Chapter 13: Zhou Qikuan
An Ran'er had changed a lot these past few days.
Ever since Li Nuo agreed to join her band, she had been smiling all day at school.
She no longer treated him coldly. Instead, she warmly called him "Classmate Li Nuo" every chance she got.
The huge change made Li Nuo feel as if he were dreaming. It was hard for him to get used to it.
He even asked her whether she was no longer maintaining her idol image, but she simply smiled and said it was no longer necessary.
Sometimes he felt that life was strangely unreal.
In such an ordinary middle school, there was a girl-group idol like An Ran'er and a rich second-generation heir like Zhou Qikuan studying alongside everyone else.
Even more unbelievable was the fact that he had become friends with them.
It was something he had never imagined.
In Li Nuo's simple way of thinking, people with backgrounds like theirs should have been studying at some elite private school and living lives that ordinary people like him could not even imagine.
He already knew why An Ran'er had come to this school.
But he still could not understand why Zhou Qikuan had chosen to attend such an ordinary school.
"I'll ask him someday when I get the chance."
…………………………
Noon.
Just as Zhou Qikuan was about to get up and head to the cafeteria for lunch, a girl stopped him.
"Qikuan, you don't need to go to the cafeteria. I specially made this lunch box for you this morning."
Looking at the lunch box the girl was holding out with both hands, Zhou Qikuan was not very willing to accept it.
However, seeing the hopeful look in her eyes, he reluctantly took it.
After slowly finishing the meal, he turned to the girl who had been standing beside him the entire time.
"Su Wenwen, don't make lunch for me anymore. The food in the cafeteria is pretty good too."
"No!"
Su Wenwen spoke with a serious expression.
"This is what I should do as your fiancée."
The moment she called herself his fiancée again, Zhou Qikuan felt a headache coming on.
"I've told you many times already. I don't like you. Our engagement was something those people decided on their own."
"It's okay. As long as I like you, that's enough. Besides, throughout history, haven't marriages always been arranged by parents?"
"You..."
Zhou Qikuan sighed.
"Forget it. Do whatever you want."
He truly could not understand how, in the twenty-first century, a girl with such old-fashioned views could still exist.
But one thing was certain.
He would never marry her.
Because he refused to let that person control his life anymore.
Since he could remember, his father had been extremely strict with him because of their wealthy family background.
His father wanted him to obey every decision he made.
What he ate, when he slept, what he studied, his hobbies, and even his future marriage. All of it had to follow his father's arrangements.
When he was younger, Zhou Qikuan believed his father was doing it for his own good.
He thought his father was helping him avoid mistakes and wanted to become as successful as him one day.
But everything changed on his thirteenth birthday.
That day, his mother returned home looking lost and broken.
She locked herself inside her bedroom.
At the time, he thought she was simply tired and wanted to rest.
He never expected that when the door opened again, his mother would already be a cold corpse.
Only later did he learn the truth.
His father had found another woman outside the marriage.
After his mother discovered the affair, his father not only refused to stop seeing the woman, but even brought her into their home.
Neglected by her husband and constantly mocked by the mistress, his mother eventually could not endure it any longer.
She chose to end her life by taking poison.
At her funeral, his father showed no sadness at all.
Instead, he flirted and joked around with the mistress right there.
It was at that moment that Zhou Qikuan finally saw his father for who he really was.
Nothing more than a selfish man obsessed with controlling others.
From then on, Zhou Qikuan gave up trying to please him.
He stopped listening to his father's instructions.
Whenever his father told him to go east, he would deliberately go west.
No matter what it was, he always did the opposite of what his father wanted.
After graduating from middle school, he once again ignored his father's plans.
Rather than attending the prestigious private school arranged for him, he chose to enroll in an ordinary high school.
He lived as a carefree and somewhat lazy student.
What he did not expect was that the girl he was engaged to would follow him to the same school.
At first, he had trouble adjusting to the lifestyle of ordinary students.
Then he met someone.
Li Nuo, the classmate sitting in front of him.
When Zhou Qikuan first arrived at the school, he noticed that Li Nuo was always alone.
So he decided to say hello.
At first, they only chatted casually.
But once they discovered that both of them were fans of anime and other "2D culture" hobbies, they quickly became close friends.
Ironically, it was during the darkest period of his life that he became interested in anime.
After his mother's death, he had been trapped in grief.
Then one day, he watched a heartwarming anime series on his computer.
For the first time in a long while, he felt a little better. From that point on, he became interested in anime.
His father strongly opposed these hobbies. But the more his father objected, the more determined he became.
He bought figures, merchandise, and anime-themed games.
Day after day, he immersed himself in that fictional world.
Eventually, his father completely gave up on him.
Though Zhou Qikuan knew the real reason.
His stepmother had given birth to a son. That was when his father truly abandoned him.
Still, it was because of anime that he met Li Nuo.
Li Nuo became his first friend in this city.
When they first met, Zhou Qikuan had actually thought Li Nuo was a girl because of his ear-length hair and delicate appearance.
Only later did he discover that Li Nuo was definitely a boy.
Li Nuo always reminded him of a certain anime character named Hideyoshi.
The resemblance was almost identical.
As for friendships, as long as people were not approaching him because of his family's money, he always treated them sincerely.
From what he could tell, Li Nuo was not interested in his wealth.
That was why Zhou Qikuan genuinely considered him a friend.
……………………
After School.
School ended in the afternoon.
Since the seven-day National Day holiday would begin tomorrow, students throughout the class were excitedly discussing where they planned to go during the break.
Zhou Qikuan was no exception.
He patted Li Nuo on the shoulder from behind.
"Got any plans for the holiday?"
Li Nuo turned around and rested his chin on his hand while thinking.
"I want to find a part-time job. Holiday shifts pay double wages, after all."
"You really spend every day thinking about making money, don't you?"
Zhou Qikuan's face twitched helplessly.
"I can't help it." Li Nuo spread his hands. "Besides supporting myself, I also have a hungry cat waiting to be fed."
Just as Zhou Qikuan was about to continue the conversation, An Ran'er suddenly joined in.
"Then let's go to the beach. You can have fun and work part-time at the same time."
"The beach?"
"The beach?"