Just then, one of the boys turned around. He seemed to have noticed someone following him.

Shan Shan had a poker face. She was nervous inside, but not a trace of it showed on her face. She even grumbled to herself: What an ugly boy.

The next second, Shan Shan instinctively pretended she was just a passerby. She acted like she hadn’t been following the boy, stood where she was, and looked left and right.

In fact, Shan Shan had misunderstood.

Lin Zishen was someone who always felt unsafe, too. He often looked back as he walked. He hadn’t noticed Shan Shan following him; instead, the moment he saw her, he couldn’t help thinking: What a pretty girl.

Don’t get the wrong idea.

Lin Zishen wasn’t even seven yet, and he was a super late bloomer. There was no way he’d fallen head over heels for her. He simply thought she was really pretty—prettier than every girl in his elementary school class.

To be fair.

Lin Zishen felt a little ashamed of himself. He was filthy from head to toe, and he was carrying a trash bag with a few empty cans in it. He looked exactly like a junk collector. The girl before him was dressed beautifully, her delicate face spotless, like a fairy who’d wandered into the mortal world.

Wang Zhu, standing nearby, suddenly asked, “Zishen, what are you spacing out for? Quit dawdling. It’s hot out—let’s pick up enough bottles to trade for money and buy some root beer.”

That’s right.

It was June. Summer was blazing, and the sun beat down like fire.

“Oh…”

Lin Zishen quickly snapped back to reality and kept walking, picking up bottles with Wang Zhu.

Seeing that Lin Zishen wasn’t looking at her anymore, Shan Shan continued trailing behind him, her little mind working away. From the way those two boys spoke, they were probably locals. They’d likely know how to get to the hospital, so asking them for directions was a sure bet… But they looked so sketchy. The thought of letting these two grimy boys know she was lost was just too embarrassing.

A little while later.

Lin Zishen looked back again, and Shan Shan started pretending again.

A little while later.

Lin Zishen looked back yet again, and Shan Shan kept pretending to be a passerby.

This time, though, Lin Zishen looked for a little longer. He noticed the girl behind him was alone, and that although she had no expression on her face, she was secretly tucking her hands away, as if she were a little nervous.

Could she be lost?

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Zishen walked over and asked, “Hey, why do you keep following me!? Did you get lost?”

Shan Shan’s brows immediately furrowed. The boy not only looked grimy, he smelled awful, too—and he had no manners at all. The first thing out of his mouth was “Hey.”

I, Shan Shan, was the only daughter of a prestigious research family in the capital. Everyone else called me a genius.

How could I possibly admit I was lost in front of a snot-nosed brat like him!?

Exactly!

I absolutely won’t admit it!

Her pride wouldn’t let her!

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Shan Shan spotted a stray cat rummaging through a trash can in the Corner. She silently swore to herself: If I admit I’m lost, then I’m nothing but a stray cat.

The next second.

Shan Shan lifted her gaze. Her eyes were sharp as she stared at Lin Zishen, her teeth biting down on her red lip. She looked utterly serious and solemn.

And then… then, then… she still crumpled. Pouting, she said pitifully, “Yeah, I’m lost. I can’t find my mom.”

Lin Zishen had been startled by her fierce look just a moment ago, but then her sudden change in demeanor made him laugh.

Shan Shan wasn’t yet as tough and unyielding as she’d become later on. She was still so young and vulnerable. She’d not only just lost a loved one, but had also been pushed by her mother. Her state of mind had already been shaken.

The moment Shan Shan saw Lin Zishen laughing, she couldn’t hold back anymore. Rubbing her eyes, she burst into tears.

She hadn’t cried in so long.

How embarrassing.

Seeing how pitifully she was crying, Lin Zishen stopped laughing and hurried over to comfort her. “Hey… don’t cry, don’t cry. I’ll take you to find your mom. Do you remember where she is?”

“The hospital.”

They were in the North District of Z City. Lin Zishen was a local, a kid who’d grown up running wild, and he knew the area for several kilometers around like the back of his hand. He immediately figured out which hospital Shan Shan’s mother was at.

He gave Shan Shan a smile that wasn’t very good-looking, but was extraordinarily gentle. At the same time, he held out his grimy hand and said, “I’ll take you there.”

At that moment.

Shan Shan stared at the boy’s warm smile and couldn’t help freezing. She thought of her grandfather’s final words before he died: “One day, you’ll meet another boy who treats you gently.”

In the end, she took the boy’s hand.

Later on.

As the years passed and she grew older, Shan Shan mostly forgot that boy. She only vaguely remembered that something like this had happened when she was little.

……

For most of elementary school.

Shan Shan lived in the capital, in a large family compound with many of her relatives. Everyone at school praised her as a genius, but even so, her family didn’t seem to think much of her.

Shan Shan was often confused. She didn’t know what she could do to change how the others saw her, or even what the problem was.

That’s right.

She was just an elementary school student. How could she understand what it meant to favor boys over girls?

Around fourth grade, after yet another failed IVF attempt, her mother was physically and emotionally exhausted. She fell into severe depression. She wouldn’t eat or drink, spent all day staring into space, and even showed mild signs of self-harm.

Sometimes, her mother would ramble in Shan Shan’s ear: “Shan Shan, you have to prove yourself. Even though you’re a girl, you have to show that you’re just as good as any boy!”

Shan Shan nodded, only half understanding. “Okay. I’ll do my best.”

Later.

Her mother’s condition kept getting worse, so her father gave up some of his research work overseas and decided to take the two of them back to Z City.

After all, it was the city where her mother, An Jiu, had been born, and it was a better place for her to recover from depression.

At first, her father bought a villa in a residential community called “Taoyuan,” on the outskirts of the South District.

Later, when he saw that her mother’s condition wasn’t improving, her father moved them to her old home in Jinxiu Garden: a small apartment on the nineteenth floor.

That was how Shan Shan returned to that little southern city. But she transferred to an international elementary school in the South District, and had no connection at all with Lin Zishen, who was attending a rural elementary school in the North District.

During her first and second years of middle school.

Shan Shan attended a private middle school in the South District, one that locals called an elite school. There, for the first time in her life, she developed a passion of her own for two things: dance and novels.

She joined the dance team and even became its captain.

Once, the school held an arts and entertainment gala and invited parents to attend. Shan Shan’s mother, An Jiu, didn’t know her daughter had joined the dance team, and Shan Shan hadn’t told her. She’d wanted to surprise her.

But then…

Afterward, her mother gave her a harsh scolding and slapped her. Then she softened and pleaded, almost desperately, “Shan Shan, promise me you’ll become someone who’s just as good as your father. You absolutely can’t waste your time on things like this.”

Shan Shan didn’t really want to agree. But when she saw how pitiful and worn-out her mother looked, she still said, “Okay. I won’t dance anymore.”