"Then you should go upstairs, Brother Chao," Miao Jiayan said, resting his cheek on his arm.

"En, I'm going up," Chen Chao said.

Miao Jiayan clutched the slightly warm phone and said softly, "It's late, you should rest early."

Chen Chao said, "En."

Miao Jiayan said, "You can hang up then."

Chen Chao hummed "en" again, his breathing clearly audible as he walked upstairs. He said, "Go to sleep," and then hung up.

The phone call was inexplicable but joyful. Miao Jiayan's phone was down to its last bar of battery, so he took out the charger and plugged it in.

Over the phone, Chen Chao spoke at an unhurried pace, with a hint of relaxation in his voice. The two of them slowly spoke of meaningless things, making the night serene and gentle.

Miao Jiayan rested his face on his arm and spaced out for a while, unconsciously twirling a pen in his other hand. After a little while, he finally got back to finishing the homework he hadn't completed earlier.

Ding Wentao had indeed told Chen Chao that someone was looking for him.

He had sent Chen Chao three consecutive messages on QQ.

—Brother Chao.

—Brother Chao, someone's looking for you!

—Brother Chao!

Chen Chao didn't look at his phone during evening self-study. When he saw the messages after school, more than an hour had already passed. Chen Chao replied with a "?", but Ding Wentao never responded.

At first, Chen Chao didn't think much of it and put his phone away without another thought. However, after leaving the school gates, something came to mind, and he ended up calling Miao Jiayan.

It was a matter of bad timing. It wasn't that Ding Wentao intentionally didn't reply after sending the messages; rather, he had been caught using his phone during self-study, and the teacher had confiscated it on the spot.

For the next few days, Ding Wentao went to the teacher every day to negotiate, but the teacher didn't give it back. The school didn't allow students to bring phones, especially a troublemaker like Ding Wentao; there was no way they would return it to him.

Ding Wentao treasured his phone like a precious baby every day. Now that it was confiscated, he looked completely spiritless.

Miao Jiayan ran into him on the school's sports field and took the initiative to greet him: "Top Dog-bro..."

Before he could finish the second syllable, Ding Wentao shot him a glare.

Miao Jiayan quickly corrected himself: "Brother Tao."

Ding Wentao withdrew his glare and switched back to his listless expression, grunting a sound from his throat as a response.

Miao Jiayan lowered his head to leave, but Ding Wentao called out to him listlessly, "Hey."

Miao Jiayan turned back, "Hm?"

Ding Wentao asked, "Has anyone been bullying you?"

Miao Jiayan didn't expect him to ask this. He paused for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No."

"Oh." Ding Wentao waved a hand for him to leave. "Go on."

Ding Wentao's demeanor at school was very different from the sloppy state he was in while eating and drinking at Chen Chao's house. At school, he was at least one of the "big brothers" of the high school division, all bluster and swagger.

He had only told Chen Chao half the story before going silent. Chen Chao had long forgotten about it, but Ding Wentao was still thinking about it. But there was nothing he could do; he couldn't contact Chen Chao now.

Miao Jiayan usually took a nap at his desk after eating lunch at school. The classroom was quite full, as day students generally didn't go home for lunch.

This particular noon, just as he had fallen asleep, he heard someone call his name.

Miao Jiayan sat up and saw someone at the doorway asking, "Which one is Miao Jiayan?"

It was a boy Miao Jiayan didn't recognize.

"That's you?" the boy asked, raising his eyebrows as their eyes met.

Miao Jiayan didn't know what the other person wanted. He stood up and walked out.

The boy was very tall, wearing jeans and sneakers, and had a scar on his chin. When Miao Jiayan reached the doorway, the boy asked him, "Miao Jiayan?"

With a placid expression, Miao Jiayan replied, "Yes."

People in the classroom were watching the commotion. Miao Jiayan stood at the classroom door. Although he didn't understand how he had offended someone again, his gaze was open and frank, not flinching at all.

"You know Chen Chao?" the boy asked.

Only then did a hint of expression appear on Miao Jiayan's face. He looked at the other boy with some surprise.

"I'm asking you a question, why aren't you talking?" The other boy frowned slightly, looking displeased.

Miao Jiayan sized him up. Instead of answering, he asked back, "What do you want him for?"

"Business." The other boy didn't want to say more. "Give me his number."

"I don't have it," Miao Jiayan said, standing up straight.

"Why are you being so difficult?" The boy clicked his tongue. "Just give it to me already."

There was no way Miao Jiayan would casually give Chen Chao's contact information to someone else, especially since he didn't even know who this person was or why he was looking for Chen Chao.

No matter how the boy asked, Miao Jiayan just said he couldn't get in touch with Chen Chao. Then, the boy seemed to suddenly understand something and asked, exasperated, "You don't think I'm looking to pick a fight with him, do you?"

Miao Jiayan didn't reply, just looked at him.

"I'm not here to fight, he used to be my neighbor." After talking for a long time and finding Miao Jiayan completely unresponsive, the boy had to say, "How about this, you go back and ask him. My name is Jiang Xun. See what he says. Or you can just give him my number..."

Miao Jiayan interrupted him and said again, "I can't contact him."

The boy waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, come on, stop messing with me. I'm in Class 8. If you want to find me, just come to my class."

He was about to leave after speaking when Miao Jiayan asked, "How did you know I know him?"

"Ding Wentao told me to find you, how else would I know?" the boy said, raising an arm in a wave as he left.

Miao Jiayan wanted to ask Ding Wentao why he didn't just give the boy Chen Chao's number directly, but he never ran into him.

When he got home from school that evening, he took out his phone and sent a text message to Chen Chao.

—Brother Chao, someone named Jiang Xun is looking for you. Do you know him?

Chen Chao replied quite quickly. A few minutes later, Miao Jiayan's phone buzzed.

—I know him. He goes to school over there with you?

Miao Jiayan slowly typed back: Yes, he said he was your neighbor.

Chao: He was. How did he find you?

Miao Jiayan replied: Ding Wentao told him to ask me. I didn't know what he wanted, so I didn't tell him.

Over on Chen Chao's end, evening self-study hadn't started yet. He used this bit of time to exchange a few messages with Miao Jiayan. When the self-study bell rang, Chen Chao sent a message: It's fine. Self-study is starting.

The next morning, Jiang Xun came to the classroom door to find Miao Jiayan again. When Miao Jiayan saw him, he lowered his head, tore a piece of paper from his notebook, and wrote Chen Chao's phone number on it for him.

Jiang Xun joked with him, "Didn't you say you didn't know?"

Miao Jiayan didn't like talking to outsiders and didn't bother to explain.

Jiang Xun took out his phone and saved the number directly, saying to Miao Jiayan, "We've been playing together since we were in diapers. You don't have to think I'm looking for trouble with him. We didn't even know you back when we were playing together."

So they were childhood friends, Miao Jiayan thought.

But Jiang Xun and Chen Chao didn't seem very alike. Chen Chao didn't have a roguish air about him at all.

"Alright, thanks, little missy." Jiang Xun waved the piece of paper with the number and turned to leave.

That "little missy" sounded a bit insulting. Boys and girls have different voices. They were already in high school, so even if one misidentified him by his face and hair, they would definitely be able to tell Miao Jiayan was a boy just by hearing him speak. "Little missy" clearly wasn't because he was mistaken for a girl; it was just what he was being called. But seeing the other person's completely unconcerned manner, it didn't seem intentional, so Miao Jiayan didn't take it to heart.

Back then, Miao Jiayan wasn't familiar with Jiang Xun, or rather, didn't know him at all. Jiang Xun was naturally the type to tease and mess with people, and sometimes he didn't know when to stop.

On this point, he was also completely different from Chen Chao. Chen Chao almost never initiated conversations with outsiders, and when he did speak, he was distant and cold.

Only after getting to know him would one realize that beneath the sullen face was actually a gentle person.

One day in May, as soon as Miao Jiayan opened his eyes in the morning, he heard his phone chime once from the drawer.

He got up to look. It was from Chen Chao.

Chao: Miao'er?

Miao Jiayan: Brother Chao.

He didn't know why Chen Chao was contacting him so early and thought it was for something important. He stood there holding his phone and waited for a while until another message arrived.

Miao Jiayan opened it and saw a line of words that seemed inexplicably cheerful—

Chao: Happy birthday, grow up big and fast.