The physics competition was on the second day after the National Day holiday ended. It was a provincial competition, requiring them to travel out of town for the exam.

The school chartered a bus, and the members of the competition class boarded it together after school the day before.

One needed to win a provincial first prize to qualify for the national-level competition.

There were 26 people in the competition class, and only Zhou Wan and Jiang Yan had a hope of winning a first prize.

The two of them sat together on the bus.

Zhou Wan hadn't slept well the previous night, so she started catching up on sleep as soon as she got on the bus, while Jiang Yan reviewed his notes on mistakes.

By the time they reached their destination, the sky was already dark.

The teacher in charge stood at the front of the group and instructed, "Everyone, check in in pairs. Dinner will be delivered to your rooms shortly. Don't order any takeout tonight. If you get an upset stomach, all this time you've spent preparing will have been for nothing."

Zhou Wan was assigned a room with a cute-looking girl named Huang Jia. She had a cheerful personality and immediately came over, smiled, and said "Hi" to her.

The school took this competition seriously, so the accommodations they arranged were quite good to ensure the students could rest well.

"Zhou Wan, are you going to shower first or read first?" Huang Jia asked.

"Either is fine."

"Then you shower first. I'm going out for a bit, I'll wash up when I get back."

"Okay."

Zhou Wan first called her Grandma.

When she came out of the shower, Huang Jia had just returned. She was standing at the door, waving goodbye to someone. "Good night, sleep early, okay? Good luck on the exam tomorrow."

A male voice from outside, gentle and smiling, said, "You too, good night."

Huang Jia closed the door and turned to see Zhou Wan. "You're done showering?"

"Mhm, it's still warm inside. You should go wash up."

Huang Jia rubbed her hands together. "Okay, it's so cold outside. Why does October this year feel like it's already winter?"

Zhou Wan sat at the desk and took out a few practice exam papers she had done. Huang Jia came out soon after and sat next to Zhou Wan to review with her.

Her phone kept vibrating, and from time to time she would smile and laugh. After a while, she turned her head. "Zhou Wan, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Huh?" Zhou Wan shook her head. "No."

"You're so pretty, why aren't you dating? There must be a lot of guys who like you." Huang Jia shrugged and said, "Actually, when the competition class was first formed, I thought you and Jiang Yan were a couple."

Zhou Wan said in surprise, "How could that be? Jiang Yan and I are just friends."

"Because you're first and second place, and desk-mates. But I figured it out later that you weren't." Huang Jia said, "Besides, I think dating Jiang Yan would be pretty boring. He's so stubborn, a bookworm. Such a waste of a handsome face."

Zhou Wan thought for a moment and said, "Dating me would probably be pretty boring too."

"No way!"

Huang Jia exaggerated, "You're super pretty! You seem to have a great temper, so gentle and soft. A lot of guys must like your type."

Indeed, quite a few boys had confessed to Zhou Wan.

But she had rejected them all with the excuse that she was still young and needed to focus on her studies.

Zhou Wan asked, "Are you dating someone then?"

"I was just out for a stroll with my boyfriend." She took out her phone and flipped through her photos. "Look, my boyfriend."

It was a photo of the two of them, their cheeks pressed together, their smiles sweet.

The boy was a tall, bespectacled boy from the competition class.

Looking at the photo, Zhou Wan was inexplicably reminded of how Lu Xixiao looked when he used to be in a relationship.

"Huang Jia," Zhou Wan asked, "what does it feel like to be in love?"

"It's very happy. I'm happy when I see him, happy when I talk to him. Although we sometimes argue, he'll immediately come and coax me." Huang Jia's face was full of happiness as she spoke of this.

Zhou Wan paused.

Huang Jia leaned in gossipily. "Zhou Wan, for you to ask that, do you have a boy you like?"

"...No."

"What do you mean no! Your reaction definitely means you do! Who is it? Who?"

Zhou Wan didn't know how to explain.

Fortunately, Huang Jia didn't press further. She cupped her face with her hands, tutted twice, and then suddenly said, "Anyway, I think as long as it's not Lu Xixiao from our class, it's fine."

Zhou Wan froze and turned her head.

Huang Jia: "Even though so many girls like him, I always feel that dating a guy like him is only happy at the beginning. Later on, you'd definitely feel insecure and overthink everything."

At the same time, Zhou Wan's phone vibrated.

A message came from [6].

As if she had a guilty conscience, Zhou Wan quickly picked up her phone and opened it.

[6: Not at the arcade?]

[Zhou Wan: I'm not there today, I'm out of town for a competition. The shop should be open, you can go.]

[6: When are you coming back?]

[Zhou Wan: The evening of the day after tomorrow.]

After a pause, she added another question: [Why?]

Lu Xixiao didn't reply again.

Zhou Wan read for a while longer before going to bed early.

...

Two days of exams.

Last year's paper was easy, so according to the pattern, this year's would be difficult. And indeed it was.

Zhou Wan tied her hair up neatly and focused on the problems.

Actually, Zhou Wan was well-suited for difficult problems; the harder they were, the more she could widen the gap.

The final exam was three hours long. The bell rang.

Many people still had half a page blank.

Some students who had placed great importance on this competition began to sob as soon as they handed in their papers.

Zhou Wan packed her things and walked out of the examination hall. She ran into Jiang Yan on her way downstairs.

"Zhou Wan, how did you do?"

"Alright. I couldn't do the last two parts of the second-to-last question," Zhou Wan said.

"Oh, that one. I managed to solve the second part, and I wrote half of the third part but couldn't finish it."

It seemed Jiang Yan had performed very well.

Zhou Wan smiled, noticing his different mood. "You seem to be in a particularly good mood today?"

"Mhm." A rare, openly happy smile appeared on Jiang Yan's face. "My dad is picking me up today."

The school had held many parent-teacher conferences, but Zhou Wan had never seen Jiang Yan's parents.

She knew Jiang Yan was raised by his maternal grandparents, so she figured his father must work away from home all year round.

The bus returned to Pingchuan City, dropping them all off back at school.

It was already dark when they arrived.

As soon as Jiang Yan got off the bus, he ran straight to a shiny black sedan at the school gate. It had a small golden figurine on the hood. Even though Zhou Wan knew nothing about cars, she knew what kind this was.

The car window rolled down.

Jiang Yan said with a smile, "Dad, have you been waiting long?"

The man in a suit also smiled. "Not long, I just got here too. Get in the car, I'll take you to dinner."

"Okay." Jiang Yan turned his head and waved goodbye to Zhou Wan.

The man asked, "Is this your classmate? Come on up, I'll give you a ride home."

"No need, Uncle," Zhou Wan said. "Thank you, Uncle, but it's very convenient for me to take the bus just up ahead."

Zhou Wan had met Jiang Yan's grandmother, a very simple old lady, and knew his family background was ordinary. That was why he had always been so driven to succeed.

Besides, his father looked a little familiar.

But Zhou Wan felt she didn't have the kind of connections to be familiar with such a man.

She thought it might be her imagination and walked alone towards the bus stop. Halfway there, she suddenly stopped. She remembered—

That was... Lu Xixiao's father.

She had met him once at the hospital.

The man in the luxury car just now, it seemed he was Lu Xixiao's father.

Immediately after, she recalled Jiang Yan's previous assessment of Lu Xixiao.

He had said that Lu Xixiao was just someone who squandered his family's money all day, wasting his life away, and that once he left his family, he would be nothing.

What on earth was going on...

Before Zhou Wan could think it through, a hurried shout suddenly came from ahead.

"Little classmate! Hey, little classmate!" Jiang Fan ran over, panting. "I've finally found you!"

"You-you can just call me by my name." Zhou Wan couldn't help but take a step back and ask softly, "Are you looking for me for something?"

"Have you been in contact with Ah Xiao?"

Zhou Wan was stunned for a moment. "We were in contact last night."

"Fuck, damn it, that lunatic Luo He has been holding a grudge ever since he lost to Ah Xiao last time. Last night, he pulled a dirty trick when he caught him alone!"

Zhou Wan's heart skipped a beat. "Is he okay then?"

"I'm so anxious precisely because I don't know how he is." Jiang Fan's forehead was covered in sweat. "No response when I knock, and he hangs up when I call. Fucking thank god he can still hang up, at least that means he's still alive."

"Was the fight very serious?"

"Not sure. I saw a pool of blood there, they probably used a knife. It would've been fine on a normal day, but it just had to be yesterday."

Zhou Wan: "Yesterday, what happened?"

Jiang Fan originally didn't want to say, but looking at Zhou Wan's clear, innocent eyes, and given the current situation, he really had no other choice, so he spilled everything.

"Yesterday was the anniversary of Ah Xiao's mother's death. Her passing back then was a huge blow to him. Every year on this day, although he doesn't say anything, the atmosphere around him is particularly heavy."

Jiang Fan sighed. "I'm mainly afraid that he's injured and won't take care of it. A small injury would be one thing, but a knife was involved. If he's not careful and it gets infected, it'll be trouble. It could be fatal."

Zhou Wan frowned. "Then do you have a way to see him?"

"If I had a way, I wouldn't have come looking for you!"

"..."

Jiang Fan said, "You should go to his house. Maybe he'll be willing to see you."

"Huh?"

"I'm begging you."

"..."

Holding the address Jiang Fan gave her, Zhou Wan successfully found the small Western-style house two streets behind her own home, No. 18 Xiaoshan Road.

It was a somewhat old, three-story Western-style house with a small garden. It was just neglected, with weeds growing waist-high, and a wall on the side of the house was completely covered in climbing ivy.

Desolate, yet exuding an unadorned wildness.

Zhou Wan was afraid something had really happened to Lu Xixiao.

The outer iron gate was unlocked. It swung open with a push, making a piercing sound.

Zhou Wan looked around and slowly walked in.

The inner door was closed. Zhou Wan rang the doorbell and waited for a long time, but no one came to open it.

After a pause, she took out her phone and dialed Lu Xixiao's number.

There was no ringing, just one dull ring after another.

In the end, a cold female voice came through—the number you have dialed is temporarily unanswered.

Zhou Wan frowned and redialed.

It was the same as before. Just as she thought Lu Xixiao wasn't going to pick up, the ringing suddenly stopped. The other end was deathly silent, with only the sound of extremely faint breathing.

"Lu Xixiao," Zhou Wan said softly.

He still didn't speak.

Zhou Wan's eyelashes trembled slightly. In a slow voice, she said, "I'm at your door."

Two seconds later, the call was directly hung up.

Zhou Wan's fingertips, holding the phone, tightened slightly. She lowered her hand, put the phone in her pocket, clutched her backpack strap, and let out a very soft sigh.

Even Jiang Fan, his good friend, was helpless. What could she possibly do?

Zhou Wan stood at the door for a while, deciding to go to the pharmacy to buy some gauze and disinfectant alcohol, and also some food to leave at his door.

Just as she turned to leave, the door suddenly clicked and opened.

It was dark inside the house; not a single light was on.

Lu Xixiao was in a white shirt and gray pants, his hair messy. His lowered eyelashes cast a shadow. He looked down at the girl before him, his face expressionless.

Zhou Wan had come straight here after getting off the bus, a heavy backpack still on her shoulders. Her black hair, reaching her chest, was down, framing her face and making her palm-sized face look even smaller and paler. Her ink-black eyes watched him calmly and gently.

She was completely out of place with everything around her.

Lu Xixiao let go of the doorknob. Without a word, he took off the slippers he was wearing, kicked them towards Zhou Wan, and turned to go inside.