Qi Wang stared at his phone, feeling a bit hesitant.

A cigarette, half-burned, was held in his hand, his fingers unconsciously moved, and a few ashes gently fell to the ground.

Actually, he rarely smoked recently, only when he was feeling restless would he light one.

And today happened to be such a situation.

The bar behind him was still bustling with noise, the sound waves rose one after another.

Young men and women were close together, the charming eyeshadow on the girls’ faces sparkled under the dim lights, like the surface of the sea under the moonlight, glittering.

The smells of smoke, alcohol, and perfume mixed together, the sound system on stage was deafening, it was hard to hear anything without shouting, almost impossible to understand.

He didn’t lie to Yu Nian.

The bar was indeed very busy today, a band came here to perform, the bar was almost packed, even more lively than usual.

Their bar was always a mixed bag, not everyone who came was well-behaved, if it weren’t for the boss Zhao Wei here, it would be easy to have trouble every now and then.

So he didn’t allow Yu Nian to come over.

Instead, on a day like today, with a band performing, most of the people below were young, just jumping and venting their pent-up energy, except for the occasional stepping on someone else’s foot, there wouldn’t be any trouble.

But unfortunately, Yu Nian wasn’t around to bother him today and instead went home.

Qi Wang stared at the screen, hesitating whether to type or not.

Yu Nian just went home, not to some dangerous place, and not everyone’s home environment is as bad as his, dark, cold, and damp, like a spider’s den in perpetual darkness.

Especially since Yu Nian’s brother and sister still cared about him, secretly arranging for someone to take care of him.

Such a home could only be a harbor for Yu Nian to stay.

But still, he couldn’t help but feel unconsciously worried.

In the short two months of spending time together day and night, he had an inexplicable concern for Yu Nian, to the point that he frequently lost focus while making drinks earlier, wondering what Yu Nian was doing now, whether he had reconciled with his family, if they would scold him at home.

Thinking too much, even the boss Zhao Wei noticed that something was wrong with him, but he just brushed it off.

Now that he found a gap, he came out to take a break, ultimately deciding to send a message to Yu Nian.

In his mind, if Yu Nian didn’t reply within ten minutes, then he must have fallen asleep.

He wouldn’t ask further and would just return to the bar.

But almost the moment he sent his message, Yu Nian’s response came.

“Not yet.”

Qi Wang was startled.

And before he could even think about what to say to Yu Nian, his phone vibrated.

Yu Nian had sent a video call request.

For a moment, Qi Wang felt a bit at a loss, furrowing his brows, but still answered the video call.

The screen focused on Yu Nian.

At first, the image was a bit blurry, but after focusing, he saw the lower half of Yu Nian’s face first, with delicate features, soft lips with a slight fullness, curving beautifully when he smiled.

As the camera moved up, there were a pair of bright eyes like lakes, long and curly eyelashes, like a delicate doll cradled in one’s hand.

At the moment he saw Qi Wang, those eyes curved up silently.

The beautiful doll came to life, dressed in deep blue silk, skin as white as new snow in winter, with lively eyes, nestled in the fluffy soft blanket, smiling at him.

For some reason, Qi Wang’s heart gently throbbed in his chest.

---

“What are you doing, Qi Wang? Why did you message me?” Yu Nian hugged his blanket, his face buried in it, looking at Qi Wang through the video call, the bedroom light was bright, illuminating his beautiful amber eyes, focusing on Qi Wang.

Qi Wang inexplicably felt a bit dry in his mouth.

“Nothing much, just helping out at the bar, and also checking on you,” he raised his phone, letting Yu Nian hear the music coming from behind him, “There’s a concert going on inside.”

Yu Nian listened intently.

“Indeed,” he asked curiously, “which band is it? Are they famous? Are they good?”

Qi Wang recalled, “It’s the Green Gate band, they’re okay, quite a few fans.”

Yu Nian didn’t recognize this band at all, and wasn’t interested in them.

If it were a proper concert hall performance, he might be interested in listening.

He looked at Qi Wang with his dark eyes, concerned, “Are you going to work late again tonight?”

“No, I’ll go back home in an hour.”

Qi Wang looked at Yu Nian, who seemed natural and lively, showing no signs of being reprimanded at home.

This made him feel a little relieved.

But he couldn’t help asking one more question, “What about you? What did you do when you got home? Are you happy to be back?”

Yu Nian’s expression fell when he brought this up.

He shifted position, laying the blanket beneath him, leaning on the bed.

This brought him closer to Qi Wang, almost face to face.

Qi Wang could even see his eyelashes flutter.

He said with a muffled voice, “It’s quite nice being with my brother and sister, they didn’t scold me, just chatted with me, but they want me to… come back for good.”

As he said this, he looked at Qi Wang’s expression without a miss.

Afraid that Qi Wang wouldn’t understand, he added, “They want me to… quit my job.”

Qi Wang’s heart’s lake gently swayed.

He thought, as expected.

As expected, when Yu Nian went back, his family would make this request.

But he didn’t react visibly, just murmured an “Okay.”

Qi Wang’s calmness disappointed Yu Nian greatly.

He even felt a little upset.

He looked at Qi Wang, his face wrinkling into a frown, his eyes filled with confusion, “Is this your only reaction? Don’t you have even a little reluctance to let me go? I thought we, the two of us, were still… we’re still…”

We’re still what.

Yu Nian couldn’t say.

He was feeling quite alright before, but now he felt sad again, saying, “You don’t even ask if I want to go back home or not?”

Qi Wang didn’t know how to respond.

Actually, whether Yu Nian resigned or not, whether he wanted to go back or not, what did it have to do with him?

He was not the one who could make decisions in Yu Nian’s life.

They just happened to meet by chance, happened to become colleagues, happened to become neighbors, they never established any unbreakable bond.

But as he looked at Yu Nian through the screen, he remembered that day when they went to KTV together with Xiao Gu and Hejun. Yu Nian drank a bit too much and fell into his arms, his slim body, although only two years younger, seemed a size smaller, softly leaning against his shoulder.

At night, he would ride his motorcycle, carrying Yu Nian home. Yu Nian hugging his waist, laughing happily on the backseat, chatting incessantly like a chirping little sparrow, as lively and active as a husky.

He found it annoying at times, and really wanted to shut Yu Nian’s mouth.

But if Yu Nian really disappeared…

He would still feel distressed.

This made him silent for a long time too.

“Of course, I’m willing to continue being friends with you, being colleagues, and being neighbors,” Qi Wang said helplessly. “But Yu Nian, this is your life. I don’t know what conflicts you have with your family, but you don’t want to stay here forever, being just a humble waiter and playing the piano for guests, do you?”

Yu Nian stared at him wordlessly.

Qi Wang continued, “You should go to college and do what you want.”

After hesitating for a moment, he added, “If you can’t bear to leave me… can’t bear to leave our colleagues, we can still visit you. Wherever you study, I can come find you. When you go to university, I can even accompany you there.”

Qi Wang thought, he must be going crazy.

Perhaps Yu Nian wouldn’t tell.

But for him, a person who rarely bothered about others, to make such a promise, it was almost like going mad.

He was not the type to put this much effort into relationships, nor did he care about what kind of fate he would have with others, or how they would drift apart.

But now he was telling Yu Nian that no matter where he goes, he would find him.

This was already extremely unusual.

Yu Nian’s eyes lit up instantly.

He stared at Qi Wang incredulously.

“Really?”

Qi Wang nodded, “Really.”

Yu Nian suddenly felt happy.

He smiled gently, looking at Qi Wang on the screen.

In his heart, a decision had been made.

“Well then. I’ll consider it seriously.”