Who taught you to be a celebrity like this?

Upon hearing Zhang Hai's reminder, Li Ye sized up the man who was drinking.

The man was slightly overweight, with fair skin, but his hairline was a bit high and he had noticeable dark circles under his eyes.

But no matter how you look at it, he looks to be in his forties at most.

"Retiring already?" Li Ye was somewhat surprised, and also a little scared.

Li Ye looked at Zhang Hai, who patted his arm to reassure him.

"Old Yu, if you ask me, you're just asking for trouble," Yan Tao teased with a smile.

Old Yu, who had chosen to retire early because of Li Ye, gulped down a can of ice-cold beer, let out a long sigh, and wiped his mouth: "You're absolutely right!"

He then looked at Li Ye and smiled from the bottom of his heart: "I am really grateful to Li Ye for helping me understand a lot of things."

"No, no, I can't accept that." Li Ye waved his hands repeatedly. He always advocated working hard, studying hard, and living a good life. He couldn't bear such a heavy burden.

"I'm not just being polite, listen to me..." Old Yu began to recount his past.

Old Yu is thirty-eight years old this year. He came to Shenzhen to work hard when he was eighteen.

A poor young man with no background or education initially only wanted to make money. He tried almost every job, and his tireless work finally paid off.

At this point, Lao Yu shook the watch on his wrist: "When I was twenty-seven, I earned a million for the first time. I was so happy I was almost going crazy. I wanted to buy something to prove that I had finally made money. Then I suddenly realized that I couldn't buy a house or a luxury car. In the end, I gritted my teeth and bought a Rolex. Of course, not the one I have now."

"When I first put on such an expensive watch, do you know how I felt?" Old Yu looked at everyone.

Li Ye seemed to be deep in thought. The feeling of an apocalypse was really coming, but it was clearly taking a different turn than the feeling he had when he first heard people talking about love stories.

"It's a feeling of panic and confusion!"

Old Yu's face flushed red, spittle flying from his mouth: "I'm almost thirty, damn it! And after all that hard work, giving up any time for enjoyment, I've earned a million—a million I never even dared to dream of before—and I can't even afford a toilet in the city center! Damn it!"

"I was young then, and I quickly cheered myself up, thinking that I would definitely be able to settle down in this city and buy a house in the city center."

Old Yu gave a bitter smile: "But making money is really damn hard. By the time I turned thirty, my income hadn't increased, but my health was getting worse and worse. Every time I worked late into the night, I was afraid that I would die if I wasn't careful. I would often think back to the past and realize that I had really suffered all kinds of hardships, but I wasted the best years of my life and had very little time to spend with my family."

Listening to Lao Yu's words, Li Ye was not completely swayed by the other party's ideas and seriously considered this topic about time.

The final conclusion was that Lao Yu was too extreme, which led to his regrets as he got older.

For Li Ye, his life plan can be summed up in one sentence: cherish the present, live well, and work hard.

Just then, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through Li Ye's head. He forcibly stopped the music playing in his head and asked something he was very curious about: "Aren't you married?"

"We're divorced." Old Yu opened a new can of beer.

"Sorry..." Li Ye wanted to slap himself for being so curious.

"It's nothing."

Old Yu shook his head, not wanting to talk more about his marriage, and raised his beer to Li Ye: "After I turned thirty, I fell into a state of struggle. I was very tired every day, but I kept brainwashing myself and giving myself pep talks. As long as I made money, everything else was irrelevant."

"Until I heard your song 'The Ordinary Road' and saw your GG, I suddenly realized that making money is for happiness, but I'm not happy at all."

"I was actually quite nervous, but the moment I submitted my resignation, I felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation. In the past few days, I have finally come to understand what it means to truly live."

Old Yu took a big gulp of beer, then walked over, took off his watch, and offered it to Li Ye.

"No, no, no." Li Ye reached out to stop it, both amused and exasperated. He didn't know much about watches, but he could tell at a glance that they were expensive.

Yan Tao stood up and pushed Lao Yu back, saying with displeasure, "What are you doing? You've had a little bit of horse piss and you think you're so great? Does A-Ye still owe you a watch?"

"I just wanted to express my gratitude," Old Yu said somewhat embarrassedly.

There were three young people sitting together. Li Ye noticed they looked thoughtful and said, "Are you three still in college?"

The three young men were taken aback for a moment, then, realizing that Li Ye was asking them a question, they nodded hurriedly.

"Don't take Yu Ge's words halfway through."

Li Ye said earnestly, "Brother Yu's experience reminds us to cherish our time and not to devote it to one extreme aspect. We should balance life, study, and work."

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant." Old Yu slapped his forehead, also worried about leading the young people astray.

With that topic concluded and it getting late, Li Ye got up to say goodbye.

Zhang Hai left with Li Ye, while Yan Tao, who was still in the shop, repeatedly warned, "Don't tell anyone outside that Li Ye came, or there won't be a place for you to brag here tomorrow night."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone was very tactful; no one even took out their phone while they were chatting.

After parting ways with Zhang Hai at the hotel, Li Ye returned to his room, went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and the water cascaded down.

He continued the unfinished revelation.

How many heartbeats have I given?

In exchange for piles of invoices

A person deserves to have their hit reduced by a few seconds.

Buy another watch

It was captured in a flash.

And the skin has secretly started to sag.

Why was it used up?

Knowing what is important

"Tourbillon..." Li Ye murmured to himself. This was the first Cantonese song he had ever received.

When Li Ye heard Gu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hai talking about how others resigned because of him, he initially thought it was just a joke, but he was somewhat inclined to avoid the topic.

Just as he doesn't want to bear the expectations of his fans, he also doesn't want to bear too much social responsibility.

Even after hearing Lao Yu's story, he still believed that, on a larger scale, the number of people like Lao Yu who were influenced by him was only a very small part.

But during this time alone, Li Ye's mindset changed somewhat. As a public figure, he was destined to bear certain social responsibilities.

Who knows how many people will be influenced by him?

Old Yu is considered good. But what if Li Ye has fans who, at a young age with nothing, impulsively give up their studies or jobs to pursue so-called freedom? Does he really bear no responsibility at all?

Li Ye learned a lesson from Lao Yu: if he doesn't want to regret it in the future, he needs to change his attitude towards his fans, or rather, towards the outside world.