What was the most infuriating part?
Lan Xi had somehow found an enormous pair of gardening shears, bigger than his head, and wasn’t even afraid that one snip might take a chunk out of his ear.
Before Lan Xi could open the blades, Fu Hui lunged forward and snatched the shears away.
Lan Xi jumped in fright and almost pitched headfirst into the sink, but Fu Hui caught him just in time.
“Lan. Xi.” Fu Hui gritted his teeth.
Lan Xi rarely heard him use that tone.
He turned his head, his face a picture of innocence.
Fu Hui carried the little fellow back to the bedroom, set him on the bed, and assumed the air of a grown-up as he asked sternly, “What were you trying to do, Lan Xi?”
He had more or less figured it out already. “Were you going to cut your hair so you could go to school with me?”
Lan Xi lifted his chin proudly. “Mm!”
So Fu Hui ought to be very touched, shouldn’t he?
Instead, Fu Hui began with a cruel fact. “My new school doesn’t have an elementary school.”
Lan Xi went blank. “…Huh?”
Fu Hui stroked his head. “Good thing you didn’t actually cut it. Otherwise, you’d have cut your hair for nothing.”
Lan Xi was shocked. Lan Xi was heartbroken. The last method he had thought might work had vanished just like that! It took him a long while to recover.
Still shaken, Fu Hui pinched his chubby cheeks, forcibly bringing him back from his thoughts of running away from home.
“Do you know how dangerous that was?”
Lan Xi said nothing.
“Those shears are so sharp and heavy. One slip, and did you want to end up with only half an ear?”
Fu Hui had watched *Black Cat Detective* with Lan Xi, including its one-eared mouse.
Lan Xi still remembered what that little mouse looked like. Terrified, he clapped his hands over his ears.
“Will you do that again?”
Lan Xi shook his head again and again.
“From now on, whatever you want to do, you have to tell me. Understand? Lan Xi can’t secretly do things by himself.”
Lan Xi paused. Fu Hui had to ask again, “Understand?”
Lan Xi gave an enormous, grown-up-style sigh before answering, “Mm, mm, mm, mm.”
Fu Hui didn’t want him to be too upset or frightened, so he drew him into a hug. Lan Xi promptly burrowed into his arms, pretending nothing had happened.
“Everything will be fine once Lan Xi starts his first year of junior high,” Fu Hui whispered by his ear.
Deeply displeased, Lan Xi complained, “Why are there so many first years?”
Fu Hui tried to comfort him. “It’ll be soon. Just three more birthdays for Lan Xi…”
That didn’t sound soon to Lan Xi at all. “Three more?” he protested furiously.
Seeing that Lan Xi was about to sit up in another fit of indignation, Fu Hui firmly pressed him back beneath the covers. “I’m so sleepy. I’m going to sleep.”
Lan Xi snorted, but magnanimously allowed Fu Hui to go to sleep first.
Morning.
When Fu Hui got up, Lan Xi got up right along with him as usual.
While Fu Hui was washing his face, Lan Xi disappeared again. Afraid he was off doing something earthshaking, Fu Hui searched everywhere until he found Lan Xi with his head buried in Fu Hui’s schoolbag, trying to climb inside.
But the schoolbag was too small.
And Lan Xi was too big.
Unable to shrink himself enough to climb in, Lan Xi could only straighten up angrily with the schoolbag still perched on his head.
He was impossibly adorable.
Fu Hui kept his expression under control, removed the bag from Lan Xi’s head, and put his books back inside.
“I’m leaving.”
Lan Xi ignored him.
“Lan Xi is coming to pick me up today too.”
“…Mm-hmm.” Only then did Lan Xi answer, sounding thoroughly put out.
Lan Xi didn’t want to go to school, and Secretary Li was indulgent about it.
After all, he was only in third grade. The lessons weren’t that crucial yet, and they could arrange for a teacher to help him catch up at any time. Besides, little Lan Xi was clever.
And so Secretary Li accompanied Lan Xi to pick Fu Hui up from school every day for an entire week.
Every day, Fu Hui brought Lan Xi a different present from school.
Sometimes it was food, sometimes a fountain pen or a pretty notebook… What Lan Xi loved most was a small trophy Fu Hui won shortly after starting at the school. The trophy was made of crystal and was beautiful. And it was an award Fu Hui himself had earned! Lan Xi adored it.
Secretary Li reckoned that this demanding little master must surely be satisfied now.
And after waiting at the school gates every day, he ought to be tired of it by now too.
In fact, these past few days had already far exceeded Fu Hui’s expectations.
Lan Xi really had come to pick him up every single day without fail.
Fu Hui had thought he would lose interest by the third day.
Whether or not Lan Xi was satisfied, Young Master Fu was privately very satisfied indeed.
Fu Hui quietly contacted a teacher at Lan Xi’s school, asking the teacher to mention from time to time that the school was organizing some exciting new activity and what a pity it was that Lan Xi wasn’t there.
Lan Xi was powerless to resist anything new and interesting.
He was equally powerless to resist being told how important he was to other people.
After one week and three days, Lan Xi began to waver.
When he came to pick Fu Hui up that day, he finally murmured, “Teacher wants Lan Xi to go to school.”
At a time like this, Fu Hui absolutely could not say, “Then hurry up and go.”
Fu Hui furrowed his brows slightly. “I’ll miss Lan Xi a little.”
Lan Xi immediately hugged Fu Hui around the back and patted him gently twice, as though soothing another child. “Then can Lan Xi keep you company for two more days?”
Sigh, what could he do? Everyone simply couldn’t manage without Lan Xi.
Fu Hui neither agreed nor refused. He only said, “I’ll miss Lan Xi.”
Without a second thought, Lan Xi offered, “Then call on the phone.”
“The teachers won’t let us. They take our phones away.”
“Poor Fu Hui.” Lan Xi scrunched up his little face.
“Once I’m grown up, it’ll be fine. The teachers won’t be able to tell me what to do anymore.”
Lan Xi nodded eagerly. “Grow up quick, grow up quick!”
He, too, was filled with hope. It seemed that once they grew up, all these obstacles would truly disappear. Lan Xi was brimming with energy again.
Two days later.
Lan Xi went to school on time. A cause for celebration!
Meanwhile, Fu Lin had also contacted the school and arranged for a small theatrical performance to be held on campus, timed for Lan Xi’s return.
Although he was no longer in kindergarten, Lan Xi still loved anything that put him in the spotlight. He immediately forgot everything else and plunged into the activity amid one round of praise after another.
After watching it all unfold, Secretary Li had plenty to reflect on.
The young master certainly knew what he was doing, didn’t he?
“Wouldn’t we have saved ourselves so much trouble if we’d arranged activities like this for little Lan Xi earlier?” Secretary Li thought it over, then asked Fu Hui suspiciously, “Young Master, you didn’t just want little Lan Xi to pick you up for a few extra days, did you?”
“Of course not,” Fu Hui said.
With an utterly straight face, he added, “You have to lay the groundwork for a few days before you bring out something to capture his attention. Otherwise it won’t work.”
That year, Lan Xi’s little tail was still stuck inside his bottom.
That year, he accepted that he couldn’t attend the same school as Fu Hui.
Children were remarkably adaptable.
Previously, when Lan Xi had a fever, he had cried and cried for Fu Hui and refused to be carried by anyone else. Now he was perfectly happy for anyone at all to serve as his mount.
He happily shouted, “Giddyup! Giddyup!”
Now it was Fu Hui’s turn to come home from school feeling a little sour.
No longer being able to contact Lan Xi by phone, see him whenever he wished, or travel to and from school together felt rather like withdrawal for Fu Hui, too.
*But I’ll be a grown-up before long. That makes it different.*
Fu Hui spent quite some time reassuring himself before he managed to suppress that little stab of jealousy.
Perhaps it was because he was still caught somewhere between childhood and adulthood… Fu Hui discovered that however hard he pushed the sour feeling down, it would not disappear.
He missed Lan Xi too.
But he absolutely could not be the one to undermine their resolve.
After a full month of school, Fu Hui came home one day, upended his schoolbag, and poured out a pile of letters.
Lan Xi, busy eating ice cream, spared a moment to ask curiously, “What’s that?”
Secretary Li glanced over and announced with the air of an expert, “Love letters from girls, I bet!”
Lan Xi looked utterly innocent. “What are love letters? Why would they be from girls? Can’t boys have them?”
Secretary Li faltered. “Uh, I think it’s probably better if they don’t.”
Crunching the little candy pieces sprinkled over his ice cream, Lan Xi persisted, his mouth full. “Sho… wha… ish… a wuv leddah?”
Fu Hui handed his coat to the nanny and cut off their ridiculous conversation. “They’re for Lan Xi.”
Lan Xi’s eyes lit up. He even forgot his ice cream. “Ooh! Love letters for Lan Xi!”
Secretary Li laughed helplessly beside them. “How could that be? Of course they aren’t!”
Lan Xi glared at him indignantly. “Why couldn’t they be?”
Secretary Li was stuck. Explaining would be awkward, but so would not explaining.
Lan Xi had already darted over to Fu Hui and snatched up the things that belonged to him.
Exactly. If Fu Hui had said they were for Lan Xi, then they belonged to Lan Xi.
Lan Xi opened one. “…It’s Fu Hui’s handwriting!”
Fu Hui’s expression didn’t change. He just murmured, “Mm.”
“So Fu Hui wrote these to Lan Xi?”
“Mm.”
Secretary Li promptly choked on his own saliva. “Why…”
Fu Hui was a little embarrassed, but he didn’t want this dirty-minded adult, Secretary Li, getting the wrong idea, so he explained, “We can’t use our phones freely at school, and I can’t contact Lan Xi. So I wrote down some of the things I wanted to tell him.”
That way, he wouldn’t miss Lan Xi quite so much.
And being apart wouldn’t feel quite so unpleasant.
Fu Hui found the perfect outlet for his longing and stress, and even started attending class with more and more enthusiasm.
He entered three competitions in one go, too.
Secretary Li looked ashamed when he heard the explanation. “Oh. I see.”
Those two children really were close.
Meanwhile, Lan Xi had excitedly begun reading aloud. “Lan Xi, today on the playground I saw…”
The corner of Fu Hui’s mouth twitched. He hurriedly covered Lan Xi’s mouth. “Read them by yourself, in private. Don’t read them aloud.”
Lan Xi was a little disappointed. “Ooh, okay.”
He wished he could read them out loud for the entire world to hear.
Fu Hui had written letters to him!
The last time Lan Xi had received a letter was when the teacher had made the students write to one another in language class. But their handwriting had been so ugly!
Fu Hui’s handwriting was different. It was beautiful!
Beautiful enough for a succubus to treasure!
And there were so, so many letters!
Happily clutching them, Lan Xi went upstairs, perhaps to read them in secret.
The next day, when they went to the Song family’s gathering, Lan Xi made a point of taking his schoolbag.
Little Uncle asked curiously, “Well, look at that! Does little Lan Xi love studying so much he has to bring his schoolbag to dinner?”
Lan Xi had been waiting for someone to ask. He promptly unzipped the bag with great generosity, displaying its contents for everyone’s admiration. “Look inside! They’re all letters Fu Hui wrote to Lan Xi!”
Fu Hui put a hand to his forehead. “…”
Little Uncle exclaimed, “Whoa! That’s… impressive.”
The adults understood perfectly well how much those letters meant.
The other children did not.
They crowded around. “If Cousin Fu Hui writes so well, can he write an essay for me?”
“Me too! Me too!”
Fu Hui rose coldly to his feet, only to turn and meet the faintly expectant look in Song Xu’s eyes.
Lan Xi shoved the noisy children aside and declared imperiously, “Big Brother isn’t writing anything for you!”
Yes, whenever other children were present, Lan Xi now called Fu Hui “Big Brother” at every opportunity, determined to claim exclusive rights to the title.
He zipped up his schoolbag, still bursting with excitement, and called out to Fu Hui in front of everyone, deliberately showing off. “Lan Xi studied *To Wang Lun*! Fu Hui should write *To Lan Xi* too!”
Everyone immediately looked at Fu Hui with sympathy.
So now he had to write a poem as well!
Fu Hui: “……..”
After that visit, Fu Hui remembered his mother’s quietly expectant look and added a letter for her, too.
Of course, Fu Hui had never been the kind of child to favor one person at another’s expense.
He didn’t leave Fu Lin out either.
It was only that he always had less to say to adults. He couldn’t write as freely as he did to Lan Xi, including every little detail, and Lan Xi had plenty of time to read it all. Even if Fu Hui merely wrote that he had seen a pretty blue bird that day, Lan Xi would happily ask how big the bird was, what it was called, and whether its feathers were as beautiful as Lan Xi’s.
Another month went by.
When Song Xu received her letter, she was astonished. She held Fu Hui tightly, sighing, and even shed tears. For adults, the contents of the letter were almost less important than receiving one at all.
Secretary Li also delivered Fu Lin’s letter to him.
Fu Lin choked up. Secretary Li told Fu Hui about that afterward.
All in all, writing letters brought everyone happiness.
Lan Xi decided that he would write letters to Fu Hui too.
He crammed in every word he had learned in his entire life. Who cared if his sentences didn’t flow naturally? This was Lan Xi’s chance to show off on a grand scale.
He wrote furiously.
Behind his back, classmates whispered, “Is Lan Xi writing a love letter?”
Even though they were only elementary school children, they already had an instinctive understanding of the idea of liking someone.
And since picking up the phrase “love letter” from the older students, they had become particularly fond of talking about it.
Another classmate chimed in, “Someone as pretty as Lan Xi doesn’t need to write one.”
Lan Xi’s sharp ears caught that, and he was delighted. He turned and asked, “What’s a love letter?”
“You don’t know?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It’s a letter you write to someone you like.” In truth, these schoolchildren only half understood it themselves.
Lan Xi went, “Ooh!”
He thought happily that yes, that was exactly what he was writing: a love letter.
A letter for Fu Hui alone.
That evening, he could barely wait to hand it over. “A love letter for Fu Hui!”
Before Fu Hui even reacted, Secretary Li spat out his mouthful of food.
Now he really had to straighten out the misunderstanding.
“No, no, no, that isn’t called a love letter,” Secretary Li hurriedly said. He tried explaining at length, but nothing got through, so in the end he reduced it to something simple: “It’s when you want the other person to be together with you.”
“Lan Xi and Fu Hui are together every day! Lan Xi doesn’t need to wish for it!”
“No, no, I mean together in the sense of wanting to get married.”
This raised yet another question for the little succubus. “What’s getting married?”
“It’s… well… having… a baby together?”
Lan Xi blinked his enormous eyes. “Then let’s have one!”
Secretary Li: “…”
“You’re both boys. You can’t have a baby…” Secretary Li said despairingly, before asking helplessly, “Doesn’t your school offer health education classes?”
“What’s that?”
Secretary Li pulled out his phone with trembling hands. “We need to add some lessons for the children.”
Lan Xi was still asking questions. “If Lan Xi wants to marry Fu Hui, do we have to turn into girls? How do we do that?”
Secretary Li thought, *That would be a disaster!*
His boss would probably stuff him into a cannon and fire him out of it.
Not daring to say another word, Secretary Li pushed his bowl aside. “I’ve eaten too much. I need to take a walk.”
With that, he fled as fast as his legs could carry him.
It was then that Fu Hui spoke up calmly. It took him only one sentence. “That’s not a love letter. It’s a family letter.”
“Ooh!” Lan Xi exclaimed.
He immediately recited a poem: “Beacon fires burn for three months; a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold. Lan Xi learned that!”
“Very good,” Fu Hui praised him.
“The teacher said ‘a letter from home is worth ten thousand pieces of gold’ means it’s worth lots and lots of money. It’s very important. Lan Xi’s family letter is very important!”
“That’s right.”
Thoroughly satisfied, Lan Xi stopped worrying about things like “marriage” and “having babies.”
Lan Xi continued writing his “family letters” to Fu Hui in earnest. Unfortunately, the little one’s store of knowledge soon ran dry.
His letters weren’t as good as Fu Hui’s. Lan Xi refused to accept that.
But he had a plan: he went to his teacher for help.
It was the first time the teacher had met a child who was so enthusiastic about writing family letters in this day and age. Finding it delightfully novel, the teacher happily helped him.
Fu Hui quickly noticed from the new “family letters” that Lan Xi’s vocabulary was improving by leaps and bounds.
Lan Xi had even learned to show off idioms and long, complex sentences.
Once Fu Hui realized this was actually helping Lan Xi study…
Before the end-of-term exams arrived, Fu Hui wrote his next letter in simple English.
Lan Xi opened it and stared blankly. There were so many words he didn’t recognize.
His spoken English had begun to take shape, but his vocabulary was still nowhere near sufficient.
Fu Hui brought him a large dictionary.
With some difficulty, Lan Xi could just about read the letter…
But he couldn’t write a reply!
Once again, Lan Xi sought his teacher’s help.
Students this enthusiastic about learning were rare… Between Lan Xi’s refusal to admit defeat and his teachers’ delight, he worked so hard that he finished the term ranked first in his grade.
Fu Lin managed to find time amid his busy schedule to visit home. The first thing he saw when he looked up was a wall crowded with award certificates.
Some belonged to Fu Hui, and some to Lan Xi.
The certificates, large and small, hung close together, side by side.
Fu Lin couldn’t help smiling.
Even though it was usually only the two children living here, they had truly made the place feel like a home!
Another new year arrived.
Lan Xi still had some baby fat in his cheeks, but his round little tummy had finally disappeared, and the first hints of a slender, graceful figure were emerging.
It was perhaps around this time that the adults suddenly realized just how beautiful every part of the little boy was.
Even his fingernails were prettier than other people’s.
One of the bodyguards said, “People keep stopping us to ask whether Young Master Lan Xi would like to work as a child model or a child actor.”
Actually, talent scouts had noticed Lan Xi on the street when he was much younger.
But he had always been with Fu Hui, traveling by car and surrounded by bodyguards. Seeing that his family was wealthy and he was so young, they worried that the young master might be spoiled and never dared approach him.
Now Lan Xi was a little older, old enough to hold a proper conversation. Meanwhile, as Fu Lin rose in position, the family’s cars had become increasingly understated, leading outsiders to think they could approach him for a chat.
The result… was that the bodyguards stopped them.
The adults laughed when they heard this. “Little Lan Xi really is extraordinarily pretty. No wonder talent scouts are interested.”
“Didn’t people try approaching Fu Hui before, too?”
But whether it was the Fu family or the Song family, their attitude was the same: naturally, they couldn’t allow it.
To some extent, they looked down on that line of work.
And the boy was still a child. He ought to concentrate on studying, and the family certainly didn’t need the money…
Lan Xi put down his chopsticks and asked curiously, “What’s a child model? What’s a child actor?”
He had never encountered either of these things in his world.
The adults explained, “You put on pretty clothes and have pretty pictures taken for everyone to look at. Sometimes you even appear in television dramas…”
Lan Xi’s eyes lit up. “Lan Xi wants to do it!”
After a moment’s silence, the adults shook their heads. “Lan Xi has money. You don’t need to go out and earn it.”
Only then did Lan Xi realize something else. “You can earn money too?”
The adults: “…” Why was every explanation making him more excited?
While the adults were still thinking about how to persuade him, Fu Hui spoke up. “Does Lan Xi want to go to work?”
Lan Xi turned around. “Hm?”
“Being a child model or actor means starting work at a young age. Lan Xi has seen how Dad works, hasn’t he? It’s exhausting.” Fu Hui paused. “Then Lan Xi won’t have time for school. If I write another letter, will Lan Xi still be able to understand what it means?”
Lan Xi pouted in disappointment. “Okay. But Lan Xi wanted to earn money to buy Fu Hui a birthday present.”
“But Lan Xi is still a baby. They can’t expect a little baby to work as long as an adult… It should be fine to work for just a little while.” Though he was still young, Fu Hui had already mastered the art of keeping a perfectly straight face.
The adults: “…”
Lan Xi brightened again. “Ooh! Can Lan Xi?”
“Secretary Li is very capable. We can let Secretary Li negotiate it.”
Secretary Li couldn’t help reminding him quietly, “Young Master, do you remember when Lan Xi was smaller and started kindergarten? He was having such fun playing with the other children that you were unhappy. You hated even letting him go out and insisted on transferring him to another kindergarten.”
Fu Hui pressed his lips together, gave a slight nod, and said softly, “I was too childish back then.”
Secretary Li: “…” “So now you’re fine with Lan Xi appearing in magazines and on television for everyone to see?”
The corners of Fu Hui’s mouth curved a little. There was already a hint of Fu Lin’s sharpness about him.
Very softly, he said, “But Lan Xi wants to earn money to buy me a present.”
Secretary Li: “…Fine.”
With Fu Hui agreeing, the adults looked at one another and found nothing more to say. They could only smile. “Well, if he ends up in a magazine, Uncle will buy a thousand copies to support him!”
Song Xu added, “Mom will buy a few thousand copies too.”
Lan Xi, however, had principles of his own. He waved his hands vigorously. “No, no! Lan Xi doesn’t want to earn money from our own family. Lan Xi wants to earn money from other people’s families!”