The first feeling An Yi had when he entered 1202 was emptiness.

The spacious living room didn’t even have a sofa. The coffee table was moved against the wall, with a three-square-meter carpet laid on the floor. There were a few soft pillows placed around, serving as a resting area.

“You sit first; the carpet isn’t dirty.”

Yan Chen went to get the medicine, and An Yi held the cat in the center of the living room, hearing Yan Chen coughing hoarsely a few times.

He wrinkled his nose, smelling the lingering aroma of instant noodles in the room, and his brows furrowed.

The young master really didn’t know how to take care of himself. He had just recovered from a fever and was already eating instant noodles. He even took off his clothes to model. He dressed lightly even at home, no wonder his cold hadn’t gotten better.

Yan Chen brought an Elizabethan collar and a dropper.

An Yi held the cat down and put on the collar. The orange cat was very nervous, meowing and scratching the floor with its paws.

When Yan Chen applied the drops to the wound and said, “All done,” An Yi let go, and the little cat suddenly shot up, climbing up the cat tree along the wall and onto the curtain rod.

An Yi’s hand was scratched by the cat’s hind paw.

Yan Chen frowned. “Let me see.” He wanted to hold An Yi’s hand but An Yi subtly avoided him.

“No need,” An Yi said coldly and stood up.

Yan Chen’s gaze followed him as he raised his head. “If it’s broken, you’ll need a shot.”

Apart from the missionary position in bed, An Yi had never been looked up at by Yan Chen.

At this moment, this man was staring at him intently, and the deep eyes seemed to be brewing a long-overdue rain.

An Yi lowered his gaze and walked away.

Yan Chen called out to him from behind, “An Yi.” He pleaded, “Don’t avoid me, please? Give me some time.” His voice was hoarse, the trailing tone still dry, followed by a few more dry coughs.

An Yi didn’t stop, but his hand hidden in his sleeve clenched tightly, the knuckles turning white with force.

He felt pathetic for still feeling a pang of heartache at this moment.

Passing by the entrance, he saw a glass bottle placed on the shoe cabinet, with the Juliet roses inside almost wilting, the dried apricot-colored petals scattered around.

An Yi blinked a few times, lowered his head, and hurried away.

After returning home, he stayed idle for a while before Xie Nancong’s video call came again.

“It’s so late, what’s up?”

“…Neighbor,” An Yi didn’t mention Yan Chen’s name, “he took away the cat.”

Xie Nancong was puzzled, “Then why are you still unhappy? Did you want to keep it?”

An Yi slowly shook his head. This wasn’t about the cat. He said, “I’m a bit tired from classes these past few days. I think I’ll go to sleep first.”

“Okay, go to sleep first,” Xie Nancong said, “If you really want a cat, wait for me to come back, and we’ll adopt or buy one together.”

An Yi smiled but didn’t give a definite answer.

After ending the video call and spacing out for a moment, An Yi opened the rental app and began planning his next move. He planned to find a day with fewer classes to see houses, if he was satisfied, he would move in on the same day.

Fortunately, Yan Chen had become much more restrained and no longer flaunted himself in front of him every day. Even though their apartments were adjacent, in the following days, they never crossed paths again—of course, even so, An Yi still decided to move out as soon as possible.

Get rid of everything that should be thrown away, and everything that shouldn’t.

It was still figure drawing class on the weekend, but An Yi decided to skip this class and go house hunting instead.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he stepped out, he saw the door to 1202 wide open, furrowing his brows.

Aren’t you afraid the cat will run away?

An Yi walked over, and the person inside heard his footsteps, coming out with the cat in his arms. They collided at the doorway, and with a “meow,” the orange cat’s claws hooked onto An Yi’s hoodie drawstring.

“Are you going to class?” Yan Chen asked knowingly.

An Yi didn’t answer, reaching out to retrieve the drawstring from the little cat’s paw. The cat thought he was playing with it, stretching out its front paws to snatch the drawstring back.

As the man and the cat played, Yan Chen silently watched An Yi’s thick eyelashes for a while before speaking up, “Could you help me take care of the little guy for two days?”

An Yi lifted his eyelids, unexpectedly meeting Yan Chen’s gaze, and then lowered his eyes again, asking, “Are you tired of taking care of it?”

“I’m going to Canada for a bit, the flight is this afternoon.” Yan Chen scratched the orange cat’s chin, and the cat comfortably squinted its eyes and rubbed against his chest. “Its wound is almost healed, you just need to come over every day to give it some water and feed it canned food.”

An Yi frowned, realizing he would be gone for a long time. “Someone like you who can’t stay at home isn’t suitable for keeping a cat.”

Yan Chen lowered his eyes and said, “I’m sorry, I’ll be back as soon as possible.” He handed An Yi the spare key to his place. “Can you help out?”

The little orange cat timely meowed twice, as if saying, “Help out, please.”

An Yi took the key, but Yan Chen wanted to exchange contact information with him under the pretext of wanting to see the cat while he was away. An Yi coldly threw the key back, saying, “If you’re not confident, find someone else.”

Yan Chen hurriedly placed the key back into his hand, clasped the cat’s paw, and bowed to An Yi, “Ge, please don’t be angry, we only trust you, please.”

An Yi still went to class, and when he came back at noon, the door next door was already locked.

He estimated that Yan Chen had already gone to the airport. Using the spare key, he entered 1202, and sure enough, Yan Chen wasn’t there.

The little orange cat was sleeping, but when it heard movement, it ran to his feet and climbed up his pants leg.

The furniture and decorations in the living room seemed to be a little less than the last time he was here, empty and not quite like a place where someone lived.

Yan Chen had bought an automatic feeder and placed it in the corner, filled with a bucket of cat food. However, the little guy didn’t seem to like eating much, meowing at An Yi every three steps. An Yi was led to another room by it, and the little orange cat stopped in front of a cabinet.

Opening the cabinet, An Yi was surprised to see it filled with canned cat food. The adjacent cabinet held boxes of cat food and cat litter, and there was even a small box in the corner with several bags of instant noodles, almost finished.

“…”

The little orange cat raised its front paws and scratched at the canned food box.

An Yi rubbed its head and sighed, “You’re so picky after just a few days.”

The canned food was rich in nutrients, and the little orange cat ate one can per meal, followed by some sheep’s milk. In less than half a month, it visibly plumped up like a ball.

An Yi didn’t know if Yan Chen had given it a name, so he called it “Qiuqiu” without permission.

Qiuqiu’s appearance was like a pebble, stirring up a ripple in An Yi’s otherwise calm life. He felt happy, and even silently prayed that Yan Chen wouldn’t come back.

Yan Chen did everything on a whim, just like when he decided to talk about being in a relationship with him, and now he was like this with keeping a cat.

He couldn’t really be considered a qualified cat litter cleaner. An Yi secretly thought to himself that if he still didn’t show up by the end of the month, then Qiuqiu would belong to him, and he could cash in on the stockpiled cat litter and cat food for Yan Chen.

Yan Chen still didn’t know he was about to lose custody.

He looked disheveled, and as soon as he got off the plane, he contacted Qi Wenxing, urging him to bring some clean clothes to meet him.

Qi Wenxing was puzzled when he arrived at the airport to pick him up, seeing Yan Chen looking haggard, as if he had lost weight. He couldn’t help but curse.

“Buddy, did you fucking go mining in South Africa?!” Qi Wenxing widened his eyes.

Yan Chen got into the passenger seat, reclined the seatback, and tiredly closed his eyes. “Stop joking, take me to the Bulgari Hotel, I have an appointment.”

“…You called me out to be your driver?” Qi Wenxing protested while accelerating and merging onto the highway.

“It’s important.” Yan Chen’s throat hurt, sparing his words.

Qi Wenxing kept glancing at him.

Yan Chen, who had always been well-dressed and proud, was now wrinkled in clothes, neglected his hair, his cheeks were sunken, and his jawline was sharper.

“What have you been up to lately?”

Qi Wenxing felt that Yan Chen had changed a lot since they last met. Appearance aside, he seemed calmer and more composed than before.

He asked Yan Chen, “Does your family know you’ve returned to Xichuan? I’ll call Muye and the others, and we’ll give you a welcome.”

Yan Chen shook his head. “No time, I’ll finish my business and go back to Jin Hai.”

“…,” Qi Wenxing endured for a while, but couldn’t hold back, “Chen, does An Yi have such great charm that it’s worth it for you to fall out with your family? Moreover, you don’t have money or a car now. Can An Yi still be with you? Even if he’s with you, if your dad doesn’t loosen his grip and keeps holding onto your card, do you expect him to starve along with you?”

Yan Chen covered his eyes with his hand. “No.”

“What do you mean, ‘no’?” Qi Wenxing tapped the steering wheel, “You’ve never suffered any hardships since you were a child. Do you think this is just an experience of life?”

Yan Chen rolled his throat, but didn’t speak again.

Qi Wenxing first arranged a suite for him at Bulgari, and Yan Chen quickly took a shower, changed into the three-piece suit Qi Wenxing brought him, and finally regained some of his former tall and handsome appearance.

Over the past half month, he had first gone to Toronto, then flew to Florence, Paris, Berlin, and almost traveled half of Europe, before transferring from Barcelona back to Xichuan.

In each city, after visiting local museums and bank executives, Yan Chen immediately rushed to the next location. After rushing around, he finally managed to compress his schedule as much as possible and returned to the country three days before An Yi’s exam.

With some spare time, he stayed in Xichuan for two days, first meeting with Qi Wenxing and the CEO of Yi Hai Culture, Feng Li.

“You want to establish… Artbank?” Qi Wenxing flipped through the stack of foreign-language materials Yan Chen threw at him, “An art bank?”

“Yeah.” Yan Chen took a sip of water, his throat feeling refreshed, “Artworks have high profit margins, but poor liquidity, high investment thresholds, and difficulty, but Artbank can effectively connect the art market with trust, funds, insurance, and wealth management businesses. This time I inspected thirteen Artbanks in Europe and clarified their operating methods. Although there are a few in China, they are concentrated in two super-first-tier coastal cities, with strong regional restrictions and tepid performance.”

He was succinct and ambitious.

“I want to expand.”

The Qi family ran an auction house in Guangdong and Hong Kong, so Qi Wenxing understood what Yan Chen meant by asking him to come out.

Yan Chen turned his gaze to the elder with white hair behind the round table, “Uncle Feng, I know you have a passion for traditional culture and are a collector. You should know more about the potential and prospects of art market investment than the younger generation.”

Feng Li, nearly sixty years old, dressed in a simple Zhongshan suit, smiled kindly and nodded, “It’s good for young people to be ambitious, but the situation overseas and in China cannot be generalized. If you just copy blindly, you may end up falling flat on your face.”

“Don’t worry about this. I will quickly draft a feasibility study report,” Yan Chen picked up his glass, “I invited you and Wenxing here today, just to ask for a little personal favor. Please, Uncle, when the time comes, could you help me say a few good words? I’ll drink to you.”

 Be it a fundraising exhibition or auction. Yan Chen wanted to invest in Artbank, and Feng Li was the person he had to win over.

“Sure, I’ve been a porcelain friend with your dad for so many years, I’ll definitely take your matter to heart.” Feng Li smiled and took a sip of wine, raising his eyebrows. “Hmm, this wine tastes really good.”

Yan Chen accompanied him for a few more drinks.

After the dinner ended and the guests were sent off, Yan Chen hurriedly walked into the bathroom and vomited violently.

Qi Wenxing patted his back to comfort him and sighed, “Why push yourself so hard? You’re really serious about this.”

Yan Chen washed his face, his wet bangs falling over his eyes. He leaned on the countertop with both hands and looked at Qi Wenxing through the mirror. “I am.”

Qi Wenxing was inexplicably startled by the look in his eyes. After a while, he shook his head. “Yan Chen, I never thought you’d be such a lovesick fool.”

He leaned against the wall, sneering, “I think this Artbank thing you’re doing is just a pretext for self-interest. You’re willing to invest tens of millions just because one person’s head got hot. You really are something.”

Yan Chen turned to look at Qi Wenxing. “I do have selfish motives, but I also genuinely want to do this.”

“…,” Qi Wenxing was stared at by his dark eyes and choked for a while, unable to come up with any sarcastic words.

Yan Chen returned to the upstairs suite, still feeling uncomfortable in his stomach.

He hadn’t eaten much dinner, and now he couldn’t vomit anything more, feeling dizzy. He slowly slid down to sit on the cold floor, leaning against the wall to regain his composure.

He missed An Yi very much, longing for his slender and gentle hands, his loving eyes, and his soft crimson lips.

He gently knocked his dull head against the wall and took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, carefully unfolding it.

The 16-year-old Yan Chen on the paper had an indifferent expression, rebellious eyes, and a nostalgia buried for An Yi ten years later.

This sketch was picked up by Yan Chen from the trash.

The paper was not stained, but it had countless creases that were difficult to smooth out.

Yan Chen stared at it for a long time, burying his head in his arms.

The empty room remained silent for a long, long time.

^[1]Author’s Note:

Yan Chen, you really look pathetic rummaging through the trash T.T