Jiang Ruoqiao took Lu Siyan to Ling Shi.

The journey from Jing Shi to Ling Shi took only about an hour by car. These days, with enough money, nothing was too difficult. Jiang Ruoqiao had found a local intermediary. In the version of events she had fabricated, she suspected her child had been switched at birth and wanted to verify this. The intermediary gave her a slightly peculiar look but quickly composed herself. Perhaps there was simply too much dramatic real-life conflict these days, and the threshold for shock had risen so high that a straightforward story like Jiang Ruoqiao’s didn’t even warrant a gasp.

Everything was handled through the intermediary.

These days, many intermediaries had strong professional ethics.

The process turned out to be far simpler than Jiang Ruoqiao had imagined. What surprised her even more was just how many people came in for paternity tests.

She paid a bit extra to expedite it. The fastest turnaround was three business days.

Once the most important task was done, Jiang Ruoqiao wasted no time getting back to Jing Shi with Lu Siyan. On the way back, Jiang Ruoqiao received a call from Jiang Yan. They spoke on the phone every day, sometimes videocalling, sometimes just calling.

When Jiang Yan called, he was at a restaurant eating coconut chicken hot pot with Lin Kexing.

Lin Kexing sat with her head bowed, as if absorbed in her phone.

She felt like her heart was a fistful of lemons.

She had never seen Jiang Yan like this before. Anyone could see how much he loved Jiang Ruoqiao — and certainly she, as the one who secretly loved him, could see it most clearly of all.

It was precisely because she could see the depth of his feeling that Lin Kexing knew she didn’t have the slightest chance.

So she had stepped back to this position — this safe position. At least from here, they could still be friends.

“I’m eating coconut chicken hot pot,” Jiang Yan said with a laugh. “Specialty product? Blue skies and white beaches — does that count? Hey, for real though, if I work harder this semester, how about we come here for a holiday during winter break?”

Jiang Ruoqiao listened to this and felt a brief, strange sense of disorientation.

Would she still be with Jiang Yan come winter break?

“We’ll see,” she replied.

“It’s really hot here though, I’ve been going to the beach every day,” Jiang Yan continued. “Oh right — when are you heading back to school?”

Jiang Ruoqiao couldn’t very well tell him she was already in Jing Shi. “Why do you ask?”

“I was thinking, maybe come back early — remember what we talked about? A few of us are going up to the mountains together. It’s cool up there…”

Jiang Ruoqiao considered this.

It was true, they had made that plan earlier. Jiang Yan worked part-time for a company whose senior colleague ran a farmhouse inn up in the mountains. Before school started, all four guys from Jiang Yan’s dormitory and all four girls from hers were going to head up there together for two days. Her dormmates had been looking forward to it for a long time.

“Sure,” Jiang Ruoqiao agreed.

In truth, she had already decided to break up with Jiang Yan.

With ex-boyfriends-to-be, she was always especially patient and accommodating.

Although she had no intention of treating Lu Yicheng as any kind of future significant other, that didn’t mean she was willing to stay in this relationship with Jiang Yan. Think about it — Lu Yicheng and Jiang Yan were close dormitory friends. Once the paternity test confirmed that Lu Siyan was truly, genuinely her child with Lu Yicheng — could she really stay with Jiang Yan? That was clearly impossible.

Her future boyfriend or even husband absolutely could not have any connection with Lu Yicheng. If he did, the drama potential would be enormous.

She had no appetite for melodrama. It didn’t suit her.

It was a bit of a shame, though. She had put considerable effort into this relationship, and privately, she did have real affection for Jiang Yan. He was a good person, had strong potential as a devoted boyfriend, and came from a good family. He checked all the boxes she had for a partner.

Regardless of whether she was dating Jiang Yan under Lu Yicheng’s nose, or co-parenting with Lu Yicheng behind Jiang Yan’s back — both scenarios required more psychological fortitude than she cared to exercise.

Her life was rich enough as it was. She had no need for that kind of chaos.

After hanging up, Jiang Yan glanced over and noticed Lin Kexing had barely touched her food. He remarked casually: “You’ve eaten so little.”

Hadn’t she been excited about coconut chicken hot pot just this morning?

Lin Kexing gripped her chopsticks and smiled at him. “I’m on a diet.”

“I don’t understand you girls,” Jiang Yan shook his head. “You’re already as thin as a chopstick and still talking about dieting. My girlfriend’s the same — barely eats.”

Lin Kexing gave a small smile and said nothing.

—

Back in Jing Shi, Jiang Ruoqiao found a spot in a shopping mall, used her makeup-removing wipes to take off her disguise completely, then applied just a light layer of primer and some lip color — and instantly transformed back into a fresh-faced young university student.

Lu Siyan had been better-behaved than she’d expected. She’d encountered five- and six-year-olds before, and they could be genuinely exhausting, but throughout the entire trip Lu Siyan had been wonderfully compliant. Well-behaved children deserved rewards.

Jiang Ruoqiao happily took him out for a hotpot meal.

She ordered the yin-yang pot — tomato broth for the child, spicy for herself. It had been a day of running around without a proper meal, and both mother and child were famished. Jiang Ruoqiao ordered a huge spread of dishes. Lu Siyan ate until his little face was flushed pink. It turned out their tastes were remarkably similar — neither of them had much interest in vegetables and both gravitated toward meat.

Watching Lu Siyan, so obedient and well-behaved, shoveling food into his mouth with fierce concentration, Jiang Ruoqiao found herself thinking — was this what it meant to become a mother without the difficult parts?

No ten months of pregnancy, no labor, and she simply had a five-year-old.

Five was such a perfect age.

You barely had to worry about anything. She might not have firsthand experience, but she’d seen enough to know — the period from birth to around age three was the most demanding stretch, especially infancy. After three, things got considerably easier. At least by then, if a child was hungry or thirsty or needed something, they could say so. And most importantly — they were in school!

She honestly couldn’t guarantee that if it had been infant-age Lu Siyan who had traveled through time, she wouldn’t have fled in the dead of night.

Five years old, she could handle completely.

How lovely.

She’d skipped over the hardest years entirely and arrived at a five-year-old. And one who seemed quite remarkable at that. Setting everything else aside, Lu Yicheng’s looks and height spoke for themselves, not to mention that he was a standout even among top students. With those genes, she couldn’t find a single thing to complain about…

“What are you looking at?” Lu Siyan asked.

Mom had been staring at him for quite a while now.

He always had the feeling that the next second, Mom would furrow her brow and call him by his full name.

Rather alarming, honestly.

Jiang Ruoqiao smiled warmly and shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking how good-looking our Siyan is.”

The paternity test was absolutely necessary, but deep down she already knew — this was almost certainly her son, no question about it.

After a day’s gradual adjustment, she had already accepted it in her subconscious.

Her own son.

A biological son who had appeared without her needing to go through pregnancy or childbirth.

Lu Siyan’s ears turned faintly pink — whether from the heat or from shyness. “Everyone says that.”

Jiang Ruoqiao smiled. “That’s exactly why you shouldn’t go around saying it yourself. Don’t spend all your time thinking about how handsome you are.”

“Mo—” He stopped himself again: “Ma — *gnificent heavens*! You’ve said that exact thing to me before!”

How strange.

Jiang Ruoqiao understood what he meant — his future self had heard her say the exact same thing.

“What else did I say?”

Lu Siyan chewed on his straw. “You said — the truly handsome ones are those who don’t know they’re handsome and don’t care that they are.”

He paused. “Just like Dad!”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

Ah. Instant mood killer.

She had no desire to dwell on anything related to Lu Yicheng. She pivoted immediately: “Want me to get you a children’s smartwatch while we’re out?”

Lu Siyan: “A smartwatch?”

“Mm. That way you can call me whenever you need anything.”

“Yay!”

Lu Siyan worked up his courage and asked: “So what do I call you?”

Jiang Ruoqiao thought it over. “Once the results come back — in private, you can call me Mom.”

“In private?”

“Like when it’s just you and me, or the three of us. If there are other people around, don’t say it like that.” Jiang Ruoqiao patiently explained, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “Because I’m twenty this year. In the future, yes, I’ll be twenty-seven when you’re born — but other people don’t know that. They’ll think I had you when I was fifteen. Fifteen is still a child. You’re only considered an adult at eighteen.”

“Some people won’t have the patience to verify the truth. They’ll take things out of context. Would you want people to misunderstand me?”

Lu Siyan blurted out: “Of course not!”

Nobody is allowed to hurt my mom. Not even my dad!

Jiang Ruoqiao was genuinely a little touched.

Whatever kind of man Lu Siyan might become in the future, right now at least, he clearly put Mom above everything else.

Jiang Ruoqiao rested her chin in her hand. “You can call me by my name.”

Calling her “big sister” or “auntie” would be awkward, and the child would likely find it uncomfortable too.

So why not just use her name?

She was a progressive parent.

Lu Siyan’s eyes went wide. “Huh?”

“Call me Xiaoqiao.”

Lu Siyan hunched his shoulders. “I don’t dare.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

“Do you understand this is a special privilege I’m giving you? And you’re not going to appreciate it?!”

Lu Siyan: “……Then you have to promise that if I call you that, you won’t get mad.”

He added: “And saving it up to get mad at me later doesn’t count. You’re the one who said it was allowed.”

Jiang Ruoqiao rubbed her temple: *Just how often did her future self lose her temper, exactly?*

“Fine. I promise — until I take it back, you can call me that as long as you like.”

Lu Siyan looked pleased with himself. He leaned in: “Xiaoqiao.”

There was no maternal instinct to speak of yet, but Jiang Ruoqiao genuinely liked Lu Siyan quite a bit.

After finishing the hotpot, she took the child to buy a children’s smartwatch — an extremely cool one.

Jiang Ruoqiao had some opinions about Lu Siyan’s wardrobe. One look and you could tell Lu Yicheng had bought those clothes. They dragged down Lu Siyan’s natural charm considerably.

She dragged him around the shopping mall on a sweeping spree, buying several sets of outfits and two pairs of sandals, all while criticizing Lu Yicheng’s taste without mercy: “I bet he took you to a wholesale market, didn’t he? He’s supposed to be an academic genius, and he couldn’t even spot the English spelling mistake on that shirt!”

Truly baffling.

By the time Jiang Ruoqiao dropped Lu Siyan back home, it was early evening.

Lu Yicheng stared at the pile of large and small shopping bags on the living room coffee table, lost in thought.

Had they gone to do the paternity test and bought out the shopping mall while they were at it?

Lu Siyan tilted his little chin up proudly: “Mom bought all of it for me!!”

Lu Yicheng: “……I know.”

He could only go through the bags one by one. Fortunately, the receipts were inside each bag. He tallied it up and let out a long, heartfelt sigh.

Such a waste.

There was less than a month until the weather cooled down. Why buy so many summer clothes?

Lu Siyan watched his father’s expression and asked: “Was it a lot of money?”

Lu Yicheng didn’t want to deceive him. “Several thousand yuan.”

“Oh.” Lu Siyan’s reaction was entirely unbothered. “Don’t say anything to Mom, Dad. You’re always buying Mom bags too.”

“What?”

“Every time Dad gets a bonus, the first thing he does is buy Mom a bag. I know all about it! The auntie told me — all of Mom’s bags are…” He held up one chubby little hand, fingers spread wide. “Five digits! A few thousand is four digits. Five digits is more than four digits!”

Lu Yicheng: “?”

His first response was: “That’s impossible.”

Lu Siyan pressed his lips together. “Fine, don’t believe me then.”