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"Compulsory education is only nine years, isn't it? We've already finished it. We don't want to keep studying." Huo Baichuan braced himself and shamelessly proclaimed his aversion to school in a loud voice.

"All the children at our Red Heart Orphanage must work hard to get into college!" The old director's smile grew ever more kindly, and her tone softer still. "You are all orphans without parents or family. When you grow up, you will have to face society on your own. You won't have support from parents or elders. So before entering society, you must develop skills that can support yourselves. Studying is the only path to changing your fate."

The old director said even more sternly, "I don't care about other children, but the children of our Red Heart Orphanage must go to school."

Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan looked at each other, speechless.

Seeing the two children's troubled expressions, the old director smiled and turned around to open the room's only two wooden wardrobes. "There are several sets of old clothes inside. A few officers from Lianhua District Police Station specifically sent them over. They've all been washed. The two of you can take turns wearing them."

Without waiting for Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan to reply, the old director added, "I'll show you around the orphanage."

Red Heart Orphanage had three floors in total. The third floor was where the volunteers and children slept and rested. The second floor housed the library, activity room, and classrooms. Inside were books, newspapers, and toys donated over the years by kindhearted people, as well as old books the director had collected from recycling stations, along with elementary, middle, and high school textbooks that students no longer wanted after graduating each year. The first floor contained the kitchen, cafeteria, and staff offices.

The old director said, "The orphanage's conditions are limited, but we'll do our best to arrange the children's food, clothing, housing, transportation, and daily lives. You two have just arrived, so you may find some things difficult to adjust to. If there's anything you aren't used to, just say so."

Huo Baichuan asked curiously, "Will you help us solve it?"

The old director shook her head and answered crisply, "No."

After a pause, she added, "But we'll know about it. And we'll help you adapt to your new lives as quickly as possible."

Huo Baichuan and Tao Yan looked at each other again.

Tao Yan noticed something. They had been walking around for so long, yet they had not seen any of the other children in the orphanage, nor the four children rescued from the traffickers.

Where were they?

The old director sighed. "Those four children can't see, can't speak, and can't walk. We have no way to communicate with them at all. So I contacted the Jiangzhou School for the Deaf and Mute and sent them there early this morning."

The old director hoped the children could at least learn how to communicate with ordinary people. Beyond that, she planned to launch a fundraiser to see whether they could help the four children undergo surgery. Even if only one of their hearing, vision, or mobility could be restored, it would be good. Otherwise, those children's futures would be far too difficult.

As for the other children in the orphanage, the old director smiled faintly. "...Today is Sunday. The volunteers took them to Jiangzhou City Park for an outing."

At that, the old director looked at Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan. "If you two want to go, that's fine too. I'll take you there. Remember to write two travel journals when you get back tonight."

Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan shook their heads in unison, making it clear that neither of them wanted to go on an outing.

Seeing this, the old director said with a smile, "Then you two should rest in your room for now. I'll call you when it's time to eat."

Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan returned to their room and lay directly down on the bare beds. Huo Baichuan stretched, inhaled the overly dry scent of sunlight in the air, and sighed. "I never thought that after finally grinding my way through graduation at Princeton, I'd travel back thirty years and have to repeat high school. What kind of nonsense is this?"

Tao Yan sat quietly on the opposite bed without saying a word.

Huo Baichuan rested his arms behind his head and shot Tao Yan a sidelong glance. "Hey, top student, I ended up in this mess because I saved you. Shouldn't you take responsibility for me?"

Tao Yan glanced at Huo Baichuan, calm and composed. "How do you want me to take responsibility?"

Huo Baichuan cleared his throat and said solemnly, "Let's get this straight first. I saved your life. And right now, you don't have a penny to your name, so you have no way to repay me. As the old saying goes, if a lifesaving favor can't be repaid, then it has to be repaid with—"

Before Huo Baichuan could finish, he met Tao Yan's cool, quiet gaze and suddenly felt that something was off. He could no longer bring himself to make the joke that had reached his lips, so he forcibly changed course. "Then it has to be repaid based on 1990, with these extra thirty years you owe me. Before 2021, you'd better pay me back with a fortune worth hundreds of millions!"

Tao Yan looked steadily at Huo Baichuan, then slowly lay down on the bare bedboard. Copying Huo Baichuan, he tucked his arms beneath his head, a trace of amusement in his voice. "Your demands aren't high. But if you calculate it that way, you're still getting the short end of the stick."

Huo Baichuan raised an eyebrow and said with a grin, "My old man always said that taking a loss is a blessing!"

After a quiet moment, Huo Baichuan turned onto his side and looked at Tao Yan, who had closed his eyes to rest. Then he said, "Hey, do you think we should find time to take a plunge into the sea? Maybe we could travel back."

Tao Yan said with his eyes closed, "Didn't we already try that?"

On the second day after arriving here, the two of them had gone to the beach where the traffickers picked up children and splashed around for more than two hours. They had nearly deprived their brains of oxygen from diving, yet they still had not returned to 2021.

"What I mean is, maybe this time travel has a schedule too. Think about it—planes and high-speed trains have timetables. This is an even more advanced mode of travel!" Huo Baichuan said excitedly. "Maybe we have to wait until the same day next month, or the same day next year, before we can catch a return ticket. How about we make an agreement to take a dive at the beach once every month?"

Tao Yan said nothing.

Seeing that, Huo Baichuan lost some of his enthusiasm as well. After lying there for a while, he could not help turning back again and changing the subject. "Why did you go to the beach on Wednesday morning? That doesn't fit your work habits."