Arno’s words, “You’re about to be best friends with someone else,” left Jiang Yi completely confused.

He was perplexed. He sat with Arno every day, worked in the same group for their handicrafts class, and even held Arno’s water bottle during P.E. while he played soccer.

So why did Arno think he was going to become best friends with someone else?

Jiang Yi poked Arno, but Arno simply pursed his lips and remained silent.

Jiang Yi, of course, had no idea why Arno felt this way.

Back when they were at Golden Sun Kindergarten, Jiang Yi had always paid close attention to Arno since he didn’t speak Chinese. No matter what they were doing, Jiang Yi was always by his side. The whole class had assumed that the two were inseparable.

But things were different now.

Arno had learned to speak most of the Chinese language, and Jiang Yi’s attention on him had lessened considerably. He no longer followed Arno around like a little shadow. Worse, Jiang Yi was now sharing oranges with other classmates and helping them sharpen pencils.

The more Arno thought about it, the more upset he became. He grew more and more convinced that Jiang Yi wasn’t paying as much attention to him anymore. And what made things worse was that Jiang Yi seemed to be getting closer to others. This only made Arno more determined to change seats.

He thought bitterly that, at the very least, he needed to stay far away from that curly-haired boy who was constantly fetching water and being annoyingly clumsy.

Though Jiang Yi didn’t fully understand the situation, he could see how upset Arno was. So, he agreed to Arno’s request to switch seats.

It wasn’t until later that afternoon, while throwing out the trash, that Jiang Yi saw the mechanical pencil Ying Zhuohan had given him lying in the trash can.

At first, Jiang Yi hesitated. After all, Arno had borrowed that pencil during the first class of the day, and Arno had told him that he had accidentally lost it.

Jiang Yi had thought it was just misplaced, so he spent the entire break looking for it. When he couldn’t find it, he felt a little disappointed.

His father had taught him from a young age to take good care of gifts from others because that showed respect.

Arno had even poked Jiang Yi’s face and apologized, promising to buy him a better mechanical pencil the next day, no matter what kind Jiang Yi wanted.

Jiang Yi had responded glumly that it didn’t matter—it wasn’t intentional, after all.

But now, there it was—the very pencil Ying Zhuohan had given him, lying in the trash.

Jiang Yi pressed his lips together and picked up the pencil from the trash can.

The classroom was filled with the sounds of laughter and playful chatter. When Jiang Yi looked toward Arno, he saw him lazily playing with a small orange on his desk—the same type of orange Jiang Yi had given to Ying Zhuohan earlier that morning.

Jiang Yi slipped the pencil into his pocket, walked back to his seat, and asked Arno if he remembered where the mechanical pencil had gone.

Arno paused, tilting his head as he looked at Jiang Yi. Then, licking his small canine teeth, he simply replied, “I threw it away.”

Jiang Yi had always assumed that when Arno said he “lost” something, he meant it had been misplaced. But now, Jiang Yi realized that to Arno, who had only learned basic Chinese, “lost” meant he had literally thrown it in the trash.

Jiang Yi pursed his lips tightly. He was upset, but given his usual good-natured temperament, his voice was still soft, though tinged with sadness. “Arno, why did you throw away the mechanical pencil Ying Zhuohan gave me?”

Arno remained silent for a while before responding seriously, “I’ll buy you a new one.”

Since kindergarten, Arno had always had a strong sense of possessiveness over Jiang Yi’s belongings. It wasn’t just Jiang Yi’s things—he even felt possessive over the gifts others gave Jiang Yi or the things Jiang Yi gave to others.

He didn’t like seeing Jiang Yi using things given to him by people he disliked.

But Jiang Yi didn’t understand this.

He couldn’t grasp why Arno had thrown away the pencil that a new classmate had given him. In Jiang Yi’s eyes, only someone as bossy and unreasonable as Qi Nian, who always snatched his yogurt, would do something like that.

But Jiang Yi didn’t want to compare Arno to Qi Nian.

Lying down on his desk, feeling a bit sad, Jiang Yi muttered softly, “It’s not about the pencil.”

After a moment, Jiang Yi sniffled and said in a low voice, “Arno, I don’t want to switch seats anymore.”

Arno was startled and blurted out, “Why not?”

Jiang Yi kept his head down, not responding.

Frustrated, Arno asked angrily, “Is it because of Ying Zhuohan?”

Hearing his name, Ying Zhuohan turned his head with interest and noticed Jiang Yi slumped over his desk. He asked Jiang Yi what was wrong.

After all, out of all their classmates, Jiang Yi was the one who always seemed smaller and weaker. Even in gym class, the teacher often excused him from physical activities, which suggested his health wasn’t great.

But before Jiang Yi could respond, Arno shot a cold glare at Ying Zhuohan, his eyes filled with malice.

Ying Zhuohan was taken aback but wasn’t willing to back down, glaring back at Arno. However, he quickly realized that Arno’s fierce gaze was far more intimidating, like staring into the cold, lifeless eyes of a stone.

In a low, menacing voice, Arno growled at Ying Zhuohan to leave, his tone filled with hostility.

Ying Zhuohan felt a chill run down his spine. Arno was scarier than his cousin, who was already in middle school. But even so, he forced himself to stand his ground and glared back, albeit awkwardly.

Jiang Yi lifted his head, pursed his lips, and avoided looking at Arno. Instead, he turned to Ying Zhuohan and said, “I’m fine.”

Ying Zhuohan nodded stiffly and awkwardly turned back to his seat.

Jiang Yi sniffled again, then quietly said to Arno, “You shouldn’t have been so mean to Ying Zhuohan.”

Arno, feeling increasingly angry, thought to himself, It’s always about Ying Zhuohan. Soon, Jiang Yi will probably call him “best friend” instead of me!

Jiang Yi didn’t feel like talking to the now-irritated Arno anymore. He thought Arno had gone too far. First, he threw away the pencil that Ying Zhuohan had given him, and now he was being mean to him.

As a result, the two of them didn’t speak for the entire class.

The cold war had begun in silence.

When the school bell rang, signaling the end of the day, Jiang Yi packed his bag. Arno, still with a sullen face, followed him. Neither of them spoke.

As they headed down the stairs, a couple of older students were roughhousing and almost bumped Jiang Yi into the wall. Arno shot them a cold, intimidating glare.

The older students immediately stopped their roughhousing, slung their bags over their shoulders, and walked quietly down the stairs.

When Jiang Yi got home, his father asked if he and Arno had a good day at school. Jiang Yi didn’t respond.

Sensing that something was wrong, his father gently probed, but Jiang Yi, not wanting to explain, mumbled that Arno was being too overbearing.

When his father suggested that Jiang Yi go play with Arno that evening, Jiang Yi shook his head, saying he would rather stay home and watch Little Bobby on TV. Right now, Little Bobby seemed much cuter than Arno.

Meanwhile, at the Lu household, Lu Ting, who rarely had a night off from work, noticed Arno pacing near the front door. Curious, he asked, “Why didn’t Jiang Yi come over to play tonight?”

After all, the two boys had been inseparable for so long, spending more time on the phone together than Lu Ting did with his wife. So why, after being reunited, had their enthusiasm suddenly disappeared?

With a stiff expression, Arno replied, “If he doesn’t want to come, that’s none of my business.”

But Lu Ting watched as Arno continued to pace back and forth by the front door from seven in the evening until nine, waiting for Jiang Yi.

During a video call with Lu’s mother, she asked what Arno had been up to since returning to the country. Lu Ting glanced at his son, who seemed like he wanted to glue himself to the front door, and slowly replied, “He’s waiting for his little tree friend.”

“But it seems like they’ve had a bit of a fight recently.”

Lu’s mother chuckled but didn’t quite believe it. Based on how often Arno called Jiang Yi while they were in England, it didn’t seem like the kind of relationship that would easily lead to a fight.

It wasn’t until she mentioned to Lu Ting that she was thinking of getting a perm to change her hairstyle that Arno, overhearing the conversation, suddenly bristled.

Gritting his teeth, Arno angrily told his beloved mother, “Curly hair is the worst hairstyle in the world!”

Lu’s mother: “…”

She glanced at her flustered son, then smiled at her husband, agreeing that it seemed like the two boys really had had a falling out. Otherwise, Arno wouldn’t be acting so upset and frustrated.

The cold war between Jiang Yi and Arno lasted for three whole days. During this time, not only did Jiang Yi’s father catch wind of it, but even Lu Ting knew something was up.

One morning, while cutting his bread at breakfast, Lu Ting casually asked Arno, “Is Jiang Yi not coming over to play again tonight?”

Arno bit down on his bread, his face tight with frustration. “I… don’t… know.”

Lu Ting understood immediately. It looked like the cold war was far from over.

On the fourth night, Jiang Yi was still at home watching cartoons, specifically Little Bobby.

His father asked, “Are you really not going to play with Arno?”

Jiang Yi, staring at the TV where Little Bobby had just fallen into the water and looked all pitiful, thought of Arno when they first met. He muttered quietly, “I’m not going.”

Half an hour later, the house phone rang.

Jiang Yi’s father, looking pleased, glanced at his son. “It could be Arno calling. Don’t you want to answer it?”

Jiang Yi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head decisively. “No.”

Earlier that day, Arno had been mean to Ying Zhuohan again, and Jiang Yi didn’t think Arno had realized his mistake.

The phone rang continuously until it finally stopped.

After a few seconds of silence, the phone rang again, this time more urgently, but it was quickly cut off. This happened two or three more times before the phone finally fell quiet.

Jiang Yi’s father grew concerned. “Could Arno really need something important from you?”

“Should Daddy take you to check on him?”

Jiang Yi hesitated, his eyes widening slightly as he considered the suggestion. He dialed Arno’s number, but no one picked up.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to let his father take him to find Arno.

At Lu’s residence, Jiang Yi’s father explained their purpose for visiting, but the butler frowned and explained that Arno had suddenly locked himself in his room, refusing to see or speak to anyone.

Jiang Yi followed the butler upstairs to Arno’s bedroom. The butler knocked on the door, but there was no response.

Left with no choice, the butler informed Arno that Jiang Yi had come to see him. After a moment of silence, the door finally creaked open.

Barely a second later, Jiang Yi was yanked into the room by a hand, and the door slammed shut behind him with a loud bang.

Jiang Yi stood there, confused. The room was pitch dark, with only a small bedside lamp providing light.

Arno, with a sharp click, turned on the room light. The sudden brightness revealed something that shocked Jiang Yi—Arno’s chin and collar were covered in blood.

Arno let out a few dramatic sobs, his expression stubborn. “You didn’t answer the phone, did you? You didn’t care if I lived or died, did you?”

Jiang Yi froze, staring at Arno’s bloodied face. Then, with a loud wail, he burst into tears, “What happened to you…?”

Arno, still sobbing, yet maintaining his stubborn facade, said, “You don’t care if I live or die, so don’t bother. Even if I die here, don’t worry about it…”

Jiang Yi, utterly terrified, looked at the blood dripping from Arno’s mouth, crying even harder.

Arno, also crying, muttered, “I might have leukemia, Jiang Yi. I’ve been vomiting so much blood… I heard this disease is incurable…”

Earlier that evening, Arno had been folding paper airplanes. Halfway through, he ate a small cookie, and before he realized it, his mouth was full of blood that he couldn’t stop spitting out.

Arno had heard that if people lost too much blood, they could die.

Crying as he kept trying to call Jiang Yi, who wasn’t answering, Arno thought that his death was near, and the thought made him even sadder.

Arno kept shedding tears, spitting blood with every sentence, stubbornly demanding that Jiang Yi promise to be best friends with him forever. Only after Jiang Yi agreed, with teary eyes, did Arno whisper, blood dripping from his mouth, that he would never forget him.

Jiang Yi, still sobbing uncontrollably, couldn’t understand how things had gotten so bad. If he had known Arno had leukemia and was vomiting so much blood, he would never have stayed angry for so long.

The two boys clung to each other, crying loudly, which alerted the adults outside.

The butler knocked on the door, and a wailing Jiang Yi opened it, begging him to help save Arno, saying he didn’t want Arno to die.

Arno, still hugging Jiang Yi, cried along with him.

The butler, startled at first by the blood covering Arno’s chin, panicked for a moment. Jiang Yi’s father, in a rush, called his boss, explaining that something seemed to have gone wrong.

Two minutes later.

The butler, removing a cotton swab from Arno’s mouth, examined it and calmly said, “It seems the young master is just losing a baby tooth.”

The two children, still clinging to each other, stopped crying, looking dumbfounded.