The stifling summer was like a wild beast locked in a cage. A thunderstorm had just ended, the ground was still wet, but a vexing sultriness was already rising in the air again.

Zhou Wan walked to the hospital entrance to get some fresh air.

She wore a comfortable, clean cotton dress, her hair tied up casually. A few wisps of hair fell around her fair neck, and her clean, clear eyes were lowered.

She hadn't had time to eat lunch, and her stomach felt a little upset.

Zhou Wan slowly squatted down by the roadside, hugging her knees.

It was at this moment that Zhou Wan saw Lu Xixiao across the street.

The young man was tall with long legs, dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and jeans. It was a very casual outfit, but on him, it only served to accentuate his youthful air.

He leaned lazily against the wall at an internet cafe's entrance, his hair neat, his eyes deep yet frivolous. A cigarette was held between his fingertips, his expression blank, exuding an air of indulgence, dissipation, and of treating life as a game.

Then, a girl with a slim waist and long legs walked out of the internet cafe.

She wore a top with two thin, wine-red spaghetti straps on her snow-white shoulders. She walked to Lu Xixiao's side, leaned against him, and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear.

And Lu Xixiao cooperatively bent down, tilting his ear closer.

Very considerate.

The girl said something in his ear, and he smiled, ripples appearing in his calm, indifferent eyes.

He leaned over too, half-resting on the girl, getting so close he almost touched her ear, and said something in return.

He smiled a little wickedly.

Sure enough, the girl, blushing, coyly raised her hand and gave him a light punch on the chest.

Zhou Wan watched this scene unfold, blinking slowly.

Of course she knew Lu Xixiao; everyone at Yangming High School knew him.

He was blessed with good looks and had a free-spirited, unrestrained personality, which made him especially eye-catching among the sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys and girls, attracting a great deal of admiration and affection.

He had gone through many girlfriends; seemingly a fickle romantic, he was in fact cold and heartless, never truly invested in anyone.

When it came down to it, Zhou Wan and he had actually crossed paths once—

It was in the early autumn of their first year of high school. She had run into Lu Xixiao and his friends at a breakfast place.

A group of boys were chatting without a filter, talking about his previous girlfriend from another school, who had an excellent figure. They started hooting and chattering all at once.

Zhou Wan was sitting nearby and caught a few of their words, which made her uncomfortable.

She subconsciously looked at the subject of the conversation.

The main subject himself was calm and composed, completely unfazed, his head lowered as he drank his porridge.

The tables at the breakfast place were very low, and being so tall, he looked a little cramped. His skin was very fair, his hair still half-damp, with strands falling over his forehead. His elbows rested on his knees, his eyes lowered.

"Master Xiao, come on, tell us," the boy next to him asked with a grin. "How was she, really?"

He looked up, a very faint, lazy and casual smile in his eyes. "How was what?"

"Stop playing dumb. You know what we're asking."

He smiled, joking evasively, "I really don't know."

His friend cut the crap, winked, and asked, "How did she feel?"

Hearing this, Zhou Wan frowned.

Lu Xixiao finished his breakfast, leisurely pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth, then leaned back against the plastic chair and crossed his arms.

It was then that Lu Xixiao saw the frowning Zhou Wan at the table behind them.

The girl had delicate features, with a small nose and a small mouth. Her eyes were large, like a doe's, so clear you could see right to the bottom of them—the kind of eyes that immediately conveyed innocence and purity.

Their eyes met for a few seconds, ending only when Zhou Wan looked away first.

Lu Xixiao let out a low chuckle, tapping his fingers on the tabletop in his usual devil-may-care manner. "Alright, there's a young lady present."

...

At the time, she didn't even know his name. She only learned it later when a companion mentioned him.

Lu Xixiao.

Sure enough, after that, she often saw him with all sorts of different girls.

But someone like Lu Xixiao, of course, wouldn't remember her just from a three-second exchange of glances.

Across the street, the girl hugged Lu Xixiao's arm, acting coy for a moment before half-pulling, half-dragging him back into the internet cafe.

Zhou Wan's stomachache had eased a little. Just as she was getting up to go buy something to fill her stomach, her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered. "Doctor Chen."

Doctor Chen: "Wanwan, your grandma's test results are out. Come over when you have a moment, and you can pick up her medicine for the next half-month as well."

"Okay, I'm at the hospital entrance right now. I'll be right in."

Zhou Wan's grandmother had uremia, kidney failure. She had been ill for several years, surviving on weekly dialysis.

In the doctor's office, Doctor Chen laid the examination and lab reports in front of Zhou Wan.

Zhou Wan often accompanied her grandmother to the hospital, so the doctors and nurses in the department all knew her. They secretly felt sorry for her; she was so well-behaved and delicate-looking that they would always exchange a few extra words of concern with her.

"You can see the current situation. I suggest increasing the frequency of dialysis to at least twice a week," Doctor Chen said.

Zhou Wan lowered her head to carefully study the up and down arrows on the lab report and nodded. "Okay."

The doctor knew of her family's difficulties. "You'll need to prepare for the expenses in advance."

After a pause, he added, "If there's anything you need help with, you can come to me."

Doctor Chen had worked in the hospital for over a decade. He was accustomed to the cycle of life and death and had seen too many families give up on treating their elderly relatives.

The old saying goes, there are no filial children at the bedside of the long-term sick.

Since it was an old saying, it naturally held its own logic.

And yet, though Zhou Wan's grandmother had been sick for so many years, this granddaughter would always accompany her, as long as she could get leave from school.

Despite only being sixteen or seventeen and enduring all of this, she never complained, remaining gentle and calm in a way that made others' hearts ache for her.

Zhou Wan smiled faintly and thanked him, but she was unwilling to be a bother. "I'll try to find a way."

...

Leaving the hospital with the lab reports.

The sun hung high overhead, and the air was so stuffy that every breath felt like inhaling a dry cotton ball.

Fine beads of sweat formed on Zhou Wan's temples. She stood at the bus stop, holding a bag of medicine in one hand, a stack of lab reports tucked under her arm, while calling her mother with her other hand.

It rang once before the call was hung up.

The bus arrived.

Zhou Wan was pushed onto the bus by the crowd.

The air on the bus was a mixture of a woman's shrill curses and the foul smell of smoke and alcohol from a man.

Zhou Wan was squeezed into a corner. She grabbed a handrail as her phone vibrated.

Her mother texted back.

[Mom: Wanwan, Mom's a bit busy right now, so it's not a good time. What's wrong?]

Zhou Wan's fingers hesitated over the screen for a moment before she replied.

[Zhou Wan: Let's talk in person.]

[Mom: Tonight then. I'll find you.]

[Zhou Wan: Okay.]

This was back when pickpockets were still common on buses, so Zhou Wan didn't dare put her phone in her pocket, clutching it tightly in her hand instead.

She watched the scenery flash by outside the window.

The bus swayed and jolted.

She knew very well what kind of person her mother was.

She was not like the mothers from language arts essays—the ones who carried their feverish children to the hospital in the dead of night or fanned them during a midsummer power outage. Less than a month after Zhou Wan's father passed away, she had left home.

Later, she heard that her mother had gotten together with some small-time boss in town.

Later still, Guo Xiangling's love life hadn't been smooth, and she had gone through a series of other boyfriends.

She was truly beautiful, but unlike Zhou Wan, hers was a bright and stunning beauty. Combined with her previous experience as a sales clerk in a designer store, she was able to pull off the air of a socialite by imitation.

She heard that recently, her mother had really gotten together with a very powerful man.

There are all kinds of mothers in this world.

Selfless, gentle, impatient, or stubborn—one could see all kinds of women in the markets of Pingchuan City.

It was just Zhou Wan's bad luck to have ended up with a selfish, self-serving mother.

She understood that if she tried to borrow money from Guo Xiangling over text, Guo Xiangling would certainly refuse.

That was why she had to see her in person.

After dinner, Zhou Wan followed the address Guo Xiangling gave her and arrived at a cafe.

Guo Xiangling hadn't arrived yet, so she found a seat in a corner and took out a physics competition paper from her schoolbag.

An hour and a half had passed by the time she finished the paper, and Guo Xiangling finally arrived.

"Wanwan," Guo Xiangling said, trotting over in her lambskin high heels. "Have you been waiting long?"

She put away the paper. "Not too long."

Guo Xiangling smiled and pinched her cheek, then called a waiter over to order a coffee for herself and a cup of hot milk for Zhou Wan. "You have school tomorrow, so you should drink milk, otherwise you won't be able to sleep."

It was strange. She was the one who had abandoned the then ten-year-old Zhou Wan at home all by herself, yet she was also the one who continued to put on a gentle and intimate act.

Guo Xiangling made small talk for a bit, first commenting that Zhou Wan had lost weight, then asking about her schoolwork.

"I got second place last time."

"Second in your class?"

"Mhm." She took a sip of the hot milk, a faint sweetness spreading through her mouth. She licked her lips. "Second in the grade, too."

Guo Xiangling's eyes crinkled as she smiled, and she ruffled her hair. "My Wanwan is so accomplished."

"Mom," Zhou Wan said, "I came to find you today because of something."

"Oh, I almost forgot. What is it?"

"Grandma's lab reports came out today. There will be a lot of medical expenses going forward, and the money in her health insurance is almost gone. What I earn from my part-time job is slow to come, so—" She paused, watching Guo Xiangling's expression.

She was still smiling, but it was an apologetic smile.

"Wanwan, I know you're very close to your grandmother, but Mom is on her own now, and I really can't come up with much."

"Mhm, I know. I'm not asking for your money," Zhou Wan said, her head lowered, watching the ripples in her milk. "But didn't Dad have some savings? I want to use that money to treat Grandma for now."

Guo Xiangling's expression froze for a moment. She sighed. "Wanwan, you should know that Grandma's illness can't be cured just by dialysis."

Zhou Wan lifted her eyes.

The young girl's eyes were large, and the rims were slightly red.

Guo Xiangling sighed again, as if compromising. "How much did the doctor say is needed?"

"She needs one extra dialysis session per week, and each one is about four hundred yuan."

"Is that a robbery?!" Guo Xiangling's eyes widened. "Isn't Grandma's condition stable? Why the sudden need for more money? Wanwan, you're young and look like an easy target, be careful you don't get scammed!"

Zhou Wan furrowed her brows.

"Fine, fine." Guo Xiangling waved her hand dismissively. "But I can't afford this kind of long-term expense. How about this, I'll give you 500 yuan first, and we can figure out the rest later."

Guo Xiangling pulled five bills from her wallet.

She accidentally pulled out an extra bill, stuffed it back in, and then held the money out to Zhou Wan.

The moment Zhou Wan took the money, she felt as if her self-respect had been thrown to the ground and trampled on.

But she had no choice but to take it and thank her.

Guo Xiangling answered another call and immediately broke into a happy laugh, chirping, "I'm on my way, I'm on my way! Who are you rushing, a ghost?"

After hanging up, she immediately grabbed her bag to leave. "Wanwan, Mom has to go. I'm leaving first. Finish your milk before you head back."

"Mhm."

Guo Xiangling left quickly.

Zhou Wan tucked the five hundred yuan into an inner pocket of her schoolbag and zipped it up. She then picked up her cup, downed the milk, and got up to leave.

Just as she stepped outside, she saw Guo Xiangling getting into a car.

A shiny black sedan.

She sat in the back seat, with a driver in the front.

It seemed the neighbors' rumors were true; her mother had indeed found a very wealthy man this time.

The car hadn't gone far before it suddenly slowed and pulled over to the roadside, the window rolling down.

Guo Xiangling's voice was piercing, carrying clearly to her ears—

"Ah Xiao, get in. We can go back together."

Zhou Wan's gaze faltered, and her dark lashes swept down.

Lu Xixiao.

He was standing by the side of the road, his eyes jet-black, the corners downturned, looking extremely cold and impatient.

He didn't pay her any mind.

Just then, a summer thunderstorm started abruptly, the rain pouring down in sheets.

Before Zhou Wan could react, she covered her head with her hands and ran toward the bus stop, splashing through the puddles.

Her clothes were thoroughly soaked, sticking clammily to her skin. Her hair was also wet, with water trickling down the strands into her eyes, making her vision misty.

Zhou Wan brushed the water off her arms and swung her schoolbag around to her front, using it to cover her white underwear, which had become semi-transparent.

She looked toward the sedan again.

Lu Xixiao seemed to let out a "tsk," his expression aloof and cold, as he pulled open the front passenger door and got in.

He didn't close the window, leaving it half-open and allowing the slanted raindrops to hit him.

He lit a cigarette, holding it in his mouth with his elbow propped on the window frame. The smoke was immediately beaten down by the raindrops.

Lu Xixiao had a naturally sharp and strong bone structure, the kind that leaves a lasting impression. The person he was at this moment was very different from the one outside the internet cafe earlier in the day.

Zhou Wan stared, transfixed.

Her thoughts were a tangled mess, like a jumbled ball of yarn.

She suddenly recalled what the neighbors had been gossiping about—that Guo Xiangling was truly impressive for having managed to hook up with that big boss with the surname Lu.

—Surnamed Lu.

Amidst the downpour, the sedan sped away, sending waves of water splashing up from the side of the road.

Zhou Wan stood alone under the bus stop sign, but the rain showed no sign of letting up.

Her grandmother was still waiting for her medicine.

She tucked the medicine she'd gotten into her schoolbag, hugged it tightly to her chest, and plunged into the curtain of rain.

The girl running through the rain, and the boy smoking in the car.

Heading in opposite directions.

Yet in this moment, they were being pulled by an invisible thread, inextricably entangled.