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Xie Tingsi hurried home after his event. He remembered Little Pear Blossom was coming back for the National Day holiday.

He strode inside and immediately spotted Shen Baili standing there. "Suìsuì, are you playing door guardian?"

Xie Tingsi reached out and ruffled her hair. "You've gotten thinner. And tanner."

Shen Baili suddenly realized whom the woman resembled.

Her features were just like Xie Tingsi's, down to the sparkling peach-blossom eyes.

"What's wrong?" Xie Tingsi belatedly noticed the strange atmosphere in the living room. He followed Shen Baili's gaze and met a pair of eyes much like his own.

"Well, look who's here." Xie Tingsi raised a brow.

"Tingsi, it's been a long time." Guo Rao sat comfortably on the sofa.

Xie Tingsi's prickly attitude actually reassured her. His strong reaction meant he still cared.

"Mom missed you very much."

Guo Rao knew how to handle her second son. He responded to gentleness, not force.

But she seemed to have forgotten that Xie Tingsi was no longer the boy he once was.

Xie Tingsi swallowed. "Oh. I don't believe you."

He could never forget crossing the ocean alone at fifteen, full of hope as he went to find his mother, only to be sent back home...

"Tingsi, I'm so glad you came to see me. I'm very happy now."

"You should go back to your father."

"Let me know when you get home safely."

"Don't come here alone again. It isn't safe."

All Xie Tingsi remembered was how cold the winter in M Country had been. The biting wind had torn the boy's joy to shreds.

Ten years passed without them seeing each other again.

Guo Rao frowned slightly, especially with Shen Wan present. She lowered her eyes. "I came all this way to see you. If I'm not welcome, I'll