Chapter 1: The Boy Under the Rose Trellis

  Every person, when they meet the one they love, will have a lingering feeling in their heart. —— Wang Fei

  In an orphanage in Western Jin, there is a group of children who have no birth certificates, no parents, and some don't even have names.

  From the moment they fell to the ground, until now, their fate has been one of hardship and suffering. They seem like abandoned works of God, destined to carry incomplete wings and the sorrow of the four seasons.

  You should be grateful, grown-ups say, because you are lucky.

  The day the heavy snow buried the platform, we carried you back from the train station with a note stuck to your body. It read: Sorry, Cat Niu - Su Xing left.

  So this became your name, no one knew who your parents were, no one knew why you were abandoned. But you are luckier than most people here.

  You are not deaf, you are not mute, you are not stupid, you are not silly, your body is healthy and you also have a name.

  So you should be grateful and humble, instead of bullying others just because you're older.

  Yes, I should be grateful for being trapped in a life of fate from the very beginning.

  And also one with an inexplicable name.

  But it's just relatively complete, I'm still a person with defects.

  She walked along the corridor with a lonely stride, her feet kicking at the pebbles on the ground. Having just left the principal's office, she couldn't help but feel a little downhearted.

  Soft sunlight spilled down, golden rays dancing with the pebbles, finally coming to rest at someone's feet.

  The cat raised its head and saw a little boy standing under the rose trellis, warm sunlight wrapping around the rose petals, wrapping around his delicate face, as well as the blue bruises on his face.

  He seemed to have been waiting for a long time, but he didn't open his mouth to speak, just staring at her like that.

  The cat wrinkled its brow, and for some reason, its jet-black eyes made her feel very uncomfortable, as if a black river had submerged her, where there was no light, no sound. There was only her futile struggle in the dark suffocation.

  She carefully sized up the boy in front of her. He looked like a very quiet person, and even for a moment, he would make people think he was an angel.

  However, he was not obedient at all, his eyes were always dull and seemed to carry a predetermined wound.

  It was because of him, because of his eyes, that she would enter the office.

  It was in the morning when classmates were all well-behaved in class, she alone strolled around the playground, noticing him only because he had never been seen before, guessing that he must be a newcomer.

  Until several boys walked up to him, laughing and teasing about something, as a result he pounced on them, like a small beast out of control, with desperation in his eyes.

  At that time, she rushed to help, actually she didn't have a grasp on it, but just didn't want to see the wounds in his eyes, those desperate and pitch-black wounds, which made her feel painful.

  He was destined to be someone who would hurt her from the very beginning.

  Fortunately, those kids were easily intimidated and ran away when they saw her age, and reported to the principal.

  As she thought back, the cat had already walked to his side. She spoke in her usual lazy tone, "Are you a wooden stake? Can't beat others and won't run away? If not running is fine, at least shout out loud a couple of times."

  The boy slightly frowned, indifferently glanced at her, and was about to turn around and leave.

  She was furious at his rudeness: "Hey! Not even a thank you and you just walk away like that? What did you come here for?"

  She is easily irritated.

  The boy's footsteps paused for a moment, his lonely figure looked very cold, so cold that even the sunlight couldn't warm him up. He didn't turn back, he still left.

  He just wanted to know if she was okay, nothing more.