For an entire week, Xiang Yuan didn’t leave the house.

She locked herself in the apartment at Nanyu Garden, ignored all calls, and didn’t set foot outside. Wearing an expression of elegant ennui, she sat cross-legged on the sofa, hugging a pillow and absentmindedly stuffing food into her mouth. The living room was filled with a jumble of background noise from the TV, which was playing her favorite idol drama, 《Listen to Me, I’m Not Listening》. But now, it felt dull and tasteless. The male lead’s icy poker face reminded her of Xu Yanshi. Only, he wasn’t as handsome.

Xiang Yuan thought blankly to herself and popped another French fry into her mouth, not even chewing it, just letting it hang from her lips like a cigarette. Her eyes stared vacantly at the TV as her mind drifted far away……

That night, after Voldemort greeted her, she had originally planned to take off her hoodie, properly say hello, and explain herself— ‘Xu Yanshi, I was only trying to help. Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t have any ulterior motives.’ Or maybe she would’ve said something graceful and polite, ‘Hello. Long time no see. How have you been?’

Under those circumstances, no matter how sharp-tongued he was, he wouldn’t have put on a cold face in front of the driver, right? Then maybe they could have exchanged a few words and caught up politely. She would have rolled her eyes and gotten out of the car. Then, they would never contact each other again. That sounded right, didn’t it?

But just as she was about to remove her hoodie, the drawstrings had gotten so tangled that she couldn’t untie them no matter how hard she pulled. The more she tugged, the tighter it got, and she nearly choked herself. She had to pause to catch her breath and said to Xu Yanshi, “Wait a sec.”

Let me take my face out first.

Xu Yanshi actually curved his lips into a rare smile.

So she kept pulling and struggling for another thirty seconds, but still couldn’t get it off. Frustrated and flustered, she felt like the whole night had turned into a farce. After years of shining brightly, she had to mess up now— in front of him, no less. She felt indignant just thinking about it. Right when she was about to ask the driver if he had scissors, the driver coldly informed her that she had arrived at her destination.

…..

Xiang Yuan didn’t dare look at the rearview mirror. She sat there with her hoodie still on, mortified, a single thought running through her mind on loop— I really shouldn’t have gone out tonight. The words ‘Hello, goodbye’ were stuck in her throat. But before she could speak, Xu Yanshi, clearly running out of patience, leaned on the window with one elbow. Loosely resting against the seat, he looked at her, and even the veins on the back of his hand radiated a sort of cold detachment as he said flatly, “Get out.”

She inhaled sharply and forced herself to regain composure. “Alright. See you around.”

“Mm.” He turned his gaze back to the window, indifferent.

Xiang Yuan got out of the car with her luggage. By the time she came to her senses, the vehicle had driven far off, and she was left standing like a fool, rooted to the spot.

A sliver of crescent moon hung faintly in the sky. The cold night wind stirred the treetops, rustling softly. Her thin, lonely figure was stretched long by the streetlamp, like a stray dog.

When she finally made it upstairs, Xu Yuan’s call came through again.

“What happened earlier? You hung up on me!”

Dragging her suitcase inside, Xiang Yuan replied listlessly, “I can still kill you when I go back to Beijing.”

Xu Yuan couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Her voice trembled slightly, “W-What happened?”

Xiang Yuan was probably too mad for her own good. Surprisingly calm, she recounted the entire incident in objective detail.

Xu Yuan gasped and covered her mouth. “So…… he kicked you out of the car? Seriously? That heartless?”

Xiang Yuan remained silent.

Xu Yuan tried to comfort her, “Don’t overthink it. Maybe he just saw you as an old classmate. Wasn’t Xu Yanshi always cold to everyone? I remember someone in the group chat said they ran into him and he didn’t even add them on WeChat.”

“Add WeChat? With the way he’s doing now?”

“Is it really? What does he look like now? Did he deteriorate? I care about that more.”

Xiang Yuan switched on the TV, phone in hand, flipping through channels aimlessly. “He deteriorated. Went bald and gained weight.”

Xu Yuan could believe the weight gain, but not the baldness. “Don’t lie for revenge. I have his picture. Someone posted it in the group chat a while back. They said they ran into him at some event. I think he wasn’t in the car business back then. He might’ve changed jobs later. And honestly, I thought he looked even better in the photo. The girls in the group chat went crazy. They said everyone else aged, but he still looked the same. A man pushing thirty with that kind of youthful vibe is rare.”

Xiang Yuan didn’t pay much attention to the group chat. She replied casually, “Really? It was too dark. I couldn’t see clearly. Anyway, if he’s doing so well, look at our old class leaders and that basketball prince. None of the ones doing well aren’t bald or fat.”

Xu Yuan actually found the logic plausible and had no comeback. After a pause, she tentatively brought up the old topic again, “Hey, that night in the grove, you two—”

“It’s not as dirty as you all think. But yeah, I did like him.”

There was nothing worth watching on TV, so Xiang Yuan turned it off, leaned back on the sofa, and admitted it freely.

Xu Yuan was about to scold her for being fickle, but Xiang Yuan cut her off, “It was ages ago, way before Feng Jun. And when he rejected me, you know I’m not the type to cling. I’m not giving up a whole forest for one tree. I could never be the kind of girl who pines for ten years over one guy. Girls are so cute. We should enjoy life, right? So I moved on immediately. I forgot to whom. But I haven’t liked Xu Yanshi for a long time.”

Just because the person you like doesn’t like you back, does that mean you should stay single forever? Impossible. Xu Yuan knew her philosophy— life is short, enjoy it while you can.

“What about now? How did it feel seeing him again?”

“Nothing much. But knowing he’s doing badly, I feel at peace.”

“That doesn’t sound like the carefree Miss Xiang I know. Be honest.”

“Fine. I hope he’s doing well. Oh, right, is your brother still changing cars?”

“One more good deed and you’ll become a saint. You hope he’s doing well?” Xu Yuan scoffed. “Anyway, I heard your grandfather cut off all your financial support and won’t even let your brother visit you. I can’t do much either, just moral support from afar. Here are a few career tips from your big sis. In the workplace, the biggest threats aren’t the sexy, ambitious career women. They just want male attention. It’s the ones with black-rimmed glasses, long straight hair, and a ‘pure’ look you have to watch out for. They want more than attention. They want your heart. Gotta go, my boss is calling.”

“Got it.” Xiang Yuan mulled over the advice and nodded solemnly. “But seriously, what are you doing at your boss’s place this late? Did you finally get unspoken-rule’d?”

Xu Yuan cursed, “Screw you. It’s just WeChat on-call. You’ll understand soon enough.”

────ρя


A week later, Xiang Yuan reported to Weilin Electronics as scheduled.

Turned out the company was having an offsite training that day, and the entire office building was deserted.

The receptionist, a young woman, saw she was a new hire and stayed slouched in her chair playing PUBG and Honor of Kings, making no move to greet her. Xiang Yuan wandered into the tech department by herself.

That was when she saw a familiar face on the employee wall.

It was that serious face she used to see in the school’s display cabinet. Back then, it was a student ID photo— youthful and clean-cut. Now, though he looked more mature and his features sharper, he still wore that same cold expression. She could imagine those icy eyes staring at the camera, devoid of emotion.

Xu Yuan had been right. Even nearing thirty, he still had that youthful vibe.

The moment Xiang Yuan saw the photo, all her earlier good mood vanished. She had hoped not to run into Xu Yanshi there. For him, this job wasn’t much better than selling cars.

Even if he had treated her coldly, she had meant it when she told Xu Yuan she wanted him to be doing well, have a solid job, and a good life. With his ability, he deserved more than this tiny company. At least car sales paid better.

She had looked through Weilin’s financials before joining. The tech department had the lowest salaries in the whole company. She’d found that unreasonable, but her grandfather believed the sales team should always lead.

Clearly, he didn’t value technical talent.

Holding her breath, she slowly looked down to read the nameplate. When she saw the string of letters, she thought it was just a foreign name and exhaled in relief.

Wait a minute.

She leaned in for another look.

‘XU YANSHI^[1]In English’

Xu Yanshi?

What the hell has this guy been doing all these years?!

────ρя


At 3:00 p.m., bored out of her mind, Xiang Yuan scrolled through Weibo and stumbled across a post from Gao Leng.

【Gao Leng Is Your Daddy: Boss doesn’t want to be in pictures again. Don’t bother. No photos of him today. If you want to fangirl over his face, wait till we’re in the car. Maybe I’ll sneak one while he’s sleeping.】

Shockingly, there were over twenty replies. Gao Leng only had fifty followers, and half of them were clearly there for Xu Yanshi.

【Mian Hua Wants Meat: Wuuwuuwuu, I wanna see your boss! By the way, which city are you in? Can I come find you?】

【Changshui Group is Very Changshui: You’ve gained weight again. I miss your boss. That last side profile shot was drop-dead gorgeous. Are you two secretly dating?】

Gao Leng Is Your Daddy replied to Changshui Group is Very Changshui rudely, 【Screw you.】

He was direct and unapologetic, not even caring if he lost followers.

Xiang Yuan finished scrolling and realized their so-called ‘offsite training’ was just a company outing— a day of beach volleyball, swimming, barbecue, and pep talks from the department heads to boost morale.

Classic marketing company trick. Mostly useless.

Soon after, Gao Leng posted a picture from the ride back.

It was a photo of Xu Yanshi sleeping in the car, his head covered with a jacket.

【Gao Leng Is Your Daddy: Boss probably knew I’d try to sneak a pic. How did he know? Was it because I forgot to put sugar in his coffee? Or because I stepped in with my left foot first? [Thinking]】

Comments rolled in.

【Pull the jacket off!】

【Gao Leng Is Your Daddy: He’ll kick me out of the car.】

【Even with the jacket, he’s so handsome! What kind of celestial man is this? What did he grow up eating?!】

【Gao Leng Is Your Daddy: Calm down, Sis. Rumor has it that it’s rice. And maybe some other stuff too.】

Xiang Yuan had just thought Gao Leng seemed kind of adorable with his straightforwardness when her phone screen flipped to his Moments feed, and the tone shifted drastically.

Apparently, something had set him off. He’d posted three rants in a row.

【Has HQ lost its mind? Bringing in a new hire right now? Do they even know how bad things are? We can barely make payroll, and they’re hiring people?!】

【I heard the newcomer majored in Broadcasting and Hosting. Seriously, if you’re shoving someone into our team, could you at least send someone whose background is actually relevant? And the résumé? I swear, I almost died laughing. First place in the 8th National Children’s Radio Calisthenics Competition, third place in the National Youth Swimming Contest, president of a mountaineering club in college…… The only halfway decent thing is the first place in the Wade Cup Aerospace GNSS Knowledge Competition. However, it’s in the children’s category!】

【Do you think you’re one of the Calabash Brothers^[2]characters from a famous Chinese animated series. In the show, seven magical brothers are born from calabashes and go on a mission to rescue their grandfather from demons or something? Is your résumé meant to save your grandpa? These were the boss’s words, not mine.】

Robbin: Unlocking schedule will be every Monday and Thursday.