don’t take what I said before to heart. I was wrong. I just want to be friends with you, I promise there’s nothing else!

I swear I won’t say any of that nonsense again.

Or maybe I can help you hold it for a while?”

Jiang Lu did not even turn his head, but Qi An’an, like a superfan meeting her idol, caught every nuance of his expression.

She saw clearly that as she babbled beside him, Jiang Lu’s dark, sharp brows gradually furrowed, and his pace quickened.

He was probably close to being driven mad by her.

Afraid of making things worse and making him hate her even more, Qi An’an dropped back a few steps and did not follow too closely.

From a distance, she watched Jiang Lu walk into a small grove behind the school and stop by a peach tree. He squatted down and slowly placed the kitten onto the soft grass.

Jiang Lu took a clean cloth from his bag, unfolded it carefully bit by bit, and gently wrapped the kitten inside.

Qi An’an hid behind a tree, her heart aching terribly. The boy’s figure was thin, and as he bent over, his school uniform outlined his prominent shoulder blades. As he silently buried the kitten, his back looked unbearably lonely.

Poor baby…… Qi An’an thought. Although he had not chased her away again, he treated her like air. Being air was fine, but if he cried later, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to resist rushing over to hand him tissues and racking her brains for words to comfort him.

However, she worried too much. Jiang Lu never cried.

From her angle, through the gaps between the leaves, the setting sun cast mottled light across his face. His profile, caught between light and shadow, showed none of the sadness or reluctance that should have belonged to someone his age. His expression could almost be described as indifferent.

Only his hands remained gentle and careful.

Qi An’an watched Jiang Lu casually rinse the blood off his hands by the creek. As he silently made his way back, she thought to herself, Fine, there is still a long road ahead. I will slowly get closer to him…… when she suddenly blinked.

Patting her forehead, she followed Jiang Lu from a distance once again.

────ρя


Jiang Lu had only washed his hands at the creek. He had cradled the kitten all the way, and the front of his uniform was stained with a large patch of dark red blood. On the road, he encountered a few neighbors. Each of them, without exception, showed a look of disgust and deliberately made a wide circle around him, as if being near him would somehow make them dirty.

Jiang Lu’s expression remained unchanged. It was not until he reached the doorstep of his house that he finally paused and looked back.

There was no one around anymore.

His pitch-black pupils revealed a mocking glint. The corners of his lips curved faintly in a sneer before he turned and entered the house.

The door was ajar. Jiang Lu pushed it open, and the indescribable smell in the air made him briefly close his eyes before he turned toward the bedroom.

The woman lying lazily on the sofa suddenly spoke, “Where have you been? Didn’t I tell you that Brother Wang is coming today? He wants to meet you.”

Jiang Lu lifted his eyelids slightly. The woman on the sofa lounged in a lazy posture, her hair disheveled, her beautiful face flushed deeply. A slit in her skirt revealed one long, pale leg.

Jiang Lu suppressed his nausea. “I’m moving out soon.”

“Found a place to rent? Where’d you get the money?” The woman laughed, her tone dripping with insinuation, “You’re not being kept by someone out there, are you?”

Jiang Lu smiled faintly. “Qin Meng, I don’t intend to become a wh*re just yet.”

Qin Meng laughed uproariously. “Don’t look down on wh*res. You were born from one! Look at that little face of yours, those red lips and white teeth. Without me, how would you have gotten such a pretty face?

Sister Wu has mentioned you several times already. If you go to her place, you could hang up your sign as the top one. With that face of yours, why bother with school? How old are you this year, huh? You look like eighteen— good enough to fool them.”

It was absurd and filthy. Even speaking one more word to her felt repulsive. The next moment, Jiang Lu averted his eyes and turned back into his bedroom.

To call it a bedroom was generous. Looking around, it was more like a storage room, with only a mattress laid in the corner to barely accommodate a person.

Jiang Lu had just sat down on the edge of the mattress when a furry little head poked out from a crack behind the bed, letting out a soft “Meow.”

His fingers twitched instinctively.

The tiny kitten crawled over, waving its little paws skillfully as if begging for affection. But no matter how hard it pawed, the two-legged creature before it did not respond.

“Meow?” The kitten became even more energetic, bumping against Jiang Lu continuously.

Finally, Jiang Lu’s gaze fell on the persistently affectionate little creature. He reached out, his clean and slender fingers gently rubbing its fluffy round head.

“I’m sorry.”

Jiang Lu suddenly stood up, rummaged through the pile of junk to find a small cardboard box, folded his clean sheet into it, and placed the kitten inside. Then he picked up the box and walked out the door.

────ρя


Qi An’an waited behind the nearby building for a long time before she finally saw Jiang Lu walking over with a cardboard box in his arms. She couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. Fortunately, she was a superfan of the novel, remembering even the tiniest details with perfect clarity.

In this part of the story, Jiang Lu originally had two kittens. One had run off and been cruelly beaten to death. The other, he hadn’t dared to keep anymore, so he secretly placed it on Granny Zhang’s doorstep.

Granny Zhang was a well-known cat lover who had already adopted several stray cats. If she saw a kitten, there was no way she would just ignore it.

But Jiang Lu didn’t dare to hand the kitten over to Granny Zhang directly, afraid that if she found out it came from his home, she might feel uneasy about it.

Yet precisely because of that, something went wrong.

Granny Zhang usually stayed home all year round, but it just so happened that she had gone on a trip with her son these past few days. Jiang Lu hadn’t known this. With no one to look after the kitten, by the time he snuck over the next day to check, he found that someone had thrown two stones at it, killing it.

The author used every means possible to depict the male protagonist’s tragic life. Although this scene was mentioned only in a few strokes, when Qi An’an read it, she nearly fainted from anger.

Still, her perseverance finally paid off. At least she had waited for this moment.

Qi An’an didn’t rush out immediately. Given how much her precious boy hated her right now, if she showed up, he would definitely scoop up the little kitten and leave. Then her adoption plan would fall through.

Forget it, a true fan could afford to hide her merit and fame.

The little kitten truly seemed to be a highly intelligent creature. It must have sensed it was about to be abandoned, and was scratching the cardboard box furiously, the sound sharp and desperate. But it was too small and weak, unable to jump out.

Despite its pleading and countless attempts to act cute, Jiang Lu showed no sign of softening. He set the box down, gently touched the tip of the kitten’s ear, then turned around and walked away without looking back once.

Once he was far enough, Qi An’an rushed out and opened the box. The kitten’s frantic scratching halted immediately, and it looked up at her with a face full of dissatisfaction.

“Hey, what’s with that expression?” Qi An’an deliberately put on a stern face. “Not happy to see me? Don’t be so picky. You’ll definitely meet my dear son again someday. I’ll give you a name, okay? You appeared so briefly that the author didn’t even bother naming you. Hmm…… to wish you and Jiang Lu a smooth reunion, how about I call you Dashun^[1]lit. Great Smoothness; everything progressing smoothly?”

Dashun let out a weak “Meow.”

Qi An’an carefully lifted it out and happily examined it over and over again. “Dashun, I command you to act spoiled with me right now. Based on seniority, you should call me Grandma.”

Dashun: “……”

Qi An’an carried the little kitten home. Butler Chen was so shocked when he saw it that his jaw almost dropped. “Miss, y-you don’t hate these little animals anymore?”

Hate? These round, fluffy little things were practically killing her with cuteness! Qi An’an internally rolled her eyes. How miserable it was to be trapped inside the body of a character she despised. Everything the original did made her want to punch something.

“That was before.” Qi An’an said, laughing a bit awkwardly. “Maybe I just hadn’t had any close contact before.” She couldn’t keep up the lie and ended up laughing, rubbing Dashun’s little head. “Anyway, now I find them adorable. Uncle Chen, I want to keep it here at home.”

Butler Chen smiled warmly. “If Miss likes it, then keep it. I’ll help you take care of it.”

Now that was more like it. A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl raising a soft, fluffy little creature was much more reasonable than…… raising a handsome classmate. That must have just been childish nonsense.

“Oh, right, Uncle Chen, no need to arrange a car for me tomorrow. I’ll walk myself.” Qi An’an had observed today that her route to school was the same as Jiang Lu’s. If they walked together, maybe it would help close the distance between them.

────ρя


Qi An’an hadn’t expected her luck to be this good. Early the next morning, after leaving the house and turning down two streets, she spotted a familiar figure ahead.

A chance encounter without even needing an appointment— was this fate’s way of telling her she could go up and say a few words?

She had once written a ten-thousand-word Weibo post expressing her love for her precious boy. And now the living, breathing person was right in front of her, yet she couldn’t even open her mouth because she had transmigrated into this wretched, psychotic character!

Dang it!

Qi An’an quickened her pace, but just as she got within about a dozen steps of Jiang Lu, laughter suddenly erupted behind her.

A group of hooligan-looking youths were approaching fast and quickly overtook her. Two of them wore school uniform jackets, clearly from the same school.

She immediately sensed something was wrong. It looked like they were targeting Jiang Lu.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw them quicken their pace and block Jiang Lu’s path.

Jiang Lu stopped, his back straight as bamboo. It wasn’t just her biased motherly gaze, but just standing there, he exuded a natural calm and poise.

The leader of the group, a punk with yellow-dyed hair, gave Jiang Lu a mocking once-over and sneered. “Isn’t this the little bastard from a wh*re’s family? Haven’t seen you for a few days, and you’ve gotten even prettier. I heard your mom doesn’t want you. You’ve been earning your own tuition since you were little? How exactly did you earn it, huh?”

The yellow-haired punk’s voice was loud and his laughter even more unrestrained. “Seriously, I’ve never played with a guy before. You, such a pretty little thing, are just my type. Wanna come play some pool with us?”

He leaned in closer to Jiang Lu with a sleazy grin. “If you make me happy, not just your middle school tuition, I’ll even sponsor you through college.”

Trash! How dare he talk to her beloved cub like this?! Qi An’an’s fists clenched in rage. She grabbed a brick from the ground and quickly pulled out her phone to call 110^[2]emergency number for the police.

If that yellow-haired bastard dared touch Jiang Lu with his filthy hands……

Before she could finish the thought, she saw Jiang Lu raise his hand and firmly catch the punk’s wrist.

Jiang Lu still looked as cold and pale as always, and didn’t seem to be using much strength, but the yellow-haired punk couldn’t move. He couldn’t advance or retreat, and his face flushed bright red from the exertion.

Robbin: Chapter release and unlocking will be every Wednesday and Saturday.