In less than a month, Lin Minzhi paid back the hundred yuan.

Pancakes with crispy cookies sold so well that workers from far-flung construction sites were willing to travel a long way to buy them.

However, the good times did not last long.

Lin Minzhi's method of adding crackers was soon copied by her peers.

In recent days, more and more breakfast stalls have learned to make pancakes like her, taking away a lot of customers.

Lin Minzhi was not angry. After all, people came and went, and it was not a difficult step to follow. She could learn it by watching.

Since others copied her work, she tried to find ways to do better.

I have what others don’t, and I am better than others.

In order to repay Zhang Xianzhen's debt, Lin Minzhi's biggest wish was to enroll Ji Mian in an interest class.

He originally thought that Ji Mian was just talking about wanting to learn how to "fight", but who knew that on the day they went to the Children's Palace, his son really didn't learn anything.

I don't like the piano, and I don't like the violin either.

Lin Minzhi was at a loss for words, so she simply signed Ji Mian up for piano lessons.

But when she got to her lips, Lin Minzhi suddenly felt something was wrong.

Shouldn't she listen to what Ji Mian thinks?

The news that Ji Mian wanted to learn how to fight somehow reached the ears of Grandma Yao. She was sixty-three years old, all her children had died, and she had no grandchildren, leaving her a lonely old widower.

I'm so bored that I especially like to worry about the children on the old street.

Ji Mian looks cute and although he is stupid, he is well behaved. Grandma Yao likes him the most.

Grandma Yao took the matter under her purview, and a few days later, she brought Zhang Xianzhen to the house.

When Lin Minzhi opened the door, she saw Grandma Yao explaining, "Xiao Zhang used to be a policeman. If Mianmian wants to exercise, she can find him!"

With the help of Grandma Yao, Ji Mian actually started learning Sanda from Zhang Xianzhen.

Of course, he is too young, so Zhang Xianzhen is just taking Ji Mian for a run now.

When the neighbors in the old street heard that Xiuzhi's mentally ill son was running after Police Officer Xiao Zhang, they all came to watch the fun.

Some people laughed at her, some mocked her, and some said that Lin Minzhi was making a fuss.

Watching other people’s suffering is a way for ordinary people to pass the time.

Every morning, Zhang Xianzhen took five-year-old Ji Mian past the old street.

Ji Mian, wearing a rabbit hoodie, ran breathlessly with his short legs. Although he ran slowly, his steps were firm and he never complained.

The shop owner who was washing vegetables saw this and said happily, "Oh, our little rabbit policeman is here. How long can he hold out?"

Making fun of him is really infuriating.

Ji Mian is determined to fight for this!

Until he persisted for a whole month, no one dared to look down on him anymore.

The neighbors who were watching the fun went from mocking to silence, and finally grabbed their own disappointing son and scolded him: "Lin Minzhi's mentally retarded son works harder than you!"

Lin Minzhi was also surprised. Although her son's IQ was not as high as others, his perseverance was far beyond the reach of his peers.

I heard that some children with intellectual disabilities are more focused than ordinary people in another field. Is Mimi one of them?

Although Ji Mian's soul and memory were merged with a five-year-old child, he was not really only five years old after all.

In terms of patience and perseverance, they far exceed normal children.

In a blink of an eye, he finished a semester at Dawn Kindergarten.

The fact that Ji Mian had an intellectual disability was no secret in Lingang County. Even if the parents gossiped about it and the teachers tried to hide it, the children knew about it.

All the children attending Liming Kindergarten are local children. They are already exclusive to outsiders, and coupled with Ji Mian's IQ problem, the xenophobia is even more obvious.

They didn't talk to Ji Mian, and Ji Mian was too lazy to deal with a five-year-old child.

After memory fusion.

His current IQ is at least that of a ten-year-old.

On New Year's Eve, Teacher Wang gathered everyone together and shared osmanthus cakes.

Osmanthus cake is the most popular snack in kindergarten. Whoever behaves well can eat it first, and everyone sits up straight.

Xu Cai and Su Luoyu were the first to get it. Xu Cai was the one who liked to provoke Fu Chenyu, but he never got any benefits every time and was beaten by Fu Chenyu several times.

He also liked to take the lead in isolating Ji Mian and provoked Ji Mian several times, but was ignored by Ji Mian, which made him so angry that he glared with his nose twisted.

As the protagonist of the novel "Stranger Tenderness", Su Luoyu has shown the aura of a protagonist since he was a child, and all the children in the kindergarten like him.

Ji Mian couldn't name the remaining children, so he temporarily numbered them as Passerby A, B, C, and D.

And Fu Chenyu...

Ji Mian looked towards the corner of the classroom with a heavy heart.

He remembered the plot written on the little note very clearly. For the entire semester, he didn't say a word to Fu Chenyu and stayed away from him.

But Ji Mian couldn't bear to watch the child suffer. His ability was limited. In the past six months, when his classmates bullied Fu Chenyu, he could only secretly run to complain to Teacher Wang again and again to prevent things from developing in the worst direction.

Or he would take an extra egg during breakfast and quietly put it in Fu Chenyu's desk hole, but every time it was thrown into the trash can by Fu Chenyu. He didn't need such pity.

Ji Mian has tried his best to overcome his fear of death and do everything he can.

With him "interfering," Fu Chenyu's life in kindergarten was better than before; at least no one bullied him anymore. Xu Cai had spent the entire semester trying to find someone who was telling tales, but he couldn't find Ji Mian's little rabbit tail. He was so angry that his face flushed red—he had already been reprimanded by Teacher Wang several times for bullying his classmates.

But when he returned home, Fu Chenyu had to face beatings and scolding from Aunt Chen again.

Ji Mian's help was just a drop in the bucket for Fu Chenyu.

The wounds on his body continued to increase day by day.

The new one covers the old one before it scabs over.

These signs of abuse on a five-year-old child are shocking to see.

Ever since Su Luoyu was warned by Yang Chaoying not to have any contact with Fu Chenyu, she rarely took the initiative to look for Fu Chenyu.

Ji Mian, who had no idea what was going on, was completely confused.

What's going on?

Where is the childhood idol and beautiful white moonlight?

Where's the sweetheart you promised to be? Where's the inseparable one you promised to be?

Fu Chenyu is having such a miserable time, why doesn't Su Luoyu comfort him?

This is different from the plot he imagined...

According to Ji Mian's idea, Su Luoyu should now sit obediently next to Fu Chenyu and ask him about his well-being.

In the original novel, Su Luoyu fed Fu Chenyu one mouthful at a time.

It's not like now, the boss is hungry and cold, and he eats a biscuit greedily...

Fu Chenyu raised his hand, and Ji Mian saw a new wound on his arm that was bleeding.

It looked like it was cut by a knife. Ji Mian felt distressed: This is too pitiful.

If Su Luoyu cared for Fu Chenyu according to the original plot, Ji Mian would not feel pity for him.

The pitiful thing is that Fu Chenyu did nothing and yet lives such a miserable life.

Even though Ji Mian knew that he would kill himself in the future, he still felt a little bit reluctant.

Fu Chenyu chewed the biscuits numbly as if he had no sense of pain.

Last night, Aunt Chen deliberately gave him some rotten rice to eat, and he vomited after taking a bite.

Up to now, Fu Chenyu had not eaten anything and his stomach was already aching from hunger.

Compared to this, the pain from the wound on my hand is nothing.

The Chinese New Year is coming soon.

Fu Chenyu counted the calendar in the classroom. With every passing day, he became more excited.

Teacher Wang said that the Chinese New Year is a time for family reunions and that Mom will definitely come back.

Fu Chenyu had found an excuse for Ning Qian's indifference to him.

In the midst of despair, hope is rekindled again and again.

In February, every household puts up the word "Fu" and hangs up red lanterns.

Lin Minzhi bought Ji Mian a new set of clothes. The red cotton-padded jacket made his skin look even whiter.

In the past few months, Lin Minzhi has fed him until he is fat and plump. Almost everyone loves him when he goes out, but he can't avoid being gloatingly said: Minzhi, your son is good in every way, but it's a pity that he is mentally retarded.

Lin Minzhi was angry and upset, but she couldn't refute it.

In addition, Lin Minzhi also bought a set of clothes for the boy and kept it at home until after the Chinese New Year, and no one came back to take it away.

Ji Mian knew that it was bought by Lin Minzhi for her brother.

Although Ji Yao did not come back, he called Lin Minzhi to report that he was safe.

Ji Mian heard them arguing. Lin Minzhi was hiding in the corridor crying and asked her eldest son why he treated her like that.

Ji Mian vaguely heard what disease it was and what treatment it was.

The year 1998 has arrived.

However, in the minds of ordinary people, homosexuality is still a perversion and a disease that can be cured with medicine.

Lin Minzhi thought her eldest son was sick, but as a woman with only an elementary school education, she didn't know how to "cure" him.

Ji Mian pretended not to hear anything and sat obediently at the dining table, chewing eggs.

He likes to eat egg whites but not egg yolks because they are too dry. In order to coax him to finish an egg, Lin Minzhi usually puts a glass of milk in it.

It snowed heavily last night, and the outside of the window was covered with snow. The children downstairs were playing snowball fights with their friends.

Screams and laughter filled the entire old street.

Lin Minzhi secretly wiped away her tears, glanced out the window, touched Ji Mian's head and asked, "Mian Mian, do you want to play snowball fights with the kids too?"

Ji Mian: ...I don’t want to.

He was unmoved, but Lin Minzhi understood it to mean something else.

Because of Ji Mian's congenital defect, no other children wanted to play with him.

Seeing Ji Mian's sensible appearance, Lin Minzhi felt a pain in her heart.

So, after Ji Mian finished his meal, she washed the dishes, put a thick cotton-padded jacket on him, wrapped him up like a ball, and carried him downstairs for a walk.

The sky began to snow again, and the children shouted:

“It’s snowing again!”

"My mom said it will rain even harder tonight!"

"What does snow taste like?"

“…”

Lin Minzhi hugged Ji Mian and said, "Mian Mian, those are your classmates. Do you want to go up and say hello?"

Ji Mian turned away and buried his face in his hat to express his refusal: No, I don’t want to.

Lin Minzhi was at a loss for words and teased him, "Mianmian is so shy?"

Ji Mian thought silently: No, it’s just that the game they play is too stupid.

Among the group of children are Xu Cai, Su Luoyu, Wang Feng, Xiaopang and Zhou Lian, all of whom are in the middle class of Liming Kindergarten.

There is only one kindergarten in the old street, and the children all live in the same area and play together.

What surprised Ji Mian was that Fu Chenyu was also in the courtyard.

He just stood there silently under the tree, his bangs covering his eyebrows and half his eyes, looking gloomy and no one paid any attention to him.

It's winter, but I'm still wearing autumn clothes.

Xiaopang saw Ji Mian. He was wearing a red cotton-padded jacket, with short arms and legs, round tiger-head shoes, and a hat with tiger ears. He looked as pretty as a girl.

Xiaopang blushed and said, "Xu Cai, let's go find Ji Mian to play together."

Xu Cai glanced at Ji Mian and said awkwardly, "I won't play with him. He's an idiot and a little mute."

Xiaopang held it in for a long time before blurting out, "But you were always peeking at him in kindergarten..."

Xu Cai's face flushed red. "Who peeked at him! Who peeked at him! You're asking for a beating! I'll beat you to death!"

The children were playing and fighting and rolling around together.

After a while, Aunt Chen, the nanny of Fu Chenyu's family, packed her suitcase and went out. She got on the bus with her son and prepared to return to the countryside.

The door was locked with a click, but the owner of the house, Fu Chenyu, was still in the yard.

The keys in Aunt Chen's bag shook, and all three were there. She didn't leave any for Fu Chenyu.

Ji Mian's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly felt that the scene in front of him was very familiar.

In an instant, part of the plot of "Stranger Tenderness" unfolded in his mind.

In the original novel, there is this childhood memory of Fu Chenyu.

On New Year's Eve in 1998, he was locked outside the door for the entire night.

Ning Qian never showed up, and the family never got reunited.

All that awaited him was a cold, snowy night without a sun.

And the despair of almost dying.