During morning self-study, Zhou Wan received a reply from Lu Zhongyue—
[Come see me at the company at 2 p.m.]
Zhou Wan stared at the text message for a long time, then deleted it and put her phone back in her pocket.
During the noon break, Zhou Wan went to the office and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Zhou Wan entered and said to her homeroom teacher, "Teacher, I’d like to ask for leave this afternoon."
"What’s wrong?"
"I’m not feeling well—my stomach hurts. I’d like to go back and rest for a while."
The teacher glanced at Zhou Wan’s face. She did look unwell—pale and fragile. "Alright."
He signed the school leave form, tore it off, and handed it to her, adding, "The weather has been fluctuating lately. Make sure to take good care of yourself. If you need anything, just let me know."
Zhou Wan pressed her lips together. "Okay."
"By the way, I think I have some stomach medicine here." The teacher opened a drawer and took out a blister pack. "Take this for now. It works pretty fast and should help ease the pain."
Zhou Wan lowered her gaze and accepted it. "Thank you, teacher."
It was still the noon break, and the school was quiet—everyone was either studying or napping.
Zhou Wan walked alone through the empty hallway and left the school.
She hailed a taxi and headed to the Lu Corporation.
As the scenery outside the window flew by, Zhou Wan’s heart sank further with every passing block.
She wished the road could stretch on forever, that they would never arrive. But that was nothing more than a foolish dream. The driver soon pulled up outside the Lu Corporation.
Skyscrapers, steel and concrete.
She had to tilt her head far back just to see the top.
This was the world that should have belonged to Lu Xixiao all along.
Zhou Wan withdrew her gaze and entered the building. Approaching the front desk, she said softly, "Hello, I’m here to see Lu Zhongyue."
Lu Zhongyue had likely informed the receptionist in advance, as she showed no surprise at a schoolgirl in uniform asking for the president. Instead, she offered a polite smile and said, "You must be Miss Zhou. President Lu is already waiting for you upstairs."
Zhou Wan paused.
Miss Zhou.
So, Lu Zhongyue had already looked into her.
Of course he had—he was, after all, "President Lu."
Zhou Wan followed the receptionist into the elevator.
The elevator ascended rapidly, and the speed made her ears ring. She swallowed hard to relieve the pressure.
With a soft "ding," the elevator doors opened, revealing marble walls and art pieces on display stands—clearly expensive and exuding an overwhelming sense of authority.
Zhou Wan clenched her fists silently and followed the receptionist further inside.
The receptionist’s stiletto heels clicked sharply against the marble floor, each step striking at Zhou Wan’s heart.
"President Lu," the receptionist pushed the door open, "Miss Zhou is here."
…
Zhou Wan looked at the man in a tailored suit before her.
She had only seen him once before, from a distance at the hospital. This was the first time she had seen him up close.
Lu Zhongyue had undergone major surgery the previous year and had only recently fully recovered, returning to his stern and imposing demeanor. Every inch of him radiated superiority.
Zhou Wan met his gaze directly.
Inwardly, she felt relieved—thankfully, Lu Xixiao did not resemble Lu Zhongyue.
It helped ease her guilt, if only a little.
Lu Zhongyue sat at his desk, smiled at Zhou Wan, and gestured to the chair in front of him. "Have a seat."
Zhou Wan remained standing, facing him.
Lu Zhongyue interlaced his fingers and rested them on his chest, speaking in a conversational tone. "You truly are Guo Xiangling’s daughter. I’ve heard you and A Xiao have been together for several months now?"He had already investigated Zhou Wan thoroughly.
Her bargaining chips had long been laid out in the open.
"Speak, what do you want to exchange with me? Money, or something else? I heard your academic results are quite impressive." Lu Zhongyue's voice was deep and unhurried. "I can also sponsor you. Whether you want to study abroad or attend a prestigious university in the future, it's all possible."
"I don't want any of that." Zhou Wan said softly.
Lu Zhongyue's expression remained unchanged as he generously asked, "Then what do you want? Feel free to say it."
"I want Guo Xiangling—" Zhou Wan narrowed her eyes slightly, revealing undisguised hatred in her gaze, "to lose everything and be beyond redemption."
Lu Zhongyue raised his eyebrows in surprise, as if hearing an extremely interesting answer, and even chuckled.
At this moment, he could still laugh.
Indeed, he had never loved Guo Xiangling either—she was merely a role he needed by his side. Without Guo Xiangling, it could have been someone else; it made no difference.
Zhou Wan recalled the stories about Shen Lan that Lu Xixiao had told her.
At this moment, she couldn't help but sigh for Shen Lan, who had devoted her sincere love to such an unfeeling and cold-blooded man.
"You hate her that much?" Lu Zhongyue asked with a smile.
Zhou Wan remained silent.
He nodded to himself. "You want me to dump Guo Xiangling, and then what? So you can be with A Xiao without any obstacles?" Lu Zhongyue shook his head with a laugh, as if amused by her naivety. "Little girl, there's no such cheap deal in this world. I help you deal with the person who abandoned you in the past, and you get two benefits with one action without paying any price?"
Zhou Wan stood there calmly, quietly listening to Lu Zhongyue's words.
The setting sun shone through the large floor-to-ceiling window, making her pure and simple face appear crystal clear. Though her features were soft and her voice placid, she gave the impression of being the sharpest sword in the world.
"I'm not that naive."
Zhou Wan looked directly at Lu Zhongyue with calm composure. The girl's clear deer-like eyes remained unruffled, excessively composed, which instead pierced through the surface tranquility.
Lu Zhongyue revised his previous understanding of Zhou Wan.
Before him, her completely unperturbed and imperturbable demeanor was strikingly similar to his own unruly and difficult-to-tame son.
"Uncle."
Zhou Wan suddenly changed her form of address and smiled at him. "I know you can't allow me to continue being with Lu Xixiao. After all, Old Mr. Lu is truly uneasy about handing all the family business over to you. And he dotes on Lu Xixiao so much—if it really comes to that, he'll definitely investigate my background thoroughly. By then, your grip on power might not be so secure."
Lu Zhongyue narrowed his eyes.
He never imagined that one day he would be threatened by a teenage Huang Mao.
"What I want is very simple for you. You just need to make Guo Xiangling lose everything, and I..." Zhou Wan paused, suppressing the sob threatening to spread in her voice, and said coldly, "And I will disappear from Lu Xixiao's life forever."
When she stepped out of the high-rise building, the sun was setting.
The entire world seemed to have turned warm yellow.
Zhou Wan stood at the entrance, let out a long sigh, then started walking forward. As she walked, her pace quickened until she began to run.
As if some monster were chasing her from behind.
She didn't know how long she had been running.
She only knew that in the chilly early spring, she ran until she was drenched in sweat before stopping.She leaned forward with hands braced on her knees, gasping for breath, her throat clogged with a gust of cold air that made her feel utterly miserable.
It took quite a while before she had the strength to straighten up and look around, realizing she was in a flower and bird market.
Zhou Wan walked into one of the shops and pointed at a pot of Chinese roses. "Auntie, how much for this pot?"
"45 yuan."
"Is it easy to care for?"
"Oh, young lady, this is a new variety with strong disease resistance—it's the easiest to grow! Plus, this type blooms frequently. If we have a warm winter like this year, it can flower all four seasons."
Zhou Wan nodded and asked, "Are there any others that are easy to care for and have long blooming periods?"
"Of course! Look over there—those petunias and portulacas are extremely easy to grow. Just stick them in the soil and they'll thrive. They don’t mind the summer sun either. And there are also plumbagos—they’re easy to care for too."
Zhou Wan bought many flowers. The shop auntie, seeing she was alone, asked if she needed help transporting them back.
"Sure." Zhou Wan smiled at her. "Thank you, Auntie."
Zhou Wan gave her Lu Xixiao’s home address and watched as the auntie loaded pot after pot of flowers into the trunk of her car. Zhou Wan hitched a ride back with her.
Arriving at the doorstep, she thanked the auntie again and carried the potted plants to the barren garden, making over a dozen trips back and forth.
Spring was just around the corner, and she wanted to leave Lu Xixiao a garden full of blooming flowers.
She also hoped to breathe some life into this house, so he wouldn’t feel so lonely.
Rolling up her sleeves, she stepped into the garden, bent down, and began pulling out the weeds and wild grass.
Once cleared, the garden was left with only a few bare, half-dead branches.
Zhou Wan watered them, hoping they would revive come spring. Then, she transplanted the newly purchased small flowers into the soil of the flower beds.
The vibrant colors instantly brightened the garden, adding a few touches of warmth to the house.
After school, Lu Xixiao waited for Zhou Wan at the entrance of Class 1. Just then, Gu Meng walked out and said in surprise, "Wanwan wasn’t feeling well this afternoon and went home early. Didn’t she tell you?"
Lu Xixiao froze, frowning.
He was about to call Zhou Wan when his phone rang.
"Hello, Uncle Zhang."
"A Xiao, I’ve roughly looked into the basic information you asked me to check about her."
Lu Xixiao walked to a secluded spot, his eyes darkening. "Go ahead."
He had uncovered Guo Xiangling’s entire life story—when she got married, to whom, giving birth to a daughter a year later, then abandoning her daughter and leaving after her husband’s death. She had a series of wealthy boyfriends over the years, and eventually, when she met Lu Zhongyue—all of it was laid out.
Lu Xixiao listened quietly.
Uncle Zhang continued, "Her background is indeed quite simple. Her father is still alive, but he favors sons over daughters, so their relationship has always been strained. Apart from him, she only has a daughter. It’s truly ruthless—back then, her daughter was only ten years old, and she just left without a care, completely disregarding her child’s well-being."
"Oh, right." He paused suddenly. "Her daughter also studies at Yangming. Did you know that?"
Lu Xixiao’s dark eyelashes trembled abruptly.
For a moment, the vague connections in his mind became clear, but he refused to follow that train of thought.
He clenched his phone tightly, his knuckles turning white, and spoke in a cold, hard voice, "What’s her daughter’s name?"
"Her ex-husband was Zhou Jun, and her daughter is named..." Uncle Zhang thought for a moment and said, "Zhou Wan. The 'Wan' that means 'to retrieve/redeem'.The 'Wan' that means 'to retrieve'.The "Wan" in "draw a carved bow to the full like the moon."
Finally, all doubts were resolved, and answers were found.
Lu Xixiao stood there silently, his spine still straight as always, yet stiff—so rigid it seemed brittle. His neck was bowed, presenting a posture like one offering their head to the executioner.
Was he shocked? It didn’t seem so.
He was so calm that Lu Xixiao began to wonder if he had already entertained this thought in his mind, only unwilling to grasp that fleeting notion.
But if he said he wasn’t shocked, he couldn’t even move at this moment.
After a long while, Lu Xixiao silently ended the call.
He lowered his head, his overgrown bangs falling over his forehead, concealing his emotions. Only his ragged, helpless breaths remained, trembling uncontrollably, echoing through the quiet, empty school corridor.
…
On the way home, fragments of the past flashed through Lu Xixiao’s mind.
He remembered not long after he first met Zhou Wan, one night she had asked him a question—"Lu Xixiao, if someone betrayed you, what would you do?"
At the time, he hadn’t paid it much mind, smiling carelessly as he casually replied, "I’d destroy her."
He recalled the day he ran into her on the street, looking utterly distraught, weeping in his arms, stammering and stumbling over her words as she said, "Lu Xixiao, I’m sorry."
He thought of how Zhou Wan had frozen when Guo Xiangling greeted him from the car, and when she snapped out of it, she kicked at the pebbles by her feet and asked softly, "What if she… did something your father wouldn’t like?"
He remembered teasing her to call him "brother," only to inexplicably make her cry—she absolutely refused.
He remembered her saying, "If we ever part ways, let’s never contact each other again, okay?"
…
Lu Xixiao finally understood why someone with Zhou Wan’s temperament would keep drawing closer to him instead of running away.
From the very beginning, from that "Wan" in "draw a carved bow to the full like the moon," she had an agenda—to get revenge on Guo Xiangling.
And he was merely a step in her plan.
He gritted his teeth hard and let out a scornful laugh.
Well done.
She had played him for a fool.
He quickened his pace toward home, but as he reached the door, he suddenly stopped.
Through the rusted iron gate, he saw Zhou Wan squatting in the flower bed, her sleeves rolled up to reveal pale, slender arms. Her school uniform pants were stained with mud, and a smudge of dirt marked her clean face.
The fury burning inside Lu Xixiao began to deflate at that moment, leaking out from some unseen crack.
He thought again.
On his birthday, Zhou Wan had taken him to an amusement park and told him, "I wish you the courage to always love and hate freely, and may everything go smoothly for you."
When a student at school attempted suicide by jumping, she had rushed over, firmly grasping his hand—her small frame, her thin yet resolute back.
…
"Zhou Wan, do you want to be in a relationship? With me."
"If I were in a relationship with you, would you be happy?"
"Probably."
"Okay."
…
On New Year’s Eve, the countdown to the new year, cold dumplings, and the brilliant fireworks over the river.
And her face, illuminated by those fireworks.
…
That night, he walked her home.
She had already reached her door but hurried back out, stopping in front of him. Gently tugging the collar of his shirt to pull him down, she stood on her toes and softly kissed the corner of his mouth.
Her face was already flushed beyond repair: "Goodnight, Lu Xixiao."
…
On Lunar New Year’s Eve.
"Zhou Wan, let’s go see the snow."
Hand in hand, they dashed through the crowded streets as if trying to leave the entire world behind.
…"Lu Xixiao?" Zhou Wan glanced up upon noticing him, remembering she hadn't informed him about taking leave, and quickly apologized, "I forgot to tell you—I took the afternoon off and came back early."
Lu Xixiao remained standing where he was, his gaze indifferent. After a moment, he walked to her side. "What are you doing?"
"Planting flowers."
Zhou Wan crouched on the ground, looking up at him with a smile that curved her eyes and brought out her dimples. "Spring is almost here."
He lowered his eyes, scanning the area. A circle of rose bushes had been planted along the wooden fence, along with other colorful flowers whose names he didn't know.
"They'll die after spring ends," he said flatly.
"No, they won't. I asked the flower vendor—this variety is very hardy. Even if the blooms fade, they'll revive after a warm rain." Zhou Wan replied.
Lu Xixiao: "Then you take care of them from now on."
Zhou Wan paused, pressed her lips together, and didn't answer, instead lowering her head to continue working the soil, her hands covered in mud.
Lu Xixiao's frown deepened, his expression darkening as he grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Go wash your hands."
"I'm not finished yet..."
"I'll do it."
A hose was connected near the flower bed. Remembering Zhou Wan's delicate hands, Lu Xixiao clicked his tongue impatiently and led her to the sink. He turned the faucet, rotating it to the left, waiting for the water to warm before stepping back into the freshly watered, muddy flower bed.
The edges of his white shoes were soiled. Rolling up his sleeves, he efficiently planted the remaining two flowers into the holes Zhou Wan had dug, covered them with soil, tamped it down, and stepped out of the bed—all in under a minute.
Zhou Wan watched his expression, hesitating.
"Lu Xixiao?"
Lu Xixiao turned his head to look at her.
Zhou Wan wondered if it was her imagination, but Lu Xixiao's face was cold and rigid, devoid of any emotion—distant and detached. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd seen such an expression on his face.
To be precise, Lu Xixiao often appeared this way, but his expression would soften when he looked at her, the sharp edges of his features becoming less wounding.
Yet, after just two seconds, Lu Xixiao lowered his eyes and responded lightly, "Hmm."
"Are you upset?" Zhou Wan asked.
The sun was setting, and the streetlights outside suddenly lit up in a neat row.
Lu Xixiao watched her quietly for a long moment before finally giving a faint, wry smile. He walked up to Zhou Wan. His hands were muddy, so he couldn't touch her, but he leaned down and gently kissed the tip of her nose.
His exhale trembled slightly, as if he were suppressing his emotions, afraid of disturbing the secret in Zhou Wan's heart.
He had no choice but to compromise, joining her in acting out this play to protect her secret.
"Earlier, Gu Meng said you came back early because you weren't feeling well?"
After washing his hands, he wrapped an arm around Zhou Wan's shoulder, gently pinching her cheek, and asked softly, "Are you still feeling unwell?"
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