Office workers kept their heads down in silence, playing with their phones, while groups of students chattered in clusters.
The night wind drifted through the carriage, dispersing some of the stifling air.
Jiang Qihuai scrolled down the screen with his fingertips.
The earlier part of the chat was mostly Li Shuangjiang talking about all sorts of things, so he dragged it all the way to the end.
The conversation was still ongoing.
Li Shuangjiang and Fu Xiling were going back and forth—one noisy, the other responsive—their exchange smooth and lively.
Throughout the entire time, the third person in that group chat had never appeared.
The last message was from Li Shuangjiang.
Fu Xiling hadn’t replied after that.
Li Shuangjiang: 【My brother’s boyfriend looks really handsome too, doesn’t he? He even looks a bit familiar—like some celebrity, right?】
Jiang Qihuai’s gaze lingered on that line for a few seconds.
The driver suddenly hit the brakes, and as he grabbed the handrail, his whole body swayed, pulling his eyes away from the screen.
The announcement for the next stop sounded, and Jiang Qihuai got off the bus.
The family he tutored lived in an old villa district.
No buses went directly there—he had to walk for about ten minutes.
Crossing the pedestrian lane, Jiang Qihuai lowered his eyes to close WeChat, opened his contacts, and slowly scrolled down to find the parent’s WeChat.
Fighting, causing trouble, falling in love—
She really couldn’t bear to skip any of them.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
After typing his message and sending it to the group chat, Li Shuangjiang suddenly froze.
He turned his head to look at Fu Xiling beside him.
Fu Xiling was also looking at him, wearing an expression that mixed confusion, sudden realization, and a trace of uncertainty.
Their eyes met—and both saw the same answer in the other’s face.
Indeed, he did look a bit familiar.
Like that guy standing next to her—the one who’d just ruffled her hair.
Li Shuangjiang let out an “Ah,” realizing that he might have made a mistake.
That small sound finally drew Ji Fan’s attention.
The boy turned his head, a little surprised. “Your friend?”
Tao Zhi grabbed his wrist and flung his wandering hand away. “Yeah.”
“You can still make friends? With your rotten personality, besides that ‘Timely Rain’ guy, who else would befriend you?” Ji Fan craned his neck toward the doorway. “If you two are being kidnapped, just blink.”
Fu Xiling blinked twice.
“Tao Zhi,” Ji Fan pointed at her and turned back accusingly, “this is a crime.”
Tao Zhi kicked him on the butt impatiently. “Enough already. Get their shoes.”
Rubbing his butt, Ji Fan let out an “Ow,” then scampered over to open the shoe cabinet.
He pulled out two pairs of slippers and placed them on the floor. “Hello, I’m Zhizhi’s older brother. I was born twenty minutes later than her.”
Fu Xiling said seriously, “Then you should be the younger brother.”
“……”
Ji Fan leaned against the shoe cabinet, looking at her discontentedly. “You’re quite an unfeeling little girl, aren’t you?”
Fu Xiling was suddenly at a loss for words.
“Don’t mind him, he just has a filthy mouth.” Tao Zhi yanked the boy’s hair, pressing his head down. “Go do your own thing. Your sister has to study with her classmates.”
Bent over, Ji Fan walked forward under her grip. “Study what? You planning to make a desperate last stand to save your twenty points in math?”
Tao Zhi said, “Someone who scored nine points shouldn’t talk. Have you figured out how to make up the missing eleven?”
“A school bully should have some personal style, you know?” Ji Fan argued confidently. “Can’t just follow the crowd. If you tell me to score twenty and I actually do it, where’s the dignity of a school bully then?”
Tao Zhi tugged harder on his hair. “Why are you talking so much? Did you quit smoking or not?”
“Stop pulling, stop pulling, my hair’s gonna fall out! I quit, I quit!”
“What nonsense are you talking about? You think I’m blind? Those cigarette butts in the ashtray on the coffee table—did the dog smoke those?”
Li Shuangjiang: “……”
Fu Xiling: “……”
The two of them stood silently at the doorway, watching the chaos unfold in the living room. Li Shuangjiang leaned closer and whispered, “My big brother’s family sure is something else. There are two kids like this in the house?”
Fu Xiling shook her head. “I don’t know, I’m an only child.”
Tao Zhi bringing home anyone other than Song Jiang was indeed a rare event. Aunt Zhang hurried cheerfully into the kitchen to add a few more dishes.
In the living room, the two finally quieted down. Ji Fan sprawled back on the sofa, continuing to play his game, while Tao Zhi led Li Shuangjiang and Fu Xiling upstairs into the study.
Li Shuangjiang was full of excitement, hopping around the room. Pointing to a vase on the display shelf in the corner, he exclaimed, “Isn’t that one of Tang Ying’s cobalt-blue carp vases from the Qianlong period?”
Tao Zhi replied, “Picked it up from a flea market for decoration.”
Li Shuangjiang gasped. “A painting by Gu Kaizhi! This must be worth eight figures!”
Tao Zhi said flatly, “A fake. Eight hundred.”
Fu Xiling pulled an English test paper out of her schoolbag. “Forget eight figures, let’s take a look at your eighty-point English test.”
Fu Xiling was serious about everything she did. The Experimental School’s students were all strong, so the teachers taught quickly, skimming over simple grammar points in a sentence or two. Fu Xiling took out her notebook and explained them one by one in detail.
By the time Aunt Zhang came upstairs to call them down for dinner, Ji Fan was already seated at the table.
Li Shuangjiang, ever sociable, could talk academics with top students and games or sports with slackers. He quickly bonded with Ji Fan, gnawing on a chicken wing while analyzing the newest League of Legends champions.
Dinner was lively and cheerful. Afterward, Li Shuangjiang and Ji Fan went off to play games, while Tao Zhi was dragged back upstairs by Fu Xiling to memorize an English essay. By the time they came back down, the two boys had already forged a revolutionary friendship.
It wasn’t until the sky outside was completely dark that Li Shuangjiang reluctantly packed up his things to leave.
Tao Zhi originally wanted to call Uncle Gu to drive them back, but neither of them wanted to trouble her again and insisted on walking. Worried they might lose their way, Tao Zhi went along with them.
The villa district had been built long ago; the houses were all old. Only the fountain garden in the middle of the neighborhood had been renovated last year.
In front of the detached houses was a row of stacked villas. Tao Zhi led them through a shortcut there, and Li Shuangjiang, still thinking about his newly met good brother, asked, “By the way, which school does Ji Fan go to? Why doesn’t he go to class with you?”
Tao Zhi slipped her hands into her coat pockets. “He just transferred back recently. He’ll probably come to Experimental too. He studied at the Affiliated School for about half a year before.”
“Transferred from the Affiliated School? Then isn’t that the same school as Huai-ge?” Li Shuangjiang said.
Tao Zhi’s steps paused. “Oh, right.”
Li Shuangjiang continued, “Then he and Huai-ge should know each other. Both of them don’t seem like the kind who’d go unnoticed at school.”
Tao Zhi rolled her eyes. “That guy’s been a big name for ages — number one in fights and troublemaking, and always at the bottom in exams. Maybe they don’t know each other. They’re not even on the same track.”
As soon as she finished speaking, both Li Shuangjiang and Fu Xiling turned their heads in unison to look at her.
Tao Zhi looked puzzled. “What?”
“Nothing,” Li Shuangjiang said. “I just suddenly realized… were you talking about yourself?”
Fu Xiling nodded. “Definitely real siblings.”
Tao Zhi: “……”
Tao Zhi walked Li Shuangjiang and Fu Xiling to the bus stop, watching as they got on the bus and waved to her from inside.
The sky had darkened. Streetlights shimmered, and the wind carried a chill. Tao Zhi hopped twice on the spot, pulled her coat tighter, and turned to head back.
It wasn’t too late yet; people who had just finished dinner were coming downstairs to walk their dogs. Most of the shops and snack stalls were still open, and the light spilling from the convenience store at the corner shone as bright as daylight.
Tao Zhi couldn’t help but glance at it twice.
Ever since that night she ran into Jiang Qihuai while getting a late-night snack, she didn’t know why—but every time she passed a convenience store like this, her gaze would always linger for two extra seconds.
And this time, by pure accident, she really did bump into him again.
The boy was still in his school uniform, schoolbag slung over his shoulder. He clearly hadn’t gone home yet. His figure was lean and upright, framed clearly through the wide glass window. Inside, he walked a circle around the refrigerated section, picked up a boxed meal, and went to the counter to pay.
While waiting for it to be heated, he leaned against the counter, head lowered as he looked at his phone.
Someone walked out of the store—the door chimed, opened, and closed again. Tao Zhi stood by the roadside, watching as he took the meal from the cashier’s hand. He nodded slightly, and the cashier, a young girl, quickly waved her hands, sneaking a shy glance at him, her cheeks faintly red.
Jiang Qihuai lowered his head, carried the meal to the long table by the window, sat down, and while scrolling on his phone, lifted the lid of the meal box.
Sitting there alone, his shoulders slightly slumped, he looked faintly tired.
He looked like a small, lonely puppy.
He was eating by himself, too.
Tao Zhi blinked.
Were there still snacks at home?
Probably not.
Yeah, definitely not.
When she left, she had just grabbed Ji Fan’s jacket hanging by the door. It was a size too big, and the cold wind puffed into it, making her shiver.
Tao Zhi hunched her shoulders and walked into the convenience store.
It was a large one. She slipped in from the other side, sneaking between the aisles like a thief, filling her basket with snacks, then stopped by the refrigerated drinks to grab a few bottles of lemon tea and yogurt.
After paying, she pulled out one of the Yakults from the bag, stabbed in a straw, and walked straight to the window-side table.
She set down the bag of snacks beside him and plopped herself into the seat next to Jiang Qihuai.
Sensing someone approach, Jiang Qihuai finally lifted his gaze from his phone.
Tao Zhi didn’t look at him. Her eyes were fixed on a big golden retriever outside the window, leashed with a pink rope, circling by the door of the convenience store and happily chasing its own tail. It had a straw in its mouth, drinking milk.
Jiang Qihuai raised an eyebrow, holding his chopsticks, but said nothing.
When the golden retriever was finally pulled away by its owner, Tao Zhi spoke. “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Qihuai put down his phone. “I should be asking you that.”
“I told you to come study together, but you didn’t. Instead, you ran off to eat a boxed meal alone at a convenience store.” Tao Zhi finished the small bottle of Yakult in her hand, pulled out the straw with a click, stabbed it into the next one, and said, “In quite the mood tonight, aren’t you, Your Highness?”
The coat the girl wore was clearly not her size—too large by a size, with sleeves hanging long and loose, only the tips of her pale fingers peeking out. She struggled to push the sleeves up, finally revealing half a hand.
Jiang Qihuai thought of the chat record from that so-called Beautiful Girls’ Justice League, and his eyes flicked once toward the gold-red men’s baseball jacket she wore.
Like a flashy peacock.
What kind of terrible taste did she find in a partner like that?
His lips pressed into a faint line. Without saying anything, he picked up his chopsticks again and continued eating.
Tao Zhi turned her head, propping her chin on her hand as she watched him. She bit the straw between her lips, her words a little muffled. “Eating this late—were you out stealing manhole covers or something?”
“I just finished class.”
“You still go to cram school?” Tao Zhi sounded surprised.
“Private tutoring.”
Tao Zhi blinked, realizing that meant he was the one giving lessons, not attending them.
She didn’t ask further, only frowned. “What’s wrong with that parent? You tutored their kid this late and they didn’t even invite you to stay for dinner?”
Jiang Qihuai glanced at her.
This little groundhog was noisy, but unexpectedly had a sense of propriety.
It was the same the last time she ran into him working part-time, and the same this time. Whenever she sensed there was a line ahead, she stopped before crossing it.
“So,” Jiang Qihuai set down his chopsticks and asked calmly, “why are you still here?”
“I don’t like eating alone,” Tao Zhi said, looking at him with wide eyes.
“So?”
“So I came to keep you company,” she said.
Jiang Qihuai’s fingers curled slightly on their own.
He lowered his gaze, expression faint. “No need. Go back and keep your boyfriend company.”
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