I'm waiting for you at the place yesterday

Wei Ran's heart leapt to her throat: "Madam."

When Lin Qiuyi heard her call, she shook her head with a touch of helplessness, as usual.

"Xiao Ran, come to my room, I need to talk to you." Lin Qiuyi's expression wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it was somewhat serious, though her tone didn't sound angry.

Wei Ran followed Lin Qiuyi to her and Wei Minghao's bedroom.

"Xiao Ran, I've always told you, we treat you like our daughter. Even if you can't call me 'Mom,' at least call me 'Aunt,' that way it wouldn't be so distant, right?" Lin Qiuyi looked at her with sympathy.

"Poor child, ever since Zi Qi brought you back, you've never really felt like part of this family, have you?"

"I'm sorry, Madam..." Looking at Lin Qiuyi's hurt expression, Wei Ran couldn't bring herself to call the 'person' word, "Ah... Aunt..."

She said it awkwardly, but saw a sense of relief on Lin Qiuyi's face.

"I didn't mean to insist this way and make you sad," Wei Ran lowered her head, her fingers spinning in circles on the table.

"Although I have no memories before I was eight, there's this feeling in my heart, like I lost something when I was eight." Wei Ran sighed, "What I lost was the thing I cared about the most, the most important thing."

"So I'm afraid, afraid that I'll never be able to hold on to what I care about. As soon as I care too much, I lose it." Wei Ran looked at Lin Qiuyi, "I care about you, you gave me a home, and I'm so afraid that if I care too much, I'll lose it."

"Silly girl!" Lin Qiuyi hugged her, "You don't need to be afraid! I know, you're afraid that if you remember who you really are, you'll lose us. But it's alright, no matter who you were before you were eight, after you were eight, you'll always be Wei Ran, understand?"

Wei Ran rested her head on Lin Qiuyi's shoulder and nodded: "This morning—"

Lin Qiuyi squeezed her hand, letting go of Wei Ran: "It's okay, I know it's not your fault, that child..."

Lin Qiuyi shook her head helplessly: "We can't control that. I just want you to know, if you like him, I won't oppose you being together. But you have to wait until you're eighteen. You're still too young to be sure of what you really want."

"Also, I don't want Zi Qi to trap you like this, making you lose the right to choose when you're young." Lin Qiuyi gently touched Wei Ran's cheek, "Although I think, Zi Qi is still too old for you."

"At your age, you should interact more with people your age, have a simple first love, and that's not a bad thing. When you grow up, there won't be such pure emotions anymore."

"No, Madam—" Wei Ran shook her head in panic, "Aunt, I don't want to... I... I'm not..."

"It's okay," Lin Qiuyi comforted her. "If you don't like him, no one will force you."

Wei Ran lowered her head as she heard Lin Qiuyi say, "But if you don't like him, don't get too close to him."

"I know," Wei Ran nodded.

...

Wei Ran sat in the classroom, the whispers directed at her were even more intense than before.

She knew she had always been a topic of discussion at school.

Just the fact that she was an adopted daughter of the Wei family had been a long-standing subject of gossip.

But she wasn't in the mood to care about that now. Last night, she had thought that Wei Ziqi would question her about Qi Chengji's matter, but in the end, nothing happened. Wei Ziqi didn't even return home.

"Wei Ran, someone's looking for you!" A classmate suddenly shouted to her from the door of the classroom.

She snapped out of her thoughts, shaking off the odd sense of unease she had from Wei Ziqi not coming home, and walked out.

At the door stood a boy she didn't recognize. He was unremarkable in appearance, particularly short, only reaching her shoulder. He looked like a younger student.

"This is for you!" The boy handed her a crumpled note.

Wei Ran opened the note, which the boy had crumpled in his hand. It only said: I'll be waiting for you at the place we met yesterday.

There was no signature, and the handwriting was particularly messy, as if it had been written in a hurry, giving a sense of urgency.

"This is—" Wei Ran looked up, but before she could finish her sentence, the boy had already disappeared into the crowd.

Looking at the bustling people in the hallway, their gazes seemed to linger on her.

Wei Ran closed her mouth, furrowed her brows, and stared at the note in her hand.

Perhaps it was Qi Chengji?

Looking at the content of the note, she could only connect it to the place where they had met yesterday afternoon.

But why did he have someone pass the note to her? Was he worried that coming in person would cause more rumors?

She clenched the note tightly in her palm and walked towards the rock garden behind the classroom.

At this time, there weren't many people there. Wei Ran searched for Qi Chengji's figure as she walked into the garden.

Just as she was walking, her arm was suddenly grabbed, and she was yanked toward the stone wall of the rock garden.

Her back slammed hard into the uneven stone wall, and her spine ached with a numb pain.

Even the back of her head hit one of the stone protrusions, and the pain twisted her facial features.

For a moment, everything went black. Before she could clearly see who had done it, her arms were pinned against the stone wall.

Fear shot from her chest straight to her scalp. She squinted her eyes in panic, trying to clear the blur before her.

Finally, she saw that two girls were standing in front of her, both looking very muscular.