Chapter 008: You Came Looking for Me

Just as Lu Jingshan hung up the phone and was about to head to the bathroom, his phone buzzed with a few WeChat notifications.

A rare red dot appeared on the WeChat icon.

“Yimeng-not-emo wants to add you as a friend.”

As soon as he accepted the request, a message came through almost immediately—she must’ve been waiting for him to approve it.

Yimeng-not-emo:
“I forgot to mention something on the call—are you free tomorrow?”

Her profile picture was a cartoon milk kitten, which made her messages unexpectedly pleasant to look at.

Lu:
“What time and where?”

Yimeng-not-emo:
“3 PM, at Meijing Garden. Just tell the security guard—I’ll come out to get you.”

Lu Jingshan was about to reply “okay” when he noticed the “typing…” indicator from her end. His thumb hovered above the screen, pausing for a moment.

The indicator appeared, disappeared, and reappeared again—three times.

Lu Jingshan chuckled. He could easily imagine that woman frowning at her screen, her charming face filled with frustration, red lips slightly pursed in annoyance.

Just thinking of those lips, a faint and unshakable intimacy tingled at the back of his mind.

His eyes darkened slightly, and after a quick tap on the screen, he replied with a simple “Okay” before tossing his phone onto the gray bedding.

…

The Next Day, 3:00 PM

Sunlight filtered through the heavy curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a dappled glow across the room. The faint lilac bedsheets and a pile of pillows added to the cozy chaos.

Underneath several pillows, a WeChat call suddenly pierced the quiet.

A slender hand emerged from beneath the blanket, fumbling blindly. Only after the ringtone looped did she finally locate the phone.

“Hello?”

Her voice was husky with sleep, tinged with a soft hint of sulkiness.

There was a brief silence on the other end—so long that Fang Yimeng thought the call had dropped.

Half-squinting through sleepy eyes, she was just about to check the screen when a low, restrained male voice came through, grinding slightly through clenched teeth.

“Fang Yimeng, it’s 3:30.”

The implication: he had been standing at the gate of Meijing Garden for half an hour.

Upon hearing Lu Jingshan’s voice, Fang Yimeng jolted upright in bed. She swept her messy hair to one side and glanced at the clock on her nightstand.

To be precise, it was 3:39 PM.

“Wait for me five minutes at the gate—I’ll be right there.”

She hurriedly reached for the red hang-up button on the screen—but in her rush, didn’t realize the call never disconnected. As she tried to leap out of bed, her foot got caught in a throw blanket.

“Ah—ow!”

She hit the floor hard, groaning as she rubbed her bruised knee. But within seconds, she was back on her feet, throwing on a comfy outfit and grabbing a baseball cap off the hanger. She grabbed her phone and rushed out the door.

“Ah-Yi, where are you rushing off to? Didn’t you say you brought your boyfriend home yesterday? Where is he?”

“He’s outside—I’m going to get him now! One sec!”

Lu Jingshan, still simmering under the sweltering sun, furrowed his brows when he heard her fall over the phone. His expression involuntarily tightened.

Then came a woman’s voice—probably a housekeeper—talking about her boyfriend. That softened his expression just a bit.

He glanced at his watch. About fifteen minutes later, he finally saw Fang Yimeng hurrying toward the gate.

She was wearing an oversized T-shirt, her shorts mostly hidden beneath the hem. Her long, fair legs were bare, and she shuffled along in fuzzy slippers.

A baseball cap obscured most of her face—bare, makeup-free. Lu Jingshan had seen her without makeup countless times in the simulation, but seeing her now, in real life, with her fresh-faced beauty, stirred something unexpected in him.

She waved at the security guard, then beckoned Lu Jingshan over.

He was dressed in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his muscular arms. His tailored black slacks perfectly highlighted his ideal proportions—long legs, upright posture.

As he approached, his dark gaze settled on her with a silent warning.

She offered a sheepish grin.

“I got scolded when I got home yesterday—ended up forgetting to set an alarm. Sorry,” she said, tugging playfully at his sleeve.

Lu Jingshan looked down at the small hand tugging his cuff.

“Anyway, I asked you here for a reason,” she said quickly. “We’re partners, remember?”

She pulled him into the garden, rattling off her plan in a flurry of excuses.

“I got you an opportunity last night! There’s a business banquet tonight—I asked my dad for an extra invitation. You’ll come as my boyfriend. I get to placate my parents, and you can network for your business. Win-win.”

Her arm was getting tired from pulling his sleeve, so she looped her arm around his instead, looking up at him with bright, eager eyes.

He responded with a quiet “Mm.”

The gentle weight on his arm made something flutter faintly in his chest. He glanced down at her fair hand again, then quickly looked forward without a word.

Yimeng chattered all the way about how important it was not to forget their partnership.

Soon, they arrived at a private villa with a sign that read “Fang Residence.”

Inside the courtyard, a housekeeper noticed the tall, handsome man accompanying Yimeng and rushed over to open the gate.

“Madam’s been talking about you all morning—quickly, come in. Sir, I’ll take your coat.”

Lu Jingshan was about to hand over his jacket, but the woman beside him intercepted it, hugging it to herself.

“Aunt Wang, I’ll handle the coat. You go ahead and take care of other things.”

With that, Yimeng pulled him into the house.

Inside the spacious, sunlit living room, her parents watched everything unfold through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Father Fang let out a cold chuckle, flipping open his newspaper.

“A daughter’s just like that—always siding with outsiders. She never solves her own problems—can’t believe she actually brought a man home. Hell must’ve frozen over.”

Mother Fang, perched elegantly on a velvet chair, smiled as she scanned the young man’s figure, ignoring her husband entirely.

“He’s quite the looker. Strange though—I don’t recognize him. I thought I knew every eligible bachelor in S City.”

“Tch,” Father Fang scoffed. “You only hang out with those high-society types from the Li family. This young man’s probably self-made—you’ve never seen most of that crowd.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

As the couple bickered about who knew more about S City’s elite, Fang Yimeng and Lu Jingshan stepped through the door into the living room.