The movie ended just past four in the afternoon.

Xu Ye rubbed his stomach. He’d eaten the entire bucket of popcorn and drank all the Coke by himself, and now he was paying for it.

“That photo should be enough, right? I’ll head off if there’s nothing else.”

“Didn’t you say we were getting dinner?”

“I’m full. Can’t eat.”

Qingqing tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Coming out of the cinema into the open air, the warmth hit her immediately. She fished a black hair tie out of her pocket, held it between her teeth, and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail with the practiced ease of someone who’d done it ten thousand times.

She had on a soft cream-yellow hoodie, black pants, and white Converse — and with her hair up, she looked effortlessly put-together in a way that made it hard not to stare.

Xu Ye watched the whole process without blinking, then felt slightly guilty about it and changed the subject.

“Chen Qingqing — how old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Just finished the gaokao too?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you thinking for university?”

Qingqing gave him a slightly guarded look and didn’t answer.

Xu Ye shrugged. “Fine, forget I asked.”

A beat.

“What about you? Where are you going?”

“Shanghai.”

Something shifted in her expression, just briefly.

She’d been deciding between two schools — Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory in Beijing. Her instinct had always pulled toward Shanghai. She’d spent her whole life in the south, and the thought of a northern winter wasn’t appealing.

“Anyway — you’re the one who dragged me here, so can you have Auntie Wang drop me off?”

Qingqing gave a small nod. “I need to use the bathroom first.”

“Sure.”

Xu Ye stood with his hands in his pockets, looking around. Along the wall, a row of claw machines caught his eye. He hesitated, then walked over and exchanged some coins.

There was a knack to these things. In his previous life, he’d operated them more times than he could count — all in the service of making Gu Mengyao smile. The skill had apparently survived. It didn’t take long before he had a Doraemon [TL: Doraemon (哆啦A梦) is the iconic blue robotic cat from the long-running Japanese manga and anime series, enormously popular across Asia. Also affectionately called 蓝胖子 — “the blue chubby one” — by Chinese fans.] in his hands.

When Qingqing came back, he held it out to her.

She looked at it. Then looked at him, puzzled.

“Birthday present,” he said.

Qingqing had received plenty of expensive birthday gifts over the years — from her parents, from her parents’ colleagues, from people who gave gifts the way they sent meeting invites. She’d accepted all of them without a second thought.

This one made her hesitate.

Xu Ye waited a moment, then sighed. “Alright, if you don’t want it—”

He started to pull his hand back.

Qingqing reached out and took the Doraemon before he could retract it. “You owe me a birthday present for sitting through a movie you’d already seen. I paid for your ticket. That’s fair.”

“Yeah. It is.”

They walked out of the mall side by side. Qingqing messaged Wang Ruxue, and the car appeared in front of them shortly after.

“Auntie Wang, drop him off first.”

Ruxue turned around. “You’re Xu Ye, right? Where to?”

Xu Ye smiled. “The bar is fine — I’ve got work tonight anyway. Sorry for the trouble.”

Half an hour later, Xu Ye stepped out in front of Encounter Music Bar. Wang Ruxue didn’t linger, and headed straight back to Red Leaf Estate.

“Your mom called me,” Ruxue said, pulling through the gates. “She’s coming home tonight.”

Qingqing said nothing.

“Your dad might come by too.”

At that, Qingqing smiled — a real, unhurried smile.

She hadn’t expected one photo to do all that. Two people who treated work as the center of their universe, dropping everything and rushing home.

She set the Doraemon on her lap, opened her phone, and found the photo still sitting in her Moments. She looked at it for a moment, then went into the photo settings and tapped Set as wallpaper.

She went back to the home screen. The default background was gone, replaced by the two of them, heads tilted together.

After dark, headlights swept through the courtyard.

Qingqing, lying on the couch, didn’t move.

Jiang Meilin came through the front door carrying a Black Forest cake — elegant box, careful hands — and set it on the coffee table. She sat down gently at the edge of the couch near Qingqing’s feet.

“Qingqing. Can Mom ask you something? Who exactly is Xu Ye?”

“I told you. My boyfriend.”

“Don’t try to fool me. I know you said that to your father because you were upset he forgot your birthday, and you wanted to—”

Qingqing held up the Doraemon.

“You’re overthinking it. We made it official. We watched a movie together this afternoon. He won me this at the claw machine.” She paused. “So.”

Jiang Meilin glanced up at Wang Ruxue. Ruxue gave a small, confirming nod.

The expression on Jiang Meilin’s face tightened.

“You’re doing this to hurt me, aren’t you?”

She stood up, her composure starting to fray at the edges. “Yes, your father and I haven’t been there the way we should have been. But we’ve never left you without anything you needed. If I stopped working, would you be living in a house like this? Would there be food on the table?”

Qingqing sat up slowly from the couch.

Her eyes had gone red at the rims. “Right. Everything you’ve ever done was for me. I’m the problem. If you’d never had me, none of this would be an issue.”

She was up the stairs before anyone could respond.

“Qingqing!”

Jiang Meilin stood at the foot of the stairs and watched her daughter disappear with tears on her face. The regret hit her immediately.

Chen Hansong arrived not long after, coming through the door already mid-question.

“Where’s Qingqing?”

“This is your fault.” Jiang Meilin turned on him. “You forgot your own daughter’s birthday. What kind of father does that?”

“I just — it slipped my mind.” He pivoted. “And you can talk? You knew it was her birthday and you still left her alone.”

“So now it’s my fault. Classic. You take zero responsibility as a father.”

“Jiang Meilin. I’m not here to fight tonight. Where is she? I want to talk to her.”

Jiang Meilin reached over and picked up the Doraemon from the couch, voice catching slightly. “She won’t want to see either of us right now.”

“Did you find out anything? About this Xu Ye — what is he to Qingqing?”

Jiang Meilin picked up the phone Qingqing had left on the couch and woke the screen.

She held it up.

Their daughter’s wallpaper. The photo from the cinema.

“So what do we do?”

Jiang Meilin took a breath and stood up straighter. “I’ll go get her for the cake. And don’t say a word while she’s down here.” She tucked the phone back down. “As for Xu Ye — I’ll deal with that myself. You know how she is. We’re not going to get anything out of her directly. I’ll go find him.”

Chen Hansong said nothing.

(End of Chapter)