It was no exaggeration to say that Zhuang Mingqi had practically handed Shen Zhengning the biggest piece of leverage against him. He was the type to sulk randomly for two hours even when unprovoked, yet at this moment, he miraculously didn't explode despite having his fur rubbed the wrong way.

He and Shen Zhengning still couldn't be considered very familiar, but in their few encounters, they had developed a subtle sense of trust—he recalled how Shen Zhengning had carefully avoided his fingers when taking the drawing paper just now, and almost instinctively believed that not only would this person not harm him, but he would even be extremely careful to avoid any details that might trigger his trauma.

"I knew her before, but we only knew of each other's existence, we weren't very close." Zhuang Mingqi stingily gave a vague and ambiguous answer. "If she saw me, she might recall some unpleasant experiences, so it's better to pretend we don't know each other."

Shen Zhengning squinted against the sunlight, was quiet for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "Like Ye Tongsheng, was she also a friend from your high school days?"

The moment Shen Zhengning's words landed, goosebumps erupted all over Zhuang Mingqi's body, as if someone had hit a home run against the back of his head, nearly sending his soul flying out of his body. "How did you know?!"

He rarely showed such intense emotion, so Shen Zhengning hurriedly clarified, "It was a wild guess, just a wild guess."

Zhuang Mingqi stared at him fixedly, then pressed his lips together and turned his head slightly away. Although most of his expression was hidden, he might as well have had "I'm going to throw a tantrum" written on his sunglasses. 'Who wants to coax you,' Shen Zhengning thought, while humbly and promptly changing the subject, "There's an outdoor café ahead. Want to go sit for a while and grab a coffee?"

A moment later, the warm, sweet hazelnut latte Shen Zhengning brought back finally smoothed out the kitten-like pout Zhuang Mingqi had been holding for a full five minutes. He himself, a person accustomed to using his brain, drank an unsweetened hot latte, gently stroking the Samoyed's head with one hand. To make the puppy feel included, he casually fed it a few small treats as well.

"Since you like Samoyeds so much, why don't you get one of your own?"

Zhuang Mingqi took off his sunglasses, revealing his translucent, amber-colored eyes. He was indeed sleep-deprived, with distinct dark circles under his eyes that made his eye sockets seem deeper, giving him a touch of movingly haggard charm.

Shen Zhengning was skilled at analyzing others but rarely dissected himself. It wasn't that he deliberately avoided it, but in typical conversations, because he often occupied the role of the analyst, his audience would subconsciously follow his lead and focus all their attention on the subject of analysis, thereby ignoring the existence of the analyst himself.

But Zhuang Mingqi's expression was very serious at this moment, his eyes faintly conveying a threatening "it's your turn now." It was rare for someone with his personality, one accustomed to standing aside and secretly observing humanity, to actively press for an answer. It was like an extremely wary cat jumping down from the top of a wardrobe to tentatively approach.

One of the rules of social interaction is "give and take." He had obtained some information, both deep and shallow, from Zhuang Mingqi, though not entirely with the latter's willing consent. However, since he now clearly expressed a desire "to know," Shen Zhengning accepted his probing with a candid attitude, generously opening up a part of his own territory to him.

He took a sip of coffee and answered slowly, "When I was a child, my grandfather gave me a little white dog. I didn't know it was a Samoyed back then; I just thought it was very cute, and the first thing I did every day after school was rush home to see it."

Puppies and children are natural friends. She quickly learned commands like sit, shake hands, and bow. She would touch his palm with her wet nose and voluntarily rest her head on his knee to ask for pets.

Shen Zhengning named her Mimi.

Zhuang Mingqi held his coffee cup, a giant question mark materializing over his head. "I don't really understand your logic."

Shen Zhengning tried to empathize with his younger self. "It was different from the scruffy stray dogs I often saw when I was little. It was so delicate, like a toy puppy, so I gave it a name that sounded more... uh, fluffy, I guess."

A young boy's heart is just like that, irrationally and wholeheartedly pouring all his love and attention, passionately adoring his little dog. Until one evening, returning home from school, Shen Zhengning didn't see Mimi, who was usually waiting for him at the door right on time.

Without even taking the time to change out of his school uniform, Shen Zhengning searched inside and out before anxiously asking his mother, "Where's Mimi?"

He couldn't remember his mother's expression at the time; he only remembered the heavy twilight that filled the house at dusk, pouring in from the ceiling like viscous cement, the blood-red sunset reflected on the white walls. His mother's tone was sharp. "She's been sent back to your grandpa's. Your teacher called me today and said your monthly exam scores dropped out of the top fifty of your grade, and you bombed physics. You've been too lax lately, not focusing your energy on your studies..."

Shen Zhengning's heart sank. An indescribable panic seized him, but he immediately realized he had to try to salvage the situation. "Mom, I promise I'll do well on the next test. Can you bring Mimi back first?"

"No," his mother refused flatly. "Indulging in playthings saps one's will. Your only task right now is to study; everything else is off the table. Finals are in a little over a month. If you keep slacking off like this, I'll be too ashamed to celebrate the New Year. You need to be more mindful."

His mother seemed to be in a terrible mood. Wilting from the scolding, Shen Zhengning returned to his room with slumped shoulders to do his homework. He didn't try to get his pet back by talking back or throwing a tantrum; he didn't even plead any further. He just thought that he would have to wait until the weekend to visit his grandpa's house to see the puppy.

Shen Zhengning was not a rebellious child. Due to his father's early death, and under the constant admonitions of all his relatives, he had etched "understanding his mother's hardships" into his nature, treating it as an inviolable golden rule.

The weekend he had so desperately longed for finally arrived. With two of Mimi's favorite ham sausages in his pocket, Shen Zhengning excitedly ran to his grandfather's house. Without even greeting his grandparents, he immediately and eagerly asked, "Where's Mimi?"

The eager smile on his grandfather's face as he opened the door froze for an instant. He then casually tried to change the subject, "Zhengning, you're here! Come in, come in. Is it cold outside? You must be tired from studying recently, right?"

"Grandpa, where's my puppy?"

Even at a young age, before he was aware that his perception was sharper than others, Shen Zhengning had already instinctively sensed his grandfather's evasiveness and displayed unusual persistence. "My mom said she brought Mimi to your house. Where is she?"

"Zhengning, come, come inside and we'll talk. Don't just stand there in the doorway." His grandfather pulled him inside, trying to placate him gently. "It's like this. Your mom said your grades have been dropping because of the dog, and she doesn't want you to be distracted by such things. Besides, your mother's busy with work. It's already a lot for her to take care of you, how could she have time to look after a puppy?"

"I know, Grandpa," Shen Zhengning said. "Mimi can stay here with you for now. I'll come visit her every week, and once my exams are over and winter break starts, I'll take her back home. My mom won't have to worry."

His grandfather glanced behind him reflexively, but no little white dog came trotting out to greet him. "I've already given her away. It's just a dog. You're a student now; it's not a good time to be raising a dog. When you get into university, Grandpa will buy you a new one, how about that?"

A hot, sour feeling rushed up his throat. For an instant, he wanted to scream hysterically, "Why?!" but Shen Zhengning forced himself to hold it in again. He had been taught since he was a child that crying was weak, shameful, and useless—that it solved nothing. So he took a deep breath and forced his brain to work. "When did you give her away? Who did you give her to?"

"To..." Seeing that he wasn't making a scene and actually seemed quite calm, as if he wasn't that deeply attached to the puppy, the lie his grandfather was about to tell—some story about a neighbor to fob him off—changed on his lips into the truth. "The day before yesterday, Grandpa Liu's second son, Liu Haicheng, came by to deliver vegetables and saw Mimi. He said she's a purebred dog, a Sa-something, and could fetch some money at the market, so I let him take her for five hundred yuan."

Five hundred yuan.

To Shen Zhengning, that was an amount he could just barely manage if he pooled all the pocket money he had ever saved. The situation wasn't hopeless yet. As long as he could find Mimi, he would think of every possible way to get her back. He could promise his mother that it wouldn't take up his study time, that it wouldn't waste her energy...

A plan of action rapidly formed in his mind. Shen Zhengning couldn't remember how he forced himself to say goodbye to his grandfather as usual. The moment the door closed, he tore out of the building. Following his memory, he knocked on Grandpa Liu's door and found out where Liu Haicheng was. Then, based on Liu Haicheng's description, he crossed half the city to find the family who had bought Mimi—he carried out his plan with a singular focus, like a Greek soldier on an ancient battlefield, crossing numerous obstacles just to reach the Athens he longed for.

However, the buyer information Liu Haicheng gave him was extremely vague, and he could only narrow down the endpoint to a certain residential complex. After he had gone door-to-door through an entire building, at nine o'clock that night, the ones who found him first were his mother, his homeroom teacher, and a former colleague of his father's.

In front of everyone, his mother landed a crisp slap on his face, tears and accusations erupting from her simultaneously. "For a stupid dog, you run away from home and abandon your mother, is that it?!"

Shen Zhengning staggered from the force of the slap. The accompanying police officer hurried to pull the mother and son apart. Many people were gathered around, trying to reason with him, the cacophony of voices mixing with a ringing in his ears, hammering at his nerves— "You're just a child, running off so far without a word. Your mother was worried sick." "You're the only child in the family. If anything happened to you, how devastated would your mother be?" "You're the only man of the house. You need to be mature and take care of your mom, you can't throw childish fits like this anymore."

"Go on," someone shoved him. "Go apologize to your mother."

Through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, Shen Zhengning gazed at the distant rows of lighted high-rises and felt as if he'd been split in two. One part was scorched by self-reproach and guilt, stinging as hotly as the handprint on his cheek; the other floated high up in the air, shedding no tears, feeling only an indescribable sadness. He knew he would never see Mimi again—she might be hidden behind one of those windows, her round, black glass-bead eyes watching him quietly, but he would never look for her again.

"I'm sorry... Mom."

In this senseless, meaningless choice between two, he was the one who had ultimately chosen to give up his puppy.

The grown-up Shen Zhengning still liked Samoyeds best, but despite having the money and energy, he never raised a puppy of his own. This wasn't out of resentment or an unwillingness to forgive; on the contrary, he understood his mother's suffering and struggles very well. But there is no hierarchy when it comes to pain. He simply couldn't get over it, and had weakly chosen to escape—if there is no beginning, there can be no separation, and he would never have to face such a choice.

Silver snuggled against his leg, getting white fur all over his pants, but just looking into its innocent and clear black eyes filled him with the happiness of being relied on and trusted.

Zhuang Mingqi clearly hadn't expected that what seemed like a very safe question would end up dredging up Shen Zhengning's painful past. It was as if he'd cast a fishing line and hooked a crocodile; for a moment, he was at a loss.

"So that's what happened," he said drily. "Sorry, it seems I accidentally touched on your childhood trauma."

With a hint of wicked glee, Shen Zhengning savored Zhuang Mingqi's startled expression for a moment before his lips curled into an easy smile. "It's fine. This is East Asia; what trauma could there be? All we can say is, my childhood, your childhood, they're all the same."