—At Ye Zhou's funeral

Huge wreaths, people all dressed in black.

The girl walked in with heavy steps, as if her feet had lost all feeling.

The whole world seemed unreal, floating and illusory in her eyes.

She couldn't believe it would be Ye Zhou's funeral, but she came anyway.

In the center of the hall was a black coffin, and in the middle of the flower bushes at the front was a black and white photo frame. In the center of the photo was a spirited young man with a gentle smile on his lips.

The person in the photo is Ye Zhou, who is nineteen years old, with youthful vigor but a restrained smile.

The girl wanted to speak, but found that all the pain was stuck in her throat.

The pale fingertips touched the cold coffin.

Separated by a wooden board was the boy she had secretly loved for many years but had only been able to meet a few times.

"Tick-tock!—"

"Tick-tock!—"

Tears fell unexpectedly onto the black coffin.

She had so much to say, so many regrets, and she didn't even get to see Ye Zhou one last time.

Ye Zhou was unaware of her feelings.

But that person could no longer hear her affection.

Her nose stung more and more, the girl's shoulders trembled, and tears kept falling.

Ye Zhou, I like you, I've liked you for many years.

She regretted not being braver; otherwise, she might not have such regrets.

"Miss, who are you?"

A man in a well-tailored black suit handed a tissue to the girl.

An Youhe looked up, thanked them, took a tissue to wipe her tears, and seemed a little lost.

"I am his high school classmate."

"Oh." The man smiled. "So you're that guy's classmate. I went through his phone and could only find a few contact methods, and some of them were unreachable, which is why there were so few people here today. By the way, my name is Chen Yang, and I'm his colleague."

As Chen Yang spoke, he extended his hand, and An Youhe also extended her hand to shake his.

Withdrawing her hand, the girl turned around and looked at the photo. Seeing the black and white photo, she felt as if she had returned to her innocent student days.

Chen Yang put his hands in his pockets and said, "This guy has been in college for so many years, eight years now, right? There isn't a single photo of him! It's such a waste of such a handsome face. I even took this photo from his graduation album."

The girl lowered her eyelashes and didn't speak, because she also had a photo of this. In the thick graduation album at school, she had specially cut out all the photos related to Ye Zhou and kept them.

Chen Yang looked at the girl's still-damp tears and asked curiously, "Do you have some special relationship with him? You were crying very sadly just now."

An Youhe shook her head. "We're just classmates."

Chen Yang smiled but did not answer.

"Why is he like this?" An Youhe finally managed to ask, suppressing her heartache.

"Sigh, this kid said he wanted to start a tech company and wanted me to join him so I wouldn't have to suffer like this anymore. Who knew he'd overwork himself and never wake up? With his lifestyle, I knew he wouldn't live long, but I never expected him to be so young, so suddenly."

He works like a madman, and he also puts his life on the line when it comes to socializing. He can drink all those CEOs under the table by himself. That's why I'm not envious of his wealth at all; he earned it all with his life.

As Chen Yang spoke, he pointed to the chair next to him, "If you still want to hear Ye Zhou's story, let's sit down and talk."

The girl obediently sat down.

Chen Yang smiled almost imperceptibly, thinking to himself that Ye Zhou was really lucky to have such a girl who liked him, yet he hadn't even noticed.

Chen Yang, seated, continued, "Although it's not very kind of me to say such things about him at his funeral, I've told him this to his face many times, but he never listened. Ye Zhou seems like a handsome, clean-cut guy, hardworking at the company, and has a group of female admirers. Only I know what he's like after get off work."

He frequented bars, going in and out with all sorts of women. He drank baijiu (Chinese liquor) like it was water, downing several bottles at a time, and then went to work the next day as if he were a normal person. He seemed carefree, living a life of extravagance, earning his own money and spending it however he wanted. But I felt he wasn't as happy as he appeared. At work, he was a ruthless, professional work machine; after work, he became an empty shell, devoid of any soul.

Seeing him, one gets the impression that he's just a beautifully decorated skeleton. Later I learned that he had no relatives left.

An Youhe kept her head down, listening to Chen Yang tell Ye Zhou's story, her fingertips intertwined.

She remembered a night from a few years ago.

—(An Youhe's memories, but from the reader's God-like perspective)—

"Youhe, do you want to go to a bar after get off work?"

An Youhe packed her backpack, intending to politely decline. She wasn't familiar with this female colleague, and besides, she had never been to such a place before.

The female colleague smiled and took An Youhe's hand, "Don't be so quick to refuse. I really can't find anyone to accompany me today. Are you worried about bad guys in the bar? Bars are very safe these days."

An Youhe was in a bit of a dilemma.

The female colleague then said, "Let's go. We've been colleagues for years, but we haven't gotten to know each other yet."

The girl hesitated for a moment. Every day, besides going to work, she would return to her rented room to cook, clean, wash up, think about Ye Zhou, and sleep. She had almost no entertainment activities, day after day.

On her way home from get off work, her colleague dragged her straight into a bar.

Her colleague was very thoughtful; instead of offering her alcohol, she gave her a glass of plain water.

She had only drunk water, and later felt dizzy, watching the dazzling, blinding colors of the bar.

When An Youhe realized her colleague wasn't around, she felt extremely dizzy and disoriented, and had no idea where she was.

She seemed to hear her colleague's voice: "Everything has been prepared for President Feng. She's very clean and a stunner."

Alarm bells rang in the girl's mind, but her legs grew weaker and weaker. She walked while holding onto the wall, not knowing which way to go, but just trying to get as far away from that sound as possible.

...

Four heavily made-up women, supporting each other and clutching their waists, staggered out of the private room.

Ye Zhou sat on the sofa in a wild and unrestrained manner, his clothes disheveled and the collar of his white shirt open.

After finishing a bottle of baijiu (Chinese liquor), he threw the bottle on the ground.

He laughed heartlessly, "Why did they leave so quickly? None of them could fight."

He smiled, but no joy could be felt in his chest.

These women were all ordinary and unattractive, giving him no desire whatsoever. They were not as appealing as the girls from his university days, who were young and beautiful, with innocent looks but unclean lives. But that didn't matter; as long as they were pretty and pleasurable, that was enough. Who wasn't a rotten person anyway?