Yue Zhishi made a "shh" gesture and gently tugged on Song Yu's pajama sleeve, his big eyes looking pitiful as he begged him not to expose him.

Song Yu cleared his throat, recovering from his slightly unnatural expression. He didn't plan on exposing anything and was about to leave directly.

But Yue Zhishi grabbed his sleeve once more and shook his head at him. He was wearing slate-blue pajamas, and his hair was a bit messy. From Song Yu's perspective, he looked especially small and soft.

Song Yu stopped, looked at Yue Zhishi for a few seconds, a hint of helpless resignation in his expression. He then took another step forward, getting a little closer to Yue Zhishi.

Yue Zhishi pointed to his stomach, then showed Song Yu the cinnamon roll in his hand. Song Yu roughly understood what had happened. He took a sip of water, looking very calm.

It was Lin Rong who spoke up first, calling out, "Xiao Yu, there are cinnamon rolls in the oven. Have a taste, they're delicious."

Song Yu gave a noncommittal "mm," but his eyes were fixed on Yue Zhishi and the powdered sugar stuck to his cheek.

"They do look pretty good."

Yue Zhishi quickly finished the half in his hand and wiped his face and hands clean.

Receiving a compliment from her usually quiet elder son, Lin Rong was very pleased. "Then you two can take some for your classmates tomorrow. Qin Yan would definitely love it."

"Mm." Song Yu held his water bottle, thought for a moment, and decided to help this guy out of his predicament. He turned to his parents and said, "Aren't you two going to shower and rest yet?"

Lin Rong leaned against her husband. "No hurry."

Song Yu said again, "It's very late." He walked out and pointed at the clock. "All this going up and down the stairs will wake up your biological son." Spoken in his calm and cool tone, the words became somewhat amusing.

Song Jin found this very reasonable. He stood up with a smile, ready to go upstairs. Lin Rong was amused. She got up from the sofa and ran over to Song Yu. "Oh, you brat, are you jealous of Lele?"

Yue Zhishi thought she was coming over to him and shrank back behind the refrigerator in fright, ending up sitting directly on the kitchen counter.

Song Yu's expression didn't change, his heart didn't skip a beat. He grabbed his mother's shoulders and pushed her out. "Upstairs, shower."

After shooing both his parents upstairs and confirming they had closed the door to their master suite, Song Yu walked back to the open-plan kitchen and saw Yue Zhishi sitting on the counter, which was a little amusing.

But he didn't laugh, because upon further thought, he felt that Yue Zhishi was quite pitiful.

He didn't want Yue Zhishi to fall into such a predicament again.

"Thank you, brother." Yue Zhishi got down and asked him to go up with him to act as a shield, just in case Lin Rong came out again midway.

Song Yu knew perfectly well that he couldn't block her, but he agreed anyway, escorting him all the way to his bedroom door without any mishaps. Before closing the door, Yue Zhishi wished him goodnight in a very soft voice. Song Yu nodded, then heard Yue Zhishi speak again.

"Brother Song Yu, don't be angry. Being angry is bad for your health."

He was saying this very seriously; it was evident from his expression.

Song Yu suddenly didn't know what he should say.

His calm heart was always stirred into complex emotions by the person before him. During the day at the hospital, he had gone out to look for him, thinking he'd gotten lost while washing an apple, only to unexpectedly overhear those words. Even knowing that the other party was a relative of low character, and knowing that as a junior he shouldn't have said those things, Song Yu said them anyway. But he didn't feel any satisfaction after saying them.

He was beginning to believe that everything in the world was fair. When you believe you are generally cold towards people, then the empathy you lack will concentrate on a single person.

He loathed empathy. That psychological effect of suffering for others was persistent and uncontrollable, and it was even worse after seeing Yue Zhishi's face.

For instance, at this very moment, it was starting up again.

Yue Zhishi thought he had said his piece and prepared to close the door. He saw Song Yu's figure standing outside the door being sliced into a small strip by the gap, growing thinner and thinner until it was almost a line, when a hand reached in and gripped the doorframe.

"I'm not angry."

He was very surprised, even a little anxious, and pulled the door all the way open.

He almost slammed it on Song Yu's hand.

But the mood shifted too quickly. Before Yue Zhishi had a chance to ask or show concern, it changed again.

Standing outside the door, Song Yu was enveloped in the hallway's shadows. He reached out, pulled Yue Zhishi, who was bathed in the warm light inside the room, and gave him an unexpected hug at the threshold.

"Don't be sad."

Yue Zhishi couldn't calm down all night. He didn't know why, perhaps because too much had happened that day. He woke up once in the middle of the night, got up, turned on his desk lamp, and sat at his desk. He took out the study abroad plan he had spent over a week writing and read it over again seriously.

'Full of holes, completely unfeasible.' Yue Zhishi evaluated it in his heart, then decided to use this as a reason to give up the plan.

In fact, hearing Lin Rong's words was more painful than hearing his great-aunt's cold remarks during the day. Because they were too good to him, it made it even more impossible for Yue Zhishi to accept their kindness with a clear conscience like an ignorant child. But on his own, he couldn't possibly save enough money to study abroad in the time he had left.

Besides, Auntie Rong would surely be reluctant to let him go, if they all left this place.

He crumpled the plan into a ball, climbed back into bed, and went to sleep. This time, he slept much more soundly. He just had a dream.

He dreamed he was at the airport seeing someone off, crying nonstop. In the end, Song Yu, helpless, gave him a hug.

He said, don't be sad.

'That was a dream,' Yue Zhishi told himself when he woke up in a daze the next morning.

Because he wouldn't let himself cry.

For several weeks after giving up his plan to study abroad, Yue Zhishi's life was relatively relaxed. But he knew that if Song Yu were to go, it meant they might only see each other a few times a year. Yue Zhishi could predict that he wouldn't take it well; he had never been separated from Song Yu for so long.

At the thought of this, Yue Zhishi's heart felt as if it had been gently squeezed. So he decided to let himself adapt in advance, and the way to adapt was to try his best to resist seeking out Song Yu.

It was quite difficult at first. After all, Yue Zhishi's world had previously revolved almost entirely around Song Yu. Especially after everyone else learned of their relationship, he had become even more brazen, following Song Yu to and from school. But Yue Zhishi was a serious person; once he decided on something, no one could pull him back. He was certain Song Yu wouldn't come looking for him, as he was much busier. But they had other ways of communicating, like the sticky notes on the refrigerator door and their late-night snack talks.

Yue Zhishi wasn't deliberately avoiding him; he just wanted to learn to grow up.

Studying was an excellent way to distract himself. Yue Zhishi threw himself into it completely, staying at school during the lunch break and studying late into the night every day. His academic improvement was obvious; in the midterm exams, his year-wide ranking jumped by twenty-three places. Yue Zhishi, who had been lazily floating in the upper ranks, leaped into the top student tier of his class. The head teacher, Wang Qian, was so happy that he praised him for over a minute before evening self-study.

After the exams, it was Yue Zhishi's turn for duty, wearing an armband. After the first period of evening self-study, he and another student on duty took a notebook and patrolled their assigned area, recording any unsatisfactory spots.

Yue Zhishi found it truly strange. "Why does Peiya School do hygiene inspections at night? You can't even see clearly."

The male classmate with him laughed. "Maybe it's not just about inspecting hygiene."

Yue Zhishi looked at him, and the boy joked again, "Isn't our nickname the 'Anti-Vice Squad'?"

'Would people really date in such a dark place?' Yue Zhishi thought.

It's clearly the beginning of a horror movie, how could anyone's heart flutter?

The path outside the poplar woods was near the cafeteria and was often a hygiene disaster zone. While his classmate took notes in a notebook, Yue Zhishi looked around, inspecting the area. He accidentally glimpsed a familiar figure, who seemed to be using their phone's built-in flashlight, a faint gleam of light in the darkness.

He recognized that it was Song Yu at once, just from his back.

Song Yu entered the old school building behind the poplar woods. The area was fenced off with iron bars and was rumored to be demolished soon. Yue Zhishi was a little curious and unconsciously walked in that direction.

Getting closer, he saw Song Yu squatting down in front of the iron bars and taking a bag out of his backpack. He couldn't hold everything with two hands, so the flashlight beam shifted, illuminating the grass behind the bars. Something was walking towards him.

The stray cats from the school.

There were quite a few of them, one after another. They seemed to have formed a habit of appearing at this time and place, gathering here. They were waiting for Song Yu to take out the cat food and put it in the small bowl in the corner, so they could enjoy their dinner.

Yue Zhishi finally understood why Song Yu put cat food in his school bag to bring to school.

For some reason, his heart began to beat faster, a tingling sensation, as if it had been licked by a small cat.

"What are you looking at?" His classmate came over to look too. "There isn't really someone hiding here on a date, is there?"

Yue Zhishi turned his face away, feeling guilty, and shook his head. "No. I was just zoning out."

He didn't walk towards Song Yu, nor did he want his companion to discover Song Yu's whereabouts.

Most of the time, Yue Zhishi was the only one who could understand Song Yu. He knew that if anyone were to appear before Song Yu right now and "witness" this behavior, Song Yu would not be very happy.

He was a strange person, unable to publicize his own kindness.

That's why even his gentleness was so secretive.

"What's wrong with you?" his classmate asked, curious to see him spacing out.

Yue Zhishi just shook his head. "I was just being prejudiced."

"What?" The other person didn't understand, but Yue Zhishi just gave a vague, non-committal answer to brush it off.

Prejudiced into thinking that such a scene wasn't suitable for making one's heart flutter.

Before he saw Song Yu in the darkness.

When he got home that night, his mind wasn't quite on his homework. He drew a picture.

A cold high school student in a uniform, with a group of helpless, stray cats.

After finishing the drawing, Yue Zhishi stared blankly for a long time, until he heard the door of the next room open and heard Song Yu go downstairs. He was suddenly startled back to his senses, flipped the paper over on his desk, took a few deep breaths, and started his homework.

With his great improvement in grades, the happiest person was still Lin Rong. On the night the monthly holiday began, she cooked a huge feast, its splendor comparable to a New Year's family banquet. Yue Zhishi had been too tired and tense recently, so he caught a bit of a cold on the day the holiday started. He took some medicine and slept drowsily all afternoon. In a daze, he came downstairs and ran right into Song Yu, who had just returned for the holiday.

Perhaps it was because he was still groggy from sleep, but a subtle feeling washed over him, as if he hadn't seen Song Yu in a long time.

Even though he had just spied on him not long ago.

The cold medicine left a bitter taste in his mouth. For the first time, Yue Zhishi had little interest in a celebratory dinner; he chewed a piece of beef brisket twenty times before swallowing. At the dinner table, Song Jin and Lin Rong praised him endlessly. Yue Zhishi was happy on one hand, but a little unhappy on the other.

But he couldn't explain the reason for his unhappiness; he would just look at Song Yu's face whenever he felt down.

Song Yu ate his meal unhurriedly, very quiet, no different from usual. He had a habit of finishing his meal with a bit of soup, so when he was drinking his last bit of soup, Yue Zhishi guessed he was about to finish and leave. His unhappiness became even more apparent.

But it was different from what he had expected.

Song Yu put down his bowl and said to his parents, who were focused on planning a post-college entrance exam trip for their two children, "About applying to universities, I've decided."

Song Jin put down his chopsticks. "Is that so? Which one?" He understood Song Yu's personality and knew he had been a very opinionated child since he was young, so he added, "Those few schools Dad mentioned last time were just for reference. I just thought they were pretty good. How you choose specifically still depends on which major you want to study. Anyway, if you choose to enroll next spring, there's still enough time."

Song Yu waited for his father to finish before he spoke. "Dad, I don't plan on going abroad."