Xie Ning's barrage of questions left Wei Zhao at a loss for where to begin.
Because he was completely frozen. Xie Ning was too close to him—close enough that he could only see the other boy's big, round eyes, filled with pure, innocent curiosity.
Wei Zhao abruptly stepped back a full pace, lowered his head slightly, and only then said, "No, it's not."
Xie Ning tilted his head. "Then what's your name? Where do you live?"
In his heart, he found this person very strange—beyond what his little head could comprehend.
Xie Ning stared blankly for a few seconds, failed to come up with an answer, and simply decided not to think about it anymore. All he knew was that he wanted to be friends with the person in front of him.
"Wei Zhao. I live in that courtyard." As he spoke, Wei Zhao pointed to a desolate side courtyard not far ahead—one that looked as though no one had tended to it in years.
Xie Ning grew excited upon hearing this. A neighbor! It would be so convenient to find him and play together in the future.
So he directly grabbed Wei Zhao's hand, led him to the dog hole from earlier, pointed at it, and generously told him, "If you go in through here, you'll find me. From now on, this will be our secret base!"
Wei Zhao's expression was clearly hesitant. A dog hole as a secret base?
But after glancing at Xie Ning's silly, beaming face, he swallowed his words and nodded reluctantly. "Okay."
Hearing his agreement, Xie Ning was instantly delighted. In his eyes, this meant they had already become good friends.
This was the first good friend he'd made since arriving in the capital!
"I almost thought I wouldn't be able to find you just now," Xie Ning said, his chatterbox opening up now that he'd decided the other was his friend. "Let me introduce you—this is my good friend dog, Xiao Bai."
Xie Ning bent down, scooped up Xiao Bai, and tried to hand him to Wei Zhao.
Unexpectedly, Wei Zhao took a big step back, steadied himself, and only then answered the earlier statement. "I've been waiting here for you for several days."
Xie Ning and the Xiao Bai in his arms both radiated a wilted, deflated aura as they listlessly followed up, "Why were you waiting for me? I never said I'd come looking for you."
"I wanted to return something to you, but I didn't know where to find you, so…"
So he could only come to the place where they'd met every day and wait, thinking—what if the other boy came back again?
Xie Ning's expression remained lifeless. "Oh."
Wei Zhao's half-step backward just now had wounded both his and Xiao Bai's hearts. He wasn't truly sincere about being their friend!
"I… I'm sorry…" Wei Zhao reached out a hand, trying to step forward, but at the sight of Xiao Bai, he stopped in place, looking somewhat helpless. "Sorry. I was bitten by a dog before, so I'm a little afraid."
After saying this, Wei Zhao looked at Xie Ning with almost hopeful eyes.
Ever since his parents had passed, his former playmates had gradually drifted away, and the boys of his clan only used him for their own amusement.
It was his closest cousin, Wei Jiyu, who had once said he wanted to go out and play together—only for Wei Zhao to end up locked in a cage with an unstable Tibetan mastiff, all so Wei Jiyu could watch his terrified expression.
The matter eventually reached Grandmother, who upheld justice and punished Wei Jiyu publicly. But later, as Grandmother's health declined, the other boy began to retaliate deliberately, constantly tripping him up in private—knowing full well that Wei Zhao would never bring such matters to Grandmother's attention and trouble her.
He had been alone for a long time, and this was the first time someone had proactively said they wanted to be friends with him.
He wanted that too.
Hearing this, Xie Ning held Xiao Bai out again, trying to explain, "Xiao Bai is really well-behaved, he won't bite!"
But for Wei Zhao, who was afraid of dogs, this had no effect whatsoever. His whole body tensed up, and he took another step back.
Seeing this, Xie Ning seemed to think of something and his face filled with anger.
"Is it those people who bullied you last time?!" Xie Ning said indignantly.
Wei Zhao fell silent, pondering how best to answer.
In Xie Ning's eyes, this was an admission of guilt, and he immediately grabbed Wei Zhao's hand, fuming, "I'm going to find them and get revenge for you!"
It was deeply moving.
It had only been a few days since their first meeting, and Xie Ning was already willing to stand up for him again.
However, Wei Zhao stood rooted to the spot, not being pulled along. He looked at Xie Ning with hesitation in his eyes.
Not that he could be blamed for this—Xie Ning was half a head shorter than him, and although his body looked sturdy, placed before people like Wei Zeyu and his gang, he clearly didn't measure up.
It was the complete visual of an adorable little white rabbit facing off against street mongrels.
Although Wei Zhao was touched by his willingness to go to bat for him, he was even more unwilling to see him get hurt.
Xie Ning pulled with all his might but couldn't budge him. He turned his head to look at him, and though he didn't say a word, the anger on his face hadn't subsided, now mixed with a hint of confusion.
"The other side has a lot of helpers. There's only the two of us—it's too dangerous." Wei Zhao saw his expression and suppressed the urge to laugh as he explained.
"Who said there's only the two of us!"
Xie Ning refused to accept this, puffing out his chest in rebuttal.
Hearing this, Wei Zhao was confused for a moment too, looking left and right—could he really summon other people?
Then the next second, Xie Ning answered his confusion, pointing and saying, "How could you forget Xiao Bai? Xiao Bai is also a comrade on our side!"
Wei Zhao: "…"
Wei Zhao silently watched the little yellow dog on the ground, panting foolishly and circling around Xie Ning's feet, looking like it could be kicked flying with a single kick.
Just like its owner, radiating foolishness.
At this point, even his fear had dissipated considerably.
"But we need to plan this carefully and come up with a perfect strategy, right?" Seeing that this approach wasn't working, Wei Zhao quickly thought of a new excuse.
Hearing this, Xie Ning adopted a thoughtful pose, making a seven with his fingers and resting them under his chin.
"You make a good point."
Wei Zhao secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly changed the subject, "Want to come to my place and hang out?"
"Sure, sure!" Xie Ning immediately seemed to forget what he'd said before, jumping up excitedly.
…
Though he called it his home, it was more like a temporary lodging. Apart from the essential furniture, there was nothing else, and it didn't look like someone had lived there for long.
Xie Ning hopped around inside, his eyes darting everywhere.
"Do you live here alone?"
Wei Zhao shook his head and replied, "There's also a personal attendant, but he went out shopping today and probably won't be back until evening."
"So just the two of you live here?"
Wei Zhao was puzzled—why would the same question be asked twice?—but he still nodded.
"Great! Then I can come play with you often from now on. We need to agree on a secret signal," Xie Ning paced around thoughtfully, then picked up a pebble from the ground, "Let's use this—throw three pebbles in, and that means I'm here."
Wei Zhao reminded him, "You can knock on the door, and I'll come open it for you."
No need to climb the wall.
"How can that be? My father said that children need to be careful about their safety and shouldn't open the door for strangers." Xie Ning looked up and explained seriously.
Wei Zhao had been living here for a while, so he naturally knew that the residence next door belonged to Shen Wang.
Although he had never seen Xie Ning before, he occasionally heard people mention that Xie Ning seemed to be Lord Shen's child. The "father" he spoke of must be Lord Shen.
Others feared Shen Wang's methods, considering his style brutal and unreasonable, but Wei Zhao was different—he deeply admired him.
Because only by becoming as powerful as Lord Shen could one protect oneself and those around them; otherwise, one could only suffer bullying.
Thinking of this, Wei Zhao couldn't help but lower his eyes, hiding all his emotions.
Since Lord Shen had said so, he would listen to Xie Ning.
Although the process was completely wrong, the two finally got on the same wavelength.
Xiao Bai, now in a new environment, was also more excited than before and began running around the courtyard.
Wei Zhao strode inside and pulled out everything edible and fun from the house.
When he came back out, he found Xie Ning already crouching on the ground, tinkering with something on his own.
"What are you doing?"
Wei Zhao was startled when he saw Xie Ning holding a fire striker in his hand.
"You even have playhouse stuff here—how fun!" Xie Ning looked up, his face already smudged with soot, looking like a little tabby cat.
Wei Zhao glanced at him and fell silent.
Sometimes the household staff would forget to bring him meals, so he and the servant boy had set up a simple stove and occasionally cooked for themselves.
But clearly, Xie Ning had mistaken it for a toy.
Wei Zhao's expression was complicated—how could someone be so naive, yet open their heart so unconditionally?
What if he were a bad person? Wouldn't Xie Ning be easily hurt?
But if Xie Ning knew what he was thinking, Xie Ning would surely puff out his chest proudly and declare, "You wouldn't understand this—I can sense whether someone is good or bad, and I only befriend the good ones!"
"…"
The two played to their hearts' content. Just then, Xie Ning vaguely heard someone calling his name from outside. His whole body stiffened, afraid that his sneaking out had been discovered.
"I have to go now. Bye!" Xie Ning waved his hand and said reluctantly, "If you miss me, you can come find me through the secret base."
Wei Zhao nodded and, imitating his gesture, waved back. "Bye?"
It was getting late. If he didn't return soon, he might be discovered.
Xie Ning knew he couldn't delay any longer, so he swiftly crawled back through the dog hole and spoke to Wei Zhao through the wall: "I'll come play with you again tomorrow!"
With that, he left.
When he arrived at the front hall, he discovered that his father had actually come home early today. He was sitting in the center, with Butler Liu and Wen Qingyuan on either side, and there was also someone he didn't recognize.
Xie Ning was feeling guilty at the moment and didn't dare look up at him. He called out weakly, "Father."
Shen Wang looked down at him.
He looked like a dirty little bun—hair disheveled, face covered in dust from who knows where, clothes all filthy, as if he'd been out causing trouble.
Usually, he did everything with confidence, but now he wore an extremely rare guilty expression that was easy to see through.
Shen Wang naturally wasn't worried about his safety. From the very first day, he had arranged for shadow guards to be by Xie Ning's side.
But unless it was a life-threatening situation, he would never show up.
He would also come daily to report Xie Ning's daily schedule, so in truth, no matter what Xie Ning secretly got up to, it was all under Shen Wang's watchful eye.
Rarely, today was a good opportunity to teach him a lesson.
Shen Wang kept a stern face, but a slight smile crept in as he introduced to Xie Ning, "Come, this is Teacher Cen. From now on, he will be the one to teach you reading and writing."
The moment the words fell, Xie Ning's smile froze. He turned his head in disbelief to look at this unfamiliar person beside him, then back at Shen Wang.
Wh…what? Studying again?!
The nightmare of being kept after class to do homework resurfaced in his mind—if he didn't finish, he'd be scolded, and he'd lose the freedom to play with his good friends.
"I! DON'T! WANT TO!"