On the way back, Yu Nian yawned all the way, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

Ying Quanshen drove away with Zhang Yunyao. These two had been joking around since they met, but when they got along well, they were like two peas in a pod, leaning on each other as they waved to Yu Nian, the two running off happily together.

Yu Nian shook his head and complained to Qi Wang, “Where there are three, there’s always one left out. I feel like they’re already excluding me.”

Qi Wang just smiled.

He remembered the way Ying Quanshen had looked at him just now, like he was cautiously eyeing a scoundrel who had stolen his own child.

Yu Nian propped his head up with one hand, watching the night scenery passing by outside the window. After a while, seeming casual, he asked, “What did Quanshen say to you just now?”

He had already noticed Ying Quanshen and Qi Wang chatting, both of them restrained and composed, showing no signs of relaxation. He felt uneasy, with no mind to listen to Zhang Yunyao and the bartender bantering back and forth.

But he didn’t disturb them either.

Qi Wang didn’t hide anything. “He asked me to take good care of you and not to let you get hurt again.”

Yu Nian didn’t quite believe it. “That’s it?”

Given Ying Quanshen’s temperament, not punching Qi Wang in the face was already showing restraint. How could he be so rational?

As if it were raining red from the sky.

Qi Wang affirmed, “Yes,”

He recounted Ying Quanshen’s words, “He said he doesn’t really have a stance. If I make you sad, he’ll dislike me, but if you choose me, then he’ll accept it.”

Qi Wang fell silent for a moment, then added, “He cares about you a lot.”

Yu Nian didn’t say anything.

He lowered the car window halfway, feeling the night breeze on his face, rustling his bangs.

He could almost imagine Ying Quanshen’s helpless expression. He remembered how Ying Quanshen used to be a little fool when he was younger, but now he had grown into a handsome and dignified man.

He chuckled softly, thinking that Ying Quanshen’s ability to remain calm was probably also thanks to Zhang Yunyao.

Over the years of knowing him, it was a stroke of bad luck for Ying Quanshen and Zhang Yunyao to have to comfort him through his heartbreak and then mobilize all their resources to help him find someone.

But the three of them sitting on the square in London, sharing a bottle of warm red wine, biting into freshly bought croissants, listening to street musicians playing guitar, those times were so good that they were worth remembering for a lifetime, keeping these two people sighing yet never letting go of him.

After returning home that day, Yu Nian wasn’t very sleepy. He sat on the floor sorting through his collection, but as he did, he remembered something.

He looked up at Qi Wang, who was sitting at the computer, and remembered that a few days ago, he suddenly wanted to go see whales in May, and Qi Wang was planning the trip.

He recalled that back in Jiangyang County, Qi Wang had said he would take him to see where he grew up and lay out everything in front of him.

He lightly kicked Qi Wang. “I just remembered something.”

“Hmm?” Qi Wang’s gaze shifted from the iPad.

Yu Nian hesitated. “Didn’t you say before that you wanted to take me to see where you grew up?”

Actually, he wasn’t fixated on this matter. He could guess that Qi Wang’s upbringing must have been very harsh, and he wondered what kind of hardships he had endured.

But Qi Wang’s willingness to be open with him was a sign of trust, and he felt vaguely happy about it.

But as soon as he said it, he felt a subtle regret. “Forget it, it’s not important.”

Now that he and Qi Wang had reconciled, the past was the past.

He didn’t know if bringing up the past now would be considered opening old wounds for Qi Wang.

Qi Wang’s fingers touched the screen, inadvertently opening a video, with noisy laughter emanating from it, but he quickly closed it.

“I’m not unwilling to take you…” Qi Wang hesitated slightly.

He closed the browser and stood up with the iPad, sitting on the floor next to Yu Nian.

His past was like a damp and muddy plum rain, with walls covered in moss, everywhere spotted and mottled, with sparse and thin sunlight, a world completely different from Yu Nian’s.

He thought carefully about his words and explained to Yu Nian, “It’s not that I don’t want to take you, but the place where I grew up has always been underdeveloped, with no good hotels and bad weather. So I always wanted to wait until it’s a bit warmer before taking you there.”

He found an encrypted folder on the iPad and opened it, revealing several pictures. They showed gloomy skies and dilapidated alleys.

Qi Wang rarely opened this folder, and he rarely saw these few pictures, but he kept them nonetheless, perhaps because people always keep secrets that only they know, even if it’s a thorn in their side.

Yu Nian’s gaze was also drawn to the photos, his brows unconsciously furrowing. Whether it was due to long-term neglect or not, the courtyard looked desolate and forlorn, and he could hardly believe that Qi Wang had grown up there.

Qi Wang opened his phone and opened the map app, showing it to Yu Nian.

“If you’re free, we can leave in a couple of days.”

Yu Nian looked down at the destination on the phone, which was 1200 kilometers away from City A.

---

Three days later, in the morning, Yu Nian, wrapped tightly in his thick down jacket, carried a small suitcase and boarded the high-speed rail platform with Qi Wang.

Before they departed, Qi Wang earnestly reminded him once again, “The place we’re going to is definitely very poor. It’s always been a remote and desolate little town, and the accommodation there is poor. The food will also be basic, and you might not be used to it. Are you really mentally prepared?”

Yu Nian, bundled up in his thick down jacket, nodded solemnly.

“Don’t think I’m being too delicate,” he argued seriously to Qi Wang, “I’ve been to mountain villages before, where conditions weren’t great either, but I managed to stay. I haven’t only lived in the city.”

Qi Wang subtly pondered. He did know about Yu Nian’s past adventures, but it seemed… were they accompanied by a camper van and an assistant?

But of course, Qi Wang didn’t voice this thought. He just chuckled lightly and led Yu Nian to the car.

“Let’s go then.”

Sitting on the high-speed train, Qi Wang showed Yu Nian the itinerary. “We’ll first get off at Wuzhou County. I’ve arranged for a car to pick us up there. After a short rest, I’ll drive you into the mountains. It’ll take over an hour, and eventually, we’ll arrive at a place called Wuda Mountain Town.”

Yu Nian listened somewhat drowsily, focusing on where Qi Wang’s finger landed.

That place called Wuda Mountain Town, he had never heard of it before. But thinking that Qi Wang emerged from there, walking step by step to City C, to him, it stirred up a strange feeling.

He looked at Qi Wang, involuntarily imagining what this person looked like when he was young.

Since he met Qi Wang, he had always been composed and cool, as if detached from the world even at the age of twenty.

But if you turned back time a bit, before Qi Wang came to work at Song Yunchun’s restaurant.

What was Qi Wang like at thirteen or fourteen?

At five or six years old, what was he like?

Would he also show childish expressions like ordinary children, cry, throw tantrums?

Yu Nian found it difficult to equate these images with the Qi Wang in front of him.

And he vaguely knew that while any child might cry and throw tantrums, there wasn’t necessarily always someone to respond when Qi Wang cried. This made his stomach feel heavy.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Wang asked him.

Yu Nian shook his head. “Nothing.”

The journey to Wuda Mountain was indeed long; they spent seven hours on the high-speed train alone.

They slept in a county town overnight, and the next day, Qi Wang drove Yu Nian into the mountains.

As they drove, Qi Wang looked at the gradually familiar scenery on both sides, his fingers unconsciously tightening.

These years, unless absolutely necessary, he would never come back to this place.

As the car delved deeper into the mountains, leaping over one hill after another, those cold and gloomy shadows seemed to once again entangle him from the past.

In Qi Wang’s mind, some dim images couldn’t help but surface—the fists landing on him, snow soaking through his knees in winter, hands pierced by splinters, textbooks trampled on, and being locked in a dark room, unaware of the passing of time…

But soon, his hand felt a warmth on the back, and the gentle touch brought him back to reality.

Yu Nian tapped his hand with a bottle of hot coffee he had just bought from a convenience store. “Do you want some? I just bought it from the store. It’s still a bit hot, you can use it to wake up a bit.”

Qi Wang nodded, and Yu Nian opened the coffee, passing it over.

Qi Wang took a sip.

The convenience store coffee was nothing special, just convenient, but as the warmth passed through his stomach, it seemed to warm even his blood a little.

He glanced at Yu Nian from the corner of his eye.

Yu Nian was drinking a cup himself, a bit of foam sticking to his lips, which he licked off. Because of the warmth inside the car, his cheeks were a bit rosy.

This was his most cherished treasure, sitting in the passenger seat, brought back to the past by him.

Qi Wang suddenly thought, if he told his twelve-year-old self, sitting calmly on the bridge, staring at the water, that there would be a lover waiting for him in the future, a person so perfect that they seemed unreal, like fate giving him the most extravagant compensation, what expression would his twelve-year-old self have?

At that time, he probably wouldn’t have believed it. He didn’t believe fate could be so generous to him.

But it turned out to be true.

All the hardships fate bestowed upon him seemed to have been exchanged for a Yu Nian.