The butler once thought the young master would never experience true friendship, but now it seems...

Friendship is a mysterious thing; it can come about in a very strange way.

Shocked, Nie Yu's weak voice came from behind, "Butler Han, what are you doing?"

"Young Master, you just threw everything on the desk onto the floor. I'm cleaning it up for you!" Butler Han took the initiative to fold up the paintings one by one and brought them all to Nie Yu's side.

Nie Yu flipped through the pages one by one, as if searching for something important.

Finally, he stopped searching, but his expression instantly turned cold.

"Young Master...this..." Butler Han looked at the painting placed on Nie Yu's lap in surprise. It had been torn open at some point, and the contents of the painting were also fragmented.

"Get out!" Nie Yu said calmly and weakly.

Butler Han was also a little flustered. He hadn't noticed what the painting looked like before when he was tidying it up.

Seeing him standing there frozen in place, Nie Yu roared, "Get out!"

After Butler Han left, Nie Yu carefully held the damaged painting, her fingertips trembling with heartache.

This is the portrait he is most satisfied with after working through the night for so many days.

Under the bright sunlight, Li Qingling wore a simple white tracksuit, with some loose strands of hair falling from her ponytail, and even her skin seemed to glow.

Even though he was humiliated and provoked by Nie Fansheng at that time, in his heart, Li Qingling was as dazzling as a goddess.

Like a ray of light, it shone into his dark world.

In an instant, spring sunshine arrived, all kinds of grass sprouted, and flowers danced gracefully.

He remembered that scene and spent a long time painting it to his satisfaction, but in the end, he destroyed it in a fit of madness after falling ill.

It was as if it were foreshadowing his and Li Qingling's future, that one day she would be hurt because of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Nie Yu picked up the painting and gently rubbed the damaged parts of the painting with his fingers.

He never imagined that in just half a month, this well-behaved and romantic girl would open his closed heart and bring sunshine into it.

In the past, his old illness would only flare up when he thought of his mother, but now it seems there is another person who can tug at his heartstrings anytime, anywhere.

She was grateful to the little girl, who was like a goddess, for bringing a ray of light into her dark life.

The more Nie Yu thought about it, the more his heart ached. The feeling of difficulty breathing and a severe headache surged back into his mind. He gripped the edge of the bed tightly, trying to stay awake.

Just then, the phone on the desk rang. Despite the intense discomfort in his body, Nie Yu walked with difficulty to the desk. When he saw that the caller ID was a pink Ling'er icon, he used almost all his reason to control his emotions and pressed the answer button.

"Hey~ Nie Yu? Are you asleep?" Li Qingling's sweet voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Not yet." Nie Yu pinched his chest, trying his best not to let her detect anything unusual.

"Why did you leave before me this afternoon? Didn't we agree that my mom would drive you home on her way?" Li Qingling's tone was tinged with regret.

"I don't want the hassle."

Nie Yu was always a man of few words, and Li Qingling was already used to his way of speaking. She only felt a slight regret for a few seconds before quickly reverting to her usual sweet and lovely voice, "So, are you free this weekend? I'd like to invite you to my house! My two older brothers will be home too!"

Nie Yu turned on the speakerphone, glanced at the calendar, and realized that this weekend was actually her birthday.

He hadn't celebrated his birthday for many years since his mother passed away. In the Nie family, apart from the housekeeper Han who would secretly prepare a birthday cake for him every year, no one ever remembered his birthday.

For him, that day was almost no different from any other.

"I have something to do." Nie Yu thought for a moment, but ultimately declined her invitation against his will.

“I know you’re okay. Don’t you want to stay with me? That day was special for you. Actually, I invited you to my house because I wanted to celebrate your birthday with you.” Li Qingling said with a pitiful expression.

The indifference in Nie Yu's eyes instantly turned into surprise and tenderness. He originally thought that Li Qingling's invitation to the party on her birthday was just a coincidence, but he did not expect that it was really a birthday banquet prepared for him.

A warmth enveloped his cold heart, but the words he uttered still carried a hint of indifference: "How did you know?"

It wasn't a surprised inquiry, but rather a kind of wary interrogation.

However, Li Qingling was clearly unaffected by his attitude and said with a smile, "I accidentally saw your student information when I was in the teacher's office before, so I wrote it down."

"Oh~" Nie Yu smiled, but his attitude remained cold.

Li Qingling asked again, seemingly unconvinced, "Will you come?"

"I never celebrate my birthday." Nie Yu still pretended not to care, but her mind was already starting to wander as to what clothes she should wear to the party.

Even over the phone, Li Qingling seemed to have already guessed what he was thinking, and sweetly said, "I knew you would definitely come back. I would be very sad if you didn't~"

After saying that, she didn't give Nie Yu a chance to refute her again and hung up the phone with lightning speed.

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