On the day of registration, Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi treated it as a major event. Both of them got up early.
Bai Huan woke up halfway through his sleep to use the bathroom and found the two of them packing his schoolbag. He went back to sleep, and by the time he woke up again, the sun was already high in the sky. Yet the two of them were still fussing over his schoolbag, debating whether it would be better to bring a fountain pen or a ballpoint pen...
What a fuss over nothing. No wonder they'd had to get up so early.
"I'm supposed to use this schoolbag?" Bai Huan expressed his opinion of the coarse, sky-blue canvas schoolbag sitting on the chair.
Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi exchanged glances before Chen Yuanyuan spoke with some difficulty. "Taimi, those bags of yours are too expensive. They're not suitable for taking to school. It would be such a shame if you accidentally got them dirty."
Bai Huan had originally wanted to say that he could simply buy another one if it got dirty. But then he remembered how difficult it was to get money out of Bai Mingzhen. And what if Bai Mingzhen deducted the cost from his ten million yuan in savings? How long could ten million yuan possibly last?
Thus, even the young master found himself hesitating over a mere fifty-thousand-yuan backpack.
"This schoolbag," Wang Caiyi said, picking it up to show Bai Huan, "I personally chose the fabric and asked your Aunt Zhen to sew it by hand. I told her you liked puppies, mint, and chamomile. Look, there's even a little Xiao He here. Doesn't it look alike?"
Only after hearing that it was entirely handmade did Bai Huan finally deign to give it a glance. He took the schoolbag and examined it carefully.
"Is the puppy hand-painted?"
"Your Aunt Zhen embroidered the puppy's head on the shoulder strap, and I painted this whole puppy on the back," Wang Caiyi explained.
Bai Huan examined it carefully in the sunlight. The puppy Wang Caiyi had painted wasn't simply pure white. She had mixed gold pigment into the paint, making it look as though the puppy on the schoolbag were standing in the sunlight too, its fur sparkling.
"It's pretty. Thank you, Mom."
Receiving Bai Huan's approval for once, Wang Caiyi covered her mouth, nearly bursting into tears.
She was naturally sentimental, but the tears welling in her eyes weren't simply because her child had finally acknowledged her efforts. For some time now, she had been living with the constant fear that she couldn't make Taimi feel any sense of belonging to this family, to her and Chen Yuanyuan.
She knew that Xiao Chen was living well with the Bai family, but she didn't know whether Taimi was happy living with her.
Come to think of it, this was the first time Bai Huan had received a gift personally made by his mother.
It also brought back certain memories he had deliberately blurred in his mind.
Bai Mushan and Cheng Yueqing had hated being parents. Raising children was endlessly troublesome and brought no sense of accomplishment. Other pursuits could elevate a person above everyone else, but raising children? Children were nothing but little bloodsuckers.
Of the two supposed "twins," Bai Xing had always been far better than Bai Huan at reading the room and knowing his place.
When they were very young, around two or three years old, if the nanny happened to be absent when they wet themselves and needed their diapers changed, they were expected to wait.
Bai Huan, however, refused to wait.
He would stagger off to find Cheng Yueqing, interrupting her afternoon tea.
Cheng Yueqing told him to wait, but he couldn't bear it and overturned the ladies' table.
So Cheng Yueqing locked him in his room to teach him a lesson, then forgot to let him out.
When Bai Mingzhen returned from school and couldn't find his younger brother, he eventually discovered him and let him out. By then, all Bai Huan could do was cling to his older brother and cry.
Having been left sitting in his own urine and feces until late at night, the little boy subsequently suffered from a badly irritated bottom for more than half a month.
Bai Huan held grudges. Even now, remembering that incident made him terribly sad.
And he wasn't the sort of person who could keep such feelings bottled up.
His fingers traced the puppy Wang Caiyi had painted, and suddenly he asked, "Mom, would you change my diapers on time?"
"What?" Wang Caiyi was completely bewildered.
"When I was little, Cheng Yueqing wouldn't change my diapers, and my bottom got all sore. If it had been you, would you have changed them?" Bai Huan asked again.
"What?!"
Wang Caiyi's face instantly flushed bright red, as though she were about to explode. She looked nothing like her usual elegant, artistic self.
"Would you have changed them?" Bai Huan persisted stubbornly.
Under Chen Yuanyuan's reassuring gaze, Wang Caiyi struggled to calm herself.
The tears that had already gathered in her eyes finally spilled over. She nodded repeatedly, unable to stop herself.
"Yes, yes! Of course Mommy would have changed them for you!"
Compared with the two of them, Bai Huan was considerably more rational.
He agreed to use the canvas bag, which wasn't worth much and gave him nothing to show off. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that the bag was far beneath his taste.
In the end, he couldn't resist pinning two Tiffany floral brooches onto it.
He changed into his school uniform in his room. Chen Yuanyuan had all his documents and other necessities, so there was nothing for him to worry about.
When he entered the living room, he noticed that the couple still seemed to be in their bedroom.
He paused, then went outside first, waiting in the corridor while playing with his phone.
The teenager leaned against the balcony railing, one leg bent and the other swinging idly.
He tapped out a message to Bai Mingzhen, asking when he would arrive.
Bai Mingzhen sent him a photograph.
Bai Huan opened it and enlarged it, discovering that it showed a school sign bearing the words Lanshuitang No. 1 High School.
-I've already arrived. I'm having breakfast while I wait.
Now that he was the one running late, Bai Huan felt guilty and left the message on read.
He glanced back into the apartment.
Still no movement.
"Hello? Put Miss Cheng on the phone."
Inside, Wang Caiyi had tried calling the Bai family residence, but nobody answered. Cheng Yueqing wasn't picking up either, so she had no choice but to call the butler.
"Has something happened to Young Master Bai Huan?"
The butler's bewildered question carried an indescribable arrogance to Wang Caiyi's ears.
Gritting her teeth, she twisted the fabric of her skirt between her fingers. She lowered her voice, desperately holding back her tears.
"Why didn't any of you change Taimi's diapers when he was little?! Why wouldn't you change them?!"
"...Ah... When he was little? I don't remember... Bringing this up now... Is life..."
Over the phone, all that could be heard clearly was Wang Caiyi's rapid, distressed breathing.
"The way your lives and your child have turned out has nothing to do with our madam. If you and Mr. Chen have any sense, you should cherish what you have now. If you feel you've wronged the young master, then what you should be doing isn't coming to trouble our madam, but treating the young master a little better."
"The Bai family has already done everything it reasonably could by allowing the young master to grow up as a child of the Bai family. Yet you're still making a fuss over diapers and such things. You're being utterly unreasonable. This is no way for an adult to behave."
Even Chen Yuanyuan, normally a mild-mannered intellectual, lost his temper.
"What kind of thing is that to say? Taimi was only two or three years old back then!"
Chen Yuanyuan grew furious, and then he began to cry too.
The call had somehow ended.
A little child had been left without anyone to change his diapers.
Even though more than a decade had passed, how could that not make them angry and heartbroken? Even if it had happened right before their eyes, they would have felt the same.
But they still had to accompany Bai Huan to register for school.
The two of them could only wipe away their tears, hearts overflowing with regret. They washed their faces again and checked each other's appearance to make sure nothing seemed amiss before finally picking up their bags and opening the door.
Outside, in the corridor, the teenager was squatting on the stairway, his head lowered as he talked to He Chu, who was sitting a few steps below him eating noodles.
"School starts for me today."
"Mine started last week. My school's across from yours."
"Then we can go back to Taohua Lane together tonight."
"I have to work."
Bai Huan immediately took offense and prepared to pinch some dust off the floor between his fingers and sprinkle it into He Chu's bowl.
"Ahem, ahem."
Chen Yuanyuan coughed twice, his hands clasped behind his back.
Bai Huan hurriedly withdrew his hand.
"Dad!"
When he called out, his eyes were dark and bright as he looked up at Chen Yuanyuan, like raindrops still warm with steam.
Lanshuitang No. 1 High School was a first-rate high school in the town, with excellent educational resources.
Many of its veteran teachers were deeply attached to their hometown and couldn't be lured away even with generous salaries. Year after year, they produced large numbers of students who gained admission to prestigious Project 985 and Project 211 universities.
As a result, quite a few students from neighboring towns also came here to study.
Outside the school gates, people and vehicles were packed so tightly together that the crowd seemed completely impenetrable.
Bai Mingzhen had gone to a breakfast shop across the street, where he drank soy milk and ate fried dough sticks.
No matter how extraordinary his appearance and bearing were, nobody would mistake him for a high school boy.
A young man around his age struggled through the crowd until he reached Bai Mingzhen's side.
"Bro, bro! This is my fifth time repeating my final year. What number are you on?"
"..."
After receiving Bai Mingzhen's location, Bai Huan jumped out of Chen Yuanyuan's car and ran straight over.
When he saw some man crowding around Bai Mingzhen and chattering away, he wasn't particularly pleased.
He walked over and squeezed the man aside.
The young man was stunned.
"Who are you?"
"Who are you?" Bai Huan politely returned the question.
The young man scratched his head.
"Nobody in particular. I just came here to eat fried dough sticks. Want some?"
"Thank you, I've already eaten."
With that, Bai Huan turned around.
Then he noticed the bluish-purple bruise on Bai Mingzhen's forehead.
It was only a small patch, partly concealed by his bangs, but Bai Mingzhen's skin was so fair that Bai Huan spotted it immediately.
"You... What's this... This thing on your forehead..."
Bai Huan reached up with both hands and thoroughly mussed Bai Mingzhen's hair, pushing it away from his forehead.
"How did you get it?"
Bai Mingzhen didn't answer.
After paying the bill, he picked up his bag and took Bai Huan by the hand, leading him out of the breakfast shop.
He greeted Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi, who were waiting outside, before pulling Bai Huan aside beneath a tree where there were fewer people.
He explained what had happened in an offhand manner.
But Bai Huan had grown up in the Bai family. He knew their temperaments all too well.
Sure enough, the moment he heard the explanation, he exploded.
"That old coffin! He's practically got one foot in the grave!"
Calling someone an "old coffin" was more or less the same as calling them an old bastard who refused to die.
Seeing how sharp-tongued Bai Huan was, Bai Mingzhen didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
"Haven't you learned any good manners from your mom?"
Bai Huan gripped Bai Mingzhen's arm tightly.
Bai Mingzhen looked slender and was dressed casually, giving him the appearance of a male college student. In reality, there was barely an ounce of excess fat on his entire body. His muscles were firm, solid, and clearly defined.
Bai Huan couldn't even wrap one hand around his arm.
"Next time, take me with you. I'll argue with that stinking old man myself."
"Don't talk nonsense. If you went up to him, you'd only be asking for a beating. He'd hit you once, and you'd start crying because you couldn't take it," Bai Mingzhen said mercilessly.
When Bai Huan fell silent, Bai Mingzhen adjusted his collar.
"This school uniform of yours..."
He trailed off.
Bai Huan immediately grew anxious, afraid that he looked ridiculous in such clothes.
He looked himself up and down.
"Doesn't it look good?"
Bai Mingzhen shook his head.
Behind his glasses, his eyes glimmered in the sunlight.
"It suits you quite well."
Only then did Bai Huan relax.
He swaggered off to find Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi so they could all gather together.
As the teenager turned and ran away, Bai Mingzhen watched him openly with an entirely different look in his eyes.
The sun hung high overhead.
The white-and-lemon-yellow athletic uniform of No. 1 High School made Bai Huan look fresh and spirited. It was almost as though one could catch the faint scent of mint drifting from the teenager's body.
Bai Huan had clearly grown attached to his biological parents. There was even a soft, sweet, almost coquettish lilt to his voice when he spoke to them.
Watching the family of three together, Bai Mingzhen felt that his own position was becoming more and more awkward and difficult to define with each passing day.
And with the indecent thoughts about Bai Huan that had recently begun taking shape in his mind, there were moments when he even started questioning whether he was human or some kind of monster.
After finishing his conversation with Chen Yuanyuan and Wang Caiyi, Bai Huan took one of them by each hand and led them toward Bai Mingzhen.
When they came face-to-face, he called him "Brother" for the first time in a long while.
"Let's go to the Academic Affairs Office first. With grades as terrible as mine, they're bound to give me a warm welcome, right?"
Bai Mingzhen lowered his eyes slightly and acknowledged that long-awaited "Brother."
In his heart, he was kissing the teenager's lips, imagining that they might taste as sweet as honey.