The one Chen Chao feared most when he blew up was Miao Jiayan. On his end of the phone, he immediately sat up straight and proper, looking as if he was ready for a scolding.

"You agreed?" Chen Chao asked again.

"No," Miao Jiayan said hurriedly, "I said I had to ask before I could give her an answer."

Hearing this, Chen Chao's anger at least didn't continue to burn. He asked, "Did she say when the shoot is? Are you skipping class?"

"She didn't," Miao Jiayan answered cautiously, "She didn't say anything at all."

The pajamas Miao Jiayan was currently wearing were old clothes that Chen Chao had left behind before. Miao Jiayan was still wearing many of the clothes left behind back then. At this moment, wearing Chen Chao's clothes and listening to him get angry over the phone, he was clearly a bit terrified, yet he still inexplicably felt very secure.

"I'll ask her when she calls me tomorrow." Chen Chao's tone was still not very pleasant. He asked Miao Jiayan, "Have you had any exams recently? How did you do?"

Miao Jiayan said, "No, we didn't have a formal midterm. They just handed out the test papers for an in-class quiz and went over them right after. We didn't turn them in to be graded."

"Did you really not have one, or did you just not do well?" Chen Chao asked sternly.

"We didn't," Miao Jiayan said urgently, "I'm not lying to you."

Miao Jiayan wasn't one to lie anyway; it was as if he was born without any skill points in deception.

The next day, Miao Jiayan gave Chen Chao's phone number to the lady, repeatedly emphasizing twice that she could only call him between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM, or after 10:00 PM.

The lady asked, "Who is this?"

"My..." Miao Jiayan paused, then continued, "My older brother."

"An older brother," the lady thought of the times Miao Jiayan had repeatedly emphasized and asked, "Is your brother very busy with work?"

Miao Jiayan said, "He's in school."

So it turned out she was being passed from one kid to another. The lady was so amused by him that she laughed out loud and said, "Alright, I got it."

However, the other kid was not easy to deal with at all, much more troublesome than Miao Jiayan.

While Miao Jiayan was very guarded, he would at least listen to what others said. This "older brother" was different; it was as if he couldn't hear anything you said to him. He only focused on the questions he himself raised, and if you didn't give him an answer, he would threaten to hang up and say they wouldn't do the shoot.

Miao Jiayan didn't know about any of this. During lunch, he was still wondering if the other party had called Chen Chao and whether it would disturb his afternoon nap.

The girl who used to sit in front of Miao Jiayan was now in the same class as him, and the two of them were now friends.

The girl's name was Tan Xinyi. She no longer sat in front of Miao Jiayan, but she wasn't far away. She loved to chat and was very popular in class.

"I read a comic last night, and the boy in it is a lot like you," the girl said, sitting next to Miao Jiayan during a break. "Do you have QQ? I wanted to send it to you last night when I was reading it, but I saw you weren't in the class group chat."

"I don't have one," Miao Jiayan had been asked this question more than once, but he really didn't. "I don't go online."

"Well, when you get QQ, remember to add me. Just let me know then." The girl looked at Miao Jiayan and said, "I want to be the first one to add you, the first friend on your list."

Girls always had these kinds of strange and useless little obsessions. At the time, Miao Jiayan didn't even understand what adding friends was about. But later, when he got QQ and WeChat, for a very long time, the only person on his friends list was Chen Chao.

The contract negotiations with the other party dragged on for several days. Eventually, Chen Chao couldn't be bothered anymore and threw it all to his dad's lawyer. Chen Guangda's business was big now, with many contracts coming and going. He had suffered losses due to a contract in his early years, so he had always paid great attention to them since, having a dedicated lawyer to review them.

One evening, as Miao Jiayan was getting ready for bed, he received a text message from Chen Chao.

—I had them mail the contract to you. Take another look at it yourself.

Miao Jiayan quickly replied: Thank you, Chen Chao.

This was the first contract of Miao Jiayan's life; he had only ever seen one on TV before. He signed it himself, and his grandpa also signed for him. It seemed like every sentence in the contract had to be explained with perfect clarity; it was astonishingly detailed. Miao Jiayan read it once, but it was so fragmented that he didn't remember anything, except that he had to shoot three sets of photos for a total of eight thousand yuan.

The photoshoot was scheduled for winter break. Before that, Miao Jiayan had to carry on as usual and still attend his classes properly.

Miao Jiayan diligently attended class every day, taking meticulous notes. He didn't miss his two pages of calligraphy practice a day, tracing them every night.

Miao Jiayan's results on the final exam were indeed good; he ranked sixth in his class.

In the liberal arts stream, a few students managed to get into top-tier universities each year, and the top ten all had a hopeful chance. Miao Jiayan took the initiative to send a text to Chen Chao, telling him his exam results.

Chen Chao replied: Pretty good.

Miao Jiayan sent an emoticon he had recently learned: ^^

His winter break had already started, but there was still no word from the photoshoot people, nor had they said when it would happen.

Miao Jian had called to say he would be back to stay for a few days but wouldn't be back for the New Year. Miao Jiayan couldn't tell if his father, now that he had a younger brother, would be more lenient toward him or just the same as ever. He wanted to go out for the photoshoot during the few days his father was back.

When the other party contacted him, Miao Jiayan was in the greenhouse raising seedlings. The phone rang in his pocket. His hands were covered in mud, so he wiped them roughly before reaching for his phone.

"This big sister has been swamped lately, so I couldn't get back to you," the lady said. "You haven't had anything come up, right? How about we go next week?"

Miao Jiayan asked in confusion, "Go where?"

"To the location, of course. Didn't we agree on this?" The lady raised her voice. "Sweetie, you didn't not read the contract, did you?"

Miao Jiayan said, "I did read it..."

But what Miao Jiayan had seen was that the shoot was in their own city; it didn't say anything about going to Yunnan.

The lady said to him, "Did you look at page three? You must have missed it."

Before Miao Jiayan could even ask what he had missed, the person on the other end said, "I've already asked your brother. He set it for next week. I'm just confirming with you before booking the tickets. You don't get airsick, right?"

Miao Jiayan didn't know if he got airsick; he had never been on a plane before. But right now, he himself was feeling quite dizzy, completely bewildered by what the other person was saying.

"When the time comes, just go to your brother's place first, and I'll have someone pick you two up and take you to the airport," the lady said. "I'll be waiting for you over here, okay?"

Miao Jiayan was utterly confused by the call. After hanging up, just as he was about to find the contract to read it again, his phone rang once more. He thought it was the same lady from before, but it was Chen Chao.

"Chen Chao," Miao Jiayan answered.

Chen Chao first grunted in acknowledgment, then said, "I'm on break."

Miao Jiayan's first reaction was that he was coming back for the New Year. His tone lifted, unable to be suppressed, "Are you coming back?"

"I'm not," Chen Chao said.

Before the feeling of disappointment could even wash over him, Miao Jiayan heard Chen Chao say, "You come straight to my place."

"Huh?" Miao Jiayan was a bit dazed.

"Pack your things, bring a change of clothes," Chen Chao told him. "I'll pick you up at the station."

Miao Jiayan was always half a beat slow to react in situations like this. It took a long moment for his thoughts to gradually clear. Incredulously, he almost didn't dare to ask, "Chen Chao... are you going with me?"

Chen Chao was also taken aback for a moment, retorting, "Otherwise, what do you think I'm talking to you about?"

For a moment, Miao Jiayan's emotions were too complex to sort out. His hand gripped the corner of the desk, and he couldn't say a word.

"If you go by yourself, I'm afraid you'll get sold off and won't find your way home," Chen Chao chuckled. "If they sell both of us, at least I can still find my way back."