After school in the afternoon, Fu Zhengyu had to go home early because of some family matters, leaving Wan Qiu alone waiting on the playground.
Wan Qiu was reciting his lessons on the noisy playground, his eyes occasionally glancing towards the entrance of the teaching building.
Until they saw Chu Yigui coming out of the teaching building from afar, carrying those very eye-catching handmade flowers.
Other classmates surrounded Chu Yigui, all excitedly talking to her.
Wan Qiu could see Chu Yigui's smile from afar.
Watching Chu Yigui play around with her classmates from afar, the feeling of being out of place never dissipated.
But it seemed as if there were some scattered dots, like the greenery gradually blooming at this time of year, Wanqiu saw new green leaves that he had never seen before.
It is a brand new, unique emotion belonging to Chu Yigui, blossoming in Wanqiu's eyes.
Chu Yigui spoke to the people around her, and the others dispersed. Chu Yigui then went to Wan Qiu's side.
He was still smiling.
It wasn't the hearty laughter I heard among classmates; instead, it was a softer, more gentle laugh...
Like a calm final note after a stirring chapter in a musical score.
The last note of the music transformed into two words.
"elder brother."
Wan Qiu watched as Chu Yigui tilted her head and held up the handmade rose in her hand.
"Thanks."
When Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui returned home, there was already a lot of noise coming from inside the house.
The moment they entered, Chu Zhang suddenly jumped out from the side: "Happy birthday, youngest brother."
Chu Zhang wasn't late today despite being too busy with work; he even arrived home early.
She spotted the roses in Chu Yigui's arms at a glance and stared at them longingly. In this family, the only person who would do something like this was Wan Qiu.
“Our Wanqiu really went to great lengths for our youngest son’s birthday.” Chu Zhang said, pointing to the kitchen. “My gift to Yigui is a dinner prepared by a very famous chef from a nearby hotel while I was filming!”
"Thank you, big brother." Chu Yigui replied with a smile, walking past Chu Zhang to put the schoolbag and flowers in her room.
Chu Zhang then asked Wan Qiu, "Wan Qiu, why did you think of sending roses to the youngest son?"
Wan Qiu thought for a moment and said, "I've often seen people give flowers like this to others before."
"I see." Chu Zhang led Wan Qiu to the sofa. "But roses aren't for family, they're for lovers."
Wan Qiu blinked, then asked in confusion, "Lover?"
"That's right, it's for lovers, just like for fathers and mothers. It's a flower that boys use when they're pursuing girls," Chu Zhang explained to Wan Qiu earnestly.
In the hazy autumn air, I seem to recall a flower I remember, one that I always gave to members of the opposite sex.
"Ah... I made a mistake." Wan Qiu's belated reaction.
"It's alright." Chu Yigui, who was not far from them, had obviously heard their conversation. "Flowers themselves do not have any meaning that humans have given them."
Wan Qiu asked, "So, do you like it?"
Chu Yigui noticed that Chu Zhang, who was secretly half-embracing Wan Qiu from behind, was also watching him.
Looking at Wan Qiu, Chu Yigui replied, "Yes, I like it very much, thank you, brother."
Wan Qiu received an affirmative answer and smiled.
Chu Zhang looked at Chu Yigui with a half-smile and said, "I can tell you're very happy on your birthday today. Your older brother is happy for you too."
Chu Yigui seemed to have sensed something.
This statement didn't seem to be just a polite remark; rather, it was quite rare for Chu Zhang to be sending him a friendly signal.
Chu Yigui roughly knew why Chu Zhang disliked him.
However, Chu Zhang's change made Chu Yigui begin to face her present situation.
While washing my hands, I looked at my reflection in the clean mirror.
It's someone I know all too well, someone I see in the mirror every day.
I don't know why, but as I looked at it, I suddenly felt a little unfamiliar.
However, this unfamiliarity actually brings more goodwill.
Chu Yigui also knew that he had changed.
However, he couldn't determine in what direction his current changes were heading.
Yang Xiaoyu and Chu Jianshu returned together, but Yang was the last to arrive.
Chu Yigui's birthday is usually celebrated with her family, but this year, Wanqiu was there as well.
Everyone present, except for Wanqiu, felt that this birthday was different from the past.
It's no longer a peaceful, ordinary time.
With everyone intentionally making things lively, this was probably Chu Yigui's first birthday filled with a vibrant atmosphere.
Wan Qiu ate the cake, while Chu Zhang ate while complaining that he would definitely gain weight if he kept eating like this, but he didn't miss a single bite.
Chu Jianshu would occasionally chat with Chu Yigui about their life and studies at school, as well as their daily interactions.
Yang Xiaoyu, on the other hand, was thinking about the future, such as when Chu Yigui would gradually become more attractive to girls and receive a few love letters.
Wan Qiu didn't actually say much during this.
But he kept observing, looking for any signs of happiness in everyone, and he was infected by their smiles.
It was as if every bite of the sweet cake was a sweet treat for his life.
While Chu Zhang was happy, he noticed Yang Ze, who, as always, didn't smile much, but whose expression was slightly stiff.
Chu Zhang had obtained some information about what had happened before from Butler Bai. Even though he didn't know much about it, Chu Zhang could still guess Yang Ze's situation.
It's a pity that such things can't be accomplished overnight; first and foremost, Yang Ze himself needs to come to terms with it.
Any words of comfort were of no use to Yang.
After the birthday celebration ended, Chu Zhang whispered something in Wan Qiu's ear.
Wanqiu nodded blankly.
Yang Xiaoyu and Chu Jianshu will return to their place of residence, while Chu Zhang will ride in Yang Ze's car.
Chu Zhang, as always, slumped in the passenger seat, wearing a mask and looking utterly unrefined.
"My dear Yang Er, I heard you're not in a good mood?" Chu Zhang thought for a long time before finally speaking up. "Life is full of disappointments, sometimes you can let yourself off the hook."
Yang drove with his eyes on the road ahead and replied to Chu Zhang, "Brother, don't worry too much. I'm fine now."
Chu Zhang tilted his head and looked at Yang Ze. Indeed, he looked very calm.
Does it reflect an adult's self-control?
Chu Zhang said lazily, "Why don't you take the initiative to get closer to Wan Qiu?"
Yang, however, remained silent.
"Wanqiu is a rather independent person, probably because he has lived like this since he was a child."
Chu Zhang's words seemed to have struck a nerve with Yang Ze, and his hands unconsciously tightened around the steering wheel.
On the streets of the city center late at night, there were still many vehicles coming and going, and for a moment the only sound was the mechanical voice of the navigation system between the two.
“I can’t always rely on Wanqiu,” Yang Zecai said while waiting at a traffic light. “I can’t trouble him because of my own needs and selfishness.”
Chu Zhang disagreed, saying, "When pursuing someone, you have to go to great lengths to win their heart. You can't get the love you want by always being passive."
Yang did not answer.
"The same principle applies to everything. When you're facing someone you like, what's wrong with being a little cunning?" Chu Zhang smiled and poked Yang Ze's shoulder with his finger. "After all, our little angel really likes our Yang Er."
Yang remained unmoved.
Chu Zhang was well aware that outsiders couldn't be persuaded.
Moreover, Chu Zhang didn't think he had any right to say anything about Yang Ze.
“Yang Er, do you know I hate the youngest son?” Chu Zhang suddenly said.
Yang Ze's expression stiffened. Although it was an unspoken understanding, as long as Chu Zhang didn't say it out loud, everyone would turn a blind eye to it.
Even Chu Yigui has always abided by this rule.
"He was pretentious, self-pitying, and self-deceiving; he was more self-centered than any of us knew."
Chu Zhang had always had a very bad impression of Chu Yigui, but...
"But even so, he has changed."
Chu Yigui's changes were not without precedent.
Although it was very subtle, it was enough to prove that he was making a quiet change.
"The youngest brother is getting closer to Wanqiu, or perhaps he's been interested in Wanqiu from the very beginning. I have to say, his intuition and self-awareness are truly terrifying, tsk..."
As he spoke, Chu Zhang couldn't help but make a few sarcastic remarks about Chu Yigui, but it sounded like he was praising her out of a sense of resentment.
Yang listened quietly, as always, not being good with words.
"He is very proactive, even if the direction he takes is not necessarily the reason for his change."
But if you do nothing, even if the opportunity comes, it will slip away.
Chu Zhang wanted to share some profound truths.
But when it came time to actually say those words, I got stuck.
In truth, he was not qualified to be Yang Ze's spiritual mentor.
"Aze, your older brother has been very worried about you."
Chu Zhang eventually abandoned all preaching and, with a sense of helplessness, quietly revealed his hidden, undiscovered feelings to his family.
"Just like you worry about Wanqiu."
The car stopped again at the traffic light intersection.
Something was swirling in Yang Ze's eyes. He turned his head and looked at Chu Zhang in the passenger seat.
A person who is always unrestrained and vibrant, like the sun that is impossible to look directly at, cannot let anyone know whether he is also enduring the pain of being scorched while he is burning.
After the vehicles behind him honked their horns in urging, Yang restarted the car.
“Brother, Wanqiu comes to see me occasionally. He will discuss with me many questions that he is puzzled about and cannot find the answers to.”
Yang Ze's gaze was fixed ahead, the streetlights flashing past and reappearing in his pupils.
"He had a lot of worries, and they were all trivial, like why Zhou Peiyu said his clothes were strange, or how to tell Fu Zhengyu not to let him bully others..."
Chu Zhang could easily imagine Wan Qiu's expression when he questioned Yang Ze.
Because everything is so unfamiliar, I hesitated so much when I tried to make contact with anything.
"Brother, do you still remember the time Wanqiu had a fever?"
Chu Zhang's expression softened considerably: "I remember that time when his brain was overloaded and he was greatly impacted, but he recovered very quickly."
"He is constantly accepting himself and absorbing reality." Yang Ze's voice remained cold, like a heavy tap on a solid metal ball.
Finally, Yang said...
"Just like when I was at a loss, I took my father as my role model, and Wanqiu is also my role model."
Chu Zhang was somewhat surprised and looked at his younger brother, who was always silent and never uttered a sound.
Yang was always too silent, and this silence was also a way for him to protect himself.
But silence doesn't mean he hasn't thought about it.
"Wanqiu told me that he forgave me, he forgave me for everything."
Wanqiu forgave him.
However, being forgiven is absolutely not a reason to excuse his wrongdoing.
“Brother, I’m really fine,” Yang said to Chu Zhang. “I just hope I can remember the mistakes I made, feel guilty about them, and learn from them.”
Chu Zhang stared wide-eyed in surprise.
He was lying sprawled out in the passenger seat, but suddenly he straightened up.
He looked at Yang Ze in shock.
Even though Yang remained unchanged, silent as an inconspicuous stone discarded on the roadside.
He had the same expressionless, deadpan face as always, looking as serious as if someone owed him eight million.
But it wasn't what he expected.
Yang, on the other hand, is genuinely thinking and making progress.
Chu Zhang thought about what he had just done and suddenly felt very embarrassed.
"Aaaaaaah, why did I suddenly have to become a spiritual mentor? My Yang Er has grown up so much, he doesn't need my help at all! Aaaaaah..."
Chu Zhang felt utterly ashamed.
He was even genuinely trying to influence Yang Ze through his own self-reflection.
That's so embarrassing.
"Not really, at least my older brother told me something very important," Yang Ze said.
"What is it?" Chu Zhang didn't even want to recall what he had just said.
Yang said in a calm voice, "My elder brother said that Wan Qiu likes me very much, which is very important to me."
If one is resented.
If Wan Qiu were to accuse him with anger through her eyes, telling him that reconciliation would never be possible.
He will never be so at ease with his own feelings.
Chu Zhang blinked.
He casually reached out and fiddled with the seatbelt around his neck.
He burst out laughing.
"Our A-Ze is getting more and more handsome," Chu Zhang said with a shrug and a smile.
Compared to Chu Yigui's calmness in the face of praise, and Chu Zhang's flamboyance, Yang always remained silent when faced with similar praise.
Because he was so bad at it, his expression became even more serious.
Chu Zhang chuckled to himself, looking again at the bright streetlights outside the window. When the light shone down, he seemed to see hexagonal halos.
Delicate, snow-white feathers shimmered from the halo and gradually fell into his hand.
Chu Zhang's hand tightened slightly.
It was as if he had grasped the feather that the angel had left him.
——
Although everyone else had gone home, there was still some time before bedtime.
Wan Qiu sat in Chu Yigui's room, moved closer to Chu Yigui, and watched Chu Yigui open his gift box.
They're going to start building their little home together.
Looking at the dense array of props, Wanqiu suddenly wondered if she had really chosen the wrong gift.
These things don't seem to be things he can accomplish.
Fortunately, although Wan Qiu didn't know how to complete it, Chu Yigui did.
Wan Qiu only needs to complete the tasks required by Chu Yigui.
Wan Qiu looked up at Chu Yigui, who was carefully examining the production book and assigning him tasks.
He vaguely sensed that this was the first time they had done something together, rather than Chu Yigui helping him unilaterally.
Wan Qiu was somewhat pleased.
Chu Yigui caught this small moment of joy.
"Brother is very happy." Perhaps because he was in a good mood today, Chu Yigui did not remain silent and let Wan Qiu's feelings go unnoticed.
"Hmm." Wan Qiu carefully expressed her feelings.
Chu Yigui's expression was somewhat subtle.
She then said, "My brother actually helped me a lot, much more than I helped him."
Wan Qiu was confused and couldn't figure out exactly when he had helped Chu Yigui.
However, Chu Yigui didn't seem to want to tell Wan Qiu everything, and began to seriously make things.
Even after racking his brains, Wanqiu couldn't come up with a solution.
Wanqiu had no idea how long it would take to make this kind of thing, and the two students could only spare a very short time to work together, making the overall production process extremely slow.
But there has been progress.
Wan Qiu watched as the empty cardboard gradually coalesced into the shape of a small cubicle.
Although it took a lot of time, it was very rewarding.
During a dance class one weekend, Zhou Peiyu looked at Wan Qiu several times.
Under Wan Qiu's questioning gaze, Zhou Peiyu suddenly asked, "Wan Qiu, have you grown taller?"
"You've grown taller?" Wan Qiu repeated blankly.
"Yes, it does seem a bit too tall." Zhou Peiyu, who had always been Wan Qiu's dance partner, had a fairly accurate grasp of Wan Qiu's height.
She hasn't grown taller during this time, so has Wanqiu grown taller?
Zhou Peiyu's words made Wan Qiu suddenly forget all the complicated matters.
There were places to measure height around the dance class, and Wanqiu would almost always go to measure height with Zhou Peiyu during breaks.
Sure enough, Wanqiu grew taller.
Although it was only a little bit, it was a breakthrough for Wanqiu, who had always been short.
"Congratulations, Wanqiu." Zhou Peiyu had always thought that Wanqiu was too thin and short for a boy.
Even though girls are generally not tall, it is still difficult for them to find a suitable dance partner.
Wan Qiu had never been particularly concerned about his height, but given that the Chu family was generally tall, Wan Qiu felt that he couldn't be too short either.
Knowing that he was still growing taller, Wanqiu felt as if he had been suddenly thrown into the air.
Wan Qiu went outside the classroom, and Zhou Peiyu followed.
Zhou Peiyu felt a strange mix of emotions when he saw Wan Qiu's two tagalongs.
Yang sat there upright and imposing, exuding an aura that made people around him afraid to approach.
Chu Yigui, on the other hand, was wearing headphones and looking at her phone. Zhou Peiyu had once peeked at her and discovered that Chu Yigui was actually taking online classes.
Zhou Peiyu was extremely shocked. Could it be that someone would actually take online classes during the holidays?
Zhou Peiyu saw Wan Qiu say something to Yang Ze, who nodded, stood up, and turned to leave.
Wanqiu returned to Zhou Peiyu's side.
Zhou Peiyu asked curiously, "What did you say?"
"They said that to celebrate, they wanted to eat sweet corn cups and drink milk from Sweet Corn's shop," Wan Qiu said.
Zhou Peiyu knew where the Corn Sweet Shop was located.
"But that's quite far, and that place is very popular with long queues, especially now that the weather is so hot."
The weather, now fully summer, is practically testing one's patience. Dancing in a room without air conditioning can lead to heatstroke, let alone Yang queuing up to buy a sweet corn cup at this hour...
"Wanqiu, have you been getting a little arrogant lately?" Zhou Peiyu said bluntly.
Zhou Peiyu had seen Wan Qiu ask Yang Ze for things several times.
It wasn't just his own things; Wanqiu would also ask Yang Ze to buy anything she casually mentioned wanting.
Yang has always been very good-natured and accommodating, but it is indeed very tiring and unnecessary.
Wan Qiu pursed her lips, her hands clasped in front of her chest: "I think so too."
Zhou Peiyu was taken aback: "Then why do you always bully your second brother?"
“My elder brother told me to do this,” Wan Qiu said.
"Chu Zhang?" Zhou Peiyu looked blank.
“My eldest brother told me before that if there was anything I wanted to do or needed to do, even if it was hard work, I should let my second brother do it.”
This was a request that Wan Qiu granted to Chu Zhang on Chu Yigui's birthday.
Although Wanqiu didn't know the reason for doing this, he could only do as his elder brother said.
"Is Chu Zhang on good terms with your second brother?" Zhou Peiyu suspected that he was deliberately using Wan Qiu as a pawn to sabotage things behind the scenes.
But thinking about it, her idol Chu Zhang shouldn't do such a thing.
“Very good,” Wan Qiu said with great certainty.
Zhou Peiyu was puzzled: "Then why do this? Aren't you just making people run errands and bully others?"
In the hazy moments of autumn, it seems there is a similar feeling.
but……
"Second Brother doesn't seem unhappy." Wan Qiu pondered that every time he made a request, Yang Ze would immediately agree and quickly do it.
It was as if he genuinely enjoyed doing it.
Yang will be very happy if you don't see him unhappy, or even if he shows happiness after he gets something.
It was a very strange feeling, one that Wanqiu himself did not understand.
"That's strange," Zhou Peiyu muttered to himself, then asked, "You used to have only one person with you, so why are there two of you now?"
Wan Qiu was taken aback and lowered his head.
Like a large dog that has suddenly been caught tearing the house apart, it doesn't dare to look around.
"I...I..." Wan Qiu recounted how he had sneaked out and been caught.
Zhou Peiyu: "..."
Zhou Peiyu's expression was both fascinating and complex.
"It really is a bad thing, isn't it?" Wan Qiu said.
Even now, no one mentions that incident anymore, but Wan Qiu still can't help but care.
No one blamed him.
But it was indeed because of him that everything became complicated.
Zhou Peiyu was not very old either. Although he felt that Wan Qiu was being controlled in an absurd way, he also felt that it was reasonable to some extent.
"Uh, I guess I was worried about you," Zhou Peiyu said, scratching his head.
Wanqiu has intellectual disabilities; he was easily tricked and kidnapped. It's no wonder the people around him are too sensitive.
Just like your own pet cat, who knows who will take it away if it runs away? Which cat owner doesn't take good care of their master at home?
“But they say you’re not wrong, and you really are not wrong,” Zhou Peiyu said.
After all, people aren't real cats, and keeping them locked up at home is indeed inhumane.
Zhou Peiyu looked at the bracelet on Wan Qiu's hand.
It was as if I could see invisible chains attached to it, connecting to the hands of other people.
And this chain is named Worry and Love.
Zhou Peiyu stared intently at Wan Qiu's bracelet.
Seemingly lost in thought.
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