Ye Zhe'an left as soon as it was light. Today is Sunday, and he needs to go back to take care of his younger brother.

He hired a nanny for his younger brother. When he didn't have time to be at home, the nanny took care of him. Every Sunday, he gave the nanny a day off and took over.

On the way home, he made a trip to the supermarket to buy essential household items and groceries for the day. He planned to cook a few decent dishes for his younger brother to nourish his body.

When Luo Yuan signed the contract initially, besides helping him resolve that matter, he also agreed to one condition: in the future, if his younger brother finds a kidney source, the Luo family is willing to cover all the surgical expenses.

So these past two years, Ye Zhe'an hasn't been living such a difficult life anymore. He has had plenty of time, managed to save some money, and could occasionally fulfill his younger brother's small requests.

For example, the younger brother likes to paint oil paintings. After buying groceries, he went to the store and bought two boxes of imported oil paint for his younger brother, as well as a book on painting that he likes. He spent quite a bit of money, but he doesn't mind spending it for his younger brother.

Ye Zhe's family lived in an old residential building that didn't look particularly impressive from the outside, but the interior of their home was relatively tidy and neat.

When he arrived home, the nanny had just finished washing the dishes and was about to leave. Upon seeing him come in, she quickly took the vegetables from his hands and put them in the refrigerator. "Xiao Xi ate a lot this morning and is in good spirits. She's currently sitting on the bed reading, and she said she wants to watch a movie with you when you come back."

Ye Zhe'an took out the paint from the canvas bag and used his fingernail to scrape off the price tag on it. "I understand, thank you, Aunt Liu. By the way..."

He reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Aunt Liu, saying, "This is last month's salary and this month's grocery money, you count it."

"Ah," Auntie Liu wiped her hands on her apron, took the envelope and gave it a touch, then without hesitation, she stuffed it into her pocket. She smiled and said, "Ye, I trust you'll handle things well. I'll head back for now, and tomorrow morning I'll buy some groceries and come straight over."

Ye Zhe'an: "Well, thank you for your hard work."

Aunt Liu took off her apron and carried the garbage out. Ye Zhean stood in the living room for a while, then opened the bedroom door and walked in with the paint.

On the large bed in the bedroom, a young boy is leaning against the headboard reading. The boy bears a striking resemblance to Ye Zhe'an, looking to be in his early twenties, of average height but alarmingly thin, with an unnaturally pale complexion.

Seeing Ye Zhean walk in, he put down the book and grinned, "Brother, you're back."

Ye Zhean sat down by the bedside, gently patting his younger brother's head and asked in a soft voice, "What are you watching?"

Ye Chengxi closed the book in his hand and held up the cover for Ye Zhe'an to see. "This is the novel you helped me borrow from your school library. Have you forgotten?"

Ye Zhe'an glanced at the cover, "Eighteen Years Old and Leaving Home for a Journey," authored by Yu Hua.

A dusty memory surged into my mind.

At the beginning of this year, there was a period of time when my younger brother was not feeling well. In order to divert his attention, he decided to go to the library to borrow some novels for him. That night, he was staying at the Luo family's house and saw a few books on the table, with the school library's label attached to the spine. One of them was titled "Eighteen-Year-Old's Journey Away from Home."

After finishing his bath, Luo Yuan came out and saw Ye Zhe'an flipping through that book. He asked, "Teacher Ye, have you read this book?"

"I haven't seen it," Ye Zhe'an said.

Luo Yuan walked over and took the book from Ye Zhe'an's hand. He flipped to a page and read aloud, "The highway undulates, with the peaks always tempting me, enticing me to run up and see the inn. But every time, I only see another peak, with a frustrating curvature in between..."

Luo Yuan looked up and silently gazed into Ye Zhe'an's eyes, his lips opening and closing: "I have made effort after effort, continuously lowering my own bottom line, but as the hope of finding an inn before dusk becomes increasingly slim, what should I do?"

Ye Zhe'an looked back at him, and there was affection in Luo Yuan's cat-like eyes. Ye Zhe'an averted his gaze and turned to enter the bedroom.

The next morning before leaving, Luo Yuan handed the book to him. "I just borrowed this book and thought it was pretty good, very suitable for your little brother to read. Take it and let him have a look."

Ye Zhe'an didn't refuse, he brought it back and gave it to Ye Chengxi, saying that he had borrowed it from the school library. As for whether Ye Chengxi looked at it or not, he didn't care.

Afterwards, he forgot about this matter. Calculating carefully, it has been more than three months since he brought this book back from Luo Yuan. It's probably long past the due date to return it to the library.

"Have you not read this book before?"

Ye Chengxi lightly pressed his fingertip on the crease between the spine and the pages of the book cover, smiling gently as he said, "I've read it several times already, just going over it again."

Ye Zhe'an asked, "Is it good-looking?"

"Why would I watch it so many times if it's not good looking?" Ye Chengxi smiled mischievously at his older brother and replied, "Brother, why would you ask such a silly question?"

Ye Zhe'an pinched his younger brother's neck and said, "As long as you like it, it's fine."

He placed the paint and sketchbook on Ye Chengxi's lap and said, "Brother bought these for you. Use them well."

Ye Chengxi bowed his head in silence. Ye Zhe'an thought he didn't like it and reached out to take back the paint, but Ye Chengxi firmly held him down.

"What's wrong, Xiaoxi? If you don't like it, brother will exchange it for you. Don't be sad," Ye Zhe'an comforted softly.

Ye Chengxi shook his head and his voice was tinged with a sob: "I really like it, I like it a lot, but it's just so expensive."

Ye Zhe'an sighed with relief and raised his hand to wipe away his little brother's tears. "It's okay, big brother has money. Your birthday is coming soon, so consider it a gift from me to you."

Ye Chengxi wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, crying and laughing, "Thank you, big brother. I will make good use of it."

Ye Zhe'an smiled indulgently and said, "As long as you're happy."

On Sunday, Ye Zhe'an cooked for his younger brother and spent the whole day at home, accompanying him to watch movies and read books. On Monday morning, he went to school for classes. The first class in the morning happened to be the adjacent one to Luo Yuan's class, which he was responsible for. However, when he went out to use the restroom midway, he found that the teacher next door was not Luo Yuan.

Recalling what Luo Yuan had said the day before, a strange feeling welled up in Ye Zhe'an's heart.

Ten minutes before class ended, Ye Zhean gave them free time to discuss. He sat behind the podium and absentmindedly opened a chat box with Luo Yuan. He saw a long string of messages sent by Luo Yuan, but he hadn't replied to any of them.

He clicked on the input box and typed: "Why didn't you come to class?"

After hesitating for a moment, I pressed "send".

Luo Yuan didn't return until after class.

Ye Zhe'an looked at a long string of messages from Luo Yuan underneath his own abruptly unanswered message, and suddenly felt somewhat ridiculous. What was he doing? The person he disliked was finally not bothering him anymore. Wasn't that a good thing? Why was he still trying to reach out?

Today was a full day of classes. After the morning classes ended, Ye Zhe'an did not go home. He had a casual meal in the school cafeteria and planned to go to the administrative building to spend some time with a familiar teacher.

Just as he entered the building, a figure at the corner of the staircase in front caught his attention. If he wasn't mistaken, that person was Luo Yuan.