Gu Wenxi slept until it was bright outside. Even before opening his eyes, he could feel the bright rays dancing on his eyelids—it was a sunny day.

It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet, so it would be a bit early to help Du Yunyan prepare breakfast. He quickly got up, went to the door of the room opposite, and knocked, but there was no answer. The other person must have already gotten up.

But why didn’t he call him over like he did the day before?

Gu Wenxi went downstairs, approached the front desk, and heard laughter coming from the adjacent kitchen.

“Are you up?” Du Yunyan pushed aside the curtain, revealing an unusual look of joy on his face.

“Shall I help you prepare breakfast?”

“No need,” Du Yunyan turned back to look into the kitchen, “Yun Han will help me.”

The young man heard their conversation, leaned out, and said to Gu Wenxi, “Good morning, Mr. Gu!”

“Oh, good morning.” Although Gu Wenxi had been spared the trouble of household chores, he didn’t feel very comfortable. He leaned against the kitchen counter, feeling somewhat excluded, and didn’t leave immediately.

He remembered the message he had glimpsed on Du Yunyan’s phone last night—”Yunyan ge.” From the tone of it, the sender should be Yun Han, “I didn’t see the message in the afternoon” and so on… So, the friend Du Yunyan failed to invite yesterday was him.

“Wait a moment, breakfast will be ready soon.” Du Yunyan said.

Gu Wenxi chose a table near the window by himself. Before long, Du Yunyan brought over two steaming bowls.

The meal was brought over to his side, and recently they had been dining at the same table.

“Laozao round dumplings, with an added egg.” Du Yunyan introduced the meal. The fermented rice wine made a few days ago was ready, perfect for breakfast. “We just made these dumplings this morning.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Gu Wenxi’s voice contained a hint of complaint.

“It was too early, I felt embarrassed to bother you.”

His words were very polite, and Gu Wenxi could understand the implication—after all, he was still an outsider.

Du Yunyan seemed to have lost the drunken demeanor from yesterday, but his face still had a faint blush, and his mood seemed different from usual.

Gu Wenxi had initially thought that Du Yunyan treated everyone in the village with the same warm attitude, but it wasn’t entirely true. There was a difference in his demeanor towards this young man, their relationship seemed to be closer.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Du Yunyan noticed him spacing out, “Is it not good?”

“No, it’s quite good.” Gu Wenxi lowered his head and took a few bites, sweet and hot. After setting down his spoon, he asked, “You’re not feeling dizzy now, right?”

“What dizziness?”

“Weren’t you drunk yesterday?” Gu Wenxi met his bewildered gaze, “You don’t remember?”

“Was I… really drunk yesterday?” Du Yunyan’s face changed slightly.

“Not extremely, but there was quite a difference compared to usual.”

Du Yunyan’s facial expression became more serious, “Then I… didn’t say anything strange or do anything strange?”

“What do you think you would do?” Gu Wenxi noticed that he seemed to care about his image after getting drunk, so he teased him, “like try to take advantage of me?”

Du Yunyan slammed the spoon back into the bowl with a “pop” and stared at him, “That’s impossible.”

Gu Wenxi was on the verge of bursting into laughter, “Then how about me taking advantage of you?”

“Don’t joke around.” Du Yunyan said seriously.

“Boring.” Gu Wenxi muttered softly. If it hadn’t been for Du Yunyan being so talkative last night, he wouldn’t have made such a pointless joke.

After a few minutes, Yun Han came out, “How is it? The taste is good, right?” He was addressing Gu Wenxi.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“No problem,” he sat down next to Du Yunyan, the two of them facing Gu Wenxi, then whispered to the person beside him, “Sorry, ge, I should have come to help you yesterday.”

“What does it matter,” Du Yunyan turned his head slightly, “I just wanted to invite you to have a meal together.”

The five university students had gone to the mountains early this morning and didn’t dine at the inn, while Cen Fei had already eaten and left. Now there were only the three of them in the dining area. Gu Wenxi could hear clearly what the two were saying.

This was his third time seeing Yun Han, but it was the first time he had carefully observed him: the young man was a few years younger than him, sitting next to Du Yunyan without any sense of difference. Instead, Gu Wenxi felt more like a role that needed to be taken care of, like a child.

Du Yunyan liked talking to him, that was Gu Wenxi’s intuition. When Yun Han wasn’t around, Du Yunyan would only chat with him if he took the initiative to speak, but clearly not now.

Their conversation continued, and Du Yunyan’s usual gentleness was now infused with a bit more initiative and ease.

Gu Wenxi didn’t say another word. He felt out of place in this atmosphere, so he finished his meal as quickly as possible and left just as fast.

He stood by the kitchen window for a few minutes. The kitchen faced east, and there were rarely such dazzling rays of sunlight in the winter. He closed his eyes a few times, then suddenly remembered that he hadn’t washed the dishes and spoons yet.

“I’ll do it.” Just as the faucet was turned on, Du Yunyan also came over.

Gu Wenxi was still washing his own dishes with the faucet running, “Why are you so generous today?”

“What do you mean by ‘generous’?” Du Yunyan was puzzled, “Aren’t you fond of resting?”

“Du Yunyan,” he turned off the water and called his full name for the first time, “I’m also an adult, not a child in need of care. I know what should and shouldn’t be done.” He placed the bowl on the counter, emitting a faint, crisp sound, as if putting a period to his words.

“What’s wrong with you?” Du Yunyan wasn’t dull; he sensed the edge in his words, “Did I… do something to upset you?”

Gu Wenxi quickly masked his emotions, “No, you didn’t.”

Perhaps he had been wandering outside for too long; his emotions sometimes became a bit off. Du Yunyan’s distant and disguised smile made him momentarily sad, but that reason would sound petty if spoken aloud.

He even missed the slightly tipsy Du Yunyan from the night before; at least that was his true self.

“Yunyan ge!” Yun Han lifted the kitchen door curtain, “Shall we go out together?”

“Oh, just a moment—” Du Yunyan glanced at the bowl in his hand.

“I’ll wash it for you,” Gu Wenxi reached out to him, his expression calm, “You go ahead if you have something to do.”

After a brief hesitation, Du Yunyan handed over his tableware to him.

Gu Wenxi turned on the tap again, the sound of water masking Du Yunyan’s departure.

As the porcelain bowls were continuously scrubbed clean, Gu Wenxi’s inner restlessness seemed to be washed away by the flowing water. Following Du Yunyan’s instructions, he dried the washed tableware with a cloth before putting them back in the cupboard.

The inn was empty, with Yangyang and Beibei lying on the ground, looking listless. Gu Wenxi passed by them, squatted down, and teased them a bit, “No one to play with, huh? Boring, isn’t it?”

“I think so too,” he continued to mutter to himself, “Everyone’s gone.”

He only squatted for a short while, and when he stood up, his calves felt numb. The garbage bag by the fence was very conspicuous, catching his eye immediately.

Du Yunyan had forgotten to take out the trash when he left… he complained inwardly as he walked over and picked up the bag.

The nearest garbage station was at the intersection ahead. Gu Wenxi carried the trash out, threw it into the trash can, and just as he was about to turn around, he seemed to hear Du Yunyan’s voice.

“Do you hate me?”

Gu Wenxi turned back, and Du Yunyan and Yun Han were under a tree very close to him. However, they were separated by bushes, and neither of them noticed him.

Leaning against the bushes, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated.