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In his previous life, Qiao Zhiyu ignored the warnings of those closest to him. At the peak of his career, he stubbornly entered a clandestine, “underground” relationship with a fellow actor from his film crew.
However, fourteen years of devotion went down the drain. All his sacrifices were met with a betrayal of the heart and a cruel parting jibe: “Old man.”
Unable to endure the humiliation, he took his cat and resolutely left the home where they had lived for so long. With both his career and love life in ruins, Qiao Zhiyu thought he would simply wither away until he met his new neighbor.
The man took care of Qiao Zhiyu’s broken body and helped feed his aging cat. Time and again, he tirelessly dealt with the harrassing ex-boyfriend who refused to let go.
By the age of forty-two, Qiao Zhiyu fell gravely ill. Even as he began to give up on himself, the man remained by his side. Because the illness required a bland diet, the neighbor ate tasteless, watery meals right along with him. When the pain made it impossible to sleep, the man canceled his work to accompany him through one dawn after another.
Technically, the two could have been together easily if they had simply spoken their hearts. But the trauma of his failed relationship left Qiao Zhiyu unable to ever utter the words “I love you” again.
On an ordinary day, Qiao Zhiyu woke up in a start from his pain. Looking at the face beside him, lined by the years but still handsome and striking, he gently kissed the man’s forehead. This was perhaps the only response he could give.
Tormented by the agony of his treatments, he eventually reached the limit of his psychological and physical endurance.
But when he opened his eyes again, he had unexpectedly returned to the past.
And this time, he discovered that the man who had so tenderly cared for him in his final years, had actually left a trail of love for him to find all along.
