"Mom, spot me some cash."
Xu Yan was putting on his shoes while calling his mother, acting like the most filial of sons.
His family was well-off, but hardly wealthy. Though his allowance was decent, once rent and food were paid for, the remaining money still fell short of covering the cost of a paternity test.
"Didn't I just wire you two thousand a couple of days ago?" Lin Hui's voice was quite impatient. "Do you think I'm made of money?"
Still, she knew her son wasn't one to spend recklessly. As a mother, however, the necessary cross-examination was still required.
Xu Miaotong stood obediently behind him with her hands behind her back, her big eyes blinking.
"Daddy, is that Grandma?" She flashed a sweet smile. "I miss Grandma so much too!"
Lin Hui instantly grew vigilant. "What kind of weird racket is that? How come I hear a child?"
"There's something I don't really know how to tell you." Xu Yan fell silent for a moment. "It seems you're going to be a grandmother."
Aside from the photograph, there was no substantive proof. Yet Xu Yan had a vague feeling that this matter was precisely as he guessed. Or rather, from the very first moment he saw Xu Miaotong, he had possessed an intensely strong premonition. This little girl was bound to have an extremely close relationship with him. Father and daughter shared a bond... he could only think along these lines.
"..."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long while, followed by the sound of shattering glass.
"You little bastard, what did you just say?" Lin Hui's voice suppressed a full measure of panic. "Say that again! Whose belly did you get big? How many months along is the kid?"
She felt as though the ancestral graves of the Xu family might actually be smoking.
"Eight years old."
"..."
Silence descended upon the other end of the line once more.
After quite a while, Lin Hui's chilly voice came through. "Do you take me for an absolute idiot?"
"I don't know," Xu Yan replied earnestly. "Just wire the money. Once you wire it, you won't look like one anymore."
"Go to hell," Lin Hui said, exasperated to the point of fury. "Go play somewhere else."
With that, she cleanly and decisively hung up the phone.
Eight years old? Why didn't you say eighteen years old!
Still, it was evident that Lin Hui cared for her son after all. She directly transferred a red packet of one thousand yuan to him.
[Rich and Blossoming: Next time you want money, find an excuse that doesn't treat your own mother like a fool.]
"Tongtong, give me a strand of your hair."
He had classes in the afternoon, so Xu Yan had no choice but to leave her alone at home. He looked at the soft, adorable little girl, still feeling somewhat uneasy. "If you get bored, watch some TV. I'll be back tonight."
Xu Miaotong looked somewhat displeased, tugging hard at her fingers. "Where is Daddy going?"
"To school."
"Can I go to school with Daddy?"
"No. I'll bring you something delicious tonight."
Right now, nothing had been verified yet; how could Xu Yan possibly dare take her to school?
Xu Miaotong looked slightly aggrieved, pulling forcefully at her fingers. Even so, she answered in a soft, milky voice, "Tongtong will definitely be a good girl!"
Xu Yan took the photograph and left the house. Looking back, he saw Xu Miaotong standing on her tiptoes, pressing against the window. Half of her head peeked out, her big eyes staring at him without blinking.
Clearly, today was the very first time he and Xu Miaotong had ever met, yet this little girl's attachment to him came entirely from the bottom of her heart. On many occasions, it left Xu Yan somewhat overwhelmed. At the same time, he could not help but feel a twinge of worry. If everything Xu Miaotong said was true... the troubles carried by this little girl who had suddenly burst into his life were far greater than he could have imagined.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, Xu Yan arrived at the classroom. The teacher had not yet arrived, so taking advantage of this gap, he found a piece of scratch paper and prepared to write something down.
What should he write...
*Classmate Wen Ning, you are my future wife? We have a daughter together?*
Why did that sound so much like a love confession...
No. 1 High School was a key high school with a very strict school atmosphere, and the disciplinary office cracked down heavily on early romance. If Wen Ning handed this over to the teachers of the advanced class, it would be a social death on the spot, wouldn't it?
After turning it over in his mind, Xu Yan crumpled the paper into a ball in sheer frustration. Better to write nothing at all.
Taking advantage of the quiet hallway, he left the classroom and went upstairs to the advanced class. There were many people inside the classroom, either slumped over their desks resting or burying their heads in practice problems. With less than four months left until the college entrance examination, it was prime time for the final sprint.
"Classmate," Xu Yan called out to a boy sitting by the window in the back row of the classroom, "is Wen Ning here?"
The boy glanced around and shook his head. "Not here."
Xu Yan fell silent for a moment. "Which seat is hers? I have something to give her."
At this, the boy looked at him with a slightly strange expression. Wen Ning was the campus belle of No. 1 High School, arguably the dream lover in the hearts of countless boys. Her youthful ponytail and faded blue-and-white school uniform embodied the natural White Moonlight Saint Body.
"She sits in the fourth row, right by the inside."
"Thanks."
Xu Yan directly ignored the boy's peculiar gaze and walked into the classroom.
Wen Ning's desk was kept very tidy; her books were stacked neatly, and an exam paper lay unfurled. Her handwriting was delicate and pretty, covered in clear notes. Next to them sat a sky-blue water cup. It was easy to tell that this was a girl who studied extremely hard. But then again, her academic performance consistently ranked in the top ten of her grade; aside from her good looks, she was a genuine top student.
Xu Yan slipped the photograph underneath her pen holder. Then he tore off a piece of scrap paper and wrote down his name and class. He simply ignored the baffled stares coming from the other students in the advanced class. As long as I don't feel embarrassed, I am invincible.
This ought to be his very first intersection with Wen Ning in all three years of high school. If not for the appearance of Xu Miaotong... Xu Yan figured that even by graduation, he and Wen Ning would have remained complete strangers. They probably wouldn't even manage to test into the same university. So no matter how he thought about it, it made no sense... How could Wen Ning possibly be his future wife?
Having finished all this, he swiftly departed. During the lunch break, the disciplinary office's wandering phantoms refreshed their patrols. There was a genuine risk of being killed.
The afternoon classes proceeded as usual, and 5:30 arrived in a flash.
"A-yan, wanna go shoot some hoops?" Chen Hao walked over holding a basketball. The energy of adolescent boys had nowhere to vent, so they could only launch it away through basketball.
"Not going." Xu Yan corrected his incorrect problems without even raising his head. "Dog brain, don't keep your old man from testing into a key university."
"Stop studying, it's already over!" Chen Hao rolled his eyes and tossed the basketball over.
His grades were about the same as Xu Yan's. Two and a half years had passed, and they both still hovered around the undergraduate admission line, remaining average, middle-of-the-pack students. In these final four months, could they really reach the heavens? Key university? That was a bit of a niche vocabulary.
Xu Yan reached out and caught it. "I've already decided to take my talents to a key university."
In truth, however, he was waiting for someone. He felt somewhat unconfident inside. After all, he had no idea what kind of reaction Wen Ning would have when she saw that photograph.
Right at that moment, Chen Hao beside him suddenly stopped talking. Instead, he took a step back, his eyes locked straight onto the classroom doorway.
"Oh, Xu Yan? Yeah, he's here." A girl on cleaning duty pointed with her finger. "Right there, the one sitting at the very back of the classroom... A-yan, someone's looking for you!"
Xu Yan was well-liked in the class and had a good personality, so he got along easily with both the boys and the girls.
Xu Yan raised his head.
Standing at the classroom doorway was a girl wearing a blue-and-white school uniform. She wore a simple high ponytail, her face pure and refined, her legs straight and slender. In contrast to her pure appearance, however, she possessed a pair of deeply alluring eyes. The corners of her eyes tilted slightly upward, carrying a faint reddish flush that resembled those of a fox. Thus, while looking pure, she was simultaneously pretty enough to impart a touch of bewitching charm.
Chen Hao's gaze instantly dropped onto his good brother, filled with disbelief. *No way, bro... what dishes are we having today to be drinking this hard?*
One had to admit, the very moment he laid eyes on the real Wen Ning, Xu Yan confirmed one fact. If the photograph was real... then she was the woman in that picture. In her youth, she looked simply too much like Xu Miaotong. Those eyes were carved from the exact same mold—two pairs of fox eyes, one large and one small.
It seemed to be Wen Ning's first time running over to another class to look for a boy. She was not quite accustomed to the stares of her classmates and stiffened her face somewhat unnaturally.
"Xu Yan, come outside for a moment." Her voice was crisp, yet cold and detached, with an undercurrent of anger. "I have something to say to you."