confused

the recent chapters where he’s working is already set in the future i believe. idk if u peeped when he tian showed up at his work with his car n gave lil mo his jacket, lil mo mentioned him leaving n suddenly coming back. then again later on when they invite the boys over for food (same day zhen xi went for his job interview), lil mo said if he hadn’t come back, he would’ve forgotten about him. i think he might’ve come back around christmas? chapter 412, lil mo is complaining/crying about he tian leaving then is surprised to see him in front of him. it’s a little confusing but it kinda makes sense once it’s all together

No Jian Yi and He Tian have not left in the main story (flashback story). In the main story all 4 boys are in their last year of middle school (which in China would be around 9th grade equivalent in America). In the beginning chapters we see it mentioned that Jian Yi disappears on his second day of high school, while in this most recent chapter we see that Lil Mo kept He Tians student card, which shows He Tian was a high school student in his last year. This tells me He Tian probably went away after he graduated high school instead of staying with Lil Mo.

Any holiday chapters are primarily where we have seen them in the future (aka as adults). The best examples are the Christmas side stories, if you read all of those in one go (should be easy to find them because every single one of them has been posted on Christmas every year) you will understand better.

Exactly and it was mentioned subtly that He Tian need to establish himself as per his family (father i guess) want. His brother have been protecting him as much as he can while he’s still in school ( again this is subtly mentioned/just clues here and there). Jian Yi on the other hand, always curious what happened to him during high school years that he went missing.

Well with Jian Yi, he said it in such a sarcastic way about being kidnapped, but I have a feeling his father that we have seen mentioned from the mothers point of view, might have gotten involved with taking him. They claimed Jian Yi's father died, or at least that was what the mother was told, but we never actually saw evidence of that, so I have a feeling he is alive and might get involved in Jian Yi's life when he learns he has a son. From my memory when Jian Yi's mother was thinking about the past and meeting Jian Yi's father, I don't think she ever told him she was pregnant(?)

And remember the news? Something that goes along the line like ‘1 dead, 2 missing’ i bet the missing one is the father. Jian Yi life is so mysterious and JY mother involvement with He Tian brother is quite sus since his mother is a normal people. I think there’s more to unpack for JY but ill just enjoy their story for now

This was my thoughts too that Jian Yi's father might've been one of the people who went missing. Honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised if Jian Yi's father staged his death with the incident in the news, so he could hide away, which makes sense because he was an individual in a very dangerous position with a lot of targets on his back.