Chapter 95#
Chapter 95: Ending#
Qiao Nanqi was stunned for a moment.
What Zhao Rong said was so sudden that he even thought he had misheard.
When he finally reacted, his already pale face turned even whiter.
“Xingping told you? Zhao Rong, I…”
“You know what I mean,” Zhao Rong’s words were as gentle and calm as usual, yet filled with an irrefutable persistence. “You can choose not to take it off, but then stand up and walk out right now. We don’t currently have the kind of relationship where you’d unconditionally show me your wounds.”
These words were heavy.
Qiao Nanqi didn’t want Zhao Rong to know, but he was even more afraid to bear the consequences of that sentence.
He had managed to stay by Zhao Rong’s side in such a peaceful manner; how could he dare to make Zhao Rong angry?
He could only nod.
“It’s nothing serious,” he said. “Don’t feel burdened.”
Zhao Rong ignored him, simply watching him.
Qiao Nanqi bit his teeth, knowing he couldn’t get past this.
He raised his hand, unbuttoning the shirt one by one, and took off the black shirt that concealed his bandages. As he did, he deliberately used the falling garment to cover the scar on his wrist.
His physique had always been much better than Zhao Rong’s; compared to Zhao Rong’s thin frame, the lines of Qiao Nanqi’s body under his clothes were extremely distinct. He even when he walked through a gala in a formal suit, the tailored lines of his muscles would always draw people to him.
Zhao Rong had seen it many times in the past year or two.
At this moment, however, those kinds of thoughts didn’t arise at all.
Qiao Nanqi remained silent, gritting his teeth, while Zhao Rong stared with narrowed eyes. For a moment, the air seemed to stop flowing.
After a long time.
The wind outside whistled past, and the deep night could only be seen through the gaps in the curtains.
The breathing of the two people intertwined like quiet drumbeats in a deep forest, thumping against the heart.
Zhao Rong broke the silence.
He asked, “How did your upper arm get hurt?”
Young Master Qiao, who even the doctors had been trembling while treating just moments ago, had now retracted all his sharpness. He lowered his voice, answering with a reluctance he couldn’t avoid: “When I was carrying your mother out of the room, I got burned.”
“And your waist?”
“Just as I entered the door, the base of a piece of equipment was scorched crooked and fell down. I dodged it; it’s nothing serious…”
He was hurried in his explanation, but not because he feared Zhao Rong’s worry.
—It would be good enough if Zhao Rong didn’t find him repulsive.
He felt it was his duty, and he was even glad he had been alert at the time. But he was afraid Zhao Rong would feel he owed him a favor and would constantly worry about how to repay him, adding unnecessary trouble.
“The burn isn’t serious either. After applying medicine, I can’t feel much. They aren’t major injuries compared to yours—”
Zhao Rong had already raised his uninjured left hand and lightly poked the burn on his upper arm.
Qiao Nanqi let out a muffled groan.
“Nothing serious?” Zhao Rong asked him, his tone already carrying a hint of displeasure. “You call this ’nothing serious’?”
“Don’t I have the right to know about this? The person you saved was my mother, not someone else. Shouldn’t I know? You always keep everything to yourself, bottling it up and refusing to listen to me. In the end, no one gains anything, and no one understands what happened behind the scenes. Is this how it should be?”
It had been a long time since Zhao Rong had spoken to Qiao Nanqi at such length.
In the past, it was always him talking and Qiao Nanqi listening—or Qiao Nanqi being completely unwilling to listen. Later, it was Qiao Nanqi talking, while he was afraid to listen or didn’t want to.
They had truly never been like this: one speaking seriously, and the other listening intently, not missing a single word.
Zhao Rong’s words actually hinted at knowing the past and resolving old grudges, but Qiao Nanqi was perhaps too flustered at the moment to catch that.
Qiao Nanqi said hurriedly, “No, I just didn’t want you to worry over such small matters. I…”
He paused.
Zhao Rong was still looking at him. Although he couldn’t be sure how angry Zhao Rong was, he could have just apologized a few times, put his clothes back on, and muddled through.
But he hesitated for a moment and still didn’t do it.
“I understand you—perhaps I overgeneralized in the past, but I understand you now.”
“With your personality, you always remember other people’s kindness. Everyone says you’re easy to bully, that you’re gentle—it’s because when someone is good to you, you always want to pay them back twofold.”
As he said this, perhaps recalling the Zhao Rong in his early twenties, his originally hurried and hoarse voice softened.
“And now, you’re reluctant to have any dealings with me. If you knew, you’d surely start struggling with yourself again.”
“I want you to be happy.”
Having reached this point, he couldn’t hold it back anymore.
“Zhao Rong, I love you. I no longer hope for you to look back at me, but I hope that even if you move forward, you can do so without burdens, happy and joyful.”
Qiao Nanqi had wanted to say more to prevent Zhao Rong from being angry with him.
But once those words were out, he realized anything else was redundant. All those explanations were rooted in this single reason; he had actually been saying things like this to Zhao Rong all along.
It just hadn’t been useful.
And he deserved to be useless.
So he paused for a long while and, under Zhao Rong’s gaze, repeated with a firm tone: “I love you.”
Those words were wrapped in the hoarseness of his lack of rest and carried the blood-soaked conclusion drawn from rolling through the past ten-odd years. Each word ground into Zhao Rong’s ears like burning fire.
Zhao Rong had heard Qiao Nanqi say this many times.
After he left, when he was about to marry Lu Xingping, when Qiao Nanqi chased him to Zhuxi and said it drunkenly and blurredly…
Back then, his heart had only wavered slightly.
It was nothing like this moment, where his heart felt empty yet his thoughts were overflowing.
It wasn’t because of the words themselves.
But because of the hurried explanations Qiao Nanqi had given before those words.
It suddenly pulled him back to when he first met this man. Back then, like other younger boys, he had an awkwardness about him where he was unwilling to admit to doing good deeds, yet his heart was delicately soft, worrying that Zhao Rong would be burdened by the favor.
That was why the Qiao Nanqi of that time hadn’t accepted his IOU.
That was why the Qiao Nanqi of that time had only left him the address of a deserted old mansion—never imagining it would actually come in handy in the end.
Bright yet gentle, flamboyant yet leisurely, mature yet cheerful.
The present was just like back then.
His heart felt sour, astringent, bitter, painful, and sweet all at once.
He had been quite angry, but now he couldn’t stay angry.
He had already made a decision while he was alone earlier, but he was still irritated by this man’s self-righteous concealment. After some thought, he changed his mind, not wanting to let this man be happy so soon.
Suppressing those mixed emotions, he looked away and said, “Put them on.”
Qiao Nanqi silently buttoned up, and Zhao Rong added another sentence: “Serves you right.”
—These words sounded very much like repulsion and disgust. Zhao Rong forgot about them as soon as he vented them, but they left Qiao Nanqi’s heart in suspense for a full half-month.
Qiao Nanqi still came every day as before, though because Zhao Rong would always urge him to go rest, he didn’t come as frequently as before.
He wanted to ask Zhao Rong what “serves you right” actually meant, but he feared hearing a bad answer. His heart hung in suspense for a long time, unable to settle.
By the time he decided he should just talk to Zhao Rong properly, the opportunity was gone.
Zhao Ming was going into surgery.
During this half-month, Zhao Rong’s wounds had long since healed, no longer affecting his movements.
After Chen Jingnian was caught, he was sent back to Yangcheng for investigation. After Zhou Yueqing’s fall, the Zhou family changed management, effectively removing the hidden threat. Zhao Rong’s first project in cooperation with the Ruan family had officially begun. Lu Xingping and Xia Yuantu had returned to Yangcheng. Liang Youjun, holding a workbook, told Zhao Rong he wanted to take the adult college entrance exam. Sister-in-law Xu’s prenatal checkup went very smoothly. Fang Zhuoqun told Zhao Rong that because his girlfriend changed jobs and wanted to wait until things stabilized, the wedding was rescheduled…
Of all these matters, what made Zhao Rong happiest was the success of Zhao Ming’s surgery.
The doctor Qiao Nanqi had brought in was experienced, and the entire surgery went smoothly.
When the light in the operating room turned green, the doctor came out and told Zhao Rong that Zhao Ming’s condition would only fluctuate slightly and would no longer deteriorate significantly.
Looking at the doctor taking off his mask and hearing those words, Zhao Rong was completely stunned.
Then came a collapse-like relief.
He hadn’t cried when he was supporting himself and Zhao Ming’s expenses alone; he hadn’t cried when he was under house arrest in the Chen family for over a month; he hadn’t cried when he had a fever for several days after moving into Qiao Nanqi’s home; and he still hadn’t cried after moving out of Qiao Nanqi’s home.
Even when he was injured half a month ago, he had only gritted his teeth and endured.
But seeing the doctors and nurses wheeling Zhao Ming out, the tears he had held back for so many years actually fell without warning.
The hospital walls were deathly white, and the lights were intensely bright, always making one’s heart feel panicked.
It was as if they could shine into the heart and pull out the most deeply hidden emotions.
Zhao Rong sat on the bench outside the operating room, leaning against the wall with his legs curled up and arms wrapped around them, crying with his head down.
The people around him had dispersed, seemingly wanting to leave him a space to vent.
Only Qiao Nanqi remained at his side.
Qiao Nanqi stood in front of him without saying a word, simply handing him tissues continuously.
The next day.
Birds that had flown back from somewhere further south hung on the trees outside, chirping, filling the normally quiet green belt with incessant white noise.
The whistling cool breeze was no longer icy, seemingly carrying a hint of warmth.
Like a precursor to early spring.
Qiao Nanqi went to handle matters for the new company. Zhao Rong was in the ward looking after Zhao Ming, while Liang Youjun and Xiao Wu waited for Zhao Rong outside.
Seeing that the person was about to come out, Liang Youjun couldn’t focus on his workbook and was bored out of his mind.
He raised his elbow and lightly poked Xiao Wu, who was standing beside him without even playing with his phone. “Assistant Wu, I feel like we’ll be dealing with each other for a long time. As an employee, calling you ‘Xiao Wu’ like the boss does seems a bit impolite. But everyone calls you ‘Xiao Wu’ all day, even Young Master Qiao does. I don’t even know your name yet. What’s your name?”
Xiao Wu gave an “oh” and said calmly, “Actually, you can call me whatever you like. As for my name, since I was born in the countryside and my parents weren’t very educated, they only thought about me making big money, so my given name is just ‘Qian’ (Money).”
Liang Youjun nodded knowingly. “Oh, so it’s Wu—”
He paused, falling silent.
After a moment, he gave an extremely soul-less “ah” and said, “I feel like at certain times, a person might still need to be a bit impolite.”
Just as he finished speaking, Zhao Rong happened to walk out.
“What are you doing? Making such a big deal out of it.”
“Mr. Zhao,” Xiao Wu sighed seriously, “you’ve just recovered from a serious illness and shouldn’t overwork yourself. The Boss knows you don’t trust unfamiliar caregivers, so he stopped my work and told me to help look after Ms. Zhao for the next few days. You should go rest.”
Liang Youjun, still holding his workbook, didn’t even look up as he said, “Anyway, you’ve hired someone else for the bookstore, so let me focus on my revision. Revising in the ward is still revision, and taking shifts with Assistant Wu also allows for revision. Go rest, Boss, you have dark circles under your eyes.”
Zhao Rong instinctively raised his hand to touch the area around his eyes, only to realize the next second that Liang Youjun hadn’t even looked up and was surely talking nonsense.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Lying without even blinking.”
But he didn’t try to be brave this time.
“Don’t neglect your revision. If it gets too busy, I’ll just find another caregiver.”
He then said to Xiao Wu, “I know the compensation Qiao Nanqi gives you isn’t low, but I’ll calculate it separately on my end. I’ll transfer the money to you in a bit; you’re not allowed to refuse.”
Xiao Wu nodded hurriedly. “Thank you, Mr. Zhao!”
He wasn’t “dazzled by love” like his boss, who often forgot Zhao Rong’s other meanings in his panic. Hearing this, he actually detected a sense of Zhao Rong treating him as one of his own employees.
—“Calculate it separately.”
If he wasn’t one of their own, why bother emphasizing “calculating it separately”?
After his joy, Xiao Wu was dazed by these words. Coincidentally, Zhao Rong’s next sentence was: “Do you happen to have the keys to Qiao Nanqi’s house? I have something to talk to him about. His phone is off—he should be in a meeting. I want to go to his house and wait for him.”
How could he refuse this?
The person the Boss had been longing for day and night had proactively offered to wait for him at home.
The next moment, Xiao Wu handed the keys to Zhao Rong. Without even notifying his boss, he smugly sold his boss out for free.
Before leaving the hospital, Liang Youjun asked Zhao Rong, “Boss, have you thought things through?”
“What, want to gossip again?”
“Not really, I just feel it’s quite… sigh, I can’t say. I’m considered a veteran in this area, so I just want to ask a harmless little question,” Liang Youjun said softly. “Are you just settling with Young Master Qiao because you can’t be bothered with anyone else, or has your heart actually been moved again?”
Zhao Rong raised his foot and kicked his heel. “You call this a harmless little question?”
Liang Youjun slipped away with a grin.
On the way Xu Xin took Zhao Rong to Qiao Nanqi’s house, Zhao Rong thought about Liang Youjun’s question again.
He watched the scenery outside the car window recede rapidly, like the sound of wind that his eyes could hear, whistling past and quickly plucking at his heartstrings.
He had all sorts of thoughts, but they weren’t messy; in fact, they were quite clear.
Settling?
How could it be settling?
When he left Qiao Nanqi, he had prepared for the worst.
Having come this far, Zhao Rong was never afraid of being alone.
It was precisely because he had come this far that he saw how the blade of time had carved the two of them, who should have been the same, into completely different forms. But after he had stepped over the thorns, crossed the precipices, and waded through the rapids, he turned back to see the person who had chased after him. He unexpectedly discovered bit by bit that this person, having shed their battle-scarred shell along with him, was actually still the same as before.
Thinking back carefully, he actually wouldn’t be moved by anyone else.
Except for Zhao Ming, who was related to him by blood, he ultimately had a layer of estrangement from everyone else here.
But Qiao Nanqi was different.
Even before he came to this world, he was exceptionally familiar with this name. Naturally, he was more trusting and more likely to open his heart to the person who possessed that name.
In fact, it was Qiao Nanqi who brought him another choice.
If he hadn’t met Qiao Nanqi in his youth, he actually wouldn’t have fallen for anyone else at all.
Fortunately.
Xu Xin slowly stopped in front of Qiao Nanqi’s house. It was Zhao Rong’s first time here. He glanced curiously at the villa, which was only two streets away from his own home, and smiled helplessly.
As he got out of the car, Xu Xin suddenly asked him, “Should I come pick you up tomorrow morning?”
“…” Zhao Rong immediately understood what Xu Xin meant. “Brother Xu, how did you get corrupted by Youjun?”
Xu Xin laughed loudly as he stepped on the gas and drove away.
Zhao Rong held the keys and walked to the door in the light breeze, thinking about what he would say to Qiao Nanqi when he returned.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he opened the door, a furry thing suddenly bumped against his ankle.
He looked down; the large fat cat with a fur pattern he was very familiar with was rubbing against his ankle. It clearly still recognized him, circling his feet.
Another cat he was familiar with jumped down from the cabinet inside the door, silently padding toward him.
Qiao Nanqi was incredibly busy today.
The Qiao family’s industries in Zhuxi had fully begun to develop, and being in a period of strong momentum, his meetings hadn’t stopped from start to finish.
By the time he could finally catch his breath, it was already late at night.
He thought about rushing home to freshen up before going to the hospital to see Zhao Rong. His phone was dead, so he just plugged it into the car to charge without taking the time to look at it. He closed his eyes to take a nap in the car and arrived home in a hurry.
Just as he got out of the car with his phone, he froze.
The windows were lit.
Some streetlights circled the detached villa, but they were far less bright than the light emanating from inside, as if guiding the way home.
Qiao Nanqi’s steps faltered.
Was Xiao Wu here? Was there something he needed?
They often ran back and forth when busy, so Qiao Nanqi didn’t think it was strange. He walked to the door.
The door wasn’t locked; he didn’t even need the sensor key. It opened with a turn of the handle.
He was covered in exhaustion, already prepared to ask Xiao Wu what was wrong, but as soon as he entered, his gaze fell on the brightly lit living room.
The young man was wearing a loose dark blue sweater, sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the sofa. He had his head down, holding a fat cat that was lying belly-up in his arms.
He was smiling, scratching the cat under its chin. The cat was very familiar with him, not shy at all, leaning into his hand.
Hearing the sound of Qiao Nanqi returning, Zhao Rong looked up, his smile vanishing at that moment.
Qiao Nanqi’s steps paused.
Everything before him was too unexpected, yet too clear.
He looked at the cat in Zhao Rong’s arms. Without even having time to wonder why Zhao Rong would suddenly appear in his house, he knew Zhao Rong had discovered something.
Zhao Rong pushed the cat away.
The cat, having no one to cling to, cried out in dissatisfaction, but Zhao Rong ignored it, standing up and walking toward Qiao Nanqi.
“What else haven’t you told me?” he asked softly.
The little cats were completely unaware that they were the evidence; some were lying nearby, while others had already run to Qiao Nanqi’s feet to frolic.
“Nothing else,” Qiao Nanqi looked away from these little ancestors. Seeing Zhao Rong’s stern face, his attitude in admitting his fault this time was swift and good. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”
Zhao Rong deliberately kept a cold face, almost forced to laugh by the man’s completely unstruggling response.
He pretended to be serious and said, “On the way here today, I was thinking about what to say to you.”
Qiao Nanqi’s whole body stiffened, his grip on his phone tightening. For a moment, he instinctively held his breath.
The words “serves you right” from Zhao Rong half a month ago were still ringing in his ears. Now, Zhao Rong was acting like he had something very serious to say.
He immediately became nervous, fearing that Zhao Rong would say something like rejecting him or telling him to leave again.
The next moment, Zhao Rong’s actions made Qiao Nanqi’s heart sink.
Zhao Rong reached out and took the phone from his hand, asking, “What’s the password?”
In his confusion, Qiao Nanqi still couldn’t refuse Zhao Rong’s request and recited a string of numbers.
Zhao Rong opened the phone screen in front of him and then opened the contact list.
Then, Qiao Nanqi watched helplessly as Zhao Rong found the contact labeled with Zhao Rong’s name and unhurriedly deleted the number.
He had been blacklisted by Zhao Rong before, so seeing this, his first thought was that Zhao Rong wanted to sever their communication.
“Zhao Rong!” He instinctively wanted to stop him, but before he could finish, Zhao Rong’s number had been deleted from his phone.
And the person who did it didn’t change his expression, his eyes even gaining a hint of a smile.
Zhao Rong threw the phone directly into the pocket of Qiao Nanqi’s trench coat and then said, “But as I sat in your house earlier, I thought about it over and over and felt there was really nothing to say. Why don’t we just leave it at this? When I was chasing after you, I knew your number by heart. Besides, I wasted over a year on you back then. Now… it’s only been about six months, right?”
Under Qiao Nanqi’s anxious gaze, Zhao Rong turned around and actually just bypassed him, walking out.
Qiao Nanqi raised his hand, wanting to grab Zhao Rong.
But before he could grab Zhao Rong’s arm, he remembered that Zhao Rong didn’t like him doing that. He immediately withdrew his hand and could only listen to the sound of Zhao Rong’s footsteps fading, the door closing, leaving him alone in the house with the few cats circling him.
He stood in place without moving, his heart continuously sinking.
He might have done something wrong, but Zhao Rong had deleted the phone number he had saved, and what he said was ambiguous, sounding very much like he wanted him to leave.
How could it suddenly be like this?
Some time ago… just some time ago, things had clearly taken a turn for the better. Zhao Rong no longer resented him being around. Why would he suddenly do this?
Had he accidentally done something wrong?
He just stood there, his thoughts flying, unable to recover for a long while.
But just as the cat by his feet bumped his ankle because it was too hungry, he suddenly read another meaning into the words Zhao Rong had said while reflecting earlier.
—“When I was chasing after you, I knew your number by heart.”
—“Besides, I wasted over a year on you back then. Now… it’s only been about six months, right?”
If the purpose of deleting the phone number wasn’t to distance himself, but to… to make him memorize it…
This alternative thought was like a ray of hope for Qiao Nanqi, unbelievable and incredible, yet real.
He hurriedly opened his phone, clicked on the social media app, and immediately saw the chat box with Zhao Rong pinned to the top.
He could still see all the information on Zhao Rong’s account—Zhao Rong hadn’t deleted him.
He clicked into the chat box, hesitated for a moment, and piously and intently typed out a common “Goodnight” and sent it.
And he was prepared to wait all night.
A moment later.
A new message immediately popped up in the chat box.
—“Goodnight.”
Outside, the starry night hung high, and the bright moon floated over the cloudy mountains, casting a faint, clear light that reflected the boundless galaxy.
A light breeze swept through the branches, carrying the moisture in the air and dropping the first touch of vibrancy.
Early spring had finally arrived.
Half a year later.
Yangcheng.
The university auditorium was packed with people.
Scanning from the back to the front, there were men and women, all exuding youthful energy—clearly college students around twenty years old.
They looked up toward the front of the auditorium at the young man speaking eloquently in front of the projection. Some seemed to be listening intently to the content, while others held professional books that clearly weren’t in the direction of economics, looking drowsy yet still looking up, unsure if they were listening to the lecture or looking at the person.
But if one looked at the very front row of seats, only a few sparse figures could be seen, mostly old professors or administrators from the school, or invited guests.
Among the group, only one man’s appearance was exceptionally young, clearly not even thirty years old.
Even for those who didn’t recognize him, simply seeing his age and his seat among these authorities was enough to explain everything.
He sat there upright, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand, staring intently at the young man who was giving the distinguished alumnus speech.
On the stage.
Zhao Rong had a smile on his face, not affected by Qiao Nanqi’s gaze at all.
He was wearing a well-fitting white shirt with a microphone clipped to the collar, standing calmly in the gaze of everyone, occasionally operating the remote to flip through the projected content.
When the speech ended, the applause was like thunder. Qiao Nanqi heard an old professor beside him say to the person next to him, “Young and promising.”
He couldn’t help but smile.
Zhao Rong had already stepped off the stage, and another distinguished alumnus invited for the school anniversary went up.
He took several deep breaths, calming the nervousness he had hidden well during the speech. He rejected a few people who came over to ask for his contact information, put on his trench coat, tucked one hand into his pocket, and walked slowly out of the auditorium.
The man who had been watching him from the first row just now was waiting for him outside the door.
Qiao Nanqi handed the bouquet of flowers to Zhao Rong and said with a smile, “Congratulations. Your first speech in your life was very successful. Want to go to dinner?”
Zhao Rong took it without hesitation, cradling the bouquet of flowers, where each stem was clearly meticulously selected. “Finally, I didn’t mess up. But forget dinner, let’s just make do with something simple. I have to go to a bid tomorrow and need to rush back to Zhuxi.”
A flash of disappointment crossed Qiao Nanqi’s face.
Zhao Rong picked up the bouquet and turned to walk quickly toward the parking lot.
After walking a few steps, Qiao Nanqi composed himself and called out behind him, “Zhao Rong, it’s already been half a year…”
Zhao Rong’s steps paused.
He turned his body, looked back, his peach-blossom-like eyes curving slightly into a smile.
“So?” His clear voice broke through the air, drifting across the autumn wind.
He paused and changed the subject: “When I first moved out of your house, I went to Senior’s place. At that time, he asked me if I would read a book a second time if I had liked it very much.”
“I told him no. I wouldn’t open a book a second time if I had already read it and found it uninteresting.”
Qiao Nanqi’s eyes dropped instantly. He raised his hand slightly, as if he wanted to touch Zhao Rong.
Zhao Rong said again, “But if it were a brand-new book, opening it up to have a look doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”
He was smiling all along.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Not a re-read, but opening a new book of unknown scenery.
Try to fall in love again, try to start from the beginning, try each other who are now completely different.
The gentle sunlight fell, shining on Zhao Rong and on the bouquet in his arms, as if lighting up the fragrance and letting it drift into people’s eyes.
It was a riot of colors.
Those words crashed into Qiao Nanqi’s ears unexpectedly.
He was unsure if he was dazzled by Zhao Rong’s smile or the bouquet under the sunlight. He was dazed for a moment.
In this turn of events, his heart rhythm fluctuated, slowly dissolving his reason.
Amidst a mix of bitterness and joy, he caught a few wisps of hope.
After a long while.
He swallowed a thousand words.
“Thank you,” he said.
Students continuously walked past them. This campus, where they had both stayed before, was filled with the rustling sound of wind and the incessant sound of conversation.
The grass was slightly sprouting a patch of tender yellow, and the rows of leaves were curled with the breath of autumn, as if having rolled through red and yellow, dyed with one captivating color after another.
The distant clouds rolled and unrolled, while people came and went nearby.
The years flow by slowly.
End of Chapter 95