"First, a bowl to you."
Qi Zhimu set down the wine jar, lifted his bowl, and drained it in one go.
Long Jing couldn't figure it out for the moment—so he stopped trying. He tipped his head back and finished his bowl too.
"In the blink of an eye, more than forty years… and you're still that young. I really envy long-lived races…"
"You haven't changed much compared to nine years ago either. And besides, I'm not long-lived." Qi Zhimu filled his bowl again.
"Fair point. Even I can keep my face with a little medical aesthetics. A miracle doctor like you must have far more tricks. Pity you won't sell them." Long Jing clicked his tongue in regret.
Qi Zhimu didn't answer. He simply raised his bowl.
The rims touched with a crisp clink.
"Now that's satisfying!" Long Jing wiped his mouth, his expression loose with relief.
"Hey, Old Qi—did you see that I'm about to die, so you finally got willing to bring out this plum-blossom brew?"
"…."
This time, it was Qi Zhimu who froze.
Long Jing didn't wait for an answer. He didn't even bother to look closely at Qi Zhimu's face—he took the silence as admission and kept talking.
"I didn't come to you for medicine last year because… I figured there was no point anymore."
"The bitter fruit of forcing my lifespan longer back then—I don't want to keep swallowing it. I've lived to three hundred and thirty-six. I've endured that bitterness for two hundred and forty-seven years. I'm tired."
"…No. To be precise, two hundred and four."
Because after he found Qi Zhimu, the medicine let him live steadily for forty-three years.
Executive of the Company. One of the Stonehearts Ten. Glorious beyond measure—so what?
In the dead of night, that pain like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart… only he knew it.
"...I'm sorry. When it involves the power of the Path of Abundance, I can't do anything." Qi Zhimu sighed.
"Tch. I didn't come here to hear you apologize."
Long Jing took a heavy swig, sounding as if he were speaking to himself.
"A company that big—where even a Preservation Emanator can't do anything—and you can still keep it under control? That's already damn impressive, Old Qi."
"I came today to say goodbye. Waiting to die isn't my style. I already picked my day."
"To drink your most treasured vintage before I go—no regrets."
"The Company is a nest of schemes. Countless people wait for you to slip, and everything is a kill-or-be-killed struggle…"
"Now I finally get why you chose to hide away in the mountains for peace. No need to watch for arrows in the dark. No need to worry about the livelihoods of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands under you… must be nice."
"I'm really exhausted, Old Qi… but when I flipped through my contacts, I couldn't find a single person I could talk to—one friend—who'd listen. Ha…"
"So before I die, I shamelessly came to you."
"I figured—even if the miracle doctor Qi Zhimu doesn't treat me as a friend, at least you can be someone I complain to."
"Listening to a lonely patient talk about his heartache is part of a doctor's duty, right?"
"…"
Qi Zhimu said nothing. He only refilled Long Jing's bowl and listened.
He didn't deny that part.
Between "friend" and "patient," Long Jing had always been the latter here—a strictly equal exchange.
Qi Zhimu gave him medicine to suppress the agony. Long Jing used his position to do important things for him. That was all. No favors. No sentiment.
But right now—right now—Long Jing was a friend.
Between men, friendship often doesn't need any prelude at all.
"My old man and old lady died early—beaten to death."
"They stole, they robbed, just to feed me when I'd barely turned eleven… and in the end they crossed someone they shouldn't have."
"That world had no order anymore. The bigger fist made the rules."
"I killed the people who did it, to avenge them. And to cut off every loose end, I burned everything to the ground. I didn't even spare the kids—kids even younger than me…"
"I should've died too. But a blind woman saved me."
"When Company people arrived, I signed the indenture without hesitation. After that, I clawed my way upward with everything I had."
"Because I knew—only by climbing higher could I seize control of my own fate."
"And yeah, I did it. But now, looking back… all I left is wreckage. Pathetic wreckage. Heh…"
"You might think I'm being dramatic, but I have to say it—when the blind woman who saved me died right in front of me… the real me died then too."
"I didn't get to say I liked her. Loved her. Wanted to marry her…"
"I promised her… I promised her…"
"I said I'd take her across the galaxy. That before her eyes were cured, I'd be her eyes—I'd show her countless landscapes."
"But I broke my promise. Hahaha—"
"It's a cliché story, right? But it's my life. I'm a success… and I'm also a complete failure."
"When I got old and desperate, hunting for ways to extend my life… I just couldn't accept dying like that—as a failure."
"…But now I see it clearly, Old Qi."
"I've donated every last bit of wealth in my name to worlds as turbulent as my hometown. No attachments left. I'm going to find her."
"Only… after all these years, she's long gone. She won't be waiting for me anymore, will she…"
Qi Zhimu lowered his gaze. He offered no judgment—he didn't think he had the right to.
The only thing he could truly understand was the hardship of childhood.
"…At the fork in fate, I was luckier than you."
"Tell me."
"When I was about to die in a heap of rotting corpses, my teacher picked me up. Unlike your blind woman, she was a brilliant biologist."
"The things you mail out every year… those are for your teacher?"
"Yes."
"Then you really are luckier. At least you didn't leave regrets." Long Jing tipped back his bowl, whether laughing or crying impossible to tell.
Qi Zhimu's lips moved as if he wanted to say something—then he slowly closed his eyes.
Compared to Long Jing's life, failing to persuade his teacher… could that even count as regret?
But why—
His heart suddenly hurt, as if someone's hand had pierced his chest and clenched his beating heart.
Fragments flashed in his mind—painfully blurred, unbearable.
He couldn't see… he couldn't see any of it clearly.
"Long Jing."
"Yeah?"
"I chose my day too."
"…Don't tell me you—"
"Yes. My lifespan is at its limit. I've only got a few days. That's why I brought out the plum-blossom wine for you."
Long Jing stared at the calm face across from him. After a long moment, he burst into laughter.
"You stingy old bastard—only when you're dying do you finally bring out the good stuff you guard like treasure."
"And you? Only when you're dying do you remember to do good and donate everything you own."
"Hahaha. True."
Long Jing laughed hard, then slowly sobered, and asked with rare seriousness, "So. How many days?"
"On Great Cold."
"Heh. I'm one day earlier. Which means… neither of us can see the other off."
"Today's goodbye is enough. No regrets."
"Yeah… but Old Qi—why aren't you attached to this world anymore? Really nothing left you regret?"
"Because there are no regrets… there's nothing to cling to."
"So that's what a doctor who's seen through life and death sounds like… fine. Bottoms up! Friends!"
Life may be long or short, but it always rushes past. Many people never even get the chance to say goodbye.
But at least these two old men—whose friendship lasted only half a day—could say a final farewell to each other.
....
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