d snowing outside the terrace.

After a long time, Xu Yuanzhe finally lowered his eyes, pressed the cigarette in his hand into the ashtray on the nearby table, and asked Yu Yue a question, “Do you know what I’ve learned over these years?”

Of course, Yu Yue didn’t know.

He didn’t speak either, just waiting for Xu Yuanzhe to continue.

Xu Yuanzhe took out another cigarette, put it between his lips, but didn’t light it immediately. After waiting for a while, he finally spoke:

“Some things, as you wait and wait, there is no ‘later.'”

Yu Yue’s hand, hanging by his side, unconsciously tightened.

He didn’t really understand whether Xu Yuanzhe’s words referred to what Yu Yue had just said, “Wait until I have money to invite you to make a movie,” or whether it referred to the past Xu Yuanzhe, who had said similar things when feeding cats under the small rundown building, like “Wait until I have money, wait until I buy a big villa, wait until I buy a nice car”…

Indeed, as Xu Yuanzhe said, some things, as you wait and wait, there is no ‘later.’

Between the two, silence fell again.

The lighter’s flame flickered before their eyes, and the fire transferred from the lighter to the cigarette between Xu Yuanzhe’s lips.

Yu Yue stared at the faint crimson on the cigarette.

His gaze seemed to blur for a moment.

Downstairs, in the distance, it was unclear which household or shop was playing an old song loudly. The song was “When Love Has Become the Past.”

The lyrics drifted clearly to the terrace:

“One day you will know, life wouldn’t be any different without me…”

Yu Yue stood there motionless, his gaze falling elsewhere, but in his peripheral vision was the faint crimson glow of the cigarette between Xu Yuanzhe’s fingers.

It was difficult for him to describe his emotions at this moment. It seemed calm, yet within this calmness, there was a trace of pain and discomfort that had been forcibly exposed.

But Yu Yue quickly adjusted his emotions.

He turned his face, looking at Xu Yuanzhe. “So, do you know what I’ve learned over these years?”

This time, it was Xu Yuanzhe’s turn to look at Yu Yue.

In fact, before Xu Yuanzhe spoke those words just now, Yu Yue wasn’t aware of what he had learned over the years.

But now, he realized.

The terrace fell silent for a long time. Yu Yue looked into Xu Yuanzhe’s shallow black eyes, smiled lightly at the reflection in those eyes, and said each word slowly:

“If it can’t be waited for, then it’s not fate. There’s no need to insist on it.”