Three years after our breakup, you came back to China, and I'm just giving up. Why are you cryi

Mochou Bar.

Lu Hao got out of the car, looked at the neon signs, and couldn't help but smile.

I thought I would never come again, but unexpectedly, after all the twists and turns, I still came for Qin Shou.

As you step into the bar, soft music surrounds you.

Lu Hao walked through the crowd expressionlessly. The rhythms that had once captivated him now seemed merely noisy.

He walked toward the corner booth that used to be his.

Qin Shouguo was sitting sideways, chatting with the proprietress, Mo Li, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Molly saw Lu Hao, her red lips curved into a smile, she raised her glass to him, and said to Qin Shou with a smile, "Look, speak of the devil and he appears."

Lu Haochong nodded to her as a greeting, and then sat down opposite her.

Without saying a word, he picked up a can of beer from the ice bucket on the table, unzipped it, tilted his head back, and gulped down half of it.

Seeing this, Molly knew that tonight wasn't a time for catching up. She gave Lu Hao a look that said, "You guys talk," and then left with her wine glass.

The booth fell silent, with only the mournful music echoing in the distance.

Qin Shou took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, knocked one out and put it in his mouth, then threw the whole pack onto the table in front of Lu Hao.

"Speak, what do you want from me?"

Lu Hao didn't even glance at the pack of cigarettes. He pushed it aside, then took out a 12-yuan pack of Zhenlong cigarettes from his pocket and lit one slowly.

He took a deep breath, and the smoke he exhaled swirled and dissipated in the hazy light, like a silent sigh.

His hoarse voice slowly emerged from behind the smoke.

"Qin Shou, tell me honestly, did you really marry Jiang Yun because of love?"

Qin Shou paused as he was about to bring the cigarette to his lips.

The air seemed to freeze for a second.

He didn't look at Lu Hao, but simply lowered his head and flicked off his cigarette ash, the embers flickering in the dim light.

He then took a drag of his cigarette and asked calmly, "Did you see something?"

Lu Hao didn't say anything, but just looked at him, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Qin Shou suddenly laughed, shrugged, and said nonchalantly, "Just like you see."

Lu Hao's heart sank. He stared at Qin Shou, trying to find struggle or pain on his face, but there was nothing.

"Just for the resources her family has?"

"Otherwise what?" Qin Shou retorted matter-of-factly. He stubbed out his cigarette, picked up his glass, and looked at the liquid inside. "Next month, I'll be promoted to vice president."

Lu Hao was stunned and speechless for a long time.

He looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him and finally said helplessly, "You've changed."

"Changed?" Qin Shou said dismissively.

He downed the drink in one gulp, placed the glass on the table, and said, "I'm just a guy from a small mountain village. Without a powerful backer, how could I have become a team leader in a year? And then a manager in another year? Not to mention, I'll be a vice president soon."

He leaned forward, staring at Lu Hao with a sharp look in his eyes, honed by reality.

"Don't talk to me about hard work, Lao Lu. Can hard work put food on the table? Hard work will only turn you into a machine that's exploited to the bone, understand?"

Lu Hao did not refute it. He knew that Qin Shou had a point, but he just couldn't accept it.

He silently picked up his drink and drank it down one sip after another, while smoking his cheap cigarette.

After a long while, so long that Lu Hao thought the topic had ended, he murmured to himself, "Do you remember... what you said when we were in school?"

"Which time?"

"Yes..." Lu Hao opened his mouth, but then stopped.

Yes, which time?

They've said it too many times.

On the dormitory balcony, by the school playground, and at the graduation dinner table.

They said that after graduation, they would find a stable job, find someone they love, and live a simple and ordinary life.

Money can never be fully earned; cherishing the people around you is the most important thing.

Back then, Qin Shou would always pat him on the shoulder and say with envy, "Old Lu, you're really something, managing to make such a wonderful girl like Su Yu fall head over heels for you."

But now, Su Yu is gone.

Qin Shou also became a different person.

Lu Hao kept his head down, drinking one glass after another.

Qin Shou leaned back in his chair, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

He looked at Lu Hao for a long time before speaking: "Old Lu, you're 25 this year, and I'm 26. We're way past the age of dreaming. A mundane life is certainly tempting, but life doesn't allow us to have a mundane existence."

"Did something happen to you?" Lu Hao asked, unwilling to give up.

He needed a reason, a reason that could convince himself.

Qin Shou remained silent for a long time, so long that Lu Hao thought he wouldn't answer.

Two years ago, my father fell seriously ill. The family spent all their savings and ended up with a mountain of debt.

Lu Hao suddenly looked up. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Qin Shou suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with desolation and self-mockery: "Tell you? Look at what you were like back then. What good would it do me to tell you?"

Lu Hao opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Yes, at that time Su Yu had been abroad for less than a year and could barely support herself, so how could she help Qin Shou?

"You and I are different." Qin Shou's voice grew even lower. "You're all alone, I'm not. Do you know what I was thinking when I knelt before those relatives, kowtowing and begging for money?"

He looked at Lu Hao and said, word by word, "I want money, lots and lots of money. Only money can save my dad's life."

Lu Hao didn't speak, he just silently smoked and listened.

"Later, my dad's life was saved, but the daily medical and rehabilitation costs were astronomical. With my meager salary at the time..."

"So you went to get close to Jiang Yun?" Lu Hao continued his question.

"To be precise, I accepted her." Qin Shou nodded, then smiled, a hint of relief in his eyes. "But none of that matters anymore."

After he finished speaking, he stood up, walked to Lu Hao's side, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Old Lu, my youth ended when I realized that without money I couldn't even save my own father's life. I gave up my ridiculous pride and lost my original self. But my feelings for you, Qin Shou, have never changed."

When Lu Hao came to his senses, he was the only one left in the booth.

Qin Shou has already left.

On the table, next to the half-finished can of beer, lay the pack of Zhonghua cigarettes that Qin Shou had left behind.

He silently drank a few more glasses, and amidst the swirling smoke, he seemed to see again the day he woke up in the hospital.

Qin Shou stood in front of the sickbed, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.

And he spent all his savings to pay off Fu Guyunfeng's medical expenses.

However, the Qin Shou of today is so familiar that it pains him, yet so unfamiliar that it chills him to the bone.

Lu Hao didn't know how he got out of the bar. He called a designated driver and returned to the old town.

He hadn't forgotten that Xiao Xiyue was away on a business trip today, and that he would ask Ning Shu to take him out to relax tomorrow.

Just as Lu Hao got out of the car, a white figure stood under the streetlight at the intersection.

Su Yu.