It's really not easy being a child in China.

Although she didn't know where Asuka's house was, Hana stubbornly continued walking at the front of the road.

Her steps were much longer than when she left, as if the farther she got from that gray house, the more confident she became.

"Xia-kun," she began as she stepped out of the first intersection, her voice already two-thirds normal, "Is your family... always so serious?"

Xia Mo walked beside her, head down, staring at the tips of his shoes, and remained silent for a moment. "It hasn't always been like this. Recently..." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully, "The atmosphere at home hasn't been very good lately."

"Why?" Hua Hua asked.

Xia Mo didn't answer immediately. He quickened his pace, kicked a small pebble by the roadside, and watched it roll into the crack of the drainage ditch.

"Arguing," he said.

His voice was very soft, as if he were talking about something he was used to. Hua Hua and Fei Niao looked at him at the same time.

"Does it often make noise?" Hua Hua's voice was much quieter, no longer the loud and carefree tone she used to have.

"...More recently," Xia Mo said. He didn't look at them; his gaze was fixed on the road ahead, but his eyes weren't actually looking at the road.

"My dad's work, and my piano practice. My mom felt he didn't care about me, and he felt my mom was interfering too much. And then..." He made a gesture, as if describing the scene of two streams of air colliding.

The three walked in silence for a while. Fei Niao walked on the other side of Xia Mo's path, without saying a word.

She looked at his hand hanging down, not in his pocket, but loosely clenched, his fingertips slightly white. She wanted to say something, but felt that nothing she said would be quite right.

After walking a few steps, Hua Hua complained that it was too hot and insisted on taking the tram. Xia Mo and Fei Niao, having no other choice, had to accompany her into the station.

The tram is here.

The three of them got on the bus and sat side by side near the door. There weren't many people in the carriage, and the air conditioning was on full blast, which gave Fei Niao goosebumps on her arms.

Hua Hua sat on the far side, watching the street scene rushing past the window, and suddenly blurted out, "Xia Jun, is your home the reason you don't talk much?"

Xia Mo thought for a moment and said, "It's alright."

"Then you're even less talkative at home than outside," Hua Hua said.

Xia Mo didn't reply. He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight and turned his face towards the window.

His face was reflected in the glass; it was pale and expressionless, but there was a very faint crease between his eyebrows, as if it would never fully relax.

Feiniao listened intently the whole time. She didn't say anything, but she secretly glanced at Xia Mo several times. Each time, she only looked for a very short time, so short that it was as if her gaze had accidentally slipped past her—

But if someone adds up all those "accidents," they'll find that her gaze was actually always on him.

The tram has arrived at the station.

Feiniao's house is a five-minute walk from the south exit of the station, on the third floor of a small, beige apartment building.

It wasn't as grand as Hua Hua's house, nor as eerily quiet as Xia Mo's; it was just an ordinary home.

Asuka rang the doorbell, and her mother quickly opened the door. Seeing two people following Asuka, she paused for a moment, then immediately flashed a warm, wide smile.

"Oh, Xia-kun and Hana-chan! Come in, come in!" She stepped aside and took two pairs of guest slippers from the shoe cabinet. "Asuka didn't tell me you were coming, so I didn't prepare anything—"

"Auntie, you don't need to prepare! We're just here to have fun!" Hua Hua spoke up before anyone else, her voice so loud it seemed to shake the entire corridor.

She slipped into her slippers and stomped into the living room, acting as if it were her first time visiting someone else's home.

Feiniao's mother smiled and glanced at Xia Mo. Xia Mo bowed respectfully, said "Excuse me," and then slowly walked in.

Feiniao followed at the back, closed the door, and secretly glanced at her mother's expression—thankfully, she really didn't mind.

The living room wasn't large, but it was very well-lit. The windows faced south, and the afternoon sun made the whole room bright and cheerful. There was a plate of sliced ​​pears on the coffee table, and the TV was on, the volume turned up low, almost like background music.

Feiniao's mother invited the three of them to sit down, went to the kitchen to pour three glasses of iced soda and brought them over, and also cut a plate of watermelon and put it on the coffee table before smiling and saying, "Have fun," and going back to the kitchen.

Hua Hua practically collapsed onto the sofa.

"Ah—I'm alive—" She let out a long sigh, sinking into the sofa cushions, stretching out her limbs like a cat that had finally found a spot to sunbathe.

The bird was amused by her appearance and sat down next to her. Xia Mo sat on the single sofa to the side, looking much more relaxed than in her own living room—her shoulders were no longer slightly hunched, and her hands were naturally placed on the armrests.

The bird's mother poked her head out from the kitchen again: "Have you had lunch yet?"

"We ate! We ate!" Hua Hua shouted back, "We ate rice balls at the convenience store at the station!"

"Just rice balls?" Asuka's mother frowned, her tone conveying a sense of "this won't do."

"Stay here for dinner tonight, I'll make curry." Hua Hua's eyes lit up, and she turned to look at Fei Biao. Fei Biao nodded, and Hua Hua immediately called out towards the kitchen, "Thank you, Auntie! Auntie is the best!!"

Xia Mo sat to the side, watching the interaction between Hua Hua and Fei Niao's mother without saying anything, frowning as she observed from the sofa.

He noticed that the air at Asuka's house was different from his own—the air here was warm and soft, as if some unseen thing had wrapped all the sounds in a layer of cotton.

Hua Hua sat up from the sofa, took a slice of pear, took a big bite, and suddenly said while chewing, "Xia Jun, you've been tense at home, are you feeling better now?"

Xia Mo paused for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Mm."

"That's good," Hua Hua said, her tone unusually gentle.

"Let me tell you, my parents used to argue too. Back then, I felt like home was a nightmare, and I didn't want to go home after school. Later, they stopped arguing—well, not that they stopped arguing altogether, but they argued less. Anyway... things will be alright."

Xia Mo looked at the barley tea cup in his hand and remained silent for a while. "...Hmm," he said.

Hua Hua took another bite of the pear, and after chewing it, she suddenly sighed, "Chinese children really have it tough."

Xia Mo looked up at her in confusion.

"Even though I haven't done anything wrong, I still have to be careful." Hua Hua said this with a rare serious expression, not joking or being silly.

Her eyes were fixed on Xia Mo, and there was something very clean in them, like transparent glass beads, not dazzling, but very bright.

That's because she cares about him.

Xia Mo opened his mouth. He wanted to say something—he wanted to say "that's not how it is," he wanted to say "my parents are actually very good," he wanted to say "it's just that some things have been going on lately."

But after circling around these words twice, they ultimately turned into a sentence that sounded somewhat unconvinced: "...you only know a few Chinese kids."

"I know you," Hua Hua said matter-of-factly.

Xia Mo choked for a moment. He turned his face to the side, raised his hand and touched his ear. Although his ear was not red, his fingers lingered on his earlobe a little longer than usual, as if he didn't quite know how to respond to that sentence.

Feiniao remained silent beside her. She put a piece of pear in her mouth and chewed very slowly, watching Xia Mo touch her earlobe, and then looking at Hua Hua's face, which had been serious for less than ten seconds before the corners of her mouth started to curve again.

"Flower," Asuka suddenly spoke, "why have you suddenly become so philosophical?"

What do you mean by "suddenly becoming philosophical"? I've always been philosophical! I just don't usually show it!

"You usually just say 'It's delicious, delicious, delicious'," Xia Mo retorted.

"That's philosophy too! The philosophy of food!"

"You're right, you have a loud voice." Xia Mo was at her wit's end.

Seeing that the two of them had started their usual bickering again, Asuka felt a little relieved and joined in their banter.

Outside the window, the last two days of summer are slowly, slowly passing by.

The sunlight shone brightly, reflecting off the glass of the building across the street and casting a thin, golden beam, like an invisible needle that stitched the living room of the Fei Niao family together with the outside world.

In the kitchen, Hua Hua had already started discussing with Fei Niao's mother what ingredients to put in the curry.

Flying Bird's mother said to put in chicken, and Flower said chicken was good; Flying Bird's mother said to put in carrots, and Flower said carrots were good too.

The two of them asked and answered questions in a way that sounded like they had rehearsed.

Xia Mo sat on the sofa, still holding the cup of barley tea in her hand. She watched Hua Hua and Fei Niao's mother talking in the kitchen for a moment, then gently, very gently, placed the cup on the coffee table.

The bird turned its head from the window and saw his gaze.

The two stared at each other for a second. Xia Mo raised her hand to touch her ear and turned her face away.

Asuka turned her face away, slightly raising her chin and pursing her lips into a thin line, pretending she hadn't seen anything. But her fingers unconsciously began drawing circles on the sofa cushion—one circle, two circles, three circles.

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Knock, knock, knock! A sudden banging sound came from the doorway.

"I'll go open the door!"

Xia Mo jumped up and ran towards the door.