Ye Zhou hugged Zou Ming back tightly. He patted Zou Ming's back a few times and was about to separate, but Zou Ming hugged him even tighter as he moved.

"..." Ye Zhou whispered in Zou Ming's ear, "Chen Shu and the others are still here."

Zou Ming then slowly relaxed and reluctantly let go of Ye Zhou.

He glanced at Chen Shu and Zhou Yuanhe, and the disdain in his eyes was obvious.

Chen Shu's mouth twitched: "We came to see if you are okay."

Zou Ming said expressionlessly: "Not bad, come in and sit down."

After saying that, he took Ye Zhou's wrist and walked into the house.

As soon as he walked in, Ye Zhou was shocked - there had been no changes here in ten years. Whether it was the carpets, cabinets or sofas, they all remained the same as before he left. They were obviously ordinary furniture, but they were cherished like treasures.

Time seems to have left no trace here.

Ye Zhou turned his head and looked at Zou Ming. Zou Ming was the same as always, but the previous Ye Zhou could not understand the restrained emotions in Zou Ming's eyes.

Now that he could understand it, Ye Zhou felt mixed emotions.

Chen Shu and Zhou Yuanhe tiptoed to the balcony, leaving the indoor space to Ye Zhou and Zou Ming.

After watching the two people leave, Ye Zhou asked: "Did you contact me after I left?"

Zou Ming shook his head: "As soon as you left, Zhao Qing brought people to smash the supermarket and set it on fire, burning it completely."

Ye Zhou was stunned.

Zou Ming said without any emotion: "People in the slums just watch. They feel they can't do anything, so they do nothing."

"It's been too long." Zou Ming seemed to know what Ye Zhou wanted to ask, and he answered before Ye Zhou asked, "But I'm not disappointed, and I can't say I'm angry. Anyone who has been suppressed and domesticated for many years will lose the ability to resist."

Zou Ming can now say these things that he couldn't say before.

Zou Ming looked into Ye Zhou's eyes: "In fact, I later thought about what kind of person I would become if you could take me away at that time."

"I will become a monster, a monster that can only live by relying on you."

"No matter how strong and capable I may seem, I am actually just a giant baby who cannot survive without you."

This description made Ye Zhou a little amused: "You can't say that, you were just too young at the time."

Zou Ming shook his head: "No, my feelings towards you are very complicated."

Zou Ming analyzed himself almost cruelly: "At that time, there was only one thing in my mind, which was to make you see me and keep looking at me."

"So I'm jealous of Sarah and hate everything and everyone around you."

"But that's a dead end," said Zou Ming.

Ye Zhou looked at Zou Ming. He never expected that after their "long-parted reunion", he would hear such serious content from Zou Ming's mouth. However, he did not feel embarrassed or scared.

After meeting Zou Ming when he was a child, he could understand Zou Ming better.

Just like Zou Ming understood him.

"You like this kind of life." Zou Ming suddenly said, "You are always on the road."

"But I wasn't like that at the time. I just wanted to stop. There were only two of us in the room, and no one wanted to disturb us."

Ye Zhou nodded: "You are right."

Ye Zhou once thought that what he longed for was a peaceful life. Perhaps he needed a sense of accomplishment, but not much. A supermarket could satisfy that.

But after going through so much, if someone told Ye Zhou now that he had to go back to his original life, Ye Zhou was sure that he would not be able to accept it.

He likes his current life. Although there are dangers, unpredictable entanglements and pains, he still wants to go on like this.

Even if he can only bring a little to each plane, as long as one person benefits from it, he will feel great satisfaction.

That kind of satisfaction is no longer something that running a supermarket can provide him.

Ye Zhou smiled and said, "So there is a destiny between us."

"We meet when we should meet, and separate when we should separate."

"It seems like God still favors us." Ye Zhou's eyebrows were curved. He rarely smiled like this.

Zou Ming also smiled, not a stiff smile, but a natural smile like the warm spring melting snow.

Ye Zhou: "I'm thirsty, please get me a glass of water."

He naturally acted like he was the master here.

Zou Ming went to the kitchen and got Ye Zhou a cup of warm water.

Fortunately, Zhao Qing only tinkered with the supermarket and did not mess with his own entertainment equipment. Air conditioners and water purifiers were all available, but Ye Zhou always felt that everything here was a bit out of place.

When I first saw it, I didn’t think there was anything wrong, but when I looked closely, I found that the wood grain of the cabinets was different from before, and so was the floor.

The same goes for tables and even sofas.

Zou Ming came out with a cup of water, and after seeing Ye Zhou looking at the sofa, he explained: "Everything here is destroyed, and it took me some time to rebuild it."

Ye Zhou asked: "Since the people in the slums didn't dare to resist, who supported you at that time?"

Zou Ming sat next to Ye Zhou. He didn't make any moves. He just looked at Ye Zhou's profile and said, "People who support Zhao Qing can also support me. They don't care who sits on the top. They only care whether they can get the benefits."

They did not have the courage to overthrow Zhao Qing themselves, but were willing to open the door for Zou Ming and turn against him when Zou Ming was sure of victory.

The blood and fire that night burned out the last bit of life that belonged to Zhao Qing in this base.

When Zou Ming carried Zhao Qing's head and walked to the highest point, he felt no fluctuation in his heart.

He stood in this position just trying to reconstruct his memories of the past.

"The base is much better now than before." Ye Zhou patted Zou Ming's hand on his leg.

Zou Ming quickly held Ye Zhou's hand when Ye Zhou touched him.

Ye Zhou did not struggle. He leaned on the sofa, closed his eyes and said, "If you come with me now, we can come over every few months?"

Zou Ming: "Stay here for a while. I've spent time and energy in this base just for you to see."

Ye Zhou opened his eyes, and their eyes met. Zou Ming smiled and said, "I'm different from you. I won't be satisfied with what I gave to others."

"Only what you give me can satisfy me," said Zou Ming.

Ye Zhou said softly: "This is not good."

If a person's happiness and pain can only be given by another person, then his life will be too sad.

Zou Ming said, "I know, I have advised myself before."

He advised himself in countless late nights and asked himself in every midnight dream, why couldn't he be a normal person?

Be satisfied because you have a full stomach and be happy because you have no worries about survival.

But he didn't get an answer.

Gradually, he stopped looking for answers.

Ye Zhou looked at Zou Ming holding his hand.

Zou Ming's hands are very nice, with distinct joints, and they look very strong. There are fine calluses on his palms and fingers.

Ye Zhou separated Zou Ming's fingers, and Zou Ming let him fiddle with them silently.

Ye Zhou inserted his fingers into Zou Ming's. He was like a child who got a new toy. Everything was new to him. Ye Zhou said without any hesitation, "Then let's work together to find a solution."

Zou Ming looked at Ye Zhou in a daze.

Ye Zhou still looked at their intertwined hands and said, "When I was a kid, I wanted to open a supermarket. Actually, at that time, I didn't know why I would be happy about opening a supermarket. I just thought that if I opened a supermarket, I could eat and use whatever I wanted."

"But as time went by, it actually became an obsession." Ye Zhou said softly, "It's incredible when I think about it now. I would jump around in a doll costume during the hottest summer and almost got heat stroke several times. I would also work as a hourly worker with the lowest income and persist even when I was so tired that I would fall asleep if I closed my eyes."

Ye Zhou raised his head and said gently: "So don't worry, we still have a lot of time."

Zou Ming nodded slightly.

Neither of them spoke again.

It's scorching hot outside, but it's cool as autumn inside.

The sunlight shines in from the window, casting spots of light on the floor, which sway gently with the swaying of the curtains, like a pool of sparkling water.

Ye Zhou raised his head slightly.

"Brother Zou! Where is the toilet?"

Ye Zhou sat up straight quickly, his cheeks a little red, but he still looked calm.

Only Zou Ming did not move. He waited for two seconds. After making sure that the "activity" just now could not continue, he stared coldly at Chen Shu who rushed out from the balcony.

Chen Shu raised his hand awkwardly: "I didn't live here before, I really don't know..."

Ye Zhou pointed to a door: "That."

Chen Shu ran over quickly.

Ye Zhou was about to talk to Zou Ming when he saw a head popping up from the corner of the wall.

Zhou Yuanhe poked half of his head out stealthily and asked in a muffled voice, "When are we leaving?"

Zou Ming said expressionlessly, "Leave? Why leave now? Since you are here, why don't you check on all the patients in the base?"

Zhou Yuanhe: “…”

Zhou Yuanhe looked at the ceiling with despair, but soon asked Zou Ming with the thought that "if I die, no one else can live": "Chen Shu came out first."

Zou Ming: "She has somewhere to go."

Zhou Yuanhe retreated back to the balcony dejectedly.

Watching Zhou Yuanhe leave, Ye Zhou asked in a low voice: "Why does he listen to you so much?"

Sometimes, the boss Ye Zhou can't even get Zhou Yuanhe to do something.

Zou Ming: "I saved him, he owes me a life."

Ye Zhou: "Although Zhou Yuanhe is lazy, he is still very responsible when something really happens and never does things perfunctorily."

Just after being interrupted by Chen Shu and Zhou Yuanhe, the atmosphere disappeared and Ye Zhou returned to his "rational" state.

He even advised: "Don't be angry, I plan to stay here for a month, what do you think?"

Zou Ming pursed his lips and said softly, "Okay."

He knew that Ye Zhou was trying to appease him because he wanted to show Ye Zhou the base he had built.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Zou Ming said, "I've always missed you."

"It's not like, it's love, I love..."

There was a sound of a door closing nearby.

Zou Ming looked over with an expressionless face.

Chen Shu wanted to crawl into the hole. She crouched down, tiptoed and stood there, saying in a very low voice: "Go on...go on, pretend I don't exist."

If eyes could really turn into knives.

Chen Shu felt that he should have been pierced into a sieve by now.