Given Ji Shuhe's looks and character, logically, there should have been people trying to talk to her. But... there was also a top-level sister complex in the school—her cousin Ji Shulang, who was 1.8 meters tall and sharper than a whip.
Those who thought they could get close to her would disappear after asking Ji Shulang about it.
Wen Shaoyu understood this and often watched from the sidelines as an outsider. He'd even throw in some sarcastic comments, implying that one should never try to steal from a stubborn, devoted sister protector.
Ji Shulang rarely agreed with him, but when he did, he pointedly told Wen Shaoyu to also shoulder the responsibility of guarding the sprout's focus on studying and healthy growth. After all, both a cousin and a neighbor could be considered big brothers—everyone had a duty.
But Wen Shaoyu flatly refused, dredging up the old story when Ji Shulang first forbade Ji Shuhe from calling him "brother."
Ji Shulang fell silent, scheming about something, then grabbed Wen Shaoyu by the collar and called him calculating and underhanded. Then they went from arguing to wrestling—a childish and boring scene not worth detailing.
After spring started, around the end of March, Xia Chun, who had been in the UK for a few months, finally prepared to return to China. This time, she flew directly to Yuanjing without passing through Xinhai, meaning no chance to squeeze in a meeting with her daughter.
So before returning, she called Ji Shuhe, perfunctorily performing guilt and helplessness. But her acting was too poor; Ji Shuhe didn't feel a shred of sincerity.
But she cared less now.
Ji Shuhe began to realize she had grown up. Facing Xia Chun's broken promises, she no longer felt disappointed or sad. She responded calmly, even politely reminding Xia Chun to take care of herself despite being busy with work.
That should have been the perfect ending.
But intuition is strange.
Xia Chun, who should have felt gratified by her daughter's thoughtfulness, instead hung up with a frown, feeling uneasy.
As for the reason...
In the past, when her daughter relied on her completely, she felt it was a shackle, a restraint, a loss of freedom under the guise of family. But now that Ji Shuhe no longer admired her or needed her urgently, it felt like something that belonged to her was drifting away.
That feeling was familiar to Xia Chun. It was the same as what had happened with her husband, Ji Shuhe's father.
But they were different.
Ji Xiangjiang was her husband. Maybe there had been feelings once, but he was just a substitute after her romantic disappointment. Losing him might cause a brief sadness, but it didn't matter much.
But Ji Shuhe was different. She gave birth to her. The life she carried for ten months should, before fully fledged, belong completely to her.
Xia Chun took a few deep breaths, suppressing the unease in her heart.
Leaving her in Xinhai was a temporary compromise. As soon as the Yong'anli demolition contract was signed, it would be soon. Soon, she would...
At the end of June that year, the Yong'anli relocation project officially started. The relocation team set up their office in the former tobacco shop across the alley. After checking the household registrations and property conditions of those within the expropriation area, they quickly launched the first round of intention surveys.
The long-awaited relocation was just beginning. The adults, whenever they met, talked about nothing but compensation plans and lottery-based house selection. They'd pull out calculators anytime to figure out how much money they'd get.
But the kids didn't care about that. They were finally on summer break and wanted to have some fun after studying for months.
As soon as the break started, An Qing made plans to go shopping with Ji Shuhe. Not far from Yong'anli was Xinhai's most famous bookstore, six stories tall, with everything from children's books to study guides, web novels, and classics.
They braved the scorching sun, found some books, and sat on the stairs like others. Morning flew by quickly. Time was easy to kill.
When they got hungry, they grabbed a bite at a nearby fast-food joint. If they didn't want to go home, they'd just sit in the shop, chatting and playing games.
Ji Shuhe wasn't good at real-time battle games and lost several rounds in a row. An Qing, who lost ranking points because of her, didn't get mad. She gathered friends to form a sure-win team, determined to let Ji Shuhe experience the joy of being carried.
Whether Ji Shuhe ended up loving games was hard to say, but after a week of such indulgence, An Qing's mother quickly tightened the reins.
Parents of kids their age seemed more anxious than the kids themselves. For an uncertain bright future, they'd self-sacrificingly spend money to pave the way.
So An Qing and her sister were both packed off to tutoring classes, just like Ji Shulang—all day, all subjects, all around. Though An Yao was in the fast class, and An Qing could only join the regular one.
Ji Shuhe often received messages from An Qing during her tutoring hours, covering everything except studying. She was probably spacing out in class.
But soon, Ji Shuhe didn't have time to care whether An Qing was actually learning.
In mid-July, the senior year students officially started their break. Predictably, Ji Shulang started his tutoring. But surprisingly, Ji Shuhe also got her own task.
"Task" might not be the right word, because it was more like she was the one benefiting.
Now that summer vacation had begun, all the kids in the alley were out of school. The high school students were under academic pressure and, though at home, were rarely seen. But punks like Jiang Hao, who learned a trade but refused to intern, roamed the alley looking for trouble.
Granny Zheng was worried about another fight like last summer's. Even though that kid wasn't a good egg, she didn't want Wen Shaoyu to lose his temper. Just then, she heard the Ji family was considering sending Ji Shuhe to math and physics tutoring. She immediately offered Wen Shaoyu's help.
She had noticed that since Ji Shuhe moved into No. 86, Wen Shaoyu's quick temper had caused fewer incidents. This kid was only good for his grades, so if he could really help Ji Shuhe, putting them together would save her a lot of worry.
Wen Shaoyu had no objection, and Ji Shuhe couldn't find a reason to refuse. After Granny Zheng convinced the hesitant Ji grandparents, Ji Shuhe started a daily routine of going to the library.
Of course, not every day was at the library. Sometimes, with their bags packed, Wen Shaoyu would ask if she wanted to feed the cats, then ignore her obvious hesitation and drag her through the alley to find stray cats nearby.
Under the scorching summer sun, they'd coax a bunch of fluffy balls out of the grass but never dared to touch them. When it was too hot, Wen Shaoyu would buy ice pops from a nearby shop. They'd sit in the shade, zoning out, talking about Yuanjing and Xinhai, spending a dull day together.
They did the cat-feeding thing about once a week, avoiding the neighbors, wandering through the old alley that still felt like a labyrinth to Ji Shuhe. Red brick walls and blue stone slabs—just like last summer. But this time, Wen Shaoyu carried her bag of books for her, walking unhurriedly ahead.
Ji Shuhe felt like she had done all sorts of ridiculous things with Wen Shaoyu.
They'd come home from a fun outing, and she'd calmly claim to have just returned from the library. If it weren't for Lizi sniffing the cat smell on them and refusing to come near, even she would have believed it.
Ji Shuhe knew that, in common terms, this was called "going bad."
But deep down, well-behaved kids probably all had a rebellious streak. At least, she did.
Of course, she had to maintain appearances. Most of the time, they really were at the library. The district library was clean, bright, and quiet, with better air conditioning than at home—perfect for focused study.
Wen Shaoyu was strict when tutoring. From uniformly accelerated linear motion to all kinds of functions, when he found a problem she repeatedly got wrong, he wouldn't say much. He'd just tap the printed text with his pen tip and turn to look at her.
Ji Shuhe began to fear Wen Shaoyu. Not the same fear she'd felt when they first met, seeing his fierceness—this was the terror of being dominated by math and physics.
She dreaded hearing him suddenly say that if she improved math and physics by twenty points each, she'd enter the top ten of her grade.