Pei Zongzhi pushed his bicycle as he followed closely behind Jiang Juyou.
He watched as Jiang Juyou pulled Qi Ran by the hand, leading the way forward.
In the past, Qi Ran had often been invited over to play, making her the friend Pei Zongzhi had seen the most out of all Jiang Juyou's companions. Then, all of a sudden, Qi Ran stopped coming over.
Pei Zongzhi had someone look into the situation, only to find out that it was once again because of Shang Muye. Jiang Juyou was someone who could cut ties with even her best friend.
Qi Ran shook off Jiang Juyou's hand. "Why are you pulling me?"
She turned her head away, unwilling to look at Jiang Juyou. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from explaining things to Jiang Juyou, but Jiang Juyou never listened to her explanations anyway—every attempt had simply been a waste of effort.
"Qi Ran, I just can't stand seeing you wronged. If you're going to go back to Zhou Die and let her wrong you again, then I..."
Jiang Juyou instinctively wanted to say she would cut ties with her, but then she remembered she had already cut ties with her.
"Whether I'm wronged or not, what does that have to do with you? Aren't you and I rivals in love?"
"I don't like Shang Muye anymore! I'm telling you not to like him either—he's nothing but a jerk!"
Qi Ran raised a hand to take off her glasses, wiping the corner of her eye. "What did you say?"
She suspected she was hallucinating. Never in her life had she expected to hear Jiang Juyou say she didn't like Shang Muye anymore.
"Right, I don't like him anymore."
"So we aren't rivals. How about we go back to being good friends?"
Qi Ran looked at her in disbelief. "Are—are you telling the truth?"
"Really! Let's make up. I want to keep playing with you in the future," Jiang Juyou said, grabbing Qi Ran's hand.
Pei Zongzhi stood nearby guarding the bicycle, unable to hold back a smile as he watched the two girls complete their elementary-school-style reconciliation ritual. To give them a bit more space, he pushed his bicycle two steps to the side, though he could still hear their conversation.
Qi Ran said to Jiang Juyou, "I never liked Shang Muye either. He's such an idiot."
Jiang Juyou let out an "ah."
"I never liked him from the very beginning! It was that jerk Tang Kailing who framed me. He sent you that photo of me and Shang Muye hugging, but I didn't go hug Shang Muye at all! Zhou Die was skateboarding nearby and accidentally bumped into me, and I just... Anyway, I don't like that idiot Shang Muye at all!"
Qi Ran was an introverted, soft-natured little girl. Usually, when people tried to get close to Jiang Juyou at school, most of them were only after her family background. Qi Ran was the only friend Jiang Juyou had ever initiated a friendship with on her own.
Hearing her curse Shang Muye as an idiot left Jiang Juyou momentarily dazed—this was the first time she had ever heard Qi Ran swear.
Suddenly, Jiang Juyou understood why her parents and her brother refused to believe she had stopped liking Shang Muye. It was pure stereotyping, just like how she hadn't believed Qi Ran was capable of cursing.
"I—I get it. So, are we officially made up now?"
Qi Ran stepped forward and gave her a hug. "Of course..."
Pei Zongzhi stood to the side, watching Jiang Juyou embrace her best friend. The two of them even started crying together.
His head began to ache. Why were they crying even after making up?
"Then come over to my place and play tonight?" Jiang Juyou tugged at Qi Ran, wanting to head back.
"But I have to work my shift at the Skateboard Club."
"Isn't today Saturday? Is it really your turn?"
"It wasn't supposed to be, but Zhou Die said she had something to do and switched with me."
Jiang Juyou clenched her teeth. "Don't go to her stupid Skateboard Club. I'll build a brand-new one for you, and you can be the president."
And just like that, Qi Ran was carried off by the overwhelmingly domineering Jiang Juyou.
Someone was arranged to send the bicycle back, while Pei Zongzhi drove to take the two girls home. In the back seat, the two little girls chirped and chattered, arguing over everything that had happened while they were apart. Pei Zongzhi contentedly played the role of the seasoned driver up front, unable to wedge in a single word.
"You and your brother..." Qi Ran peeked cautiously at the man driving in front. "...didn't you guys have a falling out?"
Jiang Juyou leaned close to Qi Ran's ear. "My brother and I made up. We only fell out because of Shang Muye in the first place. Now that I don't like Shang Muye anymore, of course we made up."
"I see..." Qi Ran was rather intimidated by Jiang Juyou's step-brother.
Realizing that the two of them had been chatting away so obliviously in the back that they had completely ignored the person in front, she suddenly felt rather awkward.
She spoke up, "Isn't it a bit rude of us to act like this?"
It felt like they were treating Pei Zongzhi purely as a chauffeur.
"I can hear you."
The voice from the front came out of nowhere, giving the two in the back a fright.
Jiang Juyou looked forward. "Brother, can you let me and Qi Ran play in your art studio later?"
"No."
Pei Zongzhi refused flat out.
Jiang Juyou had never expected to be turned down by Pei Zongzhi. She froze for a moment.
"Why not? We're just going to hang out for a bit, it's not like we're running away from home. Is someone going to steal your precious art studio? Besides, you spend all your time at the company these days and hardly ever paint anymore. Why can't we?"
"It's... very messy inside."
Jiang Juyou was puzzled. "Didn't you have Auntie go in and clean?"
"No. I haven't been using it much, so I didn't ask Auntie to tidy up."
"Then Qi Ran and I will clean it up for you when we get back, and then we can play."
"No."
Faced with consecutive rejections, Jiang Juyou furrowed her delicate brows. "Brother, since when did you get so stingy..."
"If you want to play, I'll have someone take you to a bigger art studio."
"Never mind..."
Jiang Juyou pulled Qi Ran along. "We'll just play in our own space. Let's go play in my room."
"Okay..." Qi Ran didn't dare say another word.
As soon as they arrived home, Jiang Juyou grabbed Qi Ran and dashed upstairs.
Pei Zongzhi followed behind them. Upon reaching the upper floor, however, he did not return to his own room. Instead, he walked to the very end of the corridor, where the art studio was located, and unlocked the door.
Looking inside the studio—which was completely filled with photographs of Jiang Juyou—his eyes darkened with unreadable emotion. After stepping inside, he closed the door and bolted it from the inside.
He began taking down every single one of those paintings.
Clearing an entire wall covered in artwork turned out to be quite strenuous.
Jiang Juyou and Qi Ran were sitting on the floor with a game console, playing a video game. No matter how hard they tried, the two of them kept dying at the same spot.
Jiang Juyou grew flushed with frustration. She stood up and announced, "I'm going to get my brother. He's really good at this game."
Qi Ran hesitated. "Will we be disturbing him?"
"It's fine, I'll go check. If he's busy, I won't make him help."
"Okay."
Qi Ran sat cross-legged on the soft cushion, picking up a fork to eat a strawberry.
Jiang Juyou scurried outside and headed straight for Pei Zongzhi's room.
"Auntie Wu, where's my brother?" She checked the study first, but didn't see anyone. Then she trotted quickly toward the bedroom.
Her gaze swept past a large box of flying chess games that Pei Zongzhi had placed on the bookcase. She remembered that this was the game she had always loved playing with her brother the most. But this particular set looked unfamiliar—it was unexpectedly huge.
Just as she reached out to grab it, the housekeeper standing by the door spoke up:
"Are you looking for the young master?"
"I just brought him a ladder. He's in the art studio."
"...Oh." Jiang Juyou lowered her hand and walked outside, feeling a bit strange.
Didn't he say the art studio wasn't cleaned up, which was why he wouldn't let her and Qi Ran go inside? Why on earth did he go in himself, and what was he doing with a ladder?
Jiang Juyou hurried forward toward the art studio again.
At the very end of the corridor was Pei Zongzhi's art studio, featuring a curved front window made of transparent glass that offered a complete, unobstructed view of the scenery in the backyard downstairs.
Jiang Juyou reached out and gripped the door handle.
She pushed directly.
Huh? It wouldn't budge.
She gave it a shake and realized the door had actually been locked from the inside.