To bring little Qianxia back to the Zhu house, I’d have to go downstairs. But to go downstairs, I’d need to deactivate my clone. And with Qianxia still in the room, I couldn’t deactivate it.

A real paradoxical dilemma.

So there I sat on the bed with her in my arms, the lights off to avoid alerting Dad or Wu Qinglan, chatting idly by moonlight filtering through the window.

Why does her hair smell so good?

“Hey, sis… do you think I’ll grow t̲i̲t̲s̲ as big as yours someday?”

Who the hell taught her that word?

“Ahem! Little girls shouldn’t go around saying t̲i̲t̲s̲, okay?” I corrected her quickly.

Sweet, innocent Qianxia—still a blank slate. Can’t let some twisted adult ruin her.

“If you really must talk about it, ‘chest’ is a softer word. The technical term is breasts. But don’t say t̲i̲t̲s̲, got it?”

“Say ‘chest’…?”
She echoed me uncertainly, nodding like she half-understood.

I glanced down at her flat little torso. At ten, she was just barely starting to develop. She had time. There was still hope.

“Every girl’s chest is different. Some stay flat like boys, and that’s totally normal too.”

Most of our conversations went like this: she’d ask the questions, and I’d do my best to answer them, one by one—feeding her endless curiosity.

It was around 8:30 when things finally shifted. Wu Qinglan drove off in her red sports car, which meant the only ones left at home were me, little Qianxia, and Dad.

As soon as she left, Dad dashed upstairs and tried to open my bedroom door. It was locked, of course, so he started knocking.

“Son? You awake?”

I guess he thought my real body was still sleeping?

I lowered my voice, doing my best to sound like a guy.
“Yeah. What is it?”

“You haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you? Xiao Wu checked earlier, and said you were still asleep.”

“I was, but maybe it’s better if you don’t come in.”

He must’ve noticed how forced my voice sounded, because Qianxia started giggling.

“…There’s someone else in there?”

“Yeah, that’s why I said don’t come in. The neighbor’s kid’s over, just hanging out. That’s my dad, Qianxia—say hi.”

“Hello, Uncle!”

“Oh, well… Wait a second, when did she get up there?!”

Dad was clearly starting to panic.

“You want to meet her? She’s really well-behaved.”

“No, that’s okay. Let’s just not. There’s still some food downstairs—help yourself if you’re hungry. I’ll… I’ll be in my room hiding.”

Treating this sweet little girl like a disaster… What a disgraceful adult.

“You already had dinner, right?” I asked her.

“Yup!” she chirped.

Lucky her. My real body had only eaten a single cup of instant noodles all day… Guess I’ll treat that as an impromptu diet.

“It’s already late. I’ll take you home now.”

She looked a little reluctant, but obediently followed me downstairs.

“Sister, can I come play with you again tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow only brother will be here. But as long as I’m home, feel free to visit—just don’t climb the windows again, alright? That’s way too dangerous.”

If anything ever happened to her, I’d be so screwed.

I carried Qianxia down and watched her dash back into her yard, then grabbed the outfit bag I’d stashed in the bushes earlier and went back upstairs.

“Ugh, I’m starving… My stomach’s cramping up. I’m gonna end up with an ulcer at this rate…”

I wiped the name off the bookmark and crawled out from under the bed.

First thing I saw was that black dress on the floor—covered in dust and grime from the whole climbing fiasco. I’d need to clean it thoroughly before returning it to Fei. I felt awful about it.

The next day—Sunday.

The sky was heavy and dark. Thick clouds rolled in like a ceiling about to collapse, smothering the daylight. Looked like a real downpour was brewing—well, it was September. Rainy season’s about due, and summer’s just about over.

“Big sis!”

Right after breakfast, Qianxia was already ringing our doorbell. Dad, who had the day off, nearly jumped out of his skin when the little girl barged in.

“Go on upstairs to my room, Qianxia.”

“Okay!”

“I’ll be in my room, son. Let me know when she leaves.”

“Dad, she’s just a kid. You’re acting way too weird about this. We’ll just stay upstairs—you don’t have to hide in your room then.”

When I got back to my room, Qianxia was already reaching her greedy little hands toward my shelf of figure models.

Luckily, the moment she saw me, she dropped the idea and ran over with a smile.

Dad’s behavior didn’t seem to bother her much. What she was more concerned about… was my now-flat chest.

“Big sis, can you bring your chest back out?”

Excuse me? Is it supposed to be some sort of snap-on part? I’m not a Gundam!

“I’m a brother right now. You can only call me ‘sister’ when I have a chest. Got it?”

“Sis~”

When it came to titles, this kid refused to budge.

Rain started falling not long after, filling the air with a damp scent. I rarely did this, but I drew back the curtain on the balcony.

Qianxia was on the floor, effortlessly rolling through combat moves with her game character on the TV. Meanwhile, I leaned against the frame, watching the rain cascade outside.

The fine, fast rain rattled against the leaves, the pavement, the roof edges. Sometimes loud, sometimes soft. It drowned out the world, and the longer I listened, the more peaceful it felt.

Especially the rain sliding off the roof’s gutters—an endless stream of silvery threads, trickling and murmuring like a little creek. Clear, soothing… and suddenly really making me need to pee. Ugh. Bathroom time.

Lunch was noodles—thin wheat noodles, courtesy of Dad.

He knocked on my door, but didn’t stick around. Just left a tray with two bowls: one big, one small.

After lunch, Qianxia rubbed her eyes, starting to nod off. With the rain still pouring and it being too much trouble to walk her home, I just let her nap on my bed.

Her head hit the pillow and she was out in under three seconds.

No sooner had she dozed off than my phone buzzed. It was Rinka.

Not wanting to wake the tiny sleeping angel, I grabbed my crutch and stepped into the stairwell before answering.

“Rinka?”

“Oh, that voice—looks like Kai-chan’s back to normal now…”

She sounded almost disappointed.

“Yeah, I changed back last night. What’s up?”

“You mentioned before… Sis Fei can still go back to her original self, right?”

“That’s right.”

“She’s planning to do that next Sunday. She wants to meet my little cousin Jing again—as a father.”

She’d mentioned yesterday that Fei was seeing her ex-wife and daughter today.

“It’s doable, but did something happen during today’s meeting?”

There was a pause.

“Kai-chan… If you saw your long-lost mom again, would you be angry?”

The sudden question directed at me caught me off guard.

“Well, that would depend on why she disappeared. I’ve never even met her, so I don’t know.”

A sigh came through the line.
“Right… Your situation’s different. But little Jing—she had a father. She remembers what that love felt like. That’s why the contrast hit her so hard.”

“What kind of contrast?”

“It’s upsetting just thinking about it. Over dinner today, right in front of Sis Fei… she said her dad was a murderer. Said the person she hates most in the world is her father.”

I was stunned.

Now I understood why Rinka had asked me that question.

“What about Sis Fei? How did she react?”

“She cried.”

The wall of ice around Fei’s heart—shattered by her daughter’s words.

Reality can be cruel. Too cruel.

I remember back when Old Feng lived in that dingy rental under the bridge. He kept a child’s drawing in a picture frame. If I had to guess, it probably came from little Jing long ago.

That drawing was his treasure. His wife and daughter had once been the pillars of his world.

“She held it together until after dinner,” Rinka said quietly. “Only cried after my aunt took little Jing home. I didn’t know what to do… but Sis Fei had already made up her mind.”

“She wants to go back to her old self. She wants to see her daughter again—as her father.”

The rain kept falling. The clouds pressed lower and lower, making everything feel stuffy—inside and out.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll talk to Xiao Lei. You just focus on being there for her.”