After that day, Si Wan deliberately maintained his distance from Ah Heng, different from his previous lukewarm attitude, now carrying a hint of avoidance.

A few days later, Zhang Sao took Ah Heng shopping for autumn clothes, saying it was Si Wan’s idea.

Ah Heng frowned, saying to Zhang Sao: “Ah Po, I…”

Having lived most of her life, what couldn’t Zhang Sao see through? She patted Ah Heng’s hand comfortingly: “I know you bear no ill will toward Si’er, but you don’t understand just how wonderful that child is.”

Ah Heng looked at Zhang Sao’s somewhat helpless expression and could only remain silent.

Si’er must be very, very wonderful.

Ah Heng thought about it, her heart feeling heavy as if a stone had sunk into it, pressing against her chest, making it hard to breathe.

She and this world were separated by a door called “Wen Si’er.”

But life had to go on. Who said that a wrong beginning must necessarily lead to a wrong ending?

Ah Heng took a breath, slowly suppressing the sadness that was screaming and swelling in her heart.

In her eyes, the world outside Wushui Town was another realm of human existence, carrying its expectations, yet compressed by reality into another kind of comedic appearance. There was some loneliness and some solitude, but there had to be a reason to hope for integration.

Often, the process of seeking is precisely what we call “survival.”

Autumn’s first rain fell gently with the red leaves, wetting the white Western-style houses. As it cleared, through the window, the slightly cool air carried the freshness of rain-washed earth.

Ah Heng was continuously working on physics problems in her room, her head feeling dizzy, so she walked to the window and looked out. Everything was quiet, with only the dry rustle of autumn wind carrying leaves, making the maple trees whisper.

Ah Heng rested her elbows as she gazed into the distance, but was startled by sharp, clear chirping from above.

Looking up, on the white gravel roof, there was a parrot with blue-green feathers, its slightly curved little claws bearing spots of blood, its bright black eyes looking pitifully at the window, at Ah Heng.

Ah Heng looked at the little parrot, knowing it must have been injured and trapped on the eaves. So, she held the window with her left hand, stood on tiptoe, and reached out her right arm, but found she was still a hand’s width short.

“Be good, wait for me,” Ah Heng felt somewhat apologetic, secretly wondering if birds in B City only understood the Beijing dialect, and if they could understand her half-baked Mandarin.

Suddenly the little parrot cried out: “Lu Rou! Lu Rou!”

Lu Rou?

Ah Heng was surprised, not knowing if the bird could understand expressions, but she tried her best to smile brightly at its shining little eyes before turning to run away.

Si Wan heard the urgent knocking, rubbed his eyes, and opened the door. Seeing Ah Heng, he first felt awkward, then blushed, speaking gently: “What’s wrong?”

Ah Heng blurted out: “Lu Rou is hurt, and can’t get down from the eaves.”

Si Wan, with great mental effort plus eight parts guilt, stared blankly: “Oh, Lu Rou is hurt, trapped on the roof, can’t get down, right?”

Ah Heng had been sweating nervously, but seeing Si Wan’s confused way of echoing her words, she chuckled, and the stuffiness in her heart dispersed. She pulled at Si Wan’s clothes, quickly leading him to her room, and leaned out the window, pointing at the shivering, pitiful little bird on the eaves.

“Lu Rou! Lu Rou!” The parrot saw Si Wan and screamed, its bright little eyes teary and wronged.

“Ah! Lu Rou Fan!” Si Wan exclaimed. The youth who had been somewhat hesitant, upon seeing the little parrot, instantly took off his shoes and climbed onto the windowsill.

“Ah Heng, give me a hand.” Si Wan frowned, bending down, carefully approaching the little parrot along the window edge, but the position was tiring. When he reached out to retrieve the little parrot, his body lost its anchor.

Ah Heng quickly stepped forward, her arms encircling Si Wan’s legs, looking up at the youth, not blinking, feeling inexplicably tense.

The little parrot was quite sensible, carefully hopping into Si Wan’s palm without a misstep.

The youth turned around, surprised to see Ah Heng’s encircling arms, her posture so serious as if ready to catch him. He looked, paused, found it amusing, and smiled, jumping down easily.

Ah Heng also smiled, taking the parrot, her usually calm eyes showing a hint of childishness.

“You know it?” Ah Heng found some gauze cotton, helping the little creature clean its blood stains, watching it look pitiful and call weakly, as if acting spoiled.

“Yes.” Si Wan nodded, reaching for his phone to make a call, but heard the doorbell ringing frantically downstairs.

“Hah, look, the owner’s here.” Si Wan smiled, showing his neat, white teeth.

Ah Heng gently smoothed the bird’s feathers, looking at it lovingly, thinking the little thing was truly pitiful, its owner must be extremely careless to let it out of its cage to get hurt.

The youth left the room to welcome the guest. Half a minute later, Ah Heng heard the banging sounds of someone climbing stairs and unruly playful laughter.

A breeze blew past, and she looked up to see that beautiful youth.

“You?” She spoke, somewhat rashly.

“Who are you?” The youth’s voice was lazy, carrying the thick, unyielding quality of a boy.

He didn’t remember Ah Heng.

“Ah Heng,” Si Wan licked his lips and spoke.

“Oh.” Yan Xi nodded, casting a plain glance at Wen Heng, smiling indifferently.

He looked down and saw the little bird in Ah Heng’s hands, his eyes suddenly becoming bright, his long slender white finger harshly poking the little creature’s head: “You little runaway, served you right! Tsk tsk, injured your claws too, serves you right!”

The little parrot was extremely intelligent, looking at the youth with a wronged expression, its little wings covering its head, bright black eyes brimming with tears.

Yan Xi smiled, his delicate eyebrows slightly raised, his domineering unreasonableness becoming vivid, opening his mouth to scold: “Stop acting pitiful in front of the young master, is this all you’re capable of? Daring to run away from home, think your wings are strong now, huh, Lu Rou Fan!” Then, his beautiful hand grabbed at the parrot’s wing, trying to pull it up.

Ah Heng felt distressed watching this, so she hugged the parrot and stepped back, causing the youth’s hand to grab empty air.

“It hurts!” Ah Heng looked up at the thin, tall youth, holding the parrot protectively as she spoke.

Yan Xi was stunned, also stepped back, nodded, and like a young master kicked at Wen Si Wan beside him.

Si Wan touched his nose wrongly, speaking gently to Ah Heng: “This bird is Yan Xi’s pet, he always loves it the most, he won’t hurt it.”

Yan Xi sneered, kicking Si Wan’s bottom: “Young master doesn’t care about this dead thing! Once it’s fat enough, I’ll stew it into a ten-treasure tonic soup!”

Hearing this, the little bird lay in Ah Heng’s arms, its feathers standing on end, claws stiffening, desperately wiping tears, and playing dead.

Ah Heng understood Si Wan’s meaning, knew she had overstepped like a dog catching mice, and felt embarrassed, so loosened her hold and offered the bird to Yan Xi.

The youth took the parrot, smiling smugly, showing his pink gums: “Dead thing, time for young master’s family punishment when we get home!”

Ah Heng moved to Si Wan’s side, asking quietly: “Family punishment?”

Si Wan tried not to smile, lowering his voice: “Probably means Yan Xi will plug his ears and play violin for the little thing!”

Ah Heng made an “oh” sound, looking at Si Wan, her smile deep.

Si Wan knew what she was thinking of, his face couldn’t help but redden, he coughed lightly, changing the subject: “Ah Xi, when are you going to buy a birdcage? Lu Rou Fan keeps running away, getting hurt and bumped isn’t a solution.”

Ah Heng was confused, wondering if everyone in B City raised birds without cages.

“Won’t buy one.” The youth’s black hair fell in scattered strands, drawing elegant lazy arcs beside his ears.

“It is it, I am I, people have freedom, birds have freedom too. Besides giving it meals, I haven’t done anything else, what right do I have to take away its freedom?”

Si Wan stared in astonishment.

Yan Xi cast him a faint glance, matter-of-fact and righteous.

Ah Heng smiled, discovering that Si Wan became extremely weak in front of Yan Xi, it was like this at their first meeting, and it was the same today.

Later she learned that there was a term in this world called “presence.”

And this word was created for Yan Xi.