"How much did you drink?"

"Five or six bottles?"

"...You're pretty good," Xie Yu frowned and let go of his hand after the group of people left, "I told you not to smoke, and you switched to drinking to broaden your horizons?"

He Chao looked at him but didn't say anything.

Xie Yu saw the bruise on the corner of his mouth and was about to say "you even got into a fight," but He Chao reached out and pulled him into his arms.

"Don't move," He Chao pressed his forehead against Xie Yu's neck and whispered, "I won't smoke, I'll just hold you for a while."

The street was empty and quiet, and the alcohol was blown away by the cold wind. The little friend was wearing a puffy down jacket and was soft to the touch when held, completely different from the impatient expression on his face.

The rows of street lamps on the roadside extended all the way to the horizon, like scattered starlight blending into the darkness of the night.

After holding each other for a while, He Chao finally asked, "Why did you come?"

Xie Yu replied, "To collect my boyfriend's corpse."

He Chao, now sober, boasted, "With your boyfriend's drinking capacity, he could handle ten more bottles."

"...Don't provoke me," Xie Yu warned.

He Chao made a few more bragging remarks before falling silent and closing his eyes. It was only then that he truly felt like he had moved on.

It was all in the past now.

But was it really a release? He Chao pondered and felt it couldn't count as one.

He realized why Old He didn't stop him back then and let him go, watching him solve the problem in the most extreme way.

Being pulled up and standing up on one's own are two different things.

"Let's go?" The night air was too cold, and standing here any longer might result in catching a cold the next day. He Chao let go of his hand and said, "It's not easy to catch a taxi here. We have to go to the intersection ahead."

Xie Yu hesitated for two seconds.

When he left, Madam Gu was already asleep, so he didn't say goodbye to her. Now, it was almost dawn when he returned home, and it would be difficult to explain.

He Chao glanced at him and said, "Why don't you come to my place?"

There was no one at He Chao's house.

Old He had just left a few days ago, shuttling between several countries, and only came back for less than half a week. When he saw Xie Yu's final exam results, he didn't say anything, just threw the paper on the table and pulled him to play chess.

"No matter which road you choose, no matter how you walk," when he finished speaking, Old He said in a deep voice, "I believe in you."

Xie Yu dozed off in the car and was only awakened by He Chao when they were about to get off.

He Chao got off the car to pay and then went around to the back seat, leaning on the door and hesitating to wake Xie Yu up. Finally, he bent down and kissed him on the corner of his mouth, calling out, "We're here."

He Chao's house was very clean, the kind of clean without the presence of people living in it. Apart from the housekeeper who came to clean once a week, there were hardly any people coming and going.

Xie Yu sat on the sofa, half-closed his eyes and watched He Chao tidy up the guest room. He waited for a while, but his patience ran out. He didn't even bother to put on his slippers and walked barefoot on the floor, asking, "Which room is yours?"

"..."

He Chao had drunk quite a bit and was afraid he couldn't control himself. He didn't expect this little friend in front of him to be so bold, saying, "Aren't you afraid I'll do something to you tonight?"

Xie Yu leaned against the door, completely oblivious to the fact that he was a guest. "What I mean is, you'll be sleeping in the guest room."

Xie Yu said that he would be sleeping in the guest room, but since it was already almost two in the morning, he didn't bother to ask He Chao to tidy up the room.

At this hour, they didn't have the energy to think about anything else.

After taking a quick shower, He Chao walked out of the bathroom to find Xie Yu already fast asleep, his hair covering half of his face and breathing softly.

The little friend was lying on his bed, no longer showing any hostility and looking particularly well-behaved.

He Chao forced himself to open his eyes and thought to himself that the shower he just took was probably pointless.

Xie Yu was a light sleeper, and when the sound of running water stopped, he moved his fingers, subconsciously feeling like he had forgotten to do something.

...Like sending a text message to Madam Gu to let her know he was safe.

But then he thought, it was already late at night and most of the people in the Zhong family should be asleep, so no one would notice.

Xie Yu indeed left quietly, but in a hurry, and was coincidentally seen by Ah Fang who got up to drink water in the middle of the night.

Just as he stepped out, a few servants gathered together behind him. Ah Fang didn't see clearly who it was and thought it was Zhong Jie causing trouble again in the middle of the night: "Is it Young Master Zhong?"

"No, it's not. Eldest Young Master didn't come back today. It should be Second Young Master. Oh my, it's already so late and he's still going out..."

With so many things happening in the Zhong family and Xie Yu leaving in the middle of the night being unprecedented, the servants were guessing if there was a fight: "They were fine during dinner, did they fight again?"

"Madam has been wanting to hire a tutor for Second Young Master, is he unhappy about it."

"Second Young Master's grades this semester..."

The hall of the Zhong family was lit by several small lamps, and on the redwood cabinets were various antiques collected from all over.

A few servants were whispering to each other and about to go back to their rooms when they were startled by Gu Xuelan, who appeared out of nowhere.

Gu Xuelan was wearing a coat and looked a bit tired. She stood at the staircase, pulled down her slipping coat, and asked, "What's going on?"

Gu Xuelan had not been sleeping well these past few days, and after hearing the whole story, she had a headache. She pressed her forehead for a while before saying, "Alright, you guys can go rest now."

Xie Yu had caused her a lot of trouble in the past few years, and although he had his own ideas about many things, he still considered her when speaking and acting. Even if he was impatient with her constant questions, he would still inform her before leaving.

The unexpected display of incredible gentleness often gave her a sense of illusion...as if the one standing in front of her was still the young Xie Yu who used to cling to her.

After returning to her room, Gu Xuelan couldn't fall asleep at all. Her mind couldn't stop wandering, and she angrily called Xie Yu several times, but no one answered.

The anger in her chest was extinguished by the repeated message, "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable."

"What's wrong?" Half asleep, Zhong Guofei noticed that there was no one beside him and opened his eyes to see Gu Xuelan sitting on the bed in thin clothing, staring at her phone. "...It's late, why aren't you sleeping?"

Gu Xuelan lay in bed for a while, still unable to sleep. Unconsciously, she got up and walked quietly towards Xie Yu's room.

As she pushed open the bedroom door, she was surprised by her own actions.

She had never gone through Xie Yu's things before, not even when they were living in poor conditions on Blackwater Street and the lock on the second-hand desk drawer was practically useless.

She had never even considered the idea of snooping through the diary that lay inside. Her upbringing had instilled in her a sense of restraint and composure in these matters.

But now...

Gu Xuelan couldn't help but wonder if she would do something out of character just to understand what Xie Yu was really thinking.

Xie Yu's room was tidy and clean. Gu Xuelan walked in and scanned the room, taking in the desk, chair, computer, and finally, the slightly disheveled bed.

His phone was lying right next to it.

Gu Xuelan hesitated for a moment, her hand reaching out before stopping just short.

Gu Xuelan let out a tired sigh and was about to call it a day when her phone suddenly lit up.

- Boss Xie, I've been thinking about it for a few days now and I think you should tell your mom about this. Pretending like this isn't going to solve anything. What's your plan for the college entrance exam...

Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Zhou Dalei poured his heart out in a text message. Feeling like he hadn't said enough, he continued typing away on his phone screen.

Even though he never liked writing essays, for his bro, he could write 800 words.

He was even moved by himself!

Zhou Dalei had been having a tough time lately, with a huge burden weighing on his mind. He couldn't even focus on playing games.

The day before yesterday, he went to help Aunt Mei unload goods at Guangmao. While she was complaining, "Little Yu's grades are so bad, and this time it even dropped by one place. Turns out the other one used to be the bottom of the class, why is he trying to move forward..."

Halfway through Aunt Mei's words, he almost dropped the box in his hands.

Meanwhile, Zhou Dalei was typing away with his head down, and finally hit send.

- You have good grades! Why hide it? Hide my ass, you need to let that idiot surnamed Zhong know the difference between people, and let him know what it means to get into Tsinghua or Beijing University with your eyes closed!

......

As for Xie Yu, he had no idea what had happened at home since he left.

When he woke up in the morning, he was pinned down by He Chao and had no choice but to give in. Xie Yu's mind went blank after the climax, and He Chao bit his lip and asked, "Now that you're done, is it my turn? Use your legs?"

Xie Yu suspected that this person had been wanting to try this move for a long time.

He Chao's movements were neither too light nor too heavy. Xie Yu's eyes turned red as he let out a hiss from being bitten, gripping the sheets beneath him. He could faintly taste the metallic tang of blood in his mouth.

He Chao's hand reached down and he whispered, "How are you going to explain this when you go back? Have you thought about it?"

Xie Yu licked the corner of his mouth where the wound was and replied, "Got into a fight."

"On the bed?"

"..."

Xie Yu didn't think much of his night out, but as soon as he arrived at the Zhong household and hadn't even changed his shoes yet, he saw that Ah Fang's expression was off.

Ah Fang opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, she shook her head and remained silent.

Following her gaze, Xie Yu looked towards the living room and saw Madam Gu sitting on the sofa - it was already close to noon, and she was still wearing the same pajamas from last night.

Madam Gu loved taking care of herself. Even if she didn't go out, she couldn't possibly stay at home dressed like this in the middle of the day.

Before Xie Yu could even say "Mom," Gu Xuelan had already stood up.

Her face was very bad, with red bloodshot eyes. When she stood up, she was even stiff and couldn't stand steady without leaning on the back of the chair. Xie Yu's gaze fell on the phone she was tightly holding in her hand. Although he didn't know what had happened, his heart skipped a beat.

Then the phone screen lit up.

In the preview of the text message, there were several messages sent by Zhou Dalei.

Gu Xuelan asked him in a stern voice, each word almost hoarse, "What is this - you speak, what is this!"