Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When he was twelve, he accompanied Song Qiyu to the amusement park and ran into Gu Xici by the roadside.

The elders of the two families were close friends, so the younger generation had contact as well. Seeing that Gu Xici was in a bad mood, Pei Yingzhang asked if he wanted to go out and relax.

He had heard a little about the Gu family’s troubles too.

He had thought Gu Xici would not agree. Gu Xici was solitary by nature, and Pei Yingzhang had only asked out of politeness. Unexpectedly, he agreed.

Song Qiyu was both shocked and frightened. She clutched his hand, her little face pitiful and pale.

For some reason, the person Song Qiyu feared most was actually Gu Xici, probably because he was born with such a cold, stern face.

Fortunately, at the entrance of the amusement park, Song Qiyu ran into a classmate who rescued her.

As soon as Gu Xici entered, he vanished. Pei Yingzhang became the leader of a group of children and only had a chance to be alone when they went to ride the roller coaster.

He found a drink shop and sat down.

When that girl quietly approached, he had already sensed it.

She held her breath and reached into his bag. He turned around and, completely unprepared, collided with those black-and-white eyes.

It was her?

Pei Yingzhang wondered if he had recognized the wrong person. It was obvious she did not remember him. She quickly pulled her hand free, ran into the crowd, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He stood there stunned for a while, then belatedly remembered an old incident.

One winter, when he and Song Qiyu were coming home from school, a man suddenly rushed at them and shouted wildly, repeating a name over and over.

Afterward, he had someone ask around and learned that the man was his stepmother’s ex-husband.

In the two years since his stepmother had married into the Song family, she had not caused any obvious trouble, but she always made Pei Yingzhang uncomfortable. She was like a fragile dodder flower, as if all hope in her life rested on Song Zhiyu.

After divorcing her ex-husband, she had not taken custody of the child…

Pei Yingzhang’s expression changed slightly. So that girl had been abandoned by her father and become a little beggar?

He looked out at the sea of people, but he could no longer find her. She was like a dream that came without a trace and vanished the same way.

Perhaps because she was the same age as Song Qiyu, Pei Yingzhang could never feel rejection or disgust toward her.

He had originally planned to investigate her after returning home.

But all his plans were interrupted.

That day, Gu Xici had a watch stolen. It had been left to him by his mother.

Because there were too many people, even after they reported it to the police and checked the surveillance footage, they could not find the thief.

It was deeply important to him. Pei Yingzhang went to his maternal grandfather and used some connections to find out about the criminal gang. But by then several days had already passed, and the stolen goods had been resold. They were too late.

And amid the impermanence of life, he forgot about her as well. By the time the matter was mentioned again after years had passed, everything had changed.