Blossoming Flowers

Han Qingshan glanced at his mother with narrowed eyes. Why was she suddenly so eager to meet Jiang Yingyue? Was it purely because she knew that he rarely befriended anyone, or did she have some ulterior motive?

Although Han Qingshan had grown up and spent much time together with his mother, Yan Meilin, he knew that it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

She was an artist through and through and on top of that a woman. Her thought process was fundamentally different from Han Qingshan's, and she had often pulled pranks on him, so he dared not be too accommodating to her wish of meeting Jiang Yingyue. What if she caused problems?

He did not know why, but whenever he thought about Jiang Yingyue returning to the hostile person he had been before, he felt rather uncomfortable.

Sensing her son's hesitation, Yan Meilin just smiled and did not rush him. Instead, she waved her hand and said, "Don't rush it. I understand that you became friends just recently and you are not fully familiar with him just yet, but later on, make sure to bring him over."

"Okay," Han Qingshan finally agreed, when he heard that it did not have to be right away. In the future he also wanted his friend to come over, he wanted his parents to approve of Jiang Yingyue, and he wanted to share his life with this newfound friend. That, of course, also included introducing her to the place where he grew up.

Thinking about it, Han Qingshan had a smile on his face, a gentle smile, and then he shook his head. "Let us go eat," he said to his mother, and together they exited the studio.

The following morning, Jiang Yingyue was grinning happily as she was walking down the street, towards the subway.

She had woken up early this morning to prepare some dishes with the remaining leftovers from the restaurant for her parents.

Just as she was about to leave, they arrived home. After opening the door and entering the house, they were instantly greeted by a wonderful scent of food wafting out from the kitchen.

They quickly headed inside and found the delicious food waiting for them to eat on the table.

"Han Qingshan invited me out to eat yesterday, but he ordered way too much food, so I brought the leftovers home with me. They are really very delicious, so you should taste the dishes too. I already ate, and I am running slightly late for class, so make sure to eat and do the dishes before heading to sleep."

As she thought about it, Jiang Yingyue could not help but smile. She had to thank Han Qingshan for the meal and the leftovers once more, now that she saw how happy her parents were with the food that had been waiting for them.

She rarely cooked food for them when they came home from night shifts, as she usually had to attend school, but today she only had to reheat the food, which did not take long, so she could handle it.

"It's not such a bad thing to have a friend," she muttered to herself while squeezing into the crowded subway. But she was aware that the closer she got to other people, the more likely her secret was to be exposed.

If her secret was exposed, then she might have to face jail time, and so would her family. It was illegal to use a fake ID as it was considered fraud, and living her life as another person was not permitted.

Although she could go back and live her life as Jiang Yingyue, she was aware in order to do that she would likely have to move away and start life anew again.

She was not sure if she wanted to do so. She had many hopes and dreams for her future. She wanted to study psychology in order to help others who suffered a loss and hopefully also help herself in passing.

Her parents had already sacrificed so much for her once, moving away from everything they held dear, from all their friends, and they even left behind a home that had been handed down through generations, just so they could move to the capital for her sake.

They had given up their decent jobs and had taken simple and low paying jobs, to ensure that they were laying low and that no one paid too much attention to them and their IDs, as they too were using fake IDs now. No one was capable of tracing them back to Jiang Yingyue's family from the countryside.

Jiang Yingyue was solemn as she thought about how many things her parents had given up. She was even slightly regretful when she remembered the risk her parents were taking every day just from living with fake IDs, and she was worried about their future, but she was still incapable of giving up her life as her brother.

When she finally cleared up her mind from the fog of doubt and worry, she was already at the university, and she quickly straightened out her thoughts.

She could not continue to think like before. She had to calm down and just accept that her life was that of a boy now. There were so many people in the country who used a fake ID, and most of them were never seen through.

As long as she did not get too close to anyone, then she should be fine. Although she wanted to be friendly with Han Qingshan, she knew that they were both men, so she should be safe as men did not get too close to one another physically, even though they were friends.

When she arrived in her classroom, she found that everyone was looking at her with curiosity.

Frowning, she could not understand what had happened. Could it be that they did not know she was no longer suspended or was there something else behind their obvious stares?

Figuring out that there was only one way to find out, Jiang Yingyue hooked a smile on her lips and went to a group of three girls that were sitting together, looking at her with dreamy eyes and a slight blush on their faces.