The moon is high in the sky.

Sheng Wenzhi must have been tired of standing, because he slowly squatted down against the wall and looked at the smooth floor.

He said, "You are despicable. You messed up my script, belittled my work, and always lied to me and others."

"I am noble. I have never lied to anyone, nor have I succumbed to the market by writing things I didn't want to write. When I attend authors' gatherings, I am the most envied person."

Shang Yechu was initially excited, but Sheng Wenzhi's narcissistic remarks halfway through his sentence immediately disgusted her. Just as she was about to deliver a sarcastic rebuke, Sheng Wenzhi abruptly changed the subject, saying:

"Your despicable acts have helped many people, while my nobility is of no use."

Shang Yechu was stunned.

"Little Leaf," Sheng Wenzhi asked, bewildered, "Am I still the same as when I was a child, not making any progress at all?"

Shang Yechu involuntarily leaned against the wall, staring intently at Sheng Wenzhi before her, her breathing gradually quickening.

She couldn't describe the feeling in her heart. She had always thought that Sheng Wenzhi would never change, forever remaining aloof and detached from worldly affairs. Yet now, he was asking…

"Have I made no progress at all?"

It turned out to be a pair of shoes.

For some reason, Shang Yechu felt a shameful surge of joy for Sheng Wenzhi for a moment—good heavens! He had betrayed her again not long ago!

“No,” Shang Yechu said slowly.

The floor was as smooth as a mirror, and in its reflection, Sheng Wenzhi's eyes lit up slightly.

Shang Yechu blinked and said, "No, what I mean is, although you haven't improved, you're not noble either."

Sheng Wenzhi was stunned for a moment, then covered his face with his hands. After a long while, he smiled bitterly and said, "I spent the whole day on Happiness Street. After leaving Teacher Hu's bookstore, I went to other shops. In the end, I just stood on the street and watched the crowds come and go."

“I thought about a lot of things. If my parents hadn’t left me an inheritance so I could have devoted myself to writing until my first book sold, would I be the person I am today?”

"I wonder what I would be like if I had your parents and brother, and I was a real girl?"

"I wonder, if I were the one taken in by Teacher Hu and Xingfu Commercial Street back then, could I have saved this street under the wheels of time?"

"I thought about it for a long time, but none of the answers I came up with satisfied me. Finally, I walked out of Happiness Street, took out my phone, and looked at my old articles. Suddenly, I felt that they were all garbage."

The topic jumped so drastically that Shang Yechu almost blurted out, "What does this have to do with your work?" But then she felt that asking that question would sound like she was encouraging him, so she kept quiet.

Sheng Wenzhi muttered to himself, "How do my characters earn money, survive, and eat? Is the world I create poor or rich, peaceful or corrupt? How can a person live with dignity, and how can a person live without dignity? Why does a person betray his friends? Money, self-respect, or..."

Sheng Wenzhi raised his head, looked into Shang Yechu's eyes, and slowly uttered two words.

"cowardly?"

Shang Yechu's heart skipped a beat, and she looked away, saying, "Why are you asking me? I don't know."

“You know,” Sheng Wenzhi lowered his head and said in a low voice, “You are one of the few people in this world who know this.”

Shang Yechu was taken aback. The passion that had been urging Sheng Wenzhi to provoke him, and the impotent rage and suicidal thoughts he had been displaying, suddenly deflated by half, like a punctured balloon.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Shang Yechu lowered her head and nudged Sheng Wenzhi's toe with her toe, signaling him to look up and stop pretending to be dead.

Sheng Wenzhi paused, then suddenly reached out and used his sleeve to wipe the dust off Shang Yechu's high heels.

“I suddenly remembered when we were little,” Sheng Wenzhi said. “You were quite chubby back then, and it was difficult for you to bend down and tie your shoelaces. You'd be out of breath after just one attempt. Later… we became close, and I started tying your shoelaces for you. But I was too proud to let anyone see, so every time I tied your shoelaces, I'd pull you to a secluded spot. Once, I'd just finished tying one shoe when a boy suddenly jumped out. So I quickly stood up. You had to tie the other one yourself. In the end, you had a bow on one shoe and a knot on the other…”

Shang Yechu's throat bobbed: "I'd forgotten all about it. Why bring it up?"

Sheng Wenzhi said slowly, "Now when you meet me, you only wear high heels."

Shang Yechu looked down and saw that the thin layer of dust on her high heels had been wiped clean by Sheng Wenzhi with the corner of his sleeve.

The toe of the shoe blocked part of the reflection on the floor, obscuring Sheng Wenzhi's eyes, leaving only the pale lower half of his face visible.

“I’ve heard about your sitcom plans, but I’m sorry, I can’t write the script for the first season. Because what you said the other day was absolutely right… I can only write things like that.” Sheng Wenzhi said, “You should find a better writer than me to write it, someone worthy of all this.”

"I'm leaving." Sheng Wenzhi stood up.