Mr. Zheng, who claimed to be Xu Xilin's father, later lingered in front of the gate of No. 6 Middle School several times, but each time Xu Xilin was followed by a basketball team who whizzed past him and ignored him, so Mr. Zheng had no chance to speak to him.

After a while, Mr. Zheng got Xu Xilin's phone number from somewhere and carefully calculated the time when he got out of class every day to send him text messages, so Xu Xilin blocked him.

A month later, Mr. Zheng sent a package to Xu Xilin's school. When he opened it, he found a pair of limited edition sneakers and a note saying that Mr. Zheng would be going abroad again for work reasons, so he left him a little souvenir, hoping that he would think of his father occasionally.

Unfortunately, Xu Xilin didn't buy it.

He gestured at the size of the sneakers and casually stuffed them under the table. The next day, he sold them at a discount to a high school junior from the basketball team. With the money, he treated his friends to a buffet meal. A bunch of half-grown boys and girls rushed into the buffet restaurant. No one was afraid of not getting their money back, and they almost made the boss cry.

As an insider who knew the whole story, Dou Xun observed the whole thing from beginning to end and found that Xu Xilin was different from himself.

He has no shortage of shoes, no shortage of love, and no shortage of a father.

Xu Xilin has friends everywhere. Every year on his birthday, the little girls who like him fill his table with anonymous gifts. He treats whoever he wants to treat well and plays with whoever he likes. Although he is easy-going and cheerful, and can often find the cuteness of others, if he determines that the other person is not cute, no one can impress him with anything.

He lacks nothing, so he is strong because he has no desires.

Because Mr. Zheng unfortunately broke his weak spot at the beginning, he was classified as an "unlovable" person by him. Therefore, Xu Xilin was not interested in "late fatherly love", "humble thoughts" or "expensive gifts".

After bidding farewell to a group of classmates who were holding onto the wall as they left the cafeteria, Dou Xun suddenly couldn't help but ask him, "Don't you appreciate his kindness at all?"

Xu Xilin knew who this "he" was referring to, and said nonchalantly: "You want to buy a son for a pair of worn-out shoes? That 'son' is too cheap. I'll buy two tomorrow."

Dou Xun didn't argue with him about the logic behind this nonsense, and asked, "Then what do you plan to do to recognize him?"

"Two or three million, maybe. I'm not expensive," Xu Xilin roughly calculated and said with a good sense of economy, "Although my mother couldn't afford to spend so much money to raise me, money in the past was more valuable than it is now, so this factor must also be considered."

He even wanted to take inflation into account, how meticulous!

However, Dou Xun only felt that he heard a bit of ruthless rationality, because he thought he was not lovable at all, so even if he occasionally got a little close to others, he would be trembling with fear, always worrying that others would see his "true face" and cut off this little intimacy.

Dou Xun didn't consider at all that Xu Xilin might just be still angry because Mr. Zheng said bad things about Ms. Xu Jin.

He was used to hanging a "suspended death sentence" sign around his neck out of fear, so that if he was "executed immediately" one day, his reaction would not be too surprised and he could appear more decent.

Dou Xun thought: "I must go to school for another year."

Every day this thought became stronger than the day before, because he felt that this short-lived happiness would be less and less.

In the blink of an eye, the last semester of the noisy second year of high school came to an end as the weather turned warmer. Zhu Xiaocheng and Dou Junliang's divorce lawsuit did not go smoothly. The couple put aside the last bit of warmth and what was left were conflicts of interest, especially with the involvement of a mistress who was tiptoeing to take the position.

If it weren't for the living expenses that came to him monthly, Dou Xun would almost have the illusion that he was born an orphan.

He gradually got used to the days at the Xu family. The little restraint he had at the beginning disappeared, and he slowly gained a sense of presence among his classmates.

Dou Xun kept his word and promised himself to stay in high school for another year, but he really wanted to miss the college entrance examination.

It was the day when the "Coming of Age Ceremony" was being held, and the entire second-year high school building was filled with teenagers dressed in particularly elegant attire - this is a special tradition of No. 6 Middle School. I heard that in many other schools, the "Coming of Age Ceremony" is held together with the "College Entrance Examination Oath Rally", but only No. 6 Middle School chooses to hold it at the end of the second year of high school, when the previous class of students is about to take the college entrance examination, and it is held in a rather grand manner.

At this time, most students are not considered "adults" in the legal sense, but the school requires them to change out of their school uniforms in advance and wear formal clothes for a day. If girls are willing, they can also put on simple makeup. Parents who are free can also come to watch the ceremony. This means that once the "college entrance examination holiday" is over, these students will enter the real graduating class in a responsible way.

After the entire coming-of-age ceremony, Qilixiang was almost exhausted. It was at this time that Dou Xun, wearing a snow-white shirt, knocked on the door to inform her of the bad news.

Qilixiang was going crazy. Dou Xun hadn't caused her any trouble for a while, and it seemed that even his symptoms of being unsociable had improved. Qilixiang thought that her sincerity had moved the heavens and finally influenced this particularly stubborn boy, but who knew that all the fuss was just the calm before the storm, and that he had been holding back a big trick for her!

The college entrance examination was signed up long ago. The policy of the high school sophomores in No. 6 Middle School is to take the real exam, not the kind of "training" with fake student records. This is equivalent to allowing students to graduate early. Since they have already "graduated", whether Dou Xun missed the exam this year or failed the exam and didn't go, in any case, if he plans to take the college entrance examination next year, he can no longer be considered a freshman.

For no reason, you have to repeat a grade. Aren't you just bored?

Qilixiang explained the pros and cons of this matter to Dou Xun, "Do you know how much is involved here? Some schools and majors have restrictions on previous students. Of course, the restrictions are not many. If you don't have such ambitions, it won't affect anything. But the extra points you got from participating in competitions will be invalidated! How many people can be affected by one point in the college entrance examination, Dou Xun, do you understand?"

After listening to this, Dou Xun calmly replied: "As long as the score is high enough, a few points more or less will not have much impact."

Qilixiang was almost fainted by his brazen words.

Qilixiang collapsed: "Why are you doing this?"

The excuse of "I want to stay in high school for another year" was really not a good one, so Dou Xun thought about it and said, "I don't want to take the exam this year."

Qilixiang found that she had basically no way to communicate with this naughty kid, so she had to call Dou Junliang urgently.

Dou Junliang was already getting annoyed by his ex-wife who was trying to split up the family and a bunch of vixens, but when he heard that it was about the college entrance examination, he finally made time to come to the school.

Unexpectedly, Qilixiang had failed to get the parents' help last time, so after calling Dou Junliang, she called Xu Jin. However, Ms. Xu Jin was in the Cayman Islands and was out of reach, so she had to inform Zhu Xiaocheng through other means.

Then... Dou Junliang and Zhu Xiaocheng, a pair of enemies made in heaven, met head-on in Qilixiang's office.

Before Qilixiang could explain the whole story, Zhu Xiaocheng started to throw a tantrum.

The beautiful woman had a look on her face that looked like she was about to cry, and she forcefully hugged Dou Xun, pointed at Dou Junliang and said, "Son, tell me if it's because he hangs out with some questionable people all day that it's affecting your mood for the exam? Dou Junliang, I'm telling you, this is a critical period for the child, and if you delay him, I'll never forgive you!"

Dou Junliang felt that this woman was being unreasonable: "Oh, you blame me for this. Who hasn't been home for ten years? Is it me? Ask Dou Xun, if he sees you on the street, does he still recognize you as his mother? Now you're getting angry with me! I'm telling you, you can't make it!"

Qilixiang's head became twice as big as before: "You two, calm down, calm down..."

Dou Junliang waved his hand and said, "Teacher, listen to me. Before this woman came back, we lived a good life, right, Dou Xun? You know that too! That child's grades are not bad, right? This year's college entrance examination was also requested by her own efforts. Hey, I'm confused, why did everything go haywire when you came back, Zhu Xiaocheng?"

Before he finished speaking, Zhu Xiaocheng screamed, "Dou Junliang, it was you who abandoned the child in that stinky ditch in your hometown!"

Dou Junliang immediately flew into a rage: "Yes, we come from a stinky mountain valley, and you are a city dweller! My whole family are poor peasants, and you are a city girl who lives on rations! If you look down on me so much, why did you insist on marrying me?"

Zhu Xiaocheng spat in his face: "Bah, you are shameless!"

Qilixiang: “…”

There was a light scent of perfume in Zhu Xiaocheng's arms. It wasn't strong, but no one knew what strange ingredients were in it. It kept coming into Dou Xun's nose, making him feel a little nauseous.

A drop of saliva from Zhu Xiaocheng landed on the back of his hand. Dou Xun suddenly felt that he had had enough. He pushed Zhu Xiaocheng away and rushed out of Qilixiang's office.

Then he saw Xu Xilin at the end of the corridor in the teacher's office.

Dou Xun, who used to stick to him every day, suddenly went to the teacher's office alone without saying a word, and didn't come back for a long time. Xu Xilin was a little worried, so he ran to Qilixiang's office after school. He was not afraid of Qilixiang, because he would have knocked on the door and gone in normally. But before Xu Xilin could knock on the door, he heard crying and cursing through the door, and thought he had come to the family conflict mediation room of the neighborhood committee.

Xu Xilin awkwardly walked around the office door for a few times, then saw the wooden door of the office fly open and a man rushed out like a typhoon.

Xu Xilin was stunned: "Bean filling!"

Dou Xun turned a deaf ear to him and just ran downstairs. Xu Xilin threw his schoolbag over his shoulder and hurriedly chased after him. The two of them ran out of the teaching and research office building at the speed of a 100-meter sprint. Xu Xilin finally caught Dou Xun at the door of the second floor of the teaching building and asked carefully, "What's going on?"

Dou Xun did not inherit Zhu Xiaocheng's hysterical habit. His anger was silent and his pain was quiet. The boy's thin chest rose and fell violently without a sound, and his face and shirt were almost the same color.

Xu Xilin tentatively reached out and patted his elbow, but Dou Xun suddenly turned around and hugged him tightly.

Xu Xilin had a heavy schoolbag hanging on one of his shoulders, and he could only lift it asymmetrically with his hands, not knowing where to put it. He couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, because he felt that the meaning of this hug seemed different from the boys' usual physical contact without any taboos.

"No..." Xu Xilin muttered softly, "What happened?"

Dou Xun didn't say anything, just closed his eyes gently, feeling that there was only a small corner of the world left for him to stand.