Child

Jiang Wenzhe briefly thought he was hearing things. He furrowed his dark brows and asked, "What did you say?"

Lin Sangyu's eyes darted around, and her voice rang out like a clear silver bell: "I'll take care of you."

"Were you listening to my conversation?" Jiang Wenzhe quickly caught on.

"That's not eavesdropping," Lin Sangyu kindly corrected him. "It's called accidental—purely accidental!"

Jiang Wenzhe couldn't be bothered with her. He replied flatly, "Oh."

"Oh?"

Lin Sangyu stepped forward, leaning her upper body slightly toward Jiang Wenzhe, craning her neck to look at him as she continued to press: "What's that supposed to mean? I said I'd take care of you, and you're not happy? Not moved?"

Lin Sangyu was a head shorter than Jiang Wenzhe, the top of her head barely reaching his chin. From Jiang Wenzhe's angle looking down, it was as if he'd opened a 0.8x wide-angle lens, making Lin Sangyu look comically disproportionate—big head, big eyes, tiny arms, tiny body.

Jiang Wenzhe looked at her a couple more times with a sense of amusement, then said, "So how exactly do you plan to take care of me? My spending habits are a bit high."

"How high?"

"Why don't you first tell me how much you can earn in a day."

Lin Sangyu counted on her fingers, her mind precisely calculating the foundational cornerstone of Chinese and even global elementary mathematics—the multiplication table—then after a series of integrated reasoning, she grandly concluded like a tycoon: "I can earn at least fifty a day to support you."

Stupid as hell.

Jiang Wenzhe's lips twitched. He couldn't be bothered with her. Lifting his long legs, he didn't even spare her a glance as he brushed past her, heading upstairs.

"Hey, hey, hey, where are you going?" Seeing him about to leave, in a panic Lin Sangyu grabbed the corner of his coat sleeve.

Jiang Wenzhe said curtly, "Shower. Sleep."

Lin Sangyu looked at his ice-blocked face and felt she'd read the soft core beneath his tough exterior. In her head, she automatically conjured the scene of Jiang Wenzhe hiding his tears and crying alone under the spray of the shower head.

Wuwuwu, so pitiful.

Maybe he just looked strong on the outside.

So she repeated, "Jiang Wenzhe, I'll take care of you."

Just like you took care of me.

"Fine."

Uncharacteristically, this time Jiang Wenzhe agreed readily. Lin Sangyu felt a sense of being acknowledged, but before the smile could even make it to her face, she was doused with a bucket of cold water.

"Here," Jiang Wenzhe tilted his chin up, his eyes signaling Lin Sangyu to look at his wrist. "This cufflink you're holding right now—do you know how much it costs?"

The cufflink wasn't a regular circle but a rounded triangle shape, bordered with white stones, with a dark ochre-toned ember stone at its center, exuding an air of luxury.

Lin Sangyu asked innocently, "How much?"

Jiang Wenzhe bent down, leaning close to her ear, and said teasingly, "A hundred and twenty thousand."

"What?" Lin Sangyu's hand left Jiang Wenzhe's sleeve in 0.01 seconds, her eyes locked unblinkingly on this unassuming cufflink at his cuff.

So... so expensive.

Snapping out of it, she said earnestly, "Jiang Wenzhe, since you're bankrupt now, you should start liquidating some assets. You could also lower your standard of living a bit."

"Why liquidate assets when I still have you?" He patted Lin Sangyu on the shoulder and said to her in the tone of a boss addressing a subordinate, "Work hard. I believe in you."

Great. Encouraged. Lin Sangyu felt entrusted again: "So what do you think I can do?"

"Good question. Tell me what grand plans you have."

Lin Sangyu now lived in this treacherous, ever-changing human world as a human. Facing society head-on was a subject she would have to tackle sooner or later in her life.

If one is to be human, one should integrate into society and learn to be independent—whether a child or an elder, man or woman, everyone should have their own independent side and not completely give themselves over to another person.

So Jiang Wenzhe, in a passive posture, accepted this lie.

Led along by "gentle guidance," Lin Sangyu didn't hesitate to speak the grand ambition buried deep in her heart: "I want to wash dishes, be a dishwasher! You know, the dishes I washed before were the cleanest dishes in the entire orphanage!"

"I really didn't know that. This career plan is very grand. I support you," Jiang Wenzhe said as he perfunctorily cheered her on while pulling his hand away from hers. "But now I need to go shower."

Watching her hand being mercilessly released, Lin Sangyu was dazed for a moment. Raising her voice, she called out to Jiang Wenzhe's figure already at the turn on the stairs: "Aren't you going to help me shower?"

Jiang Wenzhe's eyelid twitched. He turned back and asked her, "I help you shower?"

"Yeah, isn't that how it's always been?"

Jiang Wenzhe laughed in exasperation: "Before, I washed you because you were a sugar glider. Now that you're human, you should wash yourself, understand? Besides, you're a girl. I'll say it again: men and women should keep their distance."

Lin Sangyu trotted over, shamelessly whining, "I don't understand. I'm so tired today, I don't want to move. You've been washing me for over three months now; what's one more time?"

Jiang Wenzhe's temples throbbed: "I've just spoiled you too much."

"But I haven't showered or washed my hair by myself in a long time. I don't know how." Lin Sangyu's voice grew smaller and smaller, looking genuinely pitiful.

The moonlight carried Lin Sangyu's very light breathing, somewhat hurried.

Jiang Wenzhe silently watched her. Fine. The law didn't say a person couldn't spoil someone rotten.

"I can wash your hair, but you have to shower yourself," Jiang Wenzhe's expression shifted slightly. "'Men and women should keep their distance' means that between a man and a woman who aren't partners, they shouldn't get too close, much less engage in intimate acts like kissing, and definitely shouldn't undress in front of the opposite sex. So I can't help you shower."

Lin Sangyu's eyes rolled up once as if in thought, then after a moment, she nodded blankly: "I... I think I get it."

Jiang Wenzhe moved briskly, without dragging his feet. He found a collapsible cot from the utility room that had been used for outdoor camping before, and within minutes, he had it set up neatly in the bathroom.

"Lie down on it."

"Okay."

Lin Sangyu didn't understand why, but she lay sideways on the cot as if sleeping in a bed.

"..." Jiang Wenzhe took a deep breath. "Lie flat, with your head sticking out. Stupid. I'll hold your head up for you."

Lin Sangyu's brain automatically filtered out the insult, obediently following the instructions and lying flat.

A moment later, warm water streamed through her hair, soaking her scalp.

Long, slender fingers with defined knuckles combed through her soft locks, the shampoo foam growing thicker and creamier under the kneading of his fingertips. The bathroom gradually filled with steam, blurring the glass door and the two figures within.

Lin Sangyu was so relaxed she felt like she was floating, and she sighed, "Jiang Wenzhe, I feel so good."

"Shut up." Jiang Wenzhe kept his head lowered, against the light overhead.

"Fine." Lin Sangyu was quiet for a moment, then said, "I feel so good, Jiang Wenzhe."

Jiang Wenzhe said nothing, only silently increasing the pressure in his hands.

Lin Sangyu winced, her face scrunching up: "Jiang Wenzhe, now I don't feel good."

Jiang Wenzhe let out a scoffing laugh and lightened the pressure.

After washing her hair, Jiang Wenzhe naturally blew it dry as well.

The damp strands gradually dried under the roar of the hairdryer.

"Wrap up your hair and go shower," Jiang Wenzhe said as he lay down on the bed. "After you're done, go sleep in the movie room next door."

Earlier that day, while Lin Sangyu was still fast asleep, Jiang Wenzhe had renovated the movie room next door—removing the original cinema chairs and having a small bed installed, more than enough for Lin Sangyu to sleep in.

Lin Sangyu, whether she heard him or not, gave a vague reply and shuffled toward the bathroom at an extremely slow pace.

Jiang Wenzhe shot her a sidelong glance. Once she stepped into the bathroom, he turned off the lights and went to sleep without a second thought.

The strange fact that the sugar glider he'd raised for months had suddenly turned into a human was something Jiang Wenzhe still needed to properly digest.

The sound of hissing water gradually drifted far away, and the man's thoughts slowly emptied.

Just as Jiang Wenzhe was about to drift off, he felt the edge of the bed suddenly sink, and a warm source was quietly moving toward him.

No need to say who it was.

Jiang Wenzhe opened his eyes in resignation, turned his head, and silently met that pair of bright, almond-shaped eyes in the darkness.

Caught red-handed, Lin Sangyu gave an awkward laugh and said sheepishly, "What a coincidence."

"Get off."

Lin Sangyu asked politely, "Can I walk off instead?"

"Get lost."

"I'm not going, I'm not going," Lin Sangyu said as, a second before Jiang Wenzhe could erupt, she burrowed into the blanket in one go, wrapping around Jiang Wenzhe's waist like an octopus. "Please, please."

"Why do you have to sleep next to me?"

"Because I like it."

Jiang Wenzhe was speechless, but he silently turned his body half a turn, his back facing Lin Sangyu.

Lin Sangyu thought she'd gotten away with it—she could sleep on the big bed again. Satisfied, she rubbed her face against the back of Jiang Wenzhe's neck, then quickly closed her eyes and fell into deep sleep.

All sounds faded into stillness. The night soaked the bedroom, leaving only the clock ticking through time.

But right as her breathing steadied and she slipped into dreams...

Jiang Wenzhe, like a jerk who'd eaten his fill and immediately zipped up his pants, wrapped her up in the blanket without a trace of pity and carried her out of the room, then into the movie room next door.

The lights had been off when they came in; the moonlight was cut by the branches outside the window into irregular geometric shapes, casting scattered patterns onto the room, projecting onto Lin Sangyu's sleeping face like a screen. From a thin sheen of sweat, a few strands of hair clung to her pretty, delicate cheek.

Her lips mumbled: "Earn... money... wash... wash dishes..."

Jiang Wenzhe looked down at her from above, his face expressionless.

He paused for a few seconds, then turned and left.

As he closed the door, Jiang Wenzhe lifted his watch to check the time.

Lin Sangyu had only been human for a grand total of seven years. She was nothing more than a child, innocent and inexperienced, forced into the wolves' den of society.

So, from this moment—May 27th, 1:12 a.m.—he would let Lin Sangyu be a child for eleven more years, right here with him.