After the arrival of midsummer, the weather grew increasingly hot, and the days until the high school entrance exam ticked down.

That day after school, Jiang Lu, as usual, packed up early. When the dismissal bell rang, he said in a low voice, “Qi An’an, I’m leaving first.”

In the past, Qi An’an would still look confused and call out, “Hey, wait for me!” But now, she had gotten used to it. Ever since things had gone back to square one, he never waited for her anymore.

If he said they wouldn’t walk home together, then they wouldn’t. He was terribly good at keeping his word. She could only pout pitifully and say, “Okay…… be careful on the way.”

Jiang Lu paused slightly but still picked up his bag and turned to leave.

“Hey, Qi An’an, wanna go try that new luosifen^[1]river snail noodles; rice noodles boiled and served in a soup and has a distinctive odor place that just opened outside the school gate?” Yu Tianyang, who had once again been reassigned to sit in front of Qi An’an this week, asked excitedly while packing up his things.

Qi An’an shook her head. “I’ll pass. My brother’s coming home for dinner tonight. I have to eat with him.”

“Alright, guess you’ve escaped the stink attack.”

Qi An’an couldn’t help but laugh, but then she suddenly thought of something. “Oh right, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what kind of stuff do boys your age usually like?”

“What kind of stuff?”

Qi An’an added, “Like…… what kind of birthday gift would you most want to receive?”

“Me? I think……” Yu Tianyang had just begun to answer when he suddenly hissed, “Wait, are you planning to buy me a gift? But my birthday’s still months away. Why are you preparing so early? Besides, birthday gifts are supposed to be surprises. It’s no fun if you tell me in advance.”

Qi An’an hurried to explain, “I know your birthday’s still far off, don’t worry, you’ll definitely get your surprise. But this time it’s not for you. It’s for…… a distant relative of mine. She wants to buy a birthday gift for her son, but doesn’t know what to get.”

So that’s what it was. Yu Tianyang began to think seriously. “Shoes, maybe. I think shoes are great. Trust me, no guy can resist a good pair of shoes. Or…… a keyboard. I’m telling you, a good keyboard makes all the difference when gaming. Headphones are okay too, depending on if he needs them. Or you could get him a new phone, or a tablet. What else? Let me think……”

After thinking for a long while, Yu Tianyang waved his hand. “Honestly, I think that’s plenty. For a middle-aged woman to pick out something that spot-on? Her son will love it. Just tell your relative to pick something from the list I gave.”

Qi An’an’s face darkened at being labeled a middle-aged woman. She gave a strained smile and nodded. “Alright, got it. Go eat your luosifen.”

She had thought long and hard, originally hoping to get some inspiration from her ‘big nephew’. But it turned out all his suggestions weren’t really suitable.

Qi An’an furrowed her brows in distress. What should she buy for her cub? His birthday was just a few days away.

────ρя


When Jiang Lu returned home, Qin Meng wasn’t there. His room was cluttered with some of Qin Meng’s hastily discarded clothes. After all, this wasn’t his bedroom, just a storage room she used.

Jiang Lu picked up the clothes expressionlessly and set them aside. Just after washing his hands, his phone rang.

“Hello, Xiao Jiang? Are you still renting my apartment or not? You said you’d think about it a few days ago. Made a decision yet?” A woman’s strong, energetic voice came through the line.

Jiang Lu didn’t reply immediately. That apartment was one he had been eyeing for a long time. It was near Xincheng No. 1 High School.

The place was in a high-end residential complex— secure and private. There were no crowded courtyards like in old neighborhoods, and most neighbors kept to themselves. While it lacked a certain warmth, it also lacked gossip and judgment.

He had previously arranged with the landlady that once the current tenant moved out, he would move in.

But recently, he had been wavering.

One night, while walking Qi An’an home, they turned into a deserted alley. There was no one in sight, and for some reason, a question that had long lingered in his heart suddenly escaped in a quiet voice, “Qi An’an, do you want to—”

The girl beside him looked at him with a clueless smile and asked in her clear, pleasant voice, “What? Want to what?”

“Nothing.”

He had wanted to know where she planned to go for high school. The obsession in his heart had grown stronger. It wasn’t as if he absolutely had to attend Xincheng No. 1 High.

After all, Qi An’an definitely wouldn’t apply there. It was in a newly developed area— remote and underdeveloped, with barely any infrastructure. There was not even a decent shopping mall or cinema nearby.

But in the end, he restrained himself and said nothing.

The day after that bastard tumbled down the stairs, Jiang Lu sat alone on an empty street corner and smoked for a long time.

It was his first cigarette, but he handled it as if he’d done it a hundred times before.

Amid the flickering glow of the cigarette, his mind kept involuntarily sketching the outline of a familiar face.

That girl feared he’d be cold, feared he’d be hungry, and worried about his pain when he was hurt. She had shielded him from storms, from thunder, and from malicious gossip. She had protected him, again and again.

He had overestimated himself. Turns out he, too, could be like a boy in the throes of first love. But because he matured too early, that phase of innocence had been far too short.

Still, how could someone like him ever be worthy?

The blood in his veins would never be clean. His very existence was a stain. He was nothing more than a pawn in someone else’s pursuit of wealth, doomed from the start to be incompatible with anything beautiful in the world.

Jiang Lu lowered his head, staring at his own hands. He watched the cigarette ember glow and fade between his fingers.

He let out a faint laugh. How could someone like him be called a good person?

A good person wouldn’t be filthy down to their very bones. Words like ‘heart-throbbing’— each syllable so sweet— sounded utterly tainted when applied to him.

His thoughts twisted and turned in an instant. Jiang Lu rubbed his brow and decided that while he still had a shred of reason, he should let her go. Stay away from her.

“I’ll rent it.” Jiang Lu said softly. “If it’s ready on your end, I can move in anytime.”

His life was always meant to follow the path he had laid out— arrive alone, pass quietly, and leave without a trace.

────ρя


Qi An’an had burned through countless brain cells these past few days trying to decide on a birthday gift. In theory, as a superfan of the novel, analyzing the male protagonist’s character should have been second nature. But now she just couldn’t settle on a suitable present.

In the novel, Jiang Lu was in a low point of his life at this stage— insecure and self-loathing. While other kids looked forward to their birthdays, to him it was just an ordinary day…… maybe even a repulsive one.

But Qi An’an remembered. According to the novel, it wasn’t until Jiang Lu was twenty-eight that he first heard someone say ‘Happy birthday.’ One of his employees happened to find out and casually said it.

That day, the look on his face had shown a hint of emotion.

He hadn’t chosen to come into this world. He had grown up with difficulty, and deep down, he only wished someone would tell him that he wasn’t that unlikable.

Qi An’an’s thoughts drifted— one moment to the plot of the original novel, the next to that early morning scene, when Jiang Lu had smiled faintly at her under the sunlight. She was so focused on her musings that she didn’t even notice the knock at the door until Butler Chen called from outside, “Miss, I’m coming in.”

He came in carrying a tray of fruit and saw Qi An’an sitting at her desk, frowning slightly. Thinking she was studying hard, he smiled kindly. “Miss, take a break. You’ve been upstairs since school ended and haven’t come out. Have some fruit.”

Qi An’an accepted the tray with a cheerful smile. “Thank you, Uncle Chen. By the way, is my brother coming back soon?”

“Mm, he just said he’ll be home in five minutes.” Butler Chen said, scratching the back of his head. “But the young master seems a little upset. He sounds angry. Maybe you should cheer him up later.”

“My brother is upset?”

Qi An’an’s heart sank at first, but then she thought it through. Qi Yan was smart and resourceful. He had never suffered any losses in business. Even if something had truly gone wrong, he would’ve kept up appearances and acted like it didn’t bother him. So, it probably wasn’t work-related.

For Butler Chen to notice something was wrong with Qi Yan’s tone, it had to be something completely out of his control— something that left him furious.

What else could it be?

“Don’t worry, Uncle Chen! I’ll go cheer him up. I’ll go wait for him at the door!” Qi An’an slapped her forehead and jumped up from her chair, running downstairs.

She waited for less than a minute before Qi Yan returned.

As soon as he walked through the door, Qi An’an beamed and eagerly took the things from his hands. “Brother, you’re finally back! You must be hungry. It’s so late already. Come eat, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Qi Yan had come in with a dark expression, but the moment he saw Qi An’an, his gaze softened. Hearing her words, a trace of guilt flickered in his eyes.

“An’an, you’ve been waiting for me?” Qi Yan hesitated, then sighed with meaning behind his words, “I’ve made things hard for you.”

That confirmed her suspicions. Qi An’an sat beside him, watching his face closely. “Brother, what happened to you? You look terrible. I’m not feeling wronged, so stop treating me like some poor little thing, okay?”

She truly didn’t feel wronged. She was about to meet her precious girl!

Qi Yan let out a low sigh. It was their foolish father again, coming up with some wild idea to have his illegitimate daughter move in and live with Qi An’an. Qi Yan had rejected it so strongly that it had triggered Qi Hong’s rebellious streak, and now he was determined to make it happen— using the company to pressure Qi Yan into letting the two girls live together and ‘bond.’

Now Qi Yan was stuck. But he was also unwilling to let Qi An’an suffer.

He didn’t want Qi An’an to know all this, afraid it would upset her, so he changed the subject, “The high school entrance exam is coming up soon. Are you nervous?”

Qi An’an didn’t answer that. “Brother, just tell me the truth. I’m not a little kid anymore. Be honest, is this about me?”

“You’re still a little kid.” Qi Yan chuckled, but seeing that there was no way around it, he hesitated before finally saying, “An’an, in a few days, a relative’s child will be coming here and might need to stay for a few days. Not too long, just until she finds a place. You don’t need to pay her any attention. Just do your own thing.”

Ah, truly a brother repaid by the universe for saving the galaxy in a past life. He was always thinking of her. Qi An’an couldn’t help feeling a little tenderhearted. “Brother, just tell me the truth. She’s not a relative’s kid, is she? She’s Dad’s kid, right?”

After all, their bizarre parents never bothered to hide anything. One had a mistress, the other kept a boy toy. It wasn’t even surprising that their ‘wonderfully’ strange father had a child out there somewhere.

Before Qi Yan could answer, Qi An’an continued, “You’re upset because of this, right? Did Dad scold you? It’s fine. Just let her live with me. The house is big, and now I’ll have company too. I’m okay with it. You don’t have to keep fighting Dad on this.”

Qi Yan stared at her in shock which quickly turned into heartbreak. He couldn’t believe those words had come out of his pampered little sister’s mouth.

He had suffered through a miserable childhood and had only wanted to raise his baby sister to be innocent and carefree, to never have to think or understand too much, and to grow up safe under his protection. But now, he didn’t even know when she had become so clear-headed.

How much hardship must she have endured to become this understanding? Qi Yan’s heart ached unbearably. “An’an, Brother won’t let you suffer. You can be as willful as you want. You don’t have to be so sensible.”

Qi An’an didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She clung to his arm like a spoiled child. “Brother, I really don’t feel wronged. Why won’t you believe me? Just focus on your work and don’t worry about me.”

She genuinely didn’t feel wronged. If anything, she was worried Qi Yan would keep all this bottled up and feel miserable.

Seeing that Qi Yan was about to say something else, Qi An’an quickly added, “Besides, when have you ever seen me get bullied? Don’t worry. If she really tries anything, I definitely won’t let her off easy. I’ll kick her out myself, no need for you to step in.”

To reassure Qi Yan, she even raised her hand and swore like she meant it— though the little devil inside her was rubbing its hands in secret excitement. Her precious girl was kind and sweet, the number one little angel in the world. There was no way anything bad would happen.

Hearing that, Qi Yan helplessly pinched her cheek. “……Alright, let’s give it a try. But if anything happens, you must tell Brother. She should be moving in after your entrance exam ends.”

Qi Zhen will move in after the exam?

At that moment, Qi An’an felt as if fireworks had exploded in her heart. There was only one more week until the exam, which meant after that, it would be New Year for her, the hardcore CP fan!

Even when she went to bed that night, she was still riding the high of excitement. Half asleep and just about to doze off, she suddenly remembered the important matter she hadn’t finished thinking about earlier today.

Ah, no time to celebrate New Year just yet. She still hadn’t figured out what birthday present to give her precious boy!

……

Jiang Lu’s birthday fell on June 1st, Children’s Day. But pitifully enough, he had never celebrated a birthday or even a Children’s Day in his life.

But this year’s Children’s Day was going to be different. That morning, Qi An’an picked up her phone and saw the date— June 1st. She smiled with joy.