A Brilliance, Yet Obtained

On the third weekend after the start of the school term, Song Yinan came to Huihe. When she entered the house, Jing Can was sitting on a small wooden stool, dealing with a pile of dirty laundry. Song Yinan opened the door and came in, called out twice in the living room, but no one answered. Following the indistinct movements, she found Jing Can who was washing clothes in the bathroom. Seeing his appearance, Song Yinan immediately held on to the door frame and laughed lightly.

"How did it become like this?" Song Yinan reached out and stroked his damp forehead, "Why didn’t you use the washing machine?"

Song Yinan didn’t expect that she would see his miserable appearance. Jing Can picked up the white jacket he was holding, smoothed out a section of cloth, and showed it to Song Yinan. He frowned, and his tone was somewhat frustrated, "Some oil got on it, and the washing machine can't wash it off."

"Hmm..." Song Yinan bent down and took a closer look. The long hair at her ears slipped down when she bent low, and she quickly hooked it up with a finger and tucked it back in place. She took the clothes in Jing Can's hand and patted him on the shoulder. "I understand, I'll wash it for you. Go and wash your forehead first. It's already covered with laundry detergent, it will seep into your eyes soon.

After a slight hesitation, Jing Can nodded and stood up.

"Take off the one you’re wearing so I can wash it too." Seeing that the clothes on his body were also a little damp, Song Yinan raised her finger, "It's wet."

Jing Can bowed his head and looked down, nodded again, then returned to his room. He changed into a clean short sleeved shirt. These past couple of days, the temperature has risen, the air terribly dry. When Jing Can undressed, he accidentally hit his nose and felt something warm seep out. He quickly grasped the shirt still on head and pulled away from his cheeks and flung it down. Looking in the mirror again, as expected, the nosebleed was already dripping to the corner of his mouth.

Jing Can and the person in the mirror gazed at each other for a while until his reflection frowned in discomfort. He raised his hand to rub against the nosebleed.

Seeing his nostrils blocked with tissues, Song Yinan was slightly stunned, "Nosebleed?"

"Mhm." Jing Can replied in a thick nasal voice.

"The weather is very dry," Song Yinan thought for a while, and said, "We'll go to the supermarket later and buy you some fruit. From now on, remember to eat some fruit every day."

Jing Can raised no objections and nodded. He originally turned around to leave, but he caught a glimpse of Song Yinan bending over, lowering her head while washing his clothes. He pursed his lips and moved another small stool from the side, placed it diagonally opposite Song Yinan, and sat down. Song Yinan looked up at him with a smile, and asked, "How is it? Have you adjusted at school?"

"Mhm, it's pretty good." Jing Can crossed his arms and folded them over his knees. His shoulders were slightly raised because of his body leaning forward, hiking his light blue shirt up. The expression in his eyes quietened down, and he thought of He Pingyi again.

"Do you get along well with your classmates?"

Get along well……

Jing Can remembered that big piece of cutlet and pressed his mouth on his arm.

Noticing the change in Jing Can's eyes, Song Yinan paused in washing clothes. She leaned forward and looked at Jing Can with a smile, not saying a word.

"Huh?" Jing Can, who was being distracted, gave a response. Unconsciously, his hands left his knees and he couldn't figure out what to do with them for a while. In a panic, he ended up propping them on both sides of the small stool. With great effort, he controlled his expression, bowed down, and raised it quickly: "It's fine, all my classmates are fine."

Song Yinan watched this series of actions, and indistinctly guessed something in her heart. But Jing Can avoided her gaze, so she then smiled and didn't probe deeper.

Jing Can brought the clothes hanger. Song Yinan put the clothes on it, and suddenly asked Jing Can, "Have you ever gone to the rooftop?"

Song Yinan's house was a single detached home, not too big, but the layout was very excellent. The two bedrooms on the upper floor both faced southwards, were spacious and each also had a balcony. There was also a bedroom on the first floor that was converted to a study. Jing Can has never been in that room. He guessed that it should have belonged to Song Yinan's father.

When he was certain that he would study in Huihe, Song Yinan packed and cleaned up the house for him. She told him that the house was designed by her own father. They had limited funds to construct the house and their circumstances were bad. Still, her father put in a lot of work in the design and spared no effort to attain the best result possible.

As for the rooftop that Song Yinan mentioned, Jing Can actually noticed it, but without Song Yinan's lead, he didn't attempt to open that door.

Song Yinan pushed open the door, followed the slightly narrow stairs, and led Jing Can to the rooftop. Jing Can looked around in a circle and discovered a clothesline there.

The sun’s rays were searing. Song Yinan squinted and put the basin on the ground. Jing Can then walked over, helped Song Yinan wring out the clothes and hung them up on the line.

"I like it here."

Song Yinan flattened the clothes, straightened the collar, and was about to call Jing Can to leave when she heard Jing Can say this line.

"Huh?" She turned around in amazement. It was the first time she heard Jing Can express his thoughts with this kind of outspokenness.

And Jing Can's eyes kept staring into the distance. Like a child bouncing up excitedly when he had something he liked very much, he moved his feet and slowly turned around in place. Afterwards, he said again, "This rooftop is very wonderful."

The behaviour was similar, but contained a differing extent. Despite saying such a compliment, Jing Can's tone was still restrained and calm.

For reasons unknown, whether it was due to the sun or because he was happy, Jing Can's face was tinged red, the contrast against his skin made the light in his eyes shine more luminously. This current state of Jing Can brought great gratification to Song Yinan.

The two stood on the rooftop for a while. Jing Can didn't intend to leave, but Song Yinan saw that it was getting late, so she discussed with Jing Can about having a meal first. Jing Can immediately agreed. When she turned around, she saw two small puddles of water on the ground, formed from the dripping clothes she had just hung to dry. The water stains reflected the sunlight, glimmering brightly.

Jing Can took a few more steps, carefully scrutinised the damp stains, and then looked up at the dazzling sun. A thought came to his mind and he quickly suppressed it.

"What's wrong?" Song Yinan asked from behind him.

Jing Can looked at the ground again, and finally lightly shook his head. Song Yinan swept a quick look at the ground before leaving with Jing Can.

The two of them had dinner and then went to the supermarket. Song Yinan picked and bought a bag each of kiwis and apples

"Do you want to eat some mangoes?"

Jing Can picked up one, pressed it lightly in his fingers, and set it down again.

"I won’t eat it. This mango is too ripe to keep."

Song Yinan looked at the pile of golden-bright mangoes, and then at Jing Can’s departing figure. She still picked up three and put them in the bag.

It was very odd that the two children in their family were obviously not born from the same mother, but they both liked mangoes the most. Song Yinan asked Jing Zaixing if it was because he liked to eat mangoes so the two children followed after him. But Jing Zaixing told her that he had allergies to mangoes. As a result, sometimes Song Yinan felt that the reason why they could become a family was also because fate brought them together.

After paying the bill, Song Yinan walked a couple of steps toward the entrance, turned around and suddenly Jing Can was nowhere to be found. Stretching her head to look around, she saw Jing Can still standing by the checkout counter. When she saw him, Song Yinan suspected that something was wrong with her eyes, because Jing Can's expression was evidently filled with joy—his lower jaw was raised, his mouth was slightly opened, and the corners of the mouth were slightly tilted upwards. Song Yinan followed his eyes and saw a row of wall of refrigetator shelves. As she walked towards Jing Can, she glanced in that direction again, chest feeling somewhat strange. Why couldn’t she see any pretty girls?

"Did you see someone you know?" She walked to Jing Can’s side and asked.

"Uhm..." Jing Can turned his head, saw her, and made a sound in response.

Originally, when he said this, Jing Can's face was still relaxed. But for some reason, when Jing Can looked towards the wall chillers again, he suddenly pressed his lips tightly together and lowered his eyes. He was silent for two seconds, finally smiled at Song Yinan, and said, "I saw it wrong."

Song Yinan stayed with Jing Can in Huihe for one night. Early the next morning, Jing Can saw her off at the train station. Before leaving, Song Yinan took her bag from Jing Can, and suddenly said with a smile: "That rooftop, if you want to use it for something, you can do as you please."

Jing Can was obviously shocked. He didn't expect Song Yinan to say this out of the blue.

"Xiao Can, like I said before, this is where I grew up, and it's also your home now, so you can do whatever you want, okay?"

Song Yinan clearly understood that Jing Can was tight-lipped regarding the things he liked. He didn't like to make demands, and moreover, never took the initiative to ask for anything. He has always been like this since he was a child. Even tiny things such as liking to eat mangoes, Song Yinan only realised it after moving in for quite some time. Back then, she had just become Jing Can's mother, and she was very cautious when speaking and when doing things. When he was a child, Jing Can was not naughty at all, and he was never noisy like other children. Even when they went shopping, Song Yinan would ask him what he wanted to eat and Jing Can wouldn't answer. Even when standing in front of the fruit stand, Song Yinan would also ask him to pick a fruit he wanted to eat, but Jing Can never picked any. Initially, Song Yinan thought it was because he was not familiar with her, so he couldn’t choose. But later on, she found out that Jing Can was just like this. As if inside his small world, the words “I want” did not seem to exist. At most, for the things that he liked more, he will stare at them just a few more times. Song Yinan's emotions were soft and abundant since she was a child, so it was natural that she genuinely felt distressed for Jing Can. She felt that because of Jing Zaixing’s upbringing, Jing Can can be this taciturn and calm. From then on, she had been trying to coax Jing Can, telling him that if he liked something, he could tell his mother. There was no way to know if this kind of guidance could bring about results. Afterwards, Jing Can slowly grew up. Although like before, he still didn’t take the initiative to tell her what things he liked and disliked, whenever she asked him to choose, he can already choose the things he liked for himself.

She couldn't completely guess what Jing Can was thinking about yesterday, but with that sort of behaviour, Song Yinan believed that Jing Can must have had an unspoken request.

Qiqi: Song Yinan deserves the best stepmum award!( ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )