"Are you really not coming to dinner tonight?"
"No." Wen Shaoyu pressed a finger against the bridge of his nose, adjusting his silver-rimmed glasses. Behind the lenses, his peach blossom eyes seemed to be frozen over. "It's your family banquet. What business does an outsider like me have getting involved?"
"Oh, so now you're an outsider." Ji Shulang's voice carried a clear note of irritation, and he didn't bother to control his volume.
It was still work hours, and the line was quiet. But after he spoke, there was a sudden silence, followed by a burst of noise that made Wen Shaoyu frown and pull the phone away from his ear. Still, he didn't hang up.
After a moment, Ji Shulang's voice returned: "You've eaten plenty of meals at our place. When my grandfather passed away, you stayed with me for three days of mourning. Calling yourself an outsider now is a bit late, don't you think?"
Wen Shaoyu was momentarily speechless. He stared at his computer screen, but his mind was too restless to focus on even the simplest task.
He finally took off his glasses, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. "Apologize to your parents and Grandma Ji for me. I've been busy with work lately. I'll visit them when I have time."
"Don't give me that. Who are you trying to avoid?" Ji Shulang, now a practicing lawyer, was no longer the easy-to-deceive kid he used to be. "Wen Shaoyu, I really don't get you."
"You saw Xiao Shu. You didn't call me, you didn't ask for her contact info, you just left her my address and ran off. You ran off?"
Ji Shulang's voice was full of disbelief. "Bro, what kind of game are you playing with my sister?"
Wen Shaoyu's voice was cold. "I'm not."
"With that attitude of yours, do you think I can't tell whether you are or not?" Ji Shulang shot back immediately.
Wen Shaoyu fell silent.
Yes, he was. Of course, he was.
But it wasn't a game, nor was it aimed at Ji Shuhe. It was just that when he saw her suddenly appear under the streetlight, and she couldn't recognize Lizi, mistaking him for another dog, and there was someone else standing beside her—a surge of resentment welled up in him, overriding all reason.
Even Wen Shaoyu himself couldn't quite explain what it was.
He pressed his lips into a thin line, thinking back to that night.
What a coincidence. He had already left, but while he stopped to take a call, his grip on the leash loosened. Lizi, who usually didn't like to move, took the chance to run back—and that was how she found her.
Ji Shulang kept talking, just like when they were kids, determined to get justice for his sister. "I thought you didn't want to mention Xiao Shu before because you couldn't accept that she might never come back. Fine. A teenage crush, I get it. I won't bring it up. But now she's back, and you saw her before I did. And yet you're avoiding her? What are you trying to do?"
What could he do?
Wen Shaoyu let out a bitter laugh. He couldn't do anything. Before seeing Ji Shuhe again, he had often wondered what he would do when they finally reunited.
Would he rush to embrace her, ask how she had been all these years, make sure she wouldn't leave again—wouldn't disappear without a trace once more?
Or would he play the victim, tell her how hard the past few years had been for him and Lizi. His sick father, his money-grubbing stepmother, the chaotic company, the forced change of major. Without Ji Shuhe to comfort him, even the suffering had multiplied. He had missed her terribly.
But when Ji Shuhe had stood before him, he had suppressed the urge to whisk her away. When he looked up again, he realized that time had brought the cruelest outcome.
They didn't recognize each other. Things had changed, and people were gone.
"Wen Shaoyu, you know perfectly well that Xiao Shu was tricked away by her mother. After she took her away that year, she came back to Yong'anli and made a scene. She threw and smashed everything in the attic. You rushed up to stop her and almost got slapped. You can't have forgotten that."
Of course not.
By then, many people had already moved out of Yong'anli. The Ji family had drawn their lottery number, chosen their apartment, and arranged the renovations. They planned to rent a place temporarily and move directly into the new home once the renovations were done.
That was when Xia Chun had taken Ji Shuhe away. For days, she didn't return to Yong'anli, didn't go to school, didn't answer her phone. It was as if she had vanished completely.
She had said she would bring back cake before she left, and then she was gone. A few days later, Xia Chun came back to pack up, running into Ji Xiangjiang, whom Grandpa and Grandma Ji had called back. The moment they met, they started arguing fiercely.
Xia Chun's eyes were wild. She smashed Ji Shuhe's electronic devices and tore the neatly arranged clothes and bedding in the attic into shreds. No one understood why. She had been the one to take Ji Shuhe away, yet she acted as if the Ji family were trying to take her daughter from her.
As a teenager, Wen Shaoyu had always been impulsive, especially when it came to Ji Shuhe. He had tried to snatch something back from Xia Chun—her favorite books, unfinished homework, anything. But the moment he appeared, Xia Chun inexplicably went even crazier.
"It's just that we didn't know the law back then. We should have called the police and reported her for illegal detention. We could have taken Xiao Shu back." Ji Shulang let out a long sigh. They both knew exactly what he meant.
They were probably both thinking of that day. The line went silent on both ends.
After all, Xia Chun's actions back then had shocked everyone. Chu Yue had even suspected that Xia Chun might have some psychological disorder, which made her even more worried about Ji Shuhe, who had been taken away by her.
But Ji Shulang had been building up to this, hoping to convince Wen Shaoyu: "I've said all this so you'd understand. Xiao Shu has a mother like that. She didn't have a choice. You can't blame her for leaving."
"We're not kids anymore. Don't miss out on something because of a momentary tantrum. If there's a knot in your heart, sit down and talk it out properly."
Ji Shulang had been handling civil litigation for years. He was skilled at both confrontation and mediation. Now he was laying out one persuasive argument after another. But Wen Shaoyu knew what the real problem was.
It had been eight years, and he was still trapped in that winter in Yong'anli. He both hoped that Ji Shuhe's life afterward had been smooth and worry-free, and he hoped that she had never truly left that alley in his memories, that she hadn't forgotten the past he still couldn't let go of.
So when he saw that person wrap his own scarf around Ji Shuhe, when his imagined suspicions became reality, Wen Shaoyu couldn't suppress the intense, overwhelming sense of unfairness.
He had been the first to appear. They had already understood each other's hearts. They had been so close to making their unspoken feelings known to everyone.
If not for that interruption, if not for that helplessness that neither of them could do anything about...
But no one can beat time.
Back then, Wen Shaoyu had dared to use Ji Shuhe's feelings to ask for a promise that she wouldn't leave. But now, he didn't dare.
He didn't know what was left of Ji Shuhe's feelings for him.
"Ji Shulang, you don't understand. Our positions are different." Wen Shaoyu had been silent for a while, and when he finally spoke, his voice was tight. "Family will always be family. But me? Without her liking me, I'm nothing."
"I just... can't stand being abandoned again. I want her to hurt as much as I do."
Before he could finish, the frosted glass door of his office was knocked on.
Wen Shaoyu let out a breath. "I have something here. I won't come tonight. Let's talk another time."
"Fine." Ji Shulang didn't push. "Busy little President Wen. I'll leave work early and go pick up Xiao Shu."