To be honest, seeing that message in the middle of the night was really scary.

But upon thinking carefully, it seems that there was indeed a prompt that appeared while he was reading the email, indicating that the sender had requested a read receipt. So, when he checked the email, the male lead must have received the read receipt, and by tracking the login IP, finding him wasn’t that hard to believe…

The old antique computer he was using didn’t have any IP masking, and even if it could, Liu Sizhen wouldn’t bother. What surprised him more was that the male lead had been constantly monitoring him…

[No way, how can the male lead be so vengeful?]

When Liu Sizhen saw that the male lead said he was coming to find him, his first reaction was that the male lead was coming for revenge. Although he had indeed bullied him a bit before, it didn’t seem like something that would warrant holding a grudge for eight years.

It seemed like the male lead had been holding a grudge the whole time.

However, Liu Sizhen tried to put himself in Lin Bosheng’s shoes, and he could understand. If Liu Sizhen saw the people who had bullied him in the past, honestly, he’d probably still hold a grudge too.

[Can I still hide now?]

[… ]

Looking at the male lead’s overwhelming affection for him, which was almost overflowing, 258 fell into deep thought. Maybe… he wasn’t coming for revenge after all.

---

With the rapid development of the economy and the growing number of overseas Chinese, Liu Sizhen often saw Chinese customers coming into the restaurant where he worked. A few of his coworkers were also of Chinese descent.

However, the majority of the customers were still foreigners of all skin tones.

The restaurant advertised itself as serving authentic Chinese cuisine, but to cater to local tastes, many adjustments were made, so it couldn’t be considered fully authentic. But those foreigners couldn’t tell the difference anyway.

Liu Sizhen understood a bit of English, so his wage was slightly higher than those who didn’t know any, though it wasn’t by much. For his previous self, his monthly salary might have only been enough for a few days of pocket money.

It was his first job, and at first, he had a little bit of expectation. He had never worked before and didn’t know what to expect. But after one day of work, the smile on his face gradually faded, and he felt like he didn’t even have the energy to speak.

A flower in a greenhouse leaving the constant spring-like warmth of its flowerbed,

Experiencing the harshness of society for the first time.

---

For him, all the blond, blue-eyed foreigners looked the same. Similarly, for those people, all Asians looked pretty much the same too, and for some reasons, they even appeared a bit younger than them.

Liu Sizhen looked even younger, and people often asked him if he was of legal age.

Different states have different rules, but the state he was in allowed minors to work. He was so busy all day that he was spinning in circles and barely had time to drink a glass of water.

Especially during peak dining hours, Liu Sizhen was starving, his stomach cramping, but the customers kept pushing. They didn’t behave as politely as on TV, and some even showed signs of racial discrimination.

Or if he was a bit slow, they would curse at him in their native language. Sometimes Liu Sizhen couldn’t understand what they were saying, but from their tone and expressions, he could tell it wasn’t anything friendly.

Finally, after the peak dining hours were over, Liu Sizhen was so hungry that it felt like his stomach was touching his back. He was probably coming down with a cold, feeling unwell. The day before, his limbs had already been weak, and throughout his shift, he was only able to keep going by sheer willpower without collapsing.

In the end, he managed to eat some cold rice, which didn’t do much to help his hunger.

For a moment, he understood what the male lead’s situation must have been like.

Watching his colleagues around him, almost completely accustomed to their work, he mechanically chewed on his cold food. One of the Chinese workers greeted him first.

“Xiao^[1]Little, an intimate way or closed way to call someone closed to you Liu, you look really pale… Are you okay?”

It was the same person who had replaced him in his class when Liu Sizhen had asked for leave.

He was older than Liu Sizhen, so calling him “Xiao Liu” felt natural.

Liu Sizhen should have replied, but when he tried to speak, his energy failed him. He shook his head weakly, his voice faint like a sick kitten’s, “I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Hey…”

The older man had come here to work, and although it was harder than working back in his small hometown in China, the wages were higher than what he would earn there. He hadn’t studied much, didn’t know English, and could only work in the kitchen.

In the kitchen, he didn’t have to interact with the foreigners.

After all, being far from home, he felt a sense of duty to look out for his fellow countrymen. The Chinese man glanced around, making sure no one was watching, before quietly slipping a warm bag to Liu Sizhen. Liu Sizhen could already smell the faint scent of meat—probably ingredients for dinner.

“Shh…”

The man quietly shook his head. He had a 15- or 16-year-old son, who was about to start high school. His son was always mischievous, and seeing someone around the same age as his son made him feel a bit sentimental.

“…You say you’re 26, but I don’t believe it. You look at most 17 or 18…”

Liu Sizhen was actually 18.

He gave a dry laugh. “I look younger.”

This was Liu Sizhen’s day of work.

The male lead showed up at the restaurant on Liu Sizhen’s third day of work. At that time, the restaurant had just opened, and Liu Sizhen was still cleaning.

The male lead arrived much faster than Liu Sizhen had imagined. When they first met, Liu Sizhen didn’t recognize him.

The main reason was that Lin Bosheng’s appearance had changed drastically from when he was a teenager.

Liu Sizhen saw a customer in a silver-gray coat walking toward him. Unlike the crooked, disheveled passersby, this man had a distinguished presence. Just as Liu Sizhen was thinking this, the man stopped in front of him and called out his name.

Only then did Liu Sizhen realize it was the male lead.

It was a bit awkward to not recognize each other after such a long time.

After all, just a few days ago, the male lead was still an immature boy, but now he was suddenly a powerful, mature man. His neatly combed hair and expensive-looking tailored suit made it impossible to recognize the past version of him.

The red blood vessels clearly visible in his eyes suggested that he had probably flown in overnight or hadn’t slept at all. His voice was hoarse and rough.

“You haven’t changed at all.”

“…”

Liu Sizhen used to be able to look the male lead in the eye, but now he had to tilt his head to meet his gaze. The male lead had grown taller, his body no longer as thin as before. Dressed in a sharp suit, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, there was no trace left of the past.

[Did the male lead come all the way across the ocean just to slap me in the face? Didn’t we agree this storyline would start only after returning to the country?]

Liu Sizhen thought that when they reunited, he would probably get punched in the face.

He had a slight fever when he woke up in the morning, and now it seemed to be getting worse. Feeling sluggish, he quietly turned away, bracing himself on the dining table with one hand for support.

He cleared his throat, unsure of what to say, and after a long pause, managed to say:

“You’ve changed a lot. I didn’t recognize you just now.”

“…Why have you…”

Why hadn’t he replied to his messages all these years? Why had he disappeared without a word? Why had he been kind to him before, only to suddenly abandon him? Even if he had just said something at that time, it would have been better. The door he had just opened to his heart had been painfully slammed shut by a cold gust of wind.

—All that flattery, only to be abandoned in the end.

No, no, no, he hadn’t been abandoned, but… he really didn’t know where Liu Sizhen had gone. Only a day ago, their relationship had finally started to thaw a little… Had Liu Sizhen really just been playing with him all this time?

Before Liu Sizhen could answer, he was interrupted by a coughing fit. He coughed so hard it seemed like his lungs were about to come out.

This sudden change clearly interrupted Lin Bosheng’s thoughts. He noticed the unnatural redness on Liu Sizhen’s face and reached out to touch his forehead, which felt burning hot.

It was obvious that Liu Sizhen had a fever, and it had been going on for a few days.

Almost simultaneously, Liu Sizhen’s legs buckled, and he fainted in front of him. Thankfully, Lin Bosheng was quick to catch him. Liu Sizhen felt light in his arms, and his body was so thin that the bones felt sharp.

Liu Sizhen, who wasn’t quite conscious, seemed to be feeling unwell in his stomach. He curled up and mumbled softly about not going to the hospital, saying hospital medicines were expensive.

In that moment, Lin Bosheng felt his heart was struck by a hammer. The intense pain and sourness made his fingers curl, and even his breath felt sharp and painful.

He had imagined countless scenarios of their reunion,

But the one thing he never expected was this scene.

During the eight years that Liu Sizhen was gone, Lin Bosheng missed him terribly, almost every night dreaming of him. In those dreams, Liu Sizhen would pretentiously hold a long cigarette between his fingers without actually smoking it, his slender fingers with distinct joints.

In some dreams, Liu Sizhen would light it, and his eyes would become misty from the smoke.

He dreamt of his flamboyance when they first met, and also of the quiet peace when Liu Sizhen slept at his desk, the dappled shadows of trees from outside falling across his face. He dreamt of the pale back of his neck, and the red marks left on his cheek.

He dreamt that suddenly he was very close to Liu Sizhen, close enough that their noses were almost touching. In the dream, Lin Bosheng stared at Liu Sizhen without restraint, as if trying to carve his image into his mind. Just looking at him brought immense satisfaction.

Every time, he wanted to reach out and touch him, but as soon as he extended his hand,

Everything would turn into a fleeting shadow.

Of course, sometimes he also had dreams he couldn’t speak of.

The content of those dreams was often absurd and twisted, but no matter the scenario, the protagonist was always the same. In the dreams, Lin Bosheng would kiss him, embrace him. They were so close in the dream, but the closer they got, the more loneliness Lin Bosheng felt upon waking up.

His chest felt hollow, and the cold wind seemed to seep into him.

Liu Sizhen’s name in Lin Bosheng’s heart accumulated layer by layer, becoming an untouchable forbidden area, a moonlight he thought of day and night.

Liu Sizhen’s sudden disappearance had no warning. One morning, the homeroom teacher told the class that Liu Sizhen would no longer be coming.

That morning, the teacher on stage seemed relieved, as if finally the pestilence had left. The other students barely cared, whispering a bit before moving on, since Liu Sizhen had only been in the class for half a semester.

Meanwhile, Lin Bosheng stared at the empty seat next to him, feeling like the emptiness was spreading throughout him.

It was as if he had suddenly disappeared, and even his email address, Lin Bosheng had only learned about it from someone else. He went to an internet café for the first time just to send Liu Sizhen a message.

Unfortunately, there was no response. He kept sending messages, over and over.

At first, Lin Bosheng thought there was no way someone alive could just vanish without a trace. He was sure Liu Sizhen was somewhere in the world. Holding onto this thought, he searched and searched for years, hiring detectives, even trying to find him in fields he thought Liu Sizhen might be interested in, looking for other students with the same name.

But Liu Sizhen truly seemed to have vanished. Everything about him felt as if it had been covered in a mist. And during this search, Lin Bosheng always encountered obstacles. Every time he was so close, something else would come up, as if someone was preventing him from finding him…

Lin Bosheng even went to the villa where Liu Sizhen had lived before. The doors were locked, and the place was shut down. Sometimes, he would go there to sit for a while, just because.

Later, he heard that the villa was going to be sold to pay debts, and he was the first to raise his number card,

Thinking… now he might finally get some news.

When he learned that something had happened to Liu Sizhen’s family…

To be honest, for a moment, a feeling of dark joy surfaced in his heart,

And many dark thoughts followed.

The joy was that now he could finally help him. No longer would he just passively accept Liu Sizhen’s awkward kindness, nor would he be so poor that he had to save up for a long time just to buy him a gift… He could finally tell Liu Sizhen everything he had kept hidden in his heart.

As for the dark thoughts…

Every year since Liu Sizhen left, Lin Bosheng prepared a gift for his birthday. At first, he didn’t have much money, but over time, he was able to buy the expensive luxury items Liu Sizhen used to like…

He gathered so many gifts, but he could never get them to their rightful owner.

“Zhenzhen…”

Lin Bosheng had indeed rushed to the airport and flown overnight. On his way to the airport, his heart was pounding. The driver knew he was in a hurry and drove faster than usual, and thankfully, it was late at night, so there was no traffic.

The window was half-open, and the cold wind rushed in, but the man in the backseat felt as if his chest was burning. It was like a teenager, excited about a first date with their crush…

“This time, you can’t escape.”