As soon as Gu Yuning finished speaking, Gu Qichi’s fingers, resting on his leg, curled sharply and clenched tight.

At first glance, his expression seemed unchanged, but the turbulent emotion rolling in his eyes betrayed his state of mind. Gu Qichi forced himself to endure it, staring at him as he practically ground out the words through clenched teeth: “Gu Yuning, what are you talking about?”

The clock hand ticked on, second by second. Time seemed to freeze, stretching unbearably long.

The smile at Gu Yuning’s lips was dazzling—so sharp it almost felt as though it could scorch someone’s eyes. He slowly raised a brow, as if in that instant he had recovered his reason and clarity, and said in an unhurried tone, “Don’t understand? Gu Qichi. Weren’t you asking me why I managed to find Zhou Yuan when I was only nine? Because I knew from the start…”

“I knew that five days later, the Gu family would discover your true identity, and you’d return to the Gu family in glory. From then on, your life would be smooth sailing all the way. You’d rise to the top and become one of life’s winners. Too bad—all of that was ruined by me. Because I stopped it from happening. I found Zhou Yuan first and directly cut off your chance of ever returning to the Gu family.”

His voice was ghostlike, almost demonic, cold enough to make one’s skin crawl. But at this point, the smile on his face suddenly froze.

“I obviously succeeded. So why were you still able to come back? Why?!”

“Why was Bo Yu still able to find you?! Is it just because you’re the protagonists?!”

The calm Gu Qichi had been trying so hard to maintain finally shattered. His heart felt like a balloon stretched to the breaking point, suddenly pierced through. All the agitation, unease, and near-fury surged up like a tide, filling his entire chest.

He had never lost control like this before. Gripping the phone receiver tightly, Gu Qichi shot to his feet. The chair beneath him scraped harshly across the floor, the shrill sound cutting through the silent room.

For an instant, it felt as though every nerve ending in his body had tightened. A violent pain climbed into his brain, and those fragmented memories he had once seen in dreams surfaced before his eyes again, flashing past like scenes from a lantern reel—too fast to grasp, too fleeting to hold onto.

The prison guards noticed something was wrong and quickly rushed in, forcing Gu Yuning—who was still shouting wildly—down onto the marble table with his hands pinned behind his back.

In the blink of an eye, several more people crowded into the narrow room.

Gu Qichi still had so many questions he hadn’t managed to ask, but visiting time was already over.

The guard beside him cautiously glanced at Gu Qichi, who looked as though he was on the verge of losing control. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Mr. Gu, are you all right?”

When Gu Qichi shook his head slightly, the guard let out a breath of relief. Then he waved his hand, signaling for the others to take Gu Yuning back under control.

“Wait. We haven’t finished talking yet.” Gu Qichi took several deep breaths, grabbed the guard’s sleeve, and said hoarsely, “I still want to speak to him.”

The man across from him gave him an apologetic look and explained calmly, “Mr. Gu, we have strict regulations here. Visitations can’t exceed thirty minutes, and your visiting time is already over. If you still want to see Gu Yuning, you can submit another application in a month, and we’ll arrange a time for you.”

“Gu Qichi, tell Bo Yu to let me go! Gu Qichi! I’m begging you!”

“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!”

Gu Qichi lifted his eyelids.

Across from him, Gu Yuning’s face was full of hysterical desperation. Even under the prison guards’ restraint, he still fought stubbornly.

But it was useless.

No one cared about his struggle or resistance, and no one cared whether he lived or died.

Every face around them was calm and indifferent. The lowered gazes aimed at him were cold and sharp, even tinged with mockery.

Gu Yuning had committed far too many crimes. That he had ended up like this today was no more than what he deserved.

What did any of that have to do with Gu Qichi or Bo Yu?

The guards here were all very online people too. Naturally, they knew about the ugly scandal that had once broken out between Gu Qichi and Gu Yuning, and they held someone like Gu Yuning in utter contempt.

Seeing Gu Qichi still standing there without moving, one of the guards smiled at him and said, “Mr. Gu, don’t worry. The law will definitely give someone like that the punishment he deserves. And I wish you and Mr. Bo a happy life.”

“It’s getting late too. It’s almost mealtime. You should head back.”

Gu Qichi answered numbly with a thank-you. His mind buzzed loudly as he walked out aimlessly.

He had come alone today.

He hadn’t let Wen Xi or Bo Yu know.

As he walked down the road, his head was full of one thought: What exactly did Gu Yuning mean?

If “Gu Qichi” and Bo Yu were the protagonists of this world, and Gu Yuning was someone who had transmigrated into a book, then who was he?

Had he occupied the life that should originally have belonged to “Gu Qichi”?

It was close to lunchtime now, and more and more pedestrians filled the street. Gu Qichi kept walking straight ahead without noticing that his nails had already dug deep crescents into his palm.

Ahead, the traffic lights blinked in layers, and the stream of cars never stopped.

Gu Qichi stepped forward—

Only to be grabbed suddenly by the shoulder and yanked backward with such force that he staggered several steps, nearly collapsing to his knees.

“Gu Qichi, are you trying to get yourself killed? You didn’t even look at the road—you just walked straight into traffic!”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar, though its owner was clearly furious.

Gu Qichi closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, some clarity had finally returned to his gaze.

Chen Xu’s face gradually came into focus before him, along with the anger written plainly across it.

“How is it you?” Gu Qichi rubbed his aching wrist, then turned to look at the car that had almost hit him and the still-flashing red light. Only then did he realize that he hadn’t seen the signal at all and had almost walked straight across the crosswalk. “Thank you,” he added.

His voice was clear and cool, but carried an indescribable confusion.

Seeing that nothing had happened, the driver let out a breath, cursed under his breath, and drove off.

Chen Xu gave him a once-over, making sure he wasn’t hurt before finally letting go. He frowned, seeming to realize that the two of them were standing too close, and stepped back slightly before continuing:

“Gu Qichi, what’s wrong with you? Why isn’t Bo Yu with you?”

Chen Xu felt uneasy.

Gu Qichi looked far too bad.

A moment ago, he had been walking down the road like a man who had lost his soul, face pale, steps unsteady. At first Chen Xu hadn’t recognized him—he had only seen someone recklessly walk into traffic and instinctively gone to pull him back. It was only when he got close that he realized this person was Gu Qichi.

He pursed his lips and waited quietly for an answer.

It was still morning. The sunlight overhead was sharp and glaring. Gu Qichi moved stiffly, raised his eyes, and met Chen Xu’s gaze.

“I’m fine. I just don’t feel very well physically. Thank you.”

He didn’t want to say more. He only wanted to brush the matter aside with an excuse.

Chen Xu still looked at him suspiciously. He had a baseball cap on, and a mask covered most of his face, leaving only a pair of exposed eyes that looked especially sharp.

“Did you and Bo Yu have a fight?”

“Did he yell at you?”

Chen Xu couldn’t help asking two more questions, but before Gu Qichi could answer, he muttered to himself in a low voice, “That doesn’t make sense. He treated you like the apple of his eye on that show, and he searched for you for so many years. There’s no way he’d let you suffer any grievance…”

The pounding of Gu Qichi’s heart became more and more violent. His nerves hurt so badly they felt on the verge of exploding. The noise in his ears clamored as though it were about to pierce straight through his entire body. Little by little, the light in Gu Qichi’s eyes dimmed.

Amid the roar of passing traffic, he heard his own voice ask:

“Why did you say Bo Yu searched for me for so many years?”

Chen Xu let out a startled “Huh?” Even through the mask, his surprise was obvious.

“You didn’t know?”

Gu Qichi shook his head silently. His blood seemed to freeze inch by inch, and cold seeped through all four limbs. He looked at Chen Xu and asked, “Can you tell me?”

There were too many people passing by here. They were both public figures, and Chen Xu was worried that if they stood around any longer, passersby or paparazzi would spot them. Gu Qichi’s mental state also looked so bad that Chen Xu simply took him to a nearby restaurant with excellent privacy.

The whole way there, Gu Qichi remained unusually silent. Chen Xu stole several glances at him through the rearview mirror, only to find that the other man wore the same lost, uneasy expression the entire time.

His confusion deepened.

Once they were seated in the restaurant, Gu Qichi stared straight at Chen Xu. His fingers were clenched so tightly that the joints had gone pale and bloodless.

He spoke, but his voice trembled unconsciously and his breathing was unstable.

“Can you tell me now? Why did you say Bo Yu searched for me for so many years?”

Chen Xu removed his baseball cap and mask, looking a little helpless. He sighed.

“Gu Qichi, you may have forgotten, but I was your schoolmate. Same year as you. I also went to Dongcheng Experimental High School, though you transferred away in your first year…”

“I ran into your father once…” At that point, he stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering the accidental entanglements between Gu Qichi and Gu Yuning. He wasn’t sure if he should continue, or if it would only dig up painful memories.

But Gu Qichi’s gaze was too direct, almost like an interrogation. Chen Xu hesitated for a moment, then went on.

“I mean Gu Yuning’s father, I guess. I saw him abusing you. Back then, the reason I wanted to add you on WeChat was because I wanted to ask how you’d been all these years, whether he had kept tormenting you.”

He gave a bitter smile.

“Who knew you’d reject my friend request right away? And after I finally got through, you still ignored my messages.”

Gu Qichi lowered his lashes and looked at the teacup in front of him. A large chrysanthemum floated on the surface, its petals spread open, tinting the tea a very pale yellow.

He explained quietly, “Back then, your approach felt too purposeful. I didn’t like it. I thought you were trying to hit on me.”

That actually seemed to relax Chen Xu.

“To be honest, I was trying to hit on you. More accurately, I was trying to pursue you.”

At that, Gu Qichi raised his eyes. His upturned peach-blossom eyes sharpened.

But Chen Xu quickly continued, “But the news of your marriage to Bo Yu came out too fast. I knew I never had a chance.”

“Come to think of it, it really is strange that you didn’t know Bo Yu had been looking for you for so long. Then again, I didn’t remember it at first either. It was as if that memory had been erased by someone. I only slowly started remembering it again after seeing you.”

“When you were a freshman in college, you went with Professor Ye to Y Country for a major academic seminar. That’s where you met him. At the time, he seemed to have suffered some very serious injury and was hiding in an alley near the student apartments. You were the one who secretly picked him up and took him back…”

Everything Chen Xu described had never once appeared in Gu Qichi’s memory. The more he spoke, the tighter Gu Qichi’s hand clenched around the teacup. Tea spilled over the rim, burning his palm and fingertips red.

“But you only kept him for three days. Then he left on his own.”

“I heard that later, after he took down that illegitimate son, he searched all over Y Country for you. He just didn’t know your name, so he kept looking for someone called Gu.”

As he spoke, Chen Xu reached for the water in front of him and took a sip, his expression also growing troubled.

After telling Gu Qichi all this, Chen Xu found himself feeling even more unsettled. He thought absentmindedly: Why had he forgotten all this before? Why had he forgotten Gu Qichi too?

Bo Yu searching for someone was no secret in Dongcheng. Chen Xu had heard about it early on. But he had never once connected that person with Bo Yu, and never once linked “Gu” with Gu Qichi.

Yet the whole thing had undeniably happened, and his memory couldn’t be wrong…

Unless something really had tampered with his memory…

His thoughts wandered wildly.

Across from him, Gu Qichi sat staring at the teacup in silence. They had intentionally asked for the meal to be served slowly, and the private room fell quiet.

A long time passed.

Long enough for Gu Qichi to sort through every last fragment of memory he possessed.

And still, he found nothing—none of the things Chen Xu had described.

Half his heart turned cold at once. Even though the teacup in his hands was burning hot, Gu Qichi’s hands and feet remained icy.

“Chen Xu, thank you for telling me all this. I need to go back first.”

He wanted to return to the Bo residence. He wanted to ask Bo Yu whether these things had really happened.

And if everything was truly as Chen Xu said…

Then when Bo Yu first fell in love with him, was it because of that “Gu Qichi,” or because of himself?

Before walking out of the restaurant, Gu Qichi took several deep breaths. Only then did he realize that his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

He could not imagine what he would do if Bo Yu had really loved him because of the former “Gu Qichi.”

Divorce?

Or remain by his side anyway?

Neither was something Gu Qichi wanted to choose.

But love had to be unique.

Call him selfish if you wanted. Narrow-minded if you wanted.

No matter what, Gu Qichi could never accept even the slightest blemish in Bo Yu’s love for him. And he could accept even less the idea that Bo Yu loved him only because he had mistaken him for that other “Gu Qichi.”

On the taxi ride back to the Bo family villa, there were far more cars than usual. Probably because it was the evening rush hour, all eight lanes were packed bumper to bumper, nearly motionless.

The taxi crawled forward inch by inch. Gu Qichi’s mind was in utter chaos when he suddenly heard the driver’s slightly startled voice.

“Huh? Is there a fire over there?”

He looked up.

The burning building seemed to be a residential tower. The flames stretched out their tongues arrogantly, devouring everything without restraint.

Because the fire had started on one of the upper floors, Gu Qichi could still see clearly how it spread even from this distance. The blazing red lit up half the sky and burned straight into his eyes.

It was as if something in him had been triggered.

Suddenly, the previous fire replayed in his mind.

No less terrifying than the one before him.

His heart began pounding wildly.

Without warning, tears streamed down Gu Qichi’s face. It felt as though he were trapped inside a sea of fire, the cramped taxi filling inch by inch with searing heat, the suffocating sensation rising higher and higher. Unconsciously, Gu Qichi curled in on himself, his whole body trembling.

It was as if his skin had been scorched by flames all over again. Fire licked over his flesh, and the crackling roar echoed beside his ears.

The driver rolled down the window and leaned out for a better look at the fire across the way, sighing regretfully.

“Damn. It’s almost New Year’s—how’d something like this suddenly catch fire? Hope nobody gets hurt.”

As traffic crept slowly forward, the taxi drew closer and closer to the site of the blaze.

Then—

An explosion tore through the air with a loud boom, and dazzling sparks burst outward.

Every nerve in Gu Qichi’s body snapped taut in an instant.

Then, with a sharp break—

something inside him finally gave way.

He passed out in the back seat.

By the time the driver noticed and turned back, he realized Gu Qichi had suddenly come down with a severe fever.

When the ambulance took Gu Qichi away, he still hadn’t regained consciousness. Curled into a very small ball, he lay there with tightly knitted brows and pale lips.

He started dreaming again.