The transaction is now complete.

On the same day the surgery was successfully completed, Song Zi'an slowly opened his eyes after the anesthesia wore off. Song Zicheng stayed by his side without leaving for a moment. When he saw his younger brother wake up, tears involuntarily streamed from his already red eyes. Song Zicheng asked with an excited smile, "How are you feeling?"

Song Zi'an couldn't speak, he could only nod slightly. Song Zicheng touched his younger brother's cheek and said, "The bone marrow transplant surgery was very successful. Our Zi'an pulled through. I'm so proud of you." As he spoke, he tucked the blanket up a little more. "Rest a little longer. I'll stay here with you."

After returning home and washing up in the evening, Song Zicheng sat leaning against the headboard. His expression was still melancholy. The dim nightlight could barely illuminate the area by the bedside, but in the dim light, the earrings in Song Zicheng's hand shone brightly and were dazzling.

The matter that had been on his mind and causing him worry for the past few years was now resolved smoothly, but another troublesome matter made him feel dejected. He stared at the earring for an unknown amount of time, then closed his eyes and, as if he had made up his mind, sent a message to Lu Zhiyan.

"Shall we meet tomorrow?"

The reply came quickly: "Tomorrow morning at 10:00, xxKTV".

Upon receiving the reply, Song Zicheng was stunned. Before he could react, the familiar name immediately stirred up his memories. The dark past was irretrievable. In an instant, everything that had happened last year flooded into Song Zicheng's mind, lingering and vivid.

Although Song Zicheng hadn't slept all night, his mind was unusually clear on his way to the KTV. As he emerged from the subway, he unconsciously slowed his pace as he looked at his destination drawing ever closer. Despite having spent the entire night crafting his words to confess everything to Lu Zhiyan, revising the lines in his memo countless times, he ultimately decided to follow his heart.

Standing at the door of the private room, Song Zicheng hesitated for a long time before pushing the door open. As soon as he entered, he saw Lu Zhiyan sitting on the sofa facing him.

Only one light was on in the private room, making it very dim. Song Zicheng couldn't see Lu Zhiyan's expression at that moment, but he figured it must be one of anger.

Song Zicheng gripped the backpack straps tightly with both hands, gritted his teeth, and walked forward step by step until he stood in front of Lu Zhiyan, at which point he could finally see Lu Zhiyan's face clearly.

It was a look he had never seen before. Haggard, broken, melancholy, angry, forlorn…

Looking at Lu Zhiyan like this, Song Zicheng felt as if his heart was being stabbed with a knife. He knew he was heartbroken, he knew how big a mistake he had made, and he knew he had done something to betray Lu Zhiyan.

"sorry."

The first three words Song Zicheng uttered were filled with remorse.

Lu Zhiyan did not respond.

Song Zicheng didn't know how to face him. He lowered his head, took out a bank card and a pair of earrings from his backpack, and said as he placed them on the table in front of him, "This bank card contains the money you've given me every month for so long, and these earrings are the ones you gave me when you first asked me out to dinner."

Lu Zhiyan just stared at him without saying a word.

"I'm sorry," Song Zicheng said again. No matter how many times he said it, it couldn't make up for the mistakes he had made. He had no choice in the matter, but he still took all the blame upon himself.

After a long silence, Lu Zhiyan finally spoke: "Congratulations! I heard Zian's surgery was very successful."

What was clearly a sincere wish sounded extremely harsh and sarcastic to Song Zicheng, who felt guilty and couldn't accept it so readily.

"I'm sorry." This was the third time I said sorry.

Last night, Song Zicheng had thought of many explanations in his mind, such as having no choice but to do so, and so on. But now that he was actually standing in front of Lu Zhiyan, he couldn't say a single word. There's no going back in life. What he had done had indeed brought pain to Lu Zhiyan. Right now, Song Zicheng didn't dare to look Lu Zhiyan in the eye. He just stared at a certain spot on the ground. He felt that no matter how much he explained, it wouldn't change the facts. Instead, it would just sound like sophistry.

He accepted whatever Lu Zhiyan said or did; it was the price he had to pay.

In stark contrast to the bustling and noisy KTV, the room was eerily quiet. It was so quiet that you could hear each other breathing. As Lu Zhiyan drew closer, Song Zicheng became increasingly uneasy, and he lowered his head even further.

Lu Zhiyan carefully examined Song Zicheng's almost invisible face. His deep eyes revealed exhaustion and reluctance, but there was no trace of anger on his haggard face. His tone of voice was unusually calm, as if none of this had ever happened: "Our deal ends here."

Upon hearing this, Song Zicheng suddenly looked up. Their eyes met, and their gazes held a complex mix of emotions that were difficult to decipher.

The moment has finally arrived.

Countless times, Song Zicheng had longed for this moment, and for it he had always been adept at playing both sides and feigning affection. But from some point onward, this thought in his heart gradually faded away, especially after returning from France. The two of them got along exceptionally well and peacefully. At one point, Song Zicheng felt that it would be nice if things could continue like this.

But things rarely go as planned, and he ultimately shattered this beautiful idea with his own hands, feeling ashamed before Lu Zhiyan.

Their gazes locked, each trying to discern something amiss in the other's eyes. Lu Zhiyan spoke casually, while Song Zicheng stood there motionless, seemingly unable to comprehend Lu Zhiyan's words. After a long while, Song Zicheng slowly came to his senses. He nodded dejectedly and absentmindedly, uttering a soft "oh." The speaker seemed indifferent, and the listener appeared equally unconcerned.

Song Zicheng's reaction was too indifferent, which made Lu Zhiyan frown. He took another half step forward, looked down at Song Zicheng, and asked the question that he already knew the answer to: "Have you been resentful of me all this time? In all this time, has there ever been a moment when you felt even a little bit of attraction or affection for me?"

As soon as the question was asked, Song Zicheng panicked and lowered his head. He couldn't let his feelings show. He had done something to betray Lu Zhiyan, so how could he admit to liking him? Was liking someone so worthless? Putting sleeping pills in milk and stealing documents that were extremely important to Lu Zhiyan? The more Song Zicheng thought about it, the more he felt he owed Lu Zhiyan too much, something he could never make up for. So, when Lu Zhiyan asked him a question, he could only give an evasive answer.

"To be honest, in the beginning when we first met, you used Zi'an to blackmail me, and I did resent you. But later, I felt more gratitude and touched. Thank you!"

Upon hearing this, a hint of joy flashed across Lu Zhiyan's face. He chuckled softly, and his tone was no longer as somber as before: "I'm going to France."

"Go to France?" Song Zicheng asked doubtfully.

"Yes, it's not because of you. Don't blame yourself too much. If I were you, I would have made the same choice in that situation. I don't blame you."

Lu Zhiyan's gentle voice warmed Song Zicheng's heart and brought tears to his eyes. The more he said that, the more ashamed Song Zicheng felt, and the more guilty he felt. Of course he knew that a large part of the reason Lu Zhiyan went to France was because of him, but now that things had come to this, there was no point in saying anything.

He forced a smile, looked up at Lu Zhiyan, and wished him a safe journey.

"Um."

Their conversation ended abruptly. The entanglement of the past year ended on such an ordinary day with such an ordinary conversation. Watching Lu Zhiyan's receding figure, Song Zicheng's forced smile could no longer hold. He sat listlessly on the sofa in the empty private room, feeling lost and uneasy. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he could hear one song after another being sung in the opposite room. So much so that several groups of people had changed on the other side. Only then did Song Zicheng pick up his bank card and earring from the table and leave the place where he had first met Lu Zhiyan.

That night, the light in Song Zicheng's room stayed on all night. The old, dilapidated residential building had poor soundproofing, and the neighbors above and below could vaguely hear someone crying very sadly in the middle of the night, and the person crying seemed to be muttering "I'm sorry" to himself.

What they didn't know was that a tall, handsome man spent the entire night in the driver's seat of a Rolls-Royce downstairs.

From dusk till dawn, from the moon gradually disappearing to the sun slowly rising in the east, two people whose hearts were tied to each other, two hearts beating for each other, pounded "thump thump" on this night. The two, who seemed to be drifting apart, were actually one step closer to each other emotionally. This night was extremely important to them. They both realized just how deep their feelings for each other were, so much so that when they met again three years later, they could hardly maintain their composure and calmness.