In Lillian Reed’s view, the scene really looked too much like a family of three going out together. The women in the Xiadian neighborhood were all the type to stir up trouble even when there was none; if they saw this, who knows what kind of gossip would start spreading. She and William Carter lived right across the hall from each other—just a single man and a single woman—no matter how innocent, it wouldn’t sound good...

William Carter quickly understood Lillian Reed’s concerns, so he suggested that he would run alongside, getting some exercise at the same time. Although Lillian Reed felt embarrassed about this, William Carter patted his chest and said he often went running when he had nothing to do, and that running around the neighborhood was a piece of cake for him. So, she couldn’t really object.

And so, the two girls—one big, one small—sat on the electric scooter, watching William Carter run ahead like a rabbit. The scene was indescribably strange and amusing.

With the long-awaited summer breeze blowing, the blush on Lillian Reed’s face gradually faded. Staring at William Carter’s back, her mood became hazy, a mix of anticipation and a hint of caution. To borrow a saying, it was “cut but not severed, sorted but still tangled.”

“Will he... be the benefactor for me and Alice Green?”

Lillian Reed thought dreamily, still feeling somewhat uncertain inside.

These past two years had been so hard and exhausting for her—she was already emotionally and physically drained, almost unable to hold on any longer. She truly wished for a broad shoulder to lean on, to have a good cry, or even just to act a little spoiled.

But was this man in front of her really trustworthy?

Two years ago, Lillian Reed was still a happy campus beauty, surrounded and flattered daily by rich, handsome guys or nerds. When she had free time, she’d go shopping and splurge with her close dorm friends, or discuss when the iPhone 5 would finally be released...

Back then, her father was the king of fried rice noodles at the Chudu flea market, and her older sister and brother-in-law ran a chain restaurant called “Dulai Le,” with assets in the tens of millions. She was the little princess of the family—a carefree rich second-generation, a silly young woman.

But a sudden disaster turned everything she once had to dust in an instant.

During a self-driving trip, the car her brother-in-law was driving crashed into a cliff. Her sister and brother-in-law died on the spot, her parents were seriously injured, and only Alice Green, shielded tightly by her mother, escaped with minor injuries.

By the time Lillian Reed received the bad news and rushed from school, her mother had already succumbed to her injuries.

After her sister and brother-in-law passed away, “Dulai Le” fell into a huge financial crisis and was quickly swallowed up by competitors. Facing her brother-in-law’s former close friends and business partners, Lillian Reed, just a naive young girl, couldn’t get a single cent.

To pay her father’s enormous medical bills, Lillian Reed sold her sister and brother-in-law’s and the family’s properties. Most of the money went into the hospital, but in the end, she still couldn’t save her father’s life, leaving her with nothing.

From then on, only Lillian Reed and Alice Green were left to depend on each other. She had thought about seeking help from relatives, but there were hardly any on her side, and Alice Green’s grandparents lived far away in the mountains of Yunnan province. She couldn’t bear to let Alice Green be trapped in the mountains and have her future ruined.

So she could only grit her teeth and endure, hoping to find a decent job to support Alice Green and give her a bright future.

But in 2011, even college graduates had a hard time finding work, let alone Lillian Reed, who had dropped out due to her family’s misfortune. And at this time, Alice Green fell seriously ill.

Alice Green was diagnosed with mid-stage uremia!

It was just as the old saying goes: misfortunes never come singly. Already at the end of her rope, Lillian Reed was struck by another bolt from the blue. Alice Green had contracted the most expensive and incurable disease—she needed dialysis every half month just to stay alive, and each session cost two to three thousand yuan.

For nearly two years, Lillian Reed took care of Alice Green during the day and sold fried rice noodles at the flea market at night. Together with the little money left from selling the house, she could barely cover Alice Green’s medical expenses. But uremia is incurable; dialysis only sustains life, and the huge medical bills were like a bottomless black hole, slowly devouring the last hope of Lillian Reed and Alice Green, dragging her deeper into despair.

She truly couldn’t hold on much longer. If it weren’t for her attachment to Alice Green, she might have already left this world to reunite with her loved ones in the afterlife. Yet the appearance of William Carter, especially his miraculous fried rice noodle skills at the flea market, suddenly brought Lillian Reed a rare sense of relief after two years of crushing pressure.

She still remembered how happy she was when she saw customers arguing just to buy the fried noodles, and when she tasted that delicious food herself...

The night was very quiet; only William Carter’s light footsteps and the squeaky sound of the electric scooter could be heard. Sitting on the scooter, Lillian Reed gazed dreamily at the man’s back: “Can I lean on his shoulder...?”

Two years of poverty and hardship had made her mature and cautious. Facing this possible new relationship, she was careful, her heart twisting in countless ways, unable to make up her mind.

“Whew—running once in a while really does feel great.”

In no time, they had reached the building. William Carter stopped, turned back with a smile, and saw Lillian Reed’s big red eyes. “Lillian Reed, what’s wrong?”