Jiangdu, Xia Country, Xuyang Road.
Today is the day summer vacation begins.
Students have just finished their final exams and are lining up loosely to leave the school.
Many parents are already waiting outside, and the honking of car horns rises one after another.
Thinking of the upcoming two-month holiday, most students are extremely happy, cheering and jumping, chattering away as they discuss their plans for the break.
Only one girl wears a gloomy expression, looking unable to cheer up no matter what.
It’s a pity for her face—her features are regular, her skin fair and tender, exquisite like a porcelain doll, especially pretty, a standard beauty in the making.
She would certainly look very good when she smiles.
The boys’ line is side by side with the girls’.
Fu Yu stares at the boy in front for a long time.
He is chatting with the girl next to him, the smile on his face bright and radiant like the warm sun… watching him makes her a little displeased.
They are almost at the school gate.
The line is messy and out of shape.
Fu Yu seizes the chance, runs over, and tugs at Ying An’s sleeve, asking him nervously, “Xiao An, where are you going to study in the future?”
“I don’t know yet. It depends on Sister’s arrangements. She hasn’t told me.”
“I see… I was still hoping we could go to the same school.”
“Where are you going, Yuyu?”
“I’m going to Experimental. Mom and Dad arranged for me to go there.”
Ying An and Fu Yu are good friends.
A chance seat change made them desk mates, and from then on began a five-year friendship.
The girl is good-looking, and there are always mischievous boys in the class who try to attract her attention with pranks.
Boys who protect her are often mocked with “Do you like Fu Yu or something?”
Ying An is often mocked like this.
He doesn’t understand what so-called “liking” is supposed to be like, and he doesn’t want to be mocked by the group.
It’s just that… he also can’t stand by and let them bully and tease Fu Yu.
Outside the school gate, Ying An spots that familiar slender figure from afar.
He excitedly waves at Li Jue.
Fu Yu sees Ying An’s reaction and follows his gaze outward.
Ying An’s sister is extraordinarily pretty—this is something everyone in their class knows.
She is actually very envious of Li Jue, envious that she can stay with Ying An every day.
“Bye-bye, Yuyu. I’m going to find Sister.”
“Mm… Xiao An, you, you have to come to school to play with me in the future.”
She subconsciously takes Ying An’s hand, feels the slightly warm temperature of the boy’s palm, then realizes it goes against the ladylike rules her mother taught her and is improper, so she abruptly lets go.
Ying An doesn’t mind her little action at all. “Okay, I will.”
As soon as the line leaves the school gate, Ying An hurriedly runs toward Li Jue, his small schoolbag bouncing up and down with his running.
“Sister!”
“Slow down, don’t fall.”
Li Jue stands beside an unremarkable blue-gray Buick.
Seeing Ying An come over, she casually opens the rear door.
After Ying An gets in the car, she also gets into the driver’s seat.
The car slowly squeezes out of the crowd.
The parents picking up children and the cars they drive have completely blocked the school entrance.
Only with great difficulty do they manage to drive back onto the outer highway.
Just as Li Jue is about to turn the car around, a black Maybach stops beside them.
The rear window slowly rolls down.
Fu Yu leans on the window and shouts toward Ying An inside the car, “Goodbye, Xiao An! You have to remember to come find me!”
Ying An also wants to say goodbye to Fu Yu, but finds that no matter how he tries, the window won’t roll down.
He can only shout loudly inside the car, “Goodbye, Yuyu!” But she doesn’t seem to hear him.
The Maybach speeds away toward the other side of the road.
Ying An turns his head back dejectedly and asks Li Jue in frustration, “Sister, why won’t this window roll down?”
“This one? I don’t know. Maybe it’s broken.”
As she speaks, she presses the control button on the door and unlocks the rear window.
The sun is setting.
Night falls slowly like a vast, boundless curtain of the sky, as if about to swallow the entire world.
Ying An rests his head against the car window.
The street scenes along the roadside flash by rapidly in his eyes.
He has traveled this road countless times over the past six years, and he has memorized most of the shops along the way.
Especially that cold drink shop.
Li Jue suddenly stops the car. “Still a chocolate cone?”
Hearing Li Jue’s words, Ying An comes back to himself and then nods hard. “Mm.”
She gets out of the car, walks into that shop, and a few minutes later returns holding a large ice cream cone.
Li Jue always strictly controls Ying An’s consumption of desserts and cold drinks with the reasons of damaging his teeth and getting diarrhea.
But today he has just finished exams, vacation has started, and it’s been a long time since she let him eat ice cream, so she rarely lets him have one.
“Sister, where am I going to study in the future?” Ying An is very concerned about this question.
“Where does Xiao An want to go?”
“I want to go to Experimental. Yuyu is going there too.”
Li Jue falls silent for two seconds, then asks him lightly, “Does Xiao An like her?”
“Of course not! Sister, why are you saying that too? I’m not… not liking her. Yuyu and I are just friends.”
“If not, then not. Why is Xiao An getting so worked up?” Two soft laughs reach Ying An’s ears, making the flush on his face spread even more severely.
Li Jue has actually considered many schools.
After all, if she wants to, sending Ying An into any school in the world wouldn’t be difficult.
Her priority is still ones in the city, preferably closer to home.
But just now, the Experimental that is closest to home has been crossed out of her consideration.
The second closest is Wenlan, but it is very close to Experimental, only a few hundred meters away.
All the way home she has been thinking about this matter, until after finishing dinner and taking a bath.
Ying An is lying on the sofa in a small dinosaur pajama set watching cartoons, his little head resting on her leg.
Li Jue has been looking at her phone for over an hour when she softly says to him, “Xiao An, let’s go to Xiheng, okay?”
“Xiheng?”
“It’s a very, very good school in Shenchuan. Let’s go study there.”
“Shenchuan?!” Ying An recalls the distribution of various provinces and cities in Xia Country that he memorized before, then sits up in surprise. “That’s so far away. Isn’t Experimental good…”
“It’s good, but it definitely can’t compare to Xiheng.”
“Then what about Sister? Is Sister staying here?”
“Of course not. We’re moving there. Sister has a friend there too.”
Moving has long become a habit for Li Jue over the thousands of years she has lived.
Although she can change into an aged appearance, she prefers to appear as a young woman.
And if a person’s appearance remains unchanged for decades, it is easy for acquaintances to notice problems.
Because of this, over the millennia she has had countless identities, countless faces, and has given herself more names than she can remember.
But the face she has now is the one she was born with.
Aside from her demon form, it is her most authentic side.
“Li Jue” is also the first name she gave herself.
Her words make Ying An a little dejected—not only because he can’t go to Experimental and can’t see Yuyu, but even more because this is the place he has lived for ten years.
Almost all of his memories are connected to this city.
Leaving here… he really can’t bear it.
A soft sensation strokes the top of Ying An’s head, as if comforting his emotions.
He looks up.
A snow-white fox tail extends from behind Li Jue, lightly pressing on his head and rubbing his little head.