Li Ling Bai had repeatedly asked to see Li Jin Yu.

Li Chang Jin had visited once, Ye Meng had gone twice, and Dou Ju Hua had 3QC video-called her once, but Ye Meng still hadn’t allowed her to see Li Jin Yu.

“Is he unwilling to see me?” she asked, wearing prison clothes and looking coldly composed behind the glass partition.

The walls in the visitation room were exceptionally high. Ye Meng was still in the black suit from that night, sleeves rolled up to his forearms. Leaning against the chair in a dim beam of light filled with dust particles, he shook his head and told her, “That’s not it. We haven’t told him. Grandfather hasn’t told him, Grandmother hasn’t told him that you want to see him. Even Liang Yun An, Director Fang, and Wen Yan—we’re all trying to protect him. Because we’re afraid you’ll say things that would humiliate him again.”

Li Ling Bai trembled all over. It wasn’t exactly remorse she felt, but rather the realization that something she once couldn’t shake off no matter how hard she tried now had a group of people protecting it.

Li Ling Bai murmured, “How is Li Zhuo Feng?”

“Because of you, he has no friends left at school. Everyone knows his mother is a murderer, and no one wants to be his friend. Grandfather is planning to take him back to England next month. Li Zhuo Feng doesn’t want to go.”

Li Ling Bai closed her eyes briefly, her eyelashes trembling slightly. “Let him go.”

After a pause, Ye Meng didn’t respond. The prison guard stood expressionless nearby.

Then, Li Ling Bai spoke again, “What are your plans with Li Jin Yu?”

“We’ll return to Ning Sui in a few days. As for the future, I don’t think you care, but I’ll tell you anyway—I plan to have three children. The children and I will love him very, very much,” Ye Meng said, standing up. “Also, if you make a fuss about wanting to see someone again, no one will come visit you.”

At that moment, Li Ling Bai’s vision became somewhat blurry. She felt unable to distinguish between reality and dreams. Looking at Ye Meng’s face, she thought it seemed distant, like an illusion gathered at the end of time. Then her mind suddenly flashed with several white lights. For some reason, that white light transformed into the face of Li Si Yang’s father. The images in her mind gradually became clearer—she seemed to be in college at that time. She saw a figure in a white shirt under the familiar old locust tree at the school gate, very gentle. Though ordinary-looking with average grades, he was the gentlest man she had ever met, the man she loved most in her life.

The scene cut, suddenly becoming Li Ming Xuan’s face—the beginning of all nightmares.

August rain was especially long and continuous. Wind and rain swayed, the fine rain fell like needles, and full raindrops sat atop green leaves. Standing under the soft rain screen, the entire city looked like an intricate painting of endless sentiment, with gentle winds and intertwining stems and leaves.

That night after returning from the police station, Ye Meng took Li Jin Yu directly back to Fenghui Garden instead of Li Chang Jin’s place. The two sat in the car, caught in the traffic flow shrouded in misty rain, slowly inching forward. After Ye Meng finished a phone call with Li Chang Jin, he turned to look at Li Jin Yu, who was leaning back against the seat with his head tilted up, eyes closed, and not saying a word. His gaze slowly moved from Li Jin Yu’s clean, protruding Adam’s apple upward.

Those days, because of Li Ling Bai, his mood hadn’t been good. Even his brows were tightly furrowed. Ye Meng locked his phone and reached out to check Li Jin Yu’s forehead temperature. “Not feeling well?”

“No,” Li Jin Yu straightened his head. Those clean, deer-like eyes turned to look at her. “What did Grandfather say?”

Ye Meng looked into his eyes for a moment, then turned away to look out the car window. “Nothing much. He wants you to rest well. He said he needs to return to England.”

Li Jin Yu responded with an “oh,” leaned back, and continued to tilt his head up, staring at the car ceiling for a while before suddenly saying, “Let’s stay in Beijing for a while. I don’t want to return to Ning Sui right now.”

Ye Meng turned to look at him again. The man’s Adam’s apple rolled slightly, that scar cold and distant. Her thoughts seemed to drift back to when they first met. She never would have imagined then that the man who seemed so adept at flirting with girls by the lake, resembling a playboy, was so cold and repressed.

Ye Meng looked at him and, after a long while, gave a soft “mm” in response.

The journey was quiet. Their shadows, elongated by moonlight, dragged along the ground, slowly advancing, overlapping. Looking into the alleyway, lush green leaves hung from the wall vines, and two flowers bloomed quietly in the corner. Moonlight settled like still water. Everything seemed to have hardly changed.

They hadn’t returned to this house in Fenghui Garden for some time. As soon as they turned into the alley, they saw the pomegranate tree in the yard, full of small red lantern-like fruits. Ye Meng’s mood lightened somewhat. She tightly hugged Li Jin Yu’s arm and looked up at him, saying, “When these fruits are ripe, I’ll stir-fry pomegranate seeds for you, okay?”

Li Jin Yu had slept the whole way and was drowsy. With his hands in his pockets, he walked leisurely toward home. Under the dim yellow streetlight, he looked down at her. Having been in the South for so many years, he seemed to have never heard of this dish. Smiling, he asked, “Stir-fry what?”

“Pomegranate seeds. You’ve never had them, right? They can be stir-fried with green peppers and soybeans. When I was little, Grandmother said eating this in autumn could reduce dampness. In the south, people eat it as a medicinal ingredient,” Ye Meng looked at him curiously. “You don’t have this in the north?”

“Not in Beijing,” Li Jin Yu thought for a moment, then clarified his statement, “Or maybe I just haven’t heard of it.”

“I’ll cook it for you.”

The two reached the door. Li Jin Yu was still having his arm held by her, while his other hand came out of his pocket. As he slid open the cover of the digital lock to press the fingerprint lock, he casually chatted with her, saying lazily, “No need. I’m afraid you’ll blow up the kitchen. Even if the kitchen blows up, that’s fine, but if you get hurt, that would be counterproductive. You stay far away from the kitchen.”

With a “click,” he opened the digital lock. Just as Ye Meng was about to argue with him, they heard the rumbling sound of a washing machine coming from inside the yard. The two exchanged glances, and the next second, they saw a thin figure moving in the living room. Ye Meng blurted out, “Zhou Yu?”

Zhou Yu was also startled. He hadn’t expected them to come back today and looked surprised but excited. “Sister Ye Meng, Boss, you’re back!”

“Oh, so you’re still alive,” Li Jin Yu said flatly as he closed the yard door.

Zhou Yu: “…”

The house had been cleaned thoroughly by him, with every corner gleaming. The lights were bright, even glaring. Ye Meng sat on the shoe cabinet, took off her high heels, and eagerly asked Zhou Yu with her bare feet on the floor, “Where have you been lately?”

Li Jin Yu, indifferently leaning against the wall at the entrance, bent down to take out Ye Meng’s pink slippers from the shoe cabinet and tossed them in front of her. “Put these on first.”

Ye Meng absentmindedly put on the slippers, her eyes still on Zhou Yu. “I thought no one was home.”

Zhou Yu glanced at the indifferent man, carefully watching his expression. He thought to himself that if Sister knew that Jin Yu had used him as a shield, she would probably get angry again, so better not to mention it. He racked his brain and stammered, “I, I went back to Guangdong.”

After saying this, he glanced at Li Jin Yu, who completely ignored him and went straight to the bedroom after changing his shoes.

Zhou Yu quietly sighed in relief, not wanting them to argue because of him again. He emphasized once more, “Yes, I went back to Guangdong.” He had indeed returned to Guangdong briefly, so it wasn’t a lie.

Ye Meng went to pour water, leaning against the open kitchen counter, and casually asked, “What did you go to Guangdong for?”

Zhou Yu glanced back at his luggage bags in the corner of the living room and stammered, “I brought all my luggage. I… I… plan to stay in Beijing.”

Ye Meng’s gaze followed his, and she finally noticed several colorful luggage sacks thrown in the corner of the living room. She took a sip of water, somewhat incredulously. “You plan to stay in Beijing?”

“Sis, uh… don’t overthink it. I’m not planning to live here. I’ve already found a job, and the boss has paid me in advance. I’ve rented a place outside. I just came over these past few days to help Jin Yu clean up the house, delete my fingerprints, and say goodbye to you. I didn’t expect you two to not come back all this time, so I’ve been waiting here.” Zhou Yu hurriedly explained.

Seeing how nervous he looked, Ye Meng was about to say it would be fine for him to stay here, as she and Li Jin Yu would continue doing whatever they needed to do. But then a lazy voice came from behind, “What kind of job can your brain find?”

Zhou Yu turned around. Li Jin Yu had undone the buttons of his shirt haphazardly, and his belt was removed. In the dim yellow light of the room, one could faintly see the flat, protruding abdominal muscles on his stomach. He seemed to be preparing to take a shower, with a towel around his neck, hands in his pockets, leaning lazily against the wall and looking at him.

Zhou Yu, of course, didn’t have the nerve to say that he had found a job as a domestic worker—essentially a male housekeeper. All beginnings are difficult, right? After saving some money, he would see if he could do something else.

Li Jin Yu guessed from his expression but didn’t say anything. Before turning to enter the bathroom, he dropped a line, “My sister and I will be returning to Ning Sui in a few days. It’s good that you’re staying in Beijing. Come clean this house once a week, and I’ll pay you.”

Zhou Yu embarrassedly scratched his head, feeling he couldn’t possibly accept payment. “No, no, I’ll come once a week, that’s fine. No need for payment. You’ve helped me enough.”

“As long as you remember that my sister helped you, that’s fine. It has nothing to do with me.” With that, he closed the door.

Zhou Yu knew what Li Jin Yu meant—that when he became successful, he should remember to repay his sister.

The boss was just like that; apart from his sister, he preferred not to have anyone thinking about him. He found it troublesome.

Although Jin Yu was twenty-seven, his face looked like he was just in his early twenties—fair and clean. When he smiled, he was quite radiant. However, he would quickly hide this radiance before anyone noticed. Zhou Yu couldn’t fully empathize with him but somewhat understood why he was like this—this was characteristic of children who grew up under cold domestic violence, a special way of observing others’ expressions and being cautious.

Zhou Yu recalled the first time he saw him at the airport months ago; it was truly stunning as if a distinctly colorful painting had suddenly appeared in his gray world. Jin Yu particularly resembled the most lush, vibrant green leaf at the height of spring, still bearing dew and spring water—clean and bright.

He had never seen such a perfect-looking man, like a walking ruler. Even the most handsome men, when standing next to him, would seem lacking in some way. Whether in terms of height, physique, leg length, or facial features, he made others appear lackluster by comparison.

Because he was so perfect, at first glance, he might seem like an ordinarily handsome guy. But upon closer inspection, one would be involuntarily attracted. Sister Ye Meng said that when she first saw him, she felt the same way—if not looked at carefully, he was just a conventionally handsome guy, but the more she looked, the more she realized he wasn’t ordinary, but stunning, even world-class. She deeply felt that she wouldn’t meet another person like him.

Zhou Yu had initially thought he would be the easiest to deceive. But unexpectedly, he was different from Gou Kai’s cold calculations, and also different from Tai Ming Xiao’s shameless joking. Even when Li Jin Yu joked, there was an air of sincerity about it. Several times, Zhou Yu had almost been fooled by him. For instance, during the kidnapping by Li Ling Bai, when Jin Yu told that AK47 guy not to touch his little lantern whiskers, his tone sounded joking, but it was extremely sincere.

Indeed, when it came to matters concerning his sister, he never joked. Strangely enough, Zhou Yu had seen many men who appeared more masculine than Jin Yu, with bulging abs, robust chest muscles, and exaggerated veins protruding on their skin, looking very reassuring, capable of killing two of him with one punch. But none of them gave him the strong sense of security that Li Jin Yu, who looked like a South Korean idol, did.

Zhou Yu thought emotionally that even at the risk of being hit by Jin Yu, he still had to tell his sister some things.

“Sister Ye Meng,” Zhou Yu gathered his courage.

Ye Meng was getting a bit distracted, drinking water while her mind was full of the image of Li Jin Yu leaning against the wall with his shirt unbuttoned. She responded with an absent-minded “mm.”

Zhou Yu’s solemn expression made Ye Meng subconsciously focus a bit more, preparing to put down her cup and listen attentively. Then she heard him slowly say, “Actually, that day in the bathroom, he didn’t do anything to Ma Hou. He wanted to several times, but he always restrained himself in the end. He said he was afraid you wouldn’t be happy, afraid you’d get angry, afraid you wouldn’t talk to him.”

Ye Meng remained still, holding her cup, completely stunned.

The moonlight spread silently on the ground, seemingly exuding worldly calm. A cat called out for spring on the wall.

Zhou Yu lifted his eyelids to secretly glance at her, observing her expression, and continued, “There’s something you probably don’t know. After the Ma Hou incident, you two didn’t see each other for a long time.”

After a moment, Ye Meng’s brain began to function again. “Yes, he said his mother was watching him and told me not to find him for a while.”

Zhou Yu nodded solemnly, “That’s right, he was indeed being watched. But there was another reason he might not have told you—during that time, he was seeing a psychologist.”

Ye Meng was startled and immediately put down her cup. “When was this?”

“It was after the Ma Hou incident. Don’t, don’t worry, he’s much better now,” Zhou Yu shook his head, looking at her, and said, “That day when you two argued on the rooftop, and then made up when you got home, but the next day after you left, he thought for a long time and felt it was still his problem. He asked me if he was too sensitive about your matters.” At this point, Zhou Yu smiled bitterly. “To be honest, at that time I didn’t understand him as well as I do now. I was quite afraid of him then. I even thought he was sometimes domineering and childish. During that period, he was taking medicine and seeing doctors all by himself. I felt he was quite pitiful like there was no one around who understood him.”

Everyone thought he was childish and domineering, but no one tried to understand him from his perspective. A person who had self-isolated for five or six years couldn’t be expected to be mature and steady.

The more Zhou Yu thought about it, the more pitiful he found Jin Yu, feeling like he was about to cry. He sniffed and looked outside. By then, the rain had stopped. The vines hung from the wall, with faint afterglow spreading, the vine leaves swaying gently in the wind. Rainwater slowly dripped along the veins of the leaves, creating wet patches on the ground. The air was rarely fresh and clean. The little cat that had been peeking at Li Jin Yu showering for years had somehow climbed onto the wall, lying there lazily, occasionally propping up its front paws and stretching. Looking at the cat, Zhou Yu said softly—

“Sister Ye Meng, don’t look at my young age, but I also know a lot about men’s thoughts. Some men are good at deceiving women, real scumbags, but Jin Yu is not one of them. He loves you more than he says he does. If he says he misses you, it means he misses you very, very much. If he says he’s going crazy missing you, you’d better go see him right away. If he says he loves you—remember to multiply that by three thousand.”

That night, Li Jin Yu’s shower lasted nearly two hours. By the time he came out, it was almost one in the morning. Zhou Yu was already fast asleep. His colorful luggage sacks were neatly stacked by the door, seemingly ready to leave early the next morning. Ye Meng was still sitting on the sofa, watching a movie while waiting for him. Two cups of instant noodles beside her had gone cold. The blue light from the TV screen illuminated her, making her look vibrant and quite energetic.

Li Jin Yu’s hair wasn’t dried yet, wet and tousled on top of his head. He wore loose black sportswear, and loose pants with a zipper pulled up to the top. For some reason, Ye Meng was reminded of the night she first met him by the lake. He had dressed similarly then, with a clean and sunny youthfulness, yet also inexplicably possessing a cold, abstinent aloofness that forbade intrusion. It looked quite appealing, somewhat like a South Korean idol. He was wiping his hair with a towel as he walked over to sit beside Ye Meng. “Not sleepy?”

Ye Meng had her legs curled up as she leaned against the sofa, tilting her head up to watch him sit down beside her. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she noticed that this man seemed to have become a shade whiter after his shower, somewhat milk-white. Her heart fluttered again, beating like a striking clock, as she gently pinched his earlobe and asked tenderly, “Why did you take so long?”

Li Jin Yu allowed her to pinch him. Having finished drying his hair, the towel still hung around his neck. Without turning his head, he hunched his back, sitting on the sofa as he lit a cigarette for himself, smoking it leisurely. With his elbow resting on his knee, his gaze fixed on the television, he watched the movie with her, occasionally flicking off ash as he said, “No, I accidentally fell asleep in the bathtub.”

“Why did you decide to use the bathtub today?”

“Just discovered it has a massage function.”

Ye Meng turned and pressed him down on the sofa, straddling him as she played with the zipper on his chest. “With massage? Ah, why didn’t you call me? We could have gone together. My shoulders and neck have been so sore lately from making cakes.”

Li Jin Yu leaned back, afraid of burning her, instinctively raising the hand holding the cigarette. He reclined completely on the sofa, lifting his chin to signal her to bring over the ashtray from the coffee table. She placed it on the corner side table next to him. He turned his head to flick off the ash and said lazily, “Don’t use it. Zhou Yu bathed that stray cat in that bathtub. I just spent nearly an hour cleaning the tub. If you want to bathe, I can order another one tomorrow?”

“If it’s clean, why can’t I use it? You used it, why can’t I?”

Li Jin Yu didn’t respond, lowering his eyelids, his expression mild as he tapped off the cigarette ash. In a flash of realization, Ye Meng suddenly remembered Zhou Yu’s bald head lying in the bathtub one morning when they were in the bathroom.

“Alright, order a new one.” Ye Meng said.

“Mm.”

Then silence. It was quiet both inside and outside the house. The dripping water from the bathroom could be faintly heard. The atmosphere was like a sizzling spark, slowly heating up. Their gazes intertwined, grinding against each other deeply and hotly. Ye Meng felt as if she were standing at the edge of an abyss, with every pore of her body trembling—he was touching her. This kind of half-hearted flirtation from Li Jin Yu made Ye Meng tingle from the core of her heart to her toes, making her toes curl involuntarily. Li Jin Yu held the cigarette with one hand while his other hand slipped into her shirt from her chest, unbuttoning it one by one to reveal the familiar black lace-thin fabric. He even rather annoyingly pulled it up and snapped it.

Ye Meng covered her chest somewhat irritably. “What are you doing?”

He smiled, his other hand flicking ash as he said, “How many of these did you buy? Seems like I’ve never seen you change it?”

Normally, Ye Meng would have unhesitatingly hit him, but today, no matter what he did, she couldn’t be angry with him. It wasn’t just because she was moved by Zhou Yu’s words, but because she knew he wasn’t in a good mood. Even his speech was flippant; he was suppressing his anger.

“Tired of seeing it?” she asked.

Still playing with it, he nodded honestly. “A bit.”

Ye Meng sat straddling him, looking at him resentfully: “…”

Li Jin Yu reclined carelessly on the sofa, his neck supported, almost at an angle where he could see the ceiling. He brought the cigarette to his lips for a drag, his eyes lowered but still watching her. With a half-smile, he slowly blew out a smoke ring. Then, with one hand holding the cigarette on the sofa armrest, his other hand surprisingly slipped through her unbuttoned shirt to her waist, pulling her against himself. Their breaths touched as he looked down at her. “Are you angry?”

“How could I be?” Ye Meng smiled.

“I was joking.”

“Am I that easily angered?”

Li Jin Yu smoked methodically, his eyes on her, his hands continuing with varying pressure. He didn’t speak.

Ye Meng couldn’t bear being touched by him like this. She lowered her head to take his Adam’s apple in her mouth. That pointed, bony feeling against her tongue sent another wave of tingling through her heart. She realized for the first time that “wanting” wasn’t something that happened only across thousands of miles. Even in his arms, she still longed for Li Jin Yu to the point of madness. She asked him in a muffled voice, “Are you tired?”

Li Jin Yu appeared indifferent, looking down at her. “It’s fine.” His eyes met hers with mutual understanding.

He reclined lazily on the sofa, the zipper of his sportswear already pulled down by her. He wore nothing underneath, his chest muscles and abdominal muscles clearly defined, all visible, along with that distinctly sexy “V-line.” His pants were pulled a bit low, with the V-line almost completely exposed before her, both sexy and bold. She could vaguely see—

Ye Meng’s mind exploded with a buzzing sound, then heard him add another sentence.

“But we don’t have any condoms at home. Tomorrow?”

Without another word, Ye Meng blocked his mouth, her tongue sliding in. By then, the clock was approaching one-thirty, and the television in the living room had been turned off, replaced by the sound of intense kissing and the exchange of saliva. Moonlight filtered through the sparse and dense branches, casting dappled shadows through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room. Once the light was turned off, the stormy weather or the beautiful spring scenery on the other side of the wall had nothing to do with them anymore. They were engulfed in the tenderness they gave each other until death.

In the next room, Zhou Yu seemed to hear a faint sound but turned over as if unaware, rubbing his eyes and continuing to sleep.

The two were entangled on the sofa. Li Jin Yu’s warm breath was against her ear, somewhat chaotic. Ye Meng’s heartbeat was unprecedentedly fast and intense, carrying a blatant excitement. Outside the window, the water had almost drained from the leaves, leaving a wet stain below. The leaves hanging from the wall seemed to have become more full and tender after being washed by the gentle rain.

Because the night was exceptionally quiet, where even a pin drop could be heard, the sound of their kissing became particularly lingering and ambiguous. Not just Li Jin Yu, even Ye Meng felt they were somewhat ravenous when she heard it. But at this moment, she only wanted to kiss him like this, with all her strength.

Li Jin Yu’s entire ear was red. Ye Meng lay on top of him, forcing him to tilt his head back as they kissed closely. She even paused to sit on him. Li Jin Yu leaned against the sofa, his gaze restrained and profound as he watched her take a sip of water until Ye Meng lowered her head to hold his lips and slowly feed it to him. Then she stopped again, watching Li Jin Yu’s rolling Adam’s apple as he obediently swallowed. Her heart was beating like crazy, her entire body heated as she murmured in his ear, “Was it good?”

“Mm.” Li Jin Yu was incredibly docile at times like this.

Ye Meng couldn’t stand his appearance of being willing to be bullied and mistreated, making her heart pound like a struck bell, anxious and eager. Her brain swirled with a buzzing resonance, the tip of her heart tingling. She held his face, her voice hoarse: “Want more? There’s still wine in the cabinet.”

“Yes.”

His eyes were dark, suppressed, yet still clean and clear, like the moonlight on the wall with a storm raging behind it.

After feeding him two glasses of wine, their bodies were like friction-heated fireballs. Ye Meng felt as if she was on fire. The blood in her body collided frantically. She gave him a meaningful look, then slowly climbed down from Li Jin Yu, kneeling directly between his legs. She pulled at the drawstring of his sweatpants. Li Jin Yu was suddenly startled, realizing what she was about to do. He instinctively held her chin, his voice husky, “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Ye Meng slapped his hand away. “Let go, let me try.”

Li Jin Yu held her chin, refusing to let go, his grip tightening, forcing her to look up. “Get up.”

Ye Meng discovered he was embarrassed, his ears bright red. “Once this opportunity passes, it won’t come again. Are you sure you don’t want it?”

“…Why suddenly?” He looked down at her with reddened eyes, clearly excited.

While undoing his sweatpants, she said, “It’s not sudden. I just heard that some boys experience this when they’re teenagers, and I felt sad. My baby didn’t even have a girlfriend in his teens and was left alone in America.”

Li Jin Yu let go of her hand, legs spread, leaning back on the sofa, turning his head away somewhat guiltily, as if he had exaggerated his pitiful situation a bit too much. Ye Meng wouldn’t think he was a good boy in America who just did homework until he had calluses, would she? That would be a huge misunderstanding. America had an open education system, with extracurricular activities taking up far more time than classroom teaching. Most of the time, he hung out with those delinquent boys, smoking, drinking, and fighting.

He wanted to say, “In America… actually…” It wasn’t that bad, and he still occasionally missed the whiskey there.

Li Jin Yu was about to tell the truth.

Unexpectedly, Ye Meng had already started, being extremely gentle. She even looked up at him, with indescribable passion, not forgetting to respond to his words: “Hmm?”

At that moment, Li Jin Yu’s spine tingled, and all his nerves seemed to jump frantically, adhering to his scalp and heartbeat.

Fuck. Forget it.

“It was pretty miserable,” Li Jin Yu leaned his head back against the sofa, looking resigned as he stared at the ceiling and sighed, “When I first went there, my English wasn’t that good. Even buying a sandwich was awkward. I didn’t want to talk to people, so sometimes I’d eat one sandwich for three days.”

What nonsense about eating one sandwich for three days? When he first went, although his English wasn’t as good as it is now, it was still outstanding among Chinese students. Even the principal praised him repeatedly, and fearing he wouldn’t adapt to the local food, specifically recommended several inexpensive Chinese restaurants. Moreover, there were many Chinese people at that school, including a group of children from Beijing, both boys and girls. Since they really couldn’t get used to the local food, fortunately, a host family mother was willing to cook for them. That group of people would pay her a sum of money each month and eat heartily.

Sandwiches? Nonexistent.

“You poor thing.” Ye Meng believed him completely.

“It’s okay, it’s all in the past,” he shamelessly said, followed by a muffled groan, “Gently.”

…

Zhou Yu slept soundly until dawn, completely unaware of what had happened the night before. He only noticed in the morning that the sofa in the living room was a bit messy, which was strange because he had just tidied it up before going to bed. Ye Meng and Li Jin Yu were already up. His Jin Yu, who resembled a South Korean idol, was now leaning against the bathroom door with a head of messy hair, eyes closed, and the back of his head tilted against the wall. He wore loose pajamas inside, with a shirt casually draped over them, unbuttoned. He looked like someone who hadn’t fully awakened but had been forcibly pulled up. The bathroom door was closed, likely with Sister Ye Meng inside.

Were these two showing their affection early in the morning? Did even going to the bathroom require a husband to stand guard outside?

Tsk, tsk.

“Brother Jin Yu.” Zhou Yu politely greeted.

Li Jin Yu lazily responded with a sound, opening his eyes. His expression was cold as he asked, “Need to use the bathroom?”

Zhou Yu quickly said, “No, I’m going out to buy breakfast. What would Sister Ye Meng like to eat? I remember she’s from the south, so she probably likes soy milk?”

Li Jin Yu glanced inside the door, his hands in his pockets, and thought before saying, “Buy something else. She probably can’t drink soy milk today.”

Zhou Yu let out an “Ah” sound. “Then yogurt? Is she not feeling well? Yogurt can help with nausea.”

“Not that either,” Li Jin Yu said, “Buy a bowl of black rice porridge, not white.”

“Alright, not white, not white.” Zhou Yu muttered, walking away somewhat confused. Shortly after, the bathroom door opened. Ye Meng leaned against the doorframe, looking somewhat exhausted, her face pressed against the frame. Li Jin Yu turned sideways, his shoulder against the wall, hands in his pockets, looking down at her with a smile. “Still feeling unwell?”

Ye Meng nodded, lifting her eyelids to look at him somewhat pitifully. “I drank alcohol last night and didn’t feel anything, but I don’t know why I suddenly… felt nauseous this morning?”

“Who told you to swallow it.” Li Jin Yu couldn’t stop smiling.

Ye Meng looked at him for a while, seeing his complacent, detached appearance, and couldn’t help but feel annoyed. She pouted and moved closer. “Baby, give me a kiss.”

He leaned his head back, avoiding her with a disgusted expression. “No, I feel sick too.”

Ye Meng exploded, “Li Jin Yu, it’s your stuff!”

Li Jin Yu remained completely unmoved, even nodding candidly, with an expression that said ‘Say what you want,’ when he said no, he meant no. “Mm, no, no kiss. Don’t touch me today, thank you, sister.”

“…”

Early the next morning, Zhou Yu didn’t waste a minute. He called for freight transport to move his luggage first. Li Jin Yu and Ye Meng sat in the open kitchen dining area, both lounging in similarly lazy postures. Each had a bowl of black rice porridge in front of them. Ye Meng seemed to have little appetite, barely eating as she scrolled through Weibo on Li Jin Yu’s phone. Li Jin Yu had eaten half his bowl and was leaning back in his chair, chatting casually with Zhou Yu, mainly telling him which small alleys in Beijing had authentic, delicious, and affordable food, and which ones specifically targeted tourists.

“If you don’t know what to eat, go to Niujie. Most things there are traditional Beijing food,” he said.

“Got it, I’ll remember.”

“But when taking girls out, try to go to restaurants, be more gentlemanly.”

“Okay!”

Ye Meng, peeling a boiled egg, interjected without looking up: “Baby, pass me a tissue.”

Li Jin Yu, smoking, coldly replied with shameless indifference: “There aren’t any. Used them all last night.”

“…”

“Oh right, Fang Ya En got married again,” Ye Meng remembered to say.

“Impressive.”

Ye Meng put the egg in her mouth, her tone muffled but envious: “Really, it’s another younger guy. I heard this one was super hard to get.”

“Was I too easy to get?” Li Jin Yu suddenly wondered, leaning back in his chair, glancing sideways at her.

“…”

Ye Meng choked on half an egg.

It was a peaceful morning. Cicadas were chirping outside, golden sunlight fell on the ground, all things were vast and clear, and love and hate became romantic and bright. All emotions seemed to dissipate in these small details.

When Zhou Yu left, he quietly closed the door behind them.

That time in the car, Zhou Yu had assumed Brother Jin Yu must be a precious young master born with a silver spoon in his mouth and raised in a castle. Based on his experience, men like this—the more perfect they looked and the richer they were—the worse their personalities. They would say whatever was dirty or insulting; at least the rich second-generation kids at his school were like that. However, he hadn’t expected that Li Jin Yu would be more easygoing and approachable than the other two wealthy young men. He even took the initiative to ask how he and his sister met. He didn’t have that worldly sophistication; instead, he exuded a kind of solitary coldness, disinterested in most things. But when chatting with him, one would discover he was casual yet polite, worthy of being called a young master, yet able to humble himself. Truly first-class.

They had talked a lot in the car that day. Brother Jin Yu even told him where the best soybean drink in Beijing was, which tofu cake shop was the most authentic, and quite sincerely advised him that when eating Beijing roast duck, never go to Quanjude.

Goodbye, world’s finest man.

Goodbye, Sister Ye Meng.

Mountains and waters stretch far; we write all our ideals and passions into the wind.

May the sun always be beautiful, the clouds fly high, the birds be free, the stars be vast, the lights shine long, and every day of the future be romantic till death.

“Li Jin Yu, as much as I love you, that’s how much the world loves you.” —Ye Meng.

(End of Main Text)