Lu Yicheng’s shock and bewilderment were written plainly on his face, and Jiang Ruoqiao saw every bit of it.

*He really is quite guileless,* she thought.

Given the tangled, inextricable situation they were currently in, how could anyone possibly continue a relationship with Jiang Yan?

Lu Yicheng said nothing. Jiang Ruoqiao let out a quiet sigh. “There are three reasons. I genuinely can’t stay with him anymore. First — that girl he games with, the one he calls his little sister. I mind very much. I have very high standards for purity in a relationship, and whatever excuse he might have, I’ll always have that in the back of my mind. Sometimes I even find myself wondering — all this time he’s barely been in contact with me, has he been spending it with her on that island? I know it’s irrational to think that way. But I can’t help it.”

She suspected Lu Yicheng already knew that Jiang Yan and Lin Kexing were both on the island.

Sure enough — after hearing that, Lu Yicheng only gave her a brief glance, then lowered his head and said nothing.

The art of redirecting blame was something Jiang Ruoqiao had not quite mastered to perfection — but she was at least proficient at it.

“I expect him to be able to do what I can do. Is that too high a bar?” Jiang Ruoqiao said with a self-deprecating smile. “I can honestly say I haven’t had any unusual contact with any other man.”

Including Lu Yicheng.

“So why can’t he? Whatever his reasons — what ‘little sister.'” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “I can’t say anything unkind. All I can say is: I mind it. I mind it a great deal.”

Lu Yicheng was silent.

“Second — I no longer have time to be in a relationship. Between a child and a boyfriend, I’ll choose Siyan, without question.” Jiang Ruoqiao continued. “Even though you’ve taken on everything, I can’t keep running from my responsibilities either. Siyan is going to need a lot of money in the future, so I’m going to be very busy going forward. I genuinely don’t have the time or the emotional energy to maintain a relationship. Rather than letting things deteriorate into endless arguments, it’s better to end things now.”

Of course, that was her position today.

Jiang Ruoqiao had privately decided that if she later met someone she liked and felt drawn to, she could always appeal to Lu Yicheng with reason and emotion, explaining that she simply couldn’t help herself……they were both young, after all. He’d understand, probably.

Lu Yicheng remained silent.

This wasn’t a topic he was in any position to comment on. There was nothing he could say.

“Third.”

Jiang Ruoqiao stopped walking.

Lu Yicheng had already walked several paces ahead before he realized she’d stopped.

He paused and turned around.

They were on a side street, with all kinds of small shops lining both sides of the road, lively and bustling.

About a meter and a half apart.

Jiang Ruoqiao raised her head slightly and looked at Lu Yicheng, her gaze candid. “The third reason — is because of you.”

Lu Yicheng’s eyes appeared calm, but the hand at his side slowly clenched into a fist. He continued only to look at her, saying nothing.

“This must put you in a difficult position.” Jiang Ruoqiao said. “I’ve heard from Jiang Yan that you four have a really close dormitory bond.”

“You probably don’t know how to balance that friendship with Jiang Yan.” Jiang Ruoqiao smiled slightly, the faint dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth. “If I stay with Jiang Yan, it’s not good for any of the three of us. So — this is how it should be. Lu Yicheng, whether you believe me or not, I genuinely feel grateful to you.”

Lu Yicheng understood she was referring to the household registration.

With the registration done, he was now Lu Siyan’s father by blood and by law.

He was Lu Siyan’s legal guardian. And she, on the other hand, could officially have no connection to Lu Siyan at all as far as the outside world was concerned. She could still be just a student with nothing weighing on her.

Was that truly the reason?

Lu Yicheng finally spoke. In the noisy surroundings, his voice was somewhat indistinct. “You don’t need to thank me. This was always something I should have done. The child isn’t yours alone.”

Perhaps others, faced with this kind of situation, would have avoided it — or chosen to take on only part of the responsibility, minimizing the disruption to their ordinary life. But Lu Yicheng was not that kind of person.

He was accustomed to bearing everything. All of it.

Since he was very young — even before he could properly understand things — he had already been doing exactly this.

These experiences had been carved into his bones, so that no matter what he encountered, his response was always to shoulder it himself.

If his finances had allowed it. If the child hadn’t always been crying for his mother. If he had possessed the means to raise the child entirely on his own — he would never have chosen to draw another person into this hardship.

Jiang Ruoqiao shrugged with a light smile. “Lu Yicheng, you don’t need to feel any guilt over this. Me breaking up with Jiang Yan — that was always going to happen eventually, wasn’t it? I’m telling you because I want you to know: I’m not the type to take someone’s generosity for granted and feel nothing about it.”

Well, truthfully, she was exactly that type.

She was also the kind of person who, given an inch, would start preparing to take the whole yard.

“As for Siyan — I’ll try to be more responsible.” Jiang Ruoqiao added with a self-teasing smile. “I need a goal, don’t I? Next time, I’ll aim for eighty points.”

A smile came to Lu Yicheng’s face too. “I really was only using it as a comparison. Please don’t take it personally.”

“I actually think you were completely right. The scores were entirely fair.” Jiang Ruoqiao said with a gentle laugh. “Alright, Lu Yicheng — I really do hope we can raise Siyan together without any walls between us. Right now we’re both students, and raising a child is hard, but two people working together should be able to find more solutions. Going forward, let’s be patient with each other — what do you say?”

Lu Yicheng was quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, with quiet, deliberate seriousness.

There had been many times in his life when he was entirely alone.

Including when his grandmother passed — he had handled the funeral entirely by himself.

But now something felt strangely different. It was almost as though — there was someone who could share the weight with him.

They reached the metro station.

She and Lu Siyan had grown much closer lately. She reached out and ruffled his head of little curls. “Alright, this is as far as you walk me, young man. Listen to your daddy, okay?”

Lu Siyan snapped to attention and saluted. “Yes, Madam!”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “……”

This little rascal.

Jiang Ruoqiao waved at the father and son, then stepped onto the escalator and descended into the station. Only when Jiang Ruoqiao’s figure had completely disappeared from view did Lu Yicheng take Lu Siyan’s hand and begin walking back. Lu Siyan, who ranked first in sensing his parents’ emotions, could tell that Daddy’s mood seemed to have lifted somewhat.

“Daddy, did Mommy cheer you up?” Lu Siyan asked.

Lu Yicheng reined in the smile on his face in an instant. “No.”

“Really? I don’t believe you.” Lu Siyan shook his head with great seriousness. “Every time Daddy is unhappy, Mommy can cheer him up just like that. But when Mommy is unhappy, Daddy can’t do anything about it at all. So Mommy is definitely better.”

Lu Yicheng: “……”

These days, when Siyan talked about things from that future, he no longer felt the unsettled, complicated emotions he’d had at the beginning.

To be more precise — he had come to think of that future version of “himself” as a different person entirely.

And deep down, he felt a quiet warmth. In that future, that “him” was at least a good father and good husband in the eyes of his child.

Lu Siyan added with a particularly troubled air: “But when Mommy is unhappy, I can’t do anything about it either. Daddy — does that mean we’re both not as smart as Mommy?”

Lu Yicheng made a sound of agreement. “Perhaps. She really is a very clever person.”

Though they were in different departments, given that she and Jiang Yan were together, he had heard things about her through the dormitory.

She was indeed a very clever, very hardworking girl.

Her sudden mention of breaking up with Jiang Yan today — he couldn’t deny it. In that moment, in that instant, something strange had stirred inside him. And along with it — a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, finally released.

He genuinely didn’t know how to navigate his relationship with her.

She was both Siyan’s mother and Jiang Yan’s girlfriend. On one hand, he was acutely aware that, as Jiang Yan’s friend, he shouldn’t be having such frequent contact with his girlfriend. On the other hand, it was unavoidable — Siyan needed his mother, and he needed someone to share the burden with him.

A contradiction with no clear way out.

Until Jiang Ruoqiao brought up the breakup.

And then it struck Lu Yicheng with sudden clarity: no matter what happened — his friendship with Jiang Yan was already over.

Regardless of whether Jiang Ruoqiao broke up with him or not, he and Jiang Yan could no longer be friends.

Because no man was that magnanimous — Jiang Yan could not accept that his girlfriend had had a child with someone else, and equally, he himself could not accept the fact that his close friend’s girlfriend was the mother of his child.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine: at a future dormitory gathering, if Jiang Ruoqiao appeared as Jiang Yan’s girlfriend, whether he could still remain as composed and indifferent as he once had.

Lu Yicheng knew that deep within himself, there was a very disreputable voice.

And right now, that voice was glad.

When Jiang Ruoqiao had said she would break up with Jiang Yan — he had felt something irrepressibly close to relief wash over him.

—