Thinking of this, a sense of sadness welled up within him.
Li Yanxiang looked at him and pulled a funny face.
“Pfft!” Shi Liang couldn’t help laughing out. “You really look great in this outfit. If you like it, let’s buy this one.”
Shi Liang looked around at the displayed clothing. Aside from the piece in his hand, nothing else caught his eye. Feeling as though someone was staring at him from outside, Shi Liang raised his gaze and, through the glass, caught sight of Qi Wei’s face, though his complexion was rather pale. Standing right beside him was his younger sister.
He hadn’t expected to run into him here of all places.
Shi Liang merely swept his gaze past him without intending to explain, nor was there any need to. It was as if the two of them were truly strangers.
After paying the bill, Li Yanxiang left the store alongside him, and as they reached the entrance, Qi Wei walked toward them.
Qi Wei twitched the corner of his mouth into a smile. “Long time no see. Is your health completely fine now?”
Shi Liang thought: Anyone with eyes can tell that my health has improved significantly.
Not particularly wanting to engage with him, Shi Liang replied indifferently, “Much better.” With that, he made to pull Li Yanxiang away.
Qi Wei’s gaze locked onto the hand with which Shi Liang was holding Li Yanxiang, and he asked in a lingering tone, “What, aren’t you going to introduce your friend?”
Hearing those words, Shi Liang instinctively pulled Li Yanxiang behind him and faced Qi Wei directly.
Qi Wei was the very person who had once gone so far as to drug him just to keep him.
What kind of monster could bring himself to harm the person he supposedly loved? If Qi Wei found out that Li Yanxiang liked him, would Li Yanxiang even stand a chance of surviving?
A sharp pain pierced through Qi Wei’s chest, and his face turned somewhat pale.
Shi Liang shrugged and said, “There is no need. We are nothing more than the most familiar of strangers now.”
Having said that, he pulled Li Yanxiang away.
He knew what kind of mood Qi Wei must be in, but it had nothing to do with him anymore.
He only remembered that back when he graduated from high school, right after what happened on his birthday, Shi Liang had felt deeply insecure.
While traveling abroad, he had secretly told Bai Yuan to find a way to make Qi Wei misunderstand that he was studying overseas and would never return.
He wanted to see if Qi Wei would worry about him.
Yet nothing happened. That day, he hadn’t received a single phone call or even a text message.
Qi Wei had remained completely indifferent to his departure.
Throughout his time with Qi Wei, he had assumed that even if Qi Wei didn’t love him the way he loved Qi Wei, there should at least be some genuine affection between them.
After all, he had helped Qi Wei so much, funding his sister’s heart source and subsequent medical treatments, and giving him money when he saw how poor and financially constrained Qi Wei was.
He had thought he would always hold a special place in Qi Wei’s heart.
Reality had dealt him a harsh and resounding slap.
He no longer understood why he had been so obsessed with Qi Wei back then.
This entire relationship was nothing more than his own unrequited wishful thinking.
After dropping Li Yanxiang off at his home, Bai Yuan drove Shi Liang back to his own place as well.
Lying on his bed, Shi Liang stared blankly at the ceiling, not moving an inch.
The longer he stayed in this world and the deeper his connection to it grew, the more blurry his memories of real life became.
In fact, he could no longer remember many things from his past.
Which world was real, and which one was fake?
Why was it that lately, whenever he recalled the various trivial details between Shi Liang and Qi Wei from the original novel, it always left him feeling suffocated and unable to breathe?
Even the grievances of that year felt as vivid and firsthand as though he had experienced them himself, making him feel every bit of that shared pain.
He hadn’t seen Bai Yuan outside the down jacket store earlier. Presumably, the topic discussed over the phone involved business secrets, making it inconvenient to talk about in a crowded shop, so Bai Yuan had simply found a quiet place nearby.
Shi Liang had taken Li Yanxiang to the car and messaged Bai Yuan to tell him that he could just come straight out after finishing his call, as they hadn’t found him and had returned to the vehicle directly.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Li Yanxiang glanced at Shi Liang through the rearview mirror.
“That guy just now must have been Qi Wei, right?” Li Yanxiang asked. “Bai Yuan mentioned to me before that the two of you broke up, is that true?”
Shi Liang sighed, having no desire to discuss him. “Yeah.”
“Well, that’s fantastic!”
Shi Liang gave him a sidelong glance. Was Li Yanxiang gloating? Did he harbor some kind of grudge against him?
Realizing how that sounded, Li Yanxiang quickly corrected himself, “Out with the old, in with the new! This way, you can meet someone much more suitable.”
Shi Liang chuckled softly. “Who knows? Some things cannot be forced, you just have to let nature take its course.”
Upon returning, Bai Yuan gave Shi Liang and Li Yanxiang a once-over. Shi Liang looked exhausted, leaning wearily against the back seat.
As the car started moving, Shi Liang closed his eyes to sleep since he was prone to motion sickness, while Bai Yuan and Li Yanxiang chatted about the changes in the domestic landscape over the years.
After dropping Li Yanxiang off, Bai Yuan prepared to take Shi Liang home as well.
Along the way, Bai Yuan brought up, “What’s with Li Yanxiang? Not your type? I think he doesn’t look any worse than Qi Wei!”
Sure enough, a faint intuition told Shi Liang that Li Yanxiang was acting a bit strange. “He told me long ago that he has let go of those feelings, and besides, he isn’t the type I like. Furthermore, Qi Wei and I just broke up, so I have no plans to jump into a new relationship right away.”
Bai Yuan glanced at him, nodded, and dropped the subject.
Shi Liang had loved Qi Wei far too deeply, so much so that he didn’t care about their disparity in background, accepting it all even when Qi Wei treated him with cold indifference or embarrassed him publicly.
In this relationship, Shi Liang had completely lost himself, turning his own life into a total mess.
Bai Yuan had witnessed the entire ordeal firsthand. Though his heart ached for his friend, he knew Shi Liang wouldn’t listen to any warnings.
Now that he had finally broken up with Qi Wei, it was for the best, no matter how one looked at it.
After arriving home, Shi Liang took a hot shower and sat down to soak his feet.
Suddenly, the group chat on WeChat lit up.
This group chat consisted of just three members: Shi Liang, Bai Yuan, and Shen Bingchen. The three of them had always shared a close bond.
Among the three, Shen Bingchen was undoubtedly the most interesting character. While Shi Liang and Bai Yuan had been top academic achievers back in school, Shen Bingchen was firmly at the bottom of the class, frequently subjected to comparisons by his parents using Shi Liang and Bai Yuan as benchmarks.
One of Shen Bingchen’s most iconic sayings back then was, “It’s a good thing I have a strong mental fortitude, otherwise, given your parenting methods, I would have drifted apart from Bai Yuan and Shi Liang ages ago.”
During his high school years, Shen Bingchen developed an obsession with music, proclaiming every single day that he was going to become a top-tier singer. Yet every time he opened his mouth, he would either sing flat, or more accurately, fail to find the tune entirely, while remaining completely oblivious to his own lack of talent.
Shi Liang and Bai Yuan offered gentle reminders: A person should learn to leverage their strengths and maximize their actual talents to succeed, rather than forcing themselves to fix their weaknesses.
Unfazed, Shen Bingchen continued his musical endeavors stubbornly: “Why are my eyes filled with tears? Because I love music so deeply!”
He even uploaded a clip of the music Shi Liang and Bai Yuan had been listening to onto the internet.
To their surprise, it accidentally went viral, though the comment section was an absolute riot:
“I have done countless evil things in this lifetime, and coming across this video today counts as my just deserts. But after this song, let all past grievances be wiped clean. From now on, may everything go smoothly and bring great fortune!”
“It’s one thing for this young man to be good-looking, but why is his singing so lethal?”
“Don’t be too malicious in the comments section. Saying his singing sounds terrible is one thing, but if you guys opened your mouths to sing, it might not sound any better.”
“To the user above, your malice is pretty heavy too.”
Others were more captivated by Shen Bingchen’s appearance: “Stumbling upon this video, I just have to ask: Where is morality? Where is the bottom line? Where is WeChat? Where is his address?”
“If I had such a handsome partner, I’d gladly take a monthly income of 20,000 and drive a sports car every day.”
“You really refuse to take a single loss, don’t you?”
“Count me out, I can’t handle this kind of brain-piercing audio torture.”
In short, people were either roasting his terrible singing or drooling over his looks.
After initial annoyance, Shen Bingchen resolved to practice harder and improve, posting a new video online every single day.
Judging by his vocal skills, anyone who knew him thought he was earnestly practicing, but anyone unaware would have assumed he was seeking revenge on society.
Eventually, seeing how persistent he was, Bai Yuan and Shi Liang stopped trying to talk him out of it.
After graduating from college, Shen Bingchen entered the entertainment industry as an actor, playing a few supporting male roles. He had remained stuck in the eighteenth-tier category, quietly grinding to hone his acting skills in hopes of landing a leading role someday.
Shi Liang tapped on his phone and saw that Shen Bingchen had sent a message in the group announcing that he had landed a major production’s male lead role, having been specifically requested by the producer himself.
Bai Yuan chimed in with a sarcastic remark: “Is that for real? You aren’t just blowing hot air, are you? Your acting skills are mediocre at best, who on earth would cast you as the lead?”
Shen Bingchen replied: “Hey! Look at you talking down to me. Who are you looking down on?”
Bai Yuan: “I’m genuinely not looking down on you. Think about that drama Facing the Sun you starred in earlier. When it aired, I desperately helped promote it across my company, but the plot turned out to be boring and your performance was so awkward that to this day, I still can’t lift my head up at work whenever someone mentions that show.”
Shi Liang chimed in: “Seriously, back then, to boost engagement data for your drama, I bought VIP passes for people around me and unlocked early-access episodes. The reviews your show received still make me cringe to this day.”
Shen Bingchen: “Oh come on! That, that was just an accident. It was my first acting gig after all! I’ve spent the past few years polishing my craft, and now the producer has personally named me for the role. What does that tell you?”
Bai Yuan: “It tells you the producer has gone blind!”
Shen Bingchen: “What are you talking about? It proves that my acting skills have reached a whole new level, which is why I’ve won someone’s favor.”
Bai Yuan: “Oh, give me a break. I watched your last show too. While it was slightly better than the first one, your acting still needs serious work and falls quite short!”
Shi Liang added: “Indeed, I watched it too. You better be careful. Since they specifically named you for the role, there is a chance they have alternative motives. Is your producer a man or a woman?”
Shen Bingchen: “I haven’t met them yet, but I heard it’s a guy.”
Shi Liang cautioned: “Watch out, it might be someone trying to get in through the backdoor.”
Bai Yuan: “Exactly, don’t end up compromising your principles for a single drama only to regret it later.”
Shen Bingchen: “You guys just can’t bring yourselves to acknowledge my talent, right? Is it really so hard to believe I got this role because of my stunning good looks and solid acting skills?”
Bai Yuan: “No comment.”
Shi Liang: “Unbelievable.”
Bai Yuan: “I truly admire your unfathomable self-confidence.”
Shi Liang: “It never hurts to keep your guard up. Free pies dropped from the sky always have their prices secretly marked beforehand, and you might not be able to afford the tab.”
Shen Bingchen: “Got it, bros. I’ll keep my eyes open. Oh, right, Liang, I recently met several extremely handsome young male idols. Do you want an introduction?”
Shi Liang: “Several young male idols? I’m already so exhausted every day that I just want to sleep. I don’t have the energy to dedicate myself to them.”
Shen Bingchen: “You’re basically their financial sugar daddy, so they’d be the ones trying to please you. There’s no way you’d have to bend over backwards for them.”
Shi Liang: “Even so, you don’t need to summon a whole entourage for me. What are they supposed to do in my villa? Line up in a row like a sports team? Or set up a 5v5 match, or rent a private room? Forget it, save those pretty boys for yourself. All I want right now is to eat, sleep, and repeat. Life is pretty great just like this.”
Bai Yuan: “Shi Liang, what’s gotten into you? You’re taking this heartbreak pretty hard. You practically feel like a completely different person.”
A chill ran through Shi Liang’s heart. Had he been found out?
Surely not!
After a brief moment of silence to calm his nervous thoughts, Shi Liang typed out: “I used to think romance was everything, but after experiencing it, I realized love is just so-so.”
Bai Yuan: “Forget about all that. Come make money with me instead!”
The three of them chatted idly back and forth for a bit. Having been intensely memorizing scripts lately due to his upcoming project, Shen Bingchen quickly signed off to rest after sharing his excitement with his good buddies.