"Gu Fei..." Li Yan's voice came from behind. "Sorry to interrupt, please continue."

When Jiang Cheng turned around, there was no one behind him anymore. Li Yan had probably flashed back into the store at lightning speed.

"It's fine," Gu Fei added water to the flour bowl, then turned his head to shout towards the back door, "Li Yan!"

Li Yan reappeared at the back door, poking his head out to look over: "Gu Miao hurt her hand, I said I'd help disinfect it but the little brat ignored me."

Gu Miao was hurt? Jiang Cheng was a bit surprised, but Li Yan didn't seem too worried.  

"Have Brother Cheng take a look," Gu Fei said calmly. "She probably doesn't want me to bother her either."

"Why's that?" Jiang Cheng looked at him. They were probably used to Gu Miao's scrapes and bruises.

"I told her today to message me when she went out to skateboard," Gu Fei said. "She did, but I guess I didn't hear it and haven't replied yet, so she's definitely mad."

"...I didn't hear your phone go off either." Jiang Cheng was confused. It must have been a message Gu Miao sent while they were immersed in their romantic stage performance, unable to free themselves.

"Give it a try," Gu Fei smiled at him. "Maybe she'll listen to you."

Gu Miao's injury wasn't serious, but it was bleeding. Li Yan wanted to rinse it with saline, but she just stood there in front of the cash register, holding her skateboard without moving.

"Er Miao?" Jiang Cheng went over and crouched down, waving at her.

Gu Miao glared at him with no expression and ignored him.

Jiang Cheng smiled at her again. With Gu Miao's eyes wide open like this, you could clearly see her long eyelashes, exactly the same as Gu Fei's.

"Er Miao," Jiang Cheng thought about how to get Gu Miao to understand him. After thinking for a bit, he blew on his own hand. "Er Miao, my hand hurts. Do you know what to do?"

Gu Miao's gaze fell on his face.

"Er Miao?" Jiang Cheng felt a rush of happiness inside. He continued softly, "You..."

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Miao flung the saline bottle Li Yan had left on the small table aside.  

Before Jiang Cheng could react, Gu Miao knocked over the small table.

"Gu Fei!" Li Yan shouted towards the kitchen. "Your sister's rebelling!"

"Let her stand there for now," came Gu Fei's voice from the kitchen.

Jiang Cheng stood up and went into the kitchen.  

"Technically this is your fault, she has a right to be mad," Jiang Cheng frowned. "Should you apologize to her?"

"Yeah," Gu Fei nodded while kneading dough. "In a bit."

"Let me do it," Jiang Cheng said. "She's like that already, why don't you go coax her first?"

Gu Fei stopped moving and sighed, then turned around to hug him, leaning against him motionless.

Jiang Cheng didn't say anything, just rubbed his back.

Suddenly uneasy, was Gu Fei like this because...he had woken him up?

"I'll go over in a bit," Gu Fei murmured into his shoulder. "After her temper dies down a little, I can coax her better."

"...Oh," Jiang Cheng held him tight.

"The little brat gets angry so easily," Gu Fei sighed. "Tiny things set her off, sometimes it makes me want to hit her."

"Have you hit her before?" Jiang Cheng smiled.

"No, never even yelled at her," Gu Fei let him go and turned back to the dough. "Sometimes I just want to ignore her temper tantrums. I have a temper too."

But Gu Fei's "temper" was clearly not as fierce as Gu Miao's. After preparing the dough, he went into the store to coax Gu Miao.

It wasn't until Jiang Cheng and Li Yan finished chopping and seasoning the filling and came into the store to start making dumplings together that Gu Miao finally returned to normal. She sat at the table watching them wrap dumplings.  

Jiang Cheng looked at Gu Fei, who also came over to wrap dumplings. No visible fatigue, his mood seemed normal too, but perhaps it was a change in mindset - watching Gu Fei patiently communicate with Gu Miao, he felt a powerlessness he'd never experienced before.

In the past he had simply felt Gu Fei's life was tiring. But now he suddenly understood the powerlessness Gu Fei expressed by the riverside.

Gu Miao wasn't always like this, fluctuating unpredictably. When they first met her at the train station, other than not speaking, he didn't even notice anything different about Gu Miao compared to other children. Later they could play skateboard together, eat together, play games, she would even smile at him - thinking about those times buoyed his mood, that version of Gu Miao gave him hope that things weren't so bad.

But hearing Gu Miao scream, seeing her refuse to interact, her detached expression, thinking of the countless rabbits she drew, and just now when he was certain Gu Miao would respond but she flung over the table instead - it all sharply dragged him back down to reality from fantasy.  

After each rise and fall was a deep sense of powerlessness.

Gu Fei had probably experienced countless ups and downs before finally deciding to abandon ephemeral hope.

After eating the dumplings, Li Yan left. Jiang Cheng sat in the store watching Gu Miao zigzag between shelves on her skateboard.  

Gu Fei sat behind the cash register balancing accounts, not looking too happy as he calculated how much his mother had taken from the store this month and how much would be left.

Money, besides Gu Miao, was probably the heaviest burden weighing him down.

Gu Fei didn't even have the means for Gu Miao to continuously receive rehabilitation treatment, just the treatment in this small city whose quality was uncertain. He couldn't afford it long term.

Jiang Cheng furrowed his brows.

"You got paid for two of the photoshoots," Gu Fei said while tapping on a calculator. "I'll transfer it to you tomorrow?"

"I thought we already settled everything, there's still more?" Jiang Cheng was confused.

"I could sell you and you'd probably still happily get in bed with me," Gu Fei glanced at him. "Don't you keep track at all?"

"Scram," Jiang Cheng said. "I don't randomly spend money, didn't spend it or lose it, so I don't need to keep accounts."

"You're so logical, top student." Gu Fei said.

"I know, loser." Jiang Cheng replied.

After saying this, something stirred inside him. He stared at Gu Fei for probably five minutes before speaking up again: "Gu Fei."

"Hm?" Gu Fei looked at him, pen dangling from his mouth.

"Why don't you just..." Jiang Cheng said. "Keep the money for me, don't give it to me for now."

Gu Fei didn't speak, the pen in his mouth swaying back and forth.  

After a while, Jiang Cheng saw the corners of his mouth quirk up in a subtle smile.

"Is that ok?" Jiang Cheng glared at him.

"Brother Cheng," Gu Fei took the pen in hand and spun it around. "I must have done something amazing in my past life to meet you in this one."