Xie Qian couldn’t recall how he felt back then.
He only cared about the present!
Why should he care about a father who didn’t care about him?
“Alright, head home. I’ll walk you to the bus stop. Text me when you get there.”
This time, Xie Qian didn’t offer to take Wen Ying home. She guessed he was heading back to the hospital. Since he didn’t want her seen by Xie Jinghu, and she couldn’t keep hiding in the bathroom, Wen Ying didn’t want to burden him. Under his gaze, she boarded the bus obediently.
The trip home required a transfer. As Wen Ying got off, someone bumped her, nearly knocking her over. A hand steadied her.
“Careful—Wen Ying?”
The voice sounded familiar. Wen Ying looked up, surprised to see Song Shao.
“Class monitor, long time no see!”
After apologizing to Song Shao in person, Wen Ying had cleared a weight from her heart. Busy and attending different high schools, they’d only chatted twice on QQ, never meeting in person. She hadn’t expected to run into him at a bus stop today.
The stop was crowded, and Song Shao, too busy to talk, pulled Wen Ying aside to avoid another shove.
Once the bus left and the crowd thinned, they could finally speak.
“Heard you’re doing pretty well lately?”
Song Shao asked with a smile. Wen Ying laughed, “Who told you that?”
“You won first prize in the New Concept Essay Contest. Word got around to our junior high classmates. Is that fake?”
Wen Ying hadn’t shared this with Song Shao, unsure how he’d heard.
She wasn’t trying to distance herself, but the contest was like a stamp on a trip for her, fulfilling a past-life regret. She’d never bragged about the result to anyone.
Even if she wanted to boast, she wouldn’t to Song Shao.
Song Shao had competed in plenty of high-stakes contests. Her New Concept first prize was nothing to flaunt in front of him.
She saw it as a travel memento; Song Shao was genuinely happy for her, “Looks like it’s true. I remember your essays in junior high were great, and you kept a diary. Winning this was only natural.”
As a quiet student, Wen Ying’s essays stood out, often posted as exemplars on the classroom blackboard.
She loved reading, so writing came naturally, hence the diary habit.
Having her diary read aloud by Yue Shanni and others was Wen Ying’s most humiliating junior high moment, with Song Shao as the other party involved.
Song Shao brought up the past without embarrassment, and Wen Ying, thick-skinned as she was, wasn’t fazed either.
“Got lucky, I guess. The judges happened to like it.”
Wen Ying downplayed it, but Song Shao shook his head, “Luck is part of strength. Without the foundation, you can’t seize luck. Your skill earned the judges’ approval.”
Song Shao was warm to the core.
Wen Ying would’ve cheered for him across two lifetimes.
Chatting, they wandered to a nearby drink shop, where Song Shao treated her to an orange juice.
“Has your cousin bothered you since?”
Wen Ying shook her head, sipping through her straw, “She transferred back to her hometown. We don’t cross paths—how could she trouble me?”
Shu Lu deserved some hardship.
Since Wen Dongrong stopped supporting Shu Lu and Wen Hongyan, Wen Hongyan returned to their small hometown, forced to raise her daughter alone.
Before, with Wen Dongrong’s help, Shu Lu’s tuition and living expenses were covered, even attending summer camps. Her lifestyle matched city kids’.
Now, Wen Hongyan’s new job earned barely a thousand a month, covering their living costs, Shu Lu’s tuition, and expenses. Life was tight, and Shu Lu’s standard of living lagged behind her classmates… Wen Ying felt no pity. This was the life Shu Lu was meant to have. Parents raise their own kids—her family’s generosity couldn’t last two lifetimes!
As for Shu Guobing’s verdict, it came after the Spring Festival. He got three years, with two and a half left after detention time.
Xiao Cai got one year and three months and would be out soon.
Wen Ying spoke lightly, clearly unbothered by these matters.
Song Shao nodded quietly, having sensed last time that Wen Ying was different from junior high. This meeting confirmed it.
Song Shao had somewhere to be and was about to say goodbye when Wen Ying asked, “By the way, I’ve always wondered something. Why did Yue Shanni suddenly testify? Do you know, Class Monitor?”
Her eyes held curiosity.
Song Shao, unflinching, denied, “How would I know? Ask Yue Shanni herself.”
Wen Ying was skeptical.
But Song Shao’s expression gave nothing away. He waved casually and crossed the street to catch a bus.
Wen Ying grinned, biting her straw.
Yue Shanni wouldn’t have a sudden change of heart.
Who else but Song Shao would do a good deed anonymously?
She’d remember this favor.
Wen Ying wasn’t afraid of owing debts now—she was confident she could repay them!
Though, the bus Song Shao took was the same route she’d come on.
The detail flickered in her mind, but she didn’t dwell on it. Bus routes had many stops, and meeting Song Shao was already a coincidence. Surely he wasn’t heading to the same hospital right after she left?
Wen Ying had to get home to write.
While Xie Qian hadn’t sent new assignments, she needed to keep working on *Youth Idol*. Zou Weijun would discuss publishing when she returned from her trip. Once a contract was signed, Wen Ying would need to submit the full manuscript to the publisher soon.
…
The bus swayed to a stop.
Song Shao got off.
Checking his phone for messages, he headed to the inpatient building.
He took the elevator and reached the ward from the message. The door was ajar, but he knocked politely.
“Come in.”
Song Shao entered. Seeing him, Song Chan stood up. Song Foxiang, spotting him, squirmed uncomfortably.
“Why are you here…?”
“Uncle’s in the hospital. How could I, as a nephew, not visit?”
Song Shao’s tone was mild, but Song Foxiang shrank back.
—God, he’d rather fight Xie Jinghu again than face his nephew Song Shao.
If Song Foxiang was the Song family’s wild breeze, blowing wherever it pleased, Song Shao was a robot cast from a mold.
A kid who studied without supervision, the “other people’s child,” a rigid scholar who loved preaching—Song Shao.
Song Shao was about to ask how Song Foxiang ended up in a fight when Song Foxiang threw off the blanket and sat up.
“Xiao Chan, I think I’m ready to leave. Go handle the discharge paperwork!”
