Chapter 19

Summer. PE class.

Yu Mian dragged Xu Xiaoyan in circles around the playground. Xu Xiaoyan bit her lollipop. “Done with your homework? Let me copy it.”

Yu Mian glared at her, cheeks puffed. “No! Didn’t we agree to do our homework properly?”

Xu Xiaoyan wasn’t the least bit guilty; she pinched her cheek. “Little old-fashioned thing. Homework, schmomework — not doing it. Finish today’s homework and come to my house to play.”

“Not coming. I have to go home and do problems. I’m going to Math Olympiad boot camp this summer.”

Xu Xiaoyan sighed with mock world-weariness. “Ai, you’re going to study yourself silly.”

Yu Mian huffed. “Am not! I’m not silly at all!”

Xu Xiaoyan tossed out a laughing remark, and the two of them headed toward the little pond behind the playground.

The No. 1 Primary School campus was huge. The pond behind the playground was full of goldfish, plus two black swans, and many students brought bread over to feed them during PE.

The two little girls skipped along, and as they passed a corner, they happened to overhear someone say:

“That whoever… Yu Mian doesn’t have a dad, I heard.”

“Huh… one of those nobody-wants kids…”

“I heard she’s…”

Yu Mian’s smile froze. She clutched Xu Xiaoyan’s sleeve, stunned.

Xu Xiaoyan flung her lollipop away, pushed her back toward the classroom, then rolled up her sleeves. “Wait here.”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Just wait. I’ve got some business. I’ll be right back.”

Yu Mian nodded.

She stood under the camphor tree outside the classroom… After all, what the others said was true. She didn’t remember anything — her parents’ names, their faces… even her own name was one Grandpa Pei had told her.

She sat on the flower bed until Xu Xiaoyan came back. “Little Yan, you’re bleeding! Who hit you?”

Xu Xiaoyan laughed with easy bravado, every inch the big-sister type. “Nothing. I went and beat someone up.”

“What?! Let me see!”

“Ow… don’t look… sob sob, it hurts so much.”

One second ago she’d been playing the swaggering bully; the next, tears streamed down as she turned back into the candy-and-comics scatterbrain. “Am I going to die?”

Yu Mian panicked too. “Let’s find a teacher!”

“Then won’t the teacher find out I hit someone?”

“Aiya, are you coming or not?”

“…Fine, let’s go.”

In the end, the matter did reach the Homeroom Teacher, Teacher Qin.

Xu Xiaoyan had thrown the first punch. Zhao Ruo came to the school to handle it — warm and forthright by nature, and fond of Yu Mian besides, she exploded the moment she heard why her daughter had swung: “If you can’t raise your own child properly, the parents should reflect on themselves first.”

“Pah, what’s there for me to reflect on? You say my son said those things — where’s your proof?”

Zhao Ruo looked gentle and gracious, but her temper was fiery. “Fine. Then where’s your proof about the fight? Look at your son, tall and strapping, and Little Yan such a skinny little girl — who exactly beat up whom?”

The boy’s parent flushed with anger. “What kind of talk is that!”

Zhao Ruo laughed coolly, paying her no mind, and pulled Xu Xiaoyan toward the door. “Come on, Little Yan, we’re going to the hospital for a checkup. Good day to you, madam.”

Walking out with her mother, Xu Xiaoyan saw Yu Mian waiting outside and grinned, carefree as ever. “It’s nothing!”

Yu Mian had waited outside with tears brimming. “Really nothing…? I’m sorry, Little Yan. I’m sorry… Auntie Zhao.”

Zhao Ruo looked at her with warm kindness and smiled. “It’s nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Then her tone flipped. “As for you, Xu Xiaoyan! Can’t you use your words? You actually dared to hit someone!”

Xu Xiaoyan stood at attention, obedient. She knew her mother had saved her face in front of others — the scolding behind closed doors was unavoidable. “Mama, you don’t know how nasty they were…”

Truthfully, she’d only gone over planning to argue. But they just kept getting worse — the word “brat” even came out — and hearing it set her blood boiling. Whatever — punch first, think later!

The result was… the result was she hadn’t landed a single hit and got shoved down first.

While being scolded, Xu Xiaoyan stuck her tongue out at Yu Mian, making Zhao Ruo laugh in spite of herself. “Fine. We’ll continue at home — your father can lecture you. Mianmian, want to come along? Give Miss Pei a call.”

“No need, Auntie Zhao. Uncle Wei should already be here.”

Ever since the day Pei Songxi had been called away and couldn’t pick her up, the driver had taken over her school runs exclusively. Wei Ming was Wei Yi’s distant uncle, conscientious about his work, and waited outside the school gate half an hour early every day.

Yu Mian got in the car, still a little downcast.

She pressed against the window, looking out — and as they reached the apartment, she spotted Pei Songxi waiting outside.

Pei Songxi had just returned from half a month abroad. Her long, glossy black hair was smoothly tucked behind her ears, her skin cool-fair and fine, her figure tall and coolly elegant. She wore a sleeveless chiffon maxi dress with a high waist cinched tight, tracing a slender waistline.

She stood under the summer camphor tree, her bearing graceful and poised, a cool, aloof tenderness.

Yu Mian had missed her terribly. The moment the car stopped, she flung open the door, jumped down, and sprinted over. “Auntie Pei! You’re back!”

Pei Songxi’s lips curved, and she swept her up in one motion, her smile as warm as ice and snow melting. “School’s out?”

Yu Mian forgot all her earlier unhappiness. In nearly two years by Pei Songxi’s side, at first Auntie Pei had rarely traveled — but this year she seemed to have grown especially busy. Yu Mian hadn’t seen her in half a month and had missed her so, so much.

Pei Songxi carried her inside. “I brought you presents. Want to go look first?”

Yu Mian shook her head. “No need! You’re so tired — sit down quick, no wait, you’re tired, you should lie down.”

Pei Songxi laughed. “I’m not tired. Was school all right these past few days?”

Yu Mian gave an “mm.” “…Pretty good.”

There was a faint weariness in Pei Songxi’s expression, and for the moment she didn’t notice the odd note in the girl’s voice.

She had been awake for thirty hours. Her flight was originally tomorrow morning, but thinking of how long she’d been away from home, she’d wanted to come back earlier and changed her ticket at the last minute.

After dinner, Yu Mian worked on her Math Olympiad problems.

Pei Songxi bathed and changed into her pajamas, fully intending to sleep — then thought better of it and went downstairs to bring up a cup of black-bean milk.

The door was ajar. As she reached it, she heard the child inside talking to herself.

“Ai… Orange, Orange, tell me — am I a Little Orange nobody wants?”

“They say I don’t have a papa or mama, that I’m a kid nobody wants.”

Pei Songxi had just begun to smile when the smile froze on her face.

She had Yu Mian examined during her checkup too. The doctor said the child had been too young at the time of the accident; the blow to her head, combined with a natural protective response, had erased many things from her memory.

As for Yu Mian’s parents, she’d had Wei Yi investigate privately many times over these two years, and every attempt had come to nothing. The family’s business power was all in her father’s hands — the connections, the resources… whatever he deliberately concealed, she had no way of knowing.

She had never given up searching for the girl’s family. But until she found them, she would never tell Mianmian — she refused to let her endure the cruelty of hope being snuffed out.

She sighed softly and pushed the door open. “Mianmian.”

Yu Mian sat up straight at once, setting the orange aside. “Auntie Pei, you’re here.”

Pei Songxi set down the cup and sat beside her. “Still lots of problems left?”

Yu Mian sipped her soy milk. “All done!”

Pei Songxi stroked her hair. “A Little Orange nobody wants?”

Yu Mian blushed and laughed. “Aiya! How did you hear that!”

Pei Songxi lowered her eyes. If she hadn’t overheard, Mianmian probably never intended to tell her.

She sighed inwardly, her gaze on Yu Mian carrying a trace of heartache — but she still smiled. “I want my Little Orange.”

Oh no.

Embarrassed, Yu Mian covered her eyes with her hands — then couldn’t help flinging herself into her arms, rolling around to her heart’s content.

That’s right — who cared what other people said!

As long as she was Auntie Pei’s own darling Little Orange, that was all that mattered!