The next day, Lin Zhexia was awakened by intense sunlight.

The curtains were only half-drawn, and the dazzling light shone directly in, illuminating the entire living room.

If not for the still-wet ground outside, she would have almost believed that last night’s downpour was just an imagined nightmare.

But as she sat up from the sofa and ran her fingers through her hair, she saw the neatly laid out mattress and blanket on the carpet, and memories from last night came rushing back.

The voice she had heard beside her ear last night.

And the bedtime story about the little rabbit—none of it was a dream.

She took out her phone and checked the time.

8:23 AM.

She opened her contact list and sent Chi Yao a few messages—

Are you back home yet?

Want to have breakfast together later?

I’ll treat you to xiaolongbao, don’t be polite with me, free all-you-can-eat.

Chi Yao had probably just left not long ago and replied with a “Read” receipt.

With Lin He away, there was no one to cook, so breakfast naturally had to be eaten outside.

There was a row of shops at the entrance of the residential complex, with several breakfast establishments lined up side by side.

After eating there for so many years, the children in the complex and the shop owners had all become familiar with each other.

Lin Zhexia pulled Chi Yao into the breakfast shop, and before they could even order, the owner sitting at the cashier greeted them with a smile: “Xiao Xia, you’re here! And Xiao Chi, too. What would you two like to eat today? Xiaolongbao?”

Lin Zhexia found an empty seat and sat down. She was wearing a thick white down jacket, and while taking it off, she said: “How did you guess right away? I feel like I don’t even need to order…”

The owner was a middle-aged woman who was calculating prices on a calculator and joked: “You don’t need to order anymore, just scan the code and pay. If there’s even one thing we serve that you two don’t like, this meal is on me.”

The place had a strong sense of homely warmth. The kitchen was steaming buns, and the moment the lid was lifted, the aroma wafted out along with the steam.

Lin Zhexia asked Chi Yao, “How many baskets will you eat?”

Chi Yao hadn’t answered yet.

Afraid he might order too much, she quickly added: “Although I said I could treat you to all you can eat, breakfast should still be balanced. Look at the tofu pudding and pumpkin porridge and such—these aren’t just nutritious, they’re also relatively inexpensive.”

Chi Yao was wearing a black sweater today. His hair had grown a bit longer, making his eyebrows and eyes appear even more defined, with an inescapable air of arrogance.

He let out a light snort: “Coward, is this how you treat someone?”

“…” Lin Zhexia slowly admitted, “I’m the type of person who tends to go back on her word.”

Soon, everything they ordered was served.

Lin Zhexia had been craving xiaolongbao since last night and, staying true to her heart’s desire, focused intently on eating them.

They each had one basket.

After finishing her portion, Lin Zhexia stared at Chi Yao’s basket.

Taking advantage of when Chi Yao lowered his head to drink his porridge, her chopsticks darted over quickly, grabbed one, and placed it in her bowl.

Just when she thought her operation had gone undetected, after stealthily taking three, she suddenly heard: “Do you think I didn’t see that?”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

She looked up and met Chi Yao’s eyes.

Lin Zhexia, holding her bowl, said: “I thought someone as generous as you probably wouldn’t mind.”

“I’m sorry,” Chi Yao said, “but I do mind.”

Lin Zhexia: “I already complimented you on being generous, shouldn’t you just accept the label?”

Chi Yao: “Oh, I’m stingy then.”

Lin Zhexia: “But I’ve already eaten them, surely I can’t…”

Before she could finish, Chi Yao leaned back slightly: “You can spit them out.”

“…”

In the end, that basket of xiaolongbao still ended up in her stomach.

Despite what Chi Yao said, when her chopsticks eagerly attempted to steal more, he chose to turn a blind eye—

Lin Zhexia still spent most of her winter break at Chi Yao’s place, just like usual.

With Lin He gone for these few days, she went over even more frequently.

On Chi Yao’s sofa was a small blanket she used to keep warm, along with some manga books she had brought from home. The coffee table displayed her favorite snacks, and on the desk, among Chi Yao’s textbooks, were interspersed her textbooks and homework.

Occasionally, He Yang would come over to escape from his mother and stay for a while: “Xia-ge, anyone who didn’t know better would think this was your home.”

Lin Zhexia was sharing a desk with Chi Yao. The winter break assignments from Second Middle School were all the same, and she would occasionally glance at Chi Yao’s answers.

She directly acknowledged it: “Why would you come to my home?”

He Yang: “…You’re not polite.”

Lin Zhexia: “I’m doing alright.”

He Yang turned to look at Chi Yao.

His Yao-ge was holding a black pen, casually filling in answers on the test paper.

After finishing, he raised his other hand, placed his palm on top of Lin Zhexia’s head, and turned it back: “Calculate it yourself.”

Lin Zhexia: “Fine, I’ll calculate it myself. This problem is very simple anyway, it’s not like I don’t know how to do it.”

He Yang felt like an outsider.

There was no place for him here.

The holiday was boring.

After they finished their homework, He Yang enthusiastically asked: “Want to play a game?”

Lin Zhexia glanced at the screen of his phone and saw it was the game Chi Yao had been playing all summer.

She rarely played games, mainly because she wasn’t good at them, which made it hard to feel a sense of achievement. Instead of gaming, during breaks, she preferred to watch dramas or hang out with classmates.

“Sure,” since she didn’t know what else to do right now, she agreed, “but I’m not very good at playing.”

He Yang: “It doesn’t matter if you haven’t played before, me and Yao-ge will carry you.”

Lin Zhexia was skeptical: “Can you carry me?”

“…” He Yang said, “Even if you don’t believe in me, you should believe in Yao-ge.”

And so Lin Zhexia entered Summoner’s Rift.

When choosing a username, she thought for a moment and casually picked “Splash.”

After a while, the other two came online as well.

He Yang’s name was “Carry the Whole Field,” while Chi Yao’s name looked very cool—just a single period.

This game had been popular for a long time, and Lin Zhexia roughly understood the mechanics.

After the game started, she was like someone taking a stroll through the canyon, using whichever skill was available, and often missing her targets.

Even so, she was rarely caught by the enemy. Whenever she was surrounded and was about to cry out “Please spare me,” the previously silent jungle player with the period as his name would mysteriously appear beside her, swiftly eliminate those enemies, and then retreat to the jungle.

So she strolled very freely, and if she wanted to, she could even stroll into enemy territory.

He Yang was very supportive, lavishing praise on her terrible gameplay: “Xia-ge, that missed ultimate of yours must have been based on your unique thinking, right? I get it—you disdained using your ultimate to defeat him, you were humiliating him, trying to crush him mentally. That’s brilliant.”

“Xia-ge, that feint of yours, misleading them in one direction while striking from another, created an opportunity for me. I was able to secure that kill, but the main credit goes to you.”

“…”

“Thanks,” Lin Zhexia said, “but next time, think before you speak.”

Chi Yao didn’t talk much while playing.

Lin Zhexia secretly glanced at him as he nonchalantly controlled his game character.

Occasionally, he would direct a few brief words at her.

“Come here.”

“No need to run.”

“He’s dead.”

Being carried felt quite remarkable.

No matter when or where, Chi Yao would always appear instantly.

The feeling was very similar to that day near the alley when he suddenly pulled her into his arms.

Lin Zhexia shouted, “Awesome! 666!” but her thoughts uncontrollably wandered a bit. While controlling her character on her stroll, she asked: “Do you often carry… people to higher ranks? Otherwise, how are you so skilled at it?”

In her opinion, boys who were good at games probably carried many people.

So, had he carried many people too?

Chi Yao raised his eyelids, but before he could say anything, He Yang seized the topic and rushed to complain: “Him? Yeah right, with his temperament, carrying people?”

“Last time I was ranking up with him, we got a teammate who was a girl. That girl turned on her mic and called out to him, ‘Brother, save me,’ and this guy didn’t even bother to go back for the kill.”

“Then the girl asked, ‘Why didn’t you save me just now?’ You know what he said?”

“You know what he said? He said, ‘I’m not your brother, why should I care?'”

“Just listen to that! Is that something a human would say? How can he talk to a girl like that?!”

Lin Zhexia: “…Indeed, it’s already good that he wasn’t reported.”

And with that, the topic was brushed aside.

Her wandering thoughts also came to an abrupt halt after hearing He Yang’s words.

She continued to stare at her phone screen, unable to catch that fleeting emotion, only feeling that the game character she was controlling now strolled with even lighter steps—

Lin He and Wei Ping stayed in the neighboring city for a few more days, returning later than planned.

They arrived home in the evening.

Lin Zhexia had just gone to bed when she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.

She got up from bed and ran to the door to give Lin He, whom she hadn’t seen for several days, a hug.

Lin He was carrying several things she had brought back: “Why aren’t you asleep yet? I thought you’d be sleeping.”

Lin Zhexia said, “I was about to sleep when I heard the sound.”

After a brief hug, she turned to look at Wei Ping and said, “Uncle Wei,” as a greeting.

Wei Ping smiled, and after putting down the things in his hand, he said to her, “I brought you a gift. See if you like it.”

Wei Ping always brought her small gifts when he returned from business trips.

But they were mostly things she didn’t like. Wei Ping was brainwashed by stereotypes, always thinking girls liked pink, princess dresses, and shiny crystal decorations.

She didn’t like pink.

Sure enough, what Wei Ping took out this time was still a pink plush toy.

“This stuffed animal is quite cute,” Wei Ping said. “I saw it while passing by and bought it.”

Lin Zhexia accepted the plush toy and said, “Thank you, Uncle Wei. I like it. It’s just that I feel a bit embarrassed always having you bring gifts.”

Wei Ping: “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. How have you been at home these past few days? Have you been eating well?”

Lin Zhexia: “I’ve been eating out with Chi Yao. It’s been fine.”

After chatting for a while, Lin Zhexia took the gift back to her room.

She placed the plush toy on the edge of her desk, where there was a shelf with many small trinkets, most of which were gifts from Wei Ping.

After placing it, she stared at the toy for a while.

When she got back into bed, she found that her sleepiness had disappeared after being interrupted.

Because of her good experience in the canyon during the day, she rolled over and couldn’t resist logging into the game, eager to try again.

With consecutive victories during the day, she had the illusion that she could be like Chi Yao, wanting to go up and take on five opponents by herself.

As soon as she logged into the game, she scanned the friends list but didn’t see that period.

Lin Zhexia went through the list again from the beginning.

This time, she found the cat avatar, but the game name displayed next to the avatar was no longer a period, but four characters instead:

“Little Pig Splash.”

Lin Zhexia looked at her nickname “Splash”: “…”

She switched from the game interface and opened her chat with Chi Yao.

Her fingers struck the screen forcefully as she sent out a message—

YOU are the pig!

Author’s note: Xiao Chi, such a calculating man.