The decision to have Lin Yongcheng come and stand in for Jiang Yan at the parents’ meeting had not originally been Lin Tao’s idea.

Her original plan had been to ask Fang Yisong to come in place of Jiang Yan. She was worried that since Lin Yongcheng was something of a well-known businessman in Xixi City, other parents might recognize him, which could stir up unnecessary complications.

As it happened, however, Fang Yisong mentioned that she had previously received Teacher Yu’s home-visit call, and had even, without Lin Tao knowing, gone to the school to have a chat with Teacher Yu.

These home-visit calls from Teacher Yu had been conducted discreetly without informing the students, so Lin Tao had never known about it.

Since Fang Yisong had already met Teacher Yu, she clearly couldn’t go in again as Jiang Yan’s parent. Lin Tao had no choice but to turn to Lin Yongcheng — which brought her right back to her original concern.

What if Lin Yongcheng were recognized? You could hardly attend a parents’ meeting wearing a face mask — that would be far too ostentatious.

Lin Tao pondered the problem from every angle and couldn’t come up with a solution. In the end, it was Lin Yongcheng himself who suggested that he go to the parents’ meeting — but skip the classroom gathering and only meet Teacher Yu privately beforehand.

After all, Teacher Yu was a teacher in the public education system, not someone who moved in business circles. It was unlikely he’d recognize Lin Yongcheng on sight.

Lin Tao had originally planned to give Jiang Yan a heads-up, but Lin Yongcheng stopped her. He said that since it was a first meeting, he didn’t want to put too much pressure on the young man in advance — explaining things in person at school afterward would be just fine.

That said, Lin Tao still felt slightly uneasy. What if Jiang Yan didn’t catch on and failed to acknowledge Lin Yongcheng’s identity? Then the whole thing would fall apart for nothing.

But Lin Yongcheng brushed aside her concern, saying she should trust him — nothing would go wrong.

Lin Tao thought it over and decided she didn’t need to worry so much. After all, Lin Yongcheng had been navigating the business world for years. What storms hadn’t he weathered?

Compared to that, meeting a homeroom teacher was surely even easier than bidding in a competitive tender.

With that thought, Lin Tao took Lin Yongcheng’s advice and said nothing to Jiang Yan. She did, however, subtly hint to him that there was no need to pay a stranger to come pose as his parent.

At the time, Jiang Yan had taken Lin Tao’s words as mere comfort and hadn’t thought much of it. He didn’t know that not only was she comforting him — she had already arranged everything.

Inside the office, Teacher Yu looked at the bewildered Jiang Yan and then at the smiling “Jiang father,” and felt briefly puzzled. Was this really how students who were good at studying interacted with their parents these days?

As for Jiang Yan’s skepticism, Lin Yongcheng appeared to have a ready answer. With calm composure, he said: “This child has always been like this. If we haven’t seen each other for a long time, he acts like he doesn’t recognize me or his mother.”

He then turned to look at Jiang Yan. “We started this game when you were little. Now that you’re grown, there’s no need to play it anymore — especially not in front of a teacher. Have some manners.”

Still not quite following what was happening, Jiang Yan: “……”

Teacher Yu played along cheerfully. “It’s all right, Jiang Yan is a smart boy — thinks differently from others. A bit playful is perfectly normal.”

“Playfulness has its time and place,” Lin Yongcheng said, with every bit of the demeanor of a concerned father. He looked at Jiang Yan and gave a sincere reminder: “Keep that in mind for next time.”

“……”

Jiang Yan rubbed his brow, still not entirely following what sort of mess this was, or who this middle-aged man was who had materialized out of nowhere claiming to be his father — it was all very confusing to him.

But whatever the case, the matter of the parents’ meeting now had a solution. And from what he could see, it was a rather good solution. So he wisely said nothing more, and sat to one side listening to his “father” chatting nonsense with Teacher Yu.

Lin Yongcheng and Teacher Yu got along splendidly. When they finally finished, Lin Yongcheng said with some regret, “We weren’t able to attend today’s pledge assembly and parents’ meeting in person — we apologize for our poor manners.”

Teacher Yu replied graciously, “You’ve been busy with work — we all understand. Besides, Jiang Yan has been so self-disciplined. He’s given us teachers very little to worry about, and now he’s been admitted to Tsinghua through direct placement — the school is proud of him.”

Lin Yongcheng offered a compliment in return: “It’s all thanks to your guidance.”

The two of them traded remarks back and forth. It looked like they might start another round, so Jiang Yan gently rubbed his temple and cut in: “Dad, didn’t you say before you came that you had a meeting at three? It’s already past two.”

This seemed to snap both men out of their imminent second wave of pleasantries. Lin Yongcheng made a show of checking his watch. “Got so caught up in the conversation I lost track of the time. Teacher Yu, I’ll take my leave — I have something to attend to.”

“Of course, of course.” Teacher Yu smiled. “You go ahead.”

Lin Yongcheng stood, straightened his clothes, and Jiang Yan rose as well. The two were roughly the same height — standing side by side, they actually did look like a father and son.

No further small talk. Jiang Yan followed Lin Yongcheng out of the office. The corridor was full of students and other parents, so the two of them didn’t linger, heading straight to the far end of the hallway and turning right into the stairwell.

This floor was all classrooms and offices. Closer to the end of the corridor were the conference rooms, which rarely saw much traffic. The stairwell was almost empty.

Jiang Yan had a belly full of questions but didn’t know where to begin.

Once they reached the ground floor, Lin Yongcheng glanced at him sideways and smiled. “Aren’t you curious who I am?”

“I am,” Jiang Yan replied, his expression composed. “But I think you’re probably not someone dangerous.”

Lin Yongcheng looked at him with appreciation. “You have quite steady nerves.”

Jiang Yan smiled slightly, then carefully asked: “So — who are you, exactly?”

Lin Yongcheng raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I just say? I’m your dad.”

“……”

Words utterly failed him.

As they talked, the two had already walked out of the teaching block.

Under the shade of the trees outside stood a black Maybach. The man in a formal suit who had been standing by the car spotted Lin Yongcheng’s figure and stepped quickly forward, bowing his head. “President Lin.”

At that form of address, Jiang Yan’s eyelid jumped. He suddenly put it together. “You’re Lin Tao’s father?”

“Who else would I be?” Lin Yongcheng looked at him with amusement. “Otherwise, why would I say I’m your dad?”

“……”

Jiang Yan thought to himself: you truly gave nothing away until the very end.

Lin Yongcheng didn’t linger at the school.

For one thing, he genuinely had an important meeting coming up. For another — the young man had been caught off guard by meeting the parent, rather than having had time to mentally prepare for it. Some things were better kept brief: say what needed to be said, then leave. Don’t pile on the pressure.

Before he left, Lin Yongcheng put a hand on Jiang Yan’s shoulder. With sincere gravity, he said: “Lin Tao has good taste. I hope you never let her down.”

This was the greatest approval a father could offer, and Jiang Yan understood the full weight of those words. He nodded. “I promise I won’t.”

“Good.” Lin Yongcheng patted his shoulder again. “Go on and get busy. I’m heading off.”

“Goodbye, Uncle,” Jiang Yan said.

After Lin Yongcheng’s departure, Jiang Yan received a call from Lin Tao. Her voice was light and cheerful. “Are you two done?”

“All done.” The bright sunlight filtered down through the gaps in the leaves. Jiang Yan stood still. “Uncle’s gone.”

“That was fast.” Lin Tao said. “Did my dad’s meeting with Teacher Yu go smoothly?”

“Yeah, went smoothly.” Jiang Yan recalled the scene and let out a laugh. “I was just a bit startled when I heard him say he was my dad.”

Lin Tao laughed too. “My dad’s like that — always putting on a serious front. He didn’t say anything strange to you, did he?”

“Nothing at all.” Jiang Yan said softly.

“Good.” Lin Tao let out a breath of relief, then explained: “I originally wanted my mom to come, but Teacher Yu had already met her before, so I could only ask my dad instead. And it was his idea not to tell you beforehand.”

Jiang Yan was about to say it was fine, but then heard her say with a smile: “Anyway, none of that matters — we’re all going to be family someday.”

Family.

When that unfamiliar, yet warm word reached him, Jiang Yan felt a moment of quiet disorientation. He took a few steps forward, light and shadow falling in shifting patterns across his shoulders.

The March sun carried a thin, gentle warmth. He stood in the brightness and softly replied: “Okay.”

The pledge assembly was the same as the parents’ meeting in requiring the parents to attend. Class 18’s classroom was now full of parents of all kinds, while students clustered in the corridor outside chatting.

Precious free time like this in the third year was as rare as something stolen — every single moment of it felt like a gift.

Jiang Yan had refused to speak at the pledge assembly, so Teacher Yu had turned to Lin Tao, whose recent exam results had been consistently top-ranking.

Lin Tao had none of Jiang Yan’s aversion to such things, and agreed readily.

It was only after Jiang Yan returned to the classroom that he learned Lin Tao was going up to speak as a student representative.

He took Lin Tao’s speech draft and skimmed through it, reading one passage aloud at random: “…A hundred days — in the grand river of history, it passes like a fleeting wave on the surface. Yet for us, these days are of immeasurable significance… Ten years to sharpen a sword, today we test its edge; together we stand through a hundred days, and the golden exam results will reward our days and years.”

At first Lin Tao had been talking to Hu Hanghang about a new character in Honor of Kings. Hearing Jiang Yan’s voice, she didn’t realize what he was doing. Then she listened more carefully for a few seconds and suddenly caught on. She grabbed his arm. “What are you reading?!”

“Your speech draft.” Jiang Yan raised his hand higher, glancing at it from time to time, and kept reading with a smile: “…We came from the depths of winter and cherish the brilliance of spring all the more. We race toward June, believing ever more firmly in life’s miracles—”

The rest of the sentence never made it out.

Lin Tao yanked at his arm and clapped a hand over his mouth, practically hanging off him. “Shut up, you!”

Even if she was going to recite it in front of everyone later, having Jiang Yan read it aloud just like that — so bluntly — still made Lin Tao unbearably embarrassed.

Jiang Yan dodged backward, while still using one free hand to rest at her back, shielding her. His voice carried laughter. “This speech draft of yours is off, you know. Today’s the nineteenth — counting it out, there’s fewer than eighty days left.”

“Mind your own business.” Lin Tao snatched the speech draft back from his hands and stepped back. “If you’re so capable, go tell Li Kun yourself — ‘I think there aren’t a hundred days left anymore, so this shouldn’t be called a hundred-day pledge assembly.’ See if he pays any attention to you.”

Jiang Yan had no rebuttal to that. He leaned against the railing behind him, smiling like the breeze had intentions of its own.

Lin Tao folded up the speech draft and put it in her uniform pocket. Jiang Yan reached out and picked a tiny bit of fuzz that had somehow gotten caught in the ends of her hair, bent his finger, and flicked it away into the air and the dust.

“Isn’t your mother here yet?” Jiang Yan tilted his head and glanced into the classroom. He didn’t see Fang Yisong.

“My mom isn’t coming to the pledge assembly.” Lin Tao lowered her head to straighten her sleeve, unconcerned. “She has a meeting this afternoon and can’t get away. She’ll come straight here for the parents’ meeting when it’s over.”

Jiang Yan made a sound of acknowledgment, reached out and smoothed her collar. “There — that’s better.”

“I think so too.” Lin Tao smiled.

The three single bystanders soaking up secondhand affection at close range looked at each other and whispered their shared comfort: “You get used to it. You just get used to it.”

“……”

The pledge assembly was scheduled to begin at two in the afternoon. At one-forty, Teacher Yu came to the classroom, said a few words to the class, and then asked the students to take their stools and head to the sports field together with their parents.

Most students walked out with a stool in one hand and a parent at the other side. Only a few parents had genuinely been unable to make it.

Lin Tao didn’t plan to take a stool — Fang Yisong wasn’t there anyway, and she’d have to go up front to speak soon. A stool would just be dead weight.

Jiang Yan, however, had Hu Hanghang and the others bring Lin Tao’s stool out as well.

“What are you doing?” Lin Tao looked at him, puzzled. “I’m going up to speak. I won’t be sitting for long. I don’t need it.”

Jiang Yan reached out and lightly pinched her earlobe, saying easily, “Who said it’s for you? It’s for me.”

“……” Lin Tao pressed her lips together. “You’re actually going to the pledge assembly?”

“Of course I am.” Jiang Yan smiled, accepted the stool Hu Hanghang passed over, and lowered his voice. “A boyfriend counts as half a family member, doesn’t he?”