Compared to before, Zhou Muyao had matured now.

Perhaps it was because he was more silent than before, or maybe it was because the sparkling light in his eyes was gone.

It was as if he had grown up in an instant, but the price was a bit steep.

He Qi listened to He Lezhi and switched off the circuit breaker. After dark, the room became completely dark. The two of them, each with a power bank, sat under the rain shelter by the door. The residents in the community were unaffected, and every household still had their lights on. The streetlights in the complex also emitted a faint glow in the rain. The dim yellow light was shattered by the raindrops, and the water droplets around the lampshades were like scattered diamond fragments.

Both of them were wearing shorts and slippers, letting the rain fall continuously, their feet submerged in the water.

Zhou Muyao rested his chin on his hand, quietly looking at everything before him.

He Lezhi sent a message to He Qi, asking: Are you okay?

He Qi: Everything's fine.

He Lezhi: Is Xiao Hei still there?

He Qi: He's here.

Two minutes later, He Lezhi said: Thank him.

He Qi: I already did.

"Is that Lezhi?" Zhou Muyao asked calmly, maintaining his posture.

"Yeah."

"Tell him not to worry," Zhou Muyao said.

"He's not worried. He said to thank you," He Qi also propped up her chin like him and said, looking ahead.

"No need for thanks." Zhou Muyao shook his head, his face still propped on his hand. "You're welcome."

He Qi was a single mother. Her son never had a father since birth. When He Lezhi was still in her belly, He Qi promised him that for the half of the love he was missing compared to others, his mother would love him doubly.

He Lezhi was thirty years old this year, and He Qi had been a mother for thirty years. In these thirty years, just as she had promised, she gave him all of her unquestionable love.

His personality was very similar to He Qi's. He had never been wronged, never experienced suffering, so his heart was never dark. He was gentle and kind, just very afraid of trouble.

"I have never swayed any of his decisions." All was silent except for the sound of the rain. He Qi broke the silence, "As long as he doesn't hurt himself, he will always be free."

Zhou Muyao said: "Yes."

Because He Qi was resting her face on her hand, her movements were restricted when she spoke, making her sound a bit languid: "So when he brought you back and said you were his boyfriend, I felt in my heart that you two weren't suitable, but I wouldn't say it."

Zhou Muyao turned his head to look at her. He Qi continued: "Since you were already together, it would have been useless to say anything. Even if you weren't together, I wouldn't interfere with his decisions. Who he is with, what kind of relationship he wants to have, that's all up to him."

Zhou Muyao thought for a moment and said: "I was immature."

"Back then, I thought, my son would definitely be wronged in this relationship." He Qi smiled. "You're too lively. Cute is one thing, but it's only suitable for the honeymoon phase."

"Why?" Zhou Muyao was a little confused.

"Enthusiastic kids like you, if you want to keep your energy fully charged, you need everyone around you to cooperate and coddle you, or you'll deflate. When you're being boisterous, he has to be boisterous with you. When you're happy, he has to be happy too. If he's constantly not on the same wavelength as you, not recharging your energy, you'll become less happy over time. And he's not someone who only thinks of himself, so he's bound to accommodate you more."

Zhou Muyao stared blankly at He Qi.

"You've been happy for so many years. Sometimes I would think, how tiring must this relationship be for my son," He Qi said with a smile.

Zhou Muyao was silent for a long time, as if he was thinking, and also as if he was surprised by He Qi's words.

"His personality changed after he grew up, I don't know if you've noticed." He Qi looked at Zhou Muyao, her face still in her hand, and asked him. "He was quite lively when he was a child, but now he's more and more afraid of trouble and doesn't like crowded places as much. The quieter he became, the less suitable you two were. He often felt sorry for not being able to have fun with you."

"But we were also very happy..." Zhou Muyao subconsciously wanted to refute.

"These things don't conflict." He Qi smiled. "You also gave him a lot of happiness."

"I can also be quiet," Zhou Muyao said.

As if she had heard something interesting, He Qi raised her hand and patted his head. "Why bother?"

She said faintly: "That's just how personality is; there's no need to force yourselves to accommodate each other. He couldn't keep up with your enthusiasm anymore, so you naturally found another outlet."

He Qi smiled, without any trace of sarcasm. "You said you didn't intend to cheat, and I believe you. Maybe at first, you just felt you'd found someone you could have fun with, that you clicked in everything you did, a very compatible friend. But at certain moments, he must have also given you a happiness that Lezhi couldn't."

After patting his head, her hand rested on Zhou Muyao's shoulder, her palm warm with a mother's gentleness.

"Those two money transfers that Lezhi cared about the most, I actually don't think they're a big deal," He Qi said. "You're just that kind of clueless person. Whether it's Fangchi or someone else, any acquaintance who asks you to transfer money, you would do it, just like being asked to transfer 1111 on Double Eleven."

Zhou Muyao's eyes immediately turned red.

"Words fail to explain it, right?" He Qi asked him with a smile.

Zhou Muyao pursed his lips, his eyes moist.

"But don't feel wronged either. The transfers were nothing, but you had a guilty conscience later, otherwise you wouldn't have deleted them, right?" He Qi said.

Zhou Muyao said with a nasal tone: "I don't feel wronged."

"You were having fun, and the lines started to blur. I guess you occasionally felt it was a bit ambiguous, but you couldn't bear to cut it off, telling yourself you were just friends." He Qi's tone was certain; she wasn't asking him.

"As long as you kept it to yourself, no one would have known about these things, but you still said it, you silly thing."

Zhou Muyao lowered his head and said: "I never wanted to lie to him."

"So, thank you. Although you made a mistake, you're still a good kid," He Qi said.

On a dark night shielded by a curtain of heavy rain, He Qi and Zhou Muyao talked quietly for a long time.

Finally, He Qi said: "So just let it go, Xiao Hei. Since things are already like this, don't look back."

Zhou Muyao said softly: "Auntie, I can't let go."

He Qi said: "Even if you two really got back together, you would just end up torturing each other. I know my son; he will never get over something like this."

He Qi stood up. Zhou Muyao looked up at her, his eyes red, his expression sad.

"From my perspective, I also don't want you two to get back together." He Qi looked down at Zhou Muyao, gently patting his head, her tone affectionate, her eyes filled with apology. "Go find someone more suitable for you. I'm sorry, Xiao Hei. I feel bad for you too, but I'm a mother."

Due to several consecutive days of torrential rain, He Lezhi couldn't go to the office. He worked overtime at home with two computers until he was dizzy, not leaving the house for days. Fortunately, his home was well-stocked, so he managed just fine without going out.

In the meantime, Han Fangchi gave him a call. The background sounded chaotic. He told him not to drive, as the water outside was deep.

He Lezhi said: "Okay, I won't go out. I'm working overtime at home."

Han Fangchi grunted in acknowledgment. He Lezhi asked him: "How are you getting to work?"

"I walk. I'm close by."

"Then you should be careful too," He Lezhi told him.

"I know," Han Fangchi said.

When the heavy rain finally ended, He Lezhi went out and realized what a mess it was outside. Many water-damaged cars were being towed away from the streets, and debris washed in from who knows where was everywhere.

When he got to his workplace, his colleagues were all discussing the recent flood. A lot of nearby farmland was submerged, and celebrities and some online bloggers were donating money.

"It's that serious?" He Lezhi asked in surprise.

"Extremely serious. Have you not been online these past few days?" a colleague said.

He Lezhi indeed hadn't been online. He was completely unaware of these things, focused only on his work.

After getting off work that evening, He Lezhi went online and read some news. Only then did he realize the destructive power of the heavy rain and belatedly made a small donation.

When the typhoon had truly passed and everything had returned to calm, the city had basically resumed its normal state, but He Lezhi's turmoil was not yet over.

The landlady called, and before she could say anything, she apologized profusely to He Lezhi.

He Lezhi asked blankly what was wrong.

The landlady stammered that she wanted to return his security deposit and no longer wanted to rent out the place. Her child was going to school nearby and she wanted to live there herself.

There was a hint of a sob in her voice; it sounded like something had happened in her family.

He Lezhi had no intention of finding out more. Although he felt that trouble had come knocking again, he still immediately said: "Okay."

After hanging up, the landlady sent a message to He Lezhi, saying that she and her husband were planning to divorce, and she had no choice but to move out with her child.

He Lezhi didn't know how to comfort someone about their family matters, so he just replied: Understood, I'll move out as soon as possible.

For He Lezhi, this year seemed to be a year of trouble. Problems came one after another, and restoring peace to his life was proving to be a difficult task.

This time, he didn't even dare to tell He Qi. If He Qi found out, she would definitely demand that he immediately settle on buying a house.

He Lezhi himself was too tired to deal with it anymore. He unblocked all the real estate agents he had previously blocked. Buying or renting, either was fine; he just had to get one of them sorted out quickly.

Han Fangchi came over to freeload a meal after work on a weekday. The moment He Lezhi saw him, he was taken aback and asked, "What happened to your hand?"

Han Fangchi said: "Just a scrape, it's nothing."

His palm was wrapped in gauze, but his movements didn't seem to be affected much. The exposed knuckles showed that some small, scattered wounds had already scabbed over. He Lezhi asked: "How did you scrape it?"

Han Fangchi went to wash his good hand, then casually strolled into the kitchen, picked up a tomato that He Lezhi had washed, and started munching on it. "I'll tell you later. Hurry up and cook, I'm hungry."

During the days of the downpour, the two of them had no contact other than that one phone call. In those few days, He Lezhi worked overtime, and Han Fangchi participated in several rescue operations.

His hand had been cut by a car window. The water had already submerged the car's body, and the young mother was trapped and didn't dare to drive anymore. The water level rose higher and higher, with no sign of the rain stopping. The mother got out of the car to open the back door to get her child from the safety seat, but in her panic, she accidentally locked it. The car key slipped and was immediately washed away by the water.

The child was wailing his heart out in the car, and the mother stood crying in the waist-deep water.

Han Fangchi smashed the car window and carried the child out. The back of his hand was covered in blood.

The wound was large and had been soaked in water at the time, so it was slow to scab over, which was why it was wrapped in gauze.

"Are your bones okay?" He Lezhi asked with a worried frown.

"Not a thing wrong, just a flesh wound." Han Fangchi didn't seem to think much of it, using that hand to eat with his chopsticks.

It wasn't surprising at all that this happened to Han Fangchi. During the global turmoil a few years ago, Han Fangchi was among the first batch of volunteers. Later, he was promoted quickly, and some people in the hospital said he had used that to climb up a step, with a good teacher pointing him in the right direction.

Naturally, such talk was not to be heeded. He hadn't thought about any of that before he went.

"Then I'll take care of your dinners for a while," He Lezhi said. "Until your hand gets better."

Han Fangchi glanced at him while eating and said: "There's such a good deal?"