Chapter 1

If Su Yican’s mother had not called her from Istanbul to remind her to pick someone up at the airport, she would have forgotten about the whole thing completely.

At the time, dark clouds pressed down outside the window. The thick cloud cover blocked out the sun so thoroughly that, although it was only noon, the room gave the illusion of nearing dusk without the lights on.

Su Yican had only just stepped through her front door. After asking for the flight information, she hurriedly grabbed her car keys and went back out. She did not even have time to change clothes. Her whole body felt sticky and uncomfortable, just like her mood at that moment.

The person she had to pick up was the son of an old friend of her parents. Her mother repeatedly reminded her to pick the younger brother up first and settle him in at home. Once her parents finished this trip, they might head straight to Miami, to the boy’s home. As for the specific situation, they would explain it after they returned to China.

Although Su Yican was fast approaching thirty, she had no experience taking care of children on her own. When she thought about how she would have to look after a mixed-race baby in the coming days, she suddenly felt the pressure mount. The moment she got in the car, she connected to Bluetooth and called her best friend, Sheng Miyue.

Miss Sheng answered in a voice that sounded like she had not fully woken up. “You’re a people’s teacher who deals with kids all day. Why are you asking me what to do?”

Su Yican corrected her. “I’m just a P.E. teacher. I don’t interact much with students outside class. Besides, getting along with Chinese kids and foreign kids isn’t the same thing, is it?”

With one sentence, Sheng Miyue hit Su Yican right where it hurt. “Then can you even communicate with him?”

Su Yican fell into a brief silence. If the child wanted to have any deep conversation with her, she would probably be done for. So while she was waiting in line for gas, she temporarily downloaded a translation app. Sheng Miyue asked how old the child was.

Everything had happened too suddenly, and Su Yican had limited information. Her mother had only told her over the phone that the younger brother’s name was Felix, and that she absolutely could not be late. If the plane landed early and he could not find anyone, it would be troublesome if he got lost. Based on that, Su Yican guessed he was probably at an age where he could not completely take care of himself.

Sheng Miyue told her with great confidence, “Based on my brother’s nature, there’s nothing one toy set can’t solve. I’m telling you, no matter what country a brat is from, kids definitely all like toys. Just use that to get close to him.”

So after Su Yican arrived at the airport, she hurriedly pulled a cardboard box full of miscellaneous items out of her trunk, tore off a piece, and wrote “WeeFelix” on it with a marker. Then, following Sheng Miyue’s advice, she rushed straight to an airport shop and splurged on a Bumblebee robot electric racing car set for children, thinking that a kid around ten must have seen *Transformers*.

The kind of toy set that would usually cost four or five hundred at a toy store outside had cost her over a thousand yuan at the airport. Although it made her bleed a little, if money could be used to coax a brat, then everything was negotiable.

Ever since graduating from university, Su Yican had lived alone in Fengxi, leading a leisurely life. It had been a long time since she had experienced this kind of chaos. But she did not know that the chaos of this day had only just begun.

As of yesterday afternoon, she had already been harassed by that legendary mistress for half a month. At first, it had been inexplicable text messages. Then came blatant provocation. This kind of melodramatic nonsense was something she usually only saw while scrolling through social news. Although it was common enough, every time she saw it, it gave her a profound sense of human confusion.

In Su Yican’s way of thinking, whether it was marriage or a relationship, there had to at least be some order of arrival, right? The act of interfering in someone else’s relationship ranked, in her mind, alongside stealing someone’s underwear and peeping at an old lady bathing as the three most contemptible things in the world.

Logically speaking, anyone who did such a thing ought to be ashamed, guilty, and afraid of the light. Yet there were, somehow, girls who could righteously seek out the official girlfriend to argue, and even start a fight. That was absolutely something only a fish that slipped through the net of nine years of compulsory education could do—an act so deranged it defied reason.

And then, amid the vast sea of people, she encountered one such escaped fish.

She did not rush to question Du Jingting. Instead, she let the matter sit for half a month. Faced with that woman pressing closer again and again, Su Yican mostly felt numb. She did not know when it had begun, but she no longer felt any emotional fluctuation over the women Du Jingting had outside. Aside from the irritation of being harassed, she had no impulse to find Du Jingting and argue with him.

Sheng Miyue always said that Su Yican was the standard wealthy men looked for in a wife: she did not fight, did not compete, did not argue, did not make a fuss, and was generous and dignified.

The wedding hotel had already been booked. Their friends and family all knew that in the second half of next year, she and Du Jingting would end this nearly ten-year marathon and officially step into the hall of marriage. In everyone’s eyes, she was a darling blessed by heaven.

The truth was, she turned a blind eye to many things not because she was especially open-minded, but because she had long since lost the passion to change her life. Her days had already become like a stagnant pool, moving step by step according to routine, steadily advancing under everyone’s expectations.

Her parents did not place many demands on her. The fact that she could still live like a normal person was already the greatest luxury to them.

That was, until this “Mermaid Miss” sent her a photo yesterday. Su Yican was, of course, very familiar with the background of the photo. It was Du Jingting’s home. No matter how wildly he had played around in the past, he had never brought a girl home.

Su Yican did not sleep all night. At daybreak, she forwarded the photo to Du Jingting and sent him a WeChat message along with it: *Do you have anything to say?*

After a long time, Du Jingting replied with only one sentence: *What do you want me to say?*

There was no explanation at all. He was perfectly frank about what he had done. In that moment, Su Yican actually felt a sense of relief, as if the heavy stone that had been pressing on her heart for years had finally dropped.

She replied: *Let’s break up.*

Du Jingting did not reply again. Su Yican changed into sportswear and went out to run more than ten kilometers around Shiyao Lake, using up the last bit of her strength. She dragged her exhausted body back home, originally planning to shower and sleep properly, to sleep until heaven and earth went dark, until the seas dried and the stones crumbled, until spring passed and autumn came. What a beautiful breakup schedule. And then… one phone call completely disrupted all her plans.

As she stood at the arrivals gate, Su Yican had only one feeling: she was about to die. She was completely surviving on one last breath while holding up the pickup sign. Before dying, she was still praying that the brat would be an obedient little cutie and absolutely not cause trouble for her. Otherwise, in her current state, she might drag the little boy into a lake with her at any minute.

Then a wave of people came toward her, and the waiting crowd began to stir. Su Yican waited through several waves, but she did not see any child come out alone.

She checked the flight again. It had indeed landed more than twenty minutes ago. She did not dare be careless, so she forced her eyelids open and kept looking inside. After who knew how long, a striking figure in the stream of people drew all her attention. To be precise, it was not just her; everyone waiting outside could not help looking toward that young man at the same time.

This person’s height was obviously a huge cut above everyone else’s. He was simply too eye-catching. It was hard not to notice him. Su Yican judged that he was probably over 1.9 meters tall. He had a head of somewhat messy chestnut curls, all flying about, and a sleepy, lazy expression. As if afraid others would not notice him, he was wearing a fluorescent green trendy T-shirt. A shirt was tied around his waist, and a pair of loose sweatpants still could not hide those overly conspicuous long legs. The key point was that one pant leg was rolled up to the calf, while the other just hung loosely.

If this outfit were placed in Fengxi, he would absolutely be a 360-degree spinning Shamate idiot youth, the kind whose self-confidence was so good it could explode the universe.

And yet, this man’s bone structure and features were outstanding. That entire non-mainstream getup had somehow been worn by him into an international street-fashion style. In the not particularly spacious arrivals area, he stood out like a crane among chickens.

No one knew whether he had not fully woken up or whether his aura carried an inherent lazy disdain for the earth, but the man slung a black sports bag across his body and pushed a luggage cart, somehow walking with an air of sole supremacy, as if descending upon the world like a king. The young girls around him all looked shy, suppressing smiles as they secretly glanced at him.

Two aunties beside her started chatting on their own.

“Is he Chinese or foreign? How is he so tall?”

The other auntie said, “Doesn’t look Chinese. That young man could go be a model.”

“Maybe he is a model…”

Su Yican lifted her phone and secretly snapped a photo of the fluorescent green figure in the distance, who was just about to come out, then sent it to Sheng Miyue: *A peerless specimen of humanity.*

She called him a specimen because she had seen plenty of handsome men, but a handsome man with this much flavor—so individualistic, wandering between natural and deliberately affected—was truly something one could search for with a lantern and still struggle to find.

Soon, Sheng Miyue replied: *Holy crap. Are you sure that bold outfit doesn’t belong to a celebrity?*

Su Yican: *I don’t follow young idols, but I don’t see any fans here to pick him up, so probably not.*

Just as she sent that message, a voice suddenly sounded behind her.

“Big sis.”

Su Yican thought he was talking to someone beside her. After all, in all her years of living, no one had ever called her “big sis.” She ignored it and continued messaging Sheng Miyue, but then someone patted her on the shoulder. She subconsciously turned around. The first thing she met was the blinding fluorescent green T-shirt. When she looked up, Su Yican froze.

The man’s eye sockets were especially deep, and his eyelashes were so thick they looked fake. When he looked at someone, his pupils seemed veiled in a layer of mist, carrying their own electric current.

At first glance, it was difficult to judge where he was from. He had some of the charm of an Easterner, yet his contours were clearer and more three-dimensional than those of an Eastern man.

The man’s gaze fell on her face, and he frowned slightly. His expression looked as if he were earnestly trying to identify some antique, carrying a hint of curiosity. Then, as though he had remembered some distant event from long ago, he suddenly smiled at Su Yican.

With those red lips and white teeth, even on a rainy day, he gave people the illusion that sunlight had seeped into the airport hall. Su Yican was stunned for a moment. Four words drifted through her mind: *Good heavens, so pure.* His whole face looked completely harmless.

Su Yican gave a light cough. The man in front of her shifted his gaze from her face to Su Yican’s phone. Her screen was still stopped on her chat with Sheng Miyue. Displayed clearly on it was the photo she had secretly taken just now, along with those large words: *A peerless specimen of humanity.*

In that instant, Su Yican suddenly regretted it with all her heart. Why had she not changed to a privacy screen protector when she passed by that phone-film stall last week? If she had changed it then, she would not now be so embarrassed that she wanted to carve *Along the River During the Qingming Festival* into her pickup sign.

But Teacher Su’s mental fortitude was no joke. She calmly locked her phone, put on a polite smile, and asked, “What is it?”

The young man pointed at the crooked, messy pickup sign in her hand. Su Yican did not understand what he meant. She even flipped the sign around to look at it and asked in surprise, “What? Did I spell the letters wrong?”

The man tapped the English name on the pickup sign and said to her, “Hello. I’m Felix. Cen Shi.”