Mr. Liang, you mustn't covet other people's fiancées!

On the night before they were to leave for Changchun, Liang Chaoxu accompanied Wen Li back to her rented apartment to retrieve her luggage.

The narrow, cramped stairwell was dark and without any lights, making it difficult to see anything.

Wen Li turned on her phone's flashlight, just about to warn Liang Chaoxu to watch his step, when she heard a series of messy footsteps coming from ahead, as if someone had tripped over something.

"Watch out!" Wen Li reacted quickly and grabbed Liang Chaoxu's arm.

Liang Chaoxu steadied himself by holding onto the stair railing. Using the dim light from his phone, he looked down and saw some cardboard and empty water bottles piled haphazardly at the corner of the stairs, threatening to trip him if he wasn't careful.

"It's alright." Liang Chaoxu continued walking uphill, carefully observing his surroundings.

It must be a decades-old house; the soundproofing is terrible. You can hear an elderly person coughing, a baby crying, and a couple arguing perfectly clearly.

As she approached Wen Li's door and searched for her keys, two or three people came down from upstairs, arm in arm, laughing and talking loudly, spewing vulgarities and obscene language.

As the group slowly approached, the strong smell of alcohol gradually filled the air.

Liang Chaoxu frowned, turned to the side and blocked Wen Li, who was looking for her keys, from behind, and made way for her.

Liang Chaoxu only relaxed after those people had completely gone downstairs.

"Come in." Wen Li opened the door and turned on the light.

When Liang Chaoxu entered the room, he found it to be small, with old furniture and dim lighting. Even though Wen Li had tidied the room up, he could still faintly smell a musty odor.

"Please have a seat, I'll go pack my suitcase," Wen Li said, and walked into the smaller adjoining bedroom.

Liang Chaoxu looked up at the ceiling, then at the surrounding walls, trying to find the source of the musty smell. Mold is very harmful to the human body and should not be taken lightly.

"How much is the rent here per month?" Liang Chaoxu asked Wen Li inside the cubicle after failing to find it in the outer room.

"Two thousand eight, excluding utilities and property management fees," Wen Li replied without looking up as she packed her suitcase.

Liang Chaoxu stopped talking and continued searching around. Finally, he saw a large patch of mold, alternating between green and yellow, above and behind the simple wardrobe.

His heart tightened: "How long have you been living here?"

"It took about a week in total, from start to finish."

Hearing Wen Li's reply, Liang Chaoxu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he hadn't stayed too long.

"What's wrong?" Wen Li closed her suitcase and turned to look at him.

"Nothing's wrong, let's go." Liang Chaoxu reached out and took Wen Li's suitcase.

As they reached the bottom of the building and stepped out of the unit, a stray cat suddenly darted out from behind the wall. Caught off guard, both of them were startled.

Liang Chaoxu subconsciously turned to look at Wen Li: "Are you alright?"

"It's nothing," Wen Li said, shaking her head, but she followed him even closer.

In Changchun, the autumn sky is unusually clear.

The two arrived at the hotel that Gu Zhihuai had booked for them early in the morning.

After giving his name, the receptionist handed Liang Chaoxu a suite key card.

After waiting for about half a minute and seeing that they hadn't moved, Liang Chaoxu asked, "Did my friend only book one room?"

The receptionist replied with a smile, "Yes, Mr. Liang."

Liang Chaoxu gritted his teeth inwardly. At this moment, he really wanted to kick Gu Zhihuai to death for making such a mess of things right from the start.

Wen Li was already somewhat resistant to him, and if he misunderstood or frightened her further, she might just ignore him altogether.

Wen Li, who had just finished a phone call, turned her attention to Liang Chaoxu: "Is there a problem?"

"Give me your ID card," Liang Chaoxu said, and then asked the staff to prepare a room with the same facilities for Wen Li.

That evening, Gu Zhihuai organized a gathering and specially invited several colleagues from the Aerospace Academy who were in Changchun on a business trip.

Upon entering, Liang Chaoxu saw his former doctoral supervisor. He smiled and stepped forward, humbly shaking hands with his mentor: "Professor Zeng, it's been a long time."

The teacher and student hadn't seen each other for a long time, and once they sat down, they had so much to talk about.

Halfway through the meal, Gu Zhihuai smiled at Liang Chaoxu and said, "I think it's not too late for you to come back and delve deeper into aviation research. Why don't you come back?"

Teacher Zeng chimed in, "That's right, Xu. You gave up the opportunity to enter the aerospace institute because of a family emergency. Now that's all over, you can definitely get back to doing research."

Liang Chaoxu smiled and shook his head: "Teacher, I don't plan to come back."

"Why?" Teacher Zeng asked, somewhat puzzled.

Before Liang Chaoxu could speak, Gu Zhihuai interrupted, "Teacher Zeng, you don't know this. The girl that's the apple of this kid's eye has come back from abroad, and now he's only thinking about keeping that girl by his side."

"Really?" Teacher Zeng pushed up her glasses, her gaze shifting between Gu Zhihuai and Liang Chaoxu. "How come I've never heard of Ah Xu having someone he likes?"

"Of course you haven't heard of him." Gu Zhihuai leaned back in his chair, a meaningful smile on his face. "He kept it a secret very well. Back in school, nobody knew he had someone in his heart. I only found out by chance later."

Liang Chaoxu glanced at Gu Zhihuai before turning to Teacher Zeng: "Teacher, don't listen to his nonsense."

"I'm not making this up, Professor Zeng." Gu Zhihuai immediately sat up straight. "Back then, he helped that young girl without hesitation, but as a result, many of his family's businesses were maliciously seized and suppressed, forcing him to give up aviation..."

"Gu Zhihuai," Liang Chaoxu interrupted him.

Gu Zhihuai wisely shut up, smiling as he raised his hands in surrender: "Alright, alright, I won't say anything more. But Teacher Zeng, judging from his reaction, you should understand, right?"

Teacher Zeng looked at Liang Chaoxu for a while, then slowly smiled and said, "Chaoxu, now that you're back, make the most of it. As for returning to the Aerospace Academy, we'll talk about that later."

Liang Chaoxu nodded: "Okay, teacher."

Gu Zhihuai asked again, with a cheeky grin, "By the way, why didn't you bring her to dinner tonight? What were you doing leaving her alone in the hotel?"

Liang Chaoxu glared at him: "She doesn't want to come, why should I force her?"

Gu Zhihuai raised an eyebrow and went back to eating.

After the event ended, Liang Chaoxu and Gu Zhihuai walked along the street, chatting about their recent situations before parting ways.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Liang Chaoxu saw Wen Li as soon as he got out of the car.

She was wearing a loose long dress, with a shawl draped over her shoulders, her hair loosely tied on top of her head, and a box of snacks in her hand, looking down at her phone.

Seeing that she was about to walk into the bushes nearby, Liang Chaoxu quickly stepped towards her: "Aren't you watching where you're going?"

Hearing the voice, Wen Li looked up and saw it was him. She smiled slightly and asked, "Are you done with your dinner?"

"Hmm." Liang Chaoxu walked up to her, glancing down at the grilled cold noodles in her hand. "You haven't had dinner?"

Wen Li shook her head: "I ate it. I just saw on my phone that everyone said it was delicious, and it's nearby, so I went to buy it."

As she spoke, Wen Li held out the box in her hand: "Do you want some?"

Just as Liang Chaoxu was about to reply, Wen Li's phone beeped with a message notification.

Wen Li withdrew her hand and opened the chat box.

The two were close together, and Liang Chaoxu immediately saw the nickname at the top of the phone screen: Senior Jiang You.

It's him again? Liang Chaoxu frowned slightly.

In the elevator back to their room, the floor numbers ticked by, and the two remained silent. The grilled cold noodles in Wen Li's hand emitted a faint smell of vinegar.

It lasts a long time.