Zhou Wan rarely had a bad night's sleep.

She didn't know what Lu Xixiao's words really meant.

She had thought that after he told her to get lost last time, the connection between them would end there. She wouldn't use Lu Xixiao again, nor would she let him know about her relationship with Guo Xiangling.

But now, it seemed like Lu Xixiao... was no longer angry?

Early the next morning, Zhou Wan went to school, yawning.

After the first two classes in the morning was the long break. Zhou Wan was called to the office by the physics teacher. As they were about to start preparing for the national competition, the physics teacher gave her two sets of competition books, and the other set was for Jiang Yan.

The competition books were thick and heavy, pressing down in the crook of her arm.

Zhou Wan headed back to her classroom with the books, happening to pass by the classroom of Class 7.

A group of boys was gathered by the hallway window. Jiang Fan was among them and greeted her.

There were many students around. The gap between Zhou Wan and them was too great, so any interaction immediately drew attention.

She returned a somewhat reserved smile in response.

She continued walking, passing Jiang Fan, when she suddenly caught him raising his hand out of the corner of her eye and shouting loudly, "Ah Xiao!"

Zhou Wan's steps faltered, her heartbeat quickening. She didn't dare to look up at him.

One step, then another, drawing closer.

She saw the tips of Lu Xixiao's shoes, directly in front of her.

Zhou Wan tried to walk around him, but just as she took a step forward, a hand grabbed the crook of her arm, pulling her back a step.

Zhou Wan looked up.

Lu Xixiao looked down at her. He was actually wearing his school uniform today; the blue and white fabric looked exceptionally good on him, making him seem youthful and unrestrained. He raised an eyebrow and asked lightly, "Didn't see me?"

Zhou Wan whispered, "Mm."

He chuckled. "You think I'm stupid?"

"..."

A chorus of teasing whoops erupted from behind them.

Zhou Wan's face flushed under everyone's gaze, and she silently tried to tug her sleeve free.

Lu Xixiao released her. "Are you still going there tonight?"

"Not today. I have to go to the hospital to find the doctor who's treating my Grandma."

"Oh."

Zhou Wan said, "I'll get going then."

Lu Xixiao simply stepped aside to let her pass.

When school let out, a light rain began to fall again. Zhou Wan took a bus to the People's Hospital.

Taking the report from Doctor Chen, Zhou Wan finished reading it and said, "Lately, Grandma has been feeling unwell much more often than before, but why are these indicators still about the same as they were?"

Doctor Chen said, "Grandma is getting old, and her body's resistance is slowly weakening. That's why the symptoms are becoming more pronounced. It's unavoidable, we can only do our best to alleviate them."

"So dialysis can't help either?"

Doctor Chen patted her shoulder and said gently, "Wanwan, I told you from the very beginning that dialysis isn't a cure, but—"

He suddenly paused.

Zhou Wan: "What is it?"

"The hospital recently acquired a new kidney. For Grandma's condition, there's only one cure: a kidney transplant."

After a pause, Doctor Chen continued, "But there are a few things I need to tell you in advance. Grandma is getting on in years, so a major surgery like this definitely carries risks. Moreover, the cost of an organ transplant is very high. These are all things you and your family will need to carefully weigh and discuss."

"How much will it cost?"

"You'll need to prepare at least 300,000."

Zhou Wan clutched the strap of her schoolbag.

Of course, Zhou Wan couldn't afford such a large sum.

But she couldn't accept watching Grandma's body wither away day by day, until her life finally burned out.

Zhou Wan wouldn't give up on any possibility of a cure.

Grandma was the person closest to her.

In fact, she was the only close person she had left.

She couldn't lose Grandma.

She had already lost too much; this was the only thing she had left.

If Grandma left too, she would truly have nothing left.

"The money for the surgery..." Zhou Wan said softly but firmly, "I'll figure something out. If a suitable kidney becomes available, you must tell me."

Doctor Chen asked, "Are you sure? You're not going to reconsider?"

"Yes. In a few days, I'll have Grandma come in for another full check-up to see if her body is fit for the transplant surgery."

"Alright."

Doctor Chen looked at the girl before him, at her frail but resilient figure. After a moment, he added a warning, "This isn't a small amount of money. Some of the loans available these days are very dangerous. Whatever you do, don't go down the wrong path."

Zhou Wan smiled. "Thank you, Doctor Chen. I won't. I'll... I'll call my mom first and ask her."

Hearing her say this, the nurse standing nearby had a slight change in expression. She looked as if she was about to try and dissuade her, but when she saw the glance Doctor Chen shot her way, she closed her mouth again.

Zhou Wan went out into the hallway and dialed Guo Xiangling's number.

"Wanwan," Guo Xiangling said in an affectionate tone, "what did you need Mom for?"

Zhou Wan leaned against the wall, her eyelids drooping as she let out a soft breath. "About Grandma's illness, she might need to have surgery later on. The doctor..."

Before she could finish, Guo Xiangling cut her off. "Aren't we already spending hundreds, even thousands, every month on dialysis? Why does she need surgery now? Did your grandma put you up to this, to ask me for money?"

Zhou Wan was very uncomfortable hearing this. She frowned. "Of course not."

"Alright," Guo Xiangling said, as if conceding. "How much?"

"Three hundred thousand."

"Three hundred thousand!?" Guo Xiangling shrieked. "Is that doctor a con artist?!"

Before Zhou Wan could say anything, Guo Xiangling changed her tone, speaking as if she were earnestly imparting a difficult truth. "Wanwan, you'll understand when you're older how hard it is to make money. Grandma is so old, let's not even get into whether she could survive a surgery like that. To be blunt, even if she were cured, how many more years could she live? Spending hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy four or five, maybe six or seven more years of life... it's just not worth it."

Not worth it.

In Guo Xiangling's eyes, everything could be clearly priced and measured by money.

Using three hundred thousand yuan to buy a few more years of Grandma's life was not worth it.

Exchanging the wealth and glory of the rest of her life for a less difficult childhood for her daughter was also not worth it.

Zhou Wan lowered her eyes, not wanting to argue with her. "I'm not asking for your money. I just want to use the money Dad saved before to pay for Grandma's treatment."

"Your father's savings?" Guo Xiangling let out a caustic laugh. "Wanwan, you overestimate your father. He was just a teacher, how much could he possibly have saved?"

In the past, Guo Xiangling often argued with Zhou Jun.

The children of some wealthy families at school had doting elders who would give red envelopes to the teachers during holidays, considering it a "care fee."

Zhou Jun returned them untouched every single time, earning him countless scoldings from Guo Xiangling, who called him a pretentious, pathetic pauper.

Although Zhou Jun couldn't accept her way of thinking, he would just laugh it off every time.

Guo Xiangling said, "When you were little, your living expenses weren't the absolute best, but they were the best we could provide within our means, and it wasn't a small cost. Then there was your father's funeral, your grandma's illness, and all the various sums of money, big and small, over these years. Do the math yourself. Forget 300,000, we can't even take out 30,000."

...

Zhou Wan didn't get the money.

She leaned against the hospital's snow-white wall, sniffled, and returned to Doctor Chen's office.

Just as she reached the door, she heard the voices inside and suddenly stopped.

"Why didn't you let me try and talk Wanwan out of it?" It was the nurse's voice. "You know perfectly well that mother of hers would never give her that much money."

Doctor Chen replied, "If she doesn't go through with it herself, nothing you say will convince her."

"But now she's just gotten her heart broken for nothing." The nurse sighed. "Back then, Zhou Jun was so good to her, but the moment his tumor was diagnosed, didn't Guo Xiangling immediately agree to stop the treatment?"

"We see so much life, aging, sickness, and death in the hospital every day. Is this sort of thing still new to you?"

"I just can't stand it! Her husband was such a good man, and her daughter is so sensible. How could she be so utterly heartless!"

Immediately agree to stop the treatment.

Immediately agree to stop the treatment.

Immediately agree to stop the treatment.

...

Those words collided over and over in Zhou Wan's mind.

She turned the doorknob.

The nurse saw her and froze for a moment. Seeing her red-rimmed eyes, she was instantly at a loss. "Wanwan..."

"So, back then, my father could have lived." Zhou Wan said, enunciating every word.

Doctor Chen hurried to her and gripped her shoulders. "Wanwan, listen to me. Your father was already in the final stages back then. The cancer cells had spread; it was too late."

"But at least, he could have lived a while longer." Zhou Wan's eyes were so red they looked as if they might bleed. "Couldn't he?"

This time, even Doctor Chen was at a loss for words.

Zhou Wan's chest heaved violently as she fought to control the sob in her voice. "She killed my father."

"Wanwan, you were still little back then. It was your father who told me not to tell you the details of his condition. At the time, your father himself had also decided to forgo treatment."

Doctor Chen's voice was gentle, just like her father's had been when he spoke to her—

"He said his Wanwan was a very clever girl who would surely have a bright future, with wide horizons and deep understanding. He said Wanwan would travel the world for him, to live a full life in his place."

"So, he didn't want to just prolong his suffering. For one, he didn't want you to see him gaunt and wasted from chemotherapy, and for another, he wanted to leave some money behind, so that when Wanwan moved forward, she would have money to buy a ticket."

"He wanted Wanwan to be a free and happy child, without worries, who would always have the courage to stride forward and the confidence to start over again."

So that when Wanwan moved forward, she would have money to buy a ticket.

This was Zhou Jun's wish.

But for the Zhou Wan of today, it was an extravagant wish she had never dared to dream of.

She was a fledgling eagle. She could fly forward, but there was always a rope tethering her, pulling her back little by little whenever she tried to fly far.

It pulled until she was raw, her feathers stripped away, leaving a bloody, mangled mess.

The streetlights in the alley were dim. A tangled mess of crisscrossing electrical wires hung overhead, a dark, oppressive mass that looked as if the entire night sky was about to come crashing down.

She understood her father's reasoning.

She could even understand his decision to refuse treatment.

But the truth of it all came too suddenly for her to bear.

Through it all, the one she could never forgive was Guo Xiangling.

She couldn't imagine how her father must have felt, after deciding to forgo treatment, to then hear the wife he had shared a bed with and cherished for so many years immediately agree with his decision.

He must have felt at least a little sorrowful, a little wronged.

And Zhou Wan knew one thing with even greater clarity.

Guo Xiangling hadn't done it for her or for their family in the slightest. It was all for herself.

So, she was the one who had killed her father.

It felt as if something was squeezing the very tip of Zhou Wan's heart, causing it to start dripping with blood.

She was an extremely rational person, but right now, some emotion seemed to be spiraling out of control, heading in an even more terrible direction.

Never before had she hated Guo Xiangling as much as she did in this moment.

She even had a dark, vicious thought—

Why wasn't it Guo Xiangling who died back then?

The moment the thought surfaced, Zhou Wan herself was startled.

But that was all. The thought didn't disappear. She just thought with self-mockery that she was, after all, more like Guo Xiangling. If it had been her father, he would never have had such a thought.

She wanted to make Guo Xiangling lose everything.

She wanted to make Guo Xiangling pay the price.

She wanted to make Guo Xiangling suffer so much she'd wish she were dead.

She was even willing to give up her own future, just to win back some justice for her father.

As these thoughts consumed her, she walked with her head down and suddenly bumped her forehead into someone's chest.

Looking up, she met Lu Xixiao's eyes. They held their usual indifference, yet there was a hint of a smile in them.

He reached out a hand, his fingertips lightly touching her face. "You've been standing here forever. Pretending you don't see me again?"

Zhou Wan didn't know why, but at that moment, an overwhelming sense of grievance surged through her heart and stung her nose. Her eyes instantly filled with tears, her breathing growing ragged and fragile, and a single tear splashed onto the ground.

She miserably tried to lower her head, but in the next instant, Lu Xixiao caught her chin and tilted her face up.

He wasn't flustered by her sudden tears. He simply raised an eyebrow and asked lightly, "What's wrong? Who bullied you?"

She didn't speak. She couldn't. Something was caught in her throat, and only a few wet, choked sobs could escape. More tears fell, drenching his fingertips.

Lu Xixiao leaned down, his fingertips brushing against her eyelashes, wiping away a teardrop.

He sighed and said in a low voice, "What's there to be afraid of? I'll get even for you."

This time, Zhou Wan could no longer hold it in.

With her chin in Lu Xixiao's hand, she could only look up as large tears streamed down, soaking her entire face. She couldn't even suppress her whimpers, and she broke down, sobbing aloud.

Lu Xixiao had seen many girls cry, but never like Zhou Wan.

She was reserved and quiet, yet she was completely overwhelmed by a torrent of grief.

It was the sound of someone on the verge of breaking down, a cry of complete self-abandonment, with no room left for pretense.

Finally, he raised his hand, wrapped it around the back of her neck to cover her tear-soaked eyes, and pulled the girl into his embrace.

"Zhou Wan," he said, his voice deep and magnetic, close to her ear. "How about I take you out to have some fun?"

Zhou Wan's tears quickly escaped through the gaps between his fingers, soaking his clothes.

After a long time, she slowly lifted her arms and wrapped them around Lu Xixiao's waist.

She closed her eyes and tightened her arms, taking in the warmth and scent of his body.

Zhou Wan's voice was shattered as she forced out the words, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what."

She only said, "I'm sorry, Lu Xixiao."

Even her breath and voice were shattered.

Lu Xixiao didn't understand what she was apologizing for, but seeing her in this state, he couldn't be bothered to press the issue. He just smiled and said, "You should be sorry. You'll have to wash this shirt clean for me."