Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Four years have passed, but he still could not stop himself. He was always hating, always.

He looked at his watch and suddenly recalled that he had promised to eat with Li Manni, but there wasn’t enough time left. He needed to return to the office. Forget it, he would just think about it tomorrow.

Li Manni glanced at the clock on the wall from time to time. The dishes on the table had already gone cold, but he was still nowhere to be seen. Her mind ran wild. Could he have been involved in an accident? Or did he have another woman now? The clear sound of the telephone ringing reached her ears, and she stood up and walked over hurriedly to snatch the phone from the housekeeper’s hand.

“Lui, is that you? Why aren’t you back yet? I’ve been waiting for you for so long.” Her voice was filled with grievance. She really felt so as he seemed to be treating her more coldly these days.

She did not want it to be like that. He didn’t know how much she did for him. If she really lost him, she didn’t know if she could live another day.

Hearing the grievance in her voice, Chu Lui’s forehead furrowed even more. “I’m tied up with work today. I’ll be home tomorrow.” He put down his phone and threw it on the seat. Suddenly, he felt really exhausted.

He returned to the office and buried himself in his work again. Now, he didn’t want to think about anything other than work. He seemed to have forgotten that he had not eaten since morning. If he had even forgotten this, there was nothing he couldn’t forget, for eating and drinking were human instinct. If he had even forgotten his instinct, then what was it that he could remember?

Du Jingtang held a cup of coffee and a lunchbox in his hand towards Chu Lui and placed them on the table before putting down the folder he had clasped under his arm. He was indeed a robot, Du Jingtang thought to himself.

However, Du Jingtang wasn’t one. He was human, and he needed to eat and drink.

Chu Lui raised his head, and when he saw the things on his desk, that was when he felt discomfort in his stomach. He pushed away everything in front of him and stood up, grabbing the chopsticks in Du Jingtang’s hand.

Then, he sat down, opened the lunchbox, and started to eat.

“Cousin, that’s mine…” Du Jingtang was baffled. That was clearly his. He hadn’t eaten yet, and he was famished. Could he not be such a thief?

Chu Lui opened his wallet and threw it on the desk. “Take the amount you want,” he said emotionlessly with a stoic face, curbing Du Jingtang’s anger in an instant.

“Fine, I got it. I’ll go buy one again.” Forget it, just give it to him. If he starved to death, I would be worked to death anyway. Du Jingtang took out his phone to order a delivery. He felt so hungry, looking at Chu Lui eat.

This couldn’t do. He was really going to starve to death so he needed to eat two meals instead, and he really would order double.

When the delivery man arrived, he took two big notes from Chu Lui’s wallet without holding back. He had said to take as much as he wanted so that was what he did, and he still had the nerve to tell the delivery man to keep the change.

It was someone else’s money anyway. He did not really care.

Chu Lui had finished eating, and it was Du Jingtang’s turn. Chu Lui had already begun to continue his work in front of his desk.

“Cousin, you’re not going back again tonight?” Du Jingtang swallowed the food in his mouth hard and raised his head to ask Chu Lui. Was he really that busy? So busy that he had to spend the night in the office? According to his capabilities, this should not be the case.

“Yea,” Chu Lui signed his name on a document and replied indifferently.

Du Jingtang wiped his mouth and let out a huge sigh of satisfaction. He had finished eating; his stomach was satisfied, and so was he. He leaned against the sofa in Chu Lui’s office carelessly and stretched his legs out.

“But, Cousin, if you don’t go back, won’t she miss you? You’re not going to have children anymore?” Everyone knew who he was talking about.

Chu Lui’s fingers stiffened. Du Jingtang’s seemingly thoughtless statement made his heart clench. Did he go back just to make babies with her? The fact was that was what he was doing—bedding a woman just for children, exercising his marriage duties just for having children. If not for children, he would not even want to touch her or any other woman.

He placed a hand on his forehand and massaged it. Was he falling sick or something?

Du Jingtang noticed his reticence and stood up at last. Chatting with this person was too boring because he would never take the initiative to reply.

“Cousin, actually, I feel like you were still human four years ago. At least you had some expression on your face, but now…” He walked to the door and turned back suddenly, making a face with his hands. “I wonder if you have some facial nerve injury. So you know, Cousin, you’ve ever smiled for a long time now. Even when you smile, it’s just a sneer, or you could call it a fake smile.”

Du Jingtang finished and rushed out. He covered his head with his arms in case a folder would get thrown out and smash his head.

He was wrong this time, though. Chu Lui’s hand was still at his forehead, and his dark eyes—which were always composed—were shut tight. There was a deep crease between his eyebrows.

Was he going to smile again?

He too had forgotten how long it has been since he last gave a genuine smile.

Some things should not be dwelled on; otherwise, it would become the greatest mishap of his life, even worse than death.

He put down his hand and continued to scan the documents on the desk. It seemed unending—documents followed documents, making him feel like he would never ever finish them.

Night fell, and Chu Lui laid in the small studio in his apartment. His fingers lightly caressed the drawing he had pieced together from scratch on the bed. The man in the drawing had the corners of his lips lifted up slightly. It was just a half-smile, but it was still a smile.

It was not the fake smile Du Jingtang said.

It wasn’t a sneer, either.