Chapter 41 - 40

"𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛-𝑔𝑒, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒… ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒. 𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢."

Bai pleaded endlessly, nearly kneeling in front of Zhan, who was busy chatting with Yufei on his phone.

Zhan lifted his head to look at him and shook it.

"𝐵𝑎𝑖, 𝐼 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢...𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔."

It was the same argument again. Bai wanted to host a tea party before the officially scheduled reception day. Zhan, however, wanted nothing beyond Nainai's reception. According to Nainai, once the wedding ceremony ended that night, Zhan would be going straight to Yibo's house. And honestly, just the thought of that journey....of leaving his home...was enough to exhaust all his emotional strength. In his heart, that alone felt like every celebration combined.

But Bai refused to give up.

He kept bringing up examples...Yufei's wedding, how even after Nainai's reception there had been multiple events. He mentioned another wedding in the family too, listing every detail. At first, Zhan listened quietly. Then he grew tired and firmly repeated that he wasn't doing anything extra. Yet Bai was serious...so serious that he had already collected phone numbers for decorators and caterers for the tea party.

Zhan knew how much effort Bai had put into this. It couldn't have been easy convincing Uncle Nanjing to send money. Just earlier, Zhan had overheard Bai discussing tailoring costs with Uncle Ruobing...for both himself and Fan, Ruobing's daughter.

Bai turned toward Nainai, who was eating calmly after Bai's long complaint. Nainai wanted her cousin to stay with them until the celebration was over, but her children and grandchildren had insisted otherwise. They had arrived the night before and taken her away.

"𝑁𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑖, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒," Bai said, "𝑤𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑢𝑝? 𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ...𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛."

Nainai responded calmly.

"𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑛. 𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑦. 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢."

Her words struck something deep inside Zhan.

They dragged back the memory of Yufei's wedding...the dancing, the rituals, the ceremonial washing, the prayers that echoed

everywhere. Even hearing about it had overwhelmed him back then. Now he wondered… how would he feel?

And unlike Yufei, he hadn't even been present that day.

His thoughts drifted elsewhere as Bai leaned closer to Nainai, listing more reasons she should support the idea. Truthfully, Zhan wasn't even thinking about the reception anymore.

What troubled him was the thought that soon, he would open his eyes in an unfamiliar house...alone with Yibo, now his husband. The idea felt unreal, distant, and yet terrifyingly real all at once. His body reacted before his mind could catch up, confirming the truth he hadn't dared face.

Aunty Shui, Aunty Wei, Uncle Ruobing's wife had already gone to inspect the house where Zhan would live. It was a modest two-story building—three bedrooms upstairs, a living room and kitchen downstairs. It wasn't particularly large, but they all praised how neat and beautiful it was, already planning how it would be decorated. At this point, Zhan barely processed anything anyone said.

Ever since the day Yibo came to see him, his thoughts had been scattered. He slowly closed his eyes, remembering how Yibo had held him, how his hands had cradled his face while he whispered those words. The subtle scent of Yibo's cologne...soft yet powerful...was enough to weaken anyone.

Zhan felt as though he were melting in Yibo's arms, shrinking into someone small and fragile, incapable of resistance. He felt stripped of every defense, unable to offer anything that could contradict Yibo's words.

In the middle of that memory, he suddenly recalled Yibo's eyes shifting toward the door. Yibo's hands slowly withdrew from his face as he stepped back, returning to where he had been sitting. Before Zhan could process it, Bai's voice echoed from the doorway.

That was when Zhan realized Yibo must have heard movement nearby and pulled away.

Thankfully, Yibo didn't try to touch him again. Perhaps he had sensed Zhan's unease...because at that moment, Aunty Shui's words rang loudly in Zhan's mind, reminding him of their meaning.

They talked for a long time...where they would live, when they would move, and everything that needed to be arranged. Yibo told Zhan he would simply send him money and let him buy whatever he liked as his wedding gift, given how rushed everything was. From where he sat, he asked for Zhan's bank details and sent the money immediately.

Later, when Zhan returned to his room and checked his phone, the amount displayed made him dizzy. He immediately called Aunty Shui to show her. Even she was shocked before she began listing everything Zhan could buy with it...a list Zhan still hadn't followed, overwhelmed by how fast everything was happening.

Aunty Gumsu's greeting pulled him out of his thoughts as she entered the room.

For nearly three days now, she had been coming to care for Zhan's body...her profession. She traveled from town to town preparing brides, and no matter how much Nainai insisted, she refused payment. She claimed all her materials were imported and that she needed nothing.

(𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲... 😀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗱𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀, 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗶𝗳 𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀. 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼, 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱𝗶, 𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼 𝗼𝗻...)

****

It had only been three days, yet Zhan already felt better than he ever expected. Even Bai, who used beauty leftover daily, kept commenting on how soft his skin had become.

And so life continued.

Preparations moved forward from every direction. Zhan was constantly surprised by how everyone stepped in to help...until he realized they weren't doing it for him, but for Nainai. Once he understood that, the confusion faded.

Nainai remained hopeful that Uncle Sanxing and the others would somehow locate Zhan's father and inform him. But the way they responded made it clear...they were only humoring her. Everyone knew there was nowhere they could possibly find that man.

Everything was planned carefully...more detailed than Yufei's wedding...because this was a single....family wedding, grand and complete. Invitation cards were printed and handed to Nainai, who distributed them widely and generously. Aunty Shui even remarked that it seemed Nainai had invited nearly everyone she had ever known in her life.

Aunty Shui and the others had long finished furnishing the house where Zhan would live. Beautiful furnishings were purchased and everything was put in place. Even when they had asked Zhan about color preferences and he become quite not minding any color, they barely waited for his response before making their own choices. Bai even brought photos to show him. When Zhan saw them, it felt unreal...almost impossible to believe that the house belonged to him and Yibo. This was where he would live. This was where his married life would begin.

He sent another message to Uncle Nanjing, thanking him again, because that was Uncle Nanjing wedding gift from Zhan to Yibo. From what Zhan's eyes could tell him, a great deal of money had been spent...far more than he could ever ignore.

Together with Aunty Wei, Uncle Sanxing's wife, Zhan went shopping endlessly. He bought many things Aunty Wei listed as "essential items for marriage." Later, when he realized most of them would never be useful, he stopped buying more.

So much had already been done....almost everything. Even his body care was complete. All that remained was the reception day itself.

Five days before, Jincai arrived with his wife and handed Zhan a cash gift of one hundred thousand yuan, wishing him happiness. Zhan found himself staring at Jincai's beautiful young wife...a calm, intelligent woman. They looked perfectly matched. It reminded him that no one marries someone else's spouse.

That thought unexpectedly brought Peng to mind. Where was he now? Zhan realized he hadn't thought about him in a long time....everything else had completely overwhelmed his mind.

The next day, after Yufei returned from Macau, Zhan asked her about Peng while they were getting ready to go to the salon, along with Yufei's sister An and Bai. Yufei told him that back home, people were saying Peng had been missing for two days. Even his wife's family had been searching for him because his daughter was ill, yet they couldn't reach him. Others had gone looking as well, only to hear that he had traveled. The news didn't fully settle in Zhan's mind. Since it wasn't his concern anymore, he let it go.

His attention shifted to the raised voices of Aunty Shui and the others coming from the living room. He listened carefully but couldn't understand what they were saying. He turned to An, who was feeding her baby on the bed.

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛?" Zhan asked.

An looked up at him.

"𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒. 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦, 𝐴𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝐻𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑁𝑜𝑛𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐴𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑆ℎ𝑢𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑢𝑝𝑠𝑒𝑡....𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔."

Before An even finished, Zhan already understood. Despite all the noise and conflict, those people had never truly helped. Even when items were bought and sent to them, complaints followed. If not for Nainai stepping in, things would have ended badly.

At that moment, the wind carried Aunty Shui's voice clearly to Zhan's ears.

"𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑊𝑒𝑖. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒? 𝐼 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑖𝑓 I ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒."

That was when Zhan's thoughts shifted...not because of the argument, but because of one phrase Aunty Shui had used.

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨…"

"𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥…"

"𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…"

To everyone else, it sounded simple...routine, harmless. What they didn't know was that to Zhan, it felt like a major event, almost a battle of the heart. The idea of being taken to another house...to live alone with Yibo...still felt overwhelming. Even now, he looked at Yibo as someone entirely different from himself, as though they belonged to separate worlds.

That was why, when he gave Aji an invitation card at Primecare Hospital, it felt natural. Aji had continued working despite everything, and many colleagues begged for cards after hearing the news. They wanted to attend the reception....to see for themselves whether the Dr. Yibo they knew had truly gotten married.

Zhan didn't blame them.

In truth, when he thought deeply about it, he realized he also wanted confirmation...that this marriage was real. Despite how much had settled between him and Yibo, he still hadn't seen him again. Yibo hadn't returned, and there hadn't been time for questions. Preparations...for both the house and the reception had filled every moment.

That night, when Zhan finally lay down after all the chaos, he stared at his fingers.

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭.

𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡.

✧✧✧

8:19 p.m.

Yibo raised the water bottle to his lips, his eyes fixed on Duan, who sat across the table staring at him in disbelief. He had just finished explaining the phone call with his professor...how he had informed him about the marriage.

"𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠?" Duan asked. "𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑?"

Yibo nodded, setting the bottle down.

"𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦? 𝐻𝑒'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑠. 𝐼 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒. 𝐼 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑."

"𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑘 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑? 𝑂𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒?"

Yibo shook his head.

"𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒'𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠. 𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢, ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒...𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛. 𝑆𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑?"

Duan shook his head thoughtfully.

"𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡, 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝, ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑."

Yibo shrugged.

"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑀𝑂 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦. 𝐻𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔...𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝐼 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑, ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑖𝑡....𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑗𝑜𝑏 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒."

Duan laughed, taking a sip of water.

"𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛."

"𝑁𝑜," Yibo replied flatly.

He still hadn't touched the food in front of him. Duan glanced at the plate, then at him.

"𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔?"

"𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢," Yibo said, eyes still on the food. "𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔."

Duan set his spoon down and leaned forward slightly.

"𝑌𝑖𝑏𝑜… 𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛?"

Yibo stared at him, then shook his head.

"𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐷𝑢𝑎𝑛. 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛."

Duan stayed silent for several seconds before leaning back.

"𝐼'𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼'𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑...𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡."

A faint smile crossed Yibo's lips.

"𝑆𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘? 𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒? 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑."

Duan nodded.

"𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡. 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛...𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒."

To his surprise, Yibo leaned back fully, resting against his chair. The playfulness vanished from his face.

"𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐷𝑢𝑎𝑛. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼'𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑍ℎ𝑎𝑛, 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡...𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛. 𝐻𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠."

Duan burst into laughter, cutting him off.

"𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 𝑌𝑖𝑏𝑜. 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠. 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠."

He flicked something at Yibo playfully, still laughing.

"𝑆𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒...𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡. 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡."

Yibo lifted the water bottle again and took a slow sip.

"𝑌𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑓. 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒...𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒...𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡."

Duan said nothing. He simply sat there, absorbing the weight of those words.

Inside Yibo's mind, countless thoughts were moving...events unfolding one after another. Secrets he had hidden from Duan, including the gradual sale of his assets. He had sold two plots of land to secure enough cash, and now even the house he lived in was on the market. His life would soon move to the house he had built long ago....one he had prepared for a future that no longer existed.

His phone rang, interrupting their silence as Duan prepared to leave.

Yibo glanced at the screen.

𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐨.

He answered immediately. The call felt fragile...like a child running while balancing an egg on a spoon. Malo was that child. One mistake could shatter everything.

But what Malo said next was nothing like what Yibo expected.

"𝒀𝒊𝒃𝒐, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎. 𝑷𝒆𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒖𝒚𝒖𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈."

𝑻𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚, 27 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚

2026

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