“Dad said the power still isn’t on yet, so we can’t turn on the lights for now.”

The boy stared longingly at the pitch-dark house. There wasn’t a single bit of light. He paused, then answered the girl’s question.

“Aren’t you scared? It’s so dark. There might be monsters... How about you don’t go back tonight? Sleep with me instead... We can hide under the blanket together and play games together.”

Xu Yuting tightly held the boy’s soft little hand. Even though they’d known each other for less than a day, she really, really liked him.

She didn’t want him to go back. She wanted to stay with him.

“I’m not scared...”

Zhao Guizhen said it out loud, but the girl’s words had already stirred up fear in him.

Were there really monsters in the dark? What did they look like? Would they have three heads and six arms? Would they eat him?

Fear began to grow inside the boy’s imagination. It kept swelling, swallowing him whole.

“Hm? Anqing, why did you stop?”

The girl was walking while holding his hand, but then she noticed he’d stopped moving.

“Yuting... I think I’m scared of the dark... Will the monsters eat me?”

The more Zhao Anqing thought about it, the more frightened he became. Fear and the edge of tears crept into his childish voice.

One careless remark from the girl had scared the boy badly.

“Then don’t go back. Come to my house. When I sleep at night, I always leave a little lamp on by the bed. That way monsters won’t eat me...”

The moment she heard that, the girl eagerly made her suggestion.

“I have to go back. I just want to ask... do monsters eat little kids?”

Even though he was scared, Zhao Anqing was still firmly set on going home.

“I don’t know... Maybe they do... maybe they don’t. I’ve never seen a real monster...”

Xu Yuting had wanted to scare him once so he wouldn’t go back, but after another thought, she couldn’t bear to frighten him after all, so she answered vaguely.

“Oh... They don’t eat little kids? Then I’m not scared anymore.”

The boy trusted his girlfriend’s words completely. The moment he heard that monsters didn’t eat people, he patted his little chest, and he wasn’t as afraid as before.

“Anqing... can I come find you tomorrow to play? Is that okay?”

The girl looked at him with sparkling eyes and asked expectantly.

Now that she had this boyfriend, Xu Yuting wanted to stick to him all the time. She wanted to talk to him, chat with him, play games with him. In short, she had countless fresh little ideas she wanted to try out with him...

“Oh, sure. I’ll wait for you at my door. Come find me after you’re done with school...”

Zhao Anqing agreed without even thinking.

In this unfamiliar little town, the neighbor girl in front of him was his only friend.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday. No school... I’ll come find you in the morning... I’ll come over after breakfast, and we can go play at the children’s park together...”

The moment the girl heard him agree, she practically burst with joy. She was so happy her whole little face bloomed.

“Mm.”

The boy also wanted to go play at the legendary children’s park.

“My two friends will be there too. I’ll introduce you to them, and then we’ll all be good friends... That’s great!”

Xu Yuting chattered away excitedly, looking utterly pleased with herself.

“Okay... but what if your friends don’t like me because I’m a boy?”

Zhao Anqing wasn’t very confident about whether he could make new friends.

“They’ll like you. Anqing is so pretty!”

The girl looked at his face from up close and simply couldn’t get enough of it.

“...Pretty? ...Thanks for the compliment.”

The boy smiled shyly. The girl had praised him so many times today. It made him really happy.

“Anqing is the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen! All the other boys are so ugly.”

Xu Yuting loved his shy smile the most, so she kept praising him, hoping he’d smile more.

“Yuting is the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen too!”

Zhao Anqing lowered his rosy little face and said it sincerely.

“Hahaha, the best boy and the prettiest girl became the best of friends! That’s just amazing!”

The girl looked radiant, so excited she could barely contain herself.

“Come on, let’s high-five!”

She held out her fair little hand toward him.

“Mm.”

The boy responded and raised his hand too.

Smack.

A crisp sound rang out. The two children looked at each other and smiled brightly.

Happy times were always short. Before long, they arrived at the boy’s house.

“Yuting, you can go home now...”

The boy faintly heard his parents’ voices coming from inside. It sounded like they were still arguing.

He didn’t want his friend to see that.

“Okay... then I’m going back. Anqing, you really won’t come to my house?”

Xu Yuting was reluctant to leave, still holding his little hand.

“No. You should hurry back.”

The boy shook his head and gently pulled his hand free.

“Oh... then bye...”

The girl waved unwillingly. She walked a few steps, then turned back for another look. Seeing that the boy was still there, she waved again.

It wasn’t even a long walk, but she turned back seven or eight times before finally going into her own house.

“Sigh, I really want Anqing to come stay at my house.”

The girl thought that longingly as she walked home.

“Did you walk your new friend home?”

Xu Lu was holding a mop, cleaning the floor the two children had dirtied. When she saw her daughter come back looking listless, she asked.

“I walked him home... Mom, I want Anqing to stay at our house. Do you have a way?”

Whenever she ran into a problem, Xu Yuting looked for her mom. It was a habit she’d developed, and also a child’s natural dependence on her mother.

“Silly girl, little Anqing has a home of his own. What, am I supposed to snatch him over for you?”

Xu Lu felt helpless at her daughter’s naive idea and spoke softly.

“Then let’s snatch him over!”

For the sake of staying with the boy, the girl was ready to go all in.

“Silly. If someone snatched you away to a strange house, would you be happy? Would I be happy? You can’t only think about your own feelings.”

The woman seriously tried to teach her still-immature daughter.

“But... but I want to play with Anqing.”

The girl didn’t really understand. She just kept repeating what she wanted.

“Aren’t you neighbors? Just go find him when you have time. It’s not like I’m stopping you.”

Xu Lu rubbed the girl’s little head. She really hadn’t expected her daughter to like the boy this much, like she couldn’t let go at all.

“Oh... but I want him to play with me right now...”

Xu Yuting grew a little downcast.

“Don’t get too greedy, or he might start disliking you.”

The woman found her thoughts both funny and exasperating, so she could only scare her a little.

“Th-then okay. I won’t be greedy. I’ll go play with Anqing tomorrow.”

The girl instantly took it seriously. Her little face tightened as she spoke in a panic.

“You, honestly. Next time you bring him over to our house, remember to have him change into indoor slippers... I’ll buy some tomorrow and put them on the shoe rack.”

Xu Lu looked at the string of little footprints on the floor with a headache. Cleaning them all up would be no small job.

“Mhm, got it. Oh right, Mom, when are you taking me to the zoo to see the animals?”

The girl hurriedly agreed, then her eyes suddenly turned as she grabbed the woman’s hand and started clamoring.

“Didn’t I take you and those friends of yours to the zoo a few weeks ago? Didn’t you say you were already tired of it?”

Hearing her daughter fuss about wanting to go to the zoo, the woman was a little surprised.

“I want to take Anqing. He’s never been to the zoo... He doesn’t even recognize the big elephant and giraffe in my drawing book.”

Xu Yuting said it as if it were only natural.

She really had gotten tired of the zoo animals. She just wanted to take the boy there.

Hehe. Anqing could look at the animals, and she could look at Anqing. Just thinking about it made her happy.

“Taking you and Anqing to the zoo is fine, of course, but...”

Xu Lu deliberately left the sentence hanging, stirring up her daughter’s curiosity.

“Ah, hurry up and say it...”

The impatient girl quickly tugged on her mother’s arm and pressed her for an answer.

“Last time, someone got a fifty-nine on her math test. Not even a passing grade...”

The woman had found a good way to make her silly daughter study hard.

“I’ll definitely pass next time. I promise.”

For the sake of going to see animals with Anqing, Xu Yuting was already willing to do anything.

“Hehe. And also, someone is always trying to be clever. The teacher said to write four words per line for homework, but she just had to be smart and write two.”

Seeing how easily her daughter agreed, Xu Lu smoothly added another condition.

“I’ll change, I’ll change. From now on I’ll write four words per line, okay?!”

Even with her mother raising the price, Xu Yuting still agreed to everything without hesitation.

Compared to the boy, none of that mattered.

Even though they hadn’t spent that long together, that boy, pretty as a porcelain doll, had already taken up a very important place in Xu Yuting’s heart.

“Good. You said it yourself. Next Sunday, I’ll take you and little Anqing to see the animals... Oh, right. Do those two little friends want to come too?”

Xu Lu was very satisfied with her daughter’s attitude and smilingly agreed.

“Jinxia and Ziqing? No need. They’ve already seen it. Just me and Anqing is fine.”

The girl shook her head to show there was no need.

“Did you finish the homework your teacher assigned? You didn’t spend the whole day fooling around again, did you?”

Today was Saturday, and Xu Yuting had just gotten out of school. With her personality, all she ever wanted to do was play.

“I’ll write it tomorrow. There isn’t much homework anyway...”

The girl brushed off her mom’s question, but when she thought about having to write four words per line from now on, her face immediately fell.

“If your teacher tells me you didn’t do your homework, then I’m not taking you and little Anqing to the zoo either.”

Xu Lu felt like she’d found the secret to raising her daughter. As long as she brought up the boy, her daughter would obediently listen.

“Mom, you’re so annoying. I’ll definitely finish my homework.”

Just as the woman expected, the girl, who was usually a little mischievous, became unbelievably obedient.

“Hehe, that’s a good girl. Little Anqing will definitely be happy to be friends with a well-behaved girl like you. If you’re naughty all day, he definitely won’t want to play with you!”

The woman was smiling so hard her whole face lit up as she added that line.

“Got it. I’ll definitely behave and be a good girl.”

To avoid losing the friendship she treasured so much, the innocent little girl chose to become a good child.

“Good. Mom believes in you. Do your best!”

Teaching her daughter had become this simple. Inwardly, Xu Lu felt grateful to that pretty little boy.

If not for him, every one thing she said while teaching her daughter would usually get three things thrown back at her. How could she be this gentle now?