He still went to see Jin Mo.
For the last time.
He repeated this to himself over and over.
He simply didn't want to be harassed by her anymore—nothing more. He definitely wasn't expecting anything.
The Chinese restaurant served the dishes.
The former mother and son had become strangers. The woman sat stiffly across from him. "The procedures for your grandfather's house are all done—it all belongs to you now."
"…"
The woman was clearly nervous, her hands not knowing where to rest, yet she forced a smile and picked up food for him. "A'yu has really grown up. Try this—this place has good fish. Didn't you always love fish?"
"I don't like fish," he said.
He hated food that was troublesome and time-consuming to eat.
"You don't?" Jin Mo found it strange. "But I remember when you were little, you'd always pester me asking for fish. If I didn't make it for you, you'd cry and whine."
"That was Qi Siyuan."
He had never cried in front of her either.
Only children who were loved had the right to cry.
"…" Jin Mo froze for a moment, then awkwardly set down her chopsticks. "I'm sorry. Mother is getting old—my memory is failing too."
"If there's something you need, just say it directly."
Jin Mo pressed her lips together, looking embarrassed. "A'Yuan's condition isn't good."
Xiao Jinyu looked at her across the table, his gaze mocking. "So what? What does that have to do with me?"
Jin Mo looked at him in surprise. "How can you say that? Even if you don't acknowledge me as your mother, we're still family by blood. A'Yuan is your cousin."
Xiao Jinyu no longer wanted to beat around the bush with her, nor did he want to play the role of a loving brother in front of her. "I already agreed to do the matching test and to donate. There's no need for you to deliberately try to please me. If you're afraid I'll back out halfway, you can wait for someone else."
He knew Jin Mo didn't trust him. She was afraid he'd hold a grudge over the past, afraid he'd back out after Qi Siyuan's marrow was ablated, causing her son's death.
But on the other hand, she couldn't bear to give up his blood, which was a perfect 10/10 match with Qi Siyuan. After all, the probability of a perfect match between unrelated people was extremely low—roughly one in a million. If she didn't use his, whether Qi Siyuan could wait for another donor was unknown.
"You won't," Jin Mo quickly explained. "I raised you. I trust your character. Besides, you're a medical student—educated and well-bred. You know this isn't scary at all. It's just donating some blood. You're not like those ignorant people out there."
Xiao Jinyu said nothing, his gaze growing colder as he watched her.
Jin Mo began to feel guilty. "A'yu, mother is really…"
"Ms. Jin, please stop referring to yourself that way. The moment you sent me back to the orphanage, our adoptive relationship ended."
Jin Mo choked up, unable to continue. That incident was like a thorn lodged between them, constantly reminding her of how unreasonable her current request was.
But she couldn't afford to care about that anymore. Her child was lying in the hospital—if surgery wasn't performed soon, his life would be in danger.
She lowered her face. "I'm sorry. It was all my fault. I was petty. I was wary of you, afraid you'd compete with A'Yuan in the future, so I sent you away. It's only right that you blame me. But A'Yuan is innocent. He always loved following you around when he was little, chasing after you calling you 'big brother.' I hope you two can still…"
Xiao Jinyu cut her off. "I don't care about his affairs."
"A'yu, I know you resent me, blame me for abandoning you. But can you put your hand on your heart and think—in the ten years I raised you, did I ever mistreat you? Was I not good to you?"
"…"
Yes, she had been very good to him. If she hadn't been so good to him, he wouldn't still harbor illusions ten years later.
"If I hadn't adopted you back then, when your grandfather passed away, you would have had to go to an orphanage. Can you imagine what kind of life that would have been? If I hadn't taken you in, fed you, clothed you, and given you the best education, would you really have gotten into such a good university? They say raising a child outweighs giving birth to one. Isn't ten years of affection worth a little repayment from you?"
Jin Mo's eyes reddened, but Xiao Jinyu only watched her in silence.
It was that look again. She wished he would hate her, curse at her, vent his emotions hysterically—anything but this cold, hollow stare.
She was terrified of that look, because no matter what you did to him, he remained indifferent. You could never guess what he was thinking. Sometimes she felt like she was trying to warm a stone that would never heat up.
Fine. There was no point in saying more.
Jin Mo lowered her head and took out a bank card from her bag. "There's three hundred thousand here. The password is your birthday. Use it as you like."
Xiao Jinyu looked at her, almost in disbelief. "Do you think I came here today to ask you for money?"
"Whether you did or not," Jin Mo said, eyes downcast, "this is the nutritional allowance for the donor. I'll be going now. Take care of yourself."
Jin Mo left.
Xiao Jinyu sat in place for a long time. He felt exhausted—not sad, exactly, just tired to the point of numbness. He couldn't even tell what he was feeling anymore; every emotion had been replaced by a dull blankness.
Outside, rain began to fall, a soft patter with barely any sound, streaking down the glass in rivulets like trails of tears.
Xiao Jinyu left the restaurant with his umbrella.
The rain grew heavier. He stood outside for a while, when a white cat suddenly burst out from the shrubbery, darting past and kicking him in the leg as it went.
Xiao Jinyu looked over. A white Persian cat—clearly a show-grade pedigree by the look of it. Whether it had been abandoned or had gotten lost, he couldn't tell.
He crouched down and pulled a packet of biscuits from his pocket to feed it. The Persian was wary, hesitating before creeping out to eat his offering, then quickly retreating back under the holly bush, meowing at him several times. He couldn't understand it, but he figured it was probably swearing pretty colorfully.
Man and cat stared at each other.
Xiao Jinyu let out a scoff. "With a temper like that, no wonder you got dumped."
"Meow~"
On Saturday, Wen Li invited Cheng Xiling out for some shopping.
The two walked until dusk before heading back. The sky had turned gloomy, and halfway home, the rain started to fall.
They ducked into a bus shelter.
Wen Li folded her umbrella. "This rain really picked a bad time."
Cheng Xiling stared blankly at the rain outside.
After a moment, she spoke. "Lili."
"Hm?"
"I've been in a bad mood lately, so I was a bit short with you. I'm sorry."
Wen Li brushed it off. "Oh, you mean the apple thing? I already forgot about it. Friends don't need to say sorry to each other. Besides, I was in the wrong too—I shouldn't have meddled in your personal business."
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you." Cheng Xiling's voice was soft. "It's just… it's complicated. I didn't know how to explain it. If there's ever a chance—"
"Hey, wait!"
Before Cheng Xiling could finish, Wen Li grabbed her arm, eyes going wide. "Look over there! Isn't that…?"
Cheng Xiling followed her gaze.
Across the street was a small park. Through the rain, the outlines of the trees blurred, the rustling wind wrapping around the raindrops, everything hazy at a glance.
A figure stood beneath a plane tree. He turned his head in the wind and rain—pale, cool skin, pitch-black eyes, and features so indifferent they betrayed not a trace of emotion.
Cheng Xiling squinted to make him out. "That's… Xiao Jinyu?"
"Yep, that's him!"
This was what they meant by: when God closes a door, he leaves a doggy door.
Without a second thought, Wen Li popped open her umbrella and made to chase after him. "I'll go give him an umbrella."
"Huh?" Cheng Xiling quickly grabbed her arm. "But he already has one."
Wen Li looked more carefully—he did indeed have a black long-handled umbrella in his hand, but it wasn't open.
Standing in the rain without opening your umbrella—what was that supposed to mean? Trying to look cool? Well, if that was the case, she thought for two seconds, and with a crack, snapped her own umbrella in half.
Cheng Xiling: "?"
"I don't have an umbrella now. I'll go borrow his."
Cheng Xiling: "…" That actually works.
Wen Li instructed her, "Take my stuff back to the dorm for me."
Cheng Xiling nodded, dazed, watching as Wen Li hooked shopping bag after shopping bag onto her fingers, until one blue bag remained. "This one's for you."
Cheng Xiling blinked. "For me?"
"Yeah."
Earlier that afternoon at the mall, Cheng Xiling had tried on a white chiffon dress. She'd loved it, but it was too expensive—even after the discount it was over nine hundred, almost a month's worth of her food budget. She'd had to say she didn't like it and reluctantly hung it back on the rack.
She never expected Wen Li to go back and buy it.
Cheng Xiling naturally refused. "No, this dress is too expensive."
"Think of it as a thank-you gift for shopping with me. It looks really good on you."
Cheng Xiling's emotions were complicated, her eyes slightly moist.
But Wen Li had no time for her gratitude right now—her gaze was fixed anxiously on the boy across the street, afraid he'd disappear the moment she looked away. "Okay, I gotta go. Take the rest back to the dorm for me, thanks!"
Cheng Xiling wanted to say something more, but Wen Li had already run into the rain.
She gripped her umbrella handle tightly, watching Wen Li charge recklessly and unreasonably into a world that didn't belong to her.
She couldn't understand it, honestly. How could someone be so thick-skinned? Xiao Jinyu never paid her any attention, yet she could still show up in front of him so brazenly. Didn't she feel embarrassed at all?
But watching that shrinking figure in the distance, she suddenly felt a twinge of envy.
_
Xiao Jinyu had noticed the figure across the street long ago.
Her gaze was burning and unapologetic. She hurried across the road, splashing through puddles as she ran toward him, then came to an abrupt stop. A faint scent of jasmine drifted over with the rain.
Through the rain, she tilted her face up and greeted him with easy familiarity. "Hey, Xiao Jinyu."
Her voice was bright and cheerful, with a slight upward lilt on the last syllable that made him think, for a split second, she'd called him "Little Goldfish."
Xiao Jinyu said nothing, just looked down at her.
That unfamiliar look again—the same one he'd given her a few days ago when he mistook her for a supermarket promoter. Wen Li had every reason to suspect: "You don't remember me again, do you?"
In his past life, he must have been a goldfish, with a memory that lasted only seven seconds.
Xiao Jinyu: "I remember."
Wen Li didn't believe him: "Who am I?"
Xiao Jinyu: "Wen Li."
Her name rolled off his tongue without any warmth, yet it sent a tingling sensation through her ears. Wen Li finally brightened and continued, "My name is Wen Li. You can call me Lili. I'm nineteen years old, 161 centimeters tall, 55 kilograms, and I live at—"
"Is something the matter?" Xiao Jinyu cut her off, because if he didn't stop her, she'd probably go as far as telling him her family's bank card password.
"Oh, well, since we're acquainted now, and it's raining so hard and I didn't bring an umbrella, could you walk me back to my dorm?"
Xiao Jinyu didn't respond, as if hesitating.
The rain kept falling. She was drenched and a bit disheveled, strands of messy hair clinging to her cheeks. Her amber eyes sparkled with a bright, smiling light as she looked up at him expectantly.
After a moment, he raised his hand and offered her the long black-handled umbrella.
Wen Li looked down at the umbrella, then back up at him: "The umbrella… you're giving it to me?"
"Yeah."
"What about you?"
"Don't need it."
Wen Li: "…"
Can't flirt with him. Absolutely can't flirt with him at all.