Yu Nian blinked, tears streaming down even more.

He clutched Qi Wang’s coat and finally couldn’t help but burst into loud sobs.

Clearly, he wasn’t the one who experienced it firsthand; he was just a distant observer, but at this moment, he was in so much pain that he couldn’t speak.

How much suffering did he have to go through, how much agony in the first half of his life, for Qi Wang to consider their meeting the greatest luck of his life?

Yu Nian took a long time to calm down.

He, like Qi Wang, stared at the dilapidated building. When he first arrived, he saw it as just an ordinary run-down structure.

But now, as he looked at it, it seemed like a sinister beast’s den, emitting gusts of cold wind and a stench, devouring Qi Wang’s first half of life.

He turned to look at Qi Wang, who remained calm. Throughout this day revisiting the past, Qi Wang hadn’t shown much emotional fluctuation.

It was as if the days gone by died with the name Li Xuyang fourteen years ago.

He bit his lip, hesitated for a long time, then asked softly, “Then how do you… know that Li Weicheng and Luo Yingjia aren’t your parents?”

Qi Wang remained silent for a moment, then took out his phone from his pocket.

He opened an album, containing only one photo. He stared at it for several seconds before handing it to Yu Nian.

With red eyes, Yu Nian looked at the photo and then froze.

In the photo were four people: a young couple holding a white, adorable baby wrapped in a green cotton jacket, wearing light gray shoes.

Yu Nian had never seen the young couple before, but he could clearly see Qi Wang’s shadow in them.

The graceful and cold wife, with a nose and lips identical to Qi Wang’s, and the tall, hearty man beside her, with contours and facial features that were unmistakably Qi Wang’s.

“These are my parents,” Qi Wang’s gaze also lingered on the photo. He had no memories of being with his parents, but Zeng Nanyue said they loved him very much, and he believed it. He said to Yu Nian, “Do I look like them?”

Yu Nian nodded dumbly but couldn’t help pointing to the fourth person in the photo.

This fourth person was a handsome man with a somewhat flirtatious air. He was a few years older than the young couple in the photo, but his eyes and eyebrows were full of arrogance and boldness.

“This is…” Yu Nian was shocked, then turned to look at Qi Wang.

Qi Wang confirmed Yu Nian’s guess, “This is my teacher, Zeng Nanyue. He was a friend of my parents.”

“This photo was taken almost thirty years ago. My parents were in their thirties when they had me, and my teacher was a little older than my parents. But shortly after this photo was taken, I was kidnapped.”

These were all later told to him by Zeng Nanyue.

Qi Wang said, “my mentor said, I was abducted by human traffickers. My mother was a botanist, and my father used to study art with Zeng Nanyue and was also a painter. My parents knew each other and got together. On the day I got into trouble, the nanny took me out. It was close to the New Year, and there were many people on the street. The nanny didn’t watch me closely, and I got lost on the street.

Since then, my parents have been looking for me every day, and they were too distressed to work, mobilizing all the forces they could find. However, in those days, technology was far from advanced as it is now. They searched for three or four years but couldn’t find me. On a trip to another place, they both died in a car accident, both under forty.”

“I…” Qi Wang’s voice trailed off, “I never saw them again.”

Throughout his life, he never saw his parents again.

He grew up and found his own home, but it was already desolate and cold.

The courtyard was still maintained every year, but no one lived inside for a long time. It was like a lonely tomb, and walking inside, one could only hear their own footsteps.

Zeng Nanyue said he used to play with his parents in the living room and pick kumquats from the yard, but he couldn’t remember anything.

The only impression he had was being gently held by blurry-faced men and women, happily calling out to him when he was very young.

And that couldn’t have been Luo Yingjia and Li Weicheng.

So he once thought it was just a self-comforting illusion because his life was too hard.

But now, thinking back, they must have been his biological parents.

He looked at the young couple in the photo and softly told Yu Nian, “My parents, their names are Qi Huixue and Liu Ying. And the name they gave me is Liu Xiuyuan, taken from ‘The road ahead is long and winding, and I will seek my way far and wide.'”

By some coincidence, when he later named himself, he chose the same surname as his mother.

And “Wang” sounds like “forget.”

He didn’t want to remember anything about Wuda Mountain Town.

Yu Nian looked deeply at the young couple in the photo.

He could tell they were decent and gentle people at a glance, although the photo was blurred due to the passage of time, it was still apparent how radiant they were.

One was a botanist, the other a painter, like a fairy couple, harmonious and in tune with each other.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Qi Wang would be like if he had grown up with his biological parents.

His life should have been bright, without any sorrow.

His fingers trembled slightly, and he asked softly, “So, did mentor Zeng Nanyue help your parents find you?”

Qi Wang murmured in agreement.

“My mentor found me in the town of Supo. I happened to go to the city to buy things, and he saw me on the street. At a glance, he felt I looked familiar. Actually, after so many years, he didn’t hold too much hope, but he still came to the town to look for me with the attitude that he couldn’t afford to make mistakes. As a result, I turned out to be the child he was looking for.

He told me that finding me was my parents’ dying wish, so he never gave up over the years. At that time, I thought he was a fraud and told him to stay away, but he presented more and more evidence, and I also found his information. With his position, there was no need for him to deceive me, so I finally accepted his explanation and followed him. At that time, it was only two months before the college entrance examination.”

The car fell silent.

Qi Wang didn’t continue.

Because they both knew what happened later. He followed Zeng Nanyue, silently disappearing. He didn’t know anyone in the town where he studied temporarily, he handled the procedures himself, and no one knew he went there.

So over a year later, Yu Nian searched for that high school, and his traces abruptly ended there, with no further news.

In the following years, Yu Nian traveled north and south on this land, met many people, went to many schools, but never found his shadow.

Qi Wang’s life soared after meeting Zeng Nanyue in the eyes of outsiders.

But Yu Nian’s originally smooth life seemed to take a sharp turn downward from that moment.

There seemed to be a slight lack of luck between him and Qi Wang.

Miscalculations, helplessness.

Everyone who appeared in this relationship seemed not to be bad people, but fate intertwined, ultimately leading to their long separation.

Yu Nian understood Qi Wang’s unfinished meaning.

He also understood Qi Wang’s regrets.

Between the two of them, everything seemed to be described only by “regret.”

But what was past cannot be changed, what is to come could still be pursued.

The regrets between them were too heavy, and they didn’t know where to start resolving them.

Yu Nian lowered his eyes slightly, avoiding this topic. He asked, “What about those two people, Li Weicheng and Luo Yingjia, and the person who abducted you? Did they get their retribution?”

Qi Wang blinked and glanced at him sideways.

“The human trafficking group was all arrested that year, and I sent Li Weicheng to prison. He was not only involved in child trafficking but also other crimes like burglary and arson. He was sentenced to multiple charges. Luo Yingjia got leukemia and died a few years ago.”

That was their ending.

All those people who once overshadowed his past disappeared in the end, like a flock of crows scattering.

He even looked Li Weicheng in the eye once, seeing how pitiful and ugly the man who had once abused and oppressed him had become, begging him, cursing him, showing his ugly side.

But he didn’t feel the exhilaration of revenge in his heart, nor did he feel any comfort.

That year, he hadn’t reunited with Yu Nian yet.

His biological parents had long turned into dust.

He completely severed his past and became a person with no origin or destination.

Having said all these things, there was silence in the car for a long time.

Qi Wang himself felt a little dazed. It turned out that these long twenty years could be summarized in just a few words.

He looked at Yu Nian and found Yu Nian was also looking at him.

Yu Nian bit his lip, his eyes still red, tears silently streaming down, yet he seemed afraid to disturb him, suppressing himself tightly.

Qi Wang couldn’t help feeling a little helpless.

He knew Yu Nian would react like this. For him, all of this was old news.

But for Yu Nian, every word he said felt like a blade cutting into his heart.

But he had to lay out everything about himself in front of Yu Nian.

He grew up in this barren land, grew up in a dysfunctional and violent family, once wandered the streets, and had a checkered past.

That’s all him.

He was made up of these absurd parts, wandering for a long time before becoming the Qi Wang in front of Yu Nian.

His hand reached over the center console and touched Yu Nian’s head.

“This is how I grew up, Yu Nian,” he said. “I used to be afraid to let you know all of this. I was afraid to let you see my embarrassing side.”

Young people always have fragile pride.

He could disregard anyone’s gaze, but he didn’t want to see pity in Yu Nian’s eyes.

But times have changed, he has grown up too, from a young man walking alone to mature and calm.

“Every time I came back before, I was disgusted by the pain. I hated this place, hated its weather, hated its isolation. But this time, when you accompanied me back, my mood is calmer than ever.”

“It’s all in the past, Yu Nian.”

…

That night, Qi Wang drove Yu Nian around the town, passing by the elementary school and middle school of the town where they used to be, and also showed him the small house where he used to hide from Li Weicheng, which used to be a music and video store.

When they finally returned to the hotel, it was already late.

The two took a shower but didn’t separate to sleep on two single beds, instead they squeezed together, head to head, leg to leg.

Yu Nian insisted on sleeping like this.

He had been feeling a little weak all along. Qi Wang’s past had hit him too hard. He kept his eyes open, his eyelids swollen, staring at Qi Wang without any sleepiness.

Qi Wang was a bit dumbfounded by his gaze. “What’s wrong? You keep staring at me?”

Yu Nian nestled in his arms, holding Qi Wang’s waist, burying his face in his chest.

Since returning tonight, his heart had been aching dullly.

He was not unprepared for Qi Wang’s past, as Qi Wang had already confessed part of it eight years ago when rejecting his confession.

But he didn’t expect it to be even worse.

He could hardly imagine how Qi Wang had stepped out of this mountain step by step back then.

His fingers touched Qi Wang’s arm through his clothes.

He was too familiar with Qi Wang, even without looking closely, he could recall every scar, each a torment life had once inflicted on him.

Thinking of this, his throat felt bitter.

Qi Wang said that all the past suffering could be wiped out because of meeting him.

But he couldn’t help but think, if erasing their meeting could make Qi Wang’s life smoother, he might also consider making that trade.

“If only I had met you earlier,” he whispered, knowing it was just a naive fantasy, but leaning against Qi Wang’s chest, tears soaked Qi Wang’s clothes, “If only I could take you home, I would treat you well, we could grow up together…”

His throat choked, unable to continue because the pain was too much.

Qi Wang gently patted his back.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, and after a while, Yu Nian’s muffled voice came.

“I can’t change the past, but from now on, I’ll love you every day and make sure you don’t suffer anymore.”

He was still like a child making a promise, simple and childish.

But Qi Wang knew he was serious, more touching than any sweet words in the world, more reassuring than any comfort.

Qi Wang’s eyelashes trembled, and he whispered softly, “Okay.”