—

Starting from day fifteen of the summer camp, Wen Ran didn't see Gu Yunchi again — heard he'd gone back to the country early. A few days later, the custom-tailored suits Gu Peiwen had ordered arrived — four of them, the whole set. One glance and Wen Ran could tell the two suits Wen Rui had taken him to buy at the mall were basically flea-market stuff.

In the back half, there were banquet after banquet, and the suits came in handy. Wen Ran basically saw every top scientist, artist, and celebrity he could hope to see in a lifetime — all crammed into a few parties. But beyond laying eyes on them, he got nothing out of it. Predictably, he let Chen Shuhui down — the whole "seize the opportunity, don't hide in a corner" thing.

The twenty-some-day summer camp wrapped up, and he got home that evening. Wen Ran gave Aunt Fang the little gifts he'd brought back, asked her to cook him a bowl of noodles, ate, went upstairs to unpack and wash up, and was in bed before long.

Slept straight through till past ten the next day. Got up, had some porridge, thought it over, and made a painful decision — he was going to Gu Yunchi's Residence. Last time Gu Yunchi hadn't said yes, but it didn't really feel like a no either.

Took a cab to the Villa District. The guard remembered him, called Gu Yunchi's bodyguard. Wen Ran stood there nervous as hell, terrified of getting kicked out in front of everyone. Luckily, he got the green light — the guard drove him over in a patrol cart right to Gu Yunchi's door.

He'd barely stepped into the Garden when the front door slid open and BDH-339 came barreling out, crying: "Xiaoran—! I missed you so much!"

Wen Ran braced for impact, but BDH-339 braked with pinpoint precision, reached out, and hugged his leg. "I even had the chef save you a Croissant, but you never came! It's been over two months, you know that?"

"I know," Wen Ran said. "I brought you a gift."

"Me? A gift…" BDH-339 trembled.

It was a nice fridge magnet — one of S City's landmarks, a castle in full steampunk style. Wen Ran figured it suited BDH-339 perfectly, so he unwrapped it and stuck it to the left side of BDH-339's chest.

"Waaah, this is my first gift ever." BDH-339 had no neck to crane down and look, so it shuffled over to the doorbell camera, lined itself up, and pulled up the feed through its own system. Sure enough, there was the little magnet on its chest. It said happily to Wen Ran, "It suits me, I love it!"

"As long as you like it."

"Hehe, wanna see the models? Gu Yunchi bought some new ones again!"

Wen Ran was quiet for a beat, then shook his head. "No, I'll just sit in the living room for a bit."

"Okay!"

Inside, he looked around — no one. "Is your young master in class?"

"He's practicing, been at it over two hours."

The villa's soundproofing was so good Wen Ran hadn't heard a thing. BDH-339 pulled him down onto the couch, then pulled up the practice room's security feed and projected it onto the screen on its head for him to watch.

The practice room was clean and bright, the camera so crisp it could've been a film shoot — every finger Gu Yunchi pressed to the strings, every grip on the bow, perfectly clear. He stood tall but relaxed, eyes lowered, head slightly tilted, no sheet music in front of him, like he was just casually playing around. But the sound coming through the feed was full-bodied, completely professional.

Over the lilting music, Wen Ran asked, "How long has he been studying?"

BDH-339 closed the feed. "Violin thirteen years, piano twelve."

"No wonder he's that good."

"Mm, he's good at everything. Never given the Chairman a single thing to worry about."

"So what does worry Grandpa Gu?"

"No idea." BDH-339 thought for a second. "Maybe life. The direction of it."

Before long, Gu Yunchi — the one whose life direction had the Chairman worried — came downstairs. He saw Wen Ran and didn't react, just glanced. BDH-339, on the other hand, blocked his path and pointed at the magnet on its chest, bragging loudly: "Wen Ran brought me this gift!"

Gu Yunchi glanced, looked away. "Three bucks a pop at any street stall."

"So what if it's three bucks! You've never even bought me a gift worth thirty cents!"

"Buy you a gift." Gu Yunchi walked over to the couch and sat down, leaning back. "Who are you?"

"I'm the brave and wise BDH-339!" For dramatic effect, BDH-339 revealed its half-meter-long legs for the first time and stretched its arms out a bit further. It stood in front of Wen Ran and Gu Yunchi, chest puffed, and demanded, "Am I not majestic!"

Gu Yunchi said, "Like a stick insect that ate too much."

"…" BDH-339 suddenly shrieked, "I hate you!" Then, like a stick insect that ate too much, it scurried off toward the kitchen.

Silence. Over ten days with no contact, no conversation — the progress bar seemed to have reset to zero. Wen Ran picked at his fingers and asked, "Why'd you leave the summer camp early?"

"None of your business."

"Just asking." Wen Ran's face had gotten thick enough that he didn't feel discouraged. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Gu Yunchi shifted, sinking deeper into the couch, eyes on his Mobile Phone. "Wasn't feeling well."

Those four words hit Wen Ran hard — he'd just gone through the same old thing a few days before camp ended. Listless, low fever, tear ducts working overtime. He'd even taken a day off, lay in his room crying silently for half an hour, popped a Fever Reducer before bed, and only felt a bit better the next day.

So Wen Ran was on edge, starting to panic about what he'd do if he really went into heat. The doctor had said he absolutely couldn't use an Inhibitor — the best solution was to ask Gu Yunchi to release his pheromone. But making that request when he was actually in heat might be too abrupt, so maybe today was a good time to bring it up in advance.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Wen Ran said.

"No."

"Can you at least hear me out before you say no?"

"No."

He only said no, but he didn't cover his ears. So Wen Ran went on: "I know you refused to use my Pheromone when you were sick, and I really respect that about you. But my willpower's pretty weak, so — if someday I need your Pheromone, would you be willing to switch your Wristband to one-way mode and release some for me?"

Gu Yunchi's gaze lifted from his phone to Wen Ran's face. "What are you even saying?"

"I mean… what you just heard." Wen Ran summarized uncertainly. "Basically, I'm asking if you could help me out when I need it — like during heat or whatever — and spare some of your Pheromone… to soothe? Uh, soothe me a bit."

To Wen Ran, releasing some Pheromone for someone who needed it seemed pretty normal — like calling an ambulance for a stranger who'd passed out. A simple act of helping out.

Gu Yunchi flipped his phone face-down on the couch, propped himself up on one palm, and turned slightly to stare at Wen Ran. "Say that again."

"…Never mind. Just pretend you didn't hear it." Wen Ran was already starting to regret it, for some reason.

"Are you addicted to sexual harassment or something."

Wen Ran panicked and didn't get it. "I didn't mean it that way — are you being too sensitive?"

Gu Yunchi said nothing, stood up, walked over to Wen Ran. His legs were almost touching Wen Ran's drawn-up knees. He looked down at him, face calm, and said: "Next time I need it, can you take off your Neck Ring, strip, and soothe me too?"

Too shocked to speak. Wen Ran didn't even notice he'd gone red to the tips of his ears. He stared up at Gu Yunchi blankly for a long moment before stuttering out: "That's… how is that — how is that the same? Those are two completely different things…"

"I didn't mean it that way. Are you being too sensitive?" Gu Yunchi said coolly.

The boomerang knocked him dizzy. He couldn't sit still anymore — stood up. But Gu Yunchi hadn't left much room, and for a split second their bodies brushed past each other face-to-face, Wen Ran's nose nearly bumping Gu Yunchi's chin. He froze, looked up into that downcast-lashes gaze looking down at him, and only then remembered to dodge — stumbled sideways in a panic. Eyes unfocused, he said: "I'm heading back."

He didn't dare look back as he walked toward the entryway. Shoes on in a rush, he shoved the door open and fled.

By the time he got home a lot of time had passed, but his face was still burning when he touched it, and his heartbeat was loud in his ears. Wen Ran went to his room, sat at the desk, opened the drawer, found the blueprints he'd hidden at the very bottom so Chen Shuhui wouldn't see them, pulled them out, and went back to working on the unfinished side view.

The moment he put pen to paper, the lines were crooked, the circles uneven. Wen Ran stared at them for ages before remembering he needed an eraser.

Outside the window, the jacarandas were hitting their second bloom of the year, the wind turning them into a drifting blue-purple oil painting.

Third day back. Wen Ran was eating dinner alone when Chen Shuhui pushed the door open and walked into the living room — and smiled when she saw him. Wen Ran froze, sat up straight, nervous: "Mom?"

"Didn't I tell you — the next move." Chen Shuhui tossed her bag on the couch, walked over to the dining table, propped one hand on the edge, and looked down at Wen Ran. "The Gu Family's invited us to Chairman Gu's birthday banquet."

Her smile was deeper, wider than any he'd ever seen — like this was even better news than the high compatibility match. Wen Ran didn't get it: "A birthday banquet would invite a lot of people. Us being on the list isn't that special, is it?"

"If it were just inviting us to attend, sure, no big deal." Chen Shuhui crossed her arms. "But the assistant specifically passed on a message from Chairman Gu to me — he said Chairman Gu plans to formally introduce you at the banquet."

Wen Ran's chopsticks froze mid-air for a long time. Then, voice thin: "Introduce me?"

"Every direct line and branch of the Gu Family, Boqing Group's major shareholders and partners, government officials, Military Headquarters officers — they'll all be there. You know what that means?"

He had a vague idea already, but was afraid to follow the thought to its end. Wen Ran shook his head.

Chen Shuhui pressed the back of her curled finger to her lips and laughed. "Wen Ran. This is an Engagement."

All these years, she'd almost never called him by name — didn't want to be reminded of her little boy who'd died young. When she did call him by name, it meant her emotions were at one extreme or the other: furious, or overjoyed. Right now, clearly the latter.

Engagement. When he heard those two words, what Wen Ran thought wasn't about the Wen Family finally walking through the Gu Family's doors in broad daylight, wasn't about Shengdian Group about to get rich resources and a flood of partnerships, wasn't about Chen Shuhui finally getting everything she wanted — fame, status, Boqing Group shares. None of that. The first thought that formed was: would Gu Yunchi be angry?

He was afraid of Gu Yunchi being angry — but it had nothing to do with sucking up or currying favor. Not like at the beginning, when he'd been worried about Gu Yunchi's mood and expression because he had a mission to complete. Right now, Wen Ran simply, purely didn't want Gu Yunchi to be unhappy.

He wanted to say sorry to Gu Yunchi. He'd said sorry plenty of times before, all of them sincere. This one was too.

"I see…" After a long pause, Wen Ran finally spoke. "That's fast."

"Chairman Gu is clearly very pleased with you. Of course, it also means Gu Yunchi might not hate you as much as we thought." Chen Shuhui reached out and, like a reward, for the first time, patted Wen Ran on the head. "Well done, Wen Ran. Everything I put into raising you was worth it. You haven't disappointed me."

But Wen Ran's expression only grew more lost. He'd always tried so hard to make Chen Shuhui happy, hoping to scrape together some proof from the cracks of her satisfaction that he actually had a mother. Now he had it — she was smiling at him, patting his head, praising him — but why? He didn't want to pick up those pieces of evidence anymore. They didn't seem to matter.

"Keep up the good work. Chairman Gu's banquet is in just over half a month — don't let your guard down during this time." Her phone rang in her bag. Chen Shuhui turned and went back to the living room to take the call.

Out of habit, Wen Ran wanted to answer "I know." He opened his mouth, but only managed a very quiet "Mm."