When Mo Xuan first moved into this apartment building, it was a spring dusk.

Waking up and finding himself driven out of the seized villa into this shabby, dirty little apartment, he felt pretty awful.

But awful was awful. Protesting was useless. The bank had already shown mercy by not dragging him out themselves. His parents still remembered they had a son, and not letting him end up on the streets was already something.

He looked at the pitifully few cardboard boxes, then at the room that had clearly passed through who knew how many tenants. A wave of helplessness rose in his chest.

“...Sigh—” He leaned against the wall and kept sighing, with absolutely no mood to move furniture.

A set of light footsteps coming up the stairs caught his attention. He looked up and saw a bright-eyed girl walking toward him, full of energy.

She looked about his age. She wore a spotless middle school uniform that looked almost new. Maybe because she had developed early, she stood a whole head taller than Mo Xuan, and her chest already had a full, rounded shape.

Seeing Mo Xuan lingering by the door, the girl blinked her lively eyes and asked in a crisp, sweet voice, “Are you the new neighbor who just moved in?”

Mo Xuan nodded. That uniform looked like the one from the middle school he was about to attend.

The girl lived right next door, and there didn’t seem to be anyone else at home. Seeing the boxes by his feet, she nosily leaned in a little and asked, “Where’s your family?”

“They ran off,” Mo Xuan said irritably.

The girl looked confused.

Mo Xuan waved a hand, not wanting to say more. He bent down, hugged a cardboard box, and walked inside gloomily.

Unfortunately, the box was a little too full. And he’d grown up spoiled, used to a life where everything was handed to him. For a moment, he actually couldn’t lift it.

His expression turned awkward at once.

A pair of fair, pretty little hands reached over and held the other side of the box. Mo Xuan looked up and saw the girl’s pale, delicate face. She wore a sincere, open smile, the kind that came from genuinely wanting to help.

“Let me help you.”

“...Thanks.”

“No problem. We’re neighbors. We’ll be helping each other a lot from now on.”

Mo Xuan always remembered that day. A girl he’d never met before helped him move half his furniture. Under the setting sun, her smile bloomed like a flower.

...

“Tian Sirui?” Mo Xuan’s pupils trembled slightly as he murmured the name.

The pretty girl, now fully grown, was busy hanging up the shirt in her hands. The clothes pole was too high, so she had to rise onto her tiptoes. Her nightdress lifted slightly with the motion. Her outstretched arms were slim, fair, and even. Mo Xuan could easily see her rounded shoulders and smooth underarms.

“You’re up this early today?” From their first year of middle school all the way to senior year now, Tian Sirui knew his habits inside out. There was a teasing smile on her face.

But Mo Xuan gave no reaction.

His gaze stayed fixed on her as his thoughts churned, piecing back together every little memory he had of this girl.

After arriving in that unfamiliar place, he’d gotten close to this neighbor so quickly not just because she helped him move that evening, but also because, in a way, the two of them were kindred spirits when it came to family.

The difference was that Mo Xuan’s family had gone bankrupt and his parents fled overseas, while Tian Sirui’s parents worked in another city and rarely came home. She also had a younger brother, three years below her.

Tian Sirui had once told him that if she hadn’t gotten sick, she would actually be a grade above him now. Even though she recovered, her studies had already fallen behind. Her treatment had also cost her parents a huge amount of money, forcing them to work even harder from dawn to night. Every time she talked about it, her expression would turn unbearably dim, her eyes filled with guilt and sadness.

Tian Sirui’s grades weren’t very good. That much was obvious after the high school entrance exams. She went to Rende High, while Mo Xuan went to Qingyuan High.

There were five high schools in Binhai City in total. Based on college admission rates, teaching staff, and academic rankings, they had gradually split into clear tiers.

Qingyuan High ranked first without question, thanks to its top admission rate and strong faculty. Rende High, on the other hand, was ordinary in every way and only ranked fourth. It basically had nothing to do with elite schools.

Tian Sirui studied very hard. Mo Xuan often saw her still burning the midnight oil late into the night. In her words, she just wanted to get into college and ease some of the burden on her family. Otherwise, after graduation, she’d have to go on blind dates and then get a job.

But Mo Xuan remembered that when the final college entrance exam came, Tian Sirui never showed up for some unknown reason. Even the teachers couldn’t get through to her phone.

And when he came back later, he discovered that at some point, her whole family had already moved away. The place had been cleaned out completely. Every contact method was gone.

Just like that, the girl who had spent six years by his side, the girl who often invited him over to freeload meals, vanished from his world completely.

And now he had been reborn. He was seeing again the girl who had left such a huge regret in his heart.

Mo Xuan smiled, which only made Tian Sirui feel baffled.

For some reason, that smile looked a little strange. The girl felt a bit worried.

“Where’s your brother?” Mo Xuan casually threw out a topic to ease the awkwardness.

The moment the words left his mouth, he suddenly remembered something and wanted to slap himself. Of all things to bring up, why that?

Sure enough, the moment her brother was mentioned, Tian Sirui’s eyes dimmed.

She lowered her hands, her mood sinking at once. “He didn’t come back again last night...”

Looks like he went out messing around again. Mo Xuan felt both helpless and angry.

He had never seen such a rotten, clueless brat.

Compared to this older sister, who handled all the housework and studied hard, Tian Yixuan as the younger brother was practically good-for-nothing.

Mo Xuan had a deep impression of that kid, if only because despite being so young, he was a hardcore chuuni. Every day he wore a gloomy face, looking at everyone like the world owed him. He gave off this deeply miserable vibe.

Honestly, being moody wasn’t a problem by itself. As long as it didn’t affect other people.

But this little punk had somehow gotten into Hong Kong gangster movies later on and became obsessed with the street thugs in them. From then on, he went down a one-way road of bullying and swaggering around. At school, he gathered a pack of idle hanger-ons and caused trouble everywhere. Smoking, drinking, chasing girls—he did it all. Every few days, the school would publicly criticize him. Outside school, he got mixed up with all kinds of shady people. Street racing, internet cafés, fights—he had the full set. He turned into a full-blown delinquent. Ordinary people would go out of their way to avoid him.

Because of that guy, Tian Sirui had been called in by his school who knew how many times. As the saying went, an elder sister is like a mother. Getting saddled with a nightmare of a brother like that was enough to give even Mo Xuan a headache on Tian Sirui’s behalf.

At home, Tian Sirui had tried every soft and hard approach she could think of, but she still couldn’t correct Tian Yixuan’s mindset. If she talked too much, he’d only get annoyed with her instead. When she called their parents, she got shut down with a single sentence.

“We’re working ourselves to death out here. As his older sister, can’t you even handle educating your own brother?”

That day, Mo Xuan had happened to need something from her. The moment he walked in, he saw her standing there with a phone in hand, face blank, eyes red. From downstairs came the sharp sound of a small motorcycle speeding away.

Their parents sent them a fixed amount of living expenses every month. But without even asking, Tian Yixuan had taken the money and bought himself a small motorcycle, just so he could take girls for rides and cruise around.

That left Tian Sirui eating instant noodles for a whole month, while her brother used the rest of the money to stuff himself outside. Because of that alone, Mo Xuan had never been able to feel even a shred of goodwill toward the kid again.

It was best not to pry too much into other people’s family matters. Fortunately, Tian Sirui had already gotten used to it by now. She adjusted her emotions quickly, casually wiped at her eyes as if it were nothing, and forced a smile.

“Forget it. He likes staying out overnight anyway. As long as he doesn’t cause trouble.”

Mo Xuan’s fists clenched tight.

“It’s the first day of the opening ceremony today. You still haven’t gotten ready?” Tian Sirui quickly changed the subject.

“Ah... oh... right away!” Mo Xuan snapped back to himself and gave an awkward laugh. Damn it, he hadn’t even found his school uniform yet.

Tian Sirui could tell he was in a rush and let out a soft laugh. Turning around, she said, “Then... I’ll get going first?”

Rende High was much farther away than Qingyuan High. Even taking the bus took quite a while, and Tian Sirui rode a bicycle, so she always had to leave early.

That made Mo Xuan miss the days when they were in middle school together. The trip wasn’t long. They could even walk there. Along the way, they’d chat or mess around, and time always seemed to pass faster. Before they knew it, they’d arrived.

“Okay. Bye.”

Tian Sirui waved her snow-white little hand at him too, smiling as she went back inside.

Only after the girl’s figure disappeared from the balcony did Mo Xuan lower his hand, the smile on his face gradually fading too.

He felt like another mission had been placed on his shoulders.

In his previous life, he had helplessly watched all of it happen. He never learned the truth behind it, and because of that, he missed the chance to make things right.

But this time, he was determined to find out what had happened to Tian Sirui. Why had she given up on the college entrance exam in the end? Why had she left this city without a word and vanished completely? Mo Xuan had always felt there had to be a reason behind it.

No matter what, he had been looked after by Tian Sirui for so many years, and he’d freeloaded so many meals from her too. That alone was enough to make it impossible for him to stand by and do nothing.

“Does this make me some kind of detective?” He laughed at himself, then turned and walked inside.

Relying on his old memories, it didn’t take him long to find the high school uniform hanging there.

Qingyuan High’s uniform wasn’t much different from other schools. Same style, same decorations. The only difference was the color scheme, blue and white. There were sets for spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the girls also had skirts.

His fingers brushed over the smooth fabric. The quality wasn’t especially good, but it gave him an intense sense of reassurance.

He had returned to his high school years. In this final year before college, in the last stretch before dating Yun Jiumo and discovering her true face, he still had a chance to change these people’s fates.