The afternoon sunlight fell through the mottled iron fence.

A little boy with a bowl cut sat beneath a lush, broad-crowned oak tree, curled up with his knees hugged to his chest. His right hand idly traced patterns in the dirt.

Behind him, a group of children around his age were gathered around a penguin-shaped slide whose surface had been worn smooth and shiny. One after another, they took turns playing, laughing happily.

“Excuse me, is this an orphanage?”

The voice was childish and sweet, speaking perfectly standard Mandarin.

The bowl-cut boy looked up at the sound and saw a round, chubby head perfectly wedged between the bars of the fence. The owner of that head was gazing at him with bright, black eyes that gleamed like polished onyx.

The boy had only ever seen such plump, doll-like children in New Year paintings. For a moment, he stared in fascination and forgot to answer the question.

The little boy in the New Year-painting-like face tilted his head, then stuck out his bottom and pushed hard against the iron gate until it opened. He walked up to the other boy.

“My name is Fu Yan. I’ve come to join you guys.”

The bowl-cut boy continued to stare at him silently, sunlight forming a halo around his smooth, straight bangs.

Hmm. He looks a little like the Bombay cat we have at home. I bet he feels really nice to pet.

Thinking this, Fu Yan stepped a little closer.

“What’s your name? Are you an orphan too?”

The bowl-cut boy didn't want to answer that question. It was obvious that he was an orphan, but this boy named Fu Yan was wearing shiny round-toed leather shoes, a matching shirt, vest, and little suit jacket, along with a leather backpack almost half as big as himself. He looked unmistakably like a rich family's young master—not at all like an orphan who had no one to love him.

“Hey, where did you come from, little boy?”

A teacher who had been dozing in the shade of the corridor suddenly woke up after noticing the unexpected visitor.

“Hello, Teacher.”

Fu Yan immediately flashed a sweet smile and toddled over on tiny steps.

With his little mouth curled into a smile, he said something to the teacher in his sweet voice. Before long, the teacher picked him up and took him to meet the director.

And so, at dinner, a round little head appeared beside the bowl-cut boy.

Fu Yan's original seat hadn't been next to him. He had carried his tray over and squeezed himself between the bowl-cut boy and an older child, wriggling his little bottom until he had successfully pushed the older boy away.

Fu Yan stared at the two glossy pieces of braised pork in his tray. He raised his little chopsticks and deliberated for a long time before finally managing to pick up the larger piece and put it into the bowl-cut boy's bowl.

The boy looked at him in bewilderment.

Fu Yan grinned, pursed his slightly pouty lips, and said, “I don't like eating.”

After that, Fu Yan alternated between poking at the rice in his own bowl and staring intently at the bowl-cut boy.

By the time everyone else had finished eating, hardly any of the food on his tray had been touched.

That evening's activity was watching cartoons together.

The bowl-cut boy wasn't very interested. Halfway through, he returned to his room by himself.

There were twelve children in their class, and they all slept together in one large room, with their beds lined up side by side.

The bowl-cut boy hugged a copy of One Hundred Thousand Whys that he had just borrowed from the reading room, preparing to lie down and read.

He switched on the light.

On the bed opposite him sat a round little body with its back to him, munching on something with loud crunch, crunch sounds.

Fu Yan reacted instantly. He shoved whatever he was holding under his blanket, turned his head, and blinked his shiny black eyes at the other boy.

“I wasn't… I wasn't eating potato chips.”

The bowl-cut boy glanced at the two crumbs stuck to the corner of Fu Yan's mouth, then quietly sat down on his own bed and began reading.

Fu Yan licked the salty, fragrant taste from his lips. Unable to resist, he pulled the half-eaten bag of chips out from under his blanket.

“Fine, I'll share with you. But you can't tell Teacher Li, or she'll stop giving me little red stars.”

After dinner, every child who had left not a single grain of rice on their plate had received a little red star from Teacher Li. Fu Yan hadn't gotten one. He pretended not to care, but secretly he was very upset about it. He wanted a red star too.

But the bowl-cut boy seemed not to have heard him and continued reading, completely ignoring him.

“Gu Zhan! Are you listening to me?”

Fu Yan planted his hands on his hips, puffed up with indignation at being ignored.

“Hehe, you're probably wondering how I know your name, right?”

Fu Yan raised his round, soft chin proudly.

“I gave Ming a packet of spicy strips, and he told me.”

“Oh, right. Do you want some spicy strips? I still have some.”

Fu Yan hopped down from his bed, retrieved his enormous backpack from the cabinet by the wall, and ran over to Gu Zhan.

“Here, you can have these. Oh, I have this too—crispy sausages. Want one?”

Little Gu Zhan looked up at his enthusiastic smile and shook his head.

“Hmph.”

Fu Yan plopped back onto his bed.

“You don't want them yourself. Fine, then I'll eat them all by myself.”

And so he proceeded to devour all his snacks like a little hamster, crunch, crunch, crunch.

Night fell, and all the children drifted into sweet dreams.

Little Gu Zhan squeezed his eyes shut and tried for a long time to fall asleep, but he still couldn't. This was normal for him; he suffered from insomnia every now and then.

Just as he was becoming increasingly frustrated, he suddenly heard a strange gurgle—rumble—gurgle coming from the bed opposite him, almost like someone blowing bubbles.

The twelve beds in the room were arranged in two rows. The two beds opposite each other had their headboards touching, so in the silence of night, the sound was as clear as water boiling right above his head.

Unable to stand it any longer, Gu Zhan finally climbed out of bed to see what on earth the other boy was doing.

Fu Yan was rolling around on his bed, clutching his stomach. The moment he saw Gu Zhan get up, he blinked pitifully and murmured,

“I'm… so hungry.”

Gu Zhan offered a merciless remark.

“Snacks don't fill you up. That's what you get for not eating properly.”

“Waaah, I can't sleep.”

Fu Yan squirmed around like a caterpillar.

“I'm really hungry… I'm going to starve to death… I want tiramisu… soufflé… I want lots and lots of little cakes…”

Seeing how miserable he looked, Gu Zhan reached under his pillow and pulled out something wrapped in a handkerchief.

Fu Yan's eyes immediately lit up.

“Is it a little cake?”

He excitedly unwrapped the handkerchief and examined the contents in the moonlight coming through the window.

“Ah… it's just a boiled egg.”

“Eat it or don't.”

Gu Zhan started to take the egg back.

Fu Yan immediately tucked it against his chest.

“Who said I don't want it? I want it! I'm starving to death, waah!”

The two boys wrapped themselves in their blankets like little triangular dumplings and faced each other at the head of the beds. One wolfed down the egg while the other silently watched.

Suddenly, a beam of light flashed outside the window, like a flashlight.

Gu Zhan reacted quickly and yanked his own blanket over Fu Yan's head.

The light outside the door drew closer and swept around the room.

A gentle voice came from outside the window.

“Let Teacher see which little friend hasn't gone to sleep like a good boy yet.”

The two boys held their breath nervously beneath the blanket, afraid of being discovered. But the harder they tried to control their breathing, the more rapid it became.

There was only so much air beneath the blanket. Before long, Gu Zhan's nose was filled with a faint, milky fragrance.

This young master's scent is really nice.

He froze for a moment.

By the time the teacher checking on the children had walked away, he still hadn't remembered to lift the blanket.

Little Fu Yan impatiently yanked it off himself and gulped in huge breaths of fresh air.

“Gu Zhan, you were going to suffocate me!”

Little Gu Zhan came back to himself and glanced at him.

“Don't you want your ‘Good Little Boy’ red star?”

“Oh.”

Fu Yan realized that Gu Zhan had covered him with the blanket to keep the teacher from seeing him, helping him earn his red star.

He suddenly felt a little embarrassed and poked Gu Zhan's shoulder with a soft little finger.

“Then… thank you.”

Gu Zhan turned around, climbed back under his own blanket, tucked himself in, and went to sleep.

Fu Yan looked at him, moonlight casting a soft glow over his face, and whispered,

“And thank you for the egg.”

“You're welcome.”

Gu Zhan closed his eyes and pursed his lips.

“The egg was yours in the first place.”

“Huh?”

Fu Yan hadn't realized that the egg he'd eaten so happily was the very same one he'd left on his dinner tray. Gu Zhan had seen it and saved it for him in case he got hungry later.

“Gu Zhan, you should call me Big Brother from now on. I'll protect you.”

“Humph.”

“Then how old are you this year?”

“Six.”

“What a coincidence! I'm six too. Which month is your birthday?”

“November.”

“Mine's in October.”

Little Fu Yan counted quietly on his fingers.

“Eight, nine, ten, eleven…”

And little Gu Zhan opened one eye and glanced at him.

“Stop counting. Eleven comes after ten. I'm the older one, so I'm the Big Brother.”

“Mm… I guess that's true.”

Fu Yan unhappily pouted.

“But… I want to be the Big Brother.”

“You idiot. It's obvious you don't study hard enough.”

Gu Zhan muttered the insult under his breath and went to sleep by himself, though the corners of his mouth were secretly curling upward.

Fu Yan was left alone, feeling dejected.

Why am I not the Big Brother? I really want to be the Big Brother…

But he was only gloomy for half a minute before happily resuming his snack. After finishing the other half of the egg, he let out a huge yawn.

Looking at Gu Zhan, who seemed to have already fallen asleep, he leaned forward and gave a tiny kiss to the air above the boy's head.

“Mua~ Good night, Brother Gu Zhan.”

Then he rested his chin in his hands, held his breath, and waited quietly, full of anticipation.

Just as he was about to slump back into his own bed in disappointment, the boy opposite him softly replied,

“Mm. Good night.”

Fu Yan immediately flew into the other bed.

“What are you doing?”

Gu Zhan was startled and curled up, moving away from him.

Fu Yan shamelessly wrapped his arms around him from behind and rested his face against the crook of Gu Zhan's shoulder.

“I need to hug my sleepy bear to fall asleep.”

“I'm not your sleepy bear.”

Gu Zhan pushed at him with his shoulder, trying to shake off the clingy little puppy that was little Fu Yan.

“That's okay. I'll make do.”

Fu Yan only hugged him tighter, adjusting himself into a comfortable position before happily closing his eyes.

“It's so warm.”

Gu Zhan struggled twice, but when he realized he couldn't shake him off, he simply gave up and relaxed, closing his eyes as well.

After all, it really is warm.

Gu Zhan had originally thought having someone beside him would make it even harder to sleep.

Who knew that he would sleep soundly through the entire night?

The next day, during their afternoon nap, Fu Yan carried his little pillow over, intending to sneak onto Gu Zhan's bed again.

But just as he sat down, Teacher Li came in and called him away.

Gu Zhan kept his eyes tightly shut, but he couldn't sleep for the entire afternoon.

He waited and waited, but Fu Yan never came back.

During the afternoon break, Gu Zhan sat alone beneath the oak tree again, staring blankly into space.

Fu Yan came out of the main building accompanied by the director. He was wearing the neat little suit he'd arrived in and carrying his large leather backpack.

After saying a few words to the director, he bounced over to the oak tree and sat beside Gu Zhan.

“Why don't you play with everyone else?”

Behind them, the children their age were chasing each other around the penguin slide, laughing and playing happily.

Gu Zhan rested his chin on his knees without saying anything.

Fu Yan tilted his head and leaned in close to him.

“Is it because you don't have any friends?”

Gu Zhan said quietly,

“My friends all left.”

“Where did they go?”

“To their new homes.”

“Then why don't you have a new home?”

Gu Zhan pressed his lips together. He wrapped both arms tightly around himself and curled into a ball, not knowing how to answer.

He had once had a new home.

Then he'd lost it.

Now… he'd rather never have a new home, never have any friends. That way, there would never again be anything that could leave him.

Seeing that Gu Zhan refused to speak, Fu Yan didn't know what else to do. Almost instinctively, he reached out his round little hand and gently stroked Gu Zhan's smooth, shiny black hair.

He stroked it even more gently than he did his family's Bombay cat.

Sure enough, it was soft. It felt wonderful.

“Don't be sad. I'll be your friend.”

Fu Yan unhappily pouted.

“Although… I'm leaving too.”

Gu Zhan turned his head toward him.

“You have a new home too?”

“No. My mommy and the butler uncle found me.”

Fu Yan blinked his eyes miserably.

“Daddy doesn't care about me, Mommy was angry and wouldn't talk to me. I'm just an orphan nobody wants.”

Gu Zhan looked at him with envy and tried to comfort him.

“You have a daddy and a mommy. You're not an orphan.”

“Really?”

When Fu Yan looked up again, the whites of his eyes had turned red.

Gu Zhan's voice softened as the wind passed through the oak branches.

“Your mommy came to take you home because she loves you.”

Fu Yan sniffled and thought about it.

That did seem to make sense.

“Gu Zhan, thank you for comforting me. I feel much happier now.”

His eyes still red, he looked at Gu Zhan, leaned closer, and cupped the boy's drooping head between his little hands.

“You have to be happy too. Even though I can't play with you anymore, I have this…”

He excitedly dug into his backpack and pulled out a Transformers model.

“This is my favorite. I'm giving it to you. And this… and this…”

He dumped a little airplane model, a toy train engine, and all sorts of other things from his backpack.

“These are all my favorite toys. I'm giving them all to you.”

Gu Zhan stared at him in a daze, his nose beginning to sting.

“When I go home, I can invite you to come play at my house too!”

Little Fu Yan's eyes sparkled.

“My house has an elephant slide that's ten thousand times bigger than the one here. We have swings, rocking toys, and lots and lots of little cakes.”

“Where's your house?”

“My house is in Beijing.”

“Fu Yan, Mommy finally found you.”

Outside the fence, a beautiful auntie who was crying her eyes out rushed in and scooped Fu Yan into her arms.

“How could you run away from home? Mommy was so worried about you!”

“Waaah… M-Mommy…”

Gu Zhan watched the mother and son crying together, a relieved smile appearing on his lips.

“Come home with Mommy.”

“Okay. Oh, wait, Mommy.”

Fu Yan wiped away his tears and twisted around in his mother's arms. With his nose still red, he looked toward the little boy beneath the oak tree.

“Gu Zhan, you have to remember to come to Beijing and play with me!”

“Mm.”

Gu Zhan nodded seriously.

“You have to! You really have to! I'll wait for you.”

Fu Yan reluctantly waved goodbye.

“Okay.”

Gu Zhan waved back.

“Remember to study hard. Otherwise, you'll become an idiot.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Fu Yan nodded repeatedly, his eyes once again filling with tears.

“I'll become as smart as you. You have to come find me! We'll meet again, no matter what…”

His childish voice gradually faded into the wind.

Gu Zhan watched that round little figure until it shrank into a tiny dot. His bright eyes shone with determination as he quietly replied,

“We'll meet again, no matter what.”

Many years later, those childhood friends who had met by chance would inevitably be swept away by the passage of time.

Perhaps Gu Zhan would have long forgotten what the young master looked like, and perhaps he would even forget the young master's name.

But whenever he remembered that warm night when they had fallen asleep in each other's arms, a certain corner of his heart would forever, forever remain warmed by him…