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"Thank you."

Li Yu lowered his eyes, not wanting Chi Yan to notice the odd look on his face.

Only after personally watching Li Yu eat the piece of fish he had picked up for him did Chi Yan continue eating with satisfaction.

Neither of them spoke again afterward, yet the atmosphere was not awkward. Instead, Li Yu found it rather comfortable.

It would have been truly strange if Chi Yan had been talkative. He had not forgotten what his childhood friend was like.

"Brother Chi, are you heading back to Maple Court later?"

Having eaten his fill, Li Yu set down his chopsticks and casually asked. If Chi Yan was not going the same way, he would take a taxi home himself.

The Chi Family owned many properties. The villa in Maple Court was merely one of the properties under Chi Yan's name, located right next door to Li Yu's home.

"Mm, Maple Court."

Since he would be joining a variety show in a few days, Chi Yan needed to pack his luggage, but he had no intention of telling Li Yu about it.

In the end, Li Yu still rode back in Chi Yan's car.

Perhaps because he had gotten up too early that morning, he felt sleepy after eating and drifted off without realizing it.

["The news says the Shen Family's eldest young master is dating Xie Jingming. Is Li Yu knowingly being the other man?"

"What celebrity doesn't want to marry into a wealthy family? But this is the first time I've seen someone as shameless as Li Yu."

"Shen Zhonglou said in an interview a few days ago that he didn't like ly. Yet ly is still throwing himself at him. Tsk, tsk, look at how cheap he's acting."

"Can this slut get out of the entertainment industry? Why hasn't he been blacklisted after all this?"

"I heard Li Yu's sugar daddy won't allow it..."

"Li Yu's sugar daddy? The Wang Technology boss who was exposed before?"

"If I remember correctly, the boss of Wang Technology is already in his sixties... This industry is really a mess..."

"Why doesn't Li Yu just die?"

Curled up beneath the covers, Li Yu scrolled through the comments on Weibo, his grip on his phone tightening.

The lights were off, and the balcony curtains were tightly shut. The entire room was terrifyingly dark, like a ferocious beast that had swallowed Li Yu whole beneath the covers.

"I'm not... I didn't..."

Li Yu's voice choked with sobs as he repeated those words over and over. His sentences were broken, but it was impossible to tell what he was truly trying to say.

In the end, he thought again of the day he had agreed to Shen Zhonglou's pursuit, when Shen Zhonglou had told him that he would love him forever.

"Shen Zhonglou... Shen Zhonglou... Shen Zhonglou!"

His heart-wrenching cry gradually filled with hatred. Li Yu suddenly could not breathe, as though he were about to pass out.]

Li Yu woke again. He stared at the car window for two seconds before realizing that he was sitting in Chi Yan's car.

"Did you have a nightmare? Why did it scare you into crying?"

Chi Yan had no idea how long he had been watching Li Yu. Only when Li Yu woke up did he speak.

Li Yu subconsciously touched the corner of his eye. It was indeed damp.

He did not understand why he had cried. Having gone through so many quick-transmigration worlds, he should have long since become numb to what had happened in the past.

"I did have a nightmare, but it's fine. I'm awake now."

Li Yu seemed to be talking about the dream, but not only the dream.

Chi Yan suddenly leaned closer, and that woody scent filled Li Yu's senses. Before Li Yu could react, Chi Yan had already unfastened his seat belt for him.

"We're here."

Li Yu opened the car door and got out. Chi Yan added, "Little Fish, get some good rest."

Li Yu's eyes softened. "You too, Brother Chi."

Chi Yan watched Li Yu enter the house before driving into his own garage.

Ever since taking over his uncle's company, he had been busy familiarizing himself with the business and slept in the company lounge every day. He had not returned in a long time.

Everything was still neat and tidy when he entered. He had not kept any servants, only hiring an hourly cleaner to come and clean regularly.

But there was one room that even the hourly cleaner was forbidden from approaching.

The first thing Chi Yan did upon returning to this villa was open that room and admire every decoration inside—there was only one bed in the room and nothing particularly special, but the densely packed photographs covering the walls were eye-catching.

If Li Yu had been there, he would certainly have recognized that the subject of every photograph was the same person: himself.

Every photo was taken from a different angle, but without exception, Li Yu was never looking at the camera. They looked as though they had been secretly taken.

There were even pictures of Li Yu when he was very young, marked in the lower right corner with a marker: "Little Fish at ten."

Chi Yan's gaze swept over the photographs one by one. Finally, he took out the most recently dated photo from his wallet and put it up on the wall.

He took a marker from the cabinet and wrote on it, the corners of his lips lifting happily. He wrote, "Little Fish at nineteen."

The room also had a small balcony that faced the balcony of Li Yu's bedroom.

Chi Yan had once liked standing on this balcony the most. Only after seeing the lights in Li Yu's room go out would he return to sleep.

Today was no exception. With a cigarette between his fingers, he stood in a corner of the balcony. But he did not smoke it, merely staring blankly at the light spilling from the neighboring balcony.

What was Little Fish doing now? Handling work? Or... taking a shower?

As Chi Yan thought this, the light in Li Yu's room went out.

Sleeping so early...

Chi Yan casually extinguished the cigarette in his hand, tossed the butt into the trash, and returned to his own room to wash up.

He did not like staying up late either, but if he and Li Yu ended up together, he thought he would not mind staying up late every day.

After accepting the variety show A Day to See All the Flowers, Li Yu had no other arrangements recently, so he simply stayed at home.

On the day he signed the contract, Ruan Yun had directly told him that the first episode would be filmed in South Jade Mountain Ancient Town and told him to make the necessary preparations in advance.

He had also looked up plenty of information online, such as the area's representative scenic spots, the usual travel routes, local specialties, and the weather over the next few days... He checked everything thoroughly and even made notes in a small notebook.

After all, it was his first time appearing on a variety show, so he needed to make all the proper preparations.

Li Yu did not have to wait long before the day A Day to See All the Flowers began airing arrived.

He got up early, took a flight, then transferred between several vehicles before finally reaching the filming location—South Jade Mountain Ancient Town.

The moment he got out of the car with his luggage, two or three cameramen were already aiming their cameras at him. He knew the program had begun filming.

At the same time, A Day to See All the Flowers posted a livestream link on its official Weibo. Netizens continuously flooded into the livestream, and the comment section was soon overwhelmed.

Beautiful Cockroach: All the Flowers is finally airing! I've been waiting forever!

Going Up the Mountain to Fight Tigers: Looking forward to it! Who's the first guest to arrive?

Li Hua, Stop Making Foreign Friends: Ahhh! A car is pulling in!

Hey! There's a Monster: Oh? Judging by that outfit, he looks like a handsome young guy?

Don't Secretly Love Me: Vocal! It can't be the person I'm thinking of, right?