The sixteen-year-old boy sat quietly on a roadside bench, watching the familiar street and the people coming and going.
He began to wonder what was real.
Just moments ago, he had seen a girl in a bookstore who looked exactly like Sister Liu.
But that girl's name was Xie Mi, and she didn't know him.
Shen Yeqing recalled the look in the girl's eyes when their gazes met.
It had been calm and fleeting, like the accidental meeting of eyes between strangers on the street.
That single glance had also convinced him that the girl wasn't Sister Liu.
Whether in age, personality, or the way they spoke, they couldn't possibly be the same person.
But why would two people in this world look exactly alike?
Or perhaps...
If Sister Liu came from the future, was this girl Sister Liu's past self?
Could someone's personality change completely in just a few years?
He didn't understand.
So he began observing this girl named Xie Mi, repeatedly appearing in places where she couldn't see him.
Occasionally, he approached her to test her.
For instance, he stood outside her school in a volunteer's outfit and glasses, pretending to be a survey researcher as he handed out questionnaires.
"Excuse me, we're conducting a survey. Do you have any nicknames?"
Or he pretended to be an employee at a café, approaching her in the café's uniform with a tray in hand.
"Excuse me, we're running a promotion and offering you a free dessert. We have matcha, strawberry, and chocolate flavors. Which would you like?"
Or, at a starry sky exhibition, he quietly walked up beside her while everyone silently watched a slideshow simulating a meteor shower.
"Excuse me, do you believe in meteor showers?"
She turned to him and answered earnestly and firmly.
"No."
She