Because the Huadong branch office was adjacent to the municipal government residential compound, and there were many trees planted in the government compound—magnolia trees, loquat trees, pomegranate trees, and the like—when the season came, Ryan Carter and his group loved to run into the government compound to steal fruit.

That time, they found a spot in front of a row of detached Western-style houses inside the government community, where there was a loquat tree they hadn’t noticed before. The fruit was large and round, and surprisingly, no one had picked it yet. The two of them wouldn’t miss such a chance: Ryan Carter climbed to the top, Shawn Hughes kept watch below, and as Ryan Carter picked the loquats, he tossed them down. Shawn Hughes, who was supposed to be on lookout, ended up stuffing his mouth full and forgot all about his job. Then they noticed a girl standing not far from the tree. She was very pretty, calmly watching them. No one knew how long she’d been there. The two of them, caught red-handed with their butts in the air eating stolen fruit, scrambled down the tree, frantically wiping their mouths to destroy the evidence, wishing they could find a hole to crawl into.

Later, they found out that the girl lived in one of the small detached houses at Hongmen, and that tree was right in front of her house—it was her family’s fruit tree. The two of them had been caught stealing right in front of the owner. Talk about awkward with a capital A. The most humiliating part was that the girl didn’t make a fuss. She just went back inside, came out with a bag of fruit, and handed it to them. The defeat they felt at that moment was like bumbling thieves being shown generosity by the homeowner, who even sent them off with travel money—just short of saying, “Take this, and be a good person from now on…”

Later, they learned that the girl was in Class 1 at No. 1 Middle School, named Rose Grant. At first, the name sounded a bit rustic, but paired with a girl like her, the word “rustic” didn’t fit at all.

She had transferred in during middle school, a new student, and was a classmate of Evelyn Lee, who also lived in their compound and was in Class 1. Evelyn Lee was cheerful, confident, and good at making friends. On her birthday that year, she invited her classmate and friend Rose Grant. That was when Ryan Carter and Shawn Hughes first learned her name. Of course, the girl recognized them too—she just paused for a moment, then waved at them with the same bright, sweet smile she gave everyone else.

Friendly, yet always with a layer of distance. Just like her whole being, like a faint shadow in a dark blue ink painting.

Rose Grant’s appearance at that time undoubtedly caused a stir among all the kids in the compound. Even Summer Young often said in private that her favorite girl was Rose Grant—beautiful, intelligent, truly a top-tier goddess. During her time in the middle school division, even though she wasn’t the main topic of conversation, there were plenty of people who privately considered her the school beauty. But because she transferred in later and kept a low profile, always maintaining a subtle distance from others, most people’s first reaction was probably to admire her from afar.

“So… she didn’t disappear after all…” Ryan Carter muttered to himself. As for Rose Grant, even though it felt like a lifetime ago, he could still remember the flutter in his heart she caused as a boy. You couldn’t blame him—probably no boy could remain unmoved by such a beautiful girl. She was already so stunning back then; in the future, she’d be even more of a heartbreaker… It was just a pity that she continued on to No. 1 High School, while Ryan Carter ended up at No. 4 High School. After that, there was no way to know anything more about her.

Thinking back now, Rose Grant really was a mysterious girl, with a refined air that ordinary girls didn’t have. The detached house she lived in at the time, unsurprisingly called the “Hongmen Courtyard,” was a high-level government residence.

This girl was like someone shrouded in mist—an enigma that Ryan Carter never unraveled in his youth.

“Old Grant” became the nickname they all used for her.

At that time, she was probably the unforgettable, fleeting beauty in the hearts of many boys. For someone like Shawn Hughes, even just mentioning her name would leave him restless for a long time.

“What do you mean, disappeared? Are you out of your mind…” Shawn Hughes shook his head, then added, “Besides Rose Grant, there are a few others from the government compound coming over… like a bad penny… uh… what are you, what are you…”

Shawn Hughes had found the newspaper Ryan Carter used for calligraphy practice, and saw the brush-written characters on it.

He turned his head in disbelief, pointing at the beautiful handwriting. “You wrote this?”

Having lived two lives, Ryan Carter had practiced calligraphy for work in his previous life, so of course, with the experience and skills from before, he hadn’t grown rusty. But Shawn Hughes, who was used to seeing Ryan Carter’s messy handwriting, was now looking at calligraphy that was leagues better than before. Maybe an expert could still find flaws in Ryan Carter’s writing, but in Shawn Hughes’s eyes, especially with the mindset Ryan Carter had when he wrote it after being reborn, the brushstrokes, the force, the emotions leaping off the page—all of it struck him deeply.

“Wait, wait… this poem on here, did you write it too… I mean, did you make it up yourself?”

“It’s someone else’s. I changed it a bit.”

“Can I take this home… to… have a look…”

Ryan Carter waved his hand. “Sure, just remember to return the book you borrowed from me last time!”