“Qingqing jiejie was the one who invited me.”

Xu Ye’s brow furrowed into a deep crease.

He hadn’t expected this. From everything he’d observed about Qingqing, she was someone who kept the world at arm’s length — instinctively, almost automatically. The first time he’d gotten physically close, her palm had been drenched. The first time he’d shortened her name, she’d stamped on his foot. She hadn’t fully dropped her guard around him yet. So why would she invite a near-stranger into her home?

“Xu Ye gege? Xu Ye gege.”

“What?”

“Do you like Qingqing jiejie?” Yuxin asked, eyes bright with gossip.

Xu Ye felt something slightly guilty move across his face and quickly pushed her away. “Adults’ business. Stay out of it.”

“Hmph.”

He poured himself a glass of water. Then turned back around.

“Have you been chatting with her these past few days?”

“Yeah — no one’s home during the day and I get bored.”

“Let me see what you talked about.”

“No.”

“Show me.”

“No.”

Xu Ye lunged for the phone. Yuxin threw herself face-down on the couch and sat on it.

“Did you say bad things about me?”

“I didn’t.”

“Show me then.”

“No.”

“Get up!”

He had just hoisted her entirely off the couch by the back of her collar when the front door swung open. His parents stood in the doorway, looking at the scene — Xu Ye holding Yuxin aloft, Yuxin wriggling like a fish — in complete silence.

Yuxin went immediately limp and pathetic. “Auntie! Xu Ye gege is trying to steal my phone!”

“You shameless thing—” Zhang Hong grabbed the broom from beside the door. “She’s only here for a little while and you’re already bullying her?”

“Mom! Mom! Let’s use our words — no brooms!”

That night, on WeChat:

Xu Ye: you’re inviting me and Yuxin to your place?

Qingqing: I only invited Wang Yuxin.

Qingqing: she said she’s staying at your house and needs someone to come with her if she goes out.

Xu Ye laughed to himself.

That was definitely Yuxin’s invention. A convenient excuse to bring him along too.

The little schemer. She had a good heart.

He played along.

Xu Ye: fair enough, I’m not that eager to come anyway. I’ve got work at night and driving school during the day, I’m pretty busy.

Qingqing: then you can get dropped off halfway. Auntie Wang will bring Yuxin back to your building in the evening.

Xu Ye: halfway to where?

Qingqing: not my problem.

Xu Ye: can you be at least slightly nice to your only friend?

Qingqing: you’re not my only friend anymore.

Qingqing: Wang Yuxin is too.

Xu Ye: she’s still a kid.

Qingqing smiled at the screen and typed back: “I like kids.”

Xu Ye: well if you like kids, we could always have one someday.

One minute passed.

Xu Ye: hello?

Five minutes.

Xu Ye: that was a joke.

Twenty minutes.

Xu Ye: fine, ignore me then. going to sleep. goodnight.

Next morning, brilliant sunshine again.

The first thing Xu Ye did when he woke up was fish his phone out from under his pillow and check if Qingqing had replied.

She had.

Late last night.

Qingqing: if you say one more thing like that I’m never talking to you again!!

He stared at that for a moment.

Was this scolding? It was technically scolding. But it also had a certain quality to it that was harder to categorize.

He smiled, got up, and went to wash his face — and found Wang Yuxin in the living room, sitting at the table doing homework with genuine concentration.

“Xu Ye gege, you’re up?”

“Mm.”

“There’s a math problem I can’t figure out. Can you help?”

“I can’t.”

She stared at him. “It’s sixth-grade material.”

“Math gives me a headache ever since the gaokao. Use your phone and look it up.”

“You just don’t want to help me.”

Honestly, it wasn’t entirely a lie. A person who’d spent several years doing ordinary adult things in the real world didn’t necessarily retain sixth-grade math.

“After the gaokao, my brain just stopped working properly for calculations. Can’t help you there. But there are other things I can teach you.”

“Like what?”

“How the world actually works.”

“Boring.”

“Or — how to tell a good man from a bad one.”

Yuxin tilted her head with genuine interest. “How?”

Xu Ye held up two fingers and placed them under her nose. “All you have to do is put your hand here, like this. Any man who’s still breathing — he’s not to be trusted. Except me, obviously.”

She opened her mouth in a mock bite. He yanked his hand back just in time.

Xu Ye spent the morning reading stock market news. Yuxin worked through her summer homework across the room. Around noon, he went to the kitchen and put together a simple lunch — rice, two stir-fried dishes.

“It smells so good! Xu Ye gege, when did you learn to cook?”

“If you want to learn something, you learn it. People who can’t cook by a certain age either have someone doing it for them or they’re just lazy.”

Yuxin helped herself to an enormous bowl of rice. They ate, then both sprawled on the couch in the slow afternoon heat, half-asleep.

At two-thirty, Yuxin shook him awake.

“Xu Ye gege, Auntie Wang is coming to get us. Qingqing jiejie already sent her.”

“Already?”

He sat up fast, ran cold water over his face in the bathroom, pocketed his keys and phone, and they were out the door.

Wang Ruxue picked them up from the complex entrance and headed toward Red Leaf Estate. On the way over, she had already messaged Jiang Meilin about Qingqing’s invitation. After a brief pause, Jiang Meilin had given her approval.

Ruxue didn’t say much on the drive.

The commercial van passed through the gates of Red Leaf Estate. The two security guards on duty stood straight and gave a formal salute. The wide asphalt road inside was lined with maple trees on both sides, their leaves a full summer green — come autumn, they’d turn deep red, which was where the estate got its name.

Wang Yuxin pressed her face to the window. “It’s like a park in here.”

Xu Ye had expected something impressive. He still felt a quiet shift in his chest at the actual sight of it.

Money really is something.

The van pulled into the villa’s courtyard. No private pool, but the estate had one — enormous, residents only, open on Tuesdays. The garden was well-kept, flowers and shrubs shaped at regular intervals by a landscaping crew. Yuxin hopped out and immediately started looking at everything. Xu Ye raised a hand toward the figure standing at the front entrance.

“Come in.”

He walked through the door.

Wang Ruxue, watching from the driver’s seat, knew with quiet certainty:

From this moment, whatever these two were to each other — it was no longer something as simple as friends.

(End of Chapter)