Tiantianquan climbed back over Chen Siyan's lap and settled into the passenger seat. She looked out the car window. "Why him of all people!"
Chen Siyan sized up the man outside. Black hoodie, hood pulled over his head, a black mask covering his face—his whole face was hidden, giving him a gloomy, mysterious air.
"Why do I feel like I've seen this dumbass somewhere before?"
Tiantianquan: "He's my neighbor across the hall."
Chen Siyan remembered now—last time, this same dumbass had screwed things up for him.
"Who the hell is he? Does he have some personal grudge against me, or is he just picking a fight on purpose?"
Chen Siyan was the kind of guy who feared nothing and no one. He rolled down the window, his face making no effort to hide just how pissed off he was right now. His gaze was cold, sharp as a knife, staring straight at that gloomy man.
"Why the hell are you knocking on my window? My car's expensive—if you dent it, you're paying! Even a scratch means you pay up!"
The man kept his head down. "Your car is blocking the entrance to the building. I can't get home."
The man's voice sounded young.
Judging by his getup—hoodie and jeans—he seemed like a student.
Chen Siyan stuck his head out and checked around the car. Sure enough, it was blocking the door.
He had thought the guy was deliberately causing trouble. Now it didn't seem that way?
Chen Siyan pulled the car forward a bit, and the man walked into the building, his figure disappearing into the hallway.
Tiantianquan pulled up her underwear, which Chen Siyan had yanked halfway down, exposing half her butt. This damn dog—at least he hadn't torn them to shreds, so she guessed she'd give him a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of credit. "I'm heading home too."
Chen Siyan looked at her reluctantly. "So we're not going to pick up where we left off?"
Tiantianquan: "Go sit out your postpartum confinement, why don't you? My neighbor across the hall is probably standing at his window right now, watching us."
Chen Siyan had a thick skin, sure, but he didn't like being watched while doing the deed. He wasn't some porn star putting on a live show for free.
"I get a bad feeling about your neighbor across the hall. How about you move in with me?"
Tiantianquan: "Don't make it so obvious that you're just trying to get into my pants."
Chen Siyan felt misunderstood—he really wasn't trying to take advantage. "I'm saying this for your own safety."
"I'd be even less safe at your place," Tiantianquan said, pushing open the car door and stepping out. "I'm not jumping into that wolf den of yours."
Chen Siyan called after her retreating figure: "Same as last time—when you get inside, stand by the window and wave at me."
He looked up and saw that slim, graceful figure wave back at him. Confirming she was safely home, he let out a breath of relief.
Chen Siyan shifted his gaze to the window of the apartment across from Tiantianquan's. The lights inside weren't even on. Pitch black.
Who comes home and doesn't turn on a single light?
Was he really standing behind that dark window, staring at him?
That man was seriously suspicious!
……
The next day was the first day of school for high school students. Song Xinya took the morning off to drive the four kids to school.
First, she dropped Song Tingye off at the best public high school in the capital.
Song Xinya: "There's a placement exam on the first day. If you don't get first in the grade, don't come home for dinner."
Song Tingye flicked his head with a flourish, black hair swaying. "First in the grade? That's like reaching into my pocket—easy as pie."
Song Xinya: "Remember to actually bring your brain when you take the Chinese exam."
Song Tingye: "Just you wait—for the Chinese exam, I'll bring both my brain and my 24K gold eyes."
Song Xinya waved him off. "Enough clowning. Go."
Second stop: Song Xinya dropped Song Tingyou and Jin Ruizhi off at the Experimental High School.
Jin Ruizhi spoke up on his own: "Teacher Song, after school I'll tell you what I've found out. Today you'll know which school Sheng Tianjun is attending."
Song Xinya: "I'll wait for your update."
Jin Ruizhi gave a quiet "Mm" and walked into the school with Song Tingyou.
The cicadas' chorus flooded the campus, and the French plane trees lining the paths were lush and dense.
Both of them had long, slender frames and perfect proportions. The loose, oversized school uniforms hung on them like a poem about youth and campus life—a beautiful sight.
A hot breeze swept past a dessert shop, carrying the faint sweetness of ice cream to everyone's nose.
Students passed by in twos and threes, ice cream in hand.
"Buying an ice cream is a must—out in the world, you're bound to gain weight anyway."
"This first ice cream of the semester—finish it, and good luck will follow."
"Eat it, and you get fat; don't eat it, and you crave it—so you've gotta eat it!"
Song Tingyou's small nose wrinkled as she took a deep sniff.
Jin Ruizhi strode over to the dessert shop and bought a strawberry milk pudding ice cream bar.
He also bought two surprise eggs.
Jin Ruizhi walked back to Song Tingyou and placed the ice cream and the two eggs in her palm.
"The ice cream is long, the eggs are round—one followed by two zeros. On the placement exam, you're guaranteed a perfect score."
Song Tingyou had never seen this kind of combination before. She blinked curiously. "Doesn't everybody say eating a fried dough stick and two eggs gets you a hundred?"
Jin Ruizhi: "If you can eat it, I'll go buy you a fried dough stick and two eggs too."
Song Tingyou: "No thanks—I'm afraid my belly might explode."
Jin Ruizhi picked up the ice cream, tore open the wrapper, and fed the sweet strawberry milk pudding bar to her mouth.
Song Tingyou: "I can hold it myself."
She reached for the stick at the bottom, and he let go.
Their fingertips touched. Each other's warmth traveled through their skin—warm, mixed with a jolt like static electricity.
Song Tingyou's hand trembled.
Jin Ruizhi, afraid she'd drop the ice cream, reached out to steady it. In that split second of reaction, he miscalculated his grip and force, and grabbed her hand entirely.
The girl's small hand in his felt smooth, soft, tender. Jin Ruizhi felt like he was holding a slippery little fish, or a piece of steaming hot, freshly-made tofu.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Song Tingyou flushed crimson and yanked her hand back.
She bit into the ice cream, head down, and hurried forward in a fluster.
He walked with his hands in his pockets, taking slow, leisurely steps, keeping a measured distance behind her, a smile spread across his handsome, refined face.
In the car, Song Xinya watched this scene unfold.
Qin Yuyan saw it too.
The little princess was slow on the uptake, but finally asked: "Sister-in-law, does Jin Ruizhi like our Youyou?"
Song Xinya: "What do you think 'like' means?"
Qin Yuyan blinked her big, watery eyes and said: "Like means buying me delicious snacks every day."
Song Xinya: "Then you'd better be careful someone traffics you. Traffickers love using that trick."
Qin Yuyan: "So they'd kidnap me and sell me to another family as their child?"
Song Xinya: "At your age, if you got kidnapped, you'd be sold to a middle-aged bachelor in the remote mountains who can't find a wife—as his wife, to have babies. You'd even get chained by the ankle and locked in a dark, windowless little room to keep you from running away."
Qin Yuyan: "Ahhh, that's so brutal, so brutal! I'm still a little flower of the motherland—you can't treat me like that!"
Song Xinya: “Whether it’s a little flower or an old flower, once a trafficker gets you, you’ll be sold off deep into the mountains to be the wife of some ugly old man. Every day, that old man—with his mouth he never brushes, all stinking—will hold you and plant kisses right on your lips.”
Qin Yuyan pictured herself in that scenario and was almost scared out of her wits.
Song Xinya, after a whole round of scaring and scheming, asked: “Still looking forward to men liking you now?”
Qin Yuyan: “No, not anymore. I’ll never look forward to it again. I’ll just focus on my studies.”
The child’s little spark of romance hadn’t even caught fire before Song Xinya smothered it in the cradle, viciously nipping any budding early love in the bud.
After dropping Qin Yuyan off at the private high school, Song Xinya asked one question: “Are you absolutely sure you really know every single senior in your year?”
Qin Yuyan: “Of course I do. I’m that pretty, from such a good family, and so easygoing. A girl like me—who’s the perfect blend of beauty and cuteness—is super popular at school. Everyone knows me, and I know everybody. There’s definitely no student named Sheng Tianjun in my grade.”
Song Xinya thought to herself: Beijing is such a huge city, with so many high schools. It was perfectly possible that Sheng Tianjun wasn’t at this particular private school.
She spun the steering wheel and drove off.
Coming toward her from the opposite direction, a boy walked up, wearing the special uniform of this private high school.
A classmate who recognized him shouted his name loudly: “Sheng Tianjun!”
