Zhuang Fanxin felt a bit embarrassed after answering, because he had never had a conflict with a friend before and didn't really know how to handle it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden for several days. So when Gu Zhuoyan showed up at his door, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

But at this moment, Gu Zhuoyan thought to himself, 'Zhuang Fanxin cares so much about his attitude, what a good sign!'

The hands they were holding let go. The two stood foolishly on the steps for a while, until the German Shepherd finished its biscuit and ran out. Gu Zhuoyan tapped the dog on the head, feeling that this dog's loyalty was a bit lacking; it could be lured away by anyone who gave it food.

Zhuang Fanxin stroked the dog's fur and said, "PC39007, shake."

Gu Zhuoyan figured Zhuang Fanxin would never remember the German Shepherd's police number in his life. Forget it, 007 was pretty good too, James Bond. He decided, "Let's change the dog's name to Bond, can you remember that?"

Zhuang Fanxin muttered, "What's so hard to remember about that?"

It's not scary when someone is dumb, but when a dumb person doesn't know they're dumb. Gu Zhuoyan was a bit speechless. It wasn't as cool outside as it was in the building. The German Shepherd couldn't stand it and ran back inside, not treating itself like an outside dog at all.

Gu Zhuoyan and Zhuang Fanxin followed it into the living room. On the sofa were a schoolbag and a drawing tube. It was obvious that Zhuang Fanxin hadn't gone upstairs after returning home. Gu Zhuoyan thought silently, 'Has Zhuang Fanxin been watching TV in the living room this whole time? Doesn't that mean he's been waiting for me?'

He asked, "Have you been waiting for me to come over?"

Zhuang Fanxin was startled upon hearing this. "No." He fiddled with the remote in his hand, pondering how to say it to save face. "I wanted to watch TV, and you just happened to come over."

Gu Zhuoyan said slyly, "I got here pretty fast, right?"

"Fast? What fast?" Zhuang Fanxin immediately denied. "I've already finished watching two episodes of this crappy TV show before you came looking for me."

After he said it, he felt something was wrong. Seeing Gu Zhuoyan's slightly smug smile, he realized he had blurted out the truth. He felt he had lost face and was also very indignant, so he simply shut his mouth and didn't make another sound.

Gu Zhuoyan had soured the atmosphere with a single sentence back then, and they had ignored each other for several days. Now, having failed to lure him out with the dog, he had no choice but to come over to reconcile. After reconciling, he made it seem as if the other person cared a lot.

In these few seconds of silence, he suddenly confessed, "Actually, I've come looking for you three or four times these past few days."

Only then did Zhuang Fanxin feel a bit better. "Actually, I've been checking my phone a lot too... but you didn't send anything."

Gu Zhuoyan said, "I wanted to say it in person." That wasn't enough. Seeing that Zhuang Fanxin's expression was exceptionally soft, he steeled himself and added, "It's been a few days, I wanted to see you too."

Zhuang Fanxin couldn't stay still anymore. He abruptly stood up, "I'll get you an ice cream bar!"

He quickly ducked into the kitchen, opened the freezer, and wished he could stick his head inside to cool down. 'Damn, aren't northern guys supposed to be tough? Why is this Gu Zhuoyan guy so sappy!'

It took ten minutes to get one ice cream bar. Zhuang Fanxin returned to the living room and watched TV with Gu Zhuoyan, with the big dog between them. When the sun had almost completely set, Gu Zhuoyan took the dog and said his goodbyes. Zhuang Fanxin got up to see him out the main gate.

The afterglow of the sunset had completely faded, and the sky was dark and gloomy. Zhuang Fanxin casually turned on the light by the door. The lamp hung on the left wall, with a short, colorful hemp rope dangling from it. Zhuang Fanxin could reach it on his tiptoes. But it seemed the wind had blown, tangling the hemp rope around the lamp holder. He tried several times without success.

Gu Zhuoyan stood behind him. Seizing the opportunity, he took half a step forward, raised his hand, and untangled the hemp rope bit by bit. He was very close to Zhuang Fanxin, his arms enclosing the space above Zhuang Fanxin's head. When Zhuang Fanxin tried to step away, he was stopped by a hand pressing on his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Zhuang Fanxin felt oppressed by the taller guy.

Gu Zhuoyan untangled the rope, held Zhuang Fanxin's wrist from behind and lifted it, stuffed the knotted end of the rope into his hand, and then took a step back. "Pull it yourself. No one's laughing at you for being short."

The light clicked on, and they stood in the soft glow.

Zhuang Fanxin turned and saw a small figure in the distance. Gu Baoyan ran over and bumped right into Gu Zhuoyan's leg, saying breathlessly, "Brother, time to go home for dinner."

After speaking, she looked at Zhuang Fanxin. Kids can't hold things in. "Brother Xiao Zhuang, I went to see my new school today!"

Zhuang Fanxin asked, "Which school are you going to?"

"International Elementary School, the uniform is really nice!" Gu Baoyan was very satisfied. She touched her braid and said, "There was a foreign teacher at the interview, I want to get my hair done like that too."

Zhuang Fanxin had originally planned to get his hair straightened tomorrow, and taking a child along would be easy enough. Gu Baoyan immediately let go of Gu Zhuoyan and made a plan with Zhuang Fanxin to go to the hairdresser together tomorrow.

At night, Zhuang Fanxin took his drawing tube and slipped into the art studio on the second floor to finish an incomplete design draft. On the paper was a gemstone ring, shown from three angles, with some details still needing to be worked out.

Zhuang Fanxin's grandparents had been in the jewelry export business in their early years. Later, they settled in Los Angeles and ran a jewelry company. Probably because of this influence, he had been fond of all kinds of jewelry since he was a child, and later became fascinated with jewelry design.

He worked late into the night to finish the drawing and sent the design draft to the client for review. If they were satisfied, he would receive payment in a couple of days. Gu Zhuoyan had given him a pair of sneakers worth several thousand yuan, so he wanted to give something of similar value in return. His only option was to earn some money through his labor first.

Zhuang Fanxin didn't go to sleep until after three. He was woken up early in the morning by messages in the boys' group chat. It was so weird. How could a group of people who usually slept in until noon be so energetic this early?

He lay on his pillow with his eyes half-closed. "What happened?"

Ti Wei: "Check the class announcement!"

Zhuang Fanxin took a look at the class group chat. It turned out that Xia Wei had asked about their homework progress early in the morning and reminded everyone that there were only two days left until school started. Weren't they all rushing their homework together that day? He asked, "You guys didn't finish last time?"

Qi Nan: "We were too busy eating cake."

Ten minutes later, the Class Monitor finalized the plan: "Seeing as the cake at that place in the Creative Park wasn't good, let's meet at the cafe next to the library at nine in the morning!"

Zhuang Fanxin rolled over and ruffled his hair. He suddenly remembered he was getting his hair straightened today. He immediately sent: "Sorry, I'm not going!" and then, amidst a chorus of condemnation, he muted the chat.

After another nap, Zhuang Fanxin woke up just in time. He got ready and left the house with two ice cream cones. Gu Baoyan was very punctual, standing at the door all dressed up. And Gu Zhuoyan was there too.

Gu Baoyan said, "My brother's paying."

Zhuang Fanxin handed over the ice cream. "Then you two can share."

Gu Baoyan wasn't too happy about it and would only let Gu Zhuoyan take one bite. So Gu Zhuoyan took a bite, and only the cone was left. Gu Baoyan went crazy, chasing after Gu Zhuoyan to hit him, just like the scene when they first arrived in Rong City.

The hair salon wasn't far. Since it was the weekend, there were more customers than usual. They waited in the lounge area to get their hair washed first. The siblings didn't hold grudges overnight. Gu Baoyan was now clinging to Gu Zhuoyan, using the same spoiled tone she used with Gu Shibo and Xue Manzi. "Brother, they do beauty treatments too, maybe I should try?"

Gu Zhuoyan said, "Kids die if they get beauty treatments."

Zhuang Fanxin, standing to the side, almost spat out his drink. 'Why scare the kid?' He coaxed Gu Baoyan to cheer her up. As an only child, he couldn't understand Gu Zhuoyan's pain at all.

Gu Zhuoyan looked down at his phone and saw his best friend, Lu Wen, had posted on his Moments. The photo was of a boarding pass with the personal information covered up. Who knows where he was showing off this time.

Suddenly, his ear felt a little itchy. He turned his head. There were a lot of people waiting, so they were sitting very close together. The tips of Zhuang Fanxin's hair had accidentally brushed against him. That tuft of hair was slightly curled up, wavy, and had a soft sheen.

Gu Zhuoyan stared at Zhuang Fanxin's hair, feeling a hint of reluctance.

The puppy-like, little-mixed-kid-like curly hair was about to be mercilessly straightened.

He couldn't help but raise his phone. He absentmindedly opened the camera, unconsciously turned his body slightly, and then naturally framed Zhuang Fanxin in the shot. However, the distance was too close. Zhuang Fanxin turned his face almost immediately, his gaze meeting Gu Zhuoyan's through the lens.

Gu Zhuoyan was completely unfazed and even adjusted the angle.

Zhuang Fanxin asked, "What are you doing?"

Gu Zhuoyan scratched his eyebrow with a fingertip and said, "Selfie."

Zhuang Fanxin smiled. Click. Gu Zhuoyan pressed the shutter.

They were finally called. Zhuang Fanxin and Gu Baoyan went to get their hair done. Gu Zhuoyan sat on the sofa playing games. It was fine at first, but after finishing four rounds, he realized the hairstyles of the big one and the small one still hadn't changed much.

Gu Zhuoyan had been truly naive. He originally thought getting their hair done would only take about the time of one class period, but an hour passed with no sign of it ending.

To be a bit dramatic about it, Gu Zhuoyan was no different from the men in department stores waiting for their wives and children to finish shopping. His gaze gradually grew cold, wanting a divorce and not even wanting custody.

Gu Zhuoyan put on his headphones to sleep. His usual playlist had nearly a hundred songs. It was on shuffle, and he fell asleep as his eardrums started to go numb.

Three hours later, Gu Baoyan, having gotten the beautiful waves she wanted, rushed to the lounge area and shook Gu Zhuoyan awake, saying gleefully, "Brother, I'm done!"

Gu Zhuoyan opened his eyes and was shocked. "You fucking look like you're in sixth grade now."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, wanting to ask which unreliable person had done this to his sister. He got up and looked around. There were many hairstylists, but he didn't see Zhuang Fanxin. Gu Baoyan pulled him along to look, saying that Zhuang Fanxin was getting his hair blow-dried and would be done soon.

Gu Zhuoyan let the little brat lead him. They went around a row of makeup stations and several swivel chairs. When he happened to turn, he was caught off guard by the sight of Zhuang Fanxin behind a mirror.

The person was sitting upright, the cape not yet removed, revealing a slender, long neck. The little curls were gone, replaced by thousands of straight, soft strands of hair. The aunties getting perms around him were yawning, the hair dryers were noisy, the front desk was arguing about what discount to give, and amidst the clamor and chaos of people coming and going, Zhuang Fanxin sat there, so quiet and well-behaved it was unreal.

He raised his head. "Is it okay?"

Gu Zhuoyan stared at that face. The mixed-race look had faded, but his eyes were even more distinct. This was a great opportunity to praise the other person, but as if from a guilty conscience, he lied a bit stiffly, "It's so-so."

Just then, the song in his headphones sang—When I’m by your side，lost in your eyes. I pass by your side, lost in your eyes.

'Fuck, which singer is this, how come you know?!'