Chapter 19

Yun Li couldn’t remember where she had put the robot. She recalled that on the day the competition ended, the captain had told them to take their robots home as souvenirs. Yun Ye had played with the controller for days, completely enamored.

On a whim, Yun Li wanted to tinker with that robot again. After work, she impatiently waited until ten o’clock in her rented apartment before immediately video-calling Yun Ye.

Yun Ye: [Your call request has been declined.]

Yun Li: [Why did you hang up on me?]

Yun Li: [???]

At that moment, Yun Ye, with his backpack slung over his shoulder, was hurriedly walking towards the school gate. Knowing all too well the consequences of ignoring Yun Li, he didn’t forget to reply, [I’m still at school], while on the move.

As he swiped his campus card to exit, his phone vibrated, showing a large red circle on WeChat: [Message sent but rejected by the recipient.]

Yun Ye: “…”

Taking a deep breath and realizing he was blocked, Yun Ye had no choice but to return the video call through another messaging app. The screen was dark, but Yun Li could see the face that looked half like hers close up to the camera, filled with complaints: “I’m still at school.”

Yun Li, feeling wronged: “So, answering my calls depends on the situation now.”

Yun Ye: “…”

Yun Ye: “There are people around.”

Yun Li gave him a look, and Yun Ye, feeling pressured, blurted out: “My classmates will think you’re my girlfriend.”

Yun Li: “?”

Once sure no one was around, Yun Ye finally relaxed: “Tell me what it’s about.”

Yun Li got straight to the point: “Do you remember the robot soccer competition I participated in during high school? I brought the robot home afterward. Can you find it for me and ask Mom to send it over when she has time?”

Yun Ye: “Okay.”

Yun Ye then asked: “When are you coming home?”

Yun Li chose to ignore Yun Ye’s habitual nagging about returning home.

Yun Ye, a day student who lived less than ten minutes from home, went straight to Yun Li’s room upon arriving. He flipped the camera to show Yun Li’s familiar room. Yun Ye rummaged through the drawers, most of which contained old belongings, with letters and papers yellowed with age. Finally, in the bottom drawer, he found the robot.

Years had passed, and apart from looking a bit loose, the robot hadn’t changed much.

“Is this the one?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll pack it up then.” Just as Yun Ye was about to close the drawer, Yun Li, with sharp eyes, noticed a gold-embossed blue envelope.

“Send that blue envelope too, and the small soccer ball next to the trophy. Bye.”

“Wait!!” Probably not expecting Yun Li to cut ties so abruptly after using him, Yun Ye couldn’t control his volume. He quickly turned the camera back to himself.

Yun Li, wary: “I don’t want to talk to Dad.”

Yun Ye, displaying a speechless expression, nervously scratched his forehead with his index finger, “No, I mean, take me off your WeChat blacklist.”

He Jiameng had arranged for her to pick up boxed lunches with Fu Shizhe on Friday.

Arriving at the company early in the morning, He Jiameng had to deliver materials to another city. Before leaving, she pulled Yun Li aside and whispered a complaint: “Can you believe Du GeFei showed up at our company? Her parents are elementary school classmates of the boss’s parents. It’s surprising how such distant connections come into play.”

Yun Li had an ominous feeling.

Her premonition was quickly confirmed. Returning to her workstation, Yun Li found many additional items there. Not only was there a ladies’ leather jacket hanging on her chair, but a water bottle and lipstick were also scattered on the desk, and a pair of slippers lay underneath.

No one else had arrived at work yet, and there were no vacant desks in the office.

While Yun Li was still pondering what to do, the door suddenly opened, and Du GeFei walked in. Seeing Yun Li, she seemed surprised but waved at her in a friendly manner nonetheless.

Yun Li had had a run-in with Du GeFei before. Now in the same department, Yun Li didn’t want to sour their relationship and responded unnaturally with a hum.

Du GeFei promptly sat down at her spot.

“This seems to be my seat,” Yun Li reminded her.

The person in the chair didn’t budge, instead pulling out a mirror to check her eyelashes while saying, “Yesterday when I came to work, they told me since our internship schedules don’t overlap, whoever’s working takes the seat.”

Yun Li bit back her frustration: “What about when our times overlap?”

“Haifeng said you’re nice and wouldn’t fight over the seat with me.”

“…”

Haifeng likely referred to Qin Haifeng, a regular employee in the same department whom Yun Li had met on her first day of the internship. Du GeFei, thinking she had resolved the issue, said, “I haven’t touched your stuff, so don’t touch mine.”

Yun Li realized that not wanting to strain their relationship was a one-sided sentiment.

Her face was expressionless: “You seem to have quite the sense of order.”

“Yes,” Du GeFei winked at her, “By the way, I remember you interviewed for the technical department. How come you ended up in HR like me?”

She showed exaggerated confusion, “Or were you rejected?”

Yun Li: “…”

Du GeFei continued, “Don’t be too upset. After all, it’s just a job. If you don’t have the skill, don’t eat the rice.”

“…”

At that moment, Qin Haifeng arrived, greeted them with a smile, and said, “Good morning. Oh, Yun Li, FeiFei is also interning here. You two should only overlap on Fridays. There’s space in the break room; see how you want to divide it.”

“Haifeng, Li Li is nice and said she would give up the seat for me,” Du GeFei’s voice softened considerably, looking at Yun Li, “Right?”

Unexpectedly, Yun Li didn’t fall for it and directly said, “Not at all.”

Yun Li wasn’t naive. With “Haifeng” and “FeiFei” being thrown around, she saw no point in wasting her energy here. She picked up her bag and left.

Stepping outside, Yun Li finally felt herself calming down.

She hadn’t expected her second day of internship to be filled with such drama.

Arriving at the break room door, fortunately, it was empty.

Yun Li found a spot to sit down, unsure of how to deal with the situation for the time being, maybe waiting for He Jiameng to return and ask her advice.

It was Yun Li’s first encounter with someone like Du GeFei.

After staying in the break room for a while, Yun Li remained on edge, fearing someone might burst through the door at any moment.

Unexpectedly, the first to enter was Fu Shizhe.

He glanced at Yun Li, walked to the coffee bar, scooped some coffee beans, and pressed a button. His white shirt and trousers outlined his slender legs perfectly straight.

Yun Li listened to the sound of the coffee beans being ground.

After the coffee machine began extracting, Fu Shizhe adjusted the cup’s position slightly, then leaned against the table, looking down at the outlet.

Yun Li watched Fu Shizhe’s back until the sound of water stopped. As Fu Shizhe was about to leave with his cup, she finally spoke up, “That coffee smells nice.”

Fu Shizhe paused, and turned his head to look at her: “Do you want some?”

Yun Li was momentarily taken aback.

Fu Shizhe put the cup back on the bar, grabbed a disposable paper cup, and while waiting for the coffee, he asked, “Why are you sitting here?”

Yun Li didn’t want Fu Shizhe to know that her workstation had been taken over, not wanting to appear weak, so she vaguely said, “I’ll just sit here for a few minutes…”

He didn’t ask further, placing the coffee in front of Yun Li, along with two packets of sugar and a stir stick in individual wrapping.

She managed to get by, and Yun Li breathed a sigh of relief.

Feeling a bit bitter inside, Yun Li took a sip of the coffee, and immediately her brows furrowed.

Does he actually like his coffee this bitter?

With determination, Yun Li dumped both sugar packets into the coffee and stirred circles in the cup with the stir stick.

Around ten o’clock, Fu Shizhe entered the break room again, and Yun Li hadn’t expected him to come twice in one morning.

Seeing Yun Li, he didn’t seem surprised and went straight to the bar to make a cup of coffee.

Yun Li had the feeling of being caught red-handed doing something wrong.

This time, Fu Shizhe seemed to have no intention of leaving; he pulled out a chair, sat down, and leisurely sipped his coffee.

The two sat diagonally across from each other, doing nothing, which made the atmosphere feel quite odd.

After a while, Yun Li couldn’t take it anymore and asked, “Don’t you have work to do?”

Fu Shizhe: “Slacking off.”

Sitting in the chair, Fu Shizhe propped his face with one hand, looking through the blinds, the sun spilling into his hollow eye sockets. After a while, he asked Yun Li, “Got a book?”

Yun Li took out the book “How Did I Find My First Job?” from her bag and handed it to Fu Shizhe.

“…”

Although they were supposed to get lunch together, Fu Shizhe didn’t inform her.

After returning from the restroom, Yun Li found that the boxed lunches had been placed on the table in the break room, which was now full of people. She entered and quickly retreated.

She consciously went to the office, found an empty chair, and sat for a while.

After her colleagues returned, Yun Li felt awkward again and simply went to the tech city to find a lounge chair to sit on.

Yun Li felt she might as well have “loser” written on her face.

After sitting outside for nearly fifty minutes, Yun Li entered the break room like a defeated person.

Only the last boxed lunch remained in the bag, completely cold.

Yun Li was in a bad mood, sitting in front of the table, lost in thought, until someone opened the door to the break room.

Both their gazes fell on the last boxed lunch.

Fu Shizhe spoke first: “Have you eaten?”

Yun Li hesitated for a moment and said, “I have, you?”

Fu Shizhe was quiet for a moment, then said, “I have too.”

“…”

The two fell into silence for several seconds, and Yun Li, a bit skeptical, asked, “Did you come in here for something?”

“… to make a cup of coffee.”

True to his word, he went to the bar, made himself a cup of coffee, and then left.

Originally, Yun Li thought Fu Shizhe hadn’t had lunch and wanted to leave the boxed lunch for him. Perhaps she also had a feeling that Fu Shizhe wouldn’t take the boxed lunch knowing that she hadn’t eaten.

Her stomach was growling, and she wondered why she was pretending to be strong.

Staring at the boxed lunch on the table, Yun Li swallowed her saliva.

Glancing towards the door a few times, Yun Li put the boxed lunch into the microwave on the counter. The room filled with the buzzing sound of the microwave working. Soon, with a ding, the light inside the microwave went out.

After taking out the boxed lunch, which was still steaming hot and somewhat burning to the touch, Yun Li opened it to find a Western-style meal: two long ribs, a fried egg, and a serving of salad greens.

Yun Li, like a thief, hugged the boxed lunch, peeked outside the break room to make sure no one was there, and then went out.

Worried that Fu Shizhe might return, Yun Li dared not stay in the break room to eat. She didn’t want him to find out she was eating the very boxed lunch she had told him she had already eaten.

She returned to that chair in the tech city.

“Seems like fate today.”

Yun Li muttered to herself, sitting down and placing the boxed lunch on her lap. She opened the lid and transferred the food to the separate rice container that came with it, and to her surprise, it was quite delicious.

Halfway through her meal, Yun Li saw Fu Shizhe coming around the corner, slowly eating a bagged bread.

Their eyes met for a moment.

“…”

“…”

Yun Li didn’t react at first. Hadn’t Fu Shizhe said he had already eaten?

Fu Shizhe, unbothered, walked over and sat down half a meter away from her.

Both tacitly became enigmatic.

Fu Shizhe asked her, “Is the boxed lunch good?”

Yun Li: “…Pretty good.”

Yun Li: “Is the bread good?”

Fu Shizhe: “…”

Fu Shizhe: “Not bad.”

On the way back to the company, they passed a vending machine. Fu Shizhe stopped in his tracks and inserted a few coins into the slot, and after a while, the spiral merchandise shelf rotated outward a few centimeters, and the heavy drink hit the machine with a thud.

Fu Shizhe opened a sugar-free cola, fizzed it open, and took a sip.

Yun Li also operated the vending machine, choosing a bottle of mint soda. Before she could open her phone to scan for payment, she heard a few clinking sounds.

Fu Shizhe inserted a few more coins.

Both waited in silence as the merchandise shelf rotated outward with Yun Li’s soda, which then dropped vertically. Before Yun Li could thank him, Fu Shizhe bent down, took the mint soda from the pickup slot, and handed it to her.

“Thank you.” Yun Li took the soda, the can cold as if electrified.

Pulling the tab, Yun Li opened the soda and took a sip.

The mint-flavored sparkling water was a bit sharp at first but felt very refreshing after swallowing.

As if they had agreed beforehand, they took turns drinking their sodas, at a leisurely pace.

After staying put for a few minutes, Yun Li heard Fu Shizhe crumple the can and then throw it into a nearby trash bin. The deflated can hit the plastic bin, bouncing towards the bottom like jumping cans.

“Let’s go back.”

Fu Shizhe turned and walked back, Yun Li hesitated for a moment, threw away her soda, and caught up to walk beside him.

Xu QingSong just happened to come back from outside, drinking coffee and holding another cup.

“Hey, you two are together.” Xu QingSong greeted Yun Li naturally and turned to Fu Shizhe, “Xiao Zhu isn’t open today, so drink this.”

He handed the coffee to Fu Shizhe, paused mid-air, and then turned to Yun Li, “Here.”

Fu Shizhe: “?”

“I don’t need…”

After a few seconds of silence, Yun Li still accepted it under their gazes.

It might not have mattered if they hadn’t met, but Xu QingSong might feel it was improper not to bring coffee for his subordinate or a lady.

“Thank you.” Yun Li said.

Xu QingSong raised an eyebrow, “No need to thank me.” He took another sip of coffee and said contentedly, “Shizhe paid for this cup.”

“…”

After spending the afternoon in the lounge, Yun Li realized that Fu Shizhe treated coffee as his lifeline, meticulously recording his coffee consumption with tally marks on paper, which already had two strokes.

She couldn’t imagine how he managed to sleep at night.

Returning home in the evening, Yun Li collapsed onto her bed and, without having the chance to share the day’s frustrations with Deng Chuqi, fell into a deep sleep.

Perhaps it was being infuriated by Du GeFei that weakened her defenses, but the next day, Yun Li woke up to her first severe cold in Nanwu.

She spent the entire weekend wrapped in blankets, sleeping through a foggy haze.

At times, she dreamt of Fu Shizhe holding an umbrella with a cold smile.

Then, she dreamt of Fu Shizhe lifting her from a motorcycle.

At other times, she dreamt of Fu Zhengchu crying, wanting his uncle to play house with him.

When Deng Chuqi called and heard her nasal voice and disjointed logic, she didn’t wait to tidy up the leftovers at home and rushed to the supermarket to buy a load of groceries, arriving at Qilixiang Community to take care of her.

Wrapped in a blanket to open the door, Yun Li showed only a face with closed eyes, dazed and confused.

“You look so much like Deng Chuqi.”

“…”

After opening the door, she curled up on the sofa like a caterpillar.

Deng Chuqi put away the groceries and tidied up the place.

While clearing the trash from the computer desk, she found a photo at the printer’s output and, shocked, rushed to Yun Li: “Holy cow, you guys even have a photo together?”

Yun Li, with her eyes closed, took the photo and stuffed it into the sofa crevice, her breathing rhythm unchanged.

“…”

Two days passed, and Yun Li’s fever subsided a bit, but she remained sleepy.

On Sunday evening before leaving, Deng Chuqi made a big pot of porridge for her and put it in the fridge, reminding her to heat it in the microwave before eating.

“You really should take better care of yourself.” Deng Chuqi felt a pang of distress, pressing her forehead against Yun Li’s, which was no longer as hot as before.

Yun Li mumbled something, and when Deng Chuqi leaned in, she only made out a few words.

“I want to be a mother…”

“…”

Deng Chuqi looked at her oddly: “I’ve given you so many opportunities, and you haven’t cooperated. Now, with a fever like this, you’re thinking about having Fu Shizhe’s children?”

After tucking her in, Deng Chuqi left.

On Monday morning, the alarm rang for more than ten minutes before Yun Li woke up groggily. The room was dim, and she turned on the light, enduring a headache.

She took her temperature with a thermometer, which had dropped to 37.5 degrees Celsius.

After Deng Chuqi left, she hadn’t eaten anything, and now her stomach was growling.

She heated a bowl of white porridge and sat at the table. After a few warm sips, she felt some strength return to her limbs.

She had to go to work today.

Yun Li had arranged with Fang Yuning to work two and a half days a week, half a day less than the regular interns.

The graduate program required only about twenty credits, and she had taken half of them this semester. Yun Li had scheduled her classes from Tuesday to Thursday, with evening classes ending at nine o’clock. Consequently, she worked at EAW on Monday, Wednesday morning, and Friday, while Tuesday to Thursday were filled with classes.

“You don’t need to intern today, right? You might as well skip classes at school too,” Deng Chuqi sent her a voice message.

Yun Li, who had only interned at EAW for two days, struggled internally but was reluctant to ask for leave.

The fever had subsided, and not wanting to worry Deng Chuqi, Yun Li lied: “Mhm, I’ll follow the leader’s instructions.”

She spent the whole day at the company in a daze, feeling a chill during her nap, and noticed her cold had worsened.

Near the end of the day, Qin Haifeng handed her several documents to process and asked her to give them to him that evening.

He Jiameng had mentioned that their department generally didn’t work overtime, and Yun Li couldn’t recall doing anything to offend him the previous week.

Her mind was a muddled mess.

Wanting to say something but with a throat so sore it felt torn, she just nodded and sat down.

The tasks were trivial and didn’t seem urgent, just checking whether the purchase orders and stock receipts from the past two weeks matched. Yun Li diligently checked each one with a cup of hot water, losing track of time.

She remembered doing homework with a fever as a child, which now seemed somewhat comical. As an adult, she still had to work overtime with a fever.

Qin Haifeng also hadn’t left, focused on his screen.

Yun Li thought: At least a colleague is willing to work overtime with me…

Later, Qin Haifeng went to the restroom and didn’t return for a while. When Yun Li went to the lounge for water, she saw his screen colorful with a game of Fight the Landlord.

“…”

Yun Li generally didn’t touch others’ belongings, but this time, she clicked on his profile to check the login time. It was 5:30 pm that day, and it was now 8 pm.

She felt an indescribable mix of emotions.

When Qin Haifeng returned, he packed up and greeted Yun Li: “Don’t stay too late. Once you’re done, just leave the documents on my desk and you can go home.”

The door closed with a clang.

The office fell into desolate silence.

Yun Li sat at her desk, her nose completely blocked, and her eyes began to sting.