Zhou Wan unlocked the door and entered, reflexively reaching to switch on the light. Only as she pressed the switch did she remember the bulb had broken last week, and she hadn’t had time to replace it.
But in the next moment, the light came on.
Unlike the harsh white light from before, this was a soft yellow glow.
Zhou Wan paused—grandmother must have changed it.
Looking up at the light, the soft yellow glow spread out, illuminating the dark room, and creating a warm feeling. She pressed her lips together, unconsciously smiling.
Grandmother was already asleep, so Zhou Wan went straight to her bedroom.
She’d been out all day and hadn’t had a chance to do her homework yet.
Zhou Wan took out her test papers from her backpack and sat at her desk to look at the problems. After solving a few questions, her mind drifted back to Lu Xixiao’s expression from earlier.
After she had nodded and agreed, Lu Xixiao lowered his head and smiled.
Then he stepped forward, came up to her, his dark eyes downcast as he looked at her and raised an eyebrow: “Girlfriend?”
Zhou Wan froze, her face involuntarily growing warm.
She had never dated before.
She hadn’t even really observed how others dated, though she had seen Lu Xixiao with his previous girlfriends a few times.
Those girls would often act coy with him; sometimes he would smile, and sometimes he would grow impatient.
He probably didn’t like girls who were too clingy, but since they were girlfriends, he couldn’t be too cold either.
After pausing for a few seconds, Zhou Wan followed his lead, lowering her eyes and responding softly: “Boyfriend.”
Lu Xixiao laughed again, patting her head: “Go on inside.”
His laugh had a slightly teasing tone, but Zhou Wan still felt relieved, as if she had passed some kind of interview.
Just as she was thinking about this, her phone vibrated.
[6: Made it home.]
Lu Xixiao had never told her before whether he’d made it home or not.
But… how should she chat with a boyfriend?
After hesitating, Zhou Wan replied: [Have you gone to sleep?]
[6: Still early.]
[6: What are you doing?]
[Zhou Wan: Doing homework.]
[6: Keep at it.]
Was that… the end of the conversation?
Zhou Wan stared at her phone for a long while, but Lu Xixiao didn’t reply again. She lowered her eyelids, and after thinking for a long time, still sent: [Are you angry?]
After ten minutes, Lu Xixiao finally replied with a voice message.
The young man’s voice was clear and crisp, with a hint of mixed laughter: “Just took a shower. I’m only telling you to do your homework, do you think I get angry over nothing all the time?”
Zhou Wan couldn’t help but grumble internally that he did get angry easily.
But of course, she didn’t dare to send her true thoughts.
Just as she was considering what to reply, Lu Xixiao sent another voice message.
“It’s getting late, you should do your homework first, or you’ll have to stay up late.”
Zhou Wan looked at the pile of test papers before her—it would probably take until after midnight to finish them all, so she sent Lu Xixiao an early “Good night.”
[6: Good night.]
He replied quickly.
When Zhou Wan put down her phone and looked up, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.
Her soft black hair was loose, her cheeks had a faint blush, and her nose was red from the cold wind outside earlier. Her lips were curved upward, and her eyes held a smile too.
She was startled, suddenly feeling that this version of herself seemed rare—the smile reaching her eyes.
She shook her head, forcing herself not to daydream, and buried herself in her work.
Zhou Wan solved problems quickly, but it still took two hours to finish. After putting away her schoolbag and taking a shower, she came out to find an unread message on her phone.
—Guo Xiangling.
The moment she saw this name, Zhou Wan felt a chill run through her body, her heart skipping a beat.
Since asking for 150,000 yuan last time, Guo Xiangling hadn’t contacted her, and Zhou Wan had thought she would never have any connection with Guo Xiangling again.
[Guo Xiangling: Can I call you?]
Zhou Wan lowered her eyes, darkness gathering in their depths as she silently stared at the message.
If it had been yesterday, or even tomorrow, seeing this message wouldn’t have been so painful. But today, she had just gotten together with Lu Xixiao.
Her fingers slowly tapped on the keys, replying: [Yes.]
Very soon, Guo Xiangling called.
This time there were none of the previous insincere pleasantries—she no longer called Guo Xiangling “Mom,” and Guo Xiangling pretended to call her “Wan-wan.”
Guo Xiangling got straight to the point: “Can your grandmother have the surgery?”
Zhou Wan remained silent.
Guo Xiangling understood this wordless answer: “Since she can’t have the surgery, do you still need that money you threatened me for last time?”
Zhou Wan knew Guo Xiangling was certain she wouldn’t ask for it again.
She wasn’t a greedy person; she had only wanted it for her grandmother’s treatment.
Zhou Wan took a deep breath and said slowly: “No need. I won’t ask you for the remaining 150,000, so don’t contact me anymore from now on.”
“What about you and Lu Xixiao?”
Zhou Wan paused, her gaze falling on the peach plush toy by her bed: “I haven’t broken up with him.”
“You’re still together?!” Guo Xiangling’s voice became shrill with disbelief. “Zhou Wan, you promised me you wouldn’t let his father know about this.”
“I only promised I wouldn’t go to Lu Zhongyue. I never promised to break up with Lu Xixiao, and besides, you never gave me the full 300,000 we originally agreed on.”
“You little slut!” Guo Xiangling was furious, spitting out words without restraint, “Slut! Ungrateful bitch!”
Hearing these words, Zhou Wan’s face remained expressionless, not even blinking.
Guo Xiangling ground her back teeth and lowered her voice: “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Lu Xixiao. Hah, you think there could ever be anything between you? Strictly speaking, you should call him brother—Zhou Wan, you’re my daughter, you’re his step-sister! His sister!”
Zhou Wan felt her whole body go cold, her knuckles white from gripping the phone.
Guo Xiangling laughed coldly: “You didn’t know, did you? Lu Xixiao once had a real sister, but she died. I heard he was quite upset about it. What do you think he’ll feel when he finds out you’re his sister too? He’s Old Master Lu’s most beloved grandson—think about what future you could have after offending him.”
Zhou Wan couldn’t listen anymore and hung up.
Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking; she couldn’t even hold the phone steady. It fell to the ground with a heavy “thud.”
She sat on the bed curled up into herself, hugging her legs and burying her face, her heart pounding unstably.
After a long time, Zhou Wan slowly calmed down.
She kept telling herself.
Lu Xixiao would never know about any of it.
He wouldn’t be hurt by any of this.
She had already decided not to use Lu Xixiao to get revenge on Guo Xiangling. Given Lu Xixiao’s relationship with Lu Zhongyue, Lu Zhongyue would never know about their relationship, and would never know of her existence.
One month, two months, Lu Xixiao would eventually tire of her.
Then she would leave, and everything would return to normal.
This matter would sink into the sea, becoming a secret known only to her and Guo Xiangling, never to see the light of day again.
All of this started because of her, so naturally, it should end with her, giving it a decent ending.
She just wanted Lu Xixiao to be a little happier during this time—that would be enough. It would be her way of making it up to him.
Yes, that’s right.
It would be like this.
Nothing would go wrong.
Nothing could go wrong.
*
“Come on, everyone back to your seats. Class starts in three minutes, but first I’ll talk about the monthly exam,” the homeroom teacher rapped on the doorframe as she walked to the podium.
At the mention of the monthly exam, the classroom erupted in groans.
Last week’s monthly exam questions were very difficult. Most people hadn’t had time to finish their integrated science and mathematics papers, leaving several questions completely blank.
“The highest score in our grade is still from our class—706 points!”
Everyone turned to look at Jiang Yan, marveling that he wasn’t human enough to score over 700 on such difficult papers.
The homeroom teacher continued with a smile: “Second place is also from our class—701 points!” So the gazes shifted to Zhou Wan.
It was always like this with every test: Jiang Yan and Zhou Wan, forever first and second in the grade.
The homeroom teacher observed everyone’s expressions, and then said: “I see Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan looking quite calm, but why are the rest of you grinning so much? What’s the point? Will they share their scores with you when it comes to the college entrance exam? You don’t study yourselves, but you’re quite good at rejoicing in others’ good grades.”
Everyone: “…”
The homeroom teacher waved two grade slips: “Come on, Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan, come get these.”
Zhou Wan stood up and went forward, took hers, then heard the teacher say: “Not easy, Zhou Wan, the eternal second has finally turned things around.”
Zhou Wan froze, looking at the final column on the grade slip—706.
She had scored 706 points; she was in first place this time.
The faint smile on Jiang Yan’s face froze as he stared at his grade slip in disbelief.
The students below erupted again.
“What? First place is Zhou Wan this time?”
“Gods battling it out!”
“Damn, we’re witnessing history!”
The homeroom teacher smiled: “This test was indeed difficult. Getting over 700 points wasn’t easy. Both of you keep working hard—anyway, I arranged for you two to be desk mates so you can supervise and encourage each other.”
Back at her seat, Zhou Wan glanced sideways at Jiang Yan.
He had already taken out test papers from each subject and was carefully comparing them with his grade slip.
By evening, the grade rankings were posted.
Everyone noticed that first and second place had switched positions this time.
This normally wouldn’t be worth much discussion, but Zhou Wan was Lu Xixiao’s rumored girlfriend.
Soon people began discussing it on the school forum.
[A genius is still a genius, even dating doesn’t affect their grades.]
[This isn’t just dating not affecting grades—her grades went up after getting dumped!]
[Is Zhou Wan’s brain even human? Look at Lu Xixiao’s previous girlfriends—which one didn’t cry and make a scene after getting dumped? They all lost weight.]
[Come to think of it, Zhou Wan didn’t seem to have any reaction after the breakup.]
[Don’t assume they broke up—I saw them eating together at the barbecue restaurant yesterday, they’re still together.]
[Holy crap? That’s even more terrifying—it’s been over a month since Lu Xixiao was first seen waiting for Zhou Wan at the school gate, right? Has Lu Xixiao ever dated anyone for more than a month?!]
…
Zhou Wan read through the posts.
Nobody knew that she and Lu Xixiao had only officially gotten together yesterday.
Today was just the second day.
However, on the second day of dating, school was almost over, and they hadn’t chatted at all.
Lu Xixiao hadn’t even come to school today.
Zhou Wan didn’t know what frequency of chatting would be normal after starting to date, so she thought she’d just contact him after school.
The dismissal bell rang.
Zhou Wan packed up her things and went to physics competition class with Jiang Yan.
All the teachers had finished going over the monthly exam papers today. Previously, Jiang Yan had almost always gotten perfect scores in integrated science and math, but this time he hadn’t done well in math, which was why he came in second.
Zhou Wan had looked at his wrong answers—strangely, they weren’t the hardest problems but were careless mistakes, which wasn’t like the usually meticulous Jiang Yan at all.
“Jiang Yan,” Zhou Wan asked, “have you not been sleeping well lately?”
Jiang Yan pressed his brow: “Yeah, I’ve been staying up late recently.”
“If you had performed normally in math, you would still be in first place,” Zhou Wan said. “We’re only in the second year—there’s still more than a year until the college entrance exam. Don’t be too nervous.”
Jiang Yan glanced at her and nodded: “Mm.”
After a while, he added: “Zhou Wan, I’m not jealous that you got first place.”
Zhou Wan turned to look at him.
“I told you long ago that you’re very smart. If you gave it your all, I wouldn’t be your match. So in my eyes, you’re a banner, pushing and inspiring me to study hard and not fall behind.” Jiang Yan said, “Of course, it’s not easy to hold onto first place, which is why I have to work extremely hard.”
“With your current grades, you can get into a top program at a prestigious university. First or second place isn’t that important.”
In Zhou Wan’s view, rankings weren’t important—what mattered more was comparing with yourself. As long as you hadn’t regressed compared to your past performance, that was good enough.
“You don’t understand.” Jiang Yan gave a small laugh. “First place is first place—second place is nothing. It’s even more like that in society.”
Zhou Wan thought about it. She didn’t need others to remember her, so she didn’t care whether she was first or not.
Perhaps it was because Jiang Yan grew up in that kind of family.
In his understanding, Shen Lan was the one in the spotlight enjoying wealth and status, while his mother Jiang Wensheng could never stand in the sun.
So he cared so much about fame and fortune, wanted so badly to succeed, wanted one day to let Jiang Wensheng live a life of luxury, and wanted one day to return to the Lu family with dignity and gain Lu Zhongyue’s recognition.
But in this matter, the real culprit was Lu Zhongyue.
Jiang Yan didn’t hate Lu Zhongyue but instead hated Lu Xixiao and Shen Lan, who were also victims.
Although Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan had been friends for many years, at this moment, she still felt indignant and grieved on Lu Xixiao’s behalf.
He was the one who suffered the most.
He had done nothing wrong, didn’t even have a chance to make choices, helplessly ending up in his current situation—but who would sympathize with him or speak up for him?
Zhou Wan thought she could finally understand Lu Xixiao’s personality now.
He was starved for love, afraid of being alone, didn’t like being by himself, but also didn’t like noise.
He bound himself tightly, never giving anyone a real chance to enter his heart.
That’s why he had so many fair-weather friends and dated so many girls, but very few people truly understood him.
Once someone became too proactive or aggressive, he would feel his territory was being invaded, would become irritated, would grow to detest them, and would want to shake them off.
…
After the competition class ended, Zhou Wan walked out of school with Jiang Yan.
Suddenly, her gaze froze as she saw Lu Xixiao standing in the distance.
She smiled faintly and quickly walked toward him, but Jiang Yan suddenly called out to her.
Zhou Wan knew what he wanted to say, but this time she didn’t give him the chance. She turned back to wave at Jiang Yan and said decisively: “See you Monday.”
Lu Xixiao watched the girl in her school uniform run up to him, clean and pure from head to toe. He cast a casual glance at Jiang Yan before looking away and putting his hand on Zhou Wan’s shoulder.
“What do you want to eat?” he asked.
“Anything is fine.”
Lu Xixiao was picky, but all the restaurants he took her to were delicious.
This time it was a Japanese restaurant.
These Japanese restaurants were all very expensive. Zhou Wan had only eaten the kind of sushi that could be delivered, so she followed Lu Xixiao’s example of how to eat.
The fish was tender, melting in her mouth.
The foie gras was also tender.
She just wasn’t used to the wasabi.
Midway through, Jiang Fan called. There was loud music in the background as he urged Lu Xixiao to come.
Lu Xixiao lowered his eyes: “Not coming.”
“Boss Xiao, you haven’t been here in ages. We’re all lonely night after night, waiting just for you,” Jiang Fan said in an affected tone.
Lu Xixiao pressed his lips together in disgust: “Get lost.”
He hung up after saying that.
Zhou Wan asked: “You’re not going?”
“We’ll see.” Lu Xixiao took a few sips of his cold drink. “What are you doing later?”
Dating meant spending time and effort together, Zhou Wan thought.
Though it meant staying up late to do homework after going home.
“I’m not doing anything. If you want to go, I can go with you.”
Lu Xixiao looked up, raising an eyebrow: “They’re at KTV. You want to go?”
Zhou Wan pressed her lips together and nodded.
He laughed softly: “Then let’s go.”
Zhou Wan watched him laugh. Lu Xixiao was very handsome when he smiled, his eyes and brows relaxing. Those usually blank and indifferent eyes showed rare ripples of emotion, and he looked lazy and casual, radiating charisma.
Zhou Wan couldn’t help but lift the corners of her mouth in a faint smile too.
Lu Xixiao must be happy right now, right?
After finishing dinner, they went downstairs. Lu Xixiao stood at the counter to pay, and Zhou Wan glanced at the receipt—she was shocked to see they had spent over a thousand.
Zhou Wan had never eaten such expensive food before.
While Lu Xixiao was calling a car, she couldn’t help saying: “Lu Xixiao, could we not come here to eat in the future?”
He turned his head: “Not good?”
“It’s very good,” Zhou Wan said softly. “But it’s too expensive.”
His expression remained normal: “Then we’ll try somewhere else next time.”
Zhou Wan nodded: “I’ll transfer you the money later.”
“What money?”
“The meal cost. It’s too expensive—let’s split it.”
Lu Xixiao laughed: “Zhou Wan, that’s not something you need to worry about.”
She didn’t understand, staring up at Lu Xixiao blankly.
He finished calling the car and put his phone back in his pocket, then bent down close to her.
Zhou Wan instinctively leaned back slightly, eyes widening as she looked at Lu Xixiao’s face up close, his scent filling her nose.
His voice was deep, carrying a teasing smile: “What you should worry about is keeping an eye on my money, making sure I don’t spend it on other girls.”
Zhou Wan froze for a moment, and after three seconds, a blush crept up her cheeks.