Yuanyuan stayed silent for a moment, her big eyes welling up with tears as she remembered what “dead” meant. Her little mouth trembled, ready to burst into tears.

Yu Mingxi quickly patted her on the head to comfort her. “Don’t be sad, they were probably just lying. Let me try calling again.”

He switched to the house phone and dialed the same number. This time, the phone rang for a long while before the same impatient voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi, may I speak with Shen Ji? I’m his classmate, and I have an urgent message to pass on to him,” Yu Mingxi said, deliberately speeding up his words. “If I can’t reach him, the teacher will personally visit his house.”

The voice on the other end hesitated, no longer as quick to hang up. After a moment of silence, the young girl grudgingly said, “Fine, wait. I’ll get him.”

There was a bit of shuffling on the other end, and finally, a calm and distant voice came through the receiver. “Hello.”

“That’s brother Shen Ji’s voice!” Yuanyuan, now all smiles, began hopping up and down near the phone, eager to talk.

“Hi, my little sister Yuanyuan wants to speak with you,” Yu Mingxi said, passing the phone to her.

As soon as she took the phone, Yuanyuan happily started chattering away, “Brother Shen Ji!” She jumped from topic to topic, asking if he had eaten, whether he had finished his homework, and when he usually went to bed.

They were trivial questions, but Shen Ji patiently answered each one.

“Was that your first call earlier?” Shen Ji’s voice softened when talking to Yuanyuan, much warmer than usual, as if her innocence was the one thing that could thaw his cold demeanor.

In fact, Shen Ji had been walking by the phone when his sister had answered earlier, telling the caller that he was dead. He was used to this by now—his family saw him as little more than a walking corpse, someone they could order around and use as a tool for all their chores.

“Yep, yep! That was me using my watch, but now I’m calling from our house number!” Yuanyuan nodded enthusiastically, even though Shen Ji couldn’t see her through the phone.

“Okay,” Shen Ji’s responses were brief, but nothing could dampen Yuanyuan’s excitement.

As they continued chatting, Shen Ji glanced at the phone and mentally noted the two numbers that had called him. He wouldn’t forget them.

“Yuanyuan, why are you still on the phone? It’s time for bed!” Yu Jinxiao’s stern voice boomed from behind, startling Yuanyuan so much that she nearly dropped the phone, making it clatter noisily against the cabinet.

She stammered for a moment before nervously whispering into the phone, “Brother Shen Ji, I’ll call you next time. I have to go to sleep now.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

With a soft, lingering “goodnight” in her sweet little voice, the line disconnected, and all that remained was the steady beeping sound of the dial tone.

Shen Ji stared blankly at the wall for a moment before putting down the phone. As he turned, he nearly bumped into his uncle.

Immediately, Shen Ji’s face hardened, his usual coldness taking over. His tone turned frosty, as if it was second nature. “What do you want?”

His uncle snickered and crossed his arms, a sneer playing on his lips. “That was the daughter of that rich family, wasn’t it?”

“It’s none of your business.” Shen Ji moved to walk past him.

His uncle didn’t stop him but leaned against the wall, his expression darkening. “I’m warning you, don’t get us into trouble with that family. They’re not the kind of people you want to mess with. If anything you do causes us problems, I won’t go easy on you.”

“You can kick me out if you want. I don’t care,” Shen Ji said with a smirk, his voice full of disdain. His words carried a sense of control, as if he held all the power.

His uncle’s face fell, panic flickering in his eyes. “You… you already know, don’t you?”