The orange sunlight fell on the trees, piercing through branches and leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
The tall boy in his school uniform had deep-set eyes, holding a snow-white rabbit in his hands - the scene looked like a beautiful painting.
Su Ci shifted her tiny feet uncomfortably as she looked expectantly at Lu Zhe.
"Lu Zhe!"
From the other direction, Li Dongliang, wearing a pink backpack and pink sneakers, came running over. Seeing the little rabbit in Lu Zhe's hands, his eyes lit up, "Lu Zhe, let me pet it!"
Looking at the fluffy, snowball-like rabbit, it would be against nature's law not to want to pet it.
"No," Lu Zhe flatly refused.
They were so close - she had felt Lu Zhe was about to kiss her when they were interrupted!
Su Ci glared at the pink-clad boy with reddened eyes.
How infuriating!
"Ah, look, the bunny is looking at me! It likes me!" Li Dongliang noticed the rabbit staring at him blankly, and his heart melted from its cuteness. He desperately wanted to reach out and pat its head.
Hmph!
Su Ci rolled her eyes at him.
"Look, it's looking at me again!"
Su Ci noticed six yellow squares on the inside of his wrist as he reached out to touch her - sixty years!
Su Ci's eyes grew even redder at the sight.
Why did everyone else get to live so long?
Looking at Lu Zhe who was holding her, with only three years of life left, he was undoubtedly destined for a short life as a supporting character!
"Ah, the bunny is looking at my hand, it must want me to hold it!" Li Dongliang's originally handsome and sunny face broke into a silly grin like a landlord's foolish son.
Su Ci was so annoyed she simply closed her eyes.
Seeing the rabbit close its eyes, looking adorably docile, Li Dongliang's rough masculine heart started pounding again from the cuteness. "Brother Zhe, is the rabbit soft? Let me pet it just once, just for a second."
When had the class bully ever begged anyone for anything? But for the chance to pet a rabbit, he didn't care about his pride. He was about to get a nosebleed from how cute the rabbit was.
Lu Zhe dodged Li Dongliang's outstretched hand and gave him a cold glance, "Jia Mingyang still has four laps to go." With that, he turned and left with the rabbit.
Unable to pet the rabbit, Li Dongliang's face fell as he shouted at Jia Mingyang, who was running like a dead dog: "Jia Mingyang, you're so slow! Are you even a man? Running this slowly, you're making me late for dinner!"
Over there, Jia Mingyang was panting heavily, his clothes soaked with sweat. Hearing Li Dongliang's words, he nearly choked on his breath.
Who cares about his supervision?
Just leave already!
Lu Zhe worked part-time at the computer store on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and weekends.
The store owner was an overweight man, short in stature, with flesh bulging at his cheeks and messy curly hair.
"You're here, kid. Alright, watch the store. Son, keep your Brother Zhe company, Dad's going upstairs to make dinner," Boss Fang grabbed the keys from the desk and went upstairs.
The boss's son, Fang Kuaile, was just over three years old, almost four. He was fair-skinned and delicate-featured, looking quite different from Boss Fang.
Sitting in his miniature wheelchair, when he saw Lu Zhe arrive, he laboriously wheeled himself over to Lu Zhe's side and politely greeted him, "Brother Zhe, you're five minutes late today."
The little one was very clever, having already learned to tell time and do addition and subtraction within a hundred.
Lu Zhe's cold large hand patted his head, his thin lips curving slightly, "Mm, I had something to do today." He put down his backpack, unzipped it, and took out the rabbit to prevent it from getting too stuffy inside.
Little Kuaile saw the snow-white bundle of rabbit on the table, and his dark eyes immediately widened, "A... a rabbit."
He was a bit scared but also attracted to it, "Brother Zhe, this is a little rabbit."
"Mm."
Little Kuaile looked enviously at the small rabbit, "The rabbit has four legs, it must run very fast."
The child before her spoke in a tender voice, looking like a porcelain doll, like a little angel, but Su Ci noticed he was sitting in a wheelchair, without legs.
An angel with broken wings.
"Daddy said when we have money, he'll help Kuaile get two legs, and then I can walk, and run fast like the little rabbit," Little Kuaile said cheerfully.
He didn't know that even with prosthetic limbs, just learning to walk normally would require tremendous effort, let alone running like others.
Su Ci's eyes held a trace of pity.
"Brother Zhe, what's the rabbit's name?" Little Kuaile asked Lu Zhe.
Lu Zhe answered simply, "Doesn't have one."
"Ah, the little rabbit doesn't have a name?" Little Kuaile's mouth gaped in surprise, "You should give it a name quickly, or it will be sad."
Lu Zhe remained silent for a moment.
He looked at the snowball-like rabbit and casually said: "Tuan Tuan."
"The rabbit is called Tuan Tuan?" Little Kuaile blinked his bright black eyes.
"Mm."
Su Ci hadn't expected Lu Zhe would name her.
What kind of name was Tuan Tuan? Like a bundle of something? Or was he saying she was as round as a ball?
No matter how she thought about it, it wasn't a good name. She snorted, absolutely refusing it!
"Brother Zhe, does Tuan Tuan bite?" Little Kuaile asked Lu Zhe again.
"No."
Hearing this, Little Kuaile reached out his hand, his short little fingers gently touching the rabbit. His eyes brightened, "Tuan Tuan be good, don't bite Kuaile." As he spoke, his little fingers touched the rabbit again.
Just from this simple contact, Little Kuaile was already grinning, showing his white baby teeth.
Su Ci didn't move.
She saw the life value on the inside of his wrist, with only a thin red line that didn't even fill one square: 1 day.
He only had one day to live?
Su Ci's reddened eyes filled with shock. She could hardly imagine that this fair and tender child before her only had one day of life left.
She called out to Fu Gui, "He only has one day left to live? Could there be a mistake?"
Fu Gui: [There's no mistake!]
Su Ci met Little Kuaile's bright black eyes brimming with smiles, and asked Fu Gui, "Can he be saved? If I kiss him, will his lifespan increase?"
Fu Gui: [I don't know if you can save him, but your kisses only work on Lu Zhe, they have no effect on others.]
Su Ci: "You don't know?"
Fu Gui: [Previous owners could only see one person's life value. There's never been a case like yours where someone could see everyone's life values, so I don't know if you can save him.]
Su Ci: "Oh."
Fu Gui: [Don't be sad.]
Su Ci: "I'm not sad. Life and death are predetermined."
Su Ci accepted it quickly. Before she transmigrated here, she had died from heart disease, so she was also someone who had lived a short life.
Fu Gui had thought his owner would cry and beg him to find a way to save people, as his previous owner had been a very kind-hearted girl with active tear ducts and strong sympathy. He hadn't expected the current owner to be so cold-hearted?
After learning that her kisses only worked on Lu Zhe, Su Ci felt relieved. She wasn't a savior, nor did she want to bear such a responsibility. Right now, she was just a poor, weak, and helpless little rabbit who couldn't even take care of herself.
Little Kuaile saw the rabbit hop towards him, and his round bright eyes grew even brighter.
He took out two candies from his pocket that he had been saving, thoughtfully unwrapped them, and offered one to the rabbit, "This is candy, one for you and one for me. We're good friends now!" The little one remembered his father saying that good children should learn to share.
"It can't eat candy," Lu Zhe sat at the nearby computer, his hands operating the keyboard while speaking coldly.
"I know, rabbits eat carrots," Little Kuaile's bright black eyes curved into crescents, adorably melting hearts.
Remembering how he had fed the rabbit carrots for three straight days after finding it, a hint of embarrassment lurked in the depths of Lu Zhe's dark eyes.
Lu Zhe's working hours at the computer store were from six to nine PM for three hours on weekdays, and from nine AM to six PM on weekends.
As night fell, the crescent moon peeked out from behind the clouds.
Lu Zhe left carrying the rabbit.
The street outside the computer store was lined with various stalls. He stopped at an old man's small accessories stall.
"Young man, feel free to look around. My jewelry is very popular with girls," the old man sitting on a small stool said with a smile.
Lu Zhe picked up a bracelet from the street vendor's stall. The red cord was thin, with a small plastic gourd charm about the size of a fingernail in emerald green attached to it. Even in the dim light, one could tell the gourd was made of plastic and wasn't of particularly good quality.
"Young man, are you buying this bracelet for your girlfriend? I have better ones," the elderly vendor said.
The old woman pulled out another bracelet from the bag hanging at her waist. This one had a white jade gourd charm, also fingernail-sized, attached to its red cord. The quality was noticeably superior to the one Lu Zhe was holding.
"If it's for your girlfriend, you should get this one. She'll definitely love it," the old woman said, having never seen such a handsome young man before and not wanting to deceive him.
"It's not for a girlfriend," Lu Zhe put down the bracelet he was holding, took the one the old woman offered, and wrapped the red cord around the rabbit's hind leg.
The jade gourd looked exceptionally cute on the little bunny's foot.
Su Ci wiggled her little foot, making the small gourd charm tremble. Did Lu Zhe get this for her?
She looked up but could only see the young man's stern jawline.
Lu Zhe asked, "How much?"
"Well, this gourd charm is made from jade remnants, so it's not cheap - three hundred yuan. If you're buying it for a rabbit, the previous one would do fine. That one's only thirty yuan." The old woman was straightforward and honest.
"Hmm, I'll take this one." Lu Zhe paid the vendor directly and left with the rabbit in his arms.
At the stall, the old woman held the three hundred yuan, amazed that the young man would buy such an expensive bracelet for a rabbit.
Street lamps cast shadows along the road.
Nestled in Lu Zhe's arms, Su Ci looked down at the red cord on her foot, feeling a bit embarrassed. This was the first time she had worn such inexpensive jewelry.
......
The next morning.
Lu Zhe opened his backpack and, sure enough, found the snowball-like bunny had hidden inside at some point. He took it out.
"Stay home," Lu Zhe held the rabbit up to his face and gently tapped its light pink nose.
Caught again, Su Ci snorted in frustration. Would she never have a chance to return to human form?
Thinking this, she bit her rabbit teeth and backed up her legs slightly. In the next moment, she recklessly jumped forward with all her might toward the handsome face before her.
Lu Zhe was startled at first but caught the falling rabbit. His mouth was bumped by the bunny - it didn't hurt, but it felt strange.
He looked down at it, noticing its red eyes were unusually bright.
Sighing, Lu Zhe put the rabbit back in the cardboard box where a small bowl of rabbit food waited. He needed to buy a proper rabbit cage.
He closed the door.
Lu Zhe walked slowly, feeling the numbness in his left leg was stronger than yesterday.
Perhaps before long, even walking would become a problem.
The bedroom was very quiet.
The red cord wrapped around a snow-white, delicate ankle, the jade gourd charm appearing even more elegant against the fair foot.
Su Ci looked at her body in confusion. She was snow-white all over, with graceful curves. Her jet-black hair covered her ample chest, and just her figure alone was as beautiful as an alluring sprite.
Realizing she wasn't wearing any clothes, Su Ci quickly grabbed the gray bedsheet.
