Over the next few days, apart from the obligatory "Good morning" and "Good night" messages, Chu Luyao did not come home once.
When Song Yuhuan sent a photo of him and Chu Luyao at the Yuelao Temple, writing vows to grow old together, Zhou Du burned the more than nine hundred love letters Chu Luyao had written to him over the years.
When Song Yuhuan sent a video of Chu Luyao spending millions to hire an idol to sing for him, Zhou Du destroyed every gift Chu Luyao had ever given him.
When Song Yuhuan and Chu Luyao made romantic vows under the starry sky on a mountaintop, sharing a tent to engage in "clouds and rain," Zhou Du took his and Chu Luyao's wedding rings and the wedding video, discarded them, and crushed them into dust.
As for that room where Chu Luyao said she had prepared a surprise...
Inside was a massive oil painting.
The figure in the painting bore his resemblance, yet it was not him.
If Chu Luyao were here, he would have told her: I don't have that mole at the corner of my eye.
The one who had that mole was Song Yuheng.
He had been dead for so many years, yet he remained the untouchable White Moonlight in the depths of Chu Luyao's heart.
Neither Zhou Du nor Song Yuhuan were anything more than poor imitations of a ghost.
On the day of his departure, Zhou Du sent someone to their old university to buy a box of Osmanthus Cake.
Before they were together, Chu Luyao would buy a box of Osmanthus Cake for him almost every day.
All because he had casually mentioned once that it tasted nice.
Later, the taste of this Osmanthus Cake permeated their entire courtship. It wasn't until they founded Yaodu and moved far away from that shop near the university that they ate it less and less.
When the Osmanthus Cake arrived, he took a bite.
The fragrance was rich, but the taste was cloyingly bitter to the point of nausea.
He threw the entire box of Osmanthus Cake directly into the trash can and got up to rinse his mouth in the bathroom.
When he came out, he saw Chu Luyao sitting on the sofa, holding his phone. Her expression as she looked at him was somewhat serious.
"Ah Du, your phone just received a text message saying to pay attention to the appointment time for euthanasia. What does this mean?"
Zhou Du's face stiffened slightly. He took the phone back and lit up the screen. Because of the passcode lock, the screen didn't display the full content of the message.
"It's nothing. The old butler's dog is getting on in years; I helped him make an appointment."
Chu Luyao didn't suspect anything and nodded.
But if she had put even a fraction of her attention on this home, she would have known that the old butler didn't have a dog at all. She would have also discovered that the house was much emptier than before.
Everything went unnoticed simply because she didn't care.
Chu Luyao suddenly noticed the Osmanthus Cake in the trash can, and her expression froze.
"You bought Osmanthus Cake?"
Zhou Du looked at her and gave a calm hum of acknowledgment. "Suddenly wanted to eat it."
Looking at his calm, indifferent expression, Chu Luyao was inexplicably reminded of how Song Yuheng looked just before he passed away. Her heart began to pound like a war drum.
She grabbed Zhou Du's hand. "Ah Du, you won't leave me, right?"
Zhou Du looked down at her and didn't make a sound.
Chu Luyao's voice suddenly pitched higher, laced with panic. "Ah Du, you know I can't live without you by my side. You..."
Her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of something outside the window. Her voice stopped abruptly. She made up an excuse about needing to go out for a moment and stood up to leave in a hurry.
Zhou Du followed her out. Under the plane tree outside the villa, he saw Song Yuhuan standing there.
Seeing Chu Luyao appear, he couldn't wait to pull her into a hug and kiss her.
Zhou Du watched as they kissed, inseparable and reluctant to part. He let out a cold sneer.
These two had actually intensified their brazen behavior to this extent.
Finally, Chu Luyao regained some rationality. She struggled to break free from Song Yuhuan's grasp and shouted at him to stop.
"Song Yuhuan, are you crazy? I told you long ago, in any place where Ah Du might appear, the relationship between you and me can be, at most, sister and brother!"
"For the sake of your brother, I can satisfy whatever you want these past years. But if you want me to divorce Ah Du, it's impossible!"
Song Yuhuan leaned against the tree, his tall, thin body hunching over slightly. He rested his head on Chu Luyao's shoulder, acting like a large, aggrieved wolfdog.
"But you're pregnant with my child. Do you expect me to listen to him call another man 'Daddy' in the future?"
"Sister Yaoyao, even if you just treat me as my brother's substitute, it's fine. I love you. I can't leave you."
He took Chu Luyao's hand and placed it on his own face—that face which was identical to Song Yuheng's and currently filled with deep affection.
Seeing that Chu Luyao wasn't resisting, he pressed her into his arms. Using the tree trunk as cover, he kissed her even more fiercely and aggressively.
When the two finally separated, Song Yuhuan emerged from behind the tree with a face full of triumph and got into his car.
Chu Luyao, on the other hand, had a flushed face and crumpled clothes.
Zhou Du watched as she hurried back toward the villa, then turned around and returned to the living room first.
The first thing Chu Luyao said upon returning was an apology.
"I'm sorry, Ah Du. The law firm took on a big case recently. That was the client looking for me just now. It was urgent, so I..."
She looked at Zhou Du carefully, seeming terrified that he would be angry.
This kind of caution had been incredibly rare in their five years of marriage.
Zhou Du smiled at her just as he always did. He even raised his hand to tuck a stray lock of hair—disarranged by another man—behind her ear.
"I understand. Go ahead."
Chu Luyao breathed a sigh of relief at his gesture. She turned and left in a hurry.
Unsurprisingly, she got into Song Yuhuan's car, which was parked around the corner.
Zhou Du watched them leave.
Her lies were too clumsy, riddled with holes.
But he didn't care anymore.
Before leaving, he compiled all the text messages, photos, and videos Song Yuhuan had sent him over the years into a package and sent it all to Chu Luyao's email.
Then, he snapped his SIM card in half and left this home without a shred of attachment, boarding the flight to Switzerland.
There, he would calmly welcome death.
And in this world, there would be no more Zhou Du.