This outburst of tears disrupted everything, leaving Feng Xiaoxiao’s carefully prepared toast undelivered. However, it brought the cssmates clether. These boys and girls, raised by their parents to be petitive and guarded like yous, suddenly realized that retionships between people could involve passion and care—not just rivalry and oppression.

  During lunch, Teacher Ari ate with the 46 students of Css 5 ih grade. She tried a bite of everyone’s food, to the point where she was so full it felt like she might burst. In her opinion, the meal delivered by the gatekeeper to Yi Nuannuan was undeniably the most delicious. Of course, she didn’t say this aloud—teachers must treat everyone equally. Every student’s lunch represeheir parents’ love and was therefore a gourmet meal in its own way.

  Yi Nuannuan quietly hid her aluminum lunchbox, an a that didn’t escape Ari’s notice.

  After lunch, everyone lined up to wash their lunchboxes. When Yi Nuannuan ed hers, she found a small pale yellow stiote uhe third yer. Written on it was a simple message: Please leave the lunchbox iekeeper’s room.

  After lunch came the midday break. Brimming with energy, the students didn’t o nap and instead gathered in threes and fours to chat and py. Ari, however, stayed by Yi Nuannuan’s side, asking her about her family.

  Yi Nuannuan wore a hearing aid, and Ari had noticed her hearing difficulties early on, which made her all the more atteo this girl.

  No other teacher had ever inquired about Yi Nuannuan’s family background. Slowly, she began to share her story. She expihat her father worked as a business representative for a multinational pany and traveled frequently. Four years ago, he was caught in a fatal act in Africa, and not even his remains were brought back. Her mother, a professor at Jiangdong Uy of Teology, passed away six months ago in a car act. Now, she lived with her grandfather and grandmother.

  Yi Nuannuan took out a photo to show Ari. It depicted a happy family of three—her father was handsome and charismatic, her mother beautiful and sophisticated. Four years ago, Yi Nuannuan had looked like a proud little princess; now, she had bee a self-scious ugly dug.

  "A child without parents is like grass," Ari sighed, her heart ag with sorrow.

  Yi Nuannuan then showed Ari the stiote and said this wasn’t the first time, but she still had no idea who was sendihese meals.

  Ari replied, "That’s easy to figure out. We just ask the gatekeeper ter."

  At that moment, Feng Xiaoxiao approached with a group of cssmates. They wao sult Ari about preparations for studying abroad, and Ari was happy to aheir questions. However, she remained seated and frequently steered the versation toward Yi Nuannuan, encio participate and i with her cssmates.

  Ari had realized that Yi Nuannuan’s self-sciousness and isotion could ruin her if left unchecked. She was determio help Nuannuan build her self-fidence.

  There was no English css that afternoon. After lunch, Ari helped Nuannuaurn her ed lunchbox to the gatekeeper’s room and took the opportunity to ask him who had been sending the meals.

  The gatekeeper feigned ignorance, pretending not to know anything and stubbornly pying dumb.

  Ari didn’t press further; her instincts told her that this was a warm secret that didn’t o be uncovered right away.

  Ari’s phone buzzed—it was her father calling to che. Ou Jinhua and his delegation had fiheir iion of the shipyard and were preparing to return.

  Ari told him, "I pn to stay here for a few months. I’ve already arranged everything with the school."

  Ou Jinhua replied, "I was thinking of using my es to help you, but it seems I don’t o. Still, I’m not fortable leaving you here alone. Let’s discuss this again when you return."

  At the VIP lounge, Qin Deg, Yin Yong, Gao Ming, Ma Xiaowei, and others were gathered, waiting to see Ou Jinhua off. Suddenly, Ou’s assistant arrived with news of an ued dey.

  The assistant annouhat the departure time had been postponed by several hours due to a private matter. Si rivate jet, there were no strict schedules to adhere to, but the senior leadership team, already assembled, wasn’t about to just sit around waiting.

  Gao Ming asked, "Is this because Chairman Ou isn’t feeling well?"

  The assistant, of course, didn’t reveal anything specific. He simply apologized and expined, "Chairman Ou has a private matter to attend to. We may not leave until this evening, but please don’t let us dey your pns."

  Gao Ming exged a look with Ma Xiaowei, who gave a subtle nod, his expression unreadable.

  When school let out, hundreds of middle school students poured out of the gates. This weekend was New Year’s, and as usual, preparations for the celebratory party were already underway. Css 5 of the 8th grade, like other csses, had begun pnning their event. Students left in groups—some on bicycles, some oric scooters, and a few on foot. Yi Nuannuan was one of the walkers, always going home alone. But this time, she was apanied by Ari.

  In noisy crowds, Nuannuan struggled to hear clearly due to her impaired hearing. Smart as she was, she had taught herself how to read lips, allowihly guess eople were saying. Chatting with Ari, she walked aimlessly through the bustling streets, eventually entering the Shipyard Workers’ New Vilge.

  Since Ari po stay here as a teacher, she needed a pce to live. Though she could easily afford the VIP residence, or even buy it ht, she wanted something simpler. She preferred living like an ordinary person in a neighborhood full of life and character.

  Nuannuan, still a child at heart, had learned from her grandparents how to live frugally. Her first thought was always to save money. She blurted out, "Why don’t you stay at my house? We won’t charge you rent."

  "Sure!" Ari immediately agreed without hesitation.

  The words had barely left her mouth when Ari covered her own lips, realizing what she’d just said. She had always had her own room growing up. Even during her school years, she struggled with dorm life aually bought a house near campus to live alone. Yet here she was in Jiangwei, agreeing without reservation to share a room with a local girl.

  "That’s wonderful!" Nuannuan smiled brightly. It had been so long since she’d smiled like that. She didn’t even fully uand why she’d made the offer—it was instinct. Discriminated against, isoted, and in need of care, Nuannuan desperately sought fort, support, and prote. Her aunt couldn’t provide it, nor could her grandparents. Her instincts told her Ari could.

  On their way home, they passed a shoemaker’s stall run by a one-legged man. Behind him was a ramshackle shelter barely holding together. Yi Nuannuan picked up a pair of repaired shoes, then took her untouched lunchbox from her bag and gave the rid food to the stall owner.

  "This girl has a ki, just like her mother," the man said to Ari.

  Without realizing it, they arrived at the entrance of Building 17. Ari didn’t want to impose, so she said goodbye to Nuannuan a. On her way back to the school, she noticed the lunchbox still sitting on the windowsill of the gatekeeper’s room, untouched.

  Back at the VIP vil, Ou Jinhua asked Ari about her day. Ari reted everything in vivid detail, her emotions s that her eyes turned red at certain points.

  Ou Jinhua realized that Ari had made up her mind about staying. He didn’t oppose her decision but couldn’t help w about her fag challenges and dangers on her own. After all, she had grown up surrounded by luxury and had never lived indepely away from her parents.

  "I’m already 23," Ari said pyfully, feigning annoyance.

  "Alright," her father relented, "but I’ll leave you an assistant, a bodyguard, and a car."

  "No," Ari rejected him ht. "That would make me feel so unfortable."

  Ou Jinhua didn’t argue. Some things could be done quietly without making a fuss. Pretending to back down, he made angestion: "At least let me leave you some money."

  "I don’t either," Ari replied firmly. "I have my sary, and if that’s not enough, I have my savings—or I get a part-time job."

  "Alright," Ou Jinhua ceded again. "Then I’ll have my assistant book a hotel suite for you."

  But Ari shook her head once more. "I want to rent my own pce. Dad, you don’t o worry. If I run into trouble, you’ll be the first person I call for help."

  Ou Jinhua said, "O request—have dinner with your dad tonight."

  This time, Ari agreed.

  A server holding a mop tried to approach the father and daughter chatting in the living room but romptly stopped by the assistant.

  When Yi Nuannuaurned home, her aunt had already gone back to Jianjiang, leaving the house empty once again. That evening, her grandmother made stir-fried shredded potatoes and a pot of winter melon soup with dried shrimp—a simple meal. After dinner, her grandmother went to join a square-dang group, while her grandfather sat in the living room watg television. Nuannuauro her room, turned on her desk mp, and opened her diary.

  Ihe diary hoto of three people. She stared at her parents' smiling faces for a while before turning to a new page and writing: Today, I was really happy. Sin passed away, this was the first time the world has treated me so kindly...

  When her grandmother returned from square dang and noticed that Nuannuan seemed to be in a good mood, Nuannuaantly shared an idea. She expihat the school had a eacher who was very nice, and she wao rent out their house for the teacher to stay.

  "Why are you making such decisions on your own?" her grandmother scolded. "Our house is so old and small, with only two bedrooms. Where would she stay? On a bunk bed with you? Even if she agreed, what about when your aunt es back?"

  Nuannuan had no reply. She nervously pihe hem of her shirt, realizing that she had been too na?ve and hadn't thought things through.

  Her grandfather put down his neer and said, "Yrandmother is right; the school administration will hahe teacher’s living arras. We on folk shouldn’t meddle in their affairs."

  Nuannuan nodded, biting her lip. She had never grown up with her grandparents or any other close family. People often said that grandparents spoiled their grandchildren, but that didn’t apply to the Xiang family. To Nuannuan, her grandparents were polite and distaives, bound by blood but emotionally estranged.

  Her grandfather, known for being henpecked even in his youth, always agreed with her grandmother’s opinions. However, he had his own way of expressing his thoughts, often cirg back to voice them ily.

  "That said, we should still treat the teacher kindly. I’ve heard that substitute teachers at the academy don’t receive perma positions and have low saries. Every teacher is someone’s prized child. If we help, we should. I recall that the upstairs apartment, 302, is vat. Isn’t that Old Wang's pce? I’ll ask him ter if he’s willing to rent it out."

  Nuannuan’s face lit up with joy. After her grandmother turned on a shopping el oV, her grandfather quietly handed Nuannuan a phone—a device usually forbidden for her to use. He held up one finger, signaling that she could use it for only one hour.

  At the Hawaiian-themed seaside vil plex, Feng Xiaoxiao stood on his baly, practig the poetry recitation he would perform at the New Year’s party. Ihe living room, his mother, Feng Li, was gossiping on the phoh her friends about a variety of topics. As usual, his father, Ma Xiaowei, hadn’t returned home. As the deputy chief engineer, Ma was always busy, often ing home after 2 a.m. and leaving by 7 a.m. In fact, he had been staying at the pany dormitory retly due to a major project. Feng Xiaoxiao hadn’t seen his father for three days.

  Feng Xiaoxiao couldn’t really talk with his mother. While Feng Li doted on her son, she cked any intellectual depth, and even her academic credentials were fabricated. She had no shared is with her Tsinghua-educated husband. The truth was, the couple had been sleeping in separate rooms for years, and their precocious son was well aware of it.

  Now, Feng Xiaoxiao was eager to tell his father about the eacher at school. Unfortunately, it seemed uhat his father would e home tonight.

  A stohrow from Feng Xiaoxiao’s house was a high-rise apartment building where Jane Shiyu and Mei Xin lived. They were currently chatting with Yin Weiran on QQ, rep the day’s events in css.

  Yin Weiran, who was on leave due to a fractured bone, was frustrated at having missed the ce to be in the spotlight. When she heard that Yi Nuannuan had been "ag smug" again, she became furious.

  Over at Yumei Restaurant on Meigang Road, business was booming. In this small town, news spread quickly. Word of Qin Deg eating "Da Hong Pao Chi" had already circuted throughout the factory, attrag waves of curious diners. The busier the ers, the more the chef, niamed "Yellow-Skiiger," pyed hard to get. That evening, he annouhat only ten chis would be served—no more, no less. The more exclusive the dish, the more people cmored for a taste.

  Priced at 99 yuan, or just rounded up to 100, the "Da Hong Pao Chi" was a must-order. But no one ordered just one dish. Add in side dishes and drinks, and each table easily spent two to three hundred yuan. With business booming, the day’s revenue surpassed 3,000 yuan. After dedug rent and costs, the owners, Wu Yumei and Xiao Hong, still pocketed over 1,000 yuan, leaving Wu Yumei beaming with satisfa.

  However, with the "Da Hong Pao Chi" sold out, they couldn’t just close shop. Yellow-Skiiger had e up with another dish: a cold ptter of assorted snacks, perfect as drinking panions. Knowing that many of Yumei Restaurant’s ers came for drinks, he sourced pre-cooked meat items like braised beef, pork iines, pig ears, roast chi, duck heads, and sausages. These were paired with fresh vegetables like lettuce, tro, garlic cloves, scallions, white onions, cucumbers, chili peppers, fried peanuts, and tofu skins. Served with two different dipping sauces, it was ideal for drinking.

  The dish was simple to prepare, allowing Wu Yumei and Xiao Hong to ha themselves. It was just as profitable as "Da Hong Pao Chi." With less to do i, Yellow-Skiiger took a ptter of snacks and a bottle of baijiu to the academy to collect a lunchbox and thank the gatekeeper. Giving money would be inappropriate; sharing a drink with the old man was the best way to show gratitude.

  On a cold winter night, the campus was eerily quiet under a starry sky. Iekeeper’s room, the stove glowed red-hot. The gatekeeper set out the food and poured some baijiu, lighting a cigarette as the two men shared a drink and versation. The atmosphere was tranquil and rustic.

  The gatekeeper made no inquiries about Yi Leng’s identity or his retionship with Yi Nuannuan’s family. Instead, he gestured toward the empty school grounds and said, "This school has lingering spirits uhe teag building."

  Yi Leng was startled. Could something criminal have happened here?

  The gatekeeper expined, "During the War of Resistahis pce was aion site. tless i civilians were killed here. Once, 36 anti-Japariots were executed at gunpoint in this very spot."

  "Then these spirits must be both unjust and heroic," Yi Leng said. "Gatekeeper, let’s toast to the heroic spirits."

  The two men poured their drinks onto the ground, paying their respects to the fallen.

  The gatekeeper looked at Yi Leng and said, "Young man, you carry a story on your shoulders."

  Yi Leng chuckled. "Do you read faces, Gatekeeper?"

  The gatekeeper replied, "Everyone carries a story—some long, some short, some colorful, some pin. But ohing’s the same: every person is the protagonist of their own story."

  [--------------------------------------------]

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