Do you really think you can get me with just a banana?

Guan Shanyu didn't say anything, biting his lip and looking at him stubbornly.

Yan Ruchen also said nothing, with a faint smile on his face, just looking back at him quietly.

A leisurely cloud drifted quietly, gently shading the scorching sun and bringing a moment of tranquility to the earth. But soon, the cloud disappeared with the wind, and the sun broke through the clouds again, its golden light piercing through the clouds and slowly spreading across the vast plain.

In the distance, golden light rippled like waves, gradually approaching. Guan Shanyu's eyes flashed, and a sense of familiarity surged in his heart.

This was the plain they passed through on the day they first came to Wangshuiling and escaped.

Guan Shanyu looked at the vast land in a trance, then looked at the familiar person in front of him. His nose suddenly felt sore, and he asked in a somewhat hoarse voice: "Is there really nothing else to say to me?"

Yan Ruchen's expression froze for a moment, and after a long moment, he finally put away his forced smile.

He turned his head, looked at a point in the distance, took a few deep breaths, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Do you still hate me?"

"it's OK!"

Guan Shanyu answered almost immediately, but when he saw Yan Ruchen's somewhat empty eyes looking at him, he quickly repeated, "Of course I don't hate you! I just... just..."

Yan Ruchen asked doubtfully, "Just what?"

Guan Shanyu held his hand tightly and refused to let go. He bit his lip and hit his head in frustration. Yan Ruchen quickly raised his hand and grabbed his hand to stop him. Then, Guan Shanyu said in frustration: "I just thought you wanted to use me to worship the spirits before."

Yan Ruchen's hand froze, and a flicker of emotion flashed across his eyes. Guan Shanyu excitedly grabbed his shoulder and continued, "I'm just insecure and always prone to overthinking. Putting all your actions together, I figured that's what you meant! I was originally very afraid of you, because in my book, my character ends up being driven down the mountain by you to die in a foreign land. I was afraid of dying that way, so I didn't dare approach you at first."

"But after going through all these things, I saw that you had no ill will towards me, and I thought we could be good friends. But I wanted to be friends with you, but then I found out that you framed me, almost killed me, and used me to capture the elders. Of course I didn't trust you, and of course I thought you were using me again! You said you liked me, but in the book I set you up as a stud with a harem of three thousand concubines, and your sexual orientation is not that of a man. How could I believe it! But I can't beat you, and I think if you want me to sacrifice to the spirits, I have no choice but to go..."

By the end of his speech, Guan Shanyu's eyes were red and his throat was hoarse. He wiped away his tears, turned his head and continued, "Then you died for me, and I didn't understand it anymore. I think I really misunderstood you. I waited so long for you to come back, but you didn't say a word to me. What on earth do you mean!"

Yan Ruchen listened quietly, looked at Guan Shanyu's red and swollen eyes, and slowly lowered his eyelids. Guan Shanyu stared at him, determined to get to the bottom of it today: "I also heard that you kept committing suicide in that world. What were you thinking? Do you not want to come back?"

Yan Ruchen raised his eyes to look at him, sighed slowly, and his voice became a little choked: "I'm sorry."

After saying that, he stood up straight and said solemnly again: "I'm sorry."

"In that world, I did attempt suicide several times because I felt that life was really meaningless. But then one day, I heard a voice. Someone told me that you wanted to see me and wanted me to come back. After saying that, he disappeared. I didn't believe it at first and thought that you might not want to see me."

"But then I thought about it and decided to listen to that voice. I thought, if you really want to see me, for example, if you want to stab me a few times, I should let you do it. So, I continued to live according to the plot in that world."

"More than a year later, I finally saw you again. I thought of many words to apologize, but when I actually saw you, I couldn't say a word. I didn't know how you felt when you saw me, nor did I know what to say. After thinking for a long time, I finally decided not to say anything."

"I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Since you created my life, I should obey your arrangements. Just treat everything that happened before as my rebellion. If you're still angry, you can beat me, even kill me, and I won't fight back."

Guan Shanyu took a deep breath, turned around, and looked at the lonely tree standing in the middle of the plain in the distance.

And here, there are two lonely people standing.

Two equally sensitive, fragile, suspicious, and twisted people clearly want to reach out and get closer to each other, but after thinking about it, they still can't defeat the sensitive and inferior self in their hearts, and ultimately say and do words that hurt each other.

Guan Shanyu exhaled, took Yan Ruchen's hand, and slowly walked towards the tree.

The last time he came to Wangshuiling, he fainted in this place due to excessive blood loss. Now, more than two years have passed, and the bloodstains have long been washed away by time, as if no one had ever been here.

Guan Shanyu reached out and slowly touched the tree. The rough trunk was covered with peeling bark, which fell off with a light touch. After a moment's silence, he said softly, "I don't blame you, nor do I hate you."

Yan Ruchen stood behind him, his eyes closely following his movements, only to hear Guan Shanyu continue, "If I were you, I would do the same."

Yan Ruchen's pupils widened slightly. He watched Guan Shanyu turn around and continued, "I think clearly. You did use me and wanted to kill me. But if I were like you, and experienced nine lifetimes of lowly life, I wouldn't necessarily be less cruel than you. When the time comes, I'll douse every ant nest on the roadside with boiling water."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ruchen tilted his head slightly, his face still expressionless. Guan Shanyu continued, "I've thought clearly about what you said to me last time. If you were just a character in my book, without your own consciousness, then I wouldn't care about your thoughts. But you are here before me now, a person with flesh and blood and warmth. So, you don't have to stick to the settings in the book, nor do you have to live according to my or anyone else's expectations. You are now free to do whatever you want."

Yan Ruchen lowered his eyes slightly, as if in deep thought. After a moment, he raised his head and asked, "Anything?"

Guan Shanyu nodded: "Anything."

Yan Ruchen was silent for a moment, his dark eyes meeting Guan Shanyu's. After a moment, he asked, "Before I decide what kind of life I really want, I'm also curious. As my author, I want to know what you think of me."

Guan Shanyu was stunned for a moment, his expression paused briefly, and then he said seriously: "To me, you are a gift from God."

Yan Ruchen's expression suddenly flickered, and Guan Shanyu continued, "When I first met you, I was very afraid of you. Not only of you, but also of this world that I built with my own hands, which is like an illusory dream. This place feels both unfamiliar and out of control to me. I don't feel like I belong. I just want to escape down the mountain, far away from you, find a deserted corner, and spend the rest of my life in peace."

"But since I met you, the companionship, surprises, and even shocks you've brought me have all exceeded my imagination. You're like a brother I've never met, and I can't help but want to be close to you. I'm a very ordinary, lonely person. Sometimes I even wonder, after living here for so long, maybe no one has come to collect the body of me who was hit by a car in the real world."

"I never expected to experience so much in this world, more colorful than my previous twenty years combined. If you were just a string of data code, then I would be nothing more than a bunch of boring cells. But your company has given my life meaning."

Yan Ruchen's eyes never left Guan Shanyu's face. His gaze was like substance, following his face closely. Hearing what he said, he smiled gently.

He walked past Guan Shanyu and approached the withered old tree, gently stroking its rough trunk like Guan Shanyu. Then, he slowly sat down cross-legged along the trunk, his expression both relieved and melancholy, and said softly, "You said before that you had no interest in men, and neither did I."

"Not only men, I have no interest in women, flowers, plants, or animals."

"I've been reborn in this world, repeating the same life countless times. I've seen many people saying the same things and doing the same things. I've long been tired of this boring and ridiculous life, and I hate it."

Guan Shanyu sat next to him, leaned against the tree, and listened to him quietly.

Yan Ruchen paused for a moment and continued, "To me, you are the only real person in this world. Although I know that you didn't like me very much at first, you were afraid of me and wanted to stay away from me. But to me, every one of your reactions is real and interesting, unlike those rigid and boring lives on a fixed track."

"Before this, I had wanted to end this meaningless life countless times. But every time I wanted to give up, I would think of you. I thought, maybe one day I could meet you. With this thought, I had the strength to repeat this life over and over again."

Therefore, within his limited knowledge, he prayed to all the gods he knew, and eventually made the engineer notice this most inconspicuous and unranked world in the vast world.

Guan Shanyu lowered his eyelids slightly, feeling the warm liquid slide across his nose. Yan Ruchen, beside him, continued in a pleasant voice, "I've never had a long-term, healthy relationship with anyone. As a child, I lived in a brothel, and later on the streets. The words I heard most often were "bastard" and "jinx." So, when I first met you, I misinterpreted my eagerness to see you as hatred. I'm sorry."

"You told me that if you like someone, you think about them all the time and want to be nice to them. So, before, I definitely didn't like them. But then you said that liking someone means hugging and being close, so I seem to like that too. I don't understand this feeling. I only know that by torturing you and myself, I can sort out this mess in my heart and figure out what kind of emotions it is."

"It wasn't until you committed suicide in front of me in Songpi County that I gradually understood."

"I don't hate you, it's just that I'm living in too much pain. But I can't express my needs directly. I only know how to tear beautiful things apart and show them to you."

Guan Shanyu slowly raised his eyes and turned to the boy beside him. The boy was about fourteen years old, with an innocent smile, which was different from Guan Shanyu's red eyes. The boy smiled slightly and asked, "Shanyu, what kind of life do you want to live?"

Guan Shanyu looked confused for a moment, and repeated in a low voice: "What kind of life..."

Yan Ruchen leaned against the tree trunk, very close to Guan Shanyu, almost touching him. He answered softly, his voice as gentle as usual, saying, "I know your mission in this world revolves around me, but now no one can restrict you. You can also start your own life without having to revolve around me. Do what you want to do and experience the life you want to experience."

Guan Shanyu looked into the distance and saw a bird flying through the bushes and heading towards the distance.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, "When I came here, I thought the world consisted only of the few maps depicted in my books. If it weren't for the wires you installed in my room, I wouldn't have known the world was so vast, with grasslands, oceans, and snow-capped mountains. Most of my time before this was spent studying, taking exams, working, and working overtime. I never traveled, never visited faraway places."

"If I have the chance, I want to go down the mountain and see the world. Before I die, I want to record as many beautiful places as possible with my own eyes. I want to do the work I love, without being bound by anyone, without worrying about performance reviews or being scolded by my boss, and just do what I want to do."

By the end of his speech, Guan Shanyu's voice was hoarse and his vision was blurry. He raised his hand and wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve. He heard Yan Ruchen softly and tenderly reply, "Okay."

When he opened his eyes again, he saw the wind blowing through the woods.