The hotel, room 1203.

Jiang Ye took a sip of water, her heart still pounding, before she could ask He Zhou, "How did you know I was here?"

She thought for a moment and guessed, "Did Brother Xu tell you?"

She had said Xu Lin was calling her for no reason, asking where she was and what she was doing.

So, he was asking on someone else's behalf.

He Zhou, who was instantly seen through, looked away with a little guilt.

Jiang Ye asked again, "So, did you come here to tell me something?"

He Zhou: "..."

The specific reason was a bit... weird.

He didn't really want to admit it.

He had been having the same dream over and over again for the past two days.

Before, he would only dream it occasionally when he had a fever.

But now, almost every time he closed his eyes at night, he would relive the scene of Jiang Ye getting into a car accident.

It was so real, so real that it made him doubt it again.

After he woke up, he realized that the date of the car accident in his dream seemed to be very recent.

As if something was reminding him.

He initially thought he was just going crazy from dreaming.

In his dream, Jiang Ye was alone when she got into the accident.

But now, Jiang Ye had a bunch of staff following her wherever she went, she shouldn't have any problems.

But when he heard Xu Lin say that Jiang Ye was taking a long vacation, the alarm bells in his heart rang, and his bad feeling grew stronger.

He also took a leave of absence and bought a flight to LA on the same flight as her.

Because he was not sure, He Zhou did not feel comfortable going directly to Jiang Ye and saying, "I had a dream, I think you're going to have an accident in the next few days".

So, he could only follow her silently in this way.

He Zhou decided that if Jiang Ye really encountered danger, he would protect her.

If not, then he was just being paranoid, and he wouldn't mention a word to Jiang Ye afterwards.

Fortunately.

Fortunately, he trusted his intuition.

Fortunately, he came.

This mysterious dream, the last time it saved him from an ordinary life.

And this time, it was finally his turn to save Jiang Ye.

He Zhou: "I..."

Jiang Ye had already come up with a reason for him.

"You're also on vacation?"

"Why didn't you just contact me directly, why did you ask Brother Xu?"

Jiang Ye paused as she spoke.

Just when He Zhou thought she was going to notice something and yell at him for being weird, Jiang Ye blinked and said, "You wouldn't... Be trying to surprise me, would you?"

He Zhou: "..."

Jiang Ye would never suspect him.

He felt a little guilty and lied, "No. I was just on vacation, and I heard from Brother Xu that you were here, so I wanted to come see you, and I didn't expect to run into you."

Jiang Ye let out a sigh of relief, remembering the near-death experience she had just had, "It's good that you were here, it was really a coincidence."

She almost... Almost got caught in the clutches of fate again.

He Zhou smiled slightly and agreed with her, "It's a coincidence."

"By the way."

Jiang Ye asked him, "How many months of vacation did you take?"

He Zhou asked her back, "How many months of vacation did you take?"

"About two months."

Jiang Ye calculated, "I have to go back by the end of the year, most of the events at the end of the year can't be postponed, if I cancel them, I might as well not be in the entertainment industry."

Thinking about all the work waiting for her when she returned at the end of the year, Jiang Ye suddenly felt a headache, and she pouted in frustration.

"That's a coincidence."

He Zhou said nonchalantly, without changing his expression, "My vacation is also until the end of the year."

Jiang Ye calculated for a moment, and it was true.

He Zhou had finished his master's degree and directly came to the company, and after that, he had hardly used any vacation time except for legal holidays.

Now, if he added it all up, it was almost enough for two months of vacation.

Meeting an old friend in a foreign land, and it was an old friend.

Jiang Ye felt a little happy.

"That's perfect. Since no one knows us here, why don't we travel together?"

After Jiang Ye finished speaking, she remembered something, "But I came here impulsively, I didn't make any travel plans. Do you have any places you want to go? Let me have a look."

He Zhou: "..."

What plans could he have?

His entire plan was to find Jiang Ye.

He Zhou thought for a moment and made up an excuse, "I also came out to find inspiration, I'll go wherever the wind takes me."

"..."

Jiang Ye laughed, very relaxed, "Okay."

"Then we'll go wherever the wind takes us."

A few years ago, she would not have imagined being so bold.

Running to the other side of the world with another person, about to embark on a spontaneous adventure with no destination.

They chatted for a while, and it was already noon.

Plus, they hadn't really eaten the airplane food, and Jiang Ye was a little hungry.

He Zhou asked her, "Do you want to eat out or order in?"

Jiang Ye shook her head.

She wasn't used to eating Western food.

Fortunately, she had prepared for this, and she immediately pulled out two instant noodle packages from her suitcase.

It was still the traditional braised beef flavor.

He Zhou: "..."

Seeing Jiang Ye's excited look, he retracted what he was going to say and nodded, "Okay."

"Do you remember when we were at the orphanage, instant noodles were a luxury."

Jiang Ye said while making the noodles, "Back then, I thought, if only I could eat instant noodles every day when I grow up."

He Zhou: "What about later?"

"When I moved to Beijing later, I ate them every day, I was sick of them."

Jiang Ye said, "I didn't expect to crave them again after so long."

"Yeah."

He Zhou looked at her and sighed softly, "It's been so long."

It had been twenty years since they met.

He was still in love with Jiang Ye.

Stubbornly, firmly, even if it was impossible, he loved her.

•••

Jiang Ye really had no plans.

After lunch, she took He Zhou out to ride the city bus, simply sitting on the upper level, feeling the cold wind blow, and looking at every corner of the scenery along the way, she felt new and free.

They got off the bus at a park.

But unexpectedly, a heavy rain came out of nowhere after they had been walking for a while.

"Oh no."

Jiang Ye said, "I didn't bring an umbrella."

She had traveled very spontaneously this time, not only did she not have a plan, she didn't even check the weather forecast.

Jiang Ye was about to raise her hand to shield herself from the rain.

The next second, He Zhou took off his windbreaker and put it over their heads.

Jiang Ye looked up, the jacket with his body temperature on it covered her head like a blanket.

Their shoulders were touching, and Jiang Ye's heart skipped a beat.

It seemed that since He Zhou pulled her from the edge of the car accident and hugged her, the boundaries and distance between them as friends had been blurred.

Over the past few years, she and He Zhou had maintained a friendship.

He Zhou was even more considerate of her idol status than she was, so they almost never met in private, they would either talk on the phone or at the company when talking about work.

Jiang Ye joked with him, "Why are you more afraid of being photographed than I am? Are you worried about your fans?"

"What fans do I have?"

He Zhou said lightly, "I'm just afraid of being photographed, it would be bad for you, and the boss would deduct my salary."

But now, they didn't have to worry.

He Zhou didn't have to worry, and she didn't have to worry.

For a moment, it felt like something that had been silent for a long time was quietly breaking through the ground.

They found a roof to shelter from the rain.

He Zhou didn't say anything, he kept the jacket on her, and he took out his phone to book a taxi.

Jiang Ye was wearing his jacket, and she subconsciously looked up at him.

He Zhou was almost thirty this year, and compared to the youthful look he had when they first met, he had a sense of maturity that made people feel at ease.

He rarely talked about his love life with her, and she didn't know if the girl he said he had liked for a long time eight years ago had worked out.

Probably not, how could youthful love be so easily fulfilled.

So, he seemed to still be single.

Jiang Ye didn't know why she suddenly thought of this.

She just suddenly felt, for a moment, that this heavy rain wasn't so bad.

•••

They took a taxi back to the hotel.

He Zhou shook his wet jacket and looked at Jiang Ye.

Her hair was damp, and her face was slightly flushed.

He Zhou coughed lightly and looked away, "You should go take a shower, don't catch a cold."

He took out his room card from his jacket, "I'll go back now."

An hour later, He Zhou heard a knock on the door.

He went to open the door, and he saw Jiang Ye standing there with two cups of ginger tea, "I just made it, don't catch a cold either."

She had just finished showering, her hair was still wet, and it smelled of shampoo.

He Zhou's breath caught in his throat, and he opened the door to let her in.

He tried to sound nonchalant, "I just checked the weather forecast, this rain is going to last for two days."

"Where do you want to go tomorrow? Or do you want to stay in the hotel for two days?"

"It's all good."

"I just came out to relax, it doesn't matter where I go."

Jiang Ye sat down on the sofa in his room, listening to the sound of the rain, and suddenly said, "You didn't ask me why I took this vacation."

He Zhou nodded and said, "I was afraid you wouldn't want to talk about it."

"I didn't really want to talk about it."

Jiang Ye said, "It's just that I... I couldn't stay there anymore, I wanted to change environments and think things through."

She held her ginger tea and sighed softly, "Maybe I just thought transitioning was too simple."

He Zhou didn't agree, "Your transition was very successful."

"I thought so too."

"But this last album made me doubt myself a little."

"On the one hand, my fans, although they didn't like this work, still gritted their teeth and said they liked it, and they worked hard to promote it everywhere. I feel like I owe them a lot."

"On the other hand, I also feel a bit frustrated, because the market didn't accept my new work."

The work she put her heart into didn't get the desired results, it didn't even have as good a response as the works she had done casually before.

This feeling of disparity was very uncomfortable.

He Zhou quietly watched Jiang Ye.

She rarely had these moments, sitting on the sofa in the hotel, her eyes lost, like a little cat that had been abandoned.

The rain was pouring outside the window.

And although she was sitting inside, she seemed to be lost in thought.

After a while, He Zhou finally spoke, "I listened to your new album, there's nothing wrong with it, the style is very special, it's the kind of style I like."

"I knew you would say that."

Jiang Ye looked up and smiled softly, "You listened to it many times before it was released, so your opinion isn't really helpful."

"Then what do you say."

He Zhou said, "Then this time, is it considered a failure for both of us?"

Jiang Ye was slightly stunned, then she laughed, "Why are you taking the blame?"

She sighed, "What does it have to do with you, this time it was completely my responsibility. I wanted to make a change, but I failed."

He Zhou comforted her, "Trying to change is difficult, but you already won by taking that step."

Jiang Ye: "... After all these years, you've learned my chicken soup recipe. Tell me, how many of my interviews have you watched?"

He Zhou: "..."

It seemed that traditional chicken soup didn't work on Jiang Ye.

She was the chicken soup master herself.

He quickly changed his way of comforting her, "I don't think this is a failure, maybe your work just needs to be tested by time."

"After all, Schubert's 《Lullaby》 only got him a pot of potato and beef stew."

Jiang Ye wanted to laugh, but she tried to hold it back, pretending to be serious, "... That's a bit of an overreach."

She heard He Zhou say, "You don't need to feel guilty towards your fans, they're just continuing to love you in their own way."

Jiang Ye: "I know."

"But I still can't help but think, what if one day they don't love me anymore, and the market doesn't like my work, what will I do then?"

He Zhou: "That day won't come."

Jiang Ye: "I said 'what if'."

The room fell silent for a moment.

After a while, He Zhou spoke, "If that happens, you still have me."

He looked at her, his tone as calm as if he was stating a simple fact, "I'll always be by your side."