"Who is it? Ying Qian."

"..."

Receiving no response, Xu Tiantian stepped out of the study, turned her head and saw a boy dressed in black standing at the door. After recognizing him for a few seconds, she blurted out, "Chen Chang?"

"It's me." Shen Chang's eyebrows curved, and the gentleness and aloofness between his eyes were perfectly blended. He was the epitome of "gentlemanly and refined".

Xu Tiantian was stunned for a moment, then turned around and tugged at Ying Qian's sleeve.

"What brings you here today, senior?" Ying Qian asked with a smile.

Chen Chang handed over the flowers in her hand, "Yellow roses, Chen Yun said you like them, so..."

Ying Qian's gaze fell on the bouquet of wrapped yellow roses in his hand, and she gladly accepted it, saying, "Come in and sit down."

"No, Chen Yun is waiting for me downstairs," he said. "I'm leaving now."

He kept smiling, but the faint sadness in his eyes could not be concealed.

The door slammed shut.

Xu Tiantian leaned against the shoe cabinet in the entryway. "Is this the 'stand-in literature' you were talking about before? I never expected it, I really never expected it... This senior has such a tragic story."

"I remember he could have been directly admitted to university back then, but he refused. He was even said to be the most principled man in the Third Middle School." She recounted these legends offhand.

Ying Qian stared at the fresh yellow roses in her hand, lost in thought.

"Xu Tiantian, what do you think the meaning of a yellow rose is?"

Xu Tiantian gave the answer very quickly.

—Luck and lost love.

After saying this, she looked at Ying Qian with concern, "Ying Qian...actually, Huang Meigui also has feelings for friendship..."

"Mmm." Ying Qian responded before she could finish speaking.

Ying Qian lowered her head, paused for a moment, then threw away the yellow roses in the vase and replaced them with the ones Chen Chang had just sent.

The yellow roses are vibrant and beautiful, yet incredibly fragile.

"Actually, I don't like roses at all," she said.

Xu Tiantian put her arm around her shoulder. "Why?"

"They'll die if it's too cold, and they'll die if it's too hot; they're hard to raise."

"Hey, Ying Qian, do you know what my brother's name is?" Xu Tiantian suddenly changed the subject.

"Huh? How could I know your brother's name?" Ying Qian asked, puzzled.

Xu Tiantian chuckled, "My brother's name is Xu Zhaoyan."

"It sounds nice..."

“But my name is very rustic.” Xu Tiantian doesn’t complain about this. “Because my brother was often sick when he was young, my parents suspected that his name was too grand and my brother couldn’t live up to it, which is why he got so many illnesses. So my name is simpler, and they said it would be easier for him to raise.”

"So are they really easy to raise?" Ying Qian asked.

Xu Tiantian clicked her tongue, her smile pure and lovely: "Easy to take care of! Compared to my brother, I get sick only a tenth of the time!"

"Is that so?" Ying Qian paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

Xu Tiantian retorted, "You haven't already decided what to name your future child, have you?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he was struck on the shoulder.

Ying Qian said, "Where is it?" but her smile couldn't be contained.

My gaze inadvertently swept over the yellow roses again, and my heart skipped a beat. My smile gradually faded away amidst the little squabbles.

Xu Tiantian noticed that something was wrong with her, so she stopped joking and gently advised, "Ying Qian, there's really no need for you to be so unhappy about these trivial things all day long. It's bad for your health."

Coming to her senses, Ying Qian vehemently denied it, saying, "I'm not unhappy because of these things. I've just been feeling a bit emotionally unstable lately." She had also noticed the fluctuations in her emotions recently.

There are too many troublesome things.

“I don’t know how to help you…” Xu Tiantian sighed, looking back on her life, “To be honest, I’ve had a smooth life from childhood to adulthood. Apart from some setbacks in relationships, I haven’t really had much else.”

In contrast, Ying Qian's life is like a tragic drama come to life.

Neither my father nor my mother cares for me.

"I really envy you, Sweetie." She lowered her eyes, concealing her sadness.

Xu Tiantian patted her on the back, "But you have good grades, you're not ugly, and you also have Chen Wenzhi. You don't know, before you transferred here, Chen Wenzhi was so aloof!"

Seeing her serious expression, Ying Qian asked, "Really? I was the turning point that made him change?"

"Um... well, I'm not sure either, because he's still as quiet as ever towards us..."

Ying Qian knew Chen Wenzhi's character very well, and patiently explained, "Actually, he's not quiet. He's very approachable. It's just that he's slow to warm up, which gives you the illusion that he's aloof."

"I disagree!" Xu Tiantian made an X with her hand.

Then he continued, “When he first came to high school, he really didn’t talk. He wouldn’t explain himself even if he was wronged. Sometimes people felt sorry for him, but no one wanted to meddle. Later, Ren Yi hung out with him all the time, and no one dared to bully him.”

"Was his academic performance bad back then?" Ying Qian never imagined that Chen Wenzhi would have to go through all this.

Xu Tiantian replied without hesitation: "Okay!"

She thought for a moment, then continued, "However, his aloof persona due to his good grades only made people more jealous, which is why some people teased him back then. Anyway, no one would mention it to the teacher, but Chen Wenzhi was not someone to be bullied at all..."

Xu Tiantian suddenly stopped talking at this point.

Ying Qian shook her arm. "Go on."

"Ahem." Xu Tiantian cleared her throat. "I'm thirsty!"

Ying Qian quickly got up and went to the kitchen to pour water.

Xu Tiantian stared at the blooming yellow roses in the celadon vase on the table, then glanced at the figure in the kitchen. She sighed for no reason, thinking to herself: I'm sorry, Chen Wenzhi, I have no choice but to reveal your past so that Ying Qian won't keep thinking about those sad things.

Soon after, he drank a glass of warm water.

“Chen Wenzhi retaliated directly. If someone splashed water on him, he splashed water back; if someone hit him, he hit back. He just didn’t argue. Then he quietly handed the complaint letter to the principal’s office. In the end, those guys were almost expelled. Weren’t they still picking on you back then? As long as Chen Wenzhi protected you, no one bothered you anymore.”

"So powerful?" Ying Qian could hardly believe it. She thought that someone like Chen Wenzhi wouldn't be bullied and would rarely get angry or seek revenge.

It turns out that appearances can be deceiving.

"There's one thing about him that makes me think he's a really nice person."

"What?"

Xu Tiantian said very seriously, "He is quite respectful of women in some ways."

“That’s true.” Ying Qian took a sip of tea.

"He never seemed to participate in the boys' discussions about the girls. He would always be writing his test paper by himself. If he heard anything that was unpleasant, he would stop them from doing so."

After saying all that, Ying Qian's focus shifted: "Why are you so interested in him?"

Xu Tiantian looked speechless, as if she had choked on a mouthful of phlegm.

"Your son Chen Wenzhi is really famous at No. 3 Middle School! Which classmate doesn't pay attention to this top student?"