After hearing this beautiful story, Wen Wan couldn't help but sigh, "What a wonderful promise! Why didn't we think of setting a date in the first place?"
There was some envy in her tone, but Zhou Ziheng only smiled bitterly after hearing it. After a long silence, he said sullenly: "Don't make promises casually. If you can't fulfill it..."
"We made that promise with utmost confidence, each heading in a different direction with aspirations for the future. But the result... was not satisfactory."
"I agreed so firmly at the time, and I felt in my heart that we could definitely make it, but now... now we can't even get everyone together. Although I know that things are impermanent and that we must move on, when I wake up and think about the past, I still feel regretful."
Wen Wan couldn't help but sigh as she listened to his lost words. She reached out and patted his back, saying softly, "Brother, don't worry too much. Life is always full of regrets."
"I think Senior Qiao must have wanted to keep the appointment, but even if he is not here now, his spirit will always be here. As long as you are all well, that is better than anything else."
She paused after she finished speaking, half-tilted her head and calculated in her mind, then added: "Come to think of it...five years should be almost up, right?"
"Yeah." Zhou Ziheng nodded expressionlessly and replied dejectedly, "It will arrive after the Chinese New Year."
Wen Wan nodded silently, but thoughts in her mind kept popping up one after another like mushrooms after rain.
"Come to think of it... I know that Senior Qiao passed away, but what about Senior Chen? Why have I never heard of him?" She forced herself to suppress the thoughts in her mind and asked in confusion.
The entertainment industry is a real industry. Anyone who's in it has heard of it to some degree. But how come she's never heard of Chen Zui in all the time since her debut? If Zhou Ziheng hadn't mentioned it, she wouldn't even know Chen Zui existed...
Zhou Ziheng sighed helplessly, then pointed out: "Parting is not just about death..."
"So... are you separated?" Wen Wan asked speculatively.
"I guess so." Zhou Ziheng replied dejectedly, then explained carefully: "Not long after we disbanded, Chen Zui suddenly announced his retirement from the entertainment industry."
"Before he made the announcement, he didn't even mention it to us. We only learned about it on Weibo. After the news was released, he simply disappeared."
"We didn't know where he had gone. We sent him messages and called him but no one responded. Then, not long after, the news about him online suddenly became less and less, as if someone had deliberately deleted it."
"He just disappeared so suddenly, as if he had never been there. At first, his fans were worried and kept hoping for his return. But then there was no news for a long time, and gradually... fewer people started talking about him."
Wen Wan couldn't help but frown when she heard this. He quit the circle and lost contact without saying a word. Isn't this... too weird?
She racked her brains and after a while came up with an idea, "Could he have been kidnapped? How about I tell him his fortune?"
Zhou Ziheng explained seriously, "We had considered the possibility of kidnapping before. We called the police straight away, and they later told us that he had left the country on his own."
After he finished speaking, he paused for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Forget it... forget it. Since he didn't tell us and chose to go abroad alone, he probably doesn't want to contact us."
"Since he doesn't want to, then I'd better not bother him. As long as everyone is still alive and well, I will be really happy."
Since Zhou Ziheng said no, Wen Wan didn't insist any further and simply nodded and responded, "Okay."
Then he asked curiously, "So how did Senior Qiao pass away? Did he really... commit suicide by jumping off a building?"
When Zhou Ziheng heard the words "jumping off a building to commit suicide", his face suddenly turned pale and his breathing became heavy unconsciously.
Wen Wan immediately noticed that something was wrong with him and quickly crossed her arms and waved them, "Um... I'm just asking casually. Brother, if you really don't want to talk, then there's no need to force yourself. Just do whatever makes you feel comfortable."
After she finished speaking, she remembered what Yin Jingshuo had said before. Qiao Tianrui's jumping off the building had a great impact on Zhou Ziheng at the time, and he even developed... a mental illness in the end.
She reached out and slapped her head in frustration. Look at her mouth. Why is she so clueless? Why is she asking such nonsense?
Just when she was about to regret her words, Zhou Ziheng suddenly reached out and rubbed her head, saying calmly, "Don't blame yourself. I'm fine now."
"Before, whenever I mentioned it, I always felt sad, so Jing Shuo didn't dare to ask me what happened. This matter has been suppressed in my heart for a long time. It's nice to be able to talk to you today."
"Brother." Wen Wan looked at him with concern, "Can you...really?"
Zhou Ziheng nodded at her seriously, then recalled and recounted, "After Chen Zui left silently, the three of us who were left, although we were usually very busy with work, would still get together from time to time."
"Everything was fine at first. We were all having a good time, chatting and laughing while drinking some wine. But gradually I realized something was wrong..."
"I've told you before that Tianrui is a very sunny and energetic person. No matter how tiring his work is every day, he is always happy, just like you."
"But then he suddenly changed. He smiled less and less, talked less and less, and every time he saw us, he had to put on a forced smile. Jing Shuo and I were very worried when we noticed his changes, so we asked him if he was under too much pressure from work."
"He excused himself by saying he was too tired from work recently, so we didn't take it seriously. But his condition was visibly getting worse."
Wen Wan couldn't help but frown when she heard this, silently guessing all the possibilities in her mind, but she couldn't figure it out in the end.
Zhou Ziheng frowned tightly, and continued with trembling lips, "Then one day when I was taking a break, he sent me a WeChat message asking me out for a drink, saying that he had something he wanted to tell me."
"Of course I agreed immediately, but just as I was about to leave, my agent said there was a last-minute audition and asked me to hurry over, saying it was a great opportunity."
"I hesitated for a moment, but I finally called him and told him I had a last-minute audition and couldn't go out to dinner with him. He was a little disappointed, but he didn't say anything."
"He just asked me when it would be over. I carefully estimated it, told him a time, agreed to contact him after it was over, and then hung up."
"But who knows... this is our last call."
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