Zhuang Zi'auro his rented apartment, only to find Li Huangxuan waiting for him by the door. He greeted him with a teasing smile, "What brings you here, son?"

  Li Huangxuan huffed, "You skipped out on csses again this afternoon. I was starting to get worried! And why is your phone off?"

  Zhuang Zi'ang then realized that he had iently switched his phoo silent mode. He quickly offered an apology, "My bad, I must have sile by mistake."

  "Seriously, man, you've been skipping csses and taking time off left and right tely. What's going on? Is there something you're not telling me?"

  Even the usually obtuse Li Huangxuan had noticed Zhuang Zi'ang ag strangely. It was pletely out of character for the top student in the grade to be cutting css so frequently.

  fronted by his best friend's , Zhuang Zi'ang decided to maintain the secrecy surrounding his illness, at least for the time being. Deying the iable would only postpohe heartbreak, he reasoned. He couldn't bear the thought of Li Huangxuan, with his usual carefree demeanor, breaking down in tears. That simply wouldn't do.

  "My dad showed up at school and made a se. It put me in a rotten mood, so I asked Mr. Zhang for some time off," Zhuang Zi'ang expined, a carefully edited version of the truth.

  "Your dad, who's usually so indifferent to your existence, suddenly has the o throw a fit? If you're worried about being called unfilial, I'll help you teach him a lesson," Li Huangxuan decred, his indignation palpable.

  "Fet it. I doubt you'd stand a ce against him," Zhuang Zi'ang said, touched by his friend's loyalty heless. To have orue friend in this life is a blessing in itself. As the esteemed writer Lu Xun once wisely stated.

  Zhuang Zi'ang had initially pnned on a simple, solitary dinner, but Li Huangxuan, g the arrival of the weekend as an excuse for celebration, insisted ing him over to his pce. On the way, he called ahead to his mother, Fan Ling, requesting that she prepare a few extra dishes that were known to be Zhuang Zi'ang's favorites.

  Zhuang Zi'ang harbored a genuine fondness for Li Huangxuan's parents. They were kind, genuine, and possessed a certain refined air, always treating him with warmth and affe. The warm, loving atmosphere of their family was something he had never experienced in his own home.

  "Zi'ang's here! Make yourselves fortable, dinner will be ready in a jiffy!" Fan Ling greeted them with her usual warmth as soon as they stepped inside.

  "Uncle, Auntie, I apologize for imposing on you again," Zhuang Zi'ang said, a touch embarrassed.

  Li Tianyun, who was engrossed in a televisiram on the sofa, smiled warmly. "Nonsense, Zi'ang, we're the grateful ones. Huangxuan's grades have shown a marked improvement ever since he started spending more time with you!"

  The television was tuo the evening news. A medical expert was discussing the arming trend of cer diagnoses among increasingly younger demographics, attributing it to factors like enviroal degradation and the pressures of modern life. It was a tragic reality that many young people, still in the prime of their lives, were being diagnosed with incurable illnesses.

  Li Tianyun sighed, his evident. "Huangxuan, Zi'ang, you both o prioritize a healthy diet and take good care of yourselves while you're at school."

  "Don't you worry about me, Dad," Li Huangxuan reassured him, thumping his chest fidently. "I'm in tip-top shape, practically fit to be a pilot!"

  Zhuang Zi'ang bit his lower lip, remaining silent, a silent observer to the unfolding se.

  Meanwhile, Zhuang Wenzhao, still grappling with the day's events ing his son, had been in a particurly somber mood all afternoon. He found himself repeatedly questioning his own as, w if he had, in fact, been too ??????? towards his younger sohe years. Simply trying to imagihings from Zhuang Zi'ang's perspective filled him with a deep sense of remorse. He reflected on the profound impact that divorce could have on children, realizing that such early trauma could leave sting, perhaps irreparable, scars.

  "Yuhang, from now on, you are not to provoke your brother or upset him in any way," Zhuang Wenzhao instructed, his tone unusually stern and brooking nument.

  "He's still young, Wenzhao. He simply craves more of your attention and affe. That's all those words were about," Qin Shun interjected, quick to defend her son.

  Zhuang Yuhang, at the height of his rebellious phase, retorted, "I didn't even say anything that bad! I even offered him a piey cake. He's just being overly sensitive."

  "Given the circumstances, I doubt he'll be returning anytime soon. In the meantime, I expect you to reflect long and hard on your behavior. And for heaven's sake, look at yrades! They're atrocious!" Zhuang Wenzhao cluded, feeling utterly weary aed.

  He pushed open the door to Zhuang Zi'ang's bedroom. The room was vat. A quiside the closet revealed a meager colle of clothes, with no signs of a additions. In stark trast, the desk drawer was crammed full of various certificates of merit and awards.

  At that very moment, Zhuang Wenzhao's ph once more. It was his father calling from the tryside. He answered quickly, adopting a soothing tone. "He's just having a bit of a teeantrum, Dad. He'll cool down and be bae in a few days, you'll see."

  "As his father, it's my prerogative to discipline him when necessary."

  " ????????? ?????? What are you talking about? He's a young man, in the prime of his health. What serious illness could he possibly have?"

  ...

  After finally managing to appease his father, Zhuang Wenzhao practically colpsed onto the sofa, feeling utterly spent. The frontation in the school office earlier that afternoon repyed itself in his mind, each detail etched in his memory.

  Was Zhuang Zi'ang really as exceptional as everyone seemed to believe? And how had he, as his own father, remained so oblivious to his son's merits?

  Qin Shuling down beside him, began to grumble, "It's all well and good that Zhuang Zi'ang excels in his studies, but he never once offers to help Yuhang with his schoolwork. And look at Yuhang, nguishing at the bottom of his css!"

  "He shows absolutely no sense of responsibility as an elder brother. It's clear as day that he siders us outsiders, not true family."

  "What good are academic achievements if he cks basic familial affe ahy?"

  A surge of anger coursed through Zhuang Wenzhao, and he smmed his fist on the coffee table in frustration. "He's my son! And I'll thank you to refrain from critig him. Why don't you focus your energy on your own son and make sure he stays out of trouble for once?!"

  trary to what he might have imagined, Zhuang Zi'ang's absence did not magically transform their household into a harmonious "happy family of three." If anything, the underlying tensions and flicts seemed to have intensified.

  After dinner, Zhuang Zi'ang and Li Huangxuareated to the tter's bedroom.

  "Alright, spill it. Where did you disappear to this afternoon?" Li Huangxuan demanded, fixing Zhuang Zi'ang with an inquisitive, almost interrogative, stare.

  "I spent the afternoon by the river with Little Butterfly," Zhuang Zi'ang admitted truthfully.

  "Little Butterfly again?" Li Huangxuan studied Zhuang Zi'ang ily for a long moment, then sighed dramatically. "My friend, you're a goner. You've fallen head over heels for this girl."

  Zhuang Zi'ang vehemently dehe accusation. "Don't be absurd. We're just friends."

  "Ask yourself holy," Li Huangxuan smirked, "Is 'just friends' really all you want?"

  "Well…" Zhuang Zi'ang was a little flustered. A girl as cute as Little Butterfly? Any normal guy would be smitten. But he wasn't normal. He was sick. He didn't have the right to have a crush.

  "Dude, she's a great girl. Go for it. I'll be your best man one day," Li Huangxuan said, eyes shining with imagined futures.

  "Best man?" Zhuang Zi'a a pang of bitterness. That future was too good to even dream of. He realized how much he didn't want to leave this world. Didn't want to leave Li Huangxuan, didn't want to leave Little Butterfly. But his illness wasn’t going to let him have any long-term pns. God, it felt like the ultimate joke.

  Zhuang Zi'ang remembered his date for tomorrow m and didn't stay over at Li Huangxuan's. He went back to his rental apartment. He looked up at the night sky, full of stars. He’d heard people turned into stars when they died. Which star would he be?

  He picked up his phone, and almost without thinking, dialed Little Butterfly's number again.

  I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service. Please try again ter.

  Sorry! The subscriber you dialed ot be ected for the moment, please redial ter.

  Same as before. Onight fell, Little Butterfly vanished, unreachable. But tomorrow, she'd suddenly reappear. Like a fleeting, uable meteor, briefly illuminating Zhuang Zi'ang's otherwise dark life.