Xiao Zhan leads her out, they make their way down the dimly lit underground parking area, walking in step past the rows of parked cars. "There's a convenience store on the ground floor, right?" Xiao Zhan asks. However, it takes Daiyu quite a while to respond, making it apparent that she is very unhappy about his intrusion. "I would prefer it if we just spoke here," she suddenly stops, and Xiao Zhan is forced to as well. He sighs. "You've been ignoring my calls." "For a valid

[Thursday : 7:20pm] "Hey." [Friday : 10:13am] "Yibo." [Wednesday : 3:20pm] "?" [Saturday : 7:04pm] "👋" [Saturday : 11:49 pm] "Hey." "Awake?" [Sunday : 1:18 am] "Xiao Zhan." [Sunday : 1:43 am) "Respond. I want to ask you something." [Sunday : 1:55 am]" I'm going to call in five minutes if you still don’t reply." [Sunday : 2:12 am) Incoming voice call - Xiao Zhan 📞 "I'm drawing. Can't type," Xiao Zhan said the moment Yibo answered the call. "Since 7pm?" Yibo's tone was

Xiao Zhan headed to the storage room, and Yibo was a bit surprised by this since he'd thought that they would simply speak at the back. Regardless, he had no choice but to follow, and soon they arrived in the dim room. Xiao Zhan shut the door behind Yibo, making it even darker, and this did very little to calm Yibo's frayed nerves. Xiao Zhan was irritated at him, this much was obvious, but truly Yibo didn't care. Or more accurately put, he couldn't afford to care because non

"Oh? Isn't that the high school student you’ve been waiting for?" At the sudden announcement, Xiao Zhan looked up from his clipboard and towards where his new store attendant was stacking juice cartons. "Where?" he asked and went closer to the window to peer across the street. The store attendant descended the step ladder he'd been on, and joined Zhan to watch the student who seemed to be pacing. "Why isn't he coming to the front of the store?" he asked. Xiao Zhan sighed. "He

"Clonk Clonk Clonk." At the dull thud of a hammer hitting a nail on the head, Yibo ducked beneath the barricade of Qianfan's counter. In the back of the butcher shop, he found Qianfan squatting by his small, cold room and working on two chairs. Startled at Yibo's sudden appearance, Qianfan looked up, but a smile soon replaced his surprise. "It's almost midnight," he said. What are you still doing here?" Yibo shrugged and then glanced at the shop's entrance. "Your store's stil

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and they both froze. It hit Yibo then, as he became aware of every inch of Xiao Zhan's body against him, just how inappropriate their position was. So he tried once again to free himself, but Xiao Zhan pushed harder against him, both arms by the sides of Yibo's head "Who is it?" Xiao Zhan's gaze went to the door. "DaMa" came the response. "Are you both okay?" "We are," Xiao Zhan answered. "Everything's alright." "Okay," she said. "A'zh

"This is the official invitation to have dinner in our home from my mom." Upon the message's arrival on his phone, Xiao Zhan set down the brush he was painting with and looked at the screenshots that had been attached. He smiled, amused by Daiyu's mom's persistent hope for months that he would drop by. "This is a reminder to schedule a visit as soon as you get some free time. I wasn’t just being polite the last time I invited you over." Xiao Zhan didn't respond, until a few m

"I hope you told him not to return," At the question, Xiao Zhan pauses on his way to his bedroom. His expression darkens for a few moments and then he continues on his way. He makes sure to shut the door behind him, but a little while later, the sound of the knob turning pulls him out of his thoughts. He doesn't bother watching his father come into the room, however. Instead, he starts taking off his socks and waits for his father to speak. "You didn't hear me?" he asks, and

"So," Lao-di says. "How do we help him recover and move on? He can't wallow in this guilt forever. It'll kill him." "Don’t I deserve to die?" Chentong asks. However, there is no response. "You don’t!" Yi Qin suddenly makes a half-drunken declaration, and this brings all eyes to their corner. "You didn't know he was sick before you took the money, did you? And...you tried to convince him multiple times to support you, didn't you? You helped him out for so long, so why didn't h