Back in school, it was almost inevitable that He Jianqiu and Lei Hong would become connected.

After all, they were the two most baby-faced students in the entire class, looking at first glance like two high school students. Even their academic advisor couldn’t help but joke that with faces like that, they’d probably have trouble intimidating suspects even when showing their badges.

This joke eventually reached Lei Hong’s ears, and her response to it was to repeatedly slam her baby-faced partner onto the mat twenty times during combat class, until he could no longer stand up.

As the only victim of that beating, when He Jianqiu later recalled their first meeting, his memories were filled with the beads of sweat rolling down Lei Hong’s cheeks as she threw him… For some reason, she seemed immune to tanning, almost glowing under the sun.

After class, Lei Hong pulled him up from the mat. He Jianqiu was dizzy and disoriented, but he still firmly remembered what he needed to do.

“Um… classmate.”

He grabbed Lei Hong’s arm, quickly realizing that the arm that had thrown him so ruthlessly was actually quite slender.

“What? Did I hurt you?”

Lei Hong turned her head and made some boss-like remarks. In an instant, her eyes became brighter, sharp like a cat’s pupils in the sunlight. He Jianqiu immediately understood that baby faces could indeed intimidate people.

He Jianqiu smiled, trying not to show how much his back and waist ached: “Sorry, but could I add you on QQ?”

That afternoon, He Jianqiu’s QQ friend list gained someone named “Brother Lei” – this wasn’t even a nickname he gave her, but Lei Hong’s original username was actually Brother Lei.

Although she had a delicate baby face, Lei Hong’s temperament was like her performance in combat class. Rather than a doll, she was more like a Gundam with a baby face. He Jianqiu originally thought this would deter most potential rivals, but to his complete surprise, there were plenty of people who weren’t afraid of getting beaten to death.

During morning exercises, Lei Hong never lacked water bottles handed to her by others, and during meals, the seat across from her was always occupied by different people each day – both male and female.

It was only much later that He Jianqiu learned that Lei Hong’s parents had died early in a car accident during her high school years. To handle the funeral arrangements, she had taken two years off from school, which made her older than everyone else in the class. She was exceptionally good at “casually” taking care of others, which made her incredibly popular. Throughout the entire department, even upperclassmen would call her Brother Lei when they ran into her.

To secure the seat across from Lei Hong, He Jianqiu queued for nearly two weeks. When he finally got the opportunity, he naturally wouldn’t waste it.

After all, just like Lei Hong, the other baby face’s personality was also not very “doll-like” at all.

Having never liked beating around the bush since childhood, He Jianqiu didn’t want to play so many games. After sitting down, he directly transferred all the few pieces of braised pork from his bowl to Lei Hong’s plate. Meeting her suspicious gaze, He Jianqiu grinned: “If you get too full, I can walk around the track with you later… If you get hot, I can also fan you.”

With two sentences, the baby face successfully defeated ninety percent of his rivals. That noon, He Jianqiu finally had another chance to observe up close the crystal-clear beads of sweat on Lei Hong’s forehead.

Freshman girls hadn’t learned to apply makeup yet, but actually, He Jianqiu felt Lei Hong didn’t need it at all.

On the third day under the blazing sun, He Jianqiu bought cold drinks. After Lei Hong took a bite, He Jianqiu asked her: “Brother Lei, does yours taste good?”

Upon hearing this, Lei Hong’s heroic eyebrows raised, and her eyes became cat-like again. She gazed at him under the sun and brought that ordinary mung bean popsicle to his lips, smiling at him challengingly.

“Want to try?”

Try, of course he had to try.

How could He Jianqiu possibly pass up this opportunity presented to him? Not only that, he had to push his luck even further.

That noon, He Jianqiu wasn’t satisfied with just tasting the popsicle, and by the time classes resumed in the afternoon, he had gained a girlfriend.

Yes, he bought the popsicle, he accepted the challenge and pushed his luck, but in the end, it was Lei Hong who confessed.

After they had tasted the ice crystals on each other’s lips, Lei Hong didn’t feel shy, didn’t blush, showed nothing at all – she just stared at him.

“You want to pursue me?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you want to pursue me?”

“Sure.”

“Won’t regret it?”

“Of course I won’t regret it.”

Like a real police officer, Lei Hong thoroughly interrogated him. Finally, her sharp eyebrows curved downward.

She said: “Alright then, no need to pursue anymore. I quite like you too, otherwise I wouldn’t have been crazy enough to agree to walk around the track in 37-degree weather. If you want, be my boyfriend from now on and eat lunch with me every day.”

Just like that, the two baby faces unsurprisingly got together during the first semester of their freshman year. After that, He Jianqiu called her Brother Lei even more naturally, for no other reason than—

Although he often felt he was already “bold as brass,” clearly, the title Brother Lei wasn’t earned for nothing.

After they started dating, not only was Brother Lei more agile than him at climbing walls to eat barbecue, but she was also far more experienced when staying out overnight.

That summer, as they embraced sweatily in a small hotel without air conditioning, He Jianqiu impulsively said he wanted to get married right after graduation, and Lei Hong amusedly slapped him.

She said: “Men’s words at times like this can’t be trusted. If you really want to marry, I’ll confirm with you three times when the time comes.”

“Sir?”

The sales clerk’s call finally pulled He Jianqiu’s wandering thoughts back to reality.

His gaze returned to the dazzling ring in his hand. He remembered that just two minutes ago, staring at the sparkling diamond on top, he suddenly felt it looked very much like Lei Hong’s glowing eyes under the sun that summer.

It wasn’t until they became husband and wife that Lei Hong told him why she had to confirm everything three times – because she had personally seen off her own parents, and from then on, the concept of “passersby” no longer existed in her life.

Everyone who came into her life, she had to confirm again and again, then hold them tightly.

And those glowing eyes were the only thing she could offer to her young lover that summer.

“I’ll take this one.”

This time, He Jianqiu didn’t even look at the price tag on the back of the ring. He was determined to spend his entire last month’s salary today, and he knew very well that this was still far from enough.

Compared to what Lei Hong had given behind the scenes over these ten years, this salary could at most pay some interest… not even enough for the interest.

Afterward, Ghost’s Bane rushed home like lightning.

Today was Huangliang Yimeng’s day off. Logically, Lei Hong should have gone back to cook for his parents, but because of some unreasonable demands Bai Yang had made, at this time, Lei Hong wasn’t at home but was on her way to the market to buy dumpling wrappers and meat filling.

As soon as he got home, both of He Jianqiu’s parents’ faces were filled with surprise. His father looked like he wanted to perform a medical miracle on the spot – jumping up from his wheelchair to beat him.

“What are you doing back here?”

The old policeman glared at his own son: “We finally got Lei Hong to not come back, and you’re still dawdling around here! Where’s the ring!”

“The ring’s already bought. I came back to get something for peace of mind.”

He Jianqiu had no time for lengthy explanations. He dove straight into the bedroom and turned a wrinkled envelope from the wardrobe upside down.

Soon, an unremarkable ring rolled into his palm, looking exactly like an iron key ring, completely without luster.

This was it.

He Jianqiu skillfully slipped the ring onto his left ring finger. Whether it was his imagination or not, in that moment, he seemed to feel his finger was complete again – he finally no longer felt the urge to touch it constantly.

The envelope contained some other documents. He Jianqiu stuffed them all into his pocket and finally put on the prayer beads the boss had given him.

“You brat! Do you have any confidence at all?”

At the front door, his father anxiously grabbed him: “She’s been busy taking care of us all these years. You should at least book a high-end restaurant.”

Whether it was high-end or not was hard to say, but the boss had said that Huangliang Yimeng could turn even a haunted house into an internet-famous shop, so remarrying should be… not a big problem?

“Don’t worry needlessly, Dad. The place I chose has excellent feng shui.”

After thinking it over, Shancheng’s Ghost’s Bane decisively added another sentence before leaving: “If we don’t have time today – we’ll try to go to the civil affairs bureau first thing tomorrow morning to get our marriage certificate back.”