"How could she not even spare a small child like you? It's too dastardly of her, she is truly the dregs among the dregs of society." Taking the chance while Gan Qing was in the kitchen, Liu Zhongqi furtively pulled Han Zhou to the side. "Hey, did she trick you into giving her your allowance? How much did she take?"

This kid thought that his voice was very soft but on the other side of the wall, Gan Qing was hearing every single word.

She flipped the bacon roll in the pan and amidst the sizzling sounds, she was also counting how many times Liu Zhongqi badmouthed her.

After hearing what Liu Zhongqi said, Han Zhou immediately took out his cartoon-print wallet from his school bag and prepared to hand it over. "My allowance is here, is it enough?"

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

Han Zhou said, "My dad said that money is merely material possession. If it can make people happy, then that's good enough. If you have money, spend it; if not, let it go. My dad hands over his salary anyway, and gets one hundred yuan as allowance from my mum every month."

After hearing that, Liu Zhongqi felt that it was unbelievable. He really couldn't imagine how an adult could survive on one hundred yuan a month. But in the past half a year, he had, in succession, gone through a break up, ran away from home, got kidnapped and entered Year 2, so he was a bit more mature than he was before and didn't give his opinion carelessly. He asked Han Zhou, "It's so late, why are you here? Just to deliver your allowance to the big swindler?"

Little Friend Han Zhou seemed to be a bit embarrassed. He stretched out his neck to make sure that Gan Qing was still in the kitchen, then whispered into Liu Zhongqi's ear, "Gege, I'm scared of being alone at home."

"Alone?" Liu Zhongqi asked curiously, "Where are your parents?"

Han Zhou said softly, "They went to look for my grandpa."

"Where did your grandpa go?"

"Dunno," Han Zhou shook his head. "We lost him."

Liu Zhongqi had heard of losing money, losing phones and losing keys. This was the first time he heard of someone losing a grandpa.

"Every evening when I come home from school, my grandpa is already back from buying groceries and is preparing to make dinner. Today, I don't know where he has gone. The neighbours downstairs also said that they didn't see him and also told my mum to call the police. When my mum heard the word 'police,' she nearly started fighting with them. My dad dragged her home to wait. We waited until it was dinner time but Grandpa still didn't come back. We called him but the call didn't go through so they went out together to look for him."

Right then, someone suddenly spoke from behind them. "Give your mum a call and tell her that you're with me. Or she might find the old man later only to think that you're missing."

Gan Qing didn't make any sound when she walked and who knew when she had come over. Liu Zhongqi had just been speaking ill of her and he shook with fear, nearly leaping up from the sofa.

Gan Qing glanced at Liu Zhongqi with a smile that was not quite a smile. "Wash your hands and eat."

Liu Zhongqi waved her off reservedly. "Thank you but there's no need."

The word "need" had just come out when his stomach rumbled embarrassingly.

Just the sight of him was enough to amuse Gan Qing. She felt that the two brothers might not look similar but the way they conducted themselves came from the same mould, and the younger one was even more fun to tease.

A teenage boy seemed to never be full no matter how much he ate. Every day at his hour, he would be supplementing himself with supper. Liu Zhongqi's face turned pale and red in turns. He surrendered to the mighty internal body clock and endured the shame as he joined the supper table.

Because there was a child there, Gan Qing was afraid that eating too much at night would be bad for his digestion so she didn't make very oily snacks. She poured the two bowls of pumpkin congee she had brought back together, mixed it with warm milk and boiled it again in the pot. She added some corn kernels to make corn and pumpkin soup. Then, she let the oil drip out of the bacon rolls and grilled meat, dry-fried them in a pan to reheat them, and mixed them with lettuce, croutons and shredded cheese to make an east-meets-west salad. Finally, she cut some oranges and apples.

In less than ten minutes, everything was done. Bright and colourful, complemented with very fashionable wooden cutlery. Add a filter and it was ready to be shared online.

The cutlery and spices were bought by Zhang Meizhen. This old lady typically didn't have much to do, and all her time and energy was spent on her "lifestyle." She spent her days in an exceptionally refined way.

Even though Gan Qing was a peasant who could squat by the roadside and gnaw on crawfish, she didn't refuse good things. Whomever went near the cinnabar would be stained red—after living a while with this landlord, she had learned how to plate food nicely.

Little Friend Han Zhou didn't say anything and also didn't take the phone that Gan Qing passed him.

Liu Zhongqi thought that he couldn't remember his parents' number, so he said, "It's okay if you don't call. It's just downstairs anyway. I can go down later and stick a note on your door-"

"I don't want to go home. They're always quarreling," Han Zhou said gloomily.

The boy lifted his head and looked around. His first impression was that this house was very beautiful.

Gan Qing was very diligent with the housework and there wasn't even a single dried leaf in the vases. Meanwhile, Zhang Meizhen was a lady with the heart of a young girl. She liked to fill the whole place with a sweet fragrance and brought back whatever was fashionable at the moment. One person did the buying while the other person did the upkeeping; even though the two of them kept completely different hours, unexpectedly, they could work together seamlessly without disturbing each other.

This apartment was only some tens of square meters wide but there was not even a speck of dust. The furnishings were picked out carefully and arranged with care, as though a professional interior designer and a cleaning squad had diligently put things in order. The living environment could even be called "luxurious."

It was unlike Han Zhou's home. Smelly socks and wrinkled clothes were in a mess everywhere, there was always hair in the drainage, and the fridge was filled with leftovers. Four people used the bathroom and it could not be cleaned in time. There were always urine stains in the toilet bowl and once it was damp, there would be a piss stink. The bathroom door had to be closed most of the time but this made the ventilation even worse and in turn, the stink grew stronger in a never ending loop. When Han Zhou's mother couldn't bear it anymore, she would splash the whole bathroom with acid cleaners while grumbling… That was also a type of "biological weapon."

Han Zhou reached out to examine the beautiful plate and said enviously, "Jiejie, can I stay here today?"

Without even blinking, Gan Qing refused him. "No."

"I folded a whole bottle of paper cranes. I'll give it to you."

"It's still a no. This is the girls' dorm."

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

The ages of these two "girls" added together would be close to a century, if not more.

Han Zhou sighed a sigh beyond his years and lifted the bowl of pumpkin soup, taking small sips. "If only I was a girl. I can stay at the girls' dorm and my mum also wouldn't always be scolding me. She said that men are all pigs."

Gan Qing asked, "Is that why you're not paying attention at school and going around looking for a girlfriend instead?"

"I really, sincerely like girls, not like those people in my previous school." Han Zhou shrugged his shoulders and gave them the names of a few boys. "They pick up girls just to be cool. Ai, they're not sincere at all."

Gan Qing, "..."

The primary school kids nowadays are ready to fly to the sky! What kind of lousy school was that? No wonder his parents wanted him to change schools even if they had to tighten their belts and scrape a living.

At the side, the high school student Liu Zhongqi listened to the little brat speak like an adult, and stifled his laughter until his face was red. Gan Qing felt that he was just laughing at someone at a hundred steps when he was halfway there himself—as though the person who played house with his girlfriend and had an early romance was not him.

"My grandpa caused a huge trouble today. My mum was nearly going crazy when she went out to look for him. I know she's gonna throw a fuss when she comes home at night. I got four marks in my maths test today, I'll definitely be dragged in too." Han Zhou pleaded, "Jiejie, please take me in."

"How can you talk about your mum like that?" Gan Qing patted him on his head, then continued to say, "Four in your maths test? Out of five? Ten?"

Five was still okay. If it was ten, four was too little.

Han Zhou gave her an "Oh my, pretty girls are all foolish things" look. "Of course it's out of a hundred."

Liu Zhongqi spluttered and nearly spat out a bit of grilled meat. He quickly took two gulps of the pumpkin soup; it was so hot it made him tear up.

Gan Qing had always been someone who made other people weary at heart. Unexpectedly, today she was defeated by a gremlin child and was getting a taste of the "weary at heart" feeling herself.

"Both of you sirs please eat first, I'm going to go leave a note." There was nothing she could say in response to Han Zhou. She stood up. "When you have finished eating, put the dishes in the sink and do your homework."

The two boys, one big and one small, wiped out the food like the wind blowing away scattered clouds, leaving not even a single crumb. Zhang Meizhen's home was too clean, so much so that it made the gremlin children feel embarrassed. Hence, the two of them even tore some paper towels and carefully wiped the table clean.

Han Zhou saw the older boy obediently pick up his books and was very startled. In his previous school, the older boys—those in Year 5 or 6—had never studied properly since young. When they reached their teens, they already had a bit of a gangster air about them. Even when the teachers were watching them at school, they would still be finding ways to stir up trouble, and one didn't have to even think of them voluntarily studying.

Han Zhou glanced at Liu Zhongqi's English homework reverentially. "Gege, are you good at studies?"

Liu Zhongqi said reservedly, "So-so."

Han Zhou said, "In my old school, the big guys looked down the most on those who are good at studies. They cut off ties with me because I transferred here. They said that this school is for those who are 'good at studies,' so I'm a traitor because I transferred schools… I didn't become a traitor on purpose. My mum insisted that I transfer."

"Your mum did it for your own good." Liu Zhongqi said without looking up. Hanging out with a primary school kid, he felt that he was mature already. "People who are good at studies have more choices. You'll understand when you're older."

Han Zhou felt that this sounded exactly like what the teachers at school said, and he made a face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Liu Zhongqi saw the look in the little brat's eyes. He put down his pen and put on a pretentious act. "We are like fish in a river. When the water from upstream flows down, it can be very gentle or it can be very rapid. Sometimes, it can be very violent… Nothing is certain, it all depends on the water's mood. In the warm gently flowing water, you can swim very comfortably, but if it starts to become violent, all the fish will be flushed down regardless of whether they're big or small fish. They will be embroiled in the sand. Some fish will never again climb out while some fish will struggle and continue to swim. Right now, you don't have to swim yourself. Your parents are guiding you. This is the protection period for newbies. Once you're older, you will be set free. If you don't prepare yourself well during the protection period, you will be weaker than other fish in the future. When you encounter violent storms, you will be flushed very far away and it will be harder for you to climb up than it will be for other fish."

This was something a teacher had said when Liu Zhongqi was in junior high. It was beyond the level of a primary school student. Han Zhou listened to him and felt a little suffocated. "I still have a long way to go before I grow up. I don't want to grow up. Anyway, my mum said that when I grow up, I'll definitely be just like my dad."

When Gan Qing went to the eighth floor, she happened to bump into Han Dongsheng. Han Dongsheng had come home to see if Old Mr. Zhou had gone home on his own. In the end, not only was his old father-in-law not there, even his child had disappeared and he was panicking so hard that even the colour of his face had changed.

"Mr. Han," Gan Qing called out to him. "Han Zhou is on the tenth floor. I came down to let you know. Don't worry, come up to pick him up whenever you're free."

"That's good. I'm really very sorry… and thank you!" Han Dongsheng took a deep breath and hurriedly said a whole bunch of grateful and appreciative words.

The sweat on his head seemed to never be wiped clean. Because he was overweight, even his breathing seemed very hurried. His entire person had changed shape. The back of his hands were thick and there was a row of edema scars.

Gan Qing quietly let him pass, her eyes studying Han Dongsheng's back. She had seen this person before in the past, twenty years ago. Back then, she was still a young girl who chewed on her fingers while Fuliang Yue's descendant was already a grown up young man.

She had come with her shifu to visit the old Yu Huaide. Shifu didn't want to cause trouble so he didn't show his face at the Martial Arts General Assembly and only sat for a while at the Yu home. Meanwhile, she had taken the chance when the adults were making small talk to slip out and look for excitement.

Someone started calling out for Fuliang Yue to demonstrate his skills. That shy young man first blushed and refused. When he really could not turn them down, he showed a few techniques that were of a more performative nature. At that age, Gan Qing could not see what profound and mysterious theories there were behind this set of techniques. She only remembered the young man's body flowing as fast as a flying dragon, and an agility and ease that could not be put into words.

She had been so envious and had felt that it was so much better than her own dull and boring martial arts skills.

Twenty years. Was that all it took for a person's bones to be grinded into dust and for them to change beyond recognition?

Gan Qing felt a little exhausted. Her body clock was reminding her that it was time for bed. She shook her head and went back upstairs, but she still had to keep watch on the two gremlin children doing their homework, and she yawned non-stop as she waited for their parents and guardian to pick them up.

Liu Zhongqi, who had just put on an act for their little friend, had again gotten half the questions wrong in his "correct the mistakes" exercise. Gan Qing sat by the side, propping her head up with her hand, and couldn't help interjecting when she really couldn't bear looking at it anymore. "The subject and the verb in your sentence are not in agreement, dear."

Liu Zhongqi took a careful look. "Oh… You're right."

"This 'suggested' shouldn't be followed by 'to do,' it should probably be changed to 'ing.'"

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

"In the third line, the subject is lacking an article in front of it."

Han Zhou looked up at Liu Zhongqi with a sympathetic expression and thought, Your studies are really so-so.

Liu Zhongqi made a sour face. He was losing face in front of a little friend and he threw down his pen. "If you're so great, why are you still being a swindler? Why don't you go be an interpreter for the United Nations?"

"No way, no way." Gan Qing waved her hand modestly. "I'm just at the level of an exam candidate. I depend on subtitles when watching American TV series."

Liu Zhongqi said in provocation, "Then, which university did you get into?"

Without changing her expression, Gan Qing said, "California's University of Lille-Durnst, graduated with honours."

"...You even studied abroad?" Liu Zhongqi was momentarily stunned. "Then why are you like this now?"

Gan Qing beamed at him and added, "Also known as the 'Rot at Home.'"

Liu Zhongqi, "..."

California's University of Lille-Durnst… Cal-Lil-Durnst… "Jia-li-dun"... He was going to claw her to death!

Gan Qing handily helped him tidy up the books that were all over the place. "All English books. If you studied hard like this earlier on, you wouldn't be the way you are now."

Liu Zhongqi squeezed out his words from the gaps of his clenched teeth. "None of your business!"

"Is it because your brother refuses to teach you martial arts?" Gan Qing winked at him. "Let me guess, did he say that he'll teach you some fighting forms if you pass your English test?"

"No!" Liu Zhongqi bristled and said, "In the first place, I… sometimes pass my English tests! He said I need to get above 120."

Gan Qing laughed. Liu Zhongqi would die to defend the honour of that "120" and his embarrassment turned to anger.

"You'll have plenty of chances to learn these fighting and killing skills in the future," Gan Qing suddenly said. "Even if you don't, it's okay. There's no use learning them anyway. Compared to that, your brother probably thinks that the university entrance exams are more important."

Liu Zhongqi stared blankly. When Gan Qing was saying those words, the improper smile on her face suddenly disappeared, revealing a restrained calmness that was difficult to describe.

"When I was your age, my mind was also full of wild thoughts." Gan Qing stood up and stretched her body. "When I grew up, I realised that I was wrong. I worked my ass off for a few years, wanting to make up for the time I had lost."

Liu Zhongqi stared blankly at her. "And then?"

"There is no 'and then,'" Gan Qing patted him on his head. "You can't make up for lost time… Your brother is back."

T/N:

In case it's not obvious enough, "California's University of Lille-Durnst" (加州里尔顿斯科大学) is not a real university and the name is just a pun on 家里蹲 (lit. "squat at home"). Apparently it was once a somewhat popular joke for people who didn't have any big plans for after high school.

Full disclaimer, the line in the chapter that connects from "California's University of Lille-Durnst" to "Jia-li-dun" was added by me and is not in the original text (Chinese readers wouldn't need it anyway) because I try to make it so that the text can be understood without referring to footnotes. It's a bit of a stretch but I didn't feel like I could turn it into an English pun when that entire section is about studying English, which kind of emphasises that they are not actually speaking English.