Lu Nan’s emotions are very complex. She couldn’t simply say she harbored only hatred towards her parents—though she hated the pain they caused her; they did give her life. The warmth they once showed was real, and the money they give her now is real too. 

It is these “realities” intertwined together that make Lu Nan feel doubly painful when facing them. 

This cannot be summarized with the words “either black or white, either love or hate.” 

Although her father can be described as “indifferent,” he is always generous with money. His demand is probably, take the money, stay quiet, and don’t bother me. 

Although her mother is hysterical, she herself is deeply scarred. Her unreasonable behavior may stem from a desire to make her children take sides and pay attention to her. 

So, if they are not wrong, could it be me who is wrong? 

They got married, gave birth to me, had a second child, got divorced, and I just passively accepted it all. 

I was only allowed to know after it became an established fact (referring to the second child and divorce). 

It’s really hard to be a human being. 

“Lu Nan?” Someone called her from the end of the corridor and approached. 

Lu Nan quickly pressed her eye corner. It must be because she had consumed some alcohol today that her emotions fluctuated so much. “Senior.” 

“I’ve seen you out here for quite a while, everything okay?” 

“No problem, I came out to make a call and take a breather.” 

Yan Kai glanced deeply at Lu Nan and kindly said, “Yeah, you seem to have always been sensitive to smoke. The air inside isn’t very friendly to your nose.” 

Yan Kai found an excuse for Lu Nan’s slightly nasal tone. Lu Nan smiled and walked towards the private room. “I’ll have to get used to it. Come on, let’s go in.” 

“Lu Nan…” Yan Kai called her name again from behind. 

“Yeah?” Lu Nan turned around. 

Yan Kai’s hand, halfway extended, fell back down. “It’s okay, I just wanted to say, be smart when you go in, don’t drink too much.” 

“Yeah, I know, thanks for the reminder, Senior.” 

The newcomer’s orientation party went on until after ten in the evening. 

When Lu Nan returned, her eyes were slightly red, but the leaders and seniors present were either too drunk to notice or sober enough not to inquire further. 

Some newcomers paid special attention to Lu Nan, but they didn’t mention it when they saw her. Kind-hearted people refrained from prying into Lu Nan’s privacy, while others simply didn’t want Lu Nan to become the center of attention again. 

This suited Lu Nan just fine. She quietly played the role of a vase, smiling appropriately when needed—although this level of socializing required less brainpower. 

Considering her performance during the opening banquet, just after graduating from college, she had already done quite well, hadn’t she? 

… 

After returning to Xinguang Yipin, Lu Nan went straight to the second-floor bathroom and turned on the shower. 

Her towel was already in the bathroom, saving her the time to fetch clothes. Dong Hui had taken the fresh clothes upstairs, and Lu Nan had already finished washing her hair by then. 

First come, first served, with no room for criticism. 

After using the bathroom and tidying up the fallen hair, Lu Nan returned to her room. 

The next day was Sunday, a day off. 

Lu Nan slept until almost noon—mainly because of the noisy commotion downstairs. She went downstairs to the fridge and took out a carton of fresh milk. Seeing that Xiang Feifei and the others had bought a lot of groceries and were washing vegetables in the kitchen, she asked, “Morning… what’s all this for?” 

Xiang Feifei was washing vegetables. “Morning. I messaged you on WeChat this morning. Didn’t you see it? Dong Hui said since the leaders were all around last night and everyone wasn’t done partying, we invited some colleagues our age to the dorm to have lunch. Each of us is making one or two dishes. Since you didn’t reply, I said I’ll speak for you. You’re making cold cucumber salad.” 

“Thanks.” Lu Nan, still groggy from just waking up, felt a bit sluggish. She had a burst of inspiration last night and angrily typed ten thousand words, only falling asleep after two in the morning. “How many people are coming? They haven’t arrived yet, right?” 

Xiang Feifei glanced at Lu Nan’s pajamas and said, “Several people have already arrived in the living room. Dong Hui originally wanted to take them upstairs…” 

“I understand. Thank you for stopping them,” Lu Nan nodded, then coughed. “I’ll go upstairs first.” Although the pajamas were loose-fitting long T-shirts and not revealing, they were missing something important—she had no underwear! 

Fortunately, the kitchen and dining room were in a straight line, forming an L-shaped layout with the living room. Looking from the living room, not everything was fully visible. 

Even though there were sounds of going up and down stairs, it was still possible to hear a bit from the living room. However, the young male colleagues had boundaries; they wouldn’t run around and peek in the women’s dormitory. 

Dong Hui said enthusiastically, “Lu Nan is up! Later, I’ll take you to see the attic. Wow, it’s amazing. The interior design of this suite is really amazing. Thanks to the administrative staff for finding us such a great house.” 

“Oh Dong Hui, don’t you know? Lu Nan found this house,” Chen Lu corrected seriously. 

“Oh, I see. I didn’t know,” Dong Hui glossed over this part. Originally, she wanted to hint at how dominant Lu Nan was for arriving early and occupying the second floor. 

… 

Lu Nan didn’t like others visiting where she slept, but colleagues like Chen Lu were very tactful. Wang Xiaoxue seemed to want to sit on Lu Nan’s mattress but was pulled back by Chen Lu. They entered the Starry Sky Room, admired the unique decoration, but didn’t stay long and went downstairs after a few minutes. 

Several male colleagues were even more courteous and just glanced at the room’s entrance. 

Dong Hui, who acted like the hostess, was probably feeling quite uncomfortable inside. 

At noon, Lu Nan ordered a cucumber salad as a snack. 

Anyway, all the dishes on the table were praised by the guests. Lu Nan knew she hadn’t really helped with the preparation, so she wore gloves and washed the dishes. 

Leaving the kitchen, she was surprised to see two mahjong tables set up in the living room. Xiang Feifei asked Lu Nan if she wanted to join. 

Lu Nan saw two standby players on the couch and shook her head, saying she didn’t know how to play. “You guys go ahead.” 

Back in her room, she originally wanted to write, but the noise from downstairs was really loud. After thinking for a bit, Lu Nan sent a message to Xiang Feifei on WeChat. “If you’re playing mahjong tonight, you might want to keep an eye on the time to avoid complaints from downstairs.” 

“Okay, I also think it’s a bit noisy. But playing until evening… that shouldn’t happen, right? We’ll probably disperse before dinner?” Xiang Feifei replied. 

Lu Nan smiled at her phone screen. “You never know.” 

The dorm was too noisy, so she decided to go out for some peace. 

With her laptop on her back, Lu Nan went out. There was a library nearby, and she found a corner to sit in. The library was very quiet. With her headphones on, Lu Nan typed for over three hours. She only stopped when her laptop’s battery ran low. 

It wasn’t evening yet, but the setting sun was already hidden in the clouds, spreading its glow across the sky. 

Knowing that the dorm’s “Great Wall” of noise wouldn’t end anytime soon, Lu Nan planned to have dinner, kill some time, and then return. 

She had received a large sum of money yesterday, but because the market was closed, she hadn’t bought a certain media stock. She promised herself to handle it on Monday and wouldn’t forget. Lu Nan felt quite confident. 

She even dared to eat a simple meal at Starbucks. 

Although the meal with coffee cost over sixty yuan, her laptop was plugged in and connected to the store’s Wi-Fi. Staying for another three hours, she could write tens of thousands of words — which is totally worth it. 

The plan was great, but there was a slight unexpected situation. Lu Nan didn’t expect that within less than an hour of sitting down, three waves of people came to chat with her. 

Is my face too young? Is my hairstyle too cute? Although being approached could satisfy a lady’s vanity, it kept interrupting her writing inspiration. Reflecting on it, Lu Nan wondered if she had chosen the wrong place. 

When another figure appeared near the low table, Lu Nan didn’t even look up and said, “Sorry, I’m waiting for someone.”