"Don't stand so close to me..."

"Huh? Do you even despise yourself?"

"..."

"I see you standing pretty close to the mirror when you look at yourself!" Huai Xu thought for a moment and added, "You know, you used to sneak around when you admired yourself in the mirror. Now you don't even hide it from me."

"You knew about it even when I was sneaky, didn't you?"

"But I could pretend I didn't know."

"...So thoughtful."

"Stop changing the subject. Come on, tell me what's going on; I'll analyze it for you." Huai Xu kept a close eye on Zhou Li; the two of them were very close.

"Have you ever been in a relationship?" Zhou Li asked.

"...Is being in a relationship such a big deal?" Huai Xu fell silent for a moment.

"...That's not what I meant."

"So you think only someone who's been in a relationship can analyze it for you? Are you looking down on me?" Huai Xu really got irritated. "I'm telling you, my analysis is the most accurate. Besides me, who else in the world is both male and female?"

"..." Zhou Li changed the subject. "You've lived for two thousand years and you've never been in a relationship?"

"Why should I be in a relationship?"

"To pass the time?"

"With a man or a woman?"

"Ummm..."

"See! I can just be in a relationship with myself!" Huai Xu said, waving their hand. "And besides, all of you are too ugly. Only you and Li Daimao are barely pleasant to look at, and that's just barely."

"..."

"Why aren't you talking?"

"I want to sleep."

"Tell me first, then sleep!"

"Okay then. Just tonight, after we finished stealing greens, we stayed on the mountain until midnight. Right after midnight, it was my birthday, and then Brother Nan just..." Zhou Li suddenly closed his eyes, clasped his hands over his stomach, and his breathing became even.

"Then what?"

"Talk!"

"Hurry up!"

"AAAAH!!!"

"If you don't talk, I'll keep bothering you! I won't let you sleep! Or I'll lie down next to you and sleep beside you! Give you nightmares!"

"There you go again! Pretending you can't hear me!"

"AAAAH!!!"

No matter how loudly Huai Xu yelled and shouted, Zhou Li just kept his eyes closed, feigning deafness, unmoving as a mountain.

「The sixteenth day of the first lunar month, early morning.」

Brother Nan was up unusually early.

Mornings and nights in the countryside are always colder than in the city. Doors and windows that don't seal properly and the absence of air conditioning exacerbate the chill. Even if some siblings woke up early, they typically returned to bed after breakfast, cocooning themselves in blankets and playing on their phones until the cold subsided.

Brother Nan generally didn't eat breakfast.

In their family, except for the first day of the Lunar New Year, younger members wanting breakfast had to request it the previous evening so the elders would cook extra rice.

Brother Nan hadn't requested breakfast last night, but it wasn't a major issue.

She went downstairs humming, her steps light, her cheerful mood evident to anyone.

"Yo, Li Nan's up? That's rare!" said her cousin, who was stoking the fire.

"Spare me a bowl of rice."

"Going out to play again later?"

"No."

"Then why are you up so early!"

"None of your business."

"So secretive. You must have a boyfriend!"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"Hehehe..."

Her cousin gave a knowing chuckle, exchanged a glance with Li Nan's dad who was tending the stove, and continued, "Looking at you, it must be true. Who were you out with last night? A boy or a girl?"

"Boring!"

Brother Nan turned and walked outside.

「After breakfast.」

Brother Nan pulled up a small stool to the doorway, holding her phone as she sent the first message to Zhou Li—

Li Nan: Are you up?

Zhou Li: I am.

Li Nan: How did you sleep last night?

Zhou Li: Not well.

Li Nan: Hahaha, you couldn't sleep either, could you?

Zhou Li: So you couldn't either.

Li Nan: ...

Brother Nan scratched her head, somewhat embarrassed, yet her eyes and eyebrows hid a smile. Thank goodness Zhou Li can't see, she thought.

Li Nan: Then why did you get up so early?

Zhou Li: Don't know, maybe my biological clock.

Li Nan: It's not your biological clock.

Zhou Li: What is it then?

Li Nan: Let me gather my thoughts.

Zhou Li: [Emoji]

Li Nan: Because you're excited, thrilled, nervous, and looking forward to the new day, so you simply don't want to sleep.

Zhou Li: You should be the psychologist.

Li Nan: How's my analysis?

Zhou Li: Good. So that's what you were thinking.

Li Nan: You!

Li Nan: You!

Li Nan: It's you!

She sent many messages in a row. Brother Nan was so angry she kept taking sharp breaths.

Even though they were communicating online, she found herself making the same facial expressions—perhaps even more exaggerated—as if she were talking to Zhou Li face-to-face. But once she finished typing, her expression would soften into a pure smile as she awaited his reply.

When she smiled, her eyes would crinkle into crescents, like curved bridges, exuding the warmth of sunlight and the sweetness of sugar.

Zhou Li: How did you feel when you woke up this morning?

Li Nan: Guess.

Zhou Li: I guess...

Zhou Li: Like it was all a dream, can't believe yesterday actually happened.

Li Nan: Good. So that's what *you* were thinking.

Zhou Li: Don't copy me.

Li Nan: Don't copy me.

Just as they were playing this childish game, Brother Nan suddenly sensed something was off. She turned her head and saw a delicate face right behind her, staring with big, dark, round eyes. The boy looked no older than ten.

"What are you doing!?"

"Sis, are you in a relationship?"

"Nonsense."

"Tell me. I won't tell the others."

"Pfft!" Li Nan grinned. "What difference does it make if you tell them or not? I'm all grown up. Do you think this is like when you lied to Mom about needing money for school supplies but actually bought game skins? Besides, when have *they* ever had a say in my affairs!"

"You're just embarrassed."

This was Brother Nan's biological younger brother.

Brother Nan waved her hand dismissively. "Go on, go on, play your Honor of Kings! Such a little kid, so much to say!"

"Is it that guy, Zhou Li?"

"?? How do you know... about Zhou Li?"

"I've heard of him. He's your deskmate, right? You two went to the same university, and you went to Chunming together that day. Later, Mom and Dad often mentioned him when they chatted over meals." Li Dong looked a bit unhappy, but he still answered thoughtfully, "Zhou Li's parents and his younger brother also come to our family's noodle shop a lot, and they always chat."

"Who chats with them? Or do they just chat among themselves?"

"Our parents chat with them."

"!?"

Brother Nan's eyes widened suddenly.

Li Dong said sourly, "And you've been chatting with him a lot recently. You must be dating him!"

"How long have you been spying on my chats?"

"I didn't mean to... I just caught a glimpse."

"Come here and get a beating!!"

"Really..."

"If you don't want a beating, then scram. Otherwise, I'll tell Dad you stole money to go to the internet cafe! You said you were going to your deskmate's house to play before, but you actually pulled an all-nighter at the cafe, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"I did things like that when I was little... Stop with the nonsense and go play your game!"

"Oh!"

Li Dong blinked repeatedly.

For boys his age, rebellion was the ultimate aspiration. Everyone wanted to appear defiant towards parents and teachers, fearless and bold. The coolest kids at school were the ones who smoked, drank, hung out at internet cafes, and got into fights—ideally, they also had some street cred. Coincidentally, all of Li Dong's older brothers and sisters fell into this category. From a young age, his older brothers and sisters had told him to drop their names if he was bullied. Legends of his siblings circulated in every school he attended.

But he admired his own sister the most.

Legend had it that his own sister, at thirteen, had thrashed their twenty-year-old hooligan cousin. During her middle school years... well, in his eyes, his sister was an unparalleled hero, his idol. When he got to junior and senior high, he wanted to be just like her.

But that raised a question: what kind of great hero actually gets a boyfriend? he wondered.

THUMP!

Just then, Brother Nan knocked him on the head, her face stern as she feigned fierceness. "What are you thinking about!?"

"Sis, I don't like Zhou Li," Li Dong said feebly.

"Why? He really isn't that likable at first," Brother Nan pondered aloud. "But once you get to know him, he's quite likable."

"He's stealing my sister!"

"...You're being dense!" Brother Nan, torn between annoyance and amusement, pinched Li Dong's cheek. "I'm not going to be *his* sister, you know."

"??"

After finally shooing Li Dong away, Brother Nan reopened her phone and casually told Zhou Li about her brother as a joke: You know, what on earth are these kids thinking these days…

Time passed so quickly.

All morning, Brother Nan sat there, engrossed in her phone. Her expressions shifted constantly: a silly smile one moment, deep in thought the next, then gritting her teeth or clenching her fist. When she read something particularly delightful, she couldn't stop herself from gesturing animatedly or even jumping up to pace the room. It felt as if some mysterious force was amplifying all her emotions—joy, surprise, anger, longing, everything was magnified. And inexplicably, she found herself missing Pumpkin again.

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