“Mom, Mom, is breakfast ready yet? I’m hungry!”

Bringing her little buddy with her, Xu Yuting ran back home and shouted into the house at the top of her lungs.

“I thought you were so busy playing you weren’t even planning to eat breakfast... Oh, Anqing, good morning. Have you eaten yet? Come on, have breakfast with us, then you can keep playing with Yuting.”

The woman’s voice came from afar. Xu Lu, dressed in casual home clothes, walked down from the second floor. Seeing her daughter had brought a boy home, she greeted him gently.

“Good morning, Auntie!”

Zhao Anqing still wasn’t very used to facing adults. He lowered his head shyly and greeted her in a soft voice.

“Mom, what are we having today? Anything tasty?”

Still holding the boy’s hand, the girl walked toward the dining table without the slightest bit of restraint. After all, she was the little master of this house.

“The usual. What, were you expecting dragon meat?”

Xu Lu was a little speechless at her daughter, but she still went to the kitchen to bring out breakfast.

“Ugh, Mom makes these healthy breakfasts every day. They’re not tasty at all. Especially that plain milk. It tastes like nothing. It’s awful.”

The girl complained to the boy beside her, speaking with animated brows and bright eyes. Even so, she still obediently waited for the grown-up to bring the food over.

“I heard drinking milk helps you grow taller faster... though I don’t know if that’s true.”

Zhao Anqing murmured uncertainly.

He had never drunk so-called plain milk before. He’d only heard people say it was nutritious and good for your body.

But it was too expensive. His parents had never bought it.

“Sigh, it’s probably true. Anqing, let’s compare and see who’s taller.”

Xu Yuting excitedly pulled the boy closer, then raised her hand over their heads and measured back and forth above their two little heads.

“Who’s taller?”

The boy felt like they were about the same height, but he was still a little curious about the answer.

“Hehe, I’m a girl, so of course I’m taller. I’m just a tiny bit taller than Anqing. I’m number one tallest, and you’re number two.”

The girl compared them seriously for quite a while before finally saying it with a beaming smile.

“Mhm, Yuting is taller than me!”

Zhao Anqing had a gentle temperament and no competitive streak. He easily accepted being a little worse than someone else.

“Anqing, how old are you this year? I heard Mom say a kid’s age is linked to their height.”

Xu Yuting asked sweetly.

As long as she was with him, there would never be any awkward silence. She had a super long list of questions she wanted to ask him.

“I’m six!”

The boy answered without even thinking.

As long as the girl wanted to know, he would never keep it secret.

“Oh yay, I’m six too. What day is your birthday? I’m going to give you a birthday present then. A huge surprise.”

Hearing that the boy was the same age as her made Xu Yuting even happier. She pressed on excitedly.

“May fifth. Yuting, when’s your birthday?”

Though Zhao Anqing was still young, he had a pretty good memory. He remembered things like birthdays quite clearly.

“I... I think I forgot... but my mom definitely knows...”

The girl was stumped by the question. She stammered and actually couldn’t answer when her own birthday was.

“You two little ones, what are you chatting about? Come eat breakfast...”

Xu Lu came out of the kitchen carrying a big tray of breakfast and called out to the children who were deep in discussion.

“Coming!”

Xu Yuting pulled the boy along, pattering across the clean floor.

“Yuting, you and Auntie should eat. I already ate earlier.”

The boy still felt a bit reserved. He didn’t have the greediness for food or the restlessness children his age usually had.

“You only ate a tiny bit. There’s no way you’re full. If your tummy’s empty, you won’t be able to play fun games with me. Come on. I ate your breakfast earlier, so now you have to eat mine back.”

The girl was incredibly enthusiastic. In just a few words, she blocked off every chance for the boy to refuse.

“Hehe, little Anqing, don’t be shy. Just eat. Auntie made a lot of breakfast. Two kids won’t be able to finish it all.”

Xu Lu arranged the dishes on the table and said with a smile.

“Mmm... okay!”

Unable to refuse such warm hospitality, the boy finally sat down awkwardly on the little stool.

“Yuting, where’s your dad?”

Only the mother and daughter were here. There was no father, a role that seemed indispensable in a family. The boy felt a little puzzled, so he asked the girl beside him softly.

“I’ve never seen Dad either... Mom said he went somewhere very far away... He definitely doesn’t want me and Mom anymore. He’s awful.”

The girl scooted her little stool closer to the boy, trying to get nearer, and said it lightly, as if it didn’t matter much.

In her mind, her family was just her mother. As for her father, she had no memory of him at all.

She was only six, still at that innocent age. She wouldn’t think too deeply about where her dad had gone.

“Oh...”

The boy nodded lightly and answered under his breath, then instinctively looked toward the busy Xu Lu.

“Hmm?”

The woman noticed the little boy’s gaze and returned it with a gentle smile.

“...”

In that instant, the older and younger pair of eyes met. The boy was the first to lose. He hurriedly looked away.

“Mom, I don’t want vegetables. I don’t want plain milk either...”

Xu Yuting planted both hands on the dining table with great force, ordering her mother around like a spoiled little ancestor.

“Then go drink the northwest wind.”

The woman had basically finished preparing breakfast. Three portions, full of nutrition without sacrificing taste. Hearing her daughter’s rude demands, she tossed back a breezy reply on the spot.

“Mooom...”

The girl dragged out the word in a childish, spoiled voice.

“If you keep making a fuss like this, then what I promised you yesterday is canceled.”

The woman placed the first breakfast in front of the boy and gave her daughter a meaningful look.

“Thank you, Auntie...”

Because they were standing close, the boy caught a pleasant fragrance from her. He quickly lowered his head and thanked her.

“Hehe, don’t be shy. If you’re not full, just tell Auntie. I’ll get you more.”

Xu Lu was extremely kind to her little guest. As she spoke, she subconsciously lifted a hand, wanting to rub this little cutie’s head.

But at the last moment, she held herself back.

She could tell the boy was still a little reserved. If she acted too familiar, she might scare her little guest.

“Little Anqing, you must not have slept well last night, right? Didn’t your family buy mosquito coils? Auntie has plenty at home. I can give you a few boxes to take back and light tonight.”

Looking carefully at the boy’s delicate face, the woman could clearly see many red marks. They were the aftereffects of mosquito bites. The swelling had gone down, but they still didn’t look very nice.

“Thank you, but no need. I’m not afraid of mosquito bites.”

The boy nervously pinched his own hands together and shook his head, refusing her kindness.

“Mom, buy an electric mosquito swatter. I’m going to zap to death all the mosquitoes that dared bite Anqing.”

The moment she heard about mosquitoes, the girl got angry too. Her best friend had actually been bullied by a bunch of mosquitoes. That was outrageous.

She swore she would get revenge.

“No need to spend money... no need...”

The boy’s voice suddenly jumped several notes, and he grew a little agitated.

He was very sensitive to words like buy, because buying meant spending money.

Money was important. That was something he had understood very early on.

So the boy didn’t want anyone wasting money on him, because he wasn’t worth it.

The reason he had developed this inferiority complex was because his mother’s preference for girls over boys had, without meaning to, been passed on to him as well.

Spending money on a boy is a waste. It means nothing. That was something Zhao’s mother often said.

Over time, after hearing it again and again, the boy also came to believe that money shouldn’t be spent on him, and that anyone spending money on him was wasting it too.

“Anqing, what’s wrong? You look really upset. Did I do something wrong?”

Seeing the boy suddenly react like that, Xu Yuting started blaming herself too.

“No, Yuting didn’t do anything wrong...”

The boy also realized he had been too rude just now, and quickly apologized.

“But you really looked angry just now...”

The girl proved her friendship with actions. She reached out her little hand and placed it over the boy’s tightly clenched hands.

“Yuting, don’t spend money on me, because I’m a boy.”

Zhao Anqing finally explained the reason. Because he was a boy, money shouldn’t be spent on him.

“Alright, you two little ones, eat breakfast first.”

Xu Lu took in the boy’s reaction, but didn’t say anything. She simply kept it quietly in mind.

“This is egg, this is meat, this is veggies, and this white drink is plain milk. Anqing, hurry and eat. When we’re done, we’re going to the children’s park. You have to eat until you’re full, or you won’t have the strength to play.”

The girl didn’t dig into what had just happened anymore. She started pointing at the boy’s breakfast with her fingers, chattering as she introduced everything to him.

“Mhm...”

Zhao Anqing looked at the rich breakfast on the plate. It was his first time eating like this.

“Here, you eat too. Stop chattering. You can’t even sit still through breakfast.”

Xu Lu also served breakfast to her daughter and reminded her.

“Got it... Oh right, Mom, what day is my birthday?”

Xu Yuting swung the little feet resting on the stool. Her voice was as crisp and pleasant as a songbird’s.

“March third. We celebrate your birthday every year, and every year you forget. Honestly, stop filling your little head with nothing but play and remember a few things.”

The woman was more or less speechless with this troublesome daughter of hers.

“Who says all I know is how to play? I remember Anqing’s birthday. It’s May fifth. Anqing, I got it right, didn’t I?”

Though she was still young, her best friend was right there beside her. The girl refused to let her mom lecture her. That would be too embarrassing.

“Mhm, Yuting got it right.”

The boy also spoke up to help his best friend.

“So little Anqing’s birthday is May fifth. That’s coming up soon, huh? Just half a month left. Hehe, Auntie will give you a birthday present then.”

The woman wasn’t surprised that her daughter knew the boy’s birthday.

“Mom, how many days is half a month...?”

The girl looked at her mother eagerly, wanting an answer she could actually understand.

“Fifteen days.”

After dividing the breakfast between the two children, the woman finally had time to sit down.

“How long is fifteen days?”

The girl fiddled with her little fingers, but still didn’t understand.

“I’ll remind you when the day comes. Stop yammering and eat breakfast first.”

The woman was not a math teacher. If she tried to explain it clearly to a six-year-old girl, the breakfast would be cold by then.

“Then Mom, don’t forget. If I miss Anqing’s birthday because of you, I definitely won’t forgive you.”

Xu Yuting put on a show of threatening her mom, but with that adorably fierce little look of hers, she had no intimidation at all.

“Yuting... you can’t talk to Auntie like that...”

The little background boy finally couldn’t help but criticize her.

He’d heard every word the mother and daughter had just said.

Honestly, knowing they cared about his birthday made the boy so happy.

In the past, only his dad remembered his birthday. He’d say happy birthday to him, then buy him something tasty.

Now, there were two more people in this world who knew his birthday.

He was unbelievably happy.

“Mhm, got it!”

The girl nodded obediently, then lightly bumped the boy’s shoulder as if in response.

She just liked having direct physical contact with him. She didn’t know why. It just felt so nice, so comforting, so happy.

“Anqing, what do you like? I’ll give it to you on your birthday!”

Whenever it was her birthday, her mom would always give her the thing she liked most.

So the girl had also decided that on the boy’s birthday, she would give him the gift he liked best.

When that time came, the boy would definitely be happy. His smile would surely be especially sweet, especially pretty.

Just thinking of that scene made the girl’s heart feel inexplicably at ease.

She was really looking forward to the boy’s birthday.

“I... I don’t really like anything... Anqing and Auntie don’t need to give me a gift. Just saying happy birthday to me is enough...”

Zhao Anqing really didn’t have anything he particularly wanted. A single “happy birthday” was enough to satisfy him.

“How could you not like anything? Toys, snacks, plushies... there’s gotta be at least one thing Anqing likes, right? How can just saying happy birthday be enough? No way. I want to give Anqing the gift he likes most.”

Xu Yuting thought that if her mom celebrated her birthday by only giving her a dry little “happy birthday,” she’d be mad to death.

“Little Anqing, giving gifts on birthdays is a very normal thing. If there’s something you like, don’t be shy. Just say it.”

Seeing that her daughter was thinking of others instead of being selfish, Xu Lu felt deeply gratified, and took the chance to speak too.

“But... but I really don’t have anything I like...”

Zhao Anqing was getting a little anxious. He really wasn’t lying. He was still young, and because of his family situation, he barely had access to much of anything.

So in his eyes, there really wasn’t anything he especially liked.

“Anqing, don’t you like snacks? Or toys?”

The girl widened her bright, sparkling eyes, a little unable to believe it.

In her eyes, kids were supposed to like tasty snacks, or fun toys.

“...I like playing with Yuting.”

The boy thought about it very seriously... then spoke a little shyly.

“Oh yay! Then I’ll play with you every day, and every day will be your birthday!”

The moment she heard him, Xu Yuting was so happy she practically exploded with joy. She sprang up from her stool at once.

“Mhm...”

Zhao Anqing was already used to a life of material scarcity. What he longed for more was friendship with kids his own age.

He was afraid of being alone, afraid of loneliness. He wanted someone by his side, someone to talk to, someone to chat with.

That was what he truly longed for—friendship.