Chapter 12 : Interlude: Their First Meeting

“Sorry for dropping by so suddenly…”

Ye Qingshu, dressed in light pajamas, her silhouette glowing softly in the sunset, gave a slightly forced smile to the girl sitting beside her on the couch.

“It’s fine. It’s just that no one’s home today, so I might not be the best host…”

“No, no, I’m the one who’s rude for coming over without notice! Normally, I should’ve told you a day in advance, but I only asked this afternoon after school…”

Ye Qingshu suddenly felt like her house had turned into some kind of museum.

“No need to be so formal. I really appreciate you coming to see me.”

After everything that happened, even the few girls she got along with in their two months as classmates had only sent online condolences. So Shen Yingxu’s visit genuinely surprised Ye Qingshu.

“Um, this is a small gift. Sorry, it’s a bit last-minute, so I couldn’t get anything better.”

Ye Qingshu was shocked as she accepted the gift. Knowing a bit about desserts, she was aware of the effort it took to get this particular treat Shen Yingxu had brought.

“Please share it with your family! It should stay fresh for a while.”

“That might be tricky. They’re out for dinner, so they probably won’t have room when they get back,” Ye Qingshu said with a smile, getting up to store the dessert in the fridge’s top shelf.

“Huh? You’re sick, and they went out to eat?” Shen Yingxu frowned, standing there bewildered.

“Oh, I’m just faking it,” Ye Qingshu admitted frankly, gently closing the fridge door. “Besides, those rumors reached my little sister’s school too.”

“Even so, shouldn’t they…”

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Shen Yingxu.”

Standing up, Ye Qingshu looked at Shen Yingxu’s puzzled expression and gave a soft smile.

“My mom and sister aren’t upset about the rumors.”

“They’re upset about what I did to Zhu Hanqi.”

Ye Qingshu sighed and sat back on the couch.

Her usual neat ponytail was loose, her long hair spilling over her shoulders since she was home on “sick leave.” Gone was her vibrant, youthful charm; her cheeks were flushed, and her self-mocking smile carried a faint weariness.

“…I came here partly to ask about that.”

Shen Yingxu sat up straighter, looking at Ye Qingshu.

“About those rumors and what happened between you two in the past—please tell me.”

So that’s it.

Ye Qingshu looked at Shen Yingxu’s earnest expression and sighed inwardly.

She’s worried her ex-boyfriend got tangled up with a girl like me, huh?

When she first heard Shen Yingxu call herself Zhu Hanqi’s ex, Ye Qingshu felt a surge of dark, roiling emotions. But now, it morphed into a bone-chilling cold.

Though the thought of that nauseating past made her recoil, she couldn’t refuse to talk about it, not when it was a request from his “ex-girlfriend.”

The first time she heard about Zhu Hanqi was during a casual dinner chat with her mom.

It was a rare evening when her mom wasn’t on night shift, talking with her two daughters over dinner about the new neighbor.

“The house next door got a new kid. Have you seen him, Qingshu?”

Wrestling with a chicken drumstick, Ye Qingshu didn’t even look up. “Nope. Boy or girl?”

“A boy, I think? It’s weird, though—a kid that age should have a guardian, but I’ve never seen his family.”

“Another boy.”

Ye Qingshu sighed, and in a moment of distraction, saw her little sister, Yushu, flailing to grab a chicken bone off the table with her hands.

“Hey! Yushu, no! That’s food waste, and you can’t grab stuff with your hands while eating!”

Seeing her daughter more interested in scolding her sister than in the boy, her mom gave a wry smile.

“Qingshu doesn’t like playing with boys?”

“Yeah. They’re rough, cry a lot, love climbing everywhere, and smell bad.”

Ye Qingshu said matter-of-factly.

“That boy might be different. He seems quiet, the bookish type…”

“Quiet and bookish? That’s just Mu Ziqing. He’s a nerdy crybaby. Can’t even ride a bike~”

As her mom’s friend’s son, Ye Qingshu saw Mu Ziqing as just a whiny good boy.

“Is my daughter a bit too fierce?” her mom said, rubbing her forehead with a laugh. “You might see what I mean if you meet him. He’s introverted, gentle—a type you haven’t met before.”

“Why’re you pushing me to play with him, Mom? Have you already met him? You like him, don’t you!”

Ye Qingshu’s alarm bells went off. “I knew it! Mom’s playing favorites, treating him like her own kid! No way, Mom, you’re our only parent—you can’t afford a third kid!”

“You little rascal, you’re too grown-up for your own good… Always thinking weird stuff. I told you no 8:30 soap operas,” her mom said, pinching Ye Qingshu’s chubby cheeks with a deep sigh.

“But you’re half-right. I ran into that boy on my way home today. My hands were full, and he helped carry my stuff. Super polite and sweet—”

“So you didn’t…!”

Ye Qingshu abandoned lecturing Yushu, staring wide-eyed at her mom.

“Ehe, I invited him over for dinner tomorrow~ Chased him down to his house to ask. So make sure you bring him over, okay~”

“Mom, seriously!! I can’t deal with you!!”

…

The next day.

After hesitating outside her house for ages, Ye Qingshu finally, under her mom’s encouraging and pressuring gaze, grudgingly walked to the boy’s front path.

“What’re you looking at?”

The boy, startled by her voice, jumped. He’d been squatting by the flowerbed, but now he plopped onto the ground, hastily stuffing a stone into his pocket.

“…Are you stealing something?!”

Ye Qingshu instantly grew wary.

“N-No! This is my flowerbed…”

“Then why’d you stuff that stone in your pocket? Did you steal someone’s pebbles and hide them?!”

To a kid, smooth pebbles were treasures to stash in a secret box.

“It’s not! Just a regular stone!”

He quickly pulled it out—a rough, unremarkable pebble, nothing special.

Seeing him stubbornly prove himself, Ye Qingshu felt a bit guilty.

“…Why’re you reacting so much, scaredy-cat.”

She muttered softly. “Never seen a boy this timid. Even Mu Ziqing’s braver.”

“I was just startled. You’d jump too if someone called out to you like that.”

“No way!” Ye Qingshu huffed, following his gaze to the flowerbed.

“So, what were you doing?”

“…This bug was trapped under a stone,” the boy said quietly. “Don’t know who did it, but it was probably on purpose.”

Local boys did pull pranks like that—ripping wings off flies to feed ants or tossing pill bugs onto the road to see when they’d get squashed.

“What’s the big deal?” Ye Qingshu said dismissively. “It’s just a bug.”

“But left all alone here, doesn’t the bug feel lonely?”

The boy looked up.

In that moment, Ye Qingshu met his eyes.

Those deep, dark eyes, like a starry night, held a loneliness she’d never seen, yet sparked a sincerity that made her heart pound.

“Being all alone must feel awful, right?” he said softly. The bug was freed, and he placed the stone back in the flowerbed.

“…You really don’t have a mom or dad?” If her mom heard this, she’d probably facepalm in despair.

What a gut-punch question.

But to Ye Qingshu at that moment, it was something she had to ask.

Maybe sensing no malice, the boy hesitated, then nodded.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have a dad either, but at least I’ve got Mom and my sister… You live in this big house all alone?”

“I have an uncle—no, a brother?” the boy said uncertainly. “He adopted me, but he doesn’t live with me.”

“So you do all the chores alone?!”

“No, no, I’m not that capable. My uncle hires a cleaning lady to come regularly, and for food, I can cook a lot myself…”

So different from me.

Ye Qingshu sighed inwardly.

“Then why don’t you come eat at my house from now on? Mom’s cooking anyway.”

She boldly upgraded her mom’s one-time dinner invite into a long-term meal ticket.

“Uh, no need. I don’t want to trouble you guys.”

“It’s no big deal, just eating together! And since you can cook, when Mom’s busy, you can make food for me and my sister.”

Ye Qingshu said matter-of-factly, catching a wry smile from the boy.

“It’s fine. I’m used to being alone, so if suddenly…”

“Ugh, what’s with that nonsense!”

Ye Qingshu grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

“You said ‘used to,’ not ‘like,’ right? You just said being alone feels awful, so don’t be!”

She grinned, dragging the hesitant boy from the flowerbed’s shade into the sunlight.

“I’ll eat with you from now on! I don’t like being alone either!”

“Oh, I’m Ye Qingshu. Ye as in leaf, Qing as in clear water, Shu as in book. What’s your name?”

The boy froze, his dark eyes sparkling like stars seeing the world for the first time.

“I’m Zhu Hanqi.”