Brian Young initially found it funny, but gradually, he too was drawn to this young master with delicate skin and tender filling, who could be easily picked up by the ears like a rabbit.

The two of them went from meeting, to confirming their relationship, to falling deeply in love—it took a full three years.

One day, Evan Clark got drunk, acted on impulse, and came out to his family.

Mr. Clark and Mrs. Clark couldn’t accept that their son, who used to chase after girls as a child, had fallen for a man. Especially after looking into Brian Young’s background, Mr. Clark and Mrs. Clark expressed even stronger opposition.

It wasn’t that The Elder Clarks looked down on Brian Young, who had worked his way up—they themselves came from rural backgrounds and built their lives from scratch, so they knew how hard it was to struggle.

However, Brian Young had four older sisters of varying ages, all with names that, when lined up, read as “Zhaodi,” “Pandi,” “Niandi,” and “Wangdi”—all names expressing the hope for a younger brother. Seeing these names, The Elder Clarks were convinced that this family would never accept a man who would end their family line, and that this hopeless romance was doomed from the start.

But love makes people blind.

After sobering up, Evan Clark wouldn’t listen to his parents’ well-intentioned advice at all. He stubbornly resisted, afraid his parents would make things hard for Brian Young.

The Clark Family weren’t so petty as to hold a grudge against a kid who had made it on his own, but Evan Clark’s rebelliousness truly hurt their hearts.

For Brian Young, he fell out with his parents, moved out, and started living with Brian Young.

To save money, Brian Young rented a place more than twenty bus stops from the city center, with hardly any food delivery options. The upside was that it was quiet and groceries were cheap.

Evan Clark started learning to cook for Brian Young, and he was pretty good at it. After a couple of compliments from Brian Young, he began making lunch for him every day and delivering it to his office.

A friend scolded Evan Clark, saying, “Little Evan, are you out of your mind? Giving up a good life for some country bumpkin?”

Evan Clark just smiled and said, “He treats me so well. We already agreed to have hot pot tomorrow.”

Evan Clark really was a romantic idealist. Every little dream was hopefully recorded on sticky notes on the table, one by one, as if writing poetry.

“Write songs tomorrow morning; cook lunch at noon; come back in the afternoon to write songs; take a walk with Old Young in the evening; buy two cups of Sun Ji soy milk, Old Young’s with sugar; run the AC half the night, sleep under the comforter.”

He never wrote down bad things, because he truly felt he was living a good life.

Even secret help from Big Brother was refused. The only time Evan Clark accepted a favor from Big Brother was when he took a new BYD car as a means of transportation, because he got carsick on the bus. Every time he crossed half the city to bring food to Brian Young, he didn’t dare eat breakfast for fear of throwing up.

But Brian Young didn’t like this gift, saying Big Brother was being charitable, trying to remind Evan Clark of the good old days and use it as an excuse to bring him back home. Evan Clark thought that made sense and obediently returned the car.

Taking it and then returning it hurt Big Clark’s feelings.

After that, Big Brother’s check-in texts went from once a day to once a week, then once every two weeks.

Feeling sad, Evan Clark thought, his parents and Big Brother just wanted him to have a good life. If he and Old Young did well together, maybe they’d accept Old Young too.

Brian Young had passed the system analyst exam as an undergraduate and, after graduation, got a job at a software company. According to him, his manager valued him highly. As for Evan Clark, his career was going fairly well too.

In the past, Evan Clark never had to worry about making a living. He focused on music, writing experimental pieces that had no market. Mr. Clark and Mrs. Clark pulled some strings to get these works packaged and sold, but it was just a small circle’s self-entertainment.

Now, Evan Clark had to make a living. The record market had shrunk drastically in recent years, and there was no room for him to keep playing with his beloved experimental music.

But Evan Clark had no problem letting go of his pride in this regard. He liked writing all kinds of songs—classical, pop, punk, rock—none were out of reach. He was just a bit of a perfectionist about quality, in that typical artist’s way.

He spent three months pouring his heart into recording three original pop-style demos and sent them to several record companies.

For music companies, demo submissions were a dime a dozen. Evan Clark was prepared for his work to sink without a trace, but luck was on his side—he soon got a reply: a small company accepted his work, offering five thousand yuan per song.

This small company said they really appreciated Evan Clark’s creative talent and proposed signing him as an artist. Evan Clark, in his excitement, signed without even reading the contract.

He was so happy he was bouncing around. Before the fifteen thousand yuan even arrived, he’d already planned out every penny, and every plan included Brian Young.

If he could go back in time, Evan Clark would call his overjoyed past self an idiot.

The small company was slow to produce, and the final results weren’t very satisfying. But seeing his three songs—“Autumn Thoughts,” “Words from the Heart,” and “Loving You”—climb the charts on music apps, Evan Clark felt sweet inside, taking a screenshot every time the ranking went up to show Brian Young.

Until he saw a comment under one of the songs: “Doesn’t anyone think ‘Autumn Thoughts’ sounds a lot like Tang Goddess’s ‘Longing for the Mortal World’?”