As the sky slowly darkened, the time for departure drew closer. Shi Jin kept turning his head to look out the window. Finally, when the clock struck seven, he couldn't resist standing up and turning to Lian Jun. "I need to go out for a bit. I'll definitely be back before 9:30."

"It's too late for that. Our flight is at 11, so we need to leave for the airport no later than 9," Lian Jun shook his head.

Shi Jin was stunned. He raised his hand to pat his forehead and said, "I forgot how terrible the traffic in B city is during the New Year... It's okay, then what should we do?"

"But if we leave now, I might be able to take you where you want to go for a brief stop along the way," Lian Jun added, coming out in his wheelchair and holding his hand. "Do you want to leave now? Number Two and the others have already loaded all the luggage onto the car, and the convoy is ready to go."

Shi Jin looked at him foolishly, then tightly grasped his hand and said, "Let's go, I want to make a detour to the university town... is that okay?"

"Of course," Lian Jun replied, picking up his hand and giving it a kiss.

......

The car raced down the street, and outside the window was the gradually familiar scenery of the university town. Shi Jin reached into his pocket and gripped the key inside - it was the key to Li Jiuzheng's apartment, and he was on his way there now.

And why did he want to go there... he took out his phone, opened the message page, skipped over the messages from Rong Zhouzhong and Xiang Aoting, and looked at the last message Li Jiuzheng had sent this morning: "Thank you, I understand. Please continue to hate me, I will continue to love you. You are the gift that God has given me, and I will cherish you. See you after the New Year [heart]."

It was still the same old melancholic text messages from a teenage boy going through puberty, but there were some familiar words that seemed to be etched into his soul, making it impossible for him to ignore them like he used to.

The word "gift" was just...

"Your fifth brother should have already returned to Rong City," Number Two, who was sitting in the passenger seat, suddenly spoke up, looking at the now deserted university town. He exaggeratedly rubbed his arms and continued, "The students have all gone home for the holidays, turning this place into a ghost town. It's pretty scary at night."

"When I didn't return to Rong City," Shi Jin snapped out of his thoughts and looked towards the direction of Li Jiuzheng's residence. "The place where his mother and grandparents are buried, he won't go there on a day like Chinese New Year." Last year at this time, Li Jiuzheng stayed in B City and immediately rushed over to save him after receiving his distress call.

Yes, he saved him. Regardless of what Li Jiuzheng did afterwards, at that time, he saved him. In fact, in their past life, Li Jiuzheng also saved the original owner. Setting aside the various mental traumas, at least in terms of physical health, Li Jiuzheng fulfilled his duty as a doctor. He not only rescued the original owner from a serious car accident, but also personally took care of him in his own hospital.

As he thought of the mental torment... he remembered the words Li Jiuzheng had said at his mother's grave last year, and he pressed his lips tightly together.

Suddenly, he began to understand some of Li Jiuzheng's thoughts and actions. That person was really like a child, pure in both goodness and evil, and unable to express his emotions and feelings.

Perhaps... just perhaps, Li Jiuzheng's terrible words and actions at the original owner's bedside in his past life were not as malicious as they seemed. Maybe they were even done with good intentions. He was sick, just like Shi Weichong, and the pressure and emotions imposed on him by his parents had silently crushed him.

The doctor who doesn't heal himself may not have any real or fake masks at all. All the split emotions displayed by Li Jiuzheng are just symptoms of a patient.

During times of pain, one may wish to drag everyone down to hell, but when they come to their senses, they try their best to hold onto the remaining warmth. It's all the same, really.

And with the same family environment, the original owner had false happiness and fatherly love for the first ten years, while Li Jiuzheng had nothing. Whether it was his mother, father, or older brother, all they gave him was cruel reality and a heap of negative emotions that he couldn't digest.

What a young genius, those halos of hard work are just a child pushed to the brink, coming up with the only way to save himself. Sometimes a child's thoughts are really simple, they always think they know a little more, grow up a little faster, and the current difficulties can become simpler, and solutions can be found for everyone's problems.

[But if you die, what do I do?]

Suddenly, Li Jiuzheng's words flashed through his mind, and his scattered thoughts suddenly converged. He tightly gripped the key in his pocket, and his brain had never been as clear as it was now.

In his past life, Li Jiuzheng had already gone insane. He lost his father, his mother, and only had a utilitarian relationship with his older brothers. The only person he felt somewhat special towards was his younger brother, who was about to die due to their mother's brainwashing. Everyone who had brought him pain and hope had died. What could he do? What was he capable of doing? A person who had gone insane, who had never truly grown up, how could he cope?

For the first time, Shi Jin thought of something - what happened to Li Jiuzheng, who had expressed his desire to kill the original owner countless times but never actually acted on it, and had been trying to rescue the original owner from death's grasp?

The car came to a stop and Shi Jin snapped out of his thoughts, realizing they had arrived at the residential area where Li Jiuzheng lived. He looked up at the building where Li Jiuzheng resided and felt a sudden urge.

"In my past life, Li Jiuzheng had lost all hope. But in this life, even if it's just for the sake of the rescue mission, I have to try again," he thought to himself.

For the first time, Shi Jin suppressed all the emotions that were overflowing in his chest and used the thoughts he had accumulated over the past twenty years to analyze and digest everything that the eighteen-year-old Shi Jin could and couldn't understand.

"Don't let emotions control your rationality. You can do this," he reminded himself.

He reached out and opened the car door, walking towards the building where Li Jiuzheng lived. His pace quickened and he eventually broke into a run, heading straight for the elevator.

"Young Master Jun, are you sure this is okay?" Number Two asked, watching Shi Jin's back with a furrowed brow. Leaning back in his chair, Lian Jun reached over to the spot where Shi Jin had just been sitting and replied, "It's okay, he knows what he's doing."

......

The elevator opened and Shi Jin strode to the door of 3602. After taking a deep breath, he pulled out his key and unlocked the door.

The room was pitch black and there was no heating on, making it seem like no one was there. However, he walked straight in and made his way to the sofa.

Sure enough, he saw a curled up figure on it and spoke up, "I can only stay here for ten minutes at most, or I'll miss my flight out of here."

The person on the sofa didn't move, as if they were already asleep. "To be honest, I'm very afraid of you. I can't let go of the fact that you wanted to kill me, and I can't find peace with it," Shi Jin paused for a moment, his voice softening a bit. "But you're right, among our brothers, you and I are the most alike."

It was unclear if it was just a trick of the light, but the figure on the couch seemed to curl up even tighter.

"I'm going to spend the winter on Lian Jun's island and celebrate New Year's there," Shi Jin said, turning to the side and tightly clenching the hand in his pocket until it turned white. "If you want to come with me, hurry up and pack your things. I'll only wait downstairs for five minutes...Fifth Brother, I don't want to keep hating you. It's too exhausting, and I want to be free."

With that, he turned around and left the lifeless apartment without looking back to see if the person on the couch was awake or asleep.

The opportunity had been given. He overcame the rejection and fear brought by his memory and reached out his hand with the last bit of rationality. Whether the other person would grab it or not, he no longer had the energy to care.

......

Five minutes later, Shi Jin looked at the building's entrance where no one had come out and withdrew his gaze. "Let's go, don't miss the flight."

Number One immediately started the car, but Number Two suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, someone is running out!"

Shi Jin looked up and saw Li Jiuzheng rushing out of the building in just a shirt, holding his phone, ID, and other items in a mess. It was winter, but his forehead was covered in sweat.

He anxiously scanned the entrance and ran over to the car that was about to leave, panting as he said, "Xiao Jin, I, I'll go with you. I was looking for my ID, I forgot where I put it. Don't leave me, let me go with you."

Shi Jin looked at him through the car window, as if he saw his former self desperately seeking help. He closed his eyes and reached out to open the car door. "Come in, we'll miss the flight."

In the eyes of Li Jiuzheng, there was a burst of excitement. He hurried over to help open the car door and sat down tightly next to him, shaking uncontrollably, whether from the cold or something else.

Shi Jin took out a blanket and wrapped it around him, noticing that he had run out without shoes on. His socks were already soaked from the melted snow, dirtying the car's mat.

"Sorry for getting the car dirty," Li Jiuzheng said, feeling a bit embarrassed as he noticed Shi Jin looking at his feet.

"It's okay," Shi Jin replied, taking out a towel and gesturing for him to take off his socks and dry his feet.

Li Jiuzheng quickly followed his instructions, his movements a bit frantic, like a child afraid of being abandoned by his family for making a mistake.

As Shi Jin watched the anxious expression and slightly pale complexion of the person in front of him, he suddenly felt a sense of calmness wash over him. He had a feeling that if he just spoke a few stern words, this person would break down in tears.

Did someone like this really need to be feared?