His brows furrowed slightly.

Zhou Shiyan reached out to tug at the glove Liu Zhiyue was wearing, but no matter how she pulled, the missing half remained missing.

Watching Zhou Shiyan carefully adjust his gloves, a trace of a smile appeared on Liu Zhiyue’s face.

“All right, this’ll do.”

As he spoke, Liu Zhiyue pulled out his hand and held it up.

He gave it a squeeze.

“Nice and warm, pretty comfortable.”

“Mm.”

Hearing what Liu Zhiyue said, Zhou Shiyan just responded softly, then looked at him and asked,

“Why did you suddenly show up today?”

“I…”

As soon as he opened his mouth, Liu Zhiyue suddenly stopped. He didn’t quite have the courage to say something so embarrassing.

After thinking for a bit, he came up with another excuse.

“I need to pick up some stuff from the old house…”

As he spoke, Liu Zhiyue patted the backseat.

He smiled and asked,

“Wanna come with me?”

“……”

Zhou Shiyan looked at Liu Zhiyue, then glanced a few times at his electric scooter.

Her delay in responding made Liu Zhiyue feel a little awkward, but soon enough, Zhou Shiyan made a move.

She walked to the backseat, stepped up, sat down, placed her feet on the footrests, and lightly gripped the back of Liu Zhiyue’s clothes.

After doing all that, Zhou Shiyan lowered her head and said softly,

“Let’s go.”

Turning back to glance at Zhou Shiyan’s head-down posture, Liu Zhiyue had a complicated expression on his face—something hard to define. Then he gripped the handlebars and started riding the scooter, heading toward the old house with Zhou Shiyan.

----------------------------------------

Li Wanran was sitting in the driver’s seat.

Her gaze drifted occasionally to the car window.

There was a trace of hesitation in her heart.

Today, she’d driven alone to Liu Changqing’s old place. During the days since her divorce from Li Chongming, she’d thought a lot about the past.

If there was one thing she still couldn't let go of, it was her two children.

Looking back on her life, Li Wanran had never really regretted anything, but now… even she was starting to feel remorse.

She regretted listening to her mother back then and handing both children over to Liu Changqing.

These past few days, she’d been alone in that cold house, and from time to time, memories would flash through her mind—

Her son when he was little, her daughter when she was little, and…

Liu Changqing’s face.

Spending so much time alone naturally led to overthinking, and combined with everything that had happened to her recently, she was finally beginning to realize what she truly cared about.

It was just…

Her past encounters with Liu Changqing hadn’t gone well—no, to be precise, they were very unpleasant.

Every time, Liu Changqing would say things that were harsh to hear.

Just thinking about it made Li Wanran picture Liu Changqing’s face.

Since the divorce, that man seemed to have changed.

From the first time she came to this place, wanting to see the kids but being turned away, Li Wanran felt that Liu Changqing had become a stranger.

In that marriage, over ten years had been enough to truly know a person.

Li Wanran believed she understood him thoroughly.

The Liu Changqing she knew wouldn’t say such hurtful things to her, and he wouldn’t strip away all of her dignity.

Could it be… that this was his true nature all along?

Was it her actions that made him the way he was now?

There was no way to know.

Li Wanran didn’t have some kind of supernatural power—she couldn’t possibly know what Liu Changqing was really thinking. But in this moment, the only thing she cared about was her son and daughter.

She was their mother.

Their biological mother. She wanted to see her children.

As these thoughts filled her mind, she looked out the window and saw an electric scooter appear in her line of sight.

When she looked closely, she realized—it was her son.

He was riding the scooter, and a petite girl was sitting behind him.

What… was going on here?

----------------------------------------

They arrived at their destination.

Liu Zhiyue brought the scooter to a stop. After Zhou Shiyan got off the backseat, he followed and got off too.

He parked the scooter downstairs, pulled out the key, and then said to Zhou Shiyan,

“Let’s go.”

“Zhiyue…”

A voice called out from not far away, drawing Liu Zhiyue’s attention—and Zhou Shiyan’s as well.

Both of them turned their heads at the same time, looking toward the black car.

When Liu Zhiyue saw who had called him, the slight smile he’d been wearing vanished completely.

“Who… is she?”

It was the first time Zhou Shiyan had seen Li Wanran. When she saw this woman call out Liu Zhiyue’s name, she couldn’t help but be a little curious.

But when she noticed the grim look on Liu Zhiyue’s face, she seemed to have guessed something.

Liu Zhiyue didn’t respond to Zhou Shiyan’s question. Instead, he took the old house key out of his pocket and handed it to her, saying,

“You go up first. I’ll be up in a bit.”

“Okay.”

Without saying anything more, Zhou Shiyan took the key from Liu Zhiyue and headed upstairs.

Downstairs, only the two of them remained.

Li Wanran, sitting inside the car.

And Liu Zhiyue, standing next to his scooter.

Biological mother and son just stared at each other like that.

Sensing the atmosphere was off, Li Wanran thought for a moment and asked softly,

“That girl… is she your girlfriend?”

“What are you doing here?”

Liu Zhiyue didn’t answer her question. Instead, he asked one of his own.

He stood there for a moment, then began walking toward the black car. Standing by the window, Liu Zhiyue looked at Li Wanran inside.

“I already made myself clear last time. Please don’t come and disturb our family’s life anymore.”

That sentence hit Li Wanran hard. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened.

Even her son was starting to feel unfamiliar to her.

He no longer resembled the person in her memories.

She took a deep breath and forced down the discomfort in her chest.

Her tone softened.

“I didn’t give you two your New Year’s money this year…”

As she said that, Li Wanran began reaching into her purse for a red envelope.

But before she could finish, Liu Zhiyue cut her off.

“No need. Xiazhi and I already got our New Year’s money.”

Her hand froze mid-movement. Li Wanran sat there dazed for a long time before finally lowering her bag.

She looked at Liu Zhiyue.

“I miss you two. Mom just wanted to see you.”

“……”

Staring at Li Wanran, who had just said those words, Liu Zhiyue had a complicated expression on his face.

Then, as if remembering something, he pulled out his phone and opened his photo album.

He found the photo he took the last time he ran into Li Chongming.

Holding up his phone, he turned the screen toward Li Wanran.

“This guy’s your husband, right? I saw him last time. He was out shopping—with another woman.”