After the first day of school, Jian Li didn’t see Qi Xiaoyan again for a long time. Every so often, he wondered if the man was some kind of robot.
The kind that didn’t even need to come home. Or maybe… he didn’t think of this place as home at all, Jian Li thought.
Now and then, Jian Li asked Nanny Zhang about the man. Aside from a few distant relatives living at the Qi family’s old house, Qi Xiaoyan was the only one left in the main household. Home, then, was something he could take or leave.
In between working through practice problems, Jian Li suddenly felt that the two of them had something in common.
No, strictly speaking, Qi Xiaoyan had it worse. Jian Li’s parents had left after he came of age, while Qi Xiaoyan had been orphaned from birth. His grandfather, his only family, had died when he was fifteen.
That was the kind of life that had forged such a formidable man. Forced to take over the company at fifteen, he’d fought his way through the pressure from every side, clearing out the parasites before finally making it to where he was now.
Jian Li sighed. He really was someone made for great things. If it were him…
He was a coward. He’d managed to get into a car accident while drinking in a bar and passing out. He was probably the only person in the world who could pull that off.
That night, Qi Xiaoyan’s plane landed after midnight. He got home at one in the morning and looked up at the villa. Apart from the night-lights left on, only Jian Li’s room was still brightly lit.
He frowned, figuring Jian Li couldn’t possibly be doing anything productive.
He drove into the garage, then went inside and upstairs a few minutes later.
He paused outside Jian Li’s room for a few seconds, but heard nothing.
Assuming Jian Li was asleep, he knocked perfunctorily and pushed the door open.
But when he saw who was inside, Qi Xiaoyan froze.
“You…” Even seeing it with his own eyes, he wasn’t sure. “What are you doing?”
Jian Li was already frustrated. After a month of trying to adjust, he felt like he had something wrong with his brain. He often had to work on practice papers until late at night just to finish them. At the sight of the man who’d appeared out of nowhere, he stared blankly for a moment, then couldn’t help running a hand through his already wildly tousled hair.
It was embarrassing, but he answered honestly. “Doing homework.”
Qi Xiaoyan raised an eyebrow, intrigued. He tugged at the uncomfortable tie around his neck and wandered over to Jian Li’s little desk.
Jian Li liked doing his homework curled up in bed. Maybe it was a habit from his previous life. With a little table set up on the bed, he was at his most comfortable.
“What kind of homework has you up this late?” Qi Xiaoyan glanced at his watch. “It’s past one in the morning.” Besides, he’d never thought Jian Li was the type to sit down and do his homework properly.
Jian Li rubbed his eyes, embarrassed, then climbed out of bed.
“A paper we’re going over tomorrow,” he said.
Qi Xiaoyan stepped closer and came around to Jian Li’s side. He picked up the paper, crumpled from being manhandled, and glanced at it, then at the two sheets of scrap paper on the desk. They were covered in formulas and calculations. It really did look like the real thing.
For a moment, Qi Xiaoyan was genuinely taken aback.
“You…” He started to say something, then caught sight of Jian Li’s drooping eyelids. The boy looked ready to fall asleep on his feet. “If you can’t finish, you can sleep and do it tomorrow.”
Jian Li had thought he might offer some useful advice. His shoulders slumped again. If he didn’t finish it tonight, the teacher would go over it in class tomorrow.
They weren’t having regular lessons anymore. They were doing practice problems around the clock. Most students didn’t need to go through the first and second rounds of review in earnest; they already had a solid grasp of the basics.
So…
He was left to struggle alone in a sea of practice questions.
“Oh. I know,” he said listlessly.
Seeing him like that, Qi Xiaoyan was unexpectedly pleased. Without thinking, he reached out, intending to smooth down the cowlick sticking up on Jian Li’s head.
But Jian Li startled and instinctively stepped back.
Qi Xiaoyan knew he’d let his guard down. The Jian Li in front of him wasn’t the little boy he used to be.
“Get some rest. If you can’t manage, I’ll talk to the school administrators,” Qi Xiaoyan said. “Don’t push yourself.”
At that, Jian Li’s eyes went wide and he hurriedly waved his hands. “No, no, there’s no need…”
Qi Xiaoyan’s lips curved. “What are you nervous about? You used to love special treatment.”
Jian Li covered his face. Back at his old private school, plenty of people had called the original Jian Li the Crown Prince. Even the teachers rarely wanted to cross him. How was he supposed to explain?
After a long pause, he stammered, “…People can change.”
Qi Xiaoyan seemed satisfied. Looking down at Jian Li’s bowed head, he found it amusing. “You changed pretty quickly.”
Qi Xiaoyan could see how uncomfortable he was, so he didn’t stay long before heading back to his room. Jian Li let out a long breath, patted his chest, which was still pounding from the shock of being startled in the middle of the night, rolled up the paper and tossed it beside the bed, then collapsed into bed and fell asleep at once.
Even though he was a day student and didn’t have to attend morning study, he still had to get up at six. With the distance and the traffic, he needed to leave the villa early.
The next morning, Jian Li sat down at the dining table at six thirty, eyes barely open. Qi Xiaoyan had just returned from his morning jog. He poured himself a glass of water in the kitchen, then leaned against the doorway to see if Jian Li was about to fall asleep sitting there.
Lately, Nanny Zhang had watched Jian Li leave early and come home late, eat, then obediently return to his room to do homework. He’d been so well-behaved.
As she set breakfast in front of him, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. “Oh, you poor thing. Come on, wake up and eat first. You can sleep some more on the way.”
Jian Li nodded with his eyes half closed and lifted his milk to drink.
Qi Xiaoyan frowned, sat down opposite him, and tapped the plate in front of him with his fork. “Hey, you’re going to get milk up your nose.”
Jian Li came to with a start, his eyes finally opening all the way. He set down the empty glass and stared at Qi Xiaoyan for a moment before speaking. “Does your company start at eight too?”
Qi Xiaoyan shrugged. “Of course not.”
“Then why are you up so early?” Jian Li asked glumly, jealous.
Qi Xiaoyan was still processing the surprise of seeing him work so late the night before. Looking at him now, it seemed the boy really had changed quite a bit. He was even going to class on time.
A servant brought Qi Xiaoyan his coffee. “I’m used to it. If you keep it up for half a year, it won’t feel so painful.”
Jian Li stuffed a steamed dumpling into his mouth, cheeks bulging, and said nothing. He thought life would be no fun if it was too routine.
But then he remembered he’d have to leave soon, and felt miserable all over again. He used both hands to polish off half a plate of shrimp dumplings.
“I have to go. Enjoy your breakfast,” Jian Li said, reaching for another pan-fried bun as he got up to leave.
“What’s the rush? I’m taking you today. Sit down and eat,” Qi Xiaoyan called after him.
Jian Li was stunned. He turned to stare at him. “Why?”
Qi Xiaoyan was amused by how unwilling he sounded. “What do you mean, why? You’ve been at your new school for a month. Shouldn’t I go see it?”
“…Oh.” Jian Li sat back down in slow motion and popped the pan-fried bun in his hand whole into his mouth.
Qi Xiaoyan’s mouth twitched. Only then did he notice how much more lavish breakfast had become at home.
The old Jian Li had never eaten breakfast. He usually didn’t get up until noon, while Qi Xiaoyan had little appetite in the mornings and usually just had a cup of coffee.
Now, looking at the table, there were only two of them, but the spread looked like it could feed a whole family.
They’d gone from Western-style breakfasts to all kinds of things: pan-fried buns, shrimp dumplings, even qingtuan and rice noodle rolls first thing in the morning. Tsk. Qi Xiaoyan shook his head. What treatment.
But Jian Li’s appetite was just as surprising. In the time it took Qi Xiaoyan to drink a cup of coffee, he’d nearly cleared the table.
Qi Xiaoyan frowned. “Were you a starving ghost in your last life?”
Jian Li kept eating. “I didn’t finish my paper last night. I have to do another one during lunch today, so if I eat more now, I can save the time I’d spend eating lunch.” In other words, this was his lunch portion.
Qi Xiaoyan was speechless. Had he really never noticed how hard this kid worked?
So that whole “study hard and make progress every day” thing wasn’t just for show?