With quite sometime before dinner, Cen Jin first took Li Wu to the mall.

She wasn’t in the mood for window shopping and headed straight to the fourth floor’s sports and fashion section.

Li Wu, entering such a place for the first time, couldn’t help feeling dazzled and disoriented.

The mall was like an enormous, exquisite maze filled with urban extravagance. The endless flow of people from all directions made Li Wu instinctively stay close to Cen Jin.

On the escalator, he couldn’t ignore the passing glances, which carried varying degrees of puzzlement and scrutiny.

Li Wu understood the reason clearly.

He and Cen Jin didn’t match—she was polished and outstanding, while he was poor at first glance. Walking together, they created an inexplicable oddity.

Cen Jin naturally noticed too, but pretended not to, turning to speak to him: “You won’t get your uniform until next week, so I’ll buy you a few clothes to tide you over.”

Li Wu froze: “No need.”

Cen Jin had expected this reaction: “New school, new outlook—wouldn’t it be good to leave all the past behind?”

She lowered her lashes, using her eyes to indicate his clothes. They were too old, unfashionably worn to the point she could hardly bear it. Of course, she wouldn’t voice these true thoughts.

Li Wu fell silent.

The youth’s silence held many meanings, but each time was quite direct. After spending these two days with him, Cen Jin could roughly gauge his current attitude.

Repeatedly thwarted by this unreasonable pride, she grew irritated: “I want to buy them for you, whether you like it or not.”

She was tired of playing the role of a gentle, guiding “mother.”

Li Wu had no choice but to say okay, finally earning her smile.

Her mercurial nature was startling; Li Wu even wondered if her previous dark expression had been an illusion.

Cen Jin was extremely efficient in shopping, refusing the sales assistant’s pestering. After one round through Adidas, she had a complete set of clothes and pants in hand.

She handed them to Li Wu, tilting her chin toward the changing room: “Try them on.”

The sales assistant maintained her enthusiastic attitude: “Madam, you have great taste, this sports sweater is Real Madrid…”

Cen Jin looked at the assistant: “Please show him over there.”

The assistant fell silent and led Li Wu to the fitting room.

The moment he entered the changing room, Li Wu’s shoulders finally relaxed. He took down one of the clothes, turned over the tag, and looked at the price.

He brooded for a moment, then took off his clothes and pulled the new one over his head.

When he walked out of the fitting room, the sales assistant waiting by the door immediately exclaimed: “Wow! So handsome!”

Cen Jin was selecting shoes for him when she looked over at the sound and smiled gently: “Looks good.”

Li Wu’s ears began to heat up; rarely had anyone praised him so directly.

“You’re so good at choosing! Your brother looks good in these,” the sales assistant gave enthusiastic praise, “It’s rare to see a boy wear this sports sweater so neatly and spiritedly.”

Her flattery wasn’t false—the top indeed suited Li Wu’s appearance. It was hard to say whether the clothes made the man or the man made the clothes, but Cen Jin still seemed somewhat critical: “Does it make him look too dark?”

The assistant said: “Why should boys worry about being dark? He’s so good-looking, skin tone doesn’t matter at all.”

Cen Jin nodded, asking Li Wu: “What do you think?”

Li Wu couldn’t articulate anything; clothes to him were just for covering and keeping warm.

He stood stiffly, with an uncomfortable expression he might not have noticed himself, looking not like someone receiving a favor but rather like a hostage.

Cen Jin examined him for a moment, picking up a pair of sneakers from the nearby rack: “Try these too…” then asked: “What’s your shoe size?”

Li Wu’s shoes, worn for several years, were already tight. He thought for a moment, responding uncertainly: “42.”

The assistant quickly went to Cen Jin’s side: “This is a popular style, we’re out of size 42, but we can transfer from another store.”

Cen Jin asked: “What size is this?”

The assistant took it and looked: “41,” she turned to face Li Wu, opening the laces: “Why don’t you try them on first, see how they look?”

This time, Li Wu took them proactively, bending down to change shoes where he stood.

The assistant was startled: “Sit down to change them! That’s too tiring.”

Li Wu belatedly realized, sitting on the shoe bench with one leg to put on the remaining shoe.

Cen Jin said nothing, waiting until he finished before asking: “How are they? Too tight?”

Li Wu looked up at her: “Not tight.”

Cen Jin stared at him for several seconds, suddenly crouching down to press on the top of his shoe.

Li Wu hadn’t reacted at all, quickly pulling his leg back.

Blood rushed to his brain, countless emotions breaking through—mostly alarm, and a resulting awkwardness. Some high ground he had been desperately maintaining seemed to collapse, just because of her merciless action.

The air froze, a strange atmosphere spreading. The sales assistant stood with her mouth half-open, not knowing how to smooth over the current situation.

Cen Jin stood up expressionlessly: “These don’t fit. We still need size 42. Send them to me when you get them in stock.”

“Alright,” the assistant came to her senses, skillfully putting on a smile: “We’ll need your address later.”

Cen Jin smiled faintly: “Mm, let him wear the clothes out, I’ll go pay with you.”

When she returned, Cen Jin saw from afar that Li Wu was still sitting there, his long legs curled back maintaining their previous posture—that moment that had made him so uncomfortable.

He couldn’t break free from it at all, his brows tightly furrowed.

The sales assistant passed Cen Jin to clean up around the boy’s feet, discovering he had already changed back into his shoes.

The shoes were very old, the pattern blurred, the logo completely indiscernible—or perhaps there had never been a brand, just like the complex relationship between these two people that defied definition.

But one thing was certain: they weren’t purely siblings.

The sales assistant had seen countless people, exhausting herself analyzing each customer, but as long as business was done and sales targets met, it didn’t matter what was true or false between people. She tidily packed everything up and handed the pristine shopping bag to Cen Jin.

Cen Jin thanked her and walked back to Li Wu’s side.

After sitting silently side by side for a while, she asked: “Are you angry?”

Li Wu didn’t say a word.

Cen Jin placed both hands on her legs, looking straight at a wall full of men’s shoes: “It’s right to be angry. I thought you had no emotions other than submission. If you don’t want to accept this care, and won’t even tell me honestly, why did you come here? If you can make do with shoes that don’t even fit, why come to Yi Zhong? Yunfeng Village suits you better.”

Li Wu’s throat was hoarse: “I just want to study.”

Cen Jin asked: “Would anywhere do?”

Li Wu’s voice was suppressed: “As long as I can study.”

Thinking he might cry, Cen Jin examined his profile, but Li Wu didn’t. His thick lashes covered his eyes, his face maintaining that unchanging forbearance—a forbearance that made one helpless, even pitying.

She began to regret, to blame herself. She had been too presumptuous; no one had ever taught this child to express himself boldly.

Childhood innocence had skimmed through his life like a dragonfly touching water, not even leaving behind a beautiful silhouette. He had too early become self-reliant, a tight-lipped adult.

“I just…” suddenly, Cen Jin felt choked, also losing the ability to organize words: “Hope you can accept this goodwill—don’t want it to become your burden. Tomorrow you’ll be going to school alone, and in a couple of days I’ll be back at work, I’m very busy, maybe too preoccupied, so I want to do everything I can to help you approach, get closer to those high school students I usually see, to integrate faster into the environment you’ll have to face. I’ve never dealt with a child like you, I’ve never even dealt with children… maybe my life hasn’t been going well lately either, so I’ve brought that mood to you too, I’m sorry, I was too hasty.”

Li Wu’s fingers curled his Adam’s apple moving.

He wanted to speak but ultimately didn’t say a single word.

——

The celebratory dinner never materialized. After finishing at the supermarket and buying some dormitory supplies, they returned home.

Li Wu went to his room to pack; Cen Jin sat on the sofa, and turned on the TV, carelessly flipping through channels.

A local lifestyle program’s image flashed past, and Cen Jin went back to it.

It was a news segment about family relationships, advocating patience when teaching elderly people to use smartphones.

Cen Jin seemed to wake up, rising from the sofa and walking to her room.

After searching through several drawers, she found her phone from last year that she had discarded.

Cen Jin plugged it in to charge, anxiously sitting at the bedhead waiting.

She remembered there was still quite a bit of personal content on the phone, and as soon as it turned on, she deleted it all. After completely clearing it, she saved four numbers in the notes.

When this was done, the battery was sufficient. She immediately unplugged the phone and walked out of the bedroom.

The guest room door was still open, its temporary resident was aware this wasn’t his private space.

He was folding his clothes, the ones he had changed out of at the mall.

“Li Wu.” Cen Jin knocked on the door frame, calling his name.

She was inexplicably nervous, forcing herself to keep her voice steady: “Take this with you tomorrow.”

Li Wu turned his head.

Cen Jin held out her hand: “A phone,” she quickly added: “An old phone, one I don’t use anymore.”

Li Wu’s gaze fell on her hand, but he didn’t come over, as if contemplating whether to refuse.

He couldn’t hide his thoughts at all.

Cen Jin tried to persuade: “Take it, it’ll be more convenient. If anything happens at school, you can call me, instead of having to borrow phones from teachers and classmates.”

Li Wu paused, put down the clothes in his hands, walked over, and took the phone: “Thank you,” after a slight pause, he became even more polite: “Thank you, sister.”

He wasn’t smooth in social interactions, stiff to the point of being cute.

Cen Jin’s suspended heart finally landed.

Li Wu looked down at the phone, without a single scratch mark, as new as if just bought from the store.

He lit up the screen, light dots reflecting in his eyes. His face showed some movement, the unique curiosity most boys had for electronic products.

Cen Jin was encouraged, baiting: “There’s no password, you can just go straight in.”

The child indeed took the bait, his thumb sliding back and forth, staring at the icons in a daze.

Cen Jin said: “I saved four phone numbers—mine, my parents’, and a friend of mine. If you have an emergency at school and can’t reach me, contact them.”

“Okay.”

“Click the green one in the bottom left…” As she was explaining, Li Wu had already clicked there.

“You know how,” she stopped: “That’s good then.”

The contacts were indeed sparse, just four people:

Cen Jin

Cen Jin’s Dad

Cen Jin’s Mom

Cen Jin’s Friend

The woman’s way of saving numbers was quite direct, formal names in sequence, yet with an indescribable humor.

Li Wu stared at these four names, feelings of wanting to laugh welling up in his heart.

“Oh,” Cen Jin remembered she hadn’t tried calling: “Try calling me.”

Li Wu pressed the first name.

Music came from next door, and Li Wu looked toward the doorway.

“Wait, I don’t have my phone with me.” Cen Jin turned and left quickly, hurrying back to her bedroom.

The phone on the bed was still vibrating and ringing. Cen Jin picked it up, about to hang up when her hand suddenly stopped, instead pressing the answer button.

“Hello.”

She said.

Afraid he might not notice, she increased her volume and said “Hello” again.

Li Wu heard the soft female voice and quickly held the phone to his ear.

“Still angry?” The woman’s voice through the receiver was like being underwater, somewhat warmer than in reality.

But she remained confident, immediately declaring: “Probably not angry anymore, right?”

Shallow dimples appeared at the corners of the young man’s lips, not fading for a long time.

Too shy to let this smile show in his words, he steadied himself before saying: “Not angry.”

“Really?” Cen Jin didn’t believe it.

“Mm.” He responded softly.

She imitated his way of thanking, copying his tone: “Thank you, thank you, little brother.”

“…”

Done teasing him, Cen Jin spoke seriously, adding the blessing she owed: “Li Wu, tomorrow will be a tomorrow completely belonging to you, run free.”