The coolest kid in kindergarten

"Ow... easy, easy!"

Lin Xingye's eyes brimmed with tears, his body trembling uncontrollably. It hurt too much.

Bo Xi crouched on the floor, holding his leg down. "Bear with it."

He was covered in scrapes and bruises from his fall the night before. Right after breakfast, Bo Xi had called him over to the sofa to apply ointment.

"You got the wound on your hand wet while you were playing in the water last night, so I took the bandage off. It needs a fresh one today." Bo Xi took his hand and frowned at the slightly inflamed wound.

Lin Xingye lowered his head, at a complete loss for how to explain.

I can't exactly tell him I did it myself...

Bo Xi's hand paused. His lowered lashes fluttered a few times before he continued applying the ointment, asking as casually as if they were making small talk, "Has anything been upsetting you lately?"

Lin Xingye shook his head. With Li Hanwen dealt with, he couldn't have been happier.

After what had happened last night, he didn't dare let his guard down again, but the unanswered questions only kept piling up.

"Could you tell me about when we were little? Why are you all... so good to me?" Lin Xingye chose his words carefully, unsure whether Bo Xi would answer.

Yet somehow, he felt that Bo Xi would tell him anything.

As though recalling something happy, Bo Xi's lips curved into a smile. "You were adorable as a kid. Everyone liked you. You were the most popular kid in kindergarten."

That certainly boosted his confidence. "Of course! Who do you think I am? I was the coolest kid in the whole kindergarten~"

Bo Xi smiled without disagreeing. "I like you a lot. I liked you a lot back then, and now..."

"I still do."

Lin Xingye was a little dazed, clearly not expecting him to say that out of nowhere.

Don't you like Qin Ke?

Bo Xi frowned. Who on earth had told Star that he liked someone he didn't even know?

Instead of continuing that topic, he brought up Qi Sijing. "He was a crybaby when he was little. He was always trailing after you, calling you his big bro."

Lin Xingye: ...

What was he supposed to do? He suddenly felt so much more impressive.

Except it sounded like a horror story.

Bo Xi said, "Once he grew up, he kept feeling embarrassed about it. He's always thinking of ways to pick on you and make you call him big bro for once."

Lin Xingye puffed up indignantly. "He can dream on!"

Bo Xi didn't tell him that Qi Sijing simply cared about him a great deal-more than even Qi Sijing himself realized.

"Cheng Yu picked on you to get your attention, so you've hated him since you were little." As though remembering something funny, Bo Xi chuckled softly.

Lin Xingye, however, stared at him in a daze.

Now that's a face. How could he be blind enough to fall for a two-faced Tea Bag like that...?

Bo Xi pressed his lips together, a little angry. "You wouldn't play with him, and that became an obsession for Cheng Yu when he was a kid. As for now, I don't know."

If asked, he didn't know.

Lin Xingye didn't remember any of this at all, and hearing it made him curious. "What about An Shi? He must have been really good-looking as a kid, right?"

At that, a trace of jealousy crept into Bo Xi's voice. "He was very pretty. You used to cling to him and say you wanted to marry him and make him your wife."

Lin Xingye: blushing.jpg

"Then why are you all so good to me now? Just because we were classmates as kids?" Lin Xingye no longer believed in this supposedly unconditional kindness.

Bo Xi simply tied off the bandage, cradled his hand, and pressed a gentle kiss to it. "Star, you've been brave ever since you were little."

"You saved everyone."

He looked up and met Lin Xingye's eyes, his gaze so full of intense emotion that it seemed enough to drown someone in its surging affection.

They looked at each other, neither saying another word.

All these stories were about him, yet he remembered almost none of them. It was a strange feeling.

It was as though someone had held on tightly to things you had long since forgotten, waiting for the moment when they could tell you in person: I really liked who you were back then.

I remembered for a very, very long time. I never forgot.

Lin Xingye felt his nose sting.

Ever since he had returned here, though he had never spoken of it, he had remained shrouded in the fear of his previous life.

All his jokes and clowning around were ways of hiding that fear.

He was actually terrified. He had nightmares every night, his nerves never relaxing for even a moment.

He was so afraid of repeating his mistakes, so afraid that starting over would change nothing.

He didn't know what was special about him or what he was good at. Strip everything away, and he was just an utterly ordinary person.

He had feelings like anyone else. He could be frightened and timid, too.

It was as though hatred had blinded him. These past few days, he couldn't even remember whether he had spent more time visiting his family and friends or gone out with them.

All he did was hole up in his room, plotting how to make other people suffer. But time was fleeting, and everything could pass in an instant.

Perhaps he had become too fixated, but he couldn't help it. He had to resolve all of this. He had to put an end to it.

But perhaps he also needed to save Bo Xi.

He didn't want Bo Xi to give everything for someone utterly unworthy again, as he had in their previous life, while that person flirted around, blinded by greed and ambition, without loving him at all.

He had to save the Little Fish.

The Little Fish were such good people; they just had terrible judgment. His judgment had been terrible once, too. He understood them one hundred percent!

Watching him stand there in a daze, his eyes gradually reddening, Bo Xi smiled faintly and opened his arms. "Maybe... do you need a hug?"

Lin Xingye had really just been getting sentimental, but he obediently stepped forward and hugged him anyway. "Yes, I do."

There was no denying that Bo Xi's embrace made him feel safe.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door.

Lin Xingye slipped out of Bo Xi's embrace and went to open it. "Qi Sijing?"

Qi Sijing didn't look well. There were dark shadows beneath his eyes, which only brightened for an instant upon seeing him. He reached out and abruptly pulled him into his arms.

"I was so worried about you."

He looked haggard, resting his face against Lin Xingye's shoulder in a rare display of vulnerability.

Lin Xingye didn't know what had happened, but he clearly wasn't doing well.

Then it suddenly hit Lin Xingye. Oh no! He still hadn't told his parents, Momo, or the others that he was safe after last night. They must have been worried sick!

"I told them." Bo Xi stood quietly behind him, as though he knew exactly what he was worrying about.

Lin Xingye gave him an appreciative look.

A good man. So reliable!

Bo Xi: ...

"Qi Sijing, what's wrong? Didn't you sleep?" Seeing how exhausted he looked, Lin Xingye didn't feel like bickering with him.

Qi Sijing had no shame at all. Leaning against him like a little kid, he told him how he had helped track down the bad guy last night, his tone practically begging for praise.

He had the unmistakable air of a child saying, "Teacher~ pwease give me a gold star!"

Qi Sijing held on to him without letting go, even remembering to sneak a look up and shoot Bo Xi a challenging glance.

Unfazed, Bo Xi pointed at the large, somewhat messy bed that had yet to be made.

Qi Sijing: fists clenched.

Back to the matter at hand: that attendant hadn't actually been an attendant. Someone had stolen a uniform and impersonated one.

Strangely enough, that person was Duan Peng, an executive at Linghai. Although Linghai was a small company that had only recently gotten off the ground, his status as a core member had skyrocketed.

He had absolutely no reason to do something like this, and he had never had anything to do with Lin Xingye.

Even after being hauled off to the police station yesterday, he had kept making excuses, saying he hadn't been in his right mind, yet refusing to admit he had done anything wrong.

Even his friends and family, who had rushed over, felt that he had become a complete stranger.

Unfortunately, they couldn't identify whoever had drugged him. They had come into contact with too many people that evening to tell who was more suspicious.

As for the attendant who had summoned him, she had merely followed that man's instructions and had nothing to do with the incident, but she was still disciplined.

After all, Duan Peng wasn't an employee there, much less her superior. Informing a guest without checking anything first counted as a failure to do her job.

She really had been rather unlucky, too.

Lin Xingye simply couldn't make sense of it, because he knew who Duan Peng was. Why had he suddenly targeted him?

In his previous life, as the company continued to expand, the man had become the head of a branch office and gone on to do quite well for himself in the industry.

He had even married a minor celebrity, though later there had apparently been a scandal about him cheating... with a man!

Feeling as though he had stumbled upon something huge, Lin Xingye pried the clingy Qi Sijing off him. "I want to see him!"