Although the fallen teacup didn’t break, most of the remaining tea splashed onto his suit pants, burning him, and he instinctively pulled his leg away, but his knee bumped into the table leg, causing the entire table to shake.

Lu Huaicheng frowned, hurriedly reaching out to steady the teacup that was about to roll off the table with one hand while quickly grabbing a few napkins with the other to wipe his pants.

“While I was sending a message, you’re over here doing acrobatics?” Wen Yuchen paused for a moment, slowly lifting his head to look at the somewhat flustered man across from him.

“My hands were a bit slippery.” Lu Huaicheng pressed his lips together, a hint of embarrassment flashing in his eyes.

He didn’t dare to look at the reactions from the table next to them, but he could vaguely feel a few gazes directed his way, making him grip the teacup in his hand even more tightly.

“Did you burn yourself?” Wen Yuchen frowned, glancing at his tea-stained pants.

“No, the tea wasn’t very hot.” Lu Huaicheng tried to maintain a calm demeanor, standing up as if nothing happened. “I’ll go to the restroom and clean up a bit.”

“Oh.” Wen Yuchen paused and called out to his back, “Do you need me to run to the mall and buy you a new pair of pants?”

“No need.” Lu Huaicheng’s lips twitched slightly as he clearly heard light laughter coming from the table next to him.

He finally couldn’t help but glance over, only to find that Xia Liyang wasn’t looking at him.

They were just chatting about their own topics, laughing at something else.

Lu Huaicheng’s heart sank instantly.

At the same time, he realized that he would rather have her ridicule than her indifference.

Because that feeling of embarrassment was nothing compared to the pain his heart was experiencing now.

Lu Huaicheng clenched the hand hanging by his side, desperately suppressing the impulse to go and talk to her.

He lowered his gaze, walked into the restroom.

After Lu Huaicheng’s figure disappeared at the restroom door, Xia Liyang turned her head to glance at his empty seat.

In fact, she was really startled when his teacup fell.

She almost thought he deliberately made such a commotion to express his dissatisfaction with her lack of initiative in greeting him.

After all, he always liked to adopt a condescending attitude in front of her.

Even though he had let her go, his nature should be quite hard to change.

It was only when she saw his embarrassed expression, clumsily trying to steady the teacup and wipe his pants, that she realized she had over thought it.

He simply had a slip of the hand and didn’t hold the teacup properly.

However, it was quite rare for him to act so carelessly.

In comparison, she, who had just been choked to tears by the wasabi octopus, didn’t seem so embarrassed anymore.

Xia Liyang withdrew her gaze and took a sip of her tea.

It was still quite hot.

She wondered if there was any issue with all the tea that had spilled on his pants.

“By the way, we laughed so loudly just now; Lu Huaicheng wouldn’t think we were laughing at him, would he?” Song Jinhe suddenly said.

“Then he must be overly self-aware,” Xu Songnian scoffed.

“What do you think, Xia Xia?” Song Jinhe glanced at Xia Liyang, who seemed to be in a daze.

“Hmm? What?” Xia Liyang jolted back to reality.

Song Jinhe repeated her question.

“Oh, it shouldn’t be the case; we didn’t even look at him.” Xia Liyang bit her lip and added, as if to cover up, “At least I didn’t look.”

“That’s good.” Song Jinhe sighed in relief. “Otherwise, he might pick a reason to come back and cause trouble for you.”

“He shouldn’t come looking for trouble with me again.” Xia Liyang smiled.

……

With her doctoral exam over, Xia Liyang’s focus returned to the romantic novel she was serializing.

Now that the novel was nearing its conclusion, even though she had some drafts saved, she felt that the previous ending wasn’t good enough.

The male and female leads seemed to have gotten together too easily; there were no ups and downs in the plot, nor any internal struggles or hesitations.

In Song Jinhe’s words, it felt as if the author just forced the two together.

But she indeed had some difficulty grasping the rhythm of the latter part and could only sit in front of her computer, constantly revising.

Once revised, she sent it to Song Jinhe to see if it was acceptable.

“To be honest, although it’s better than before, it still feels a bit lacking.” Song Jinhe thought for a moment and said, “The main issue is that your male lead’s attitude shifts too quickly. Wasn’t he a cold capitalist who underestimated love at the beginning? Then he realizes he likes the female lead and immediately gives up his interests, wanting to be with her no matter what; it feels strange.”

“That’s true… I’ll revise it again.” Xia Liyang nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you have enough drafts left?” Song Jinhe asked.

“There are only a few chapters left. If I can’t revise something satisfactory before the weekend, I might have to suspend updates.” Xia Liyang frowned, a bit troubled.

“Don’t worry; now that you’ve determined the direction of the revisions, it will go quickly. Besides, romance novels typically get finished quickly; if you suspend updates for a bit, it won’t be a big problem.” Song Jinhe paused and continued to reassure her, “And I think once you get the ending right, the novel will definitely blow up because the reception during serialization was already quite good.”

“Thank you for your kind words.” Xia Liyang chuckled as she held her phone. “Now I’ll get back to revising; thanks for the guidance.”

“Okay, go ahead.” Song Jinhe smiled.

Although the direction of the revisions was confirmed, Xia Liyang was still at a loss about how to design the male lead’s change of heart.

After staring blankly at the computer screen for a long time, she decided to go downstairs for a walk to clear her head.

On the riverbank in the winter night, the cold wind was biting; apart from a few dog walkers, there were hardly any other figures in sight.

Xia Liyang wrapped her scarf around her and put her hands in her coat pockets, gazing blankly at the floating lights of the boats on the river, her mind still automatically thinking about the stuck plot.

If she were the male lead, what kind of internal struggle would she experience to choose to give up her self interests and be with the female lead, who wouldn’t bring him any help?

Was it a reconstruction of her values? Or an examination of her inner desires?

Perhaps she could approach it from these two angles to untangle the remaining plot.

As she pondered, Xia Liyang took out her phone and quickly jotted down her ideas in the notes app.

By the time she finished typing, her fingers were almost numb from the cold wind.

She stiffly turned off the screen and stuffed both her hands and phone back into her coat pocket.

Although she was shivering from the cold, the clarity in her thoughts lifted her spirits.

Xia Liyang sniffed and hurried home, wanting to soak in a hot bath to warm up.

As she entered the hallway, she caught sight of the elevator doors closing and instinctively shouted, “Please wait!”

Then she quickly ran over.

The elevator doors reopened, and Xia Liyang, panting, looked up just as she was about to politely say thank you.

But she met Lu Huaicheng’s somewhat complicated gaze.

“……” Xia Liyang paused slightly, the “thank you” stuck in her throat.

Why was he back here again?

But he shouldn’t be looking for her, right?

Maybe he still had things to deal with on the top floor?

While she was lost in thought, Lu Huaicheng suppressed the emotions swirling in his eyes, his deep, dark gaze returning to its usual calm. He spoke softly, “Aren’t you getting in?”

“……” Xia Liyang hesitated, biting her lip. She felt that if she continued to avoid him, it would only seem like she was deliberately hiding something, so she nodded and tried to sound as natural as possible, saying, “Sure, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Lu Huaicheng slightly moved to the side, lowering his gaze to glance at her.

Seeing her nose turn red from the cold and the chill clinging to her, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow. His lips moved slightly as he thought to ask her why her Mr. Xu let her go out alone on such a cold night without driving her back and forth.

But it was no longer his place to care about that.

If he brought it up, it would only make her feel like he was still being sarcastic with her.

Thinking of this, Lu Huaicheng tightened his lips again.

Xia Liyang stepped into the elevator and glanced at the floor indicator.

Seeing that the button for the top floor was lit, she felt a slight sense of relief and pulled out her still somewhat stiff hand to quickly press the button for the 12th floor.

Then she walked toward the corner of the elevator, standing diagonally behind him.

Lu Huaicheng released the button he had been holding to open the elevator doors and casually returned his hand to his pocket.

The elevator doors slowly closed, leaving only the two of them in the confined space.

Xia Liyang lightly sniffed, feeling that the atmosphere was strangely awkward in its silence.

She couldn’t help but glance through the reflective elevator doors at the man standing silently in front of her.

He was still dressed in a luxurious suit paired with a long black coat, with broad shoulders, a slim waist, and deep facial features.

He probably came directly after work; his tie was still impeccably fastened, and there was a hint of fatigue in his eyes.

In an effort to ease the awkwardness, Xia Liyang cleared her throat slightly and casually said, “Mr. Lu, did you just get off work?”

Seemingly not expecting her to take the initiative to speak to him, Lu Huaicheng paused for a moment before nodding slightly, “Mm.”

“Then you must be quite busy at work.” She pursed her lips and offered a dry comment.

“A little.” After a few seconds of silence, Lu Huaicheng couldn’t help but ask her in return, “Miss Xia, why are you coming back so late?”

“Uh…” Xia Liyang quickly processed her thoughts and replied slowly, “I was helping my advisor with a project, so it took a bit longer.”

“That must have been tough for you,” Lu Huaicheng returned the courtesy.

“It’s not too bad,” Xia Liyang forced a smile, glancing at the ascending floor indicator.

Finally, it stopped at the number 12.

With a ding, Xia Liyang quickly stepped out of the elevator.

“I’m going to head out now,” she said in as cheerful a tone as possible, thinking that she had finally managed a somewhat natural encounter with Lu Huaicheng.

“Mm.” Lu Huaicheng nodded slightly, the corners of his lips pulling into a polite smile.

He watched her long hair fluttering as she lightly left.

In a daze, he recalled the kiss she had planted near his lips right before the elevator doors had closed back then.

It was so sweet and charming, playful and cute.

Yet it felt like a lifetime ago.

Lu Huaicheng’s heart involuntarily tightened as he stared blankly at the closed elevator doors.

By the time he reached the top floor and the elevator doors opened again, he suddenly snapped back to reality, slowly stepping out and unlocking the door to the apartment.

After deciding to let her go, he had considered getting rid of all the things in this apartment that reminded him of her.

But subconsciously, he had been finding all sorts of excuses to delay the task.

For example, he was too busy with work and didn’t have the time.

Or he wouldn’t be coming back to stay here, so it wouldn’t make a difference whether he handled it or not.

He didn’t need these things to prove he had already moved on.

It wasn’t until he saw her again at the Japanese sushi restaurant last week that he realized he had been deceiving himself.

He hadn’t let go at all, which was why he was reluctant to erase her traces from his life.

But he needed to move on.

In the life plan he set at seventeen, there had never been an option for love.

He shouldn’t have fallen for anyone; he only needed to marry a woman of equal status, use that to climb higher, undermine his father’s power, and make sure that Zhou Yuling lost her only shield, so he could have the opportunity to act against her and force her to confess, leading to her downfall.

So tonight, he intended to take one last look at this apartment and then have Lin Shen come tomorrow to dispose of everything related to her.

Yet as he stood at the door, looking into the empty apartment, he suddenly lost the courage to step inside.

After standing in place for a long time, he pressed his lips together, lowered his gaze, and gripped the doorknob tightly, his hand trembling slightly, before he shut the door again.

It was as if he was fleeing from his own failed decisions, leaving hurriedly.