The next day, Pei Ran was woken up by a beam of sunlight that shone right onto his eyelids.

He hadn't stayed up late in a long time. After turning off his computer last night, drowsiness washed over him, and he fell asleep not long after getting into bed, without even closing the curtains properly.

Pei Ran subconsciously raised a hand to block his eyes, fumbled for his phone by the bed to check the time, and froze the moment he unlocked it.

His phone was still on last night's screen, displaying a line of large, bold characters—

[Dear pr123, you have successfully placed an order! Click to view order details.]

Pei Ran's mind went blank for a moment. He clicked on the order and saw that he had placed a fifty-hour game-buddy order for "Zhun Le".

Pei Ran: "..."

Indeed, people are prone to impulse buying late at night.

Switching to WeChat, the screen was still on his chat with Yan Zhun.

[Yan Zhun: Thank you, Boss Pei.]

[Yan Zhun: Asleep? Good night]

'The game-buddy business doesn't seem to be doing so well,' Pei Ran thought. 'Even someone as skilled as Yan Zhun can't get orders and has to try to retain an unskilled customer like me.'

But after last night, he suddenly understood why so many people liked to hire game buddies. Even Yan Zhun would say such nice things; wouldn't other game buddies be even better at coaxing their clients?

[Pei Ran: Fell asleep...]

There was no reply from the other end. Pei Ran glanced at the time. It wasn't even ten yet; Yan Zhun probably wasn't awake.

He returned to the WeChat interface and started scrolling through the messages he had received this morning.

Pei Ran immediately spotted Su Nian's name.

[Su Nian: You there?]

[Su Nian: Reply when you see this]

Pei Ran unconsciously furrowed his brow. He hesitated for a few seconds before politely replying.

[Pei Ran: Yeah]

[Su Nian: Your home is in Mancheng, right?]

[Pei Ran: Yeah]

[Su Nian: Want to go to Dali together the day after tomorrow? [Cat tilting its head]]

Pei Ran was suddenly unsure how to reply.

Even Lin Kang knew about his breakup with Luo Qingshan; there was no reason Su Nian wouldn't know.

[Su Nian: Hello?]

[Su Nian: Oh right, we made a small group chat with all our acquaintances. I forgot to add you, sorry about that. Should I add you now?]

[Pei Ran: No need. I'm not going to Dali either. You guys have fun.]

After sending that message, Pei Ran got up to wash his face. When he returned, his phone screen was flooded with WeChat notifications.

[Su Nian: Why not?]

[Su Nian: Is it because you fought with Brother Qingshan?]

[Su Nian: Brother told me everything last night. Brother Pei, don't be mad. I was just drunk that night and mistook him for my ex-boyfriend. Besides, we only kissed a few times, we didn't do anything else]

[Su Nian: Really]

[Su Nian: If I made you unhappy, I apologize. Please don't fight because of me...]

Su Nian didn't get a reply after sending the messages. He thought for a moment, then picked out a sticker of someone kneeling and begging for mercy and sent it, only to receive a notification that he had been blocked.

As Pei Ran ate breakfast, his knife and fork clattered several times, making frequent noises.

The housekeeper at home looked at him worriedly and asked if the egg was cooked too well-done.

Pei Ran shook his head, speared the rest of the egg, and finished it in one bite.

After the housekeeper left, Pei Ran moved the boxes he had packed into the storage room.

The boxes contained things Luo Qingshan had given him, none of which he would use again.

Once back in his room, Pei Ran remembered there were still some things he needed to clear out.

Lin Kang's message arrived while Pei Ran was looking through his photo album.

Pei Ran had an album on his phone with photos of him and Luo Qingshan. There weren't many, just over ten in three years.

Pei Ran wasn't used to taking pictures; Luo Qingshan had taken all of these and sent them to his phone one by one. Every time Pei Ran got a new phone, he would save these photos to the new device first, not a single one was lost.

There were photos of them in their school uniforms, and a picture together at the university gate. The last one was of him sleeping, a candid shot taken by Luo Qingshan, who had also gotten into the frame with a smile.

Pei Ran took a deep breath, deleted the intimate photos, and only kept the one of them together at the school gate.

After doing this, he switched back to listen to Lin Kang's voice message.

"Pei Ran, what're you up to? Are you free?"

[Pei Ran: I'm free, what's up?]

"Oh, it's Su Nian. He asked me to ask if you're angry, why you blocked him without a word... What's going on with you guys? I asked him, but he wouldn't say, just told me to pass on a message to you."

Lin Kang was genuinely curious.

Pei Ran usually gave off a reserved impression. He would never initiate a conversation, but if you started one, he would respond mildly and tepidly. In short, he didn't seem to have much of a temper.

But no one in this world is truly without a temper. Pei Ran just felt it was unnecessary; unnecessary to settle the score with Luo Qingshan for cheating—it was messy and he didn't want to—and Su Nian wasn't even worth his time.

But while he didn't want to bother with others, they insisted on coming to disgust him.

Pei Ran typed with calm eyes.

[Pei Ran: Could you trouble yourself to reply to him with one more thing for me]

"What?"

[Pei Ran: Tell him to get lost]

-

Yan Zhun was woken up by a phone call in the afternoon. He answered it, put the phone to his ear, and didn't speak.