"Zhizhi." Qi Shen turned slightly, a faint smile playing on his thin lips. "You go in first, I'll make a phone call from outside."

"Oh, okay." Fang Zhi didn't think much of it.

As soon as I pressed the doorknob, the door to the private room opened, and red rose petals and ribbons rushed out.

Fang Zhi's vision was blurred, and before she could regain her senses, a chorus of "Happy Birthday" echoed throughout the private room—the voices of men, women, and children.

Flower petals and ribbons drifted to the ground.

Fang Zhi looked in astonishment at the familiar faces that surrounded him: Lin Yisheng, An Nuo, Fu Shaosi, Bai Chuan, their respective partners, and their little ones.

She paused, then said in a dry voice, "Sister Lin, didn't you say you weren't going to come looking for me anymore?"

Lin Yisheng raised a delicate eyebrow and glanced at Qi Shen with a half-smile. Then, she turned to Qi Shen and said unhurriedly, "Of course there's a reason why I can't find you. Someone specially asked me to act and organized us to secretly come and celebrate your birthday."

Seeing this, Fang Zhi understood everything, and a warm current suddenly flowed through his heart.

She looked up at the man beside her, and as if by telepathy, he looked at her at the same time.

Their eyes met, and time seemed to stand still. A slight electric current filled the air, sending a shiver down one's spine and creating a tingling sensation.

Fang Zhi was placed in the main seat by Lin Yisheng and An Nuo, and Qi Shen sat down next to her, playing the supporting role.

After going around in circles, they all seemed to have changed, yet they also seemed to have remained the same, creating an exceptionally harmonious atmosphere.

When the brothers' lives are already happy and fulfilling.

Only Qi Shen remained, and to prevent him from being all alone, they unusually refrained from insulting or sarcastic remarks to each other.

Things don't always go as planned. The adults don't make a fuss, but they forget that their children will cause trouble.

One little boy cried, which triggered a group of little boys to cry as well, as if they were having a competition to see who could cry the loudest. Except for the oldest boy, Cheng Wenjing, who was helping his godmother comfort Lrma.

It started because the twin sons of the Bai Chuan family, who were not yet three years old, fought over a toy, and the one who lost cried first.

The one who won, though only a tiny child, was quite cunning. Seeing the loser cry, he waved his toy, wanting to both show off and cry along with him, as if afraid of being forgotten or scolded.

When the two of them cried, Fu Shaosi and Zhou Xiangheng's son, Anuo and Elvis's daughter, also started to cry.

Inside the elegant private room, the adults' coaxing and cajoling could no longer drown out the children's wailing and crying.

Qi Shen: "......"

He could understand that they brought the child over with good intentions to remind him and Zhizhi, but in his eyes, having a child was no different from having a megaphone; both were like being bombarded with horrific noise.

Fang Zhi rubbed his nose, looking rather helpless.

Each of those cute and delicate faces was crying so miserably that she didn't know who to comfort first.

The 25th birthday party was forced to stop amidst the constant crying and commotion of a group of kids.

As Qi Shen escorted Fang Zhi back, he could still hear a buzzing sound in his ears from time to time.

The summer night wind whipped up waves of heat, and the rustling of insects echoed through the bushes. A Bentley was parked downstairs at the apartment building.

Fang Zhi unbuckled her seatbelt, glanced at the man again, and said gently, "I'm going upstairs."

Qi Shenwei nodded almost imperceptibly.

Just a second before she placed her hand on the car door, the man's deep voice said, "Wait." Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her over.

They faced each other, their breaths almost touching, mingling together. Behind his glasses, Qi Shen's eyes, gentle and focused, gripped the woman's clear, black-and-white pupils. "Zhizhi, do you still remember that text message from three years ago?" He paused, unusually, and slowly asked, "Can I ask you to give me another chance?"