Chapter 2

“Have you always been single?”

Maybe worried she didn’t remember the name “Cheng Yanran,” the person soon sent another message with their friend request: I’m Cheng Yanran from Class 2, No. 3 High School.

Zhou Zhou suddenly smiled.

Cheng Yanran—she remembered him.

After she accepted the friend request, she didn’t pay any more attention to it. She turned off her internet, put on her eye mask, and went straight to sleep.

While she slept peacefully, on the other side of the phone, Cheng Yanran was staring at the message notification with a pounding heart. He held his phone with both hands and stared hard at the screen. His fingers moved nervously like he was trying to write something as important as an imperial decree.

If Zhou Zhou had been awake, she would’ve seen the top of the chat window saying: “The other person is typing…”

But in the end, even after writing and deleting over and over, Cheng Yanran didn’t send a single word—not even by 1 a.m.

It was already 12:30, and she hadn’t gone to bed yet. He thought it wouldn’t be right to message her again and disturb her. If she was busy with work, then it would be even worse.

Even though Cheng Yanran often worked late into the night or even pulled all-nighters, the thought of Zhou Zhou doing the same made him feel uncomfortable.

He quietly said “Good night” in his heart, then lay down. But he couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning.

She’s back!

She’s back!

Zhou Zhou. Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou had returned to H City—and it looked like she was staying.

Even now, just thinking about it made Cheng Yanran’s heart race, although he wasn’t sure why he felt so emotional.

After getting excited, he also scolded himself: Cheng Yanran, you pig! All you do is bury yourself in work like a dumb pig!

Because the news that she was back in H City didn’t even come from her—it was their friend Chen Jing who told him.

A week ago, Chen Jing had called and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend now?”

When Cheng Yanran got the call, he replied, “What’s wrong with you? Did you raise more funding again?”

He remembered Chen Jing laughing and then asking, “Yanran, do you still like her?”

“Who?” Cheng Yanran didn’t even realize who he meant at first.

He and Chen Jing had been high school and college classmates. Along with their senior Wei Mingtong, the three of them had co-founded Dongsheng Technology four years ago, a semiconductor manufacturing company. They each had their roles: Cheng Yanran handled the tech, Wei Mingtong did the business operations, and Chen Jing was in charge of networking, financing, and dealing with government matters.

“Yanran, she’s back. I saw her today at a meeting.”

Cheng Yanran suddenly felt hot inside, his breath caught—he finally understood who Chen Jing meant.

Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou had come back.

Whether it was when he was a teenager or now in his thirties, Cheng Yanran had only ever liked one person: Zhou Zhou.

He couldn’t say a word—just stayed silent on the phone.

Chen Jing didn’t press him, just sent a photo on WeChat.

It was from the meeting.

She had light makeup on, wore a simple beige shirt, her long black hair resting on her shoulders—just like he remembered. Her round eyes and lightly orange-tinted lips stood out. She held a pen, body slightly turned, looking like she was carefully listening and taking notes.

Honestly, Zhou Zhou had never been a breathtaking beauty. But even in a group of beautiful women, she was usually the first one people noticed.

She had a unique and unforgettable aura—graceful, calm, and strong.

You couldn’t say she didn’t fit in with the others, but somehow, it was like no one else could truly match or understand her.

He stared at the photo for a long time, then covered his face with both hands to hold back the tears in his eyes. He wanted to ask her why she came back and how long she had been back—but he couldn’t say a word.

It was like Chen Jing already knew what he wanted to ask. He stopped keeping him in suspense and spilled everything.

“She’s probably been back for about a year. I only found out recently. You’ve been in Singapore the past two years, so you didn’t know. You should check our old high school group chat—people were talking about it a while ago.”

“I asked around. She applied to come back on her own. She’s now Mayor Xu’s secretary.”

“You remember her sister, right? Her sister and brother-in-law died in a car accident two years ago. They left behind a daughter, and her parents are raising the child. I think that’s probably why she came back.”

Zhou Zhou’s older sister—Cheng Yanran remembered her.

Back when they were in high school, Zhou Zhou’s sister was already in college. She had come to pick her up a few times. He never thought… never thought…

Cheng Yanran suddenly felt a tight pain in his heart.

Her sister had passed away. That meant… Zhou Zhou must be having a really hard time now.

Mayor Xu was not only the mayor but also the deputy secretary of the city party committee. Even though Cheng Yanran only worked in tech, he had still heard about how strict and efficient Mayor Xu was. Zhou Zhou worked as her secretary, and on top of that, she had to take care of her aging parents and young niece. How hard must she be working to handle it all?

Then he remembered—yes, in the photo Chen Jing sent, her face looked thinner than it was in high school. She used to have a bit of baby fat, but now it was completely gone. It made her eyes look even bigger and rounder.

“You…” Cheng Yanran wanted to ask Chen Jing if he had her contact info.

“You think I’m like you? Always keeping everything inside? As soon as I recognized her, I added her on WeChat right after the meeting ended. I’ll send you her contact now.”

Although Chen Jing sounded annoyed, he still acted like a true friend. He quickly forwarded Zhou Zhou’s WeChat profile to Cheng Yanran.

“Yanran, it’s been twelve years since we graduated. You’ve been single this whole time, haven’t you?”

“Yeah.” Cheng Yanran answered casually, but his hand quickly tapped on Zhou Zhou’s WeChat profile picture.

It was a very simple drawing of a cartoon character—nothing you could really tell from it.

He then checked her Moments (like a social media feed on WeChat).

Just as he expected—

Completely empty.

That matched her usual style.

But the cover photo of her Moments was a scenic picture of snowy mountains and forest. Thinking about her years working abroad, Cheng Yanran guessed she probably took that photo herself.

“You’ve stayed single all this time… is it because you still like the goddess Zhou?” Chen Jing asked again, not giving up.

They had been classmates and close friends for over ten years. In Chen Jing’s memory, Cheng Yanran had always been single. He had never heard him mention any girls—except when it came to work.

Still, Chen Jing couldn’t believe it.

It was just a teenage crush, one that never even got spoken out loud.

What if Zhou Zhou had never come back? Or even if she did—so what? Life doesn’t come with a promise that Zhou Zhou will ever like Cheng Yanran back.

Chen Jing thought it was crazy.

Could someone really stay single for so long just because of a vague, youthful crush?

Cheng Yanran didn’t know how to answer.

Did he still like her?

He asked himself that question.

He had stayed single all these years simply because… he hadn’t met another girl who moved his heart.

So many people in so many places—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan—he had rushed around, met countless people.

But sadly… none of them were her.

He didn’t know if he still liked her.

He only knew that the moment he saw her photo tonight, he couldn’t look away. His heart and mind were completely filled with her.

Zhou Zhou—her name was carved deep into his heart.