In the blink of an eye, Gu Chengyu and Su Qianqian had been gone from this world for half a year.
From initial disbelief, people had slowly come to accept it.
There were rumors that Su Qianqian had fallen seriously ill, and Chengyu had followed her in death out of love. No one knew if it was true.
Outside the window, it was autumn once again, Zhou Yu'an's most hated season, the very air tinged with a desolate chill.
His head began to ache faintly once more.
He suddenly remembered, a long time ago, Doctor Lin had sought him out privately, hesitating in her tone: "Doctor Zhou, when I asked Miss Su if she liked Young Master Gu that time, at first, she nodded."
Back then, he had only thought her methods were extraordinary, how she had utterly captivated Chengyu, and he felt annoyed. How could he possibly go out of his way to explain for her?
So, at the time, he had replied indifferently, "Hmm, I'm aware of this matter. There's no need for you to mention it to anyone else, Doctor Lin."
A minor incident, just like that, was brushed aside.
Now, thinking back, it had become a small, irreparable regret.
If he had just mentioned it to Chengyu back then, would things have been different?
Unfortunately, there are no 'what ifs'.
It was another sleepless late night.
Zhou Yu'an habitually opened his music app. There was only one song in the list, the one Qin Yuwei had released over two years ago.
Countless nights, he had relied on this song to find some semblance of sleep.
This was already the third autumn.
A powerful urge suddenly arose in Zhou Yu'an—he wanted to meet the owner of this voice.
A girl who could sing with such a pure, ethereal voice must surely be someone with a clear, untainted heart, untouched by worldly dust.
He wanted to thank her in person, to thank this voice for accompanying him through countless unbearable nights.
Once this thought took root, he could no longer suppress it.
The next day, he took rare care in grooming himself, carefully selected his cufflinks, and personally drove to Shen Media to find Qin Yuwei.
Qin Yuwei was quite surprised to see him. "Zhou Yu'an? What brings you here?"
Zhou Yu'an got straight to the point, opening the interface on his phone. "Yuwei, sorry for the intrusion."
"I wanted to ask, the singer of this song on your page, who is she? Could you take me to meet her?"
Qin Yuwei looked at the familiar song title on his phone screen, and her expression instantly turned sorrowful.
She was silent for a few seconds, her voice dropping low. "You... didn't recognize it? You met her a long time ago."
Zhou Yu'an's heart gave an inexplicable jolt.
Qin Yuwei sighed, her voice choking up slightly. "This is a demo Qianqian recorded."
"Back then, I dragged her into it. She was just casually humming along in the practice room for fun. I thought the effect was stunning, so I begged her to record a short segment properly..."
"Su... Qianqian?" The smile on Zhou Yu'an's face began to falter.
Right.
That ethereal voice with its hint of natural, delicate softness...
How had he not recognized it?
Zhou Yu'an had arrived full of eager anticipation, but now it felt as if all his strength had been drained, leaving only a lost and desolate emptiness behind.
For the first time, he canceled a scheduled surgery.
Returning to his empty, quiet home, he played that barely one-minute-long track on repeat.
So it was her.
It was actually her.
When was the last time he saw her? At a banquet a month before she and Chengyu disappeared.
She was wearing a pale purple, one-shoulder gown studded with sequins, like a pearl that had already been polished to reveal a breathtaking, peerless brilliance, stunningly beautiful.
Gu Chengyu, as if no one else was around, bent down to carefully straighten her slightly disheveled hem, his eyes lowered, showing a tenderness he never displayed to anyone else.
The corner of her lips held a playful, lively smile as she leaned down, saying something to Gu Chengyu.
Zhou Yu'an had been standing not far away at the time, watching this scene, and found himself momentarily dazed.
An inexplicable feeling brushed past his heart. He wondered, what kind of magic did this girl possess?
As if moved by a ghost, he walked over with his wine glass, wearing a gentle smile, attempting to greet them.
However, what he received in return was her disregard and a roll of her eyes.
She seemed to hold a grudge. Chengyu must have told her about the time he tried to trick her into talking.
Seeing her displeasure, Chengyu stood up, subtly shielding her behind him, and nodded apologetically at Zhou Yu'an:
"Yu'an, Qianqian is a bit tired. We'll excuse ourselves first."
After speaking, he led the clearly sulking girl away with his arm around her.
And Zhou Yu'an remained rooted to the spot, unable to regain his composure for a long time. At that moment, even he couldn't explain what was wrong with him.
He just suddenly felt... envious.
Now, this ethereal singing voice lingered in his ears, and those once-blurred images began to grow incredibly sharp and clear.
Clearly, every time they met, it seemed he had never truly kept her in mind, even viewing her with scrutiny and prejudice.
So why was it that every expression of hers—whether annoyed or angry, smiling or silent—felt as if it had been carved into his memory?
Zhou Yu'an closed his eyes, trying to convince himself it was merely because his memory was too good.
Only by thinking this way could he maintain his superficial calm and carry on with life as if nothing was wrong.
Except, from that day on, his insomnia never improved.
Every night, he would dream of those few, sparse encounters.
Once, he asked himself, back when he tried to trick her into talking, was it really only out of a sense of injustice for Shen Que?
There was no answer, only endless insomnia.
She was dead.
She and he, they died together.
