This was Jian Li’s first time riding in Qi Xiaoyan’s car. Before getting in, he’d been dead set against it. The flashy luxury-car badge practically hurt his eyes.
Seeing him still standing there, the man leaned out from the driver’s seat. “What are you waiting for? Get in.”
Jian Li tugged at the strap of his backpack. “Um… could I really not have Driver Li take me?”
Qi Xiaoyan paused. “What?”
Jian Li lowered his eyes to his shoes and couldn’t help complaining. “With a car like yours, how am I supposed to face my classmates afterward? You’re setting me up here.”
A vein at the man’s temple throbbed. This was the first time he’d begun to believe that the boy might really have changed.
In the end, Qi Xiaoyan switched to a more understated business sedan, one with a less conspicuous badge. Only then did Jian Li reluctantly get in. As soon as he sat down, he checked the time and urged him, “Hurry up, hurry up. We’re already much later than yesterday.”
Qi Xiaoyan glanced at his restless legs and frowned. “Sit still. Do you have ADHD?”
Jian Li quieted down, looking sheepish, but he was still worried about being late. “I’m just in a hurry,” he muttered.
After several exchanges like that, Qi Xiaoyan was starting to wonder if the Jian Li he’d known before was someone else entirely.
The boy was a completely different person after his concussion. How to put it? Qi Xiaoyan thought. He used to be a brainless, obnoxious kid who only knew how to fool around and show off his wealth. Now he’d suddenly become a well-behaved high schooler who was occasionally a little mischievous.
Well, he was glad to see the change.
At least there was hope. The boy hadn’t turned into a good-for-nothing under his care.
At this hour, Jian Li would normally have been sprawled across the back seat, curled up and asleep. Maybe it was because Qi Xiaoyan was driving, but he felt a little uneasy, and a little curious, too.
Although he and the man lived under the same roof, strictly speaking, Qi Xiaoyan probably spent only a few days a month at home.
This was their first time alone together apart from sharing a meal.
Aside from his expression rarely changing and his imposing presence, Qi Xiaoyan didn’t seem all that scary. At any rate, the man definitely wasn’t going to eat Jian Li.
Jian Li reminded himself silently, Stay calm. Stay calm. I have to stay calm.
It was rush hour, and traffic near the school gates was backed up. Anxiously, Jian Li glanced at Qi Xiaoyan. “Why don’t you just let me out here? I can run. I’ll get there faster.”
“What’s the rush? Your school has more than one entrance,” Qi Xiaoyan said mildly, changing lanes and turning.
Jian Li stamped his foot in frustration. “The back gate is even more crowded. Whose school is it, mine or yours? Let me out. I’m going to be late!”
Qi Xiaoyan chuckled. “You used to know all about this sort of thing. I heard you never took the usual route at your old school.”
No. 3 High School had a large campus, with a front gate and a back gate. There was also an entrance for staff on the west side, which Qi Xiaoyan guessed would be open at this hour.
Jian Li didn’t understand what he meant. He only saw Qi Xiaoyan put on a Bluetooth earpiece and make a call.
“Hello, Principal Zheng. This is Qi Xiaoyan.”
Jian Li’s eyes widened as he watched Qi Xiaoyan calmly steer the car forward.
When the man drove straight onto campus, Jian Li nearly burst into tears. “What are you doing? I told you I could walk!”
A campus security guard guided Qi Xiaoyan to a parking spot. Qi Xiaoyan glanced at the sulky boy beside him, lips twitching. “Then why aren’t you going? You have five minutes before class starts.”
“Huh?” Jian Li froze again. “Weren’t you going to…” He trailed off, finally realizing he’d misunderstood.
“Going to do what?” Qi Xiaoyan asked. “Take you to see the principal and get you special privileges?” He’d much rather Jian Li keep a low profile.
Jian Li had been put in his place again. Blushing, he grabbed his bag and jumped out of the car.
Qi Xiaoyan grinned. The boy actually knew how to be embarrassed?
That was rare.
Jian Li sat at his desk, panting heavily. Bao Yifan shook his head helplessly. “So you really won’t consider boarding at school? You’re wasting more than an hour on the road every morning. Is your mom really that reluctant to let you move out?”
Jian Li took his things out of his bag, his expression darkening. He didn’t have a father or a mother. No one would be reluctant to let him go.
“It’s… fine,” he said quietly.
The first class was Chinese. They spent the whole period going over questions, and Jian Li had to hand it to this teacher: as soon as she started talking, he was guaranteed to doze off.
And so he was caught by Qi Xiaoyan, who was lingering outside the classroom before leaving. There were full-coverage security cameras in the classrooms, so he didn’t need to make the trip himself. But remembering what Jian Li had been like that morning had stirred up a mischievous curiosity in him.
He wanted to see for himself how the boy managed to study properly at school.
Since Qi Xiaoyan had donated two teaching buildings to No. 3 High School, Principal Zheng treated him with the utmost respect. The two walked along chatting, looking rather like officials on an inspection tour.
The senior-year classrooms were all quite nice. The students were practically buried under piles of books, their faces barely visible.
“Students these days have it much better than we did,” Principal Zheng said with a helpless sigh as the principal and Qi Xiaoyan stood by the back door of Jian Li’s classroom. “The rooms are warm in winter and cool in summer. Makes it easy for them to doze off.” Principal Zheng was used to seeing this sort of thing.
Qi Xiaoyan followed his gaze and couldn’t stop the corner of his eye from twitching.
Most of the desks were piled high with books. Only Jian Li’s desk, at the back, was completely bare, so he spotted the boy dozing with his chin propped on one hand at once.
The end-of-class bell rang. Jian Li was still in his usual seat by the window.
Qi Xiaoyan walked a few steps forward and stopped by the window.
Maybe it was the sound of the bell. The boy simply put his head down on the desk.
Principal Zheng came over too. Principal Zheng looked at the student with exasperation and was about to call over the teacher who was leaving when he saw Qi Xiaoyan raise a hand and tap on the window.
Bao Yifan was still organizing his mistakes. He was the first to react to the sound. Seeing the principal and Qi Xiaoyan appear out of nowhere, he quickly poked Jian Li.
“Wake up. Stop sleeping.”
Jian Li reluctantly raised his head, eyes still half closed. “What is it? I’m exhausted…”
Bao Yifan tipped his chin toward the window, signaling for him to look outside.
Jian Li turned around irritably. A second later, his eyes flew wide open.
He wasn’t tired anymore.
Qi Xiaoyan took a decorative pocket square from his suit jacket and passed it through the half-open sliding window. Jian Li stared at it, baffled. “What’s that for?”
The man’s lips curled into an amused smile. “Here. Wipe the drool off your face.”
Jian Li’s ears turned bright red. Awkwardly, he reached up to touch his face. “I, I…”
When he found no wet patch, he realized what was going on and flared up. “You’re messing with me!”
Qi Xiaoyan tucked the pocket square back into his pocket without answering. Instead, he leaned closer and said in a low voice, “Try eating less breakfast next time. Then you won’t run out of oxygen.”
Jian Li glared. “You’re the one who ate too much!”
The man shrugged and turned to leave.
Jian Li ground his teeth. His sleepiness had finally been chased away for good.
Bao Yifan grinned behind his glasses. “Hey, who was that? Do you know him?”
Jian Li was in a terrible mood. He put on a pout and refused to admit it. “No.”
“But he came with Principal Zheng. Isn’t he your guardian?” Bao Yifan craned his neck to look outside.
Jian Li pressed his lips together and said nothing. He couldn’t avoid the question forever. Bao Yifan didn’t ask again, but the girl in front of them started chattering excitedly. “Wow, Jian Li, was that your guardian? He’s so handsome!”
“Uh… handsome? I guess he’s okay…” Jian Li stammered. He found it strange to have any connection to Qi Xiaoyan, but it wasn’t right to say they had none. Without that man, he wouldn’t have been able to attend a top school like this.
“So he is!” Ji Tong’s eyes sparkled. “Then who is he to you? Your older brother? Or…”
Jian Li was stumped. Qi Xiaoyan seemed quite a bit older than him. According to Nanny Zhang, he was probably around ten years older. Calling him an older brother felt like a stretch. Seeing Ji Tong’s lovestruck expression, Jian Li decided to deal her a heavy blow.
“Neither! He’s my ‘uncle.’ He’s a whole generation above me!” Jian Li lied without batting an eye.
Hearing he was an uncle, Ji Tong got even more excited and clutched at her chest. “No way. How old is he? He looks so young, and so refined!”
Jian Li rolled his eyes and picked a number at random. “Well, he must be thirty by now.”
Bao Yifan burst out laughing. “Jian Li, stop tormenting her. I can practically hear her heart breaking.”
Ji Tong felt as if a mouthful of blood had caught in her throat. She looked disbelieving. “You’re joking, right? That guy just now… he’s thirty?” She continued, “He looks like he just graduated from college.”
Now it was Jian Li’s turn to roll his eyes. Even though he didn’t know Qi Xiaoyan’s exact age, he knew the man was a bona fide old guy by now. He leaned closer and peered into Ji Tong’s eyes. “Has your prescription gotten stronger again? If it has, you’d better get a new pair.”
Bao Yifan, not at all kindly, took off his glasses and waved them in front of Ji Tong. “Here, here. Try mine.”
Ji Tong reached out and scratched at Bao Yifan. “Get lost!”
Jian Li shook his head helplessly, thinking that she really was an innocent girl who judged people by their looks. Who knew how many girls Qi Xiaoyan had fooled with that face of his?
It wasn’t until he was in the car with the driver after evening self-study that Jian Li belatedly realized he’d started to develop little grievances against the man. The Qi Xiaoyan in his memories had been cold and distant, and Jian Li had never seen a woman around him. He could definitely be considered a man of impeccable virtue.
But… he seemed a little different this time. Jian Li kept thinking Qi Xiaoyan was teasing him on purpose. That comment about running out of oxygen had obviously been a roundabout way of saying he’d eaten too much.
Jian Li and Qi Xiaoyan’s cars pulled into the driveway at the same time. Qi Xiaoyan checked the time. It was already past eleven.
Jian Li got out in front of the villa. The man followed a little later.
As a day student, Jian Li didn’t have to stay for evening self-study, but the butler said the boy had insisted on going. Qi Xiaoyan frowned. Maybe he really should consider having the boy board at school, provided… of course, that the boy was willing to study properly.