Li Nan had been lingering in the bathroom for quite a while, and finally emerged when Li Wenqing called out to him. The moment Li Wenqing saw Li Nan’s wet hair and damp collar, the veins in her neck visibly twitched.

As expected, when the child is quiet, he’s definitely up to no good.

Li Wenqing took a deep breath, about to scold him, when Li Nan suddenly wrapped his arms around her, being careful of her pregnant belly, moving gently.

“Mom—” Li Nan’s voice was filled with genuine longing. “I missed you so much.”

Before Li Nan was reborn, Li Wenqing had already passed away from cancer many years ago. Shen Xudong had aged considerably due to her death, his health deteriorating, and he spent his time traveling for competitions. His younger sister, Shen Ranran, stayed at home to take care of their father.

Li Nan’s biggest regret, aside from not winning a medal at the Olympics to bring glory to the country, was the sense of guilt he felt toward his family.

He had left home at a young age, stubbornly entering the entertainment industry, and then, after seeing some success, decided to become an athlete. His education was completed through part-time work and study, causing his family much concern.

It was embarrassing to admit, but even though he was in his thirties, he still played the role of the immature child at home.

When Li Nan called out to her like that, Li Wenqing felt a lump in her throat. It’s said that you shouldn’t scold someone when they greet you with a smile, and especially not someone like Li Wenqing, who was more inclined to be soft than harsh.

Li Wenqing was frustrated, thinking that this child had never been so clingy before.

“Go, go, go.” Li Wenqing awkwardly pushed him away. “Eat your food, then change into some proper clothes. Your dad will take you to class. Don’t stay here and get in my way. You’re so annoying.”

“Hey, how can you talk like that?” Grandma lightly tapped Li Wenqing’s hand. “Nannan is so well-behaved. You’re the one who always complains about him being bothersome.”

Grandma shot Li Wenqing a glare before calling out to Li Nan, “Be good, don’t listen to your mom. Our Nannan is the best. Come, sit and eat. After you finish, Grandma will give you a box of delicious cookies to sweeten your mouth.”

Li Wenqing sighed helplessly at her family’s tendency to spoil the kids. “You just keep pampering him. Watch out, this kid’s gonna end up tearing the house down tomorrow.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Our Nannan would never do such a thing,” Grandma interrupted, brushing off Li Wenqing’s words.

Li Nan, however, felt a flash of guilt. The truth was, when he was a child, he had been quite mischievous. While he never went as far as tearing the roof off, he was often climbing trees, catching bugs, and jumping into muddy pits. His new clothes would be worn out with holes in less than a month, a testament to how wild he had been.

But the love his family gave him had also made him extremely confident. It was because of their unwavering support and indulgence that he had stubbornly pursued a career in the entertainment industry, and later shifted to becoming an athlete at the age of nineteen.

In many ways, it was only the child who was loved deeply who had the privilege to be selfish.

He was gently guided to the dining table, where the breakfast his family had prepared for him awaited: a bowl of sweet soy milk, a plate of scallion pancakes, and a basket of soup dumplings.

The pancakes and dumplings were nearly finished, clearly having been shared by the others in the family already, with these remaining just for him.

Especially that bowl of sweet soy milk—only Li Nan in the whole family liked sweet flavors. In the mornings, no matter what, he refused to drink savory soy milk. As the only younger member of the family, Li Nan was doted on, and such a small request was naturally fulfilled by the older generation. Every morning, his grandmother would bring him a cup of sweet soy milk after buying groceries.

This habit of drinking a bowl of sweet soy milk every morning developed over time, and it wasn’t until later, when he left home to enter the entertainment industry, that he gradually gave up the habit.

Because no one would lovingly prepare a bowl of sweet soy milk for him every morning anymore.

Li Nan wiped his face, forcing back the tears that were about to overflow. Not long after his mother, Ms. Li Wenqing, passed away in his previous life, both of his grandparents, because of the grief of losing their only daughter, also passed away early. At that time, he was still overseas participating in an important competition, and by the time he heard the news of his grandparents’ deaths, several days had already passed.

He never even got to see his two grandparents, who had loved him so much, for the last time. When he returned to the country, all he could do was sob uncontrollably in front of two black-and-white photographs of their faces.

Li Nan picked up the bowl of soy milk and gulped it down. The soy milk was warm and sweet as it entered his mouth, like a timely spring rain, nourishing his long-dried heart.

While drinking the soy milk, Li Nan couldn’t help but greedily gaze at his relatives, afraid that this warm, everyday scene was just a beautiful dream that would vanish in the blink of an eye.

After finishing the soy milk, a thin layer of sweat appeared on Li Nan’s forehead. It was the peak of summer, and the weather was stiflingly hot. Thankfully, their fan was powerful enough. Seeing that he was hot, his grandmother turned on the fan but didn’t point it directly at him, worried that his damp hair might cause a cold. Instead, she adjusted the direction to the other side, which helped disperse some of the heat.

Li Nan grabbed a pair of chopsticks and picked up a small steamed bun, stuffing it into his mouth. The bun, having been left to sit for a while, wasn’t as hot as it would have been fresh out of the steamer. Its outer skin was soft and slightly damp, as if it had been steamed for a long time, likely because it had been kept warm in the pot.

Li Nan’s throat tightened as he quickly finished his meal. Afterward, he lingered a little while in front of his grandparents. When they learned that Li Nan had slept wrong and strained his neck, they immediately applied some old remedies, massaging his neck a few times. Not long after, the soreness in his neck eased significantly.

After a few reminders from his mother, Li Wenqing, Li Nan finally returned to his room to change into a clean short-sleeved shirt.

His hair had dried halfway by this point, no longer damp like when he had just come out of the bathroom.

Li Nan sat at his desk and flipped through the items on it. There were a few third-grade textbooks, mostly brand new, except for a few pages where little drawings had been added—various doodles of people—and some alterations to the original illustrations, transforming them into something else. It was the kind of thing children their age loved to do.

His mother, Ms. Li Wenqing, had been urging him to tidy up and get ready for class, and it didn’t take Li Nan long to remember that.

When he was young, Li Nan was mischievous, with a lively and cheerful personality. Among the local kids, he was the most outgoing, always the leader of the group. Later, when his mother unexpectedly became pregnant with a second child, a checkup at the hospital revealed that her health condition wouldn’t allow her to terminate the pregnancy, so she decided to keep the baby. The whole Li family was in disarray at the time, and naturally, they became somewhat neglectful of Li Nan, who was already ten years old and capable of playing on his own.

Li Nan didn’t think much of it at first, but someone—he couldn’t remember who—had told him that once his little brother or sister was born, his parents wouldn’t love him anymore. Those words left Li Nan feeling upset for several days.

However, Li Nan never threw a tantrum about not wanting a sibling. Although his family doted on him, his father was a teacher and had always been strict with his education. At least, he had been raised well, so after a few days of being upset, Li Nan eventually found himself distracted by the various pop songs playing on the television. He thought playing the guitar was so cool and started pestering his family to let him learn music and guitar.

His family, especially his doting grandparents, couldn’t resist his persistence. They immediately decided to use their savings to send him to guitar lessons.

Li Wenqing, perhaps realizing that she had been neglecting Li Nan recently and wanting to make up for it, agreed to the idea.

As for his father, Shen Xudong… he had a gentle temperament and always tried to meet Li Nan’s reasonable requests. So, he had no objections when Li Nan wanted to learn music.

It was only after he started learning the guitar that Li Nan gradually began to develop the idea of wanting to become a star.

When he was young, learning the guitar was just a hobby, but now… well, he wasn’t sure if his skills had improved enough to rival his guitar teacher.

He had been in the entertainment industry for so long and even worked as a creative singer. Now, having to attend a basic guitar class with a bunch of kids—what was the point of that?

But if he went to his mother, Li Wenqing, and told her he didn’t want to go to guitar class anymore…

Li Nan could already imagine his mother’s explosive reaction.

Li Wenqing had always been known for her fiery temper, and with her emotional instability during pregnancy, there was no doubt she would get mad. If he said it, he was probably going to get a good beating.

Just thinking about how fierce Li Wenqing could be when she was angry made the thirty-one-year-old Li Nan, stuck in the body of a ten-year-old, shiver.

This was life-threatening!

He couldn’t tell his mother, so his only option was to seek outside help.

Li Nan thought for a moment, then decided to go to his dad.

Just as he was considering it, there was a knock on his door, and his father, Shen Xudong’s voice came from outside, “Xiao Nan? Are you ready? We need to get going.”

“Coming!” Li Nan turned around, quickly packed his newly bought guitar into the case, slung it over his shoulder, and opened the door to run out.

Shen Xudong’s outfit was youthful and stylish. He wore a loose white shirt on top and black pants on the bottom, and his face was especially handsome. No matter what he wore, he always looked good. His long-time career as a teacher and educator added to his gentle and refined aura. When he was younger, he had been the most handsome young man in the entire area—otherwise, his mother wouldn’t have noticed him and forced him to marry her.

Li Nan had once heard his grandmother tell stories about his parents’ youth. Shen Xudong had lost his mother at a young age and his father when he was still a child. He had grown up eating at other people’s tables. Despite his hardships, he was exceptionally intelligent. When he grew up, Li Nan’s grandfather helped him by lending him some money to attend school. Shen Xudong didn’t disappoint anyone—he earned scholarships all the way through college.

At that time, university degrees were highly valued, and university students were a rarity. Although S City was a big city and had several university graduates, once he reached the age for marriage, even if he was handsome, his poor family background was a problem. No one would want to marry their daughter off to a poor young man. But Li Nan’s mother, Li Wenqing, saw Shen Xudong, who had just returned from university, and after only a few days of dating, she decided she wanted to marry him.

Yes, she decided to marry him.

The Li family was wealthy, and Li Wenqing herself was well-known for being capable. She had worked alongside her father, driving long-haul trucks since she was young, and was an excellent fighter. Though her education wasn’t very high, she believed that with her background, it was no problem to marry a university graduate. And so, she took the initiative to propose to Shen Xudong.

These kinds of remarks, even in Li Nan’s later years, seemed a bit ahead of their time. Surprisingly, Shen Xudong had agreed to the proposal without hesitation.

When Li Nan’s grandparents found out, the couple had already gotten their marriage certificate. There was nothing they could do about it. In fact, they secretly hoped their only daughter would stay with them, so they tacitly accepted the decision.

At the time, no one thought the marriage would last. People said that Shen Xudong’s temperament was too soft, while Li Wenqing was too fiery. They believed the couple’s family would eventually fall apart. But in a surprising turn of events, the two of them loved each other for decades. Even until Li Wenqing’s death, they remained sweet and harmonious, making their children, Li Nan and Li Ranran, envious.

The first few years after their marriage coincided with a period of rapid development in China. Long-haul trucking no longer brought in much money, and Li Wenqing, still in the honeymoon phase of her marriage, made the bold decision to sell the truck. She opened a small but thriving supermarket in S City, modeling it after foreign business practices. The store became more successful than the long-haul trucking had ever been.

Now, the Li family wasn’t exactly rich and powerful, but they were definitely one of the wealthier families in S City.

Shen Xudong took the violin case off his son’s shoulder and slung it over his own back. With one arm around Li Nan’s shoulder, he began leading him out. “Hurry up, or we’ll be late. Your mom’s going to get upset again.”

He glanced at Li Nan. “I don’t want my wife angry with you, you little troublemaker.”

Li Nan was speechless, thinking, Dad, do you even hear yourself? That’s Mom we’re talking about!

Li Nan obediently followed Shen Xudong out the door. On the way, they ran into a few of the neighborhood aunties, who greeted them with enthusiasm. “Oh, isn’t this Mr. Shen? Where are you taking your son?”

“Xiao Nan’s grandmother enrolled him in an extracurricular class, so I’m taking him there,” Shen Xudong replied.

“An extracurricular class, huh? That’s rare. What’s he learning?” one of the aunties asked curiously. “Is the teacher good? If so, I might have my little troublemaker go there too.”

“Music class, learning the guitar,” Shen Xudong replied gently, holding Li Nan’s hand.

“Guitar, huh? Hmm… Xiao Nan, make sure to study hard. When you’ve learned, come back and play a few songs for us,” the auntie who had suggested sending her son to the class didn’t bring it up again.

In a big city like S City, guitars weren’t exactly rare, but compared to the more common piano or violin, guitars were seen as somewhat trivial, even considered a bit of a distracting hobby.

However, no one said anything negative in front of other people’s parents, so the conversation didn’t continue.

Shen Xudong, with his usual good temperament, just smiled and didn’t pay much attention. He believed that his child could learn whatever he wanted, as long as it made him happy.

Having endured so much hardship in his own childhood, Shen Xudong believed that becoming a father meant he should love his child even more, making up for the hardships he himself had faced.

It wasn’t surprising that, despite everyone’s lack of support, Li Nan had resolutely chosen figure skating.

…

The Li family had a van used for deliveries, which was usually driven by Li Wenqing for errands. Shen Xudong’s school was located not far from home, at the Experimental Middle School, and he typically walked to work or occasionally rode his bicycle. He rarely drove, but today, since he was taking Li Nan to the Youth Palace for class, which was a bit far, they definitely needed to take the car.

Taking the bus would have been cheaper, but the Li family wasn’t lacking in a few extra coins. Li Nan’s grandparents, who were very fond of him, would be the first to oppose him taking the bus in this hot summer weather.

Once they were in the car, Li Nan habitually buckled his seatbelt, waiting for his dad to start the car. After a moment, he hesitated before speaking up, “Dad, can I talk to you about something?”

Shen Xudong, while pulling the car out of the parking spot, asked, “Hmm? Go ahead.”

“I don’t think guitar lessons are right for me. Can I stop going to the guitar class?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Xudong glanced at Li Nan in surprise, then quickly turned his attention back to the road ahead.

“Why? Don’t you like the guitar anymore?”