Yu Nian looked at his own shadow on the ground, because of the angle of the light, this shadow was small, just a tiny blob.

So many years had passed, he had grown taller through hard work, finally able to look at Qi Wang eye to eye.

But his shadow was still small, as if exposing his cowardice and weakness over the years.

He calmly retorted, “Why do you say I’m not doing well?”

Qi Wang’s eyelashes flickered.

He couldn’t come up with a definitive piece of evidence.

But how could one not see whether their beloved was doing well or not.

When they met at the banquet that day, he was so shocked to see Yu Nian under the spotlight that his brain felt like a rusty machine, replaying memories over and over again, unable to think about the present.

Stuck in the cramped back seat with Yu Nian, his heart was in turmoil, not knowing what to say.

Yu Nian said he was doing well.

So he just went along with what Yu Nian said, as long as Yu Nian was fine.

If you’re fine, then it’s fine.

But he thought about it carefully afterwards, replaying every moment of that day in his mind, and he felt that Yu Nian didn’t seem to be doing well.

People who were doing well wouldn’t look like this.

If Yu Nian had been happy these past eight years, how could he have transformed from a cheerful and sunny youth into his current gloomy and indifferent self.

Before he left, Yu Nian would hide in his arms, laughing sweeter than anyone else in the world.

But he couldn’t say that, it would sound like an accusation.

He just said softly, “After meeting you again that day, I asked my friends about the address of your company. I often parked my car near your company, sometimes for the whole day. I’m sorry, I know this behavior is wrong, but I couldn’t help wanting to see you more. But it’s been many days, I’ve seen you coming and going at the company, but I haven’t seen you smile much.”

In fact, even staying in the same hotel today wasn’t accidental.

He happened to be visiting a teacher here, but when he said goodbye to the teacher and saw Yu Nian’s name registered at the front desk, he stood at the corner, waiting for Yu Nian to take the elevator before going to check in himself.

He said, “If you were happy, why would you be in this state?”

Yu Nian didn’t refute.

He looked at Qi Wang.

After so many years, Qi Wang stood in front of him, still carrying the shadow of the silent and reserved young man from back then.

Qi Wang’s gaze towards him was the same as it was in that old rundown apartment.

He still remembered the white walls of the apartment, the blue checkered tiles in the bathroom, Qi Wang’s gray sofa, he bought a carrot pillow to put on it, the style didn’t match the serious and cold room, but Qi Wang always washed it clean for him.

Qi Wang said he wasn’t doing well.

But from the moment he saw Qi Wang, he also felt that this person didn’t seem as carefree and cheerful as he was when he was nameless and destitute.

Thinking of this, Yu Nian laughed self-deprecatingly.

Qi Wang didn’t care whether Yu Nian was doing well or not.

After leaving him, Qi Wang clearly rose to great heights, so how could he be considered pitiful?

He leaned against the door, arms crossed, looking askance at Qi Wang.

His voice was hoarse, “I won’t deny that you did leave me with a lot of bad memories, especially when you first left, I was really in a bad state, for a long time, I couldn’t sleep every day.”

“Thanks to you, after you left me, I couldn’t establish a normal romantic relationship for so many years. I looked at everyone around me, no matter how attentive or gentle they were, I suspected they were here to deceive me. Their kindness to me, and sweet words, were all fake. They would definitely, definitely, leave me in the end.”

“It’s almost become a sickness in my heart, but for me, it’s not a big deal, after all, I can always choose from a selection of young and handsome bed partners.”

Yu Nian said this with a faint smile on his face, then suddenly stood up straight and walked back into the room.

After a moment, he returned to the corridor, with a slender finger holding a business card.

He casually tucked the card into the collar of Qi Wang’s robe, perfectly wedging it between the fabric and his skin.

He looked up into Qi Wang’s eyes, his gaze indifferent, and said, “Qi Wang, we can’t reconcile, because I can’t have a normal relationship with anyone anymore. For so many years, I’ve only had bed partners.”

“But as you know, someone like me attracts many people who want to share my bed. Having one more like you wouldn’t make much of a difference. If you’re interested, you can call me.”

With that, he smiled at Qi Wang, then without waiting for Qi Wang’s response, he stepped back and closed the door in front of him.

.

Qi Wang subconsciously reached out, but this time, he only touched the cold door panel.

As he moved, the business card Yu Nian had tucked into his chest fell down, dropping onto the soft carpet.

He bent down and picked up the business card.

It was a card designed by Yu Nian himself, with a black background, embossed with glaciers on the back, and Yu Nian’s position and contact information stamped in silver foil.

He stared at the card for a long time, the hard material scratching his palm, and his eyes even began to sting before he turned and went back to his room.

He knew Yu Nian wouldn’t want to see him in the corridor again, staying here would only cause trouble for Yu Nian.

.

Yu Nian did indeed avoid Qi Wang, not leaving his room until evening.

He wore a pair of oversized sunglasses, covering half of his face, only revealing his slender chin and beautiful lips, yet still attracting many glances in the lobby.

He went to the parking lot, got into his car, but hesitated to start it.

For some reason, he momentarily wondered if Qi Wang’s car was also in this parking lot.

Would they meet on the road as he drove out of the underground parking lot?

This thought had no basis, but it scrambled his mind.

He had impulsively given Qi Wang his business card in the morning, but soon regretted it.

In the afternoon, he sat in his room and called his psychologist, recounting everything that had happened in recent days.

He calmly asked the psychologist, “Do you think I should get involved with him? All my pain, insomnia, came from the winter when he broke up with me. To some extent, I still hold a grudge against him to this day, unable to accept that he really abandoned me. Now I just want to vent all the anger I’ve accumulated over the years on him. If I do that, will I be able to let go of these years of resentment?”

He had been seeing this psychologist for the past two years.

He didn’t have depression, but his psychological state was unstable.

He had tried to start over, but he couldn’t invest himself in a normal relationship anymore.

Even his siblings had actively introduced him to blind dates.

But sitting across from these different young talents, clearly none of them resembled Qi Wang, yet he always mistook them for Qi Wang, talking to him.

This kept his emotions forever frozen beneath the glacier, unable to thaw, and unable to embrace new love.

So now he sincerely asked the psychologist.

He said, “Do you think his presence would help my psychological condition?”

The psychologist sighed across from him.

She also sincerely said, “Mr. Yu, as your doctor, I really don’t recommend you have any contact with him again. From your description, this is an unhealthy relationship, which will not only not help your situation, but may even make it worse. I hope you’ll consider this carefully.”

After saying this, she couldn’t help but add, which was really inappropriate and went against her usual professional demeanor, “But if you insist on falling deeper into this, as a doctor, I really can’t do anything about it. Mr. Yu, if you want to recover, you must have the will to do so first.”

Yu Nian didn’t say anything else, and after a long silence, politely hung up the phone.

And now he sat in his car, but the words of the psychologist still echoed in his ears.

Did he want to recover?

Did he want to wake up from the nightmare that had trapped him for so many years?

He didn’t know.

In the end, he could only start the car and drive back to A City, exhausted and alone.

.

Almost at the same time, Qi Wang sat in the driver’s seat, his phone also receiving a call.

The displayed caller was Song Yunchun.

Qi Wang hesitated for a second, then answered the phone.

“What’s wrong, is there something?” he tried to make his tone a little gentler, after being too reclusive and indifferent over the years, he almost forgot how to interact normally with people.

Song Yunchun looked out at the sunlight outside the window. It was still morning in France.

She lay on the rocking chair, gently swinging her legs. “Nothing much, I just wanted to ask if you’ve been in touch with Yu Nian recently?”

“I have.”

Song Yunchun was surprised and couldn’t help sitting up from the rocking chair. “How is he? How are things between you two?”

Qi Wang smiled bitterly. “Not too good.”

He leaned back in the chair, not knowing how to describe to Song Yunchun what had recently happened.

He could only tell Song Yunchun, “He has changed a lot. He’s much smarter and calmer than when he was eighteen, but he doesn’t seem happy at all. We didn’t have a chance to sit down and talk properly. I hurt him too much back then, he’s disgusted just seeing me.”

Song Yunchun sighed disappointedly.

She reclined back on the chair again, as if comforting Qi Wang, but also comforting herself. “It’s not his fault. Xiao Yu really suffered a lot. Don’t rush it, take it slow, don’t push him too hard. Maybe things will get better in the future…”

Will things get better in the future?

Qi Wang looked at the business card in his hand and couldn’t dare to make such a guess.

He owed Yu Nian too much, too much to be enumerated. He didn’t even dare to hope for Yu Nian’s forgiveness.

“I’ll treat him well, even though he may not need it much,” he said to Song Yunchun, “but unless he has a completely new life, I’ll just be an unnecessary burden in his life. Otherwise, I won’t leave.”

“You…” Song Yunchun wanted to say that you don’t need to be so pessimistic, but when she thought of Yu Nian appearing outside her shop with a pale face, as thin as a dandelion ready to be blown away at any moment, she felt a bit at a loss for words.

She didn’t say anything more. She knew Qi Wang was different now from before. Busy with work, she just added a few more comforting words before hanging up the phone.

After her call ended, Qi Wang didn’t immediately start the car.

He still looked at the business card in his hand.

He hadn’t contacted his former “Morning Ten” colleagues for years, including Song Yunchun.

But as time passed, more than half a year ago, he reconnected with Song Yunchun.

It was then that he learned something that almost overturned everything he knew.

Song Yunchun said that Yu Nian had come looking for him.

Two years after he left, Yu Nian was still looking for him.

Even though Yu Nian, who was already studying abroad, should have started a new life, he appeared outside Song Yunchun’s door, earnestly begging her to tell him where he had gone.

Song Yunchun said, “Xiao Yu was so thin at that time. He grew taller, his face looked the same as before, but he looked much more haggard. He didn’t cry, he just asked if I knew where you had gone. But looking at him, I don’t know why I felt so sad. I think Xiao Yu must have had a hard time during those two years. Even though he was abandoned by you, used by you, and separated from you in such a way, he still came looking for you… But he didn’t find you, and he never contacted me again after that.”

Qi Wang didn’t know how he managed to listen to all the details Song Yunchun told him that day.

He sat in his high-rise apartment in New York. His apartment was located in the central area of Manhattan’s Central Park, a prime location. The room wasn’t lit, the wind outside the window was hitting hard. On the left side, there was a nineteenth-century gilt cloisonné enamel vase placed casually. He was no longer the young man trapped in a cramped room many years ago.

But Song Yunchun’s words echoed in his ears like a power drill drilling into his flesh.

He couldn’t say anything.

He didn’t even have the strength to express his guilt.

He dared not think about what mood Yu Nian was in when he was looking for him.

A traitor.

An emotionally despicable person.

A filthy piece of garbage.

Why would Yu Nian want to pick him back up?

He really didn’t understand.

He spent the whole day sitting on the sofa in a daze, and the next day he booked a ticket back to the country.

But on the morning of his departure, he saw another report about Yu Nian.

It was another tabloid news about Yu Nian, sailing with a scion of some business tycoon.

In the photo, the man’s hand was on Yu Nian’s shoulder, and both of them were smiling happily, genuinely relaxed.

He suddenly realized that it had been six years since Yu Nian stumbled back to find him again.

.

Qi Wang snapped out of it and put the business card back into the box.

He didn’t know, after all these years, whether he still had a place in Yu Nian’s heart, or had he become irretrievable garbage.

But Yu Nian still gave him a chance to approach, like an ultimate grace.

He didn’t know what had happened to Yu Nian over the years. With so many people accompanying him, why did no one eventually unlock the door to Yu Nian’s heart?

But he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

He didn’t care how dirty he was in Yu Nian’s heart, or whether he would become a stain in his life.

He just wanted to be by Yu Nian’s side.

.

A week later, Qi Wang rang Yu Nian’s doorbell with a bottle of Romane-Conti he had obtained at an auction.

Yu Nian opened the door in his bathrobe.

The two looked at each other through the door frame.

Yu Nian had taken a bath, his snow-white skin tinged with a hint of pink, water droplets sliding from his hair, dripping onto his shoulders.

They should have exchanged some hypocritical pleasantries, sat down, and opened the bottle of wine, like a distant yet ambiguous pair of lovers.

But neither of them knew who made the first move.

Yu Nian tiptoed slightly.

The two kissed.

The bottle of wine fell to the floor, the expensive liquid spilled everywhere, and the air was filled with the aroma of wine.

Qi Wang swept Yu Nian into his arms.

He thought, Song Yunchun was right, Yu Nian was really light.

From six years ago to now, had Yu Nian never properly gained weight?