Qin Si has never asked her for tuition or living expenses, and Lu Nian feels that this should be his way of not yet being reconciled.

He probably doesn’t want to see her either.

She remembers that Qin Si didn’t like her before.

During this year apart, Lu Nian has also thought a lot.

Qin Si’s way of speaking is indeed very hurtful, but she feels that she should not force Qin Si like that.

After all, after suffering such treatment, not wanting to stay in the Lu family is also human nature.

At that time, she should have calmly talked to Qin Si, instead of emotionally forcing him to go to the affiliated middle school.

After all, there is not only one high-quality school for him to attend.

He must have been unwilling to spend this past year.

Lu Nian was lost in thought for a moment, not speaking for a long time, looking as if she couldn’t recognize him and was trying hard to recall.

The young man pursed his lips and walked up to her. “I’m Qin Si.”

His voice was lower than before, losing much of the childishness.

There was no emotion in his pitch-black eyes as he said calmly, “If you don’t recognize me, that’s fine.”

He had never thought he would occupy any place in Lu Nian’s heart.

After all, as the young miss’s toy, he could have as many or as few as she wanted.

One more or one less wouldn’t make a difference.

Gu Yayan asked, “? Do you know each other?”

Before she could turn around to look at Lu Nian, the young man had already turned around and was about to leave.

Upon hearing that, Lu Nian was too shocked and reacted a beat too slow.

She only managed to say hello to Gu Yayan before quickly slinging her school bag and chasing after him.

The young man stopped in his tracks upon hearing the voice, furrowing his brows slightly as he looked at her.

With such a poor physical condition, she’s still running like this?

Seeing him stop, Lu Nian walked over slowly.

But when she really caught up, Lu Nian didn’t know what to say.

After not seeing each other for a year, she carefully looked Qin Si up and down.

She was afraid that he would refuse her money, and then go back to living a life where he couldn’t eat enough or sleep well, making himself look so miserable again.

Qin Si had always been thin, and now he had grown taller, appearing very slender and symmetrical.

His face had also become more contoured, and his eyes faintly showed the shape of narrow phoenix eyes, looking clear and bright.

Fortunately, he hadn’t grown crooked, and apart from being a bit thin, he didn’t look unhealthy.

She carefully scrutinized him like this—indeed, he had changed quite a bit.

Being looked at like that by her, the young man’s ears were a little hot.

He pursed his lips. “It’s okay, I’ll go.”

Lu Nian suddenly remembered something important. “Wait.”

“It’s about, the argument we had last time…” She said seriously.

Hearing her mention it, Qin Si’s face turned pale.

His heart was heavy, and even though a year had passed, he had not let go of that matter at all.

Throughout this year, he had thought countless times about apologizing to her.

He even ran back to the Lu family and the school several times, but now, seeing her in person, the words gathered at his lips but he couldn’t say them, especially when she looked at him like that.

Lu Nian said, “I apologize to you for that matter. I shouldn’t have pressured you back then.”

She said, “If you want to transfer schools later, you can. I will try my best to support you, and in the future, I won’t interfere with you anymore. You can be free…”

The young man remained silent, suddenly interrupting, his voice somewhat hoarse, “I don’t want to transfer.”

Lu Nian, “?”

He looked at her, the little girl’s eyes round and bright, clean and clear.

He remembered those tearful eyes from back then.

“…That matter was my fault.” He said this very quickly, his voice low.

Lu Nian, “???”

She doubted if she had heard something wrong, because in her whole life, she had never seen Qin Si yield to anyone, speaking without sarcasm or ridicule was already good enough.

The young man’s ears were already red.

He turned his head and walked in front of her, walking quickly.

Lu Nian caught up, chattering, “What did you just say, did I mishear? Are you saying…”

The young man couldn’t bear to listen anymore.

His heart was beating fast, feeling his ears burning fiercely, but he couldn’t control his body’s uncooperative reaction, nor could he explain who he was angry at.

He finally couldn’t bear it anymore, gritting his teeth, he asked her, “Aren’t you looking for the way?”

Lu Nian then remembered that they were supposed to go to the classroom now, and they were still lost,

“Right.” She said, “We have to hurry to the classroom, or we’ll be late.”

Having finally spoken out the words that were stuck in her heart, Lu Nian felt much better.

She ran back to Gu Yayan, “Let’s go together.”

Qin Si led the way for them.

Gu Yayan hadn’t reacted yet, staring blankly at the young man’s back, asking, “You knew each other before, is he your relative?”

“He’s so handsome,” she peeked at Qin Si’s back and whispered in Lu Nian’s ear.

At the age of thirteen, it was natural for a young girl to start paying attention to the looks of the boys around her.

It was the first time Lu Nian had heard such praise from someone else’s mouth, but she was stunned for a moment, and then quickly relieved.

Others also had eyes and, of course, could see that she would want more people to like Qin Si.

“Yeah,” she said, “He was very good-looking when he was young…”

The two girls whispered in each other’s ears all the way.

Qin Si escorted her to the downstairs, “Third floor, just go up the stairs.”

Seeing that he was fine, and having opened up about that matter, Lu Nian was in a very good mood now and bid him farewell.

Afterward, she walked into the classroom feeling relaxed.

The young man stopped downstairs, caught off guard.

A small head popped out from upstairs, waving at him, “Do you have plans tonight? Wait for me.”

Lu Nian thought, just one last time, she still couldn’t completely relax about his current life.

Qin Si now did a lot of part-time jobs in his spare time.

Although he was still young, he was very smart.

Having experienced so much in his childhood, he matured early and was worldly-wise, cold-hearted, and ruthless.

With these qualities, he could get by in society no matter what, and he didn’t pick jobs, basically doing anything that could make money, regardless of how hard or tiring it was.

Ming Ge himself had made a small fortune in recent years by running an internet cafe and wanted to do some investment management, but he couldn’t even do basic math in elementary school.

Qin Si helped him with these matters, and the investment results unexpectedly turned out very well.

Ming Ge now basically sought his advice whenever he did anything.

So, after all this, he had no problem sustaining his livelihood.

However, the cost was that he basically slept after midnight every night, and he never took a break on weekends or during winter and summer vacations, let alone coming to school for evening self-study.

“Qin Si, are you lying to me? You’re not actually staying in the dormitory now?” Lu Nian was deeply saddened.

He never used to lie to her.

She didn’t know what Qin Si was doing to make money, but knowing that the future might be problematic, she was especially afraid that he would go astray and engage in illegal activities to earn money.

She remembered the terrifying adult Qin Si in the original book.

He was too intelligent, and such a person, once they went astray, was far more terrifying than the average person.

“Just ordinary part-time jobs,” the young man pursed his lips. “I’m not doing the things you’re thinking of.”

Lu Nian breathed a sigh of relief, but then immediately asked, “Then what have you been doing?”

If it were anyone else pressuring him like this, Qin Si probably would have turned hostile long ago.

But facing her, he couldn’t say anything, so he remained silent.

As the two were in a stalemate, a couple walked towards them side by side, both a year or two older than her.

Lu Nian found the girl very familiar.

Su Qingyou had long, flowing hair, already giving off a girlish charm.

Standing beside her was a handsome and unfamiliar tall boy.

She was stunned, “Why is she here too…” she murmured. Over the past few years, she had almost forgotten about the existence of the original female lead.

“Listen, Yuan,” Lu Nian overheard Su Qingyou talking to the boy next to her, her voice gentle and warm, discussing their scores from the last monthly exam.

Listen Yuan… Zhao Tingyuan.

This name sounded so familiar.

Lu Nian suddenly remembered, wasn’t that the name of the original male lead? No wonder they seemed to get along so well. They knew each other already?

However, on the surface, Lu Nian didn’t know these two, and they didn’t know her either.

Just when Lu Nian thought they would pass by like this, Su Qingyou looked surprised to see them. “Qin Si?”

Zhao Tingyuan also looked over, and they both seemed to know Qin Si, seeing him standing with a little girl, both clearly surprised.

Qin Si frowned and didn’t answer.

Lu Nian knew the original male lead quite well.

Zhao Tingyuan was a very gentle and cultured person.

For a rich kid, his character was considered very good.

But, how should she put it, his good character didn’t really help much.

In a literal sense, he was not very useful. He didn’t have any special talents or abilities.

Lu Nian remembered that he seemed to have a younger brother who, in the original book, supported most of the Zhao family, but it seemed that the two brothers were not very close later on.

His younger brother even seemed to have become the second biggest villain in the whole book.

But now, Su Qingyou and Zhao Tingyuan in front of her were still teenagers, only fifteen years old.

She stared blankly at Zhao Tingyuan, attracting his attention.

“Young lady, are you a new student?” Zhao Tingyuan leaned forward slightly, smiling and greeting her. “Or are you here to play with your older brothers and sisters?”

Lu Nian was short, with a face that hadn’t fully matured yet, looking cute, and appearing even younger than her actual age.

Seeing her cute and surprised expression, Zhao Tingyuan couldn’t help but reach out and rub her little bun.

Lu Nian was quite surprised.

Apart from her parents, relatives like Lu Yang, few people had ever treated her like this, let alone a boy she had just met.

Seeing her wide-eyed and surprised look at him, Zhao Tingyuan also realized that what he did was a bit inappropriate.

He quickly withdrew his hand, apologetically saying, “I have a younger brother at home. Maybe I’m too used to being an older brother and couldn’t help myself. Sorry.”

She didn’t mind too much.

Seeing him speak so honestly, she just nodded. “It’s okay, I’m a new student. Today is the first day of school.”

Zhao Tingyuan smiled, “You look cute and young, I thought you were someone’s little sister.”

Lu Nian, “…”.

She could only smile awkwardly, not knowing how to respond, but she naturally had a sweet smile that made her look even sweeter.

With this back and forth, to outsiders, the two seemed to get along very quickly and 0were chatting very warmly.

Qin Si’s face looked very unpleasant, especially when Zhao Tingyuan touched her hair.