Tao Fengche never expected that a handsome young boy like Sui Yuesheng would actually be illiterate.

To be precise, he wasn’t very literate.

He discovered this when he asked Sui Yuesheng to help him with homework.

Sui Yuesheng came to Tao’s house to be his playmate, so naturally he took his duties seriously, revolving his daily life around Tao Fengche.

He didn’t find “being friends with a kid” a difficult task at all. As a second grader, Tao Fengche’s homework consisted only of simple arithmetic using Arabic numerals, which Sui Yuesheng could answer at a glance.

Whenever he swiftly gave the correct answers, Tao Fengche would look at him with admiration. Over time, Sui Yuesheng couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment.

But when Tao Fengche handed him a Chinese comprehension passage with trust, Sui Yuesheng finally struggled.

The paper was of good quality, clean and soft, with clear printing and neatly arranged Chinese characters. However, to Sui Yuesheng, it looked like a meaningless jumble of characters. He gritted his teeth and finished reading the whole article, unsurprisingly finding that he only recognized a few simple words, which was not enough to understand the meaning of the passage, let alone help Tao Fengche with the answers.

He couldn’t even understand the questions.

Chinese was one of the world’s two official languages. The country where Sui Yuesheng was born and raised was a vassal state of Kyushu, and its reading and writing were aligned with Kyushu’s standards. Therefore, he could speak and understand, but couldn’t read or write.

—The environment Sui Yuesheng was in before did not provide him with an opportunity for education.

It wasn’t Sui Yuesheng’s fault. In the place he lived before, most people couldn’t read, and those who could were very few “intellectuals”. Sui Yuesheng had always been very calm about this, after all, whether he could survive had nothing to do with whether he could read.

But now, facing Tao Fengche’s innocent eyes, he suddenly found himself embarrassed. To admit that he couldn’t understand the Chinese characters on his paper in front of such a little radish head…

Sui Yuesheng unconsciously clenched his teeth, feeling inexplicably aggrieved, wanting to find an excuse to scold Tao Fengche, but also a little afraid that he would cry. For a moment, he felt trapped.

He had only been at Tao’s house for a week and had already deeply experienced Tao Fengche’s professional qualities as a crybaby.

Tao Fengche keenly felt Sui Yuesheng’s emotional changes. He was a little confused, not understanding why his brother’s expression looked so strange. Doesn’t he know why Grandpa Buffalo went to fight the fox?

But he quickly associated it with Sui Yuesheng’s messy hair when he first arrived. With a turn of his eyes, he came up with the correct answer—his brother probably can’t read.

When Tao Fengche just started school, the teacher told him that not all children can sit in the classroom and study. Many children in the mountains may never be able to enter school in their entire lives, so they should cherish this hard-won opportunity and so on.

His brother was probably one of them, right? When he first came to the house, he was dirty, probably really picked up by Dad from the street.

But even if his brother was a beggar, he was also the best-looking beggar.

Tao Fengche successfully convinced himself and considerately didn’t expose the truth. Instead, he took back the test paper, “Ah! I suddenly know how to write! Ge, don’t tell me the correct answer for now!”

He pretended to be busy writing, but he was only a seven-year-old child after all, and his attempt to conceal was quite clumsy, but it was indeed a sincere heart.

While he was still thinking about how to coax Tao Fengche after scolding him, Sui Yuesheng was completely stunned. He had always thought that Tao Fengche was just a spoiled little master at home, not at all like a male alpha, and cried more than an omega. Now that he looked at it, it seemed that he himself had been biased.

He blinked slowly and smiled.

From that day on, Tao Fengche suddenly started to play the “word recognition game” with Sui Yuesheng almost compulsively. He played the teacher, and Sui Yuesheng played the student. In fact, it was a variant of role-playing game among children. With Xu Song’s help, Tao Fengche had a set of specially tailored teaching aids and a small blackboard, and the versatile butler had even cleared out a room in the house for this purpose.

Tao Fengche took this game very seriously. With a serious face like a steamed bun, Teacher Tao earnestly showed the students the courseware and accompanying teaching videos on the projector, and then wrote on the blackboard with chalk from time to time, asking, “Do you recognize this character?”

Sui Yuesheng took notes carefully under the podium, nodded, and Tao Fengche would start explaining the next one. Later, on the advice of a private tutor, Tao Fengche even introduced an after-class quiz section, which really looked like he was a teacher.

Sui Yuesheng was talented and intelligent, and his understanding was high. In just two months, he mastered many common Chinese characters, but his handwriting was not very good. So Tao Fengche simply started teaching him calligraphy.

The long desk was covered with Xuan paper, with the inkstone placed in the center. A large and a small brush occupied either end, facing the copy of “Lingfei Jing.”

With Sui Yuesheng’s company, Tao Fengche’s enthusiasm for studying had multiplied. Driven by the motivation of “teaching my brother after learning,” he was full of energy.

He completely forgot that Sui Yuesheng was attending the class with him, but Sui Yuesheng simply indulged him.

In the midst of his busy schedule, Tao Zhixing found time to listen to Xu Song’s report on the family’s recent situation. After secretly observing for a few days, he increasingly felt that bringing Sui Yuesheng home was the right decision.

However, Tao Fengche wasn’t always so well-behaved.

Unable to go outside in winter, even with Sui Yuesheng’s company, Tao Fengche grew bored staying at home. And the consequences of a bored seven- or eight-year-old male alpha were simply nightmarish.

In early autumn, Zhao Jiayang somehow acquired over a dozen geese and gave six to the Tao family, saying they should be raised in the lake in the mountains and slaughtered for roast goose at New Year.

Although Tao Zhixing was skeptical about his claim of “it’s safer to eat what you raise yourself,” he accepted the geese and immediately informed Xu Song to keep Tao Fengche away from the lake.

He knew the fighting capabilities of the geese, but Tao Fengche, fearless like a newborn calf, was even more curious about them because of the restriction.

The geese and the boy coexisted peacefully until New Year approached, when the geese, raised as a food reserve, were finally caught and confined behind the house. Tao Fengche’s tutor assigned him a special winter homework — exploring nature.

With Sui Yuesheng accompanying him, Xu Song felt at ease and allowed Tao Fengche to go out enthusiastically.

At first, everything was fine. Tao Fengche seriously observed a few surviving trees in winter. But as they walked, the two ended up at the place where the geese were kept.

Tao Fengche winked mysteriously at Sui Yuesheng, “Ge, let me show you something fun.”

Sui Yuesheng: “Hmm?”

Then he watched as Tao Fengche dashed forward, opened the gate of the pen, and reached out to tease the geese that were preening their feathers.

Sui Yuesheng: “!”

“Look, ge! Geese!” Tao Fengche exclaimed joyfully.

He was immediately chased around by the angry geese, who pecked at him.

Sui Yuesheng initially stood by, determined to let the reckless kid learn a lesson. But seeing Tao Fengche on the verge of tears as he ran, yet avoiding running towards him as if afraid the geese would attack them both, softened his heart.

Why provoke something you can’t beat? He cursed softly.

Despite his frustration, he couldn’t just stand by. Sui Yuesheng closed the gate to keep the other geese from escaping, then ran after the chasing goose and boy, kicked the fierce goose away, picked up Tao Fengche, and sprinted away with him.

Sui Yuesheng ran fast, and Tao Fengche, jostled about, felt like he was about to vomit his lunch but dared not say a word. He thought his brother was a divine hero, rescuing him from a dire situation.

When they returned home, Tao Zhixing, after learning the whole story, first gave Sui Yuesheng a gun and then sent both boys to the Tao family’s training ground, with a bodyguard as their instructor.

Putting aside Sui Yuesheng’s shooting skills, just watching him spar with the burly bodyguard and holding his own was enough to leave Tao Fengche in awe.

He silently noted this in his heart, deeply impressed by Sui Yuesheng.

No wonder my brother could pick me up and run; turns out he wasn’t a little beggar, but a little bodyguard raised at home.

…

Time flew like a white steed glimpsed through a crack. Unknowingly, the ice and snow had melted, and it was another spring.

Tao Fengche’s memories of his childhood were always vague. He remembered more clearly the time after meeting Sui Yuesheng, but as he grew older, some of those memories faded too.

Yet only this day seemed to be etched onto his soul. To this day, Tao Fengche could still recall every detail clearly.

That day was March 5th, the traditional solar term of Jingpu in the Nine Provinces.

Sui Yuesheng had been feeling unwell since he got up in the morning, feeling dizzy and listless. He had no appetite during breakfast, so Tao Fengche didn’t make him accompany him to class and sent him back to his bedroom to sleep.

But even by lunchtime, Sui Yuesheng had not come downstairs.

Tao Fengche wanted to go up and call him, but Xu Song said to let Sui Yuesheng rest well and come down to eat when he woke up. After all, there was always someone in the kitchen, and it would be quick to make food. Tao Fengche thought for a moment and didn’t disturb him.

When he went to the kitchen for a snack after his afternoon class, he unexpectedly found Sui Yuesheng sitting at the dining table, frowning as he shoveled food into his mouth slowly.

Sui Yuesheng had always had this problem. Even if he didn’t like the food, he would finish everything in front of him, forcing himself to eat even when he had no appetite, cherishing food as if afraid he wouldn’t have a next meal.

“Ge, if you don’t want to eat, don’t force yourself.” Tao Fengche hurried over, snatching the chopsticks from him. “If you get hungry later, we can ask the kitchen to make something fresh.”

Before Sui Yuesheng could speak, Tao Fengche patted his head like a little adult. “Are you feeling better now?”

Sui Yuesheng’s hair was soft and smooth, usually tied up in a bundle behind his head, but that day it was left loose, hanging smoothly over his shoulders. Tao Fengche, fascinated, couldn’t resist touching it again.

Normally, Sui Yuesheng would dodge his hand, but at the moment he seemed slow to react, actually letting Tao Fengche touch him.

Sui Yuesheng nodded. “Much better. Shall we go work on the puzzle?”

This was another toy Xu Song had brought, said to be good for brain development. They had been working on it together for half a month and were close to finishing.

Tao Fengche, still just a child, had been thinking about the almost completed puzzle and quickly nodded, the two of them heading to the toy room.

But Sui Yuesheng really wasn’t himself that day.

On the soft carpet was a low table with the half-finished puzzle. They sat cross-legged beside it, comparing puzzle pieces. Being ten years older, Sui Yuesheng was usually much faster than Tao Fengche, but that day he seemed unable to concentrate, holding a piece for a long time without placing it, his face red as if he were about to bleed.

“Ge, what’s wrong…” Tao Fengche worriedly put down his piece and reached out to touch Sui Yuesheng’s forehead.

It was burning hot, like touching a blazing fire.

His brother had a fever.

Tao Fengche jumped up, ready to call Xu Song to get the family doctor, but Sui Yuesheng suddenly raised his eyes, the mist in his gray-blue pupils so dense it seemed about to drip.

“…Xiao Che.” He croaked, and then suddenly collapsed, falling heavily onto the carpet.

Tao Fengche suddenly smelled a strong scent of lychees, sweet and delicate, threading into his nose.

He involuntarily swallowed.

But it was still spring, how could there be lychees?

He panicked but remembered not to move an unconscious person recklessly. Barefoot, he ran outside, shouting, “Uncle Xu! Uncle Xu! Ge fainted!”

Tao Fengche didn’t understand why Xu Song couldn’t smell the overwhelming lychee scent on his brother or why Xu Song looked so alarmed after hearing his words.

He was carried out of the toy room by the household staff. Xu Song was kneeling on the ground, calling the family doctor. In his hurried glance back, Tao Fengche only saw Sui Yuesheng’s sweat-drenched face.

The nearly completed puzzle was knocked to the floor by Tao Fengche in his rush, their half-month of effort scattered, and Sui Yuesheng lay in the middle of the pieces, drenched in sweat as if just pulled from the water.

His hair was disheveled, some strands sticking to his face, his lips pale, but he was still beautiful in a way Tao Fengche couldn’t describe.

That night, Tao Fengche quietly pushed open the toy room door. The puzzle had been neatly put back into its box, the chaotic scene of the day completely gone, as if nothing had happened.

But the sticky trail on the carpet, still faintly smelling of lychees, told Tao Fengche that everything that afternoon was real.

But he never saw Sui Yuesheng again.