Lu Youze understood Gu Xuanze well, and his guess was correct. After ending the call with Yuan Baiyue, Gu Xuanze planned to call Lu Youze to ask where he was eating, since he hadn’t had dinner yet. He thought the three of them could eat together, and the young master of the Ye family likely wouldn’t mind.

However, before he could make the call, his phone rang first. It was an unknown number, but Gu Xuanze already had a good idea of who it was. He remained cold and expressionless, his gaze fixed on the phone without a hint of emotion, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

The phone rang for a long time before Gu Xuanze finally picked it up.

“Xiaoze, you finally decided to answer my call!” A gentle male voice came from the other end, sounding as though he was relieved. “I was worried you wouldn’t pick up from an unfamiliar number.”

“Brother Qi Yao, I knew it was you calling,” Gu Xuanze responded.

“Ah, you guessed it? As expected of Xiaoze, always so clever from childhood!” Qi Yao said, with a hint of nostalgia in his tone, but it was mixed with a bit of awkwardness and tension.

It was indeed Qi Yao calling. From how Gu Xuanze addressed him, it seemed like they had a close relationship, but there was no warmth in Gu Xuanze’s expression. In fact, there was an unusual atmosphere between them.

“Brother Qi Yao, did you call me for something?” Gu Xuanze seemed unwilling to discuss their past. Unlike his usual friendly demeanor with others, he sounded quite cold.

“Can’t I call you just to talk?” Qi Yao’s voice had a touch of disappointment in it.

“Brother Qi Yao, I don’t think our relationship is close enough for us to meet. If possible, it’s best we don’t,” Gu Xuanze’s tone grew colder, his voice icy. “Let’s talk about work at the company.”

There was a long silence on the other end, so long that Gu Xuanze thought Qi Yao had hung up. It was only after some time that Qi Yao spoke again.

“I’m outside your house now. If you don’t come out, I won’t leave. It’s up to you whether you want to see me,” Qi Yao said, before hanging up.

Lu Youze sighed and stared at the phone. Despite all these years, Qi Yao hadn’t changed at all. He still appeared gentle but was incredibly stubborn. Once he set his mind to something, he wouldn’t back down.

Such a personality would eventually backfire.

As if recalling something, Gu Xuanze’s face darkened again. Whether Qi Yao suffered or not had nothing to do with him. Qi Yao had long since stopped being his Qi Yao.

Gu Xuanze decided not to think about it anymore. He lay back on the bed, intending to calm his emotions before going to meet Lu Youze.

“I’m Qi Yao, nice to meet you.”

Just as he closed his eyes, memories he had been avoiding flooded his mind.

Back then, Qi Yao was still young, just a teenager. He had gently extended his hand to the dirty boy.

“If you ever need anything, just call me. No matter where I am, I’ll come to you.”

Qi Yao’s beautiful face was already bruised, but he didn’t seem to mind, still speaking gently.

“You can think of me as your older brother. How could an older brother not take care of his younger brother?”

Gu Xuanze told himself not to think about it anymore. It was all over. On that stormy night many years ago, Qi Yao left them without a word, and he had already stopped being their brother.

Ten minutes later, Gu Xuanze appeared at the gate of his house.

Qi Yao was standing by the gate, leaning against the fence, dragging a suitcase. The sunset bathed him in its warm glow, almost as if he was the young man who had just graduated from university and moved into their house years ago.

Time had been especially kind to him. After all these years, Qi Yao seemed unchanged.

“Xiaoze,” Qi Yao said as he spotted Gu Xuanze, quickly raising his hand to greet him. “Long time no see!”

He walked over to Gu Xuanze, seemingly wanting to hug him, but Gu Xuanze stepped back.

Qi Yao didn’t mind. He kept a faint smile on his face and spoke gently, “Xiaoze, I missed you.”

If Qi Yao’s fans had heard him say this so tenderly, they would probably scream and shout about how their hearts couldn’t take it. But Gu Xuanze was unmoved, his face showing no emotion at all.

“Brother Qi Yao, don’t you find it ridiculous that you’re saying all this now?” Gu Xuanze said coldly. “It was you who betrayed us back then!”

“Not at all ridiculous.” Qi Yao also stopped smiling, and his expression seemed to turn serious. “I’m back this time to tell you the truth about what happened back then!”

Lu Youze’s face changed slightly, but he still said indifferently, “Do you think I would still believe your words?”

“Since you don’t believe me, why are you still helping me?” Qi Yao retorted. “I heard that the Gu family is planning to give me my own variety show. I’m really flattered.”

“It’s just a business decision, made after an evaluation by the marketing department,” Gu Xuanze replied expressionlessly. “I think you might have misunderstood something. I had no involvement in this planning.”

“Xiao Ze, you still haven’t changed at all.” Qi Yao reached out to ruffle Gu Xuanze’s head. Gu Xuanze tried to avoid it, but this time Qi Yao didn’t let him, and he smiled before continuing, “Always pretending to be tough.”

After a while, Qi Yao spoke again. “Xiao Ze, you really don’t plan to let me in? I haven’t even had a sip of water today.”

“Why? That old man can’t afford to support you? Is that why you’re so down and came back begging me?” Gu Xuanze sneered. Though he often gave off an indifferent, unapproachable vibe, he had never spoken such harsh words to anyone. It seemed that after all this time, Qi Yao still had a great impact on him.

Qi Yao’s expression darkened, but it was unclear whether it was due to Gu Xuanze’s harsh words.

“Yes, I was kicked out, so I came to find you.” Qi Yao smiled bitterly and said, “So, Gu Zong, would you take me in, this broken shoe? You can believe whatever I say, but I really should tell you the truth!”

Hearing this, Gu Xuanze’s expression became even more unpleasant. He glanced irritably at the time on his phone and then said to Qi Yao, “I’ll give you half an hour.”

Qi Yao smiled, looking pleased, not worried at all that he might be kicked out after half an hour.

“This place hasn’t changed at all,” Qi Yao sighed.

Gu Xuanze ignored him.

After entering the villa, Gu Xuanze led Qi Yao to the living room. Since earlier, Qi Yao’s stomach had been growling, and it seemed that he hadn’t eaten all day.

It was impossible to talk under these conditions.

“Forget it. Since I haven’t eaten yet, I’ll go make something to eat. We can talk after that.”

With that, Gu Xuanze took off his coat and entered the kitchen. Although he had been busy with the crew recently, the household staff still came every day to clean, and the refrigerator was always stocked with fresh food, as Gu Xuanze had instructed for when his brother returned.

“Then, sorry for the trouble, Xiao Ze.”

The Gu family’s villa was large, and the kitchen and dining room were some distance apart. While Gu Xuanze was preparing dinner for the two of them, his phone rang.

It was a call from Lu Youze, who had just had dinner with Ye Youze.

Qi Yao glanced at the caller ID, and his expression changed.

He looked toward the kitchen and saw that Gu Xuanze was washing something. The sound of the water seemed to drown out the ringtone, and Gu Xuanze didn’t seem to hear the phone ringing.

Qi Yao took Gu Xuanze’s phone from his coat pocket and tried entering the unlock code he remembered. The phone unlocked.

He looked back at the kitchen and, seeing that Gu Xuanze hadn’t noticed, hung up the call.

After hanging up several times, Qi Yao deleted the call record and made sure Lu Youze wouldn’t call again before putting the phone back in Gu Xuanze’s coat pocket.