Li Wu didn't know how he managed to bundle up the straw mat and bedding, nor how he packed his books and clothes into the rolling suitcase.
How he got into Cen Jin's car, and how he returned home—he had no recollection.
His heart had withered completely; he moved like a walking corpse.
But he knew he had no other choice.
Without Cen Jin, he would be penniless, possessing nothing—a complete orphan, a pitiful and laughable vagrant.
After packing his things, Li Wu sat on the edge of the bed and looked around. This place that had sheltered him for over a year, this place he could call home, was now utterly destroyed by him. His sister no longer wanted him.
He rubbed his face harshly with both hands, stood up, and walked out.
Cen Jin was already waiting on the sofa. On the coffee table were two cups of water she had just poured, steam curling upward.
She rarely sat so properly at home, her expression so rigid—the implication of negotiation was unmistakable.
They exchanged an expressionless glance. Li Wu was the first to look away, sitting down on a nearby chair.
The boy's eyes were red-rimmed, like a small animal covered in wounds. Cen Jin's heart twisted. To ease the spreading ache, she picked up her water and took a quick sip.
She admitted she cared about this boy and couldn't bear to see him suffer.
But this care was limited to that of family, of siblings. The current transgression and abnormality made her physically and mentally uncomfortable, like accidentally grabbing a moldy, rotten fruit, her fingers filled with a strange stickiness.
She took a deep breath, loosely curling her fingers, wanting only to wash it away quickly. "Have you estimated your scores these past few days?" she asked.
Li Wu hadn't expected her to bring up the college entrance exam first. He paused slightly: "No."
Cen Jin asked: "Don't you have a range in mind?"
"I do," Li Wu's throat moved slightly: "Definitely around 700."
Cen Jin paused briefly: "Sure?"
"Yeah."
"So you're quite confident about getting into several top universities, right?"
Li Wu nodded gently.
Cen Jin set down her cup: "Go to Beijing."
The boy's head suddenly dropped. His brow furrowed tightly, as if he was suppressing, struggling, resisting everything about the present moment. For a long while, he couldn't speak.
Cen Jin watched him, her patience wearing thin: "Are you listening to me?"
The living room fell silent for a few seconds. Li Wu lifted his eyes and said quietly, his voice trembling: "I heard you." Then he asked: "Are you driving me away?"
Cen Jin looked directly at him, her gaze and tone both pressing: "I'm giving you advice. This is the best choice."
A suppressed, hoarse sound rolled from Li Wu's throat: "Fine, I'll go."
Satisfied with the answer, Cen Jin felt somewhat calmer and spoke methodically: "I don't know how the university that admits you will arrange things, but if there's a scholarship or financial aid before enrollment, your tuition will be covered. If not, I can pay it for you first. Later, if you can apply for student loans and poverty subsidies, you probably won't need my help anymore."
Cen Jin thought for a moment: "As for holidays, you can come back if you want. This house won't have anyone else for now. If there is in the future, I'll move back to Qingping Road. Of course, you could also stay at school and do part-time work. That would be even better."
Li Wu had been sitting upright, but slowly, he hunched his back, propping his elbows on his knees, turning into a weak yet agitated hedgehog.He remained silent from start to finish, nodding in near-mechanical acquiescence like a kneeling criminal being invisibly lashed by the woman's words, forced to inch forward on his knees to a place beyond her sight, even as the pain penetrated his bones and wounds covered his body.
"Taking responsibility until you start university—I won't go back on my word, so I won't demand you leave immediately this summer," the woman declared, shifting from granting favors to issuing warnings. "But those words about liking me—not a single syllable can be mentioned again. If you bring it up, get out immediately. I won't care whether you live or die."
Li Wu's chest heaved, but he still nodded.
He had reverted to that infuriating state from their first meeting. Cen Jin raised her voice: "Say something."
Li Wu gritted his teeth. One second, two seconds—then he uttered a single clear word: "Okay."
Silence enveloped them again.
Though few words had been exchanged, Cen Jin's throat felt inexplicably parched. She picked up her glass and took small sips of water while mentally reviewing whether their confrontation had left any loose ends.
In that brief interlude, the boy who had been largely silent throughout suddenly stood up.
Towering over her, Cen Jin lifted her gaze with a questioning look.
Li Wu stared down at her against the backlight for two seconds: "I need to go out for a while."
Cen Jin paused, then nodded in agreement.
Li Wu turned and walked to the entryway, bending to change his shoes. The woman's voice came from the side: "Don't forget your phone." For the first time, her reminder carried such detachment.
Li Wu didn't utter a word, straightening up and leaving immediately. The door closed with its usual soft click—he was furious, heartbroken, utterly devastated, yet didn't even dare slam it.
The moment Li Wu left, Cen Jin collapsed against the sofa, inhaling and exhaling rapidly, unable to calm herself.
She grabbed a nearby cushion and hugged it against her chest, propping her chin on it before pulling out her phone to browse pet videos, attempting to distract herself. But it was completely ineffective—her gaze gradually grew unfocused over the flowing images.
Long before this, she had imagined how this summer would unfold. The most vivid scenes should have been their post-exam-results home celebration—laughing and crying through bittersweet relief, bouncing with joy. She had countless wonderful plans: creating a vlog to memorialize the moment, traveling with Li Wu, enrolling him in driving lessons, preparing the world's most thoughtful university starter kit, even fantasizing about hosting three days of banquet feasts in his village to flaunt their triumph. But now? Nothing remained. Everything had become impossible. They had shattered irreparably within a single day.
What a profound pity.
Cen Jin's nose stung with unshed tears. Pushing the cushion aside, she retreated to her bedroom and buried her exhausted self beneath the duvet.
Her bed was her air-raid shelter and haven—only here could she attain temporary world peace.
—
When she awoke, it was already past nine in the evening.
Cen Jin set her phone aside, rubbing her throbbing temples before swinging her legs off the bed.
The living room was pitch black. She switched on the lights—the space remained exactly as she'd left it before sleeping. Clearly, Li Wu hadn't returned home.
Standing frozen, a chill crept up her spine. News reports about students jumping from buildings began cycling through her mind. Cen Jin immediately retrieved her phone and called Li Wu.
The line rang once before being rejected.
Fury surged through her. She dialed again.
This time the call connected—but simultaneously, the door beside her swung open as someone entered.Cen Jin turned to look and saw Li Wu, holding a grocery bag in one hand and his phone in the other, his expression slightly aloof. This cool detachment made him appear exceptionally calm, as if the agitated teenager from the afternoon had been possessed by someone else.
Their eyes met for a second. Cen Jin let out a sigh of relief, feeling she had overreacted, and quickly ended the call.
The plastic bag in Li Wu's hand was filled with ingredients. His gaze swept past Cen Jin briefly before he turned and walked toward the kitchen without looking back.
He started cooking.
Cen Jin brought her laptop to the living room and focused on her work.
Everything seemed normal, yet somehow different.
After preparing the toppings, Li Wu came out and asked, "I'm going to cook noodles. Do you want some?"
Cen Jin didn't spare him a glance, her face pale from the screen's glow. "No, I'll order takeout later."
Li Wu replied, "Okay," then returned to the kitchen and cooked only his portion.
He sat alone at the table, eating unhurriedly, then cleaned up the dishes and went back to his room.
Cen Jin propped her chin, finally looking up from her computer to stare down the hallway before letting out an incredulous, mocking laugh.
The cold war had officially begun at that moment.
Over the next few days, they didn't exchange a single word, ignoring each other completely and treating one another as air.
The house automatically divided into separate zones: Li Wu occupied the secondary bedroom, main bathroom, and kitchen, while Cen Jin mostly stayed in the living room and master bedroom.
Besides, she had work, leaving early and returning late, so she spent little time at home.
Cen Jin had briefly noticed Li Wu's routine—he seemed to have found something to do as well, leaving early in the morning and returning home around seven or eight in the evening, occasionally cooking. Of course, only for himself.
At first, it felt a bit strange, but after four or five days, Cen Jin grew accustomed to the situation and even found a sense of justification in it.
Li Wu's attitude provided her with a comfort zone of sorts. She even began to appreciate his choice to cut his losses promptly without clinging desperately. Because of this, she no longer had to face or deal with their relationship.
If the holiday could end like this,
she would be more than happy.
As the college entrance exam score release date drew nearer, Cen Jin's comfort zone began to show signs of wavering and cracking.
This change started with a phone call on the afternoon of June 22, while Cen Jin was dozing off in front of her office computer.
The caller claimed to be from Peking University's admissions office.
Cen Jin jolted awake instantly. "Who?"
The person on the other end was friendly, reintroduced themselves, and asked, "Are you Li Wu's parent?"
That was the first time Cen Jin learned that some universities would get the news ahead of time and quickly lock in the nation's top students even before the scores were officially released.
In the evening, Cen Jin received a second call.
This time, it was Tsinghua University.
She politely handled the conversation, saying they should wait until the child checked his scores.
After that, the calls kept coming—from universities, education offices, Yi High School, various teachers. They bombarded her one after another, so much so that Cen Jin considered setting up call forwarding on her phone to Li Wu.
Lù Qíqí even worriedly asked if she had fallen victim to some university-themed scam ring.
Cen Jin could only respond with a cold, bitter smile.
It seemed a certain Li, the so-called prodigy, had miscalculated.
Even before the scores were out, she was already busy enough to consider turning off her phone and refusing all calls.
The feeling was indescribable.Though she no longer wished to follow or take responsibility for this young man's life, she still found herself inevitably sharing in the glory at the final chapter.
In a way, it was a shared journey through thick and thin.
But Cen Jin couldn't be bothered to act as his sole representative, listening to these usually arrogant schools turn into sycophants, endlessly discussing ideals and integrity for one or two hours just to attract students.
So she still referred them all to Li Wu, leaving everything for him to handle personally.
On June 23rd, when the dust settled, Li Wu's results were finally announced.
He scored 718 points in total, with a perfect score in science, ranking seventh in the province and fourth in Yi City.
The good news was announced by Teacher Qi in the group chat—this year's provincial top science student was also from their school, their class.
Everyone was overjoyed, congratulating one another and celebrating this shining moment as they stepped into the adult world.
Although he had already known the outcome in advance, Li Wu still checked his scores alone at home. He meticulously reviewed each subject, every digit, before shutting down his computer.
He sat in silence for an unknown length of time, then lifted his eyes and caught a glimpse of his impassive face in the completely black screen.
That one glance caused all his composure to crumble. He slumped over the desk, sobbing in anguish.
After nearly two minutes of venting, he sat up straight and wiped away the wetness on his face. He couldn't understand why he was crying—everything had gone as expected, with no excitement or sense of relief. Only then did he realize that what saddened him was having no one to share this with. The person he most wanted to tell was no longer willing to hear a single word from him. She wouldn't be overjoyed by his scores, and heaven knew how long he had waited for this moment—a moment where he could rightfully please her, see her smile for him, be proud of him. But he had destroyed it all in advance. He hated himself deeply.
On the same day, Cen Jin sat restlessly at her office from morning till night.
She repeatedly opened Li Wu's WeChat, closed it, opened Teacher Qi's WeChat, closed it—countless times.
In the end, she didn't type a single word.
After work, Cen Jin didn't go home.
Instinctively, she didn't want to face anything, unsure of what reaction would be appropriate, her entire being screaming refusal.
Afraid that Chun Chang might overthink and gossip, she didn't go to her friend's place either. Instead, she checked into a hotel near her company, resorting to her usual escape tactics.
Escaping might be shameful, but it worked.
At least for this night, Cen Jin, facing the glittering cityscape beyond the floor-to-ceiling window, believed so.
That night, Cen Jin slept fitfully.
So the next day, she woke up earlier than usual.
She opened her phone and immediately checked her WeChat messages.
She noticed Li Wu had sent her a message.
Her heart racing, Cen Jin hurriedly opened it. The moment her eyes landed on the chat interface, her entire body froze.
It was a strikingly conspicuous transfer notification—orange background with white text, displaying a rather long number.
The young man had transferred a full 100,000 yuan to her, without a single word of explanation.
Cen Jin sat up in shock, exiting and re-entering the chat repeatedly to confirm the authenticity of the message.
Finally, she was certain she wasn't dreaming.
Cen Jin immediately switched to her contacts, found Li Wu's name, and called him.
After a moment, the other end picked up.
Silence hung between them, only their calm breaths audible through the receiver.
Unable to control her voice, chilled with shock and suspicion, Cen Jin demanded, "What's with the 100,000 yuan? Where did it come from?"Li Wu, however, remained unusually calm. "Yida University gave it to me. It just arrived in my account today."
"What?"
"This is one of the conditions Yida offered to recruit me."
Cen Jin broke out in a light sweat, followed by a surge of fury. "You're not going to Beijing anymore?"
"No."
"What did you promise me back then?" Cen Jin felt as if her heart was constricting, every strand of her hair seeming to catch fire. "Why are you suddenly going back on your word?"
After a few seconds of silence, the young man's voice came through again. His tone was casual, almost like a challenge: "Starting from my eighteenth birthday, my life is mine to write. That was your blessing, after all."
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