Lu Yan borrowed Brother Wei's motorcycle again this noon to go to the wet market to buy groceries. He had been eating instant noodles for almost a week straight; if he ate any more, he felt like he'd turn into an instant noodle himself.

It was the weekend today, and most residents were resting in the building. Although Brother Wei expressed 'incomprehension' and 'absolute unwillingness to lend' regarding the fact that Lu Yan even needed his motorcycle to go to the wet market, he couldn't withstand Lu Yan's pestering. In the end, he threw the keys down to him from the third-floor window.

"Brother Wei, you'll always be my best big brother."

"Just get lost already." Brother Wei yelled from the window, sporting a head of bed hair.

Lu Yan only went to the wet market to buy groceries every once in a while. Although he didn't show up there often, he was still somewhat famous in the area—a fame gained from haggling.

When Lu Yan returned from the wet market after buying his groceries, he saw a suspicious vehicle parked at the entrance of the Seventh District's ruins from a distance. As he got closer, he saw the silver logo on the car's body and the familiar pair of wings on its rear.

This was the second time he had seen this out-of-place modified car.

Lu Yan released the throttle, and the motorcycle slowly came to a stop, parking right next to the modified car.

With one foot on the ground, he leaned over and knocked on the car's window, letting out a whistle and saying, "You're here?"

The car window slowly rolled down.

The first thing Lu Yan noticed wasn't a certain young master, but a small head that turned around from the young master's arms.

Then Lu Yan met a pair of big, wet eyes.

It was a child.

A baby who was still drinking milk.

The baby, halfway through drinking, suddenly froze as if a pause button had been pressed.

Xiao Heng grunted an "Mm" in response to Lu Yan's greeting, then very naturally patted the baby's back. After a few pats, the baby blinked and let out a milk-scented: "Hic." This scene was rather bizarre.

Firstly, a person like Xiao Heng didn't seem like he'd have the patience to take care of a child; he always gave off the impression of being the type to beat up a kid at the slightest disagreement.

That little "Hic" was so cute that Lu Yan wanted to reach out and pinch his cheeks. In fact, that's what he did. As the pad of his finger touched the baby's chubby cheek, Lu Yan asked again, "Is this your kid?"

"..."

Xiao Heng looked up at him. "Do you think that's possible?"

Lu Yan: "Hard to say."

"No," although Xiao Heng really didn't want to explain, he still said, "This is my younger brother."

Lu Yan couldn't resist pinching a couple more times.

"He usually doesn't like to be touched by others."

It was more than just not letting people touch him; he would rather starve to death than drink a mouthful of milk fed to him by the family's maids.

Xiao Heng was afraid the child would start crying again, which would be a hassle to coax, but unexpectedly, just as he finished speaking, he saw the baby grasp one of Lu Yan's fingers with his few chubby little paws and then giggle at Lu Yan.

Lu Yan slightly bent the index finger that was being held, lowered his voice to tease him, not caring if he could understand, "Little guy, seeing as you have a unique bone structure and are fated to meet me, this big brother will teach you a peerless martial arts technique."

Xiao Heng said coolly, "Forget about the guitar."

"..." Lu Yan said. "We're never going to get past this, are we."

After Xiao Heng got out of the car holding the baby, Lu Yan also parked his motorcycle in the garage. It was called a garage, but it was really just a small space that Brother Wei himself had set up next to the apartment building with some torn plastic sheeting.

The crude setup exuded an air of poverty.

"What's this?" Xiao Heng glanced at the sheet twice. "An awning?"

"A garage."

Lu Yan pulled out the key, took the two bags hanging from the handlebars, and explained, "The wisdom of the poor working class. It's fine for blocking wind and rain, but it won't hold up in a typhoon. We'd have to carry the bike inside then."

Xiao Heng hadn't paid much attention the last time he was here. That day, he had just found out that Xiao Qishan had a child. Xiao Qishan had given the woman a sum of money to send her away, and as for the child, he would be sent abroad as soon as the paperwork was completed.

After all, the matter of an illegitimate child would sound bad if it got out. After sending him abroad, they would just pretend it never happened.

He had a fight with Xiao Qishan.

He was completely fed up after running out.

Lu Yan walked in front. When he reached the third floor, he returned the key, "Brother Wei, I'll give you a big tomato, want it?"

"Stop being a smartass, kid," Brother Wei first stuck a hand out through the crack of the door before opening it fully. "Wait a minute, this brother looks a bit familiar. Isn't this the guy you nabbed by mistake last time?"

Bringing up that incident of mistaken identity was still embarrassing now.

Both Lu Yan and Xiao Heng wanted to skip this topic.

But Brother Wei looked at them and said, "As the saying goes, 'you can't get to know someone without a fight.' To meet in the world is fate... Hey, this kid is pretty cute."

Brother Wei was a big, burly man. He relied on his imposing aura for his year-round debt collection work. Not to mention he was all muscle, even his smile looked forced. He had just leaned in front of the baby to tease him when the baby burst into tears with a "Waaah."

"..."

They had come at an inconvenient time today. The woman from 601 came back later than usual; no one answered when they knocked.

"She'll probably be back in a bit. Why don't you come in and sit for a while," Lu Yan opened his door and pointed at the baby in Xiao Heng's arms. "It's not a solution for him to keep crying like this."

Xiao Heng wasn't actually very good at soothing children; at most, he would pat them a couple of times.

A child who usually seemed well-behaved was practically a demon descended upon the earth once he started crying.

His crying gave people a massive headache.

Lu Yan put the groceries in the kitchen. When he came back out, he saw Xiao Heng telling the child with a cold face, "Stop crying."

"Don't you understand 'stop crying'?"

Lu Yan really couldn't watch anymore. "Are you trying to make him cry louder?"

Xiao Heng said impatiently, "You do it?"

Lu Yan discovered that whenever he and this young master were together, a strange chemical reaction would always occur. For example, they couldn't even say two sentences to each other without starting to bicker.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Lu Yan said, "Let me show you what it means to properly soothe the wounded soul of a fragile child."

Although he had made the boast, Lu Yan had never soothed a child before either. Maybe his holding posture wasn't right; the moment he took the baby, the child cried even harder.

He adjusted his posture, but the baby still cried.

Lu Yan really couldn't think of any other tricks. As an outstanding youth of the new era who knew when to yield, he immediately changed his tune, "...I think you were actually doing an okay job."

Xiao Heng's response was a cold sneer.

Xiao Heng leaned against the doorway, watching him. "Weren't you so capable?"

Who are you looking down on?

Can you not always use such a mocking tone?

Don't you see whose turf you're on right now?

Lu Yan patted the baby's back, feeling that he had to reclaim his dignity.

A feasible idea flashed through Lu Yan's mind. He cleared his throat, planning to try singing a nursery rhyme.

As a band's lead singer, although he had a rich repertoire—if categorized, it would be the kind that included eight languages—he really didn't know many nursery rhymes. After thinking it over, he could only recall one, and he didn't even remember all the lyrics. So he picked a part of it and began to sing.

Lu Yan's voice wasn't the particularly soft type; it was very recognizable, especially when singing low notes, his voice would press down little by little, carrying a slight hoarseness.

Like a glass of sparkling wine, delicate yet passionate.

But this voice was now singing, "...A happy little green frog, lililili po fa."

"A happy little green frog."

"Little green frog."

"Gua gua gua."

Xiao Heng: "..."

The baby cried a couple more times, but when Lu Yan sang "Gua gua gua," he hiccuped through his tears, and then his crying gradually stopped.

"See that," Lu Yan finished singing and raised an eyebrow at Xiao Heng. "This song, go back and learn it properly."

Lu Yan didn't have to substitute at the school, so he was back in his usual attire. The eyebrow stud he wore today was a small metallic ring, and when he raised his eyebrow, the tail of his brow lifted a little.

Pretty cool.

Of course, it would have been even cooler if he wasn't singing "Gua gua gua."

Xiao Heng hadn't come inside last time. This time, by a strange twist of fate, he was in this building again. He discreetly sized up the room; although it was small, it was kept relatively tidy. Even though this guy sucked at playing the guitar, there were no less than three guitars in this room alone, one of which was Lu Yan's WeChat profile picture.

His gaze skimmed over the pile of CDs on the cabinet.

Due to the small area, there wasn't a clear boundary between the bedroom and the living room. He saw a pair of jeans tossed on Lu Yan's bed, and on the wall opposite the bed was a poster—the Vent band.

On the stage, the long-haired lead singer was holding the mic stand, one foot propped on a speaker, with an air of absolute dominance.

The entire setting was very dark.

An eerie red light shone down on him.

"Is that you?"

"Ah," Lu Yan followed his gaze. "Yeah, that was last year."

"The band whose two members left?"

"You got a problem with that?"

"No."

"Hey," Lu Yan realized the baby had stopped crying, but after closing his eyes, he hadn't opened them again. Tears were still clinging to his eyelashes. "Did he fall asleep?"

Just as Xiao Heng was about to say 'give him to me,' he heard the sound of high heels clicking on the floor outside, followed by the jangling of keys.

The woman from 601 was still in her usual outfit: a short skirt, heavy makeup, and reeking of alcohol.

She was probably drunk. She tried to insert the key into the keyhole several times but failed. Finally, she kicked the door, slowly squatted down, took out a pack of cigarettes from her handbag, and leaning against the door, was about to smoke one to sober up.

Then she heard a cold voice say beside her ear, "Your child. Do you still want him or not?"

The woman's hand trembled as she lit her cigarette, and the flame burned her finger.

Before coming, Xiao Heng had no idea what this woman was thinking. He couldn't even find out her real name. At one nightclub she was called Xiao Lian, and at another, she became Nannan.

It took searching several places to find her correct address.

After giving birth, she sent the child to their family. Apart from taking the money Xiao Qishan gave her, she did nothing else. Unlike others, she didn't cause endless trouble; she was exceptionally quiet.

Lu Yan stood at the doorway holding the baby, not wanting to get involved in someone else's family affairs. For a moment, he didn't know whether to advance or retreat, but he noticed the woman's gaze was on the child.

Lu Yan thought, 'Since this child is his younger brother.'

'And this woman is the child's mother.'

'Then this woman is his...'

'No, wait, the ages don't match up.'

"What child?" The woman retracted her gaze and slowly stood up. She said, "I don't have a child."

"You've got the wrong person."

The woman's voice was faint. She lit her cigarette, squinting as she smoked. Her eyes, already obscured by heavy makeup, were hidden in the swirling smoke.