It was as if she’d fallen into a void, surrounded by a pitch-black darkness.

Suddenly, a point of light appeared.

Her eyelids were sealed shut by a viscous, warm fluid, weighing a thousand pounds, yet they were gently brushed open.

Jiang Qingli struggled to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was a woman’s face, drenched in sweat.

The woman’s black hair was plastered to her cheeks. Someone was dabbing at her sweat with a handkerchief held in a slender, long-fingered hand, but she only had eyes for Jiang Qingli. She looked down and smiled, her gaze so gentle it seemed to embrace the entire world.

Jiang Qingli’s mind was a hazy blank. She only knew to reach out, to grasp. Her gaze fell upon a pair of chubby, segmented baby arms—her own.

She opened her mouth and let out a series of gurgles and coos.

A deep male voice spoke up. "You just gave birth. Don’t strain yourself. I’ll hold the baby."

Another face squeezed into her field of vision.

The man was handsome, with flowing blue hair. He looked down, gazing at Jiang Qingli for a long moment before his smile turned exceptionally tender. "Yiyi, the baby looks just like you. She’s so adorable... my daughter..."

"Xie Qizhen, watch your wording. She is *our* daughter."

A wry voice drifted over from the side.

Jiang Qingli’s eyes darted to the side. She saw two more remarkably handsome men walk over, gathering around her.

The man holding her grumbled, "Zhou Yanli, can you keep it down? You’ll scare my daughter..."

The gentle, brown-haired man narrowed his eyes. "You’re the loudest one here."

The black-haired man, who had been silent until now, spoke bluntly, "The baby. Her name."

The woman smiled. "Jiang Qingli. It’s a lovely name, isn’t it?"

The black-haired man nodded. "Sounds tasty."

"Xiao Jin, could you try to be a little more cultured?" Xie Qizhen pouted as he reached out to tickle the baby girl. "Her name means ’dawn,’ not ’pear’..."

...

Her vision faded to black.

When she opened her eyes again, Jiang Qingli found herself sitting among a patch of roses.

"Such a child, falling asleep even out here," a gentle male voice remarked.

Jiang Qingli reached for him, her voice young and sweet. "Papa Three, up!"

"You’re not allowed to say that anymore. Honestly, all that bickering in front of you has caused no end of trouble..." Zhou Yanli sighed and lifted her into his arms. "Come on, let’s go see your brother."

Zhou Yanli stroked her hair. "Your brother’s mommy and daddy aren’t coming back, so we shouldn’t talk about it, okay?"

"Okay! Pa—" She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and round. She lowered her voice to a whisper to correct herself. "You’ve told me hundreds of times, Daddy. Xiao Li won’t forget!"

As they reached the hallway, Xie Qizhen approached them, a young boy in tow.

The boy had black hair and red eyes. His gaze was vacant, and he followed Xie Qizhen like a soulless doll.

Zhou Yanli set Jiang Qingli down and took a step back, letting the two children meet.

Jiang Qingli blinked and shuffled closer to the boy. "You’re really handsome, big brother!"

The boy frowned, as if unused to the attention, but eventually grunted in acknowledgement.

Jiang Qingli looked at Xie Qizhen, her eyes asking, ’Does he not like me?’

Xie Qizhen pointed inside.

Jiang Qingli nodded enthusiastically and grabbed the boy’s hand, pulling him inside. "Your room is on the floor below mine, big brother! Xiao Li will take you!"

The boy resisted at first, trying to pull his hand away. But her fingers were soft and warm. He curled his own fingers slightly but ultimately didn’t withdraw his hand, instead letting her pull him along at a brisk walk that soon turned into a run.

Sunlight streamed down as they ran through the long breezeway, petals from the flowers on either side fluttering down into their hair.

...

The shadows of flowers swayed. Jiang Qingli was lost.

She wandered in circles, only to find she was back where she started.

Suddenly, she spotted a thin figure sitting on the ground, their back to her.

She trotted over and said hello, but got no response.

Jiang Qingli reached out and poked his shoulder with a finger. The figure swayed and then collapsed.

The boy’s skin was pale, and a pair of fox ears drooped limply from his head. His delicate, handsome face and arms were covered in blood.

Jiang Qingli burst into tears, terrified. "Mama! Mama, I killed someone! Mama! MAMA!!!"

After a fit of hysterical wailing, her mother arrived with help and swept her into a comforting embrace.

Once her tears subsided, Jiang Qingli wiped her eyes and asked, "Mama, am I going to go to jail? I don’t want to go to jail..."

"I’ll go for you," Jiang Youchen said from her side, taking her hand. His young face was filled with determination. "Let them take me."

Jiang Qingli started crying again. "I don’t want you to go to jail for me, big brother! I’ll go! Mama, you have to take good care of him..."

After a great deal of explanation from Jiang Yi, she finally understood. The boy wasn’t dead; he had just had a lot of blood drawn and had been left sitting there.

He wasn’t a stranger, either. He was a child of the Baili family, and his name was Baili Jing.

If Jiang Qingli hadn’t found him, he likely would have died from excessive blood loss. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As Jiang Qingli recovered from the fear that she had killed someone, she blinked her eyes. "So I’m the one who saved Brother Baili’s life! In that case, I have to take good care of him!"

For a week after that day, Jiang Qingli came to see Baili Jing.

Being a child who had only ever seen people being cared for on TV, she of course had no idea how to actually do it.

In the attic, she either spilled his water or knocked over his food.

Most of the time, she just chattered away, telling him about things happening outside.

But despite her clumsy attempts at care, Baili Jing miraculously recovered. The smiles on his face grew more frequent, and he even started calling her Xiao Li, just as her family did.

On the last day of her "care," she mimicked a line from a TV drama. "Alright, you don’t need me anymore. From now on—"

Before she could finish, he suddenly grabbed her hand.

The boy asked timidly, "Will you... still come and play with me? Please?"

...

"I don’t have time to play pretend with you!"

In a cramped, old room at the orphanage, a handsome boy with rabbit ears frowned in protest. "Don’t start thinking you’re actually my master!"

Jiang Qingli watched herself pat the top of his head. "But now, the whole orphanage knows you’re my rabbit."

The boy’s handsome face remained taut. "You saved me, and I’ll repay you. But I’m not a pet."

"Then let’s be friends," the girl said, her eyes curving into crescents as she smiled.

The rabbit-eared boy froze.

Seizing the opportunity, she grabbed his injured hand. "First, let’s treat this wound, little rabbit..."

"I-I told you not to call me that... Y-you! Don’t touch my ears!"

...

The dark clouds and gray fog that had long shrouded her mind began to disperse, revealing scenes as vivid and pristine as the day they happened.

Jiang Qingli saw so much.

She watched the little girl grow taller, nurtured by love and laughter, transforming from a tender sapling into a strong young tree braving the wind.

Then, at a certain point, the memories suddenly became fragmented.

Before the memories came to an abrupt halt—

Jiang Qingli saw people walking toward her, laughing. She saw them shoving her. And then, she saw nothing but blood.

Involuntary tears streamed down her face. Someone was lifting her from a pool of blood.

She raised her eyes in a daze and saw Jiang Youchen standing protectively over her.

They were surrounded by heavily armed guards, the dark muzzles of their guns pointed right at them.

A gentle, reassuring hand patted her back.

Her brother whispered in her ear, "Don’t be afraid. I’m here."

Jiang Qingli couldn’t hear a thing. Her gaze traveled past the crowd and met the shocked eyes of her mother in the distance.

A mechanical voice echoed in her mind, indistinct and muffled.

It was as if her soul was being pulled away in that instant, drifting farther and farther from her own body...

Jiang Qingli reached out, grasping at nothing, but her fingers had somehow become translucent, passing through solid objects.

"Mo-Mom..."

"Mom!"

Jiang Qingli cried out in terror.

Warm arms wrapped around her, and a woman’s gentle voice sounded by her ear. "Xiao Li, Mom’s here. It’s okay, don’t be afraid..."

Jiang Qingli opened her eyes and found herself in a lounge.

Her frantic heartbeat gradually began to slow.

Just as she began to relax into her mother’s embrace, she froze. "Where’s my brother?"

Jiang Qingli grabbed her mother’s hand, asking frantically, "Where is he? Where’s my brother?"

Jiang Yi patted her hand. "Calm down, sweetie, calm down. Mom will call him right now..."

She had just turned when a man’s sulky voice sounded from behind her. "You asked for your mom and your brother. Why not ask where your dad is?"

Jiang Qingli turned her head and saw Xie Qizhen walk over to the bed and sit down.

She looked at the blue-haired man, tears welling in her eyes. "Dad..."

Before Xie Qizhen could speak, Jiang Yi shot him a glare. "If you don’t know what to say, then don’t say anything."

Not expecting his petulant comment to make his daughter cry, he immediately backpedaled. "Dad was wrong, I was wrong. I’ve already called your brother for you. How about you answer, and then you can scold me later? Hmm?"

With that, he held out a comm device to her with both hands.

Just as Jiang Qingli took it, the call connected.

Before Jiang Youchen could speak, she blurted out, "Brother... I remember now."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

Then, through the silence, came a young man’s hoarse, gentle voice—

"Xiao Li... welcome home."