“Director Lu, something’s going on with you.”

Lu Yicheng discovered that there might well be a side of himself that no one had ever suspected.

Take this very moment, for instance — not only was he not flustered, he remained composed as he calmly said, “It’s not what you think.”

Up to this point, he and Jiang Ruoqiao had not had any contact that crossed any appropriate boundaries.

The two of them had only gone together to look at the kindergarten and get Lu Siyan enrolled. Beyond that, their private interactions were minimal — most of the time, he simply dropped the child off with her.

Because of this, he felt he had nothing to feel guilty about where Jiang Yan was concerned.

Even this child had come from the future.

What had happened in that future, and how he and Jiang Ruoqiao had ended up together — he had no way of knowing. But he believed that the version of himself in the future would never have done something as dishonorable as stealing a good friend’s girlfriend.

Just as Jiang Yan was about to tease him further, Lu Siyan suddenly spoke up: “This is my mama’s!”

He stretched out his hand to take it.

This was something Mama had accidentally left here.

Jiang Yan froze. Realizing he had completely misread the situation, he hurriedly handed the mist to Lu Siyan. “Sorry, sorry about that.”

Come to think of it, of course.

If Lu Yicheng had something going on, wouldn’t the rest of them know?

And besides, after two years of being classmates, Jiang Yan could see clearly that Lu Yicheng was the type consumed by studying with no interest in romance. In Lu Yicheng’s personal dictionary, dating was currently a waste of both time and money.

And here he was, picking up a bottle of face mist and teasing Lu Yicheng with it.

It turned out the mist belonged to the child’s mother.

The child’s mother must be one of Lu Siyan’s elders.

All in all — rather embarrassing.

Lu Siyan tucked the mist away, placing it carefully inside his backpack and zipping it shut before he was satisfied. He waved a generous hand. “It’s alright, my mama won’t mind.”

Lu Siyan was sharp as a tack when it mattered.

Never mind that he was only five — he understood what needed to be understood. Right now, he made no mention of calling Lu Yicheng “dad” in front of Jiang Yan.

He followed obediently behind Lu Yicheng as they headed downstairs.

Jiang Yan walked ahead. Lu Yicheng carried the overnight bag and deliberately fell a few steps behind, lowering his voice to give Lu Siyan a quiet word of warning. “She’s coming along too.”

Lu Siyan didn’t catch on at first. “Who?”

“Her.”

Lu Siyan was blank for a few seconds, then it clicked — and he nearly launched himself into the air. “Mama is coming too?”

Lu Yicheng gave a small cough. “Keep your voice down.” He didn’t want to say it, but at this point he had to. “The one just now — he’s my friend. And he’s currently her boyfriend.”

Lu Siyan, for once, was also at a loss for words.

“I don’t even know what to say about that,” Lu Siyan muttered. “Aren’t you jealous?”

Lu Yicheng answered candidly: “First, they are in a relationship — if you hadn’t come along, I would’ve been genuinely happy for them. Second, the nature of my relationship with her right now is not one where jealousy has any place. If I had a girlfriend today, she couldn’t be jealous either.”

Lu Siyan’s jaw dropped. “You actually said that out loud!”

Was he trying to get himself killed? Did he have a death wish?

Mama was just too gentle and easygoing right now. Back in the day — if Dad had said something like this, the fallout would probably have hit him, an innocent bystander with the same family name, as well.

Lu Yicheng: “…”

There’s no need to emphasize what a coward I apparently become in that future.

“Enough of that,” Lu Yicheng said. “Be careful today. Don’t call her that in front of other people.”

Lu Siyan pursed his lips. “So what if I did — who’d believe it anyway!!”

Lu Yicheng: …Fair enough.

A very good point.

Even if Lu Siyan called Jiang Ruoqiao “mama,” who would believe it? If he hadn’t lived through it himself, if he didn’t have the paternity test report, he wouldn’t believe it either.

Jiang Yan had driven a car over today.

Lu Yicheng held Lu Siyan’s hand and walked briskly over. When he opened the car door, he stopped short — because sitting in the front passenger seat was a young woman.

The girl was shy and timid, clutching her seatbelt, her voice soft and gentle as she greeted him: “Hello.”

This farmstay was a trip for the four boys from their dormitory plus the four girls from Jiang Ruoqiao’s dormitory.

Although he wasn’t close to Jiang Ruoqiao’s three roommates, he knew what they looked like. This was clearly not any one of them.

Aware that it wasn’t polite to keep staring at a young woman, Lu Yicheng looked away after a moment, helped Lu Siyan into the car, and took his seat. Jiang Yan also got in and, while starting the engine, made a casual introduction: “Director Lu, this is my little sister Kexing. She’s coming along with us this time.”

Little sister…

Lu Siyan remembered now.

Oh — it was him.

The one who claimed a little sister. Lu Siyan gave a disdainful twitch of his lips but said nothing.

Lu Yicheng greeted Lin Kexing in a perfectly ordinary tone. “Hello.”

Jiang Yan continued the introduction: “Kexing, this is my buddy Lu Yicheng — top student, the highest-scoring science student in our year, same class and same dormitory as me.”

Lin Kexing pressed her lips into a small smile. “Hello, Brother Lu.”

Lu Siyan uncomfortably rubbed his arm.

Lu Yicheng looked at him. “Cold?”

“No,” Lu Siyan stretched out his chubby arm, “I’ve got goosebumps.”

Lu Yicheng shot him a look that clearly said: watch yourself.

The car slowly pulled out onto the main road. Jiang Yan had navigated to Jiang Ruoqiao’s address and had been driving for a few minutes when a call came through. His phone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth — seeing it was from the youngest in their dormitory, he simply answered it, and everyone in the car could hear the whole conversation.

The youngest’s voice came through from the other end: “Jiang, haven’t you picked up Director Lu yet? When are we getting there? I’m worried we won’t make it for lunch. Tell you what — I’ll go pick up Jiang Ruoqiao instead, it’s on my way!”

Jiang Yan kept his eyes on the road and laughed, shooting back: “Get lost — my girlfriend needs you to pick her up?”

“Fine, fine, you go pick her up, just hurry — I haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

Lin Kexing turned to Jiang Yan and said quietly: “Auntie prepared some food, we can all eat on the way.”

Before Jiang Yan could respond, the voice on the other end exploded: “Wait — Jiang, I just picked up Jiang Ruoqiao’s three roommates. How come I’m hearing a girl’s voice? That’s definitely not Jiang Ruoqiao.”

Jiang Yan was exasperated. “My little sister. We’ve even played games together before. Forgot?”

Originally, Jiang Yan hadn’t planned on bringing Lin Kexing along. Their social circles were different, there was an age gap, their lives were entirely different — there’d be nothing to talk about. But his mother had insisted he bring Kexing, saying her best friend had gone abroad and Kexing had been in low spirits ever since, and that she should get out and clear her head. He couldn’t argue with her, and seeing that Kexing had indeed been unhappy lately, he had agreed.

The youngest had been chattering on until he heard Jiang Yan’s words, after which he went quiet — as if his signal had cut out. Lin Kexing proactively greeted him from the car: “Hello, I’m ‘Stars Not the Moon’ from the game. I’m sorry for imposing on your group like this.”

The youngest was normally loud and brash, but now he became unexpectedly polite. “Not at all. Jiang, I’ll let you go — talk later.”

…

After the call ended, the car fell quiet again.

Lin Kexing hesitated before asking: “Brother Jiang Yan, won’t it be a bit awkward with me coming along? Will I be intruding on everyone?”

Jiang Yan smiled. “Not at all — the more the merrier.”

Lu Yicheng: “…”

He tuned out their conversation and lowered his head to send Jiang Ruoqiao a message: [Jiang Yan came to find me at home. Siyan and I are in the car.]

Two brief sentences explained everything.

Jiang Ruoqiao, who was in the middle of doing her makeup, received the message: “…”

She should have seen this coming.

She calmly replied: [Understood.]

Not a major problem.

Thinking about the worst-case scenario — even if the others found out… there was nothing to be done about it. Then again, she wasn’t being blindly optimistic. She just figured that even if she and Lu Yicheng told these people the truth, would a single one of them believe it?

Jiang Ruoqiao waited until Jiang Yan had pulled up downstairs before unhurriedly heading down.

She and Jiang Yan had genuinely been in the honeymoon phase of their relationship before, but after the summer break, they had only spoken via video call — they hadn’t seen each other in person.

After parking, Jiang Yan jumped out of the car impatiently to wait for Jiang Ruoqiao.

The moment he saw her emerge from the apartment building, he strode forward and stretched out his arms to pull her into a hug.

He had truly missed her. Even with daily texts and video calls, seeing her in person was something else entirely.

But Jiang Ruoqiao instinctively stepped aside.

This move wasn’t because of Lu Siyan’s presence — it was that the moment she thought of the novel’s plot, she felt a deep sense of revulsion.

Jiang Yan was startled.

Jiang Ruoqiao pushed her suitcase toward him. “It’s boiling out here.”

She jutted her chin toward the car. “There are people in the car.”

Jiang Yan assumed Jiang Ruoqiao was being shy and played along, not calling her out on it. He picked up her suitcase and took her hand, walking with her toward where the car was parked.

Jiang Ruoqiao couldn’t pull free.

Once they reached the car, Jiang Yan released her hand and opened the trunk to load the suitcase.

Just then, the car door was pushed open from inside. Lin Kexing sat in the front passenger seat, her expression hesitant and uneasy. “Brother Jiang Yan, why don’t I move to the back?”

She had only just thought of it — some people cared very much about who sat in the front passenger seat.

She hadn’t given it a thought when she first got in, since no one else was in the car. But now that she saw Jiang Ruoqiao arriving, she realized she probably shouldn’t have taken this seat.

Jiang Yan was also caught off guard.

The moment Jiang Ruoqiao saw Lin Kexing, even before any introduction had been made, she was already certain — this was the female lead. This was Jiang Yan’s future girlfriend, fiancée, and wife.

In the dream she had experienced, it was this girl whose hand Jiang Yan had been holding at the gala.

Seeing Lin Kexing in person, Jiang Ruoqiao’s feelings were complicated.

Because in the original novel, her own wretched fate was inseparably bound up with Lin Kexing.

Jiang Ruoqiao had already pulled open the rear car door and settled herself inside. She said with perfect composure, “You don’t need to switch. Stay in the front.”

Lin Kexing could sense Jiang Ruoqiao’s coolness.

She just didn’t know whether that was simply Jiang Ruoqiao’s personality, or whether it meant…

She was jealous?

But sitting in the front passenger seat had truly been thoughtless on her part.

Lin Kexing instinctively apologized: “I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “…”

Why was she apologizing? It made her sound like she’d been terribly overbearing.

Just as she was about to say something, a child’s voice cut in ahead of her: “Shouldn’t you say ‘thank you’?”

Lu Siyan looked toward Lu Yicheng. “She’s saying you don’t have to move — shouldn’t she say ‘thank you’ for that? Why is she saying sorry?”

Lu Yicheng: “…”

Jiang Ruoqiao pressed her lips together, a smile reaching her eyes.

Ah, so this was what it felt like to be defended by her own child.

Lin Kexing felt even more at a loss.

Between Lu Siyan’s interjection, Lin Kexing no longer knew what to say.

Jiang Yan turned his head to look at Jiang Ruoqiao. When he faced her, his gaze and expression were entirely different from how he looked at everyone else. “It’s not even my car. If it were my car, only you would sit in that front seat.”

Jiang Ruoqiao: “…”

Lu Yicheng kept his eyes pointedly fixed on the window outside. This had nothing to do with him.

Lin Kexing lowered her head, hiding the shadow that had fallen across her face.

—