A quiet doorstep for private dining.

Xu's mother and Xu Lizhi watched the car with the Sheng brand name on it disappear from their sight.

Reuniting with friends again after many years, Xu's mother was in a good mood. When she turned around, there was a faint smile on her face.

It was a rare occasion that her son had time to accompany her, and Xu's mother didn't want to let him go back so soon. She thought that if he went back, he would be immersed in those scripts again.

So I booked a private tea room.

The tea aroma wafts from the porcelain cup.

Mother Xu looked at Xu Lizhi who was sitting opposite her and started jokingly.

"You looked so tense during this meal. Did you think I was going to introduce you to a girlfriend?"

Xu Lizhi frowned slightly: "Mother——"

"Okay, okay, I won't say anything."

Mother Xu gathered the hair by her ears and said, "Don't worry, I just wanted to take you to have a meal with a classmate I was close to when I was in school. I didn't mean anything else."

"I know you don't like your father and I worrying about you, so we won't worry about you anymore."

Xu Lizhi slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing him like this, Xu's mother was furious and snorted, "But I do want to formally introduce you to the daughter of Aunt Sheng..."

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Xu's mother only knew that Sheng Yuan happened to pass by and saved Xu Lizhi during the car accident that day, but she didn't know that the two of them had been filming in the same crew for a month.

But her words made Xu Lizhi choke on a mouthful of slightly hot tea.

Xu's mother was startled and quickly handed over a tissue: "Be careful, are you okay?"

"No." Xu Lizhi tilted his head and covered his lips with his hand. After he was ready, he lowered his eyes. For a moment, he didn't know what emotion he should be feeling. It was so complicated that it was hard to describe.

This was one of the rare times Xu Lizhi felt helpless.

But Xu's mother misunderstood his appearance.

"What's that expression on your face?"

"Not happy? Or is it the same as those girls before? It's annoying to know Aunt Sheng's daughter."

"...No, I don't."

Xu's mother did not notice that Xu Lizhi answered these words very quickly. Immersed in her own emotions, she stared at her son.

"Even if you want to get to know her, you don't have the chance."

"The little girl is engaged."

“…”

The sound of the wind outside the window seemed to pause for a moment along with these words.

Xu Lizhi felt that he did not hear clearly or heard it wrongly.

...Engagement? He subconsciously recalled the crew dinner that night, and the cold back of the young man who held Sheng Yuan in his arms.

"Rites?"

"What am I thinking of when I talk to you?"

“…”

Xu Lizhi's eyes regained clarity: "I'm sorry, mother."

Mother Xu shook her head helplessly.

"What's wrong with you, kid? How can you be distracted at this moment?"

She then sighed.

"Your aunt Sheng's daughter is very beautiful. I mean it."

Xu Lizhi pursed his lips and said nothing.

"If our Xu family could have returned to Beijing a year earlier, maybe—"

Mother Xu did not finish the rest of her words. She picked up the cup and took a sip of tea.

"When the little girl was little, many people wanted to hold her. She was like an exquisite porcelain doll, very beautiful, but..."

"She is very shy."

Mother Xu frowned slightly and recalled.

"I still remember that I wanted to hold her hand, and she was quite frightened. However, she didn't cry. Your aunt Sheng said that she doesn't like to cry. When she's unhappy, she just sits there by herself and doesn't like to talk. She's a small, quiet person."

Xu's mother looked at her son with disdain: "How can you be like this? You are one year older than her. You are almost the same age, but you cried so hard that your face was covered with tears. No matter how I persuade you, you won't stop."

Xu Lizhi: “…”

He? Xu Lizhi grasped the key point in Xu's mother's words.

"Have you ever seen her when she was a child?"

Who knows.

He saw his mother give him a look that said 'I knew it would be like this'.

"We have been to someone's home before. It was not in Jing City, but the Sheng family in Jiangcheng."

A hint of intense shock suddenly flashed across Xu Lizhi's silver-gray eyes.

Xu's mother was not happy.

"When you were six years old, you returned with us."

“…”

This time.

Xu Lizhi really couldn't hear anything at all.

There was a subtle buzzing sound in the brain.

My mind is racing, recalling the past.

...Have you seen it?

He had actually met Sheng Yuan when he was a child? But why didn't he remember anything at all?

Logically speaking...a six-year-old or seven-year-old child should already have his or her own memory awareness.

But in his mind.

But he had no recollection of meeting Sheng Yuan when he was a child.

opposite.

Mother Xu put down the porcelain cup in her hand.

"Li Zhi, since you have finished filming, don't stay in the hotel anymore."

"Our residence in Beijing is ready. Come home and live there. It will be good for your sleep."

Xu Lizhi nodded.

Three days later.

The assistant came out of the elevator and put down a box, panting.

"Brother Lizhi, everything is here."

Xu Lizhi is tidying up his new study.

The cardboard boxes on the floor were filled with the books he read in France. His mother had them all moved from France to Beijing.

He never liked the servants at home touching his things, so he always sorted them out by himself.

Even the assistant is not allowed to interfere.

But when the assistant was about to leave, he suddenly slapped his forehead, as if he remembered something, rushed to the parking lot, and came back with a paper bag in his hand.

"Oh, by the way, Brother Li Zhi, the lady said that this is also your book. She found it at her place when we were moving and packing up the house in France."

Xu Lizhi put down what he was doing, took it, and took out the contents of the paper bag.

——is a French fairy tale book.

The brown leather frame is engraved with a gold border, and the cover is a romantic and innocent illustration.

Xu Lizhi was slightly stunned.

This was the gift his father gave him on his fourth birthday.

Xu Lizhi remembered it very clearly.

At that time, I liked this book very much. I would put it next to my pillow every night when I slept and take it with me wherever I went.

But somehow, one day, the fairy tale book was lost and could not be found no matter how hard we looked.

Because of this, Xu Lizhi got very angry.

The whole family searched the house and any place they had been to, but they couldn't find any trace of the book.

Even though Xu's father bought another copy for Xu Lizhi later, he didn't like it.

He just wanted the one that was thrown away.

In the end, the matter was left unresolved.

Xu Lizhi didn't expect this.

I actually found it from my mother.

Moreover, after so many years, it was finally returned to him.

He ran his fingertips over the texture of the cover.

then.

He opened it casually.

Something was caught in the compartment under the cover and fell to the floor.

Xu Lizhi bent down.

Pick up.

It's a very well preserved photo. -Meanwhile .

"Eh? My dear, the chain on your hand seems to be glowing all the time."

Zhang Bai widened his eyes in surprise.

(End of this chapter)