—

May, Jinyao Group Headquarters meeting room. All the senior executives were present, but Shen Zhi, as CEO, had for months now been seated in the position farthest from Shen Ming. The others had gone from initial surprise to taking it in stride—everyone could see that Chairman Shen was warning and disciplining Shen Zhi; they just couldn't guess why this battle line had been drawn so long.

But it was actually easy enough to guess, because Shen Zhi had always been indifferent to it. His work went on as usual, and he didn't care how much of his authority had been carved away.

Shen Ming was listening to the vice president lay out the project strategy. When it came to task assignments, Shen Ming's index finger tapped twice lightly on the conference table: "Hand it to Li Manager and Fang Manager to take charge. Report to me regularly. The rest, let Shen Zhi cooperate in execution."

The demotion of Shen Zhi's authority was too obvious in that sentence. No one let it show on their faces, but privately they all meant to watch Shen Zhi's expression. Shen Ming, for his part, didn't even turn his head. He kept his eyes on the big screen, deliberately leaving the awkwardness for Shen Zhi.

Shen Zhi finished the last page of the strategy document, closed it, and said calmly, "This project will take at least a year. I'm not the right person to be involved."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment. Shen Ming swiveled his chair, fixed Shen Zhi with a stare across the conference table, and said, "What's the reason you're not suitable?"

"The reason is, I'm resigning."

A very faint stir ran through the room. Everyone turned surprised looks on him.

"I'll submit my resignation this afternoon. All the relevant work materials and handover documents have been prepared." Shen Zhi stood, buttoned his suit jacket, and said, "Given that I'm about to leave the company, to prevent any leakage of important information, I won't be attending any further meetings."

When he finished speaking he picked up his notebook and tablet and started to leave. Shen Ming asked in a low voice, "You think you can just resign whenever you feel like it?"

Shen Zhi stopped and met his eyes. "As for the shares I hold, the transfer agreement has already been drafted. I'll present it to the board at next week's directors' meeting."

No one spoke again. Shen Zhi pulled the door open and walked out of the meeting room, leaving the executives to exchange cautious glances under Shen Ming's grim, cold expression. No one had expected Shen Zhi to be so unyielding—opening with resignation, not even wanting the shares. And no one dared suspect he was counter-threatening Shen Ming, because the risk was too great; mishandled, it could mean losing both position and shares. Shen Zhi meant it.

Back in his office half an hour later, his assistant knocked and came in. "Chairman Shen asks you to go over."

Shen Zhi closed and stacked the several open law books on his desk, shrugged on his coat. "Tell him I'm busy."

"Are you going out?"

"Mm." Shen Zhi lowered his eyes and slowly put on his watch.

On the way to the airport, four men sat in the car: Xu Yan, Xu Nian, Ji Huai, and Lu Sen—the latter three serving respectively as Xu Yan's family representative, friend representative, and colleague representative.

Ji Huai had originally been set to go to London right after the New Year, but the company's China branch had run into problems and he'd been reassigned there temporarily, right up to now. In about another month, once Ji Huai finished handling things here, he planned to return to London.

Before deciding to go to Paris, Xu Yan had gone home and discussed it properly with his parents. Though Fang Hui was reluctant, since it was work Xu Yan liked and would help his future development, she still expressed her support. Xu Shen said nothing—career was career, there was no reason to stand in the way—just told Xu Yan to take good care of himself out there.

Fang Hui and Xu Shen hadn't come to the airport to see him off. Before he left, Fang Hui had already started crying and couldn't stop. Xu Yan comforted her for a long time. Fang Hui waved her hand and said, I won't see you off—crying at the airport would only look worse. Go on, be careful on the way.

"Paris and London are actually pretty convenient back and forth. Once Ji Huai ge is back in London, you two can get together often." Xu Nian said from the driver's seat.

Lu Sen smiled. "Filming scenery means running all over the world. The time Xu Yan actually spends in Paris probably won't be much." After saying this he turned to look at Xu Yan, but Xu Yan was just leaning against the seat back, staring out the window. Lu Sen thought back to more than two months earlier, when Xu Yan had taken a three-day break and then asked him for one more day off. When he came back to the company, the whole man looked drained. The first thing he said walking into Lu Sen's office was: I've thought it through. I'm going to Paris.

He didn't dig into the reason behind Xu Yan's decision to go abroad. The reason didn't matter. What mattered was always the decision, the result.

Xu Nian: "Ge, have you thought about doing some purchasing-agent work on the side? Putting your position to use."

"I'm thinking about finding the world's best assassin to slaughter my little brother." Xu Yan pulled his gaze back from outside the window.

"Wow, you're already about to board and you're still this vicious. Be a little nicer to me while we're still face to face."

After checking in, Xu Yan said a proper goodbye to the three of them. Xu Nian hugged him and wouldn't let go. "Ge, you've barely been home half a year and you're leaving again."

"You're not going to cry, are you?" Xu Yan patted his head and whispered in his ear, "Idiot, that's too embarrassing for you."

Xu Nian immediately straightened up, eyes red, glaring at him. Xu Yan smiled and pinched his cheek again. "Alright, it's only a year or two. It'll go by fast."

Ji Huai reached out and hugged Xu Yan. "Be careful on the way. Get some sleep on the plane. Once I'm back in London I'll come find you."

"Okay," Xu Yan said.

Lu Sen clapped him on the shoulder. "Big Photographer Xu, take good shots."

Xu Yan smiled and bumped fists with him. "I'll do my best."

After the goodbyes were done, Xu Yan waved at them and started toward customs. But in the instant he turned his head, through the rushing stream of people, he saw the person standing in front of the hall's floor-to-ceiling window.

They looked at each other for only one second, but that second was split into countless fragments, becoming slow and silent. Everything between them stretched into a long line, its endpoint stopping at that night more than two months ago. Xu Yan forgot how he'd said goodbye to Li Ziyou, gone downstairs, taken a cab, taken the high-speed train, gone home. He was just unexpectedly calm and methodical—washed up, went to bed—but at the end, as if remembering something, he'd turned on the light in the middle of the night, gone to the study, turned on the computer, found a folder named "SZ", selected it, clicked the right mouse button, and pressed delete.

Inside were photos of Shen Zhi—military training, sports meets, basketball games, the field, the teaching buildings, the tree-lined paths... every scene, every moment connected to Shen Zhi, from the day Xu Yan's heart had first stirred, until they graduated from college. Xu Yan could still clearly recall the feeling behind every photo. Those had been his best years—focused, full of hope, in the middle of liking someone. But everything afterward, unfortunately, had turned very bad.

The moment the folder was also emptied from the recycle bin, Xu Yan suddenly clutched his head and crouched in front of the desk, sobbing out loud, unable to tell whether he had pulled an old blade out of his heart or driven a new one in. Shen Zhi had given him too much pain; only this time did he really see the whole thing drenched in blood. In the same breath as the breakdown came relief—he could finally crash to his death at the bottom of the cliff, to his heart's content. All those tangled years of love and hate evaporated and dried with his tears. No more emotion to spend on any of it.

He had to start over. Pursue something wholly his own, with no misunderstandings, no barriers—and most importantly, a life without Shen Zhi, completely severed from the past.

The airport's announcements and the noise of the crowd rushed back into his ears. Time resumed its normal pace. They looked at each other briefly and passed. Xu Yan turned and took a step.

Shen Zhi stood there, watching Xu Yan's back from a distance. They hadn't met or spoken for more than two months. Only at this moment did Shen Zhi accept all the reality—that he would lose Xu Yan indefinitely. Along with the four years they'd missed, the page had turned. It was over.

Over meant that perhaps they would never meet again. The details of their time together would slowly blur in memory. For the remaining decades of his life, he would not have this person for even one second. In the end, each would go on to live a brand-new life, beside someone or other. Occasionally he'd dream of old times—like deep-autumn leaves, falling to the ground without weight, yet truly making one feel sorrow, with nowhere to speak of it after waking. Walk forward inside the regret, or stay there forever.

But that was just how it was. It could only be this way.

But Shen Zhi couldn't say goodbye. Couldn't get the words out. He watched Xu Yan's figure disappear completely, watched Xu Nian and the others walk out of the hall side by side. He kept watching for a long time, not knowing what he was looking at. The hall bustled on—some leaving, some returning.

For a long time afterward, for years, Shen Zhi would often dream of similar scenes—Xu Yan, across a great distance and many people, looking at him calmly, as if he were one of thousands of strangers. There would be a magnificent wash of sunset, golden yellow, coming from some unknown direction, falling on Xu Yan, enveloping his whole person like amber. His ears would be quiet, his heart full of shame and regret. Shen Zhi would open his mouth, wanting to say goodbye—but once the sound came out, he'd hear himself actually say sorry.

After however long it was, Shen Zhi drove away from the airport. Halfway there, a white passenger plane roared across the sky. Shen Zhi pulled the car over to the side of the road, looked up through the windshield. The Snoopy Pendant swayed back and forth, as if it weren't hanging in the car but hooked onto the plane's tail fin, going off into the distance with it.

May's sky washed clean and blue. Xu Yan rode that huge, roaring cloud, flying toward his new life—one where he would never look back.