After quietly finishing this meal, Li Zhenguan went back upstairs to his room. Looking around his room, it had more of a simple student feel compared to his room in the Jiangcheng villa. Many books were placed on the desk, with a physics exercise book open. He should have been rushing to finish his homework.

Everything in the room was familiar, and the blurred images in his memory gradually filled in at this moment. The walls were clean, without any messy posters. Li Zhenguan thought to himself, it’s good that he didn’t have any embarrassing history from his youth, otherwise it would be too awkward now.

He glanced at his phone. Today was Sunday, and he should be going to school tomorrow. The exercise book on the desk was clearly weekend homework assigned by the teacher. He tried to remember what homework he had, but couldn’t recall in the end. He now only had memories of the future, not of the present.

If he were to stay here forever, it would be terrible. It would mean he would have to read all the books again, no less challenging than climbing Mount Everest.

Although he now had a degree from Jiangcheng University, having to read junior high school material again would inevitably require a lot of effort, and he might not be able to achieve his future accomplishments.

After all—Li Zhenguan looked at the questions in the exercise book and found he couldn’t do them at all, not having a clue. Regarding physics and electricity, he only remembered parallel and series connections, with no impression of anything else.

He tried, but really couldn’t do it, so he gave up and decided to deal with it at school tomorrow. He wasn’t the type to fear being scolded by teachers for not completing homework before. He only maintained the image of a good, studious student to keep up his outward appearance.

With this plan, Li Zhenguan first sent a message to his parents in Jiangcheng, saying he wanted to return to study there, and also told Li Zhenwei, coaxing her to be his tutor.

After completing all this, he sat at the desk, looking at the low buildings and small hills in the distance outside the window, and saved Wang Zhao’s phone number as a contact.

Whether he was here temporarily or permanently, Wang Zhao would only have him by her side. And the only thing he could do now was to get to her side as soon as possible, replacing Chen Fangli to occupy the position by her side in advance.

In the following days, Li Zhenguan quietly waited for news from Jiangcheng. His transfer couldn’t be arranged immediately, and there would definitely be some arrangements to make in between. Although he was waiting quietly, Li Zhenguan wasn’t doing nothing. He added Wang Zhao’s QQ number with his own QQ account, originally hoping it might be accepted, but unsurprisingly, Wang Zhao didn’t accept it.

The internet wasn’t as developed as in the future, and some people’s information couldn’t be found online. Li Zhenguan could only wait quietly while reviewing his junior high textbooks. Fortunately, he was only in the second year of junior high now, and the course progress wasn’t very far. In just two weeks, he had gone through the chemistry and physics books once. Junior high knowledge wasn’t challenging, and he could basically do the exercises after reading the books.

Half a month after he arrived here, news came from Jiangcheng that Jiangcheng No.1 High School had made arrangements, and he could go there.

So, Ms. Yang took Li Zhenguan to the school to handle the transfer procedures. That day, Li Zhenguan only remembered his classmates crying as if the world was ending, shedding tears when he left.

Among them, his deskmate cried the most heartbrokenly, but Li Zhenguan’s heart was now fully occupied by Wang Zhao, without any sadness of parting. He was like a swallow returning to its nest, eager to return to Wang Zhao’s side.

So on this day, while his classmates were crying and watching Li Zhenguan leave, he had a slight smile and expectation on his face.

He was ready to see Wang Zhao again. It was Wang Zhao’s youth that he hadn’t witnessed or participated in, even if now he was only going to join the tail end of that youth.

However, before going to Jiangcheng, Li Zhenguan told his family that he was planning to live outside, as their villa was too far from the school. Even driving would take more than forty minutes, and during rush hour, it might take an hour to get to school. So he righteously asked to buy a house in a community near Jiangcheng No.1.

At this time, housing prices weren’t expensive yet. A 100-square-meter house would probably cost only a few hundred thousand. But money was also more valuable in this era, and a few hundred thousand wasn’t a small amount for the Li family, though not something they couldn’t afford casually. They weren’t the type of family to squander money.

However, Li Zhenguan’s New Year’s money over the years might be enough to barely pay the down payment, so he could only beg his parents, saying he wanted to study at Jiangcheng No.1, all the way through high school, for another five years, and buying a house in a community near Jiangcheng No.1 would be most convenient.

In this era, there were no restrictions on home purchases yet, and it was common for rich people to buy properties. It was just that the community where Li Zhenguan said he wanted to buy a house surprised them. Li Zhenguan somehow got information that the house he wanted to buy was in a transit community, where mostly institutional staff lived.

The houses here weren’t old yet, having been built only about ten years ago. Yang Jin took time to come and look, then bought this house in full and put it under Li Zhenguan’s name.

Besides this, what surprised Li Zhenguan was that Ms. Yang decided to come to Jiangcheng with him this time, even packing her luggage.

Li Zhenguan, sitting on the plane, was still a bit confused: “Grandmother, why did you agree to go live in Jiangcheng this time?” His mother and father had invited Ms. Yang many times before, but she had never agreed.

Ms. Yang patted Li Zhenguan’s head. She had a pair of glasses perched on her nose and was reading a book.

“Your mother and father are hardly ever home now, and your sister is living at school. There’s no one at home, so it’s convenient for me to come and take care of you,” Ms. Yang said. “After you’ve adjusted to high school, I’ll go back to the town.”

Alright. This was good too. With Ms. Yang coming here, Li Zhenguan felt relieved. Perhaps due to her age, Ms. Yang’s health wasn’t as good as before, and he could take the opportunity to take her for a medical checkup.

The flight from here to Jiangcheng was just under two hours. After a rumbling sound, the plane landed.

After just half a month, he actually felt a bit nervous about returning home. They had someone to pick them up outside. Today, Yang Jin and Li Zhenguan’s mother were both busy, so they sent Li Zhenwei to pick them up. They went through a special passage and saw the car not far away in the parking lot. Li Zhenwei was standing by the car making a phone call. As soon as she saw Li Zhenguan and Ms. Yang pushing their luggage, she hung up.

“Grandmother,” Li Zhenwei smiled and walked over, calling out.

Seeing Li Zhenguan beside her, she patted his head: “Zhenguan, long time no see, you’ve grown a bit taller.”

Height was a sore point for Li Zhenguan now. Compared to his future height of over 1.80 meters, he was still growing in junior high and was always shorter than girls his age.

Li Zhenguan tilted his head, avoiding Li Zhenwei’s touch. She didn’t mind much, taking the luggage from both of them and, with the driver’s help, putting it in the trunk. Then she said, “Mom and Dad have to attend a very important meeting today, so they couldn’t find time to come pick you up. But they’ve already had the housekeeper prepare your favorite dishes. They’ll probably be home by evening.”

Ms. Yang didn’t care much whether her son and son-in-law came to pick her up or not, and neither did Li Zhenguan. In his memory, his father and mother were very busy at this age, so he wasn’t surprised at all by what Li Zhenwei said.

When they got home, Li Zhenguan returned to his room, but neither he nor Ms. Yang took their luggage from the car. They just said they wouldn’t be staying here after dinner, and the driver could take them directly to the transit community.

Perhaps because Li Zhenguan was due to report to school the day after tomorrow, Li Zhenwei didn’t say much. The three of them ate dinner here and waited for a while, but Yang Jin and the others hadn’t returned. Ms. Yang couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer. Being older now, she went to bed earlier and didn’t have as much energy as before. After flying and driving today, she was already very tired, so she took Li Zhenguan and prepared to leave.

Li Zhenwei couldn’t stop them and could only let them go.

It was also very late, already past nine o’clock.

Thirty minutes later, the driver dropped them off downstairs. There were only stairs here, no elevator, which was one point Yang Jin had criticized before. But Li Zhenguan insisted on buying a house here, and there was nothing he could do. Considering the building wasn’t very tall, he still bought this house. After all, Li Zhenguan said if he found climbing stairs inconvenient in the future, it would be this kid’s problem.

The driver helped carry the luggage up. Li Zhenguan walked behind, slowly climbing the stairs. As he was about to enter the door, he heard movement behind him. He turned his head to look, and a familiar face came into view.

A girl with some youthful innocence still on her face, carrying a backpack, wearing a school uniform, slowly emerged from the darkness of the stairwell. Her skin was fair, her features clear and elegant, yet naturally carrying a hint of coldness. She was looking down, seemingly pondering some problem, her expression serious. Noticing the shadow in front of her, she raised her head, meeting the boy’s gaze with just a moment of surprise.

Li Zhenguan felt his heart start to beat violently. This was Wang Zhao from high school.

She had entered his sight so suddenly and unexpectedly, breaking all the countless scenarios he had imagined for their reunion.

After just a second of surprise, Wang Zhao reacted. This was the new neighbor who had just moved in. She instinctively nodded politely, then paid no more attention, taking out her key to open the door, and went inside.

Li Zhenguan, standing at the door, seemed to hear conversation from behind the door. It was Zhang Ke asking the young girl if she was hungry. She was in her third year of high school now, a crucial period, and evening self-study ended after 10 PM every day, four or five hours after dinner.

Li Zhenguan touched his chest, as if returning to a time long, long ago. He too had been entering a door when a woman had unexpectedly entered his sight, then branded his heart with an indelible mark.