Xi Jun looked at him and asked, "Why are you so late? Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Xi Qingxu was carrying a small plastic bag; the transparent bag revealed at a glance that it contained a snack.

Xi Jun wasn't too surprised by this. Children of this age love to eat snacks from the stalls outside the school gate, even Xi Qingxu, who is even more easygoing than him.

The boy looked up at the sound and his expression turned visibly surprised when he saw the man's face.

Seeing his expression, Xi Jun scratched the back of his head nonchalantly, "I fell off my bike this afternoon."

He then added, "It's alright."

Xi Qingxu had already realized what was happening, and the surprise on her face had disappeared. She nodded and said, "Be more careful next time."

The man smiled and said, "Okay," then turned to look at the clock, which was pointing to ten o'clock, and asked, "What do you want for dinner?"

Xi Qingxu had already changed her shoes and was walking towards her room, casually replying, "Anything is fine."

Seeing the boy already inside the room, Xi Jun hurriedly said, "How about we have tomato and egg noodles?"

Before the door closed, a low voice said, "Okay."

Xi Jun felt somewhat helpless about this, sighed, and turned to the kitchen to cook.

Inside the room, Xi Qingxu put down her schoolbag, sat down at her desk, and took out the small box from the plastic bag.

The disposable paper packaging box is printed with round, chubby cartoon characters and several small, cute dessert pictures next to it.

With slender fingers, she opened the transparent plastic lid and took out the slightly melted hot milk warmer.

There was quite a bit of cream stuck to the bottom of the box, and when Xi Qingxu picked it up, her fingertips inevitably got some on them as well.

Instead of wiping it off immediately, he first tasted the melted cream from the hot milk tea.

The black glutinous rice had cooled down and was rather hard.

The crispy crust became damp from the heat, and when you bit into it, it became a soft, mushy lump.

It doesn't taste good at all.

Xi Qingxu finished the hot milk tea, which was past its best flavor, without any expression. After cleaning the table, she took a wet wipe from the side and carefully wiped her fingers clean, then dried them with toilet paper.

Then he took out a small notebook from his schoolbag, flipped to a page, picked up a black ballpoint pen, and began to write—

"May 23, 201x, sunny."

This morning, Lu Linqi flicked her forehead again.

She was very angry at the time, but when Lu Linqi gave her a carton of milk, her anger disappeared.

They crossed the road hand in hand.

After school in the afternoon, Lu Linqi bought her a hot milk bottle, which made her very happy, and she ate it with great relish.

They boarded the bus hand in hand.

Let's go home together.

The boy paused at this point, but quickly continued writing.

"Hot milk powder doesn't taste good."

It's too milky and too sweet.

I don't like it.

But she seems to like it.

The pen stopped again, and the boy seemed lost in thought.

He quickly realized what was happening, put down his pen, closed his notebook and put it deep in the drawer, then took out his homework and started working on the problems.

He was focused and attentive, as if what had just happened had never occurred.

He finished his homework quickly, and just as he was about to finish, there was a knock on the door.

"Qingxu, the noodles are ready. Come out and eat early, or they'll get soggy."

After writing out the formula for the last major problem, he replied, "That's it."

After quickly calculating on the draft paper and writing down the answer, the boy packed up his notebook, got up, and left.

Xi Jun was reading business news when Xi Qingxu sat down, ate a couple of bites of noodles, and then, remembering something, said, "I was helping out at a small bookstore near the school and didn't notice my phone."

"Huh?" The man, whose face was swollen on one side, was taken aback. He looked up, still a little confused, but quickly realized that the boy was answering the question he had asked him when he first came back.

"Oh, okay, I understand."

"I was just a little worried because you hadn't come back yet!" Xi Jun said, swallowing the noodles in her mouth.

He looked up and examined the boy's expression before carefully saying, "By this year, I've almost paid off all my debts, and my future salaries will be enough for both of us to live on."

"You'll be on summer vacation soon, and when school starts again you'll be in the third year of junior high. Although the college entrance exam is important, the junior high school entrance exam shouldn't be underestimated. From now on you won't have to squeeze in time to earn tips anymore, you can concentrate on studying and getting into a good university, and your future will be much easier."

Xi Qingxu listened, and after he finished speaking, she put down her chopsticks and said, "I won't fall behind in my studies."

Seeing the boy continue eating his noodles, Xi Jun paused for a moment and said nothing more.

Three days later.

Lu Ying stayed up all night writing almost half of her new novel, and was now fast asleep in bed, her phone ringing incessantly.

The woman squinted and reached for her phone, not even seeing who it was, before unleashing a torrent of abuse on the other end, "What's going on? Can't you get some sleep this early in the morning?!"

There was a moment of silence on the other side, then someone quickly said something.

Lu Ying froze, then her eyes widened, and she asked with extreme surprise, "You just said I got the job?"

"Yes, congratulations, Ms. Lu Ying. If there are no problems, you can start work today."

The person on the other end was already speechless, but still repeated it with a serious attitude.

The woman paused for a second, then shouted happily, nodding repeatedly at her phone, "No problem, no problem! I'll be there right away!"

After hurriedly hanging up the phone, the woman saw that it was almost eight o'clock. Without wasting a moment, she quickly got out of bed and rummaged through the closet for clothes.

She quickly washed up, applied a thick layer of concealer to her dark circles, evened out her skin tone, put on some lipstick, and rushed out the door.

My home is close to Lu Chuqing's school, but far from her workplace.

By the time Lu Ying rushed and squeezed onto the elevator, it was almost 8:30.

just.

Just as she was relieved to have made it in time, a hand suddenly reached in from outside the elevator door, which was about to close, and slammed onto the door with a "smack," startling Lu Ying, who was facing the crack in the door, into letting out a low scream.

During the morning rush hour, the elevator was crowded, and her shout instantly attracted the attention of everyone inside.

When a woman sees her, her curious gaze instantly turns into one of rejection and resistance; when a man sees her, his curious gaze instantly becomes increasingly greasy, clinging on and unable to look away.

"I'm so sorry, so sorry..."

The door was forced open, and the person hurriedly squeezed in, apologizing incessantly. The moment his gaze fell upon Lu Ying, he froze on the spot.

Lu Ying was also taken aback when she saw the man. Wasn't this the man who had tried to extort money from her that day?

Does he also work in this building?

The scab on her ankle hasn't fallen off yet; what a small world!

Lu Ying lowered her eyes, hiding her displeasure, and moved aside to make room for the man.

Suddenly, a very obese woman ran up behind the man, shouting, "Don't go! Don't go! Wait for me!"

Despite being overweight, the woman was surprisingly fast. In the blink of an eye, she reached the elevator doors, her round belly pushing Xi Jun, who hadn't even had time to react, forcefully inside.