School days were both long and fleeting: morning exercises, classes, breaks, exams, and going home. In the blink of an eye, late autumn arrived. The parasol tree leaves outside the school had turned a brilliant golden color.
Shen Fu’s life followed a strict three-point routine:
Hospital.
Jiang residence.
School.
She was doing her best to fit in.
Everyone at this school seemed not to study particularly hard. Yet their grades were excellent. Almost everyone had some special talent. Many were well-rounded in every aspect. If she didn’t catch up quickly, she wouldn’t necessarily be mocked, but she would inevitably feel out of place.
Two weeks after starting school, Shen Fu finally understood why everyone became so excited whenever Class Seven was mentioned.
“Because Jiang Shu is in Class Seven!”
One of the boys said: “Almost everyone in their class is rich, even among rich people. I heard Jiang Shu has collected the entire set of Gundam armor models. I’m so jealous.”
For sixteen- and seventeen-year-old teenagers, money wasn’t the coolest thing. Robots, sneakers, video games, cars, those were what really mattered.
A girl said, “He’s so handsome! And he has such an aristocratic aura. He practically sparkles standing in a crowd. Don’t you think?”
Shen Fu: “…”
She agreed with the first four words. But ever since she’d seen the boy sitting at the dining table, lazily propping up his head while painstakingly picking out every single grain of rice that wasn’t plump enough, being ridiculously finicky, every bit of the hazy filter she’d once had about him had shattered into pieces.
During breaks, everyone’s conversations were usually complaints like, “My mom insists on signing me up for archery tutoring classes. How am I supposed to have any free time?” or “Where’s your family going camping this weekend?” or “My dad is so annoying, he made me go get my tattoo removed again last night.”
Although everyone wanted to include Shen Fu in their chats, whenever the conversation turned to family, Shen Fu would fall silent. Over time, everyone started to feel that the pretty new girl was too reserved and aloof, and they gradually spoke to her less and less.
The class’s academic committee member was celebrating her birthday the following weekend. She was popular, and before her birthday had even arrived, a group of girls had already created a group chat to discuss how to celebrate it.
Fortunately, Shen Fu was invited into the group as well.
Watching them enthusiastically discuss what gifts to buy, Shen Fu remained mostly silent in the chat, but she also intended to prepare a present. The academic committee member had been the very first person in class to stop by Shen Fu’s desk and greet her. If it hadn’t been for her, the others probably wouldn’t have accepted Shen Fu so quickly.
Having transferred into a completely unfamiliar environment filled entirely with wealthy classmates, fifteen- or sixteen-year-old Shen Fu felt utterly lost. She still didn’t really understand the subtleties of social etiquette.
If her mother had still been around, she would have discussed with her what kind of gift would be appropriate. But now, she didn’t know who she could ask.
Although Assistant Zhou had said she could come to him for anything, she’d already been attending school for two weeks without truly fitting in. Asking for help over something like this felt embarrassing and humiliating.
For some reason, out of a certain delicate sensitivity, Shen Fu didn’t want Assistant Zhou or Jiang Shu to know about it.
Especially Jiang Shu.
She quietly noted down the gift ideas everyone else had mentioned in the group chat, then looked up their prices. Nearly all of them were astonishingly expensive. Some she’d never even heard of before, ski sets, limited-edition CDs, and some kind of tableware that started with a long English brand name.
If she gave something like a stuffed doll, she’d probably just become the laughingstock again.
Everyone had a sense of pride, but after thinking it over, Shen Fu decided to spend the weekend browsing downtown first to see whether she could find something unique that didn’t cost too much but would still pleasantly surprise the birthday girl. If she couldn’t find anything, she’d just give a book instead. She couldn’t spend the Jiang family’s money lavishly just to satisfy her own small desire to fit in.
After all, she’d have to repay all this money in the future.
Seeing that she’d started exchanging WeChat messages with her classmates and seemed to have made new friends, Jiang Shu felt much more at ease and shifted his attention back to his ongoing battle of wits with the old master.
He had his own life to deal with as well. Every day he acted every bit the young master, surrounded by friends wherever he went. While Shen Fu sat under the light at night doing homework, he’d only just returned from a yacht fishing trip with a group of friends, animatedly asking Aunt Zhang to come take away the fish and clean them.
Soon, the weekend arrived. Shen Fu didn’t ask the Jiang family’s driver to take her. After informing Assistant Zhou, she took the bus by herself to wander around the shopping district.
The last time she’d come here had been with Assistant Zhou to buy clothes. Back then, everything had seemed outrageously expensive. But Shen Fu figured there had to be at least some more affordable options, so she came here first.
To her complete surprise, after wandering around the entire morning, she still hadn’t found any reasonably priced gifts.
Everything was limited edition.
Shen Fu was well dressed, so although the sales assistants could see she was still a young girl, they all greeted her warmly when she entered.
But after she wandered from store to store for ages without buying a single thing, she still wasn’t carrying even one shopping bag.
Before long, the sales assistants’ patience began wearing thin.
Under their strange looks, Shen Fu could only grit her teeth and leave. At noon she casually grabbed something to eat at KFC, then reluctantly started searching on her phone for places that sold more affordable gifts.
Someone on a student forum had mentioned that the areas around several nearby high schools, including No. 1 High School, were great places to browse for cute items girls would like.
After finishing her meal, Shen Fu took a bus to the shopping streets near those schools.
Assistant Zhou noticed that Shen Fu had gone out in the morning and still hadn’t returned by the afternoon. Feeling a little uneasy, he called Jiang Shu. “Young Master Jiang, Shen Fu said she went out to buy a birthday gift for one of her classmates.”
“Oh.” Jiang Shu was playing pool with Wang Xuanheng and several boys from his class. He replied absentmindedly, “She’s made friends. That’s a good thing…”
After a pause, he suddenly asked, “A boy or a girl?”
Assistant Zhou replied, “Probably a girl. She asked me where she could buy cute gifts.”
The inexplicable sense of vigilance that had risen in Jiang Shu’s heart eased slightly. Impatiently, he said, “Then what’s the problem? Why’d you call me? Sure, we’re her guardians, but we’ve got to give the girl some personal space too. Don’t act like some stalker investigating where she goes all day…”
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Xuanheng, standing by the window, suddenly called out, “Jiang Shu! Come here! Aren’t those people from that class in the building across from ours, the one you stare at every day?”
On the other end of the phone, Assistant Zhou: “…?”
Jiang Shu immediately hung up. At that moment, he genuinely had the urge to stab Wang Xuanheng with a knife.
Gripping his pool cue, he stormed over angrily. “‘Stare at every day,’ my *ss! I study seriously every single day! I wish there were forty-eight hours in a day just so I could keep listening to lectures! Who exactly am I staring at?”
Below the billiards hall was a bustling snack street packed with people, almost all of them high school students. Groups of boys gathered to play games in internet cafés or racing simulators, while groups of girls strolled arm in arm, shopping and eating snacks.
Looking out the window, diagonally across the street on the first floor was a wooden-fronted gift boutique. A crowd had gathered outside it, and after Wang Xuanheng slid the window open, they could vaguely hear words like “shoplifting” and “student from a private school.”
“Close the window. It’s so noisy,” Jiang Shu said indifferently. He gave it a casual glance and was about to look away.
But then, through the glass storefront, he caught sight of the faint outline of a girl inside. Somehow… the figure looked strangely familiar.
His gaze froze. He cursed under his breath, threw down his pool cue, turned around, and sprinted downstairs three steps at a time.
Wang Xuanheng and the other boys had just closed the window like Jiang Shu had told them to, when they realized the young master had already disappeared.
“Seriously? He tells us not to watch the drama, then runs downstairs to watch it himself?” Wang Xuanheng grumbled, refusing to be outdone as he led the others after him.
Shen Fu was being blocked by the shop owner, who refused to let her leave.
She had no idea how things had escalated to this point. Her face was pale as she bit her lip and said through gritted teeth, “It wasn’t me. You can check the security footage.”
“Still saying you didn’t steal it?” The owner held up a CD aggressively. “It was found in your hood. Don’t tell me someone deliberately framed you?” He looked her up and down. “How can someone so pretty, dressed so well, still have sticky fingers? Do all rich people have some kind of shoplifting obsession?”
Shen Fu had never experienced anything like this before. Angry and flustered, she said, “Sir, I don’t know why it ended up in my hood either. Please check the security cameras. If I really stole it, why would I insist that you check the footage?”
“Who knows what’s going on in the minds of you kids?” The owner lost merchandise every month and was already furious. Secretly, he thought he might as well use this opportunity to extort some compensation. “Call your parents. Right now. Get your parents here. Didn’t your father and mother teach you any manners?”
The moment he said those words, the girl in front of him suddenly bit down hard on her lower lip. The way she stared at him resembled a small beast cornered against a wall, one that looked ready to drag him down with her if necessary.
Outside the gift shop, people had gathered in a noisy crowd, eagerly watching the spectacle.
Three boys from Class Fifteen happened to pass by. “Isn’t that Shen Fu?”
“Could this be some kind of misunderstanding?”
“There are students from No. 1 High School everywhere around here. This is so embarrassing,” one boy whispered as he straightened his collar. “What’s she doing? She doesn’t look like she’s short on money. How did she end up getting caught by a shop owner?”
Before they could say anything else, a tall figure shoved them aside.
Taking advantage of his height, the boy pushed through the crowd outside, kicked open the half-closed glass door, and strode straight inside.
“Jiang Shu?” The three boys were dumbfounded.
Close behind him squeezed Wang Xuanheng and several other boys from Class Seven.
The three boys were even more stunned.
“Even people from Class Seven are here?”
“If she says check the security footage, then check the security footage!” Jiang Shu sounded even angrier than Shen Fu. He was practically seething. “Even if I gave her this crappy CD, she wouldn’t want it. You think she’d care about the junk in your store?”
The tall, handsome teenager stood beside Shen Fu like a protective wall. His fierce features were intimidating enough that, even standing before the pot-bellied shop owner, he loomed over him like a dark storm cloud, exuding overwhelming pressure.
Behind him stood four more equally tall boys.
Besides, the owner had heard of the Jiang family before. Running a business here, there was no way he hadn’t.
His confidence instantly shrank. “H-how are you the reasonable ones now? I didn’t even say much. I wasn’t stopping her from leaving. I just wanted her to apologize.”
“Check the footage. Now.” Jiang Shu impatiently grabbed the owner’s collar. His fist was already clenched. “Don’t make me use force.”
The owner swallowed nervously. “L-let go of me first.”
Jiang Shu released him, then turned to Shen Fu. “Shen Fu. Come stand behind me.”
Keeping her head lowered, overwhelmed with humiliation, Shen Fu whispered softly, “I didn’t…”
Jiang Shu pulled her behind him. “Nonsense. Of course I know that.”
Shen Fu looked up in surprise.
The words “Of course I know” left his mouth like a warm breeze sweeping across frozen ice. The emotions Shen Fu had been desperately holding together suddenly began to unravel. Something inside her seemed to burst through its dam. She quietly walked behind Jiang Shu. The eyes she had stubbornly kept from reddening suddenly filled with tears.
She rubbed at them with the back of her hand. Behind her, Wang Xuanheng seized the opportunity to hand her a tissue.
Shen Fu accepted it. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Jiang Shu: “…”
The owner finally reviewed the security footage. On the screen, Shen Fu was standing in front of a shelf choosing a music box. Behind her, a boy from No. 1 High School had been taking CDs off the shelf. One of them accidentally slipped from his hands and fell directly into the hood of Shen Fu’s coat.
It was late autumn, almost winter. She was wearing thick clothing and never noticed. She simply took the music box to the register to pay.
From beginning to end, she had no idea there was a CD sitting inside her hood.
The owner was the first to become embarrassed. “So… it was just a misunderstanding. Everyone, disperse.”
“I’ll be the one to disperse your life first.” Jiang Shu’s voice turned chilling. “The way you forced her to apologize just now? Now you’re going to carry that security footage and apologize to every single person who came to watch.”
Shen Fu looked up at him. Even beneath the dim, yellowish lights of the gift shop, Jiang Shu’s skin remained cold and pale. His expression still carried its usual arrogance and hostility.
Perhaps because her vision was blurred with tears… he somehow looked different from the boy she’d first met during that rainstorm.
The endless tide of gossip and discussion from outside seemed to fade into the distance. Lowering her head, Shen Fu could only vaguely hear a dog barking twice in the neighboring pet shop.
The owner felt extremely guilty. “That… that’s a bit much, isn’t it? I just misunderstood.”
“Then why didn’t you check the security footage when she asked you to in the first place?” one of the Class Fifteen boys spoke up now that Jiang Shu was backing them. “You were obviously just trying to extort students from our school.”
As more and more people gathered around, the owner realized he could no longer quietly smooth the matter over.
Holding up the security footage on his phone, he walked around outside. Feeling utterly humiliated, he walked as fast as he could.
Jiang Shu frowned. Immediately, Wang Xuanheng and two other boys went out, grabbed hold of him, forced him to slow down, and made him walk at a snail’s pace so every passerby could clearly see the footage.
Only after that did they escort him back to apologize.
“Young lady… I’m truly sorry.” The owner smiled awkwardly. “I was blind.”
Shen Fu left the gift shop with Jiang Shu.
The car that had come to pick Jiang Shu up was parked across the street. Jiang Shu pulled Shen Fu into the car.
The three boys from Class Fifteen watched with their jaws hanging open. “Since when does Shen Fu from our class know Young Master Jiang?”
“Don’t tell anyone.” Wang Xuanheng made a throat-slitting gesture as a warning. “You don’t want Jiang Shu making your lives miserable for the next three years, do you? Then keep your mouths shut.”
The three boys nodded frantically.
The car pulled away. Jiang Shu kept staring at the tissue Wang Xuanheng had handed Shen Fu. For some reason, it bothered him immensely. Forcing himself to look away, he asked, “What were you shopping for?”
Shen Fu sniffled. “A gift.”
Jiang Shu asked, “For me?”
Shen Fu: “…”
Even Jiang Shu was chilled by his own question. He coughed awkwardly and changed the subject. “When you were arguing with the shop owner just now, you didn’t cry. Why are you suddenly crying now?”
Shen Fu looked lost. She choked back sobs for a long while before whispering, “Why am I so unlucky?”
In the past, no matter what happened, she always had confidence because she knew her parents would be her support and her shelter.
But now…
There was no longer anyone standing behind her, supporting her, believing in her no matter what. Ever since arriving at the Jiang household, living under someone else’s roof, unable to fit into her new class, all kinds of emotions had crashed over her one after another. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do. How was she supposed to face the present? The future? What was she supposed to rely on to keep going?
“How are you unlucky?” Jiang Shu said, clearly disagreeing. “You live in my house. I’m this handsome.”
Shen Fu: “…”
Her sobbing immediately grew even harder.
Jiang Shu: “…”
Watching her wipe away her tears, his gaze couldn’t help drifting back to the tissue she had crumpled into a complete mess. Before he could stop himself, he did something that even he couldn’t explain. He snatched the tissue from her hand and tossed it into the trash bin inside the car. “Stop crying.”
Shen Fu: “…”
More tears immediately streamed down her face.
For a moment, Jiang Shu honestly couldn’t tell whether she was crying because of what had happened in the shop…or because he’d just made her cry.
Old Wang, the driver, glanced at Jiang Shu through the rearview mirror. The look in his eyes practically said: Young Master… you’re really going to stay single forever.
Jiang Shu immediately grew embarrassed and irritated. “What are you looking at?”
Old Wang hurriedly looked away.
Jiang Shu thought for a moment before saying, “How about this? Tomorrow’s Sunday. I’ll take you out somewhere.”
Shen Fu wasn’t in the mood to have fun. Her sobs gradually quieted. “But… I haven’t finished my homework.”
She had already wasted an entire day today. Tomorrow she absolutely had to finish this week’s assignments and preview next week’s lessons.
Jiang Shu genuinely had no idea how to comfort people. After racking his brain for a while, he finally asked, “Have you ever ridden a horse?”
Before her family fell apart, they’d been planning a trip to the grasslands. Aside from seeing horses at the zoo, Shen Fu had never seen a real horse that people actually rode. She looked at Jiang Shu blankly and shook her head.
Jiang Shu looked extremely pleased with himself. “I’ll give you a chance. When we get out of the car later, Brother Jiang Shu will carry you on his back.” She was obviously homesick and missing her parents. He’d generously give her a chance to experience fatherly love.
Shen Fu: “…”
Completely uninterested, she turned to look out the window. “I’d like some quiet for a while. Thank you.”
Jiang Shu: “…”
His handsome face flushed red with frustration.
What’s wrong with her? That’s such an incredible offer, and she isn’t interested? Then what is she interested in?
He had never carried anyone on his back in his entire life.
Sulking, he stopped talking and turned to stare out the window as well.
When they got home, Shen Fu hurried through the first floor without even greeting Assistant Zhou. With both hands in his pockets, Jiang Shu followed behind her. Realizing she didn’t want anyone to know she’d been crying, he turned back to give the driver a quiet instruction before following her upstairs.
Aunt Zhang was cleaning on the third floor. Shen Fu climbed the stairs with her backpack. When she reached the third floor, she suddenly turned around and came back down.
Kids could be incredibly stubborn about saving face.
Leaning against the second-floor railing, Jiang Shu couldn’t help laughing. “Come with me.”
Besides the terrace next to the staircase, the second floor also had a semi-open sunroom dedicated to potted plants. Naturally, Jiang Shu had never been interested in flowers or plants. Aunt Zhang was the one who took care of all of them. In the middle of the sunroom stood a large natural wood table, surrounded by hanging chairs and lounge chairs.
Shen Fu had seen it from downstairs before. She’d assumed it was just a small corner with a few rose bushes and climbing vines. She’d never imagined it was actually this spacious. White curtains hung from the ceiling. It looked exactly like the dream home she’d described in elementary school essays.
Jiang Shu walked over to the wall and turned the lights to their brightest setting.
Instantly, every light in the conservatory illuminated. The chandelier sparkled brilliantly. Even the desk lamp on the table lit up.
Shen Fu glanced at Jiang Shu. For the first time, she understood what the girls in her class had meant when they’d said he “sparkled.” The handsome boy stood there with striking features. Even in such a beautiful setting, it somehow felt as though the surroundings had become merely his backdrop.
Jiang Shu didn’t notice her gaze. Otherwise, his ego would probably have inflated to the heavens. He casually tossed his backpack onto the floor. “Sit. You can do your homework here.”
With that, he lazily settled into a reclining chair, put on his headphones, turned on some music, pulled out his handheld game console, and yawned.
Shen Fu nodded. She placed her own backpack beside the table and took out her notebook and pen.
Sneaking a cautious glance at Jiang Shu out of the corner of her eye, she thought for a moment. Then she quietly took out her own earphones, plugged them into her phone, lowered the volume to barely audible, selected one of her favorite songs, and finally began working on her homework.
Jiang Shu had his eyes closed, looking as though he’d already fallen asleep. Yet the corners of his lips curved upward ever so slightly.
After a whole month, she’s finally starting to feel a little at home.
Jiang Shu knew Shen Fu probably needed someone to stay with her right now. But if he stayed awake, she’d likely feel uncomfortable. So he simply tilted his head to one side and pretended to be asleep.
Late autumn was almost over. Outside, every gust of wind swept fallen leaves into rustling waves. That stormy summer when they had first met already seemed incredibly distant. Yet somehow, the next summer felt surprisingly close.
In Shen Fu’s ears played the soft singing of a female vocalist. From Jiang Shu’s side, his music was turned up louder. She could faintly hear bursts of crackling electronic music leaking from his headphones.
After finishing one exam paper, Shen Fu rubbed her sore wrist and looked up.
The boy across from her appeared to have fallen asleep.
The flower room was partially open to the outdoors.
Peaceful though it was, there were inevitably insects fluttering about. A moth crashed into the desk lamp and bounced away. It landed on Jiang Shu’s clothes. After crawling upward for a while, it took flight again.
This time, it landed squarely between Jiang Shu’s eyebrows.
Shen Fu watched him quietly for a moment. She suddenly remembered what she’d learned in biology class, that the powder on some moths’ wings could be toxic, and if it got onto the skin, it should be washed off immediately with clean water.
Out of kindness, Shen Fu couldn’t help standing up and waving her hand.
With that wave, the moth was indeed startled and flew away.
But her cool fingertips landed squarely between Jiang Shu’s eyebrows.
She lost her balance for a moment. One hand braced itself against the table, while the other accidentally slapped Jiang Shu across the face.
Shen Fu nearly jumped out of her skin.
Although the young master had been pretty nice to her today, he had such a strange personality. Who knew whether he’d fly into a rage and throw her out of the house after discovering she’d slapped him while he was asleep?
She quickly withdrew her hand, gathered up her textbooks, scratch paper, and pens, grabbed her backpack, and fled in a puff of smoke.
Jiang Shu, who hadn’t actually been asleep: “?”
Slowly, in complete shock, he opened his eyes. The seat across from him was empty. She had already run away.
What did that mean?
She’d secretly touched his forehead and face while he was asleep?
