“This one is Chinese homework, this one is math homework, and this one is drawing homework...”

The girl set her pink kids’ backpack on the table. Sitting on a little stool beside the boy, she launched into an endless explanation.

Xu Yuting was more than happy to talk with him, chat with him, and tell him about everything she knew.

She liked it when the boy’s crystal-clear eyes stayed on her. Every now and then, they showed a look almost like admiration, or he’d let out a little gasp of “Wow.”

“So homework is just a little notebook...”

The boy looked at the girl’s workbooks on the table. His little mouth fell open, and understanding dawned on his face.

“This is the homework book. What’s written inside is the homework... Look, this is Chinese homework. The teacher told us to write characters. One stroke, one line. I’m super smart. I write two characters in one line, so I can finish really fast.”

Xu Yuting rattled on about her own cleverness while flipping open her Chinese workbook.

“Yuting, you’re amazing!”

Looking at the crooked, wobbly characters in the workbook, the boy praised her without thinking.

His dad could write with a pen, sure, but he hadn’t expected Yuting, who was about his age, could do it too. As for him, he didn’t understand any of it.

“Hehe, but writing four characters in one line is better. Otherwise the teacher makes you copy it all over again.”

The girl scratched her soft cheek. She often got scolded by the teacher because of her little tricks, so after showing off her cleverness, she didn’t want the boy to make the same mistake.

“Mhm...”

The boy answered softly. He remembered it, but he didn’t know if he’d ever get a workbook of his own and write words in it.

“Let me show you my drawing homework. I can draw elephants, giraffes...”

With the boy beside her, Xu Yuting couldn’t stop for even a second. She kept sharing all her little things with him.

“This is...?”

Zhao Anqing stared eagerly at the picture on the white paper. He couldn’t tell what it was.

“That’s an elephant. Did I draw it too ugly? Is that why you can’t tell, Anqing?”

The girl started doubting her drawing skills a little.

On the paper was an animal with a long nose and thick legs. The drawing was childish and innocent, but anyone who had seen an elephant before could recognize it from the outline.

“It’s not ugly... I’ve just never seen... an elephant...”

The boy looked carefully at the elephant on the paper and spoke with a hint of embarrassment.

“Oh, I get it. Then let me show you the giraffe I drew. You’ll definitely know that one.”

The girl flipped through her sketchbook. On the second page was an animal with a very long neck, colored gold with black spots.

“...Yuting... I’ve never seen a giraffe either. But your drawing is really pretty.”

The boy didn’t recognize the girl’s drawings at all. Deep down, he realized they seemed to live in completely different worlds.

A heavy wave of inferiority surged up inside him.

“You don’t know giraffes either? It’s okay. You probably just haven’t been to the zoo. When my mom has time, I’ll ask her to take both of us to the zoo.”

Xu Yuting’s enthusiasm didn’t fade at all. She even came up with a really good idea.

“No... no need. The zoo needs tickets. They sound really expensive...”

The boy knew about the zoo. He’d heard there were all kinds of strange and amazing animals inside.

On his fifth birthday, his dad had originally wanted to take him there.

But the tickets were too expensive. Father and son stopped at the zoo entrance. In the end, his dad bought him a tiny cake, only palm-sized.

“It’s fine. My mom doesn’t care about that stuff. Last time, I had her take me and some other friends to the zoo too.”

The girl came from a well-off family. She had never worried about material things. Her mother doted on her deeply and gave her almost anything she wanted.

“No... no need... Yuting, do you have other friends too? Are they all girls?”

The boy kept shaking his head, then curiously asked about the girl’s friends.

In his eyes, the girl seemed to glow. No matter where she went, she drew attention.

A girl like that had to have lots and lots of friends.

Being able to become her friend already felt incredibly lucky.

But then... why would she want to be friends with a boy like him?

Was it... because she thought he was pitiful?

Most six- or seven-year-old children were simple. They did whatever came to mind. But maybe because of his family, Zhao Anqing was more sensitive, and a little insecure too.

Even though the girl had explained many times that she simply wanted to be his friend, with no other reason at all...

He still overthought things sometimes.

“Mhm, they’re all girls. One is called Jinxia, and one is called Ziqing. They’re both my good friends. We usually go to the children’s park together. Tomorrow I’ll bring you too. I’ll introduce you to them. They’ll definitely be happy to be your friends.”

Xu Yuting shared her little plan. As she talked, she started waving her hands around, full of excitement.

“Yuting... I think they... maybe... won’t like me. After all, I’m a boy...”

What she said made Zhao Anqing feel a little hopeful, but he was even more afraid of not being accepted.

Just imagining that scene made him want to avoid it.

Right now, the boy was very pessimistic. Whenever he thought about things, he always imagined the worst.

“How could they not like you? I already told them about it. They’re all really looking forward to it!”

Xu Yuting quickly said. Earlier, when she went to the children’s park, she had already told her two friends that a new friend would be joining tomorrow, and both of them had welcomed the idea.

“Did you tell them I’m a boy?”

The boy asked carefully. He felt deeply insecure about his gender.

Maybe it came from his mother. Ever since he was little, she often said he was a boy, that raising him was pointless, that it would’ve been so much better if he were a girl.

Hearing that over and over, the boy developed an inferiority complex about being male. He believed boys could never measure up to girls, that girls were somehow above them.

“Oh... I forgot. But they’ll definitely welcome you.”

Xu Yuting had no hidden thoughts. She just answered honestly.

“...Then, Yuting, make sure you tell them clearly that I’m actually a boy...”

The boy felt the chances of making new friends were probably small now. But having Yuting as a friend already made him satisfied.

“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the children’s park with me. We go there together every evening.”

Xu Yuting looked forward to bringing him to the park so much that a dazzling smile spread across her face.

“We’ll see. I don’t know if I’ll be free...”

The boy spoke softly and weakly. The truth was, he didn’t want to go. He didn’t dare face the girl’s friends.

“Okay then. But when you do have time, you have to come with me, okay? There are so, so many kids playing at the children’s park, and so, so many fun things there.”

The girl raised her little hand and gestured in the air, as if she wanted to paint the whole scene for him.

“Mm.”

The boy felt both longing and fear. He nodded lightly.