Pei Zhen stood under the banyan tree, his smile deepened slightly.
His aunt had never been this angry, at least not in front of him; she always presented her gentlest side.
He was very grateful to his aunt for standing up for him. A sense of security began to spread through him.
"Auntie."
He reached out and held Xu Si’s slender wrist. "Don’t worry, no one is bullying now. They’ve apologized to , and we get along very well. He’s the one who really likes soda, so he always thinks of bringing a bottle too."
Xu Si stopped and turned her head. "Really? They aren’t ganging up on you because they have more people?"
This group of delinquents was accustod to threatening people, and Pei Zhen, at this mont, seed as gentle as a lamb awaiting slaughter.
"No." He had promised not to let himself be bullied, and he wouldn’t go back on his word.
Xu Si paused, slightly stunned.
Noticing his expression showed no sign of falsehood, and having seen no new injuries on him in the past few days, the worried frown on her brow finally relaxed.
Worried he was being overly polite and formal, she knew so things still needed to be said.
Xu Si reached out and patted his shoulder, brushing off a dead leaf that had just fallen. Her voice was no longer as sharp as before. Her eyes curved into a smile, starlight dancing in their depths, reflecting an indescribable determination as she promised, "You’re not alone and helpless. You still have . I will protect you and be with you until you co of age, graduate from college, and can support yourself. This, I assure you, will never change. Understand?"
Pei Zhen, smiling, nodded.
He quietly released the fingers holding Xu Si’s wrist—polite and mindful of boundaries, afraid she might feel offended. Then he casually asked, "Auntie, don’t you want to associate with them?"
It seed as though just one affirmative word from Xu Si would make him truly sever ties with that group.
Xu Si’s attention was completely diverted by his question. Looking at the tiny red mole on the tip of his nose, a light shimring in her eyes, she patiently replied, "Of course not. You have the right to choose who you associate with. Making friends is your freedom. As long as you don’t stray onto the wrong path at this age, you can do anything that makes you happy."
As for her wrist that had just been held, Xu Si felt nothing. It didn’t count as an offense at all. She naturally took the bag from his hand, glanced at her watch, and seeing it was about ti, said, "Let’s go. I’ll go with you to et your teacher."
A beautifully printed page fluttered through the air, evidently a loose leaf from so student’s book, scattered everywhere by a sudden gust of cold wind.
A passerby picked up a page to read, but deeming it unimportant, tossed it into the trash.
The handwriting, in a gloomy and dirty corner, grew blurry, destined to mold and decay. Pieced together, the words coincidentally resembled so sort of apocalyptic revelation from a book:
"Human destiny is always a tapestry of unforeseen chances and missed connections."
"It begins to change accidentally, due to so fragnted, coincidental link."
"Even with many promises made, and the firm resolve to fulfill them,"
"The inevitable repetition of history will still occur."
...
As the two walked, Xu Si’s gaze continuously surveyed the surrounding architecture.
The décor of Imperial Noble Private Academy matched its tuition fees; every detail evoked the standards of the world’s most prestigious institutions. On the pri real estate of Hong Kong Island, it boasted extensive, interconnected lawns and lakes, cobblestone pathways, and small bridges spanning the distance between water and land. When the bell tolled, flocks of roosting birds would startle and take flight from the woods.
The hallways of the academic buildings were adorned with calligraphy and paintings that seed quite old, all masterpieces left by titans of education, imbued with strong character and righteous spirit—all authentic works rarely found elsewhere. As much as she admired it, Xu Si had studied here just a year ago. Having left not long ago, she didn’t feel particularly nostalgic.
They quickly entered the classroom.
The horoom teacher walked in, holding a sign-in sheet, introduced herself, and then began her report on the new sester’s baseline assessnt. "Parents, I am the horoom teacher of this class. Thank you for taking ti out of your busy schedules to be here..."
Actually, this parent-teacher eting wasn’t the typical kind where only the teacher speaks. Parents and students also participated, making it more like a business networking event held at the school. The only difference was that the topic of discussion had shifted from business to children.
To Xu Si’s surprise, the person discussed most was Pei Zhen.
Classmates and teachers alike praised him. They said he had outstanding grades, a gentle personality, was always willing to help his classmates, and even rescued stray animals.
The praises made Xu Si feel a little embarrassed, yet imnsely proud. Her body language beca more affable and polite. She pursed her red lips, a constant smile on her face, and whenever there was a pause, she would turn her head to look at the young man sitting beside her.
The sunlight outside the window diffused like a sheer veil.
He sat with his classmates, looking very happy, with the air of soone whose efforts had finally been acknowledged.
Xu Si only glanced once before the teacher ntioned and praised him again.
In the past, she had felt that fans spending money to support an unpopular idol didn’t quite align with the principle of equivalent exchange. But now, she thought she was beginning to understand the joy of nurturing. Raising such an outstanding and handso young man. Even without any specific goal, it must be quite enjoyable.
After the parent-teacher eting ended, as they left the classroom and walked towards the school gate, the smile still hadn’t faded from her face. Her slightly curly hair cascaded down, the light in her eyes mirroring the ripples on the lake’s surface.
Pei Zhen looked at her expression. "Auntie, are you very happy?"
Xu Si said, "Yes, very happy. Even though you’re the one they’re praising, I feel just as proud."
Pei Zhen didn’t quite understand this feeling, but as long as she was happy, that was good, he thought.
"Auntie, I will beco even better."
Xu Si’s smile grew wider. "Just do your best. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re already more capable than many people; you don’t need to be first in everything."
She had seen the young man study late into the night. Butler Ge ntioned that he often found him doing far more than his required studies, learning various languages as if he were a machine. This is too exhausting, Xu Si thought.
Pei Zhen was a bit confused. "I don’t need to be first?"
Xu Si raised an eyebrow slightly. "Yes. Is there a problem with that?"
Pei Zhen smiled gently. "Father used to tell that to be an outstanding person, you must excel in everything. Being worse than others by even a single point ant you were unqualified. Fencing, combat, academics, languages, etiquette—I had to be first in everything. If soone surpassed , I had to study even harder."
The sun was blown into the clouds by the wind, and the world dimd.
A mont of silence passed.
Xu Si suddenly understood the source of that unsettling maturity in Pei Zhen, so incongruous with his age.
She had heard recently that when the Pei Family first arrived in Hong Kong Island, they looked down on the standard education system. Instead, they had been spending heavily to hire foreign tutors for Pei Zhen, providing him with a targeted, elite education. Whether such education was good or not, she couldn’t judge.
She just said, "Azhen, in my opinion, you should just do what you want to do and refuse requests you don’t want to fulfill."
Pei Zhen asked, "Can I refuse anyone’s requests?"
"Yes, anyone’s," Xu Si affird, then paused for a mont before adding, "Just like sotis, if my requests aren’t right, you don’t necessarily have to listen; you can refuse those too."
Pei Zhen looked thoughtfully at the sky. Then, a gentle, rippling laugh escaped him, seeming to fall with the hidden sun into the dry air of the late afternoon.
"Mmm, but I don’t want to refuse Auntie’s requests."
Even if they are not right, he didn’t want to refuse.
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