Chapter 61

I looked at him, a trace of surprise in my heart. I hadn’t expected him to find me so quickly. Smiling, I turned to the children and said, “Go practice on your own for now. I’ll teach you a new song in a bit.”

The children looked puzzled—this was probably the first time they had ever seen an outsider here—but they obediently ran off to the other end of the playground.

Andy walked over to me, still wearing that bright, sunny smile. I stood up and greeted him with a smile.

“Long time no see.”

He smiled back at me. “Zhenxi, you’ve changed a lot.”

I only smiled in response. But then he stepped closer, his smile turning a little dangerous.

“Impressive. You actually hid all the way out here… I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

“Why were you looking for me?”

My sudden question caught him off guard for a moment, but he quickly smiled again.

“You know why, Zhenxi…”

“Heh…” I let out a soft laugh and turned to leave, but he called out loudly behind me.

“Come back with me! Zhenxi, I’m serious!”

The children heard him and immediately ran over, hugging me tightly and glaring at Andy. Xiao Hei’s eyes even filled with tears as he asked, “Teacher, are you leaving? Are you abandoning us?”

“Of course not!” I answered firmly.

“Let’s go back to singing.”

“Oh, okay! Let’s sing!” The children cheered as we walked back toward the classroom. I glanced back at Andy—he was still standing there, but the confident smile was gone, replaced with a complicated expression.

What I didn’t expect was that Andy actually stayed.

He ate the same simple meals as us and slept in the same crude huts. There were only two sleeping spaces in the entire school—one for me and one for the children—so he had no choice but to stay with them.

Two days passed, and surprisingly, he endured it. But after class one day, he approached me awkwardly.

“Zhenxi… I wanted to ask—how do people bathe here?”

“The children didn’t tell you?” I asked, feigning confusion—and to my surprise, I actually saw him blush.

“Well… this…” I knew the children usually bathed together in a stream behind the mountain. Andy probably wasn’t used to that. Carrying water back for bathing would be too far and unrealistic.

So I said, “When it gets dark, I’ll have two boys take you to the stream behind the mountain. They’ll keep watch for you—but you must make sure to bring them back safely.”

“Alright… okay.” He didn’t say anything more. It was obvious he understood that having warm water here wasn’t just a luxury—it was impossible.

A few more days passed, and he had basically experienced all aspects of life here. Though he couldn’t cook, he went with the children every day to fetch water. I had to admit, this man was beginning to surprise me.

One morning at breakfast, I broke my steamed bun in half and gave him a portion. I knew he hadn’t been eating enough these past few days. Andy tried to refuse, embarrassed, but I insisted and put it in his bowl—he had a long mountain journey ahead of him.

After the children finished eating and went out for morning exercises, I looked at him and said calmly,

“You should head back after breakfast. You’ve already suffered enough these past few days.”

Andy looked up at me in surprise, then set down his bun and said seriously,

“Zhenxi, I told you—I’m taking you back with me. I’ve searched for you for so long. I won’t give up that easily.”

I smiled.

“Andy, I don’t know why you’re so determined to find me, but I do know—it’s not love. It’s more like an obsession. And maybe even you don’t fully understand it, but I can see it clearly. So go back. I won’t leave with you. I’m doing well here.”

A flicker of doubt passed through his eyes, but it quickly hardened into resolve.

“No, Zhenxi, that’s not true. You’re wrong. I love you. From the moment I saw you, I knew exactly what I wanted.”

I shook my head.

“You don’t. But one day, you will.”

He studied me intently and asked, “Zhenxi, tell me honestly—is the reason you won’t leave with me because of my brother? Are you waiting for him to come find you?”

His gaze was so serious, so urgent—yet filled with unease. I knew he wanted to see hesitation in my eyes, to confirm whether he had guessed right. At the same time, he feared that he had.

But I didn’t deny it. I simply met his gaze calmly.

That uncertainty made him press on.

“Zhenxi, don’t be foolish. My brother is already married—to Yan Jing. He will never come looking for you. He abandoned you so heartlessly—you shouldn’t keep thinking about him. If you keep clinging to this, he’ll become like a shadow haunting your life, leaving you with nothing but pain.”

I said nothing, just listened quietly until he finished. Then I smiled slightly, poured him a cup of water, and spoke slowly.

“Andy, I don’t know whether Lin Xiao is a devil. But I’m certain—you’re not an angel either. That phone call that day… it was you, wasn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?” His gaze flickered.

“I mean the call that lured me to the construction site—that was you, wasn’t it? And the day I last saw Lin Xiao, you were there the whole time. You knew exactly what would happen next… you knew what kind of humiliation and harm I would face. And yet—you did nothing.”

Andy stared at me in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing.

I smiled and told him,

“Andy, I became an orphan at eight years old. If I didn’t learn how to read people… how could I have survived until now?”