“Are you going to give up?” Li Jiu asked subconsciously, noticing Zhu Yiyi’s gaze lingering on He Shen for too long.

“What happens if I choose to give up?”

“Drink,” Li Jiu whispered in her ear. “Don’t worry, if you don’t want to drink, I’ll pour you some juice.”

Zhu Yiyi could certainly accept that.

But doing so would make her the villain who ruined everyone’s fun, unable to play along.

And it was just a hug, there were countless dares far more outrageous than this. Why should she back down just because the subject was He Shen?

…It seemed even more suspicious.

Her hesitation and contradictions were all seen by He Shen across the table.

He lowered his eyelashes, looking at the glass of wine in front of Zhu Yiyi, a hint of self-mockery and loneliness flashed in his eyes.

So to her, even hugging him had become so reluctant.

After a while, He Shen leaned forward, reaching out to take the glass to drink it for Zhu Yiyi, when the person opposite him moved.

Zhu Yiyi clutched her clothes with both hands, under the watchful eyes of everyone else, she walked towards him with stiff steps.

He Shen’s hand froze in mid-air.

In the moment he was lost in thought, the familiar soft embrace gently enveloped him.

Zhu Yiyi wasn’t purely thin, she had curves in all the right places, her body was soft and fluffy, on nights when their passion was at its peak, He Shen had personally written four characters on her body, “skin like congealed fat.” The little girl’s hair also had a unique lime scent, when it brushed against his cheek, the scent went straight into He Shen’s nostrils, and then from his limbs to his heart.

The urge to possess raged in his mind.

He Shen’s hand trembled.

The brief hug lasted less than a second, Zhu Yiyi’s arms around his shoulders quickly loosened, in that instant, He Shen didn’t think, he just let himself go with the flow, his body leaned back slightly.

With the momentum, Zhu Yiyi, who should have stood up, fell into He Shen’s arms again!

Softly pressed against the man’s lean chest.

She fell onto his suit pants.

She bumped into him.

Zhu Yiyi’s face flushed red.

She even forgot to get up, she apologized in a panic, “I、I didn’t stand firm.”

He Shen’s breath was a little disordered, he narrowed his eyes, the pupils behind his glasses rippled.

They often did this pose.

On the sofa, in the bathtub, on the washbasin, in the kitchen, in the driver’s seat, Zhu Yiyi also sat like this.

He Shen knew Zhu Yiyi liked this position the most.

Because it fit perfectly.

He Shen tilted his head slightly, closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and when he opened his eyes again, he had regained his usual calmness.

As if the accident just now was just a fleeting moment for him.

“Get up.”

Zhu Yiyi came to her senses, she scrambled off He Shen, apologized again in a small voice, and stood up with a forced composure, “Okay, dare completed.”

No one took the little episode to heart, they continued to laugh and joke.

Only Zhu Yiyi was still blushing, her mind was wandering, she didn’t know what she was thinking.

Li Jiu came over with a mischievous smile, and lowered her voice, “How did it feel, was it good?”

Zhu Yiyi felt like she had no life left: “Good.”

“How good?”

“Good to the point of being amazing.”

Li Jiu didn’t expect to hear such bold words from Zhu Yiyi’s mouth, she couldn’t stop laughing.

Zhu Yiyi’s face was burning, her ears were burning, and her head was dizzy.

She didn’t get up immediately after she accidentally fell just now, not because she was in a daze, but because she inadvertently saw the tie He Shen was wearing around his neck.

Dark blue, striped, it looked exactly like the one she bought.

Zhu Yiyi’s gaze unconsciously glanced at the man she had just hugged, unfortunately, the distance was too far now, she couldn’t see anything clearly.

Was she seeing things?

After playing for a few hours, the gathering came to an end, everyone was reluctant to leave, some added each other on WeChat, some looked for connections, and then waved goodbye.

The adult world doesn’t have the “goodbye is for a better reunion” set, what it has is simply the vast world and strangers in a foreign land.

Goodbye, I don’t know when we will meet again.

Two days of vacation passed, and it was Monday again.

Amy had been busy with projects out of town for nearly half a month, and Xia Ningxi was in charge of the Promotion and Planning Department.

Since He Shen had scolded Xia Ningxi in the office last time, she had turned her anger on Zhu Yiyi, picking on the softest target, she couldn’t fight Amy so she fought Zhu Yiyi.

In her eyes, Zhu Yiyi was just Amy’s lackey.

So Zhu Yiyi’s workload was a bit heavy these two days, she was easily hungry and thirsty, and she was chewing on a kiwi fruit when she entered the company in the morning.

She thought she was late, but when she walked to the company lobby, she found that two other people had just arrived. As she approached, she heard familiar voices, and her footsteps stopped abruptly.

“Director Lu, you are too kind, it is my honor that you are willing to let me be in charge of this project!”

“I have always trusted Vice Manager Xia’s ability.”

“Thank you, Director Lu!”

Xia Ningxi smiled, “I heard from colleagues that Mr. He doesn’t care about anyone, but he thinks highly of Director Lu, I only realized after interacting with you today that Director Lu is indeed considerate and willing to give us little clerks a chance.”

Lu Pei raised her lips, “It’s not good to spread these things around the company.”

“It’s not good to spread rumors about other people and Mr. He, but if it’s Director Lu,” Xia Ningxi said with a deeper meaning, “Mr. He won’t mind.”

Lu Pei had heard a lot of flattering words like this before, every time she would just smile without saying anything, this time was no different.

She didn’t admit it, nor did she deny it.

Because she understood that ambiguity was the best boundary for a matter, some things would become true if they were spread around enough.

This time, she still smiled with a slight curve of her lips.

After they finished talking, they turned and walked towards the elevator entrance.

Xia Ningxi turned her head unintentionally, she recognized who the person behind her was, the flattery in her eyes turned into cold mockery, “You came to the company to work, who allowed you to eat, did you forget the employee rules from training?”

Zhu Yiyi was eating fruit calmly, “Vice Manager Xia, the employee rules require employees not to eat during work hours, it’s not work hours yet, right?”

Xia Ningxi snorted coldly.

She had become Amy’s dog for too long, even her mouth had become sharper.

Back when Zhu Yiyi first joined the company, she was timid and shrinking, even when she spoke, it was like a mosquito humming.

Zhu Yiyi automatically ignored Xia Ningxi’s murderous gaze, she said “Excuse me,” and slowly walked into the elevator, pressing the floor where the Promotion and Planning Department was located.

The elevator door slowly closed.

Without her as a light bulb, Xia Ningxi continued to flatter Lu Pei, “Director Lu, the weather in Beijing is dry in winter, I know there is a restaurant that recently launched a new winter fruit meal, it’s warm, do you want me to order one for you to try?”

“No.”

Lu Pei refused, she cast a glance at Zhu Yiyi in the elevator, landing on her lips that were stained with kiwi juice, she said casually, “I don’t eat that kind of thing.”

What kind of thing was “that kind of thing”?

Xia Ningxi didn’t understand.

Zhu Yiyi understood.

She first realized the class gap between herself and He Shen the day she met Lu Pei and Nan Er.

It was the second week that Zhu Yiyi and He Shen were together.

At the company, they were an underground couple, and Zhu Yiyi would always wait for He Shen at the bus stop behind the Times Group building. When she was bored waiting, she would walk around, one time she saw her favorite roasted sweet potatoes, and Zhu Yiyi bought four at once.

She thought she and He Shen could each have one.

The other two would be given to Nan Er and Lu Pei, whom she was going to meet later.

That day, He Shen was driving an extended version of the Cullinan, as soon as the car stopped, Zhu Yiyi ran over with a big smile, “He Shen!”

The man let her bump into his arms.

Seeing that her little face was flushed and she was sweating profusely, he took out a clean handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket and wiped her face, “Why are you sweating so much, where did you go to play again?”

“I didn’t play!” Zhu Yiyi cried out in grievance, she smiled and held the roasted sweet potatoes in her arms, “I just bought some roasted sweet potatoes, I bought four! We’ll each have one!”

He Shen didn’t eat street food, but he never disliked anything Zhu Yiyi gave him.

She thought his friends would be the same.

But they weren’t.

Zhu Yiyi remembered that when she excitedly opened the car door, there was a man and a woman sitting inside.

Nan Er was sitting with her legs crossed, playing with a six-figure pen in the palm of her hand, it seemed like she was discussing the contract with Lu Pei.

Lu Pei turned her head when she heard the sound, she was stunned when she saw Zhu Yiyi suddenly appear.

Zhu Yiyi was stupid at that time, she couldn’t see through anything, she held the roasted sweet potato in her hand foolishly, her eyes were shining as she asked, “Do you want to eat roasted sweet potatoes?”

“No.”

She was a little disappointed, “They are delicious, you can try one?”

When Lu Pei looked at the black roasted sweet potato in her hand, a flash of emotion crossed her eyes, her voice was very faint, “We don’t eat that kind of thing.”

In Zhu Yiyi’s social circle, sharing roasted sweet potatoes was nothing unusual.

Just like she shared the same bag of spicy strips with Zhang Boyuan in high school, shared skewers and Swiss rolls with Li Jiu in college, and shared delicious cookies with Ling Mai after work.

The little girl at that time, her life was too ordinary and her experiences were too mediocre, she couldn’t understand what “that kind of thing” was.

Food she didn’t like?

Until one day, she suddenly realized what Lu Pei meant by “that kind of thing”.

Inferior, low-class, dirty.

And Lu Pei, who was looking at her in the luxury car, had a flash of disgust in her eyes.

Zhu Yiyi didn’t know if all upper-class people liked to use “that kind of thing” to refer to things that didn’t match their status.

For example, inferior and low-class roasted sweet potatoes, for example, her, who was poor and couldn’t get on the stage.

The elevator door closed completely.

They were busy until noon, Zhu Yiyi and Ling Mai went to the cafeteria early to eat, grabbing the latest dishes that had just come out of the pot, steaming hot.

Ling Mai held her tray and sighed, “Last time it was warm milk and a daily rotating menu, now there are fresh fruit platters, is our company the richest in the world?”

Zhu Yiyi had been experiencing some morning sickness these two days, she didn’t have much appetite, but looking at the drool-inducing kiwi fruit and sliced strawberries on her plate, she suddenly felt a little hungry.

She smiled, “Maybe it’s because the weather has been cold recently, and it’s dry, so the company has added some benefits.”

Ling Mai stuffed a few bites of kiwi fruit, the sweet and soft texture made her squint her eyes happily, “It’s so delicious!”

“Then you can have these.” Zhu Yiyi pushed the whole piece of kiwi fruit to her.

“Don’t you like to eat kiwi fruit?”

Zhu Yiyi took a sip of warm milk, “I don’t like to eat overripe kiwi fruit, it’s too sweet, I like to eat the raw and sour ones.”

Ling Mai felt her teeth sour just from hearing the description, she grinned, “Your preference is quite challenging.”

She paused and added, “It’s like my pregnant cousin.”

Zhu Yiyi: “…”

After finishing their meal, they continued to rush back to the office to work.

The day passed in the clatter of keyboards and endless drafts.

When it was time to get off work, Ling Mai was still lying on her desk taking a nap, she had to work overtime tonight, Zhu Yiyi didn’t disturb her, she left quietly.

She took the subway to the old residential area in the south of the city, after getting off, Zhu Yiyi bought a bowl of small wontons.

Ms. Zhu had been coming home less and less these days, she was tired from work and didn’t feel like cooking, so she simply bought a bowl of wontons to make do with as her dinner tonight.

Unexpectedly, when she opened the door, she smelled a strong aroma of food.

“Mom, are you back?”

In the kitchen, Ms. Zhu was wearing an apron, she was flipping the pan with one hand and frying vegetables with the other, “Dinner is almost ready, just this dish left, go wash your hands and eat.”

Zhu Yiyi leaned over and took a look, it was tiger skin green pepper with shrimp paste.

After she washed her hands and came back, she brought the dishes to the table, “Mom, what good thing did you encounter?”

Ms. Zhu finished a round of drinking water and took off her apron while humming a song, “Don’t mind adults’ business, you kids.”

Zhu Yiyi guessed that her mother had probably made a lot of money playing mahjong again.

She asked with a smile, “How much is in your little piggy bank?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“You need capital to play mahjong, if you’re short of money, just tell me,” Zhu Yiyi took out a bank card from her bag, “I got a new card last week, you can use the money in this card from now on. After dinner, I’ll teach you how to bind your bank card to WeChat.”

“…No need.”

Ms. Zhu didn’t have much education and didn’t like to play with her phone, she would only watch short videos at most.

In the era of increasing popularity of scanning payments, she still insisted on using cash, saying that she didn’t trust scanning payments, she couldn’t read, and if someone cheated her out of her money, she wouldn’t even know.

Zhu Yiyi had persuaded her many times but it was useless.

“Mom, you have to learn,” Zhu Yiyi seriously explained, “Technology is so advanced now, everyone uses scanning payments outside, if you carry cash, people won’t have enough change, and it’s easy to lose, you have to learn how to scan payments.”

“I said I don’t need this card,” Ms. Zhu pushed the card back, “I don’t need any money.”

“You’re not playing mahjong anymore?”

Ms. Zhu’s chewing movements slowed down, “…It’s none of your business whether I play or not, annoying, shut up and eat!”

How can you eat if you shut up?

Zhu Yiyi wanted to retort, but she was afraid of being beaten, so she obediently held her bowl.

After dinner, Zhu Yiyi was going to wash the dishes as usual, but Ms. Zhu pushed her away with one hand, “I’ll do it.”

“Mom, I can do it.”

“Can what can you do!” Ms. Zhu glared at her belly, “You better protect yourself at all times, don’t make any mistakes, I don’t want to worry about you.”

Her mother was a sharp-tongued but kind-hearted person, Zhu Yiyi was used to it, she was about to roll up her sleeves to help wash the dishes, when she suddenly heard Ms. Zhu say slowly, “That, yesterday I was chatting with your Aunt Chen, she said her nephew from her hometown, he’s thirty years old, and he’s a civil servant, why don’t you…”

“Mom.”

Zhu Yiyi interrupted, “I’m pregnant, what kind of talk is that about blind dates.”

As soon as she mentioned pregnancy, Ms. Zhu was like a lit fuse, even her movements of washing the dishes became heavier, clanging and banging, “Blind dates are inappropriate, are you pregnant appropriate? You say it nicely, then bring the child’s father back to let me see him!”

“I don’t know who its father is.”

Zhu Yiyi threw caution to the winds.

Ms. Zhu was about to scold, then she calmed down, and asked with some difficulty, “Tell me the truth, do you really not know who its father is?”

Zhu Yiyi didn’t forget her current promiscuous persona.

She nodded and hummed.

Ms. Zhu suddenly slammed the bowl down, her tone was calm as if she was saying what she wanted for dinner, “I saw He Shen today.”

Zhu Yiyi’s heart skipped a beat, the bowl in her hand almost fell to the ground, she trembled her eyelashes, before she could speak, she heard her mother say again——

“He said the child is his.”Share

Why is Zhu Yiyi so reluctant to hug He Shen?

What is the history between Zhu Yiyi and He Shen?

What is the nature of the dare that Zhu Yiyi is considering?