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

"Otherwise what?" Zhen Youqu straightened up, smiling helplessly. "You don't really think a girl can live safely abroad without anyone's protection, do you?"

Lu Hao didn't speak. He awkwardly turned his face away, shook out another cigarette from the crumpled cigarette box, and put it in his mouth.

"Click."

It took several strokes of the lighter's roller to ignite a tiny flame in the night wind.

The firelight illuminated his bloodshot eyes; those once spirited eyes were now filled with only weariness.

Zhen Youqu sat back down in the beanbag chair, swaying slowly like an old man enjoying the cool air in his backyard.

"But the fact that you were able to get in shows that you've made some progress."

His tone was flat, as if he were merely commenting on today's weather.

"And then?" Lu Hao took a deep drag of his cigarette, glanced at Zhen Youqu, and said in a hoarse voice, "Have I improved at all, and is that affecting the mood of you young masters?"

"It has nothing to do with me, but it does to Yunfeng." Zhen Youqu met his provocative gaze, but instead of getting angry, he smiled, his smile filled with a knowing understanding of everything. "He doesn't want the person he's cherished for five years to end up choosing a good-for-nothing who can't even support himself."

"Heh..." Lu Hao sneered, "He really knows how to suck up to the end."

"Some people's fate is already sealed the moment they meet."

"You people are really strange," Lu Hao couldn't help but laugh. "Rich and powerful, yet you still believe in pure love?"

"What do you know?"

The smile on Zhen Youqu's face faded, and he took out a cigarette, lit it, and the smoke he exhaled was quickly dispersed by the evening breeze. "Because we lack nothing, except that ethereal love, which makes us believe that this world is real."

Lu Hao fell silent.

He didn't understand the grand principles of these rich people, but he could detect a hint of loneliness in Zhen Youqu's tone.

It turns out that even wealthy people have their own troubles.

Their troubles are not about daily necessities, but about this elusive yet deadly thing.

After finishing his cigarette, Zhen Youqu stood up, walked to Lu Hao's side, and patted him on the shoulder twice.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but don't let Su Yu misjudge you."

After saying that, he turned and walked into the house.

Just when Lu Hao thought he had left, Zhen Youqu's voice came over.

"By the way, do you know what Su Yu said to Yunfeng in the end while she was abroad?"

Lu Hao remained motionless, his head bowed, the cigarette between his fingers almost completely burned out.

Zhen Youqu seemed to be talking to himself, or perhaps to the evening breeze on the terrace.

She said, "I will only love once in my life, and I will only love one person for the rest of my life."

The footsteps gradually faded away until they disappeared.

Lu Hao stood frozen in place, letting the cigarette butt burn his fingertips.

"hiss……"

A sharp pain shot through him, snapping him back to reality. He flung the cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it out with his toe.

He looked up at the dark night sky, where the bright moon shone so brightly that the stars beside it paled slightly in its gentle glow.

He felt that he was like a star that flickered on and off, and Su Yu was like the bright moon.

They seem so close, yet they can't embrace.

……

A long line of cars formed in front of the Yunjiang Hotel.

"Crackling and popping—"

The deafening sound of firecrackers exploded, and red paper scraps flew everywhere.

Lu Hao pushed open the car door first, went around to the back seat, and opened the car door for Qin Shou.

Qin Shou grinned from ear to ear. Instead of leaving immediately, he squatted down in a horse stance in front of the car door.

"Come on, honey, slow down."

Jiang Yun, lifting her elaborate skirt, climbed onto Qin Shou's back.

As Qin Shou carried his bride on his back and walked step by step toward the hotel lobby, Lu Hao was about to follow when a woman's voice, filled with laughter, came from the side.

"Hey, best man, according to the rehearsal, you're supposed to hold my hand as we walk in."

Lu Hao turned his head, and Fang Ruoyun had already stood next to him at some point.

She was wearing a pristine white bridesmaid dress, her face adorned with exquisite makeup, and she was smiling at him.

Lu Hao frowned slightly.

Fang Ruoyun seemed not to notice his resistance and directly reached out and grasped his hand without saying a word.

"Let's go, don't keep the bride and groom waiting." She said, taking the first step.

With his hand forcibly held, Lu Hao didn't struggle anymore.

Forget it, today is a joyous occasion for Qin Shou, let's not cause any trouble.

In his mind, the "good show" that Fang Ruoyun was talking about would have to wait until after the wedding.

After all, Jiang Yun was her best friend, so she couldn't very well cause trouble at the wedding and make everyone look bad.

The elaborate yet sacred process proceeded in an orderly manner, accompanied by the emcee's melodious voice.

Lu Hao, as the best man, stood quietly in the corner of the stage, like an emotionless background figure.

He didn't even glance at Fang Ruoyun beside him, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the densely packed guests below the stage, past the dazzling lights.

Finally, his gaze stopped at a certain table and settled on a cool and beautiful face.

Xiao Xiyue.

She did indeed come.

In a banquet hall filled with suits and gowns, her attire appeared somewhat casual.

A pure black, tight-fitting, round-neck short-sleeved shirt outlined her stunning curves, and the exposed half of her jade-like arm was dazzlingly white under the light.

Her long hair was half-tied up, with a few strands falling beside her cheeks, adding a touch of languidness.

Seemingly noticing his gaze, Xiao Xiyue also raised her eyes.

The moment their eyes met, Lu Hao caught a glimpse of surprise in her eyes.

But that look of surprise only lasted for a moment before she quickly concealed it, regaining her usual calm, and then casually looked away as if she had only seen an insignificant stranger.

Lu Hao's heart tightened for no apparent reason.

Xiao Xiyue's fleeting surprise made him sense something uneasy.

"Are you exchanging sweet nothings with your little sweetheart across the distance?"

Fang Ruoyun's teasing voice was kept extremely low in her ear.

Lu Hao withdrew his gaze and gave her a cold glance: "The 'good show' you're talking about, isn't it just about letting her see me standing next to you?"

"Hehe..." Fang Ruoyun chuckled twice, shook her head, and a sly glint flashed in her eyes. "This is just an appetizer."

Before Lu Hao could ask any more questions, she gently nudged him with her elbow, then gestured with her chin towards Xiao Xiyue, her voice filled with the excitement of watching a good show: "Look, that yellow figure next to her, doesn't it look familiar?"

Lu Hao's eyelashes trembled slightly as he looked in the direction she indicated.

Beside Xiao Xiyue, a woman in a pale yellow dress had appeared out of nowhere. Her long, smooth, jet-black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall.

Just a glimpse of his back, a familiar shoulder line, was enough to make Lu Hao's heart skip a beat.

His mind went blank for a moment, countless thoughts flashed through his head, but he forcibly suppressed them.

Impossible... How could she be here?

Just as he was reeling and desperately trying to deny his own guess, the woman in the yellow dress suddenly turned her head to the side.

A face so familiar it couldn't be more so suddenly entered Lu Hao's field of vision.

Su Yu!

Lu Hao felt his mind go blank, as if all the sounds of the world had been taken away at that moment.