After a moment of silence, the venue erupted in uproar.
Uncle Ye was also stunned. "Wh-what's going on?"
Jiang Yan had rehearsed today's procedures multiple times and knew them by heart. After pressing the button, he didn't even glance back at the screen—not until he noticed the commotion in the audience. He turned around, his face flashing with shock and panic.
Flustered, he quickly shut off the video and grabbed the microphone. "My apologies, that was an accident. Please give me a moment to—"
Before he could finish, a voice rang out from the audience: "Jiang Yan, you know perfectly well whether that was an accident or the truth."
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
Standing among the crowd was a man around Jiang Yan's age. Under everyone's gaze, he strode toward the stage, declaring, "This technological achievement of Jiang Yan's was something we developed together in the lab. Although we later worked independently, the data and models in his results were plagiarized from my work."
"Tian Xuanyue!"
Jiang Yan was no longer as composed as before. Trembling with rage and panic, his eyes reddened as he glared viciously at Tian Xuanyue. "Don't you dare slander me!"
"Slander you?"
Tian Xuanyue walked onto the stage and headed straight for the computer, holding a USB drive. Seeing this, Jiang Yan immediately tried to snatch it away but was shoved hard to the ground, landing in an undignified heap.
But he had no time to care about appearances now. Shouting for security, he demanded they remove Tian Xuanyue immediately.
Security personnel rushed into the hall.
Just then, another voice rose from the audience: "If the achievement is truly yours, what are you afraid of? Let's see what he has to show."
After all, everyone present had come prepared to spend a considerable sum bidding on this patent. No one wanted to risk paying a fortune for a counterfeit.
Jiang Yan had no choice but to stop, his eyes fixed intently on Tian Xuanyue, his emotions shifting unpredictably.
Tian Xuanyue inserted the USB drive into the computer and opened a folder.
The large screen behind them displayed screenshots of data, chat records, videos, and other evidence. Tian Xuanyue presented each piece one by one, clearly explaining the entire sequence of events.
The murmurs in the audience grew louder and more chaotic.
The event organizers urgently cut off the microphone and stepped forward. "We apologize, esteemed guests. Today's bidding session is temporarily concluded. We will notify everyone of any further developments. Our sincerest apologies."
"No... this isn't true."
Jiang Yan scrambled up from the floor in a panic, chasing after Tian Xuanyue. He grabbed the back of Tian Xuanyue's collar and yanked hard—
The Jiang Yan of the past might never have done such a thing.
Back then, his future had seemed bleak. He had trod carefully, afraid of making even a single misstep. Even when he overheard Old Mr. Lu belittling him and his mother, he hadn't mustered the courage to confront him.
But now, things were different. He had grown accustomed to the halo and honors of being at the top, no longer the impoverished young man trudging alone toward the summit.
"Why are you ruining me? Why!"
Jiang Yan gritted his teeth, his eyes dark with hatred, his rationality teetering on the edge of collapse.
Until—a loud "bang!" echoed through the hall.Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tian Xuanyue fell down the steps, his forehead hitting the corner of the stage with a heavy thud. Bright red blood instantly gushed out, and something seemed to have been knocked over, emitting a sharp, short sound.
Jiang Yan watched the scene unfold before him, his mind exploding in an instant. His legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.
...
No one present had anticipated what had just happened. The room fell into a prolonged silence, until someone panicked and shouted, "Call an ambulance!"
Zhou Wan stood in the front row, close enough to see the thick, crimson blood on the floor. As if caught in some memory, her legs weakened and her vision darkened.
Just as she felt she couldn't stand any longer, a warm hand grasped hers from behind. Her back leaned against a chest, and the familiar, faint scent of tobacco filled her nostrils.
Zhou Wan blinked, regaining some composure, and turned to see Lu Xixiao.
He was looking down at her, his voice low as he asked, "Are you okay?"
Zhou Wan stared at him for a long moment before shaking her head gently. "I'm fine."
Her gaze shifted to Jiang Yan, who was still sitting on the ground. At that moment, he seemed both unfamiliar and strangely familiar to her.
Lu Xixiao brushed his fingertips lightly against her cheek. "Alright, don't look anymore."
Zhou Wan turned back. "Do you know what happened?"
"Just as Tian Xuanyue said earlier, the matter will be reinvestigated. The results should be out soon."
"Mm."
With this mishap, the companies participating in the bidding had to leave for the time being. Zhou Wan, however, needed to continue with a new direction for her interview and document the process.
After saying goodbye to Lu Xixiao, she set off for the hospital with Uncle Ye.
Uncle Ye went to consult the doctors about the situation, while Zhou Wan found a seat to draft the news report and send it to her colleague. Once she finished, she stood up to use the restroom.
After washing her hands, Zhou Wan looked up at her reflection in the mirror, tied her hair into a ponytail, and as she left, she passed by an open stairwell. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jiang Yan squatting on the ground, smoking.
One cigarette after another, the ground around him littered with half-smoked butts.
Zhou Wan paused.
She had never known when Jiang Yan started smoking. The hazy scene of smoke didn't seem to suit him at all.
Hearing her footsteps, Jiang Yan turned his head, startled, then turned away again, lowering his head. His voice was hoarse. "How is he?"
"Eight stitches on his forehead, a mild concussion. Fortunately, he's okay."
Jiang Yan: "Mm."
He exhaled a puff of smoke, stubbed out the cigarette butt at his feet, and said softly, "Zhou Wan."
"Mm."
"Do you despise me?"
Zhou Wan didn't answer.
Jiang Yan let out a light laugh. "Right, if I were you, I'd despise myself too. I've worked so hard for so long, but in the end, I still failed miserably and made a complete fool of myself."
"So what Tian Xuanyue said is true?" Zhou Wan asked.
Jiang Yan was silent for a moment before burying his face in his arms. "I was just too impatient."
He let out a shaky breath, his voice trembling slightly. "Zhou Wan, I was too impatient. I wanted to succeed, I wanted everyone to see me, I wanted to make those who looked down on me regret it."
Zhou Wan stood beside him, not crouching down, merely standing quietly like a calm and composed observer.
"Jiang Yan, I didn't think more highly of you when you won the top prize," Zhou Wan said softly, her tone even. "On the contrary, back when we were students, I admired you—humble, steady, and persistent.""When we were in school... back then, Old Mr. Lu once said about me that it's hard for a poor family to produce a noble son."
Jiang Yan smiled bitterly, "But if given the choice, who would choose to be born into poverty? If I had everything Lu Xixiao has, I could be just as unrestrained and carefree as him."
Jiang Yan always remembered the first time he met Lu Zhongyue.
He was very young then. Because he didn't have a father, his kindergarten classmates mocked and bullied him. Until one day when he walked out of kindergarten and saw a black car, his mother standing beside a man, saying this was his father.
Many other details had faded from memory, but he still remembered how good the man smelled, his crisp, well-tailored clothes, and the many illuminated buttons inside the car.
Things he had never seen before.
The man took him out for dinner, then accompanied him to the amusement park.
Little Jiang Yan was overjoyed, thinking he finally had a father.
But when the weekend ended, the man left. The times he could see him were few and far between.
His mother always said, "Your father is very busy. You need to study hard. When you get first place, your father will be happy and come see you more often."
So Jiang Yan grew up obedient and sensible, earning many rewards from Lu Zhongyue for this, though opportunities to see Lu Zhongyue remained scarce.
Until one day after school, when his mother couldn't pick him up due to other matters, he had to take the bus home alone. While waiting at a traffic light, that familiar car pulled up beside the bus.
Excited, Jiang Yan opened the window to greet him, but then he saw the boy sitting in the passenger seat.
Though still young, he suddenly understood everything.
...
Jiang Yan closed his eyes bitterly: "All of that should have been mine."
Zhou Wan frowned slightly.
Even now, he remained stuck in his stubborn perspective, unable to see clearly.
Zhou Wan didn't know what to say to him, knowing that whatever she said would fall on deaf ears.
"Tian Xuanyue has woken up." She turned to leave. "If you're willing, you can go see him."
Jiang Yan fell silent. Just as Zhou Wan grasped the door handle to leave, he spoke softly, stopping her again: "Zhou Wan."
"Yes."
"If Lu Xixiao and I swapped places—if I were the one born into the Lu family—would you have liked me instead?"
"No."
Zhou Wan answered decisively, "My feelings for him have nothing to do with whether he's a Lu or not. And he didn't become who he is today just because he was born into the Lu family."
"Jiang Yan, in your entanglement, everyone is a victim, but there's only one perpetrator—Lu Zhongyue. Yet you've never blamed Lu Zhongyue, instead cursing Lu Xixiao and his mother."
Zhou Wan looked at his back, "I don't believe you can't understand this. But back in school, you firmly told me that Lu Xixiao's mother broke up your family. You righteously threw dirt at him, making yourself Lu Zhongyue's accomplice instead."
Jiang Yan's back stiffened momentarily.
"What you've pursued your entire life is something Lu Xixiao long ago discarded as worthless. His mother died within those mansion walls. He struggled desperately to break free, having long severed ties with the Lu family. His current achievements have nothing to do with the Lu family."
"Impossible."
Hearing this, Jiang Yan finally spoke up.
He turned his head, eyes slightly red, filled with stubborn disbelief and self-deception: "Zhou Wan, that's impossible. Without the Lu family, he's nothing."He enunciated each word with force, staring intently at Zhou Wan, trying to dig out evidence of her lies from every minute detail.
Zhou Wan suddenly felt that Jiang Yan was pitiable.
He viewed Lu Xixiao as a thorn in his side, unable to bear seeing him have even a little bit of good.
In the past, he lived to gain Lu Zhongyue's approval; later, he lived to surpass Lu Xixiao. He was impatient for success, pushing himself hard, but in the end, he had never lived a single day for himself.
"Actually, whether he succeeds or not, I don’t care."
Zhou Wan said, "I like him simply because he is Lu Xixiao. If he loved me when I had nothing, I would love him even if he had nothing too."
……
Exiting the stairwell, Zhou Wan and Uncle Ye coordinated their work again before heading downstairs.
As she left the hospital, Lu Xixiao sent a message saying he had already arrived.
She bought a baked sweet potato and ran over to get in the car.
Lu Xixiao glanced at what she was holding and curled his lips: "Hungry?"
Zhou Wan shook her head: "My colleague at the hospital just ordered takeout, I’ve already eaten. I was just craving a bit. I really liked eating baked sweet potatoes when I was young—they’re very sweet."
She peeled off the skin, revealing the scalding orange-red flesh inside. While waiting at a red light, she turned her head and asked: "Do you want some?"
Lu Xixiao didn’t answer, just leaned closer.
Zhou Wan tore off a piece of the sweet potato, blew on it, and fed it to him.
The light turned green, and the car steadily moved forward again.
Zhou Wan nibbled on the sweet potato while gazing at the city’s distinctive night scenery outside the window, recalling what Jiang Yan had said earlier.
She knew that since their school days, Jiang Yan had longed for fame and success, but she had never asked Lu Xixiao this question.
"Lu Xixiao."
"Hmm?"
"What was your dream when you were in school?"
He paused, thought for a moment, and instead of answering directly, asked in return: "What about you?"
"I actually didn’t have any very specific dream. Grandma wasn’t well back then, so I just took things one step at a time. I didn’t really think about which university to aim for either—it was just a very vague, general dream." Zhou Wan smiled lightly and said softly, "I wanted to become a good person, and not disappoint my dad."
If anyone else had heard this dream, they would surely have laughed at her for being unrealistic.
But Lu Xixiao didn’t.
He understood the struggles and conflicts in Zhou Wan’s heart.
"And now?" Lu Xixiao asked, "Have you achieved it?"
"Not yet, but I really like my current job. I get to meet many people and experience many things here, and I can become a better person."
Lu Xixiao laughed, reached out and ruffled her hair: "Then next time, we’ll go see your dad together."
Zhou Wan was startled for a moment, then smiled and nodded, her eyes growing slightly warm again. She turned to look out the window to hide it, calming herself before asking again: "You still haven’t told me yours."
"Back in school, I didn’t really think about dreams. I was pretty downcast back then."
Ever since moving out of the Lu family and experiencing so many successive upheavals, for a long time, Lu Xixiao had given up on himself and wallowed in degradation.
The reckless young man had been beaten down relentlessly by harsh reality, so despairing that he couldn’t bring himself to believe in romanticized dreams. He didn’t hope for a future; he only begged the gods not to let joyful memories of past people and events haunt his dreams and torment him again.
He just never expected that, in the midst of his muddled existence, he would meet a girl like this.
Quiet and reserved, carrying a sense of story and mystery, yet pure and transparent.Unlike some heartwarming movie stories, that girl was not a warm sun—she didn't cast sunlight upon him, nor did she extend her hands to him in the abyss.
Because she stood right within the abyss herself.
She stood shoulder to shoulder with him, then gently took his hand.
Just like when he casually asked Zhou Wan if she wanted to be with him, and she replied, "Okay."
If their story were compared to a film, its tone and palette wouldn't be the sunny blue skies and white clouds, but something dim yet warm.
Like that gloomy, noisy arcade.
Like that street lined with cherry blossoms yet silent and empty.
Like that cramped, shabby noodle shop.
Like that small Western-style house glowing with soft, warm yellow light.
That girl stood under the night lamp, her figure half-lit and half-shadowed, both light and darkness upon her.
Cut off from the world, they developed a sense of interdependence, a feeling of shared destiny as inseparable as flesh and blood.
Holding his hand, the girl walked toward the blurry path ahead.
Let's go.
Let's go together.
Even if I don't know whether what lies ahead is good or bad.
I'll be with you.
Even if it's hell.
Then let's go to hell together and plant flowers.
...
"If I really think about it, I did have one dream."
Lu Xixiao said, "Later, I studied hard, lived earnestly, and wanted to become someone remarkable—all because of that dream."
Zhou Wan's heart skipped two beats, and she somewhat guessed his answer.
But that answer felt too precious, and she didn't dare to recklessly break the moment. Softly, she asked, "What is it, that dream?"
"It's you," Lu Xixiao said.
Because of you, there is the Lu Xixiao of today.
I love you in your clusters of flowers, and I love you covered in mud.
Just as my downfall and embarrassment stems from you, my honor and glory is also bestowed by you.
During those times when he trudged forward alone, it was Zhou Wan who supported him through thousands of miles and countless obstacles.
In those years when he felt he couldn't persevere, it was Zhou Wan who gave him strength.
"Zhou Wan."
He turned his head, reached out, and took her hand. His voice remained calm, yet it was firm and gentle: "You are my only dream."
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