A row of dim yellow streetlights illuminated the street. On this summer night, there were still many small insects flying in swarms among the bushes.

Yan City was a lively city, but this street was far from various entertainment venues and seemed too quiet on this not-so-late evening.

Wen Liang leaned lazily against a tree trunk with a cigarette burning between his fingers while talking on the phone.

Xiao Shi was making a commotion on the other end of the line, saying something to him. Wen Liang took a deep drag of his cigarette, looking disinterested. After Xiao Shi finished, he replied indifferently, “I’m not coming over. I have something to do here.”

“You just got out of the military camp today. What could you possibly have to do?” Xiao Shi thought he was just making excuses.

Wen Liang had already lost patience and casually said something before hanging up. He put the phone back in his pocket and looked up toward a small restaurant by the roadside.

The young girl he had picked up from the train station was sitting at a wooden table by the entrance, eating small bites at a time. Then, perhaps noticing his gaze, her hand holding the chopsticks paused, and she suddenly sat up straight, looking at him and no longer daring to eat.

Wen Liang’s lips curved slightly upward, but he quickly turned away and continued smoking, no longer looking at her.

After leisurely finishing his cigarette, Wen Liang threw away the butt, stamped his feet twice, and finally walked back into the restaurant.

The girl had finished eating, put down her chopsticks, and was sitting obediently in her seat.

Wen Liang walked up to her, “Finished eating?”

She nodded gently, “Mm.”

“Why are you still sitting here after you’ve finished?”

The girl’s face slowly reddened as she turned her head to look at the restaurant owner’s wife and whispered, “I don’t have money to pay them. My luggage was left at the station.”

Wen Liang raised an eyebrow but didn’t say much, just went over to pay.

Walking out of the restaurant, the street was still quiet.

The girl kept walking behind him. Someone riding a bicycle passed between them, and she quickly stepped back to avoid them, looking very awkward.

Wen Liang walked to his motorcycle and handed her the helmet. After fastening his own, he finally thought to ask, “What’s your name?”

She struggled to put on the helmet with two slender fingers pressed against her chin, her mouth opening and closing, muffled inside the helmet. Wen Liang couldn’t hear clearly.

“What?”

She swallowed dryly and tried to make her voice louder and clearer: “Chen Die.”

And so Chen Die moved into the villa in the western suburbs. A few weeks later, life gradually returned to normal, and she began attending school in Yan City.

Wen Liang didn’t come back often, and Chen Die didn’t dare ask what he was doing. Every morning after breakfast, she would take the subway to class by herself and take the subway back home after school.

She had nowhere else to go. She couldn’t return to Wuxi, and she didn’t want to go to the Chen family. Living anxiously in the western suburbs, she feared that one day she would annoy Wen Liang and be driven out with nowhere to go.

Fortunately, despite her anxiety for a long time, she continued to live in the western suburbs, with Zhang Sao taking care of her meals and daily life, and no one giving her the cold shoulder.

In terms of material comfort, she was living much better than she had in Wuxi.

She had been living in the western suburbs villa for a long time, but the number of times she could see Wen Liang could be counted on both hands.

Sometimes when he came back to stay, it would already be midnight and Chen Die would be asleep, or Chen Die would get up early to go to school before he was awake.

The two only really became familiar with each other half a year later, at the end of the year.

On the evening of December 31, the school held a New Year’s party. The entire second year of high school needed to present six performances, without requiring each class to perform individually. Chen Die, along with several girls from the neighboring class, danced and was selected.

On the evening of that day, during self-study class, they went early to apply makeup and change clothes.

They wore stage makeup with heavy blush and glitter eyeshadow. Their hair was tied up, revealing slender white necks, wearing pink and white wide-sleeved dance dresses.

Since transferring schools, Chen Die has attracted attention for her beauty. Appearing on campus in makeup and a dance dress drew even more attention. Someone took a photo of her, which was immediately spread among the boys at school.

By the end of the New Year’s party that day, it was already very late, past ten o’clock.

The subway in Yan City stopped at ten-thirty. Chen Die’s performance was the finale, and in the end, she didn’t even have time to change her clothes. She just said a quick word to her friends and hurriedly ran out of the gym, afraid she would miss the last train.

Wen Liang had returned to the Wen family mansion that day. As usual, after quarreling with Wen Huai Yuan, he slammed the door and left. Not wanting to hang out with his group of questionable friends, he unconsciously drove to the school gate.

He remembered that Zhang Sao had mentioned Chen Die had something at school that day and would be back late.

When he arrived, the bell had just rung at the campus. There were already many private cars outside picking up children. Wen Liang parked his car across the street and leaned against the car door to feel the breeze.

Soon, many students came out one after another.

Most walked out arm in arm, chatting and laughing.

Wen Liang looked lazily and spotted Chen Die almost immediately; she was dressed differently from the other students.

Inside, she wore that pink and white dance dress, her skin white as if emitting a faint glow in the night, covered by a drab gray winter school uniform.

He was just about to step forward when he saw two boys catch up from behind and tap Chen Die’s shoulder.

Wen Liang’s footsteps paused, and he smiled slightly before walking across the zebra crossing.

As he got closer, he heard one of the boys scratching his head saying, “Chen Die, I was wondering if I could have your QQ number? Or your phone number works too.”

Chen Die was in a hurry to catch the last subway and quickly said, “Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

“School’s already out.” The boy didn’t believe her and grabbed her elbow. “I like you. My name is Zhang Ying Yuan, I’m one year ahead of you, in the third year. Can we get to know each other? Don’t always refuse to give your contact information.”

Chen Die was anxious and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Aiyo, I have something to do. Don’t hold onto me.”

But the boy was amused by her soft, Wu dialect-like “aiyo” and looked a bit roguish, “Then give me a reason for rejecting me.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Do you already have someone you like?”

Chen Die was just eager to leave and impatiently said “Yes” before pulling her hand free and turning to run toward the subway station.

She had wasted so much time.

She didn’t want to walk back to the villa in the western suburbs late at night.

But she had only run a few steps with her head down when she suddenly collided heavily with someone. Chen Die covered her forehead and quickly said “Sorry,” but when she looked up, she saw Wen Liang’s face.

She froze.

She just stood there holding her head, staring blankly at Wen Liang. After a good while, she finally called out in surprise, “Brother Wen Liang?”

“Mm.”

Wen Liang looked down at her briefly, then glanced over her shoulder at the two boys behind her.

Chen Die followed his gaze to look back, suddenly remembering her answer just now.

“Do you already have someone you like?”

“Yes.”

When Wen Liang started standing behind her…

Hopefully, he hadn’t heard her answer just now.

Chen Die’s heart was pounding, afraid that the person behind her would shamelessly come up and continue asking who she liked. Not caring about anything else, she grabbed Wen Liang’s arm and walked forward.

This was the first time they had such physical contact since meeting half a year ago. Wen Liang looked at Chen Die’s hands but didn’t say anything, following her lead and walking forward.

“The car is across the street,” he said.

“…Oh.”

The light was green, so they crossed the zebra crossing. Only then did Chen Die remember she was still holding his arm and quickly withdrew her hand.

The journey home to the western suburbs villa was silent.

“Thank you, Brother Wen Liang… for picking me up.” Chen Die thanked him.

Wen Liang didn’t respond. He opened the door, went in, and turned on the living room lights. Only now did he get a clear look at Chen Die’s makeup.

Actually, the makeup looked quite cheap, overly heavy stage makeup, but on Chen Die’s face, it appeared exceptionally radiant, no longer as reserved as usual.

Wen Liang watched as she took off her coat. The dance dress was tight at the waist, so slender one could encircle it with one hand, outlining the budding figure of a young girl, below which were slender, straight legs.

He only now noticed that she wasn’t just some kid anymore; she was 16 years old.

Chen Die patted her face, “Brother Wen Liang.”

He was still distracted, staring unabashedly at the young girl’s waist. Hearing her, he came back to his senses, “Hmm?”

“I’ll go upstairs first. You should rest early too,” she said softly.

“Mm.”

Chen Die fled to her room.

She thought to herself, thankfully, Wen Liang hadn’t heard her admit to having someone she liked, otherwise, if he asked, she wouldn’t know how to explain.

The next day was the New Year holiday.

Chen Die slept in a bit, then did her homework after waking up, only coming downstairs for lunch.

Rarely, Wen Liang was also at home. Chen Die paused on the stairs, glanced at him, and then came down with very light steps.

“Slept that long?” Wen Liang asked first.

Chen Die stiffened, “…No, I was doing homework.”

She pulled out a chair and sat down. After eating for a while, she brought up her idea of becoming an art student to Wen Liang, who had no opinion on this. If she wanted to go, then she could go.

In the end, he teased, “What, is the person you like also studying art?”

Chen Die was drinking congee and was so startled by his question that her face turned completely red. After a while, she explained, “I don’t have anyone I like. Yesterday I was just annoyed by that person and said I did.”

But with her flushed cheeks, the words she spoke seemed less credible.

Wen Liang just snorted with laughter.

Chen Die wanted to explain further but didn’t know how to begin, so she gave up.

However, after this incident, the relationship between them gradually became more familiar, and Chen Die was no longer as afraid to approach him as before.

She was like a conqueror, advancing step by step, relying on Wen Liang’s gradually revealed indulgence toward her to carve out a territory of her own in his life.

Wen Liang had never been able to understand the intricate thoughts of young girls. Compared to the previously cautious Chen Die, he preferred the later Chen Die who had become somewhat spoiled with his indulgence. He found it interesting and was willing to tolerate her doing things that others wouldn’t dare do to him.

When Chen Die was in her third year of high school, her studies were very busy. She changed from commuting to boarding at school, only coming home once a week.

On this day, Wen Liang was hanging out with a group of friends when his phone, placed on the coffee table, vibrated twice.

He picked it up to look.

[Lingling: Brother Wen Liang, I have a holiday tomorrow. Can you come pick me up?]

He faintly curved his lips upward, which was noticed by a friend sitting nearby who teasingly asked which beauty could make Wen Liang smile for a thousand gold.

Wen Liang ignored him and replied with a simple “Sure.”

Seeing his demeanor, the group around him became more interested and clamored to know who it was.

Wen Liang lazily rebuked, “Get lost.”

The next evening, Wen Liang went to the school to pick up Chen Die.

As soon as she got in the car, Chen Die smelled the perfume on his clothes, a woman’s fragrance. She frowned slightly and, like a puppy, leaned over to tug at his sleeve and smell it carefully.

Her brow furrowed even tighter, “Where did you go?”

“What?”

Chen Die petulantly let go of his hand, “It smells like perfume.”

Wen Liang raised his hand to sniff, and indeed there was a scent, very faint, probably picked up today when he encountered Xiao Shi and the female companion by his side.

Chen Die couldn’t help but ask again, “What were you doing?”

Wen Liang didn’t bother to explain and tapped her on the forehead, “None of your business.”

“…”

Recently, Wen Liang had just started to take over some projects from the Wen Yuan Group. After returning home, he received a phone call and went straight to his study.

Chen Die finished her homework at the desk in her bedroom, and thinking again about that perfume smell, she threw down her pen and buried her head in her arms, grumbling unhappily for a while until her hair was all messed up.

In the end, she couldn’t let it go. She smoothed her hair, put on her slippers, and walked out of her bedroom.

Zhang Sao had just cut a plate of fruit and called her to eat. Chen Die took it and said, “I’ll take it to Brother Wen Liang’s study.”

Wen Liang was staring at a bunch of boring data, calculating the profit margin for a project when the door was knocked twice, and Chen Die peeked in with a fruit plate in her hand.

She placed the fruit plate beside him.

Wen Liang glanced at her, “You eat it yourself.”

“Oh.”

Chen Die pulled up a chair and sat next to him, eating watermelon with a toothpick.

After a while, she felt bored and leaned forward to look at Wen Liang’s computer screen, which was filled with chaotic data charts that made her dizzy.

“Can you understand it?” Wen Liang taunted her.

She snorted lightly, “What’s there not to understand?”

“Aren’t you in your third year now? No homework?”

Chen Die: “We just finished monthly exams, not much homework this week. I’ll write it later tonight.”

He mocked gently, “With your performance, be careful you don’t get into university and have to repeat a year.”

“How can you talk like that?” Chen Die was a bit upset by his words. “As for these things of yours, who can’t understand them? The things I memorize, you probably don’t even know.”

Wen Liang laughed lightly and moved his chair away a bit, “Then come write this report for me.”

“…”

Chen Die had no choice but to get up and move closer to the computer to look. The document was long and messy, straining her eyes. In this position, she could smell Wen Liang’s perfume even more.

Chen Die then sat back down.

His chair was very large, and Chen Die only sat in one corner, but their legs were still touching, and she could almost feel his body heat.

She frowned and said, “You should go take a shower first. This perfume smell is unbearable.”

Wen Liang’s gaze stopped on Chen Die’s legs. Her school uniform skirt had slid up a bit, revealing slender white legs. His Adam’s apple moved sharply, and his voice inexplicably became hoarse as he grabbed Chen Die’s collar and pulled her up, scolding her, “How old are you? Sit properly by yourself. What are you squeezing for?”