"Anyway, I didn't bring any money with me today. If you don't treat me... I'll starve to death right here!"

"You're such a scoundrel."

"You insisted on bringing me here. If I really starve to death, the Jiang City Police Department will be the first to arrest you!"

"cunning!"

"how?"

"Okay, okay, I'll treat you, alright?"

Xia Che raised his hands in surrender.

"That's more like it."

Jiang Yu was beaming with pride. Her eyes, even more beautiful than the "Tears of Atlantis," darted around and quickly found her target: a seafood restaurant not far away.

Then, she turned her wheelchair and headed towards the restaurant in the distance: "I want to eat seafood, the most expensive kind! I've been thinking about it for so long."

"Eat whatever you want, I'll make sure you're stuffed."

Xia Che followed behind with a smile, watching Jiang Yu's back, but for some reason his heart suddenly jumped.

His subconscious told him that his impulsive decision, intended to make Jiang Yu happy, now seemed...

It had the opposite effect.

...

Inside a seafood restaurant.

Xia Che did keep his word. Even though he was now technically just a down-on-his-luck young master, he could certainly afford to treat him to a meal.

It was just a seafood meal.

No matter how much they eat, I can afford to treat them.

Wow, you really went all out! I was just saying.

Looking at the dazzling array of seafood on the table, Jiang Yu frowned with a pained expression: "There's definitely too much for us to finish, right? Can we return it?"

"Don't worry, you can definitely return any leftovers."

Xia Che smiled and said, "Besides, I have a huge appetite, you wouldn't believe it, would you?"

"Who says I can't tell? You bought a whole bunch of snacks last time, and most of them ended up in your stomach! You're such a pig!"

Jiang Yu snorted. Perhaps because she had already prepared herself mentally, she did not force Xia Che to cancel such a luxurious meal. Instead, she picked up her knife and fork and, following the waiter's advice, cut the seafood and ate heartily.

Xia Che simply watched quietly, holding a glass of orange juice in his hand, taking sips every now and then, without choosing to use his chopsticks.

A growing sense of foreboding crept into Xia Che's heart, and he wanted to figure out where this premonition came from.

Xia Che's mood became depressed without him realizing it, and he lost his appetite completely.

Looking at Jiang Yu, who had almost finished eating, Xia Che asked, "Now can you tell me? About why you made seeing the sea your wish..."

"Hmm... I had forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it."

Jiang Yu thought for a moment, took out a napkin, wiped her mouth, and then threw it into the trash can. She looked at Xia Che seriously and said, "Speaking of which... you are the first person who knows what my wish is. Before you, I have never mentioned it to anyone."

"I am honored."

Xia Che nodded and smiled.

Jiang Yu laughed, "As for what you want to know... about my family background, you've seen it too, we're very poor, right?"

Xia Che had been to her house. Jiang Yu wasn't the type to put on a show; for her, there was nothing wrong with admitting things in front of her friends.

Xia Che smiled but didn't speak, choosing instead to listen quietly.

He had a vague feeling that the source of Jiang Yu's inferiority complex was about to surface.

I just don't know if the source of this inferiority complex is related to her painful past.

“My parents passed away a long time ago, and my grandfather passed away even earlier than them. My grandmother has always taken care of me, which has led to… a very difficult situation for our family.”

“But when my grandma wasn’t sick, I was very happy. Back then, she would often buy chicken wings for me. Although I knew that those chicken wings were leftover scraps that others gave to my grandma, she made them taste especially delicious.”

Jiang Yu looked at it, picked up the leftover crab shells on the table, and said, "Look, it tastes even better than crab!"

Xia Che could no longer laugh.

Even though he knew that he couldn't let Jiang Yu see that he was pitying her at this time, and that he should smile.

But he just couldn't bring himself to smile.

“Grandma is old and in poor health. She is the one who worries about me the most. That’s why I was so upset when my wheelchair broke down last time. If it weren’t for you, I would never have been able to get home by myself.”

Thank you so much.

Jiang Yu thanked Xia Che again.

"...It's nothing, I just did what I could."

Xia Che let out a long sigh of relief.

His heart grew heavy.

The life that ordinary people experience every day is something Jiang Yu dreams of but can never achieve.

Although I had prepared myself mentally, my understanding of the situation has now been thoroughly dispelled.

"You're too modest. Before I met you, I never had any friends. Although we haven't known each other for long, thanks to you, I've been able to experience what it's like to have friends."

"It's really nice to have someone in this world who cares about me."

Jiang Yu's eyes crinkled into a smile, as if the person she was talking about wasn't herself. She continued, "As for why I want to see the sea... I think it's probably because of the incident when I first entered junior high school."

“I suddenly lost both legs and became out of place with normal people. The farthest place I could go each day was school.”

"Perhaps it's because the area I can move around in is too small that I yearn for something as vast as the ocean. The ocean can go to places I can't go to."

"So a long time ago, I made a wish that if I could see the sea in the future, then... all the setbacks I have suffered are the payment for this wish in advance."

Jiang Yu stared intently at Xia Che, then suddenly smiled: "I've even thought that if I could see the sea just once, I could die without any regrets."

As she spoke, Jiang Yu rolled up her sleeves to show Xia Che the scars on her wrists—a series of purple scars resembling centipedes. "Look, I probably overestimated myself before, and I almost failed to fulfill my wish payment."

"you……"

Xia Che's scalp tingled. He grabbed Jiang Yu's wrist, his expression so serious it was almost frightening: "No matter how many times you want to see the sea, I can take you to see it. Don't worry about Grandma's illness, I can definitely help you solve it. No matter what happens, please live on, okay?"

Jiang Yu looked intently into Xia Che's eyes, and in his eyes, she saw only openness and sincerity.

Strangely enough, even though she hadn't known Xia Che for very long, Jiang Yu subconsciously felt willing to trust him.

A strange feeling gradually welled up in Jiang Yu's heart.