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Psst! We're moving!
Shang Zhitao didn’t expect Dony to be in the same city for a business trip. After finishing her work, her colleagues from the branch office invited her out for hot pot skewers and casually mentioned, “Dony is here too.” The colleague’s expression was somewhat complicated.
Shang Zhitao paused for a moment and asked, “What is he doing here?”
“He said he’s here to follow up on a planning project.”
“Oh.”
Shang Zhitao knew that Dony hadn’t come to Chengdu specifically for her. Her schedule had only been confirmed the day before the trip—it was all just a coincidence. But this coincidence made her feel uneasy.
“I’ll go back to the hotel first to write my report, then join you later,” Shang Zhitao found an excuse to escape. However, the colleague grabbed her arm: “Let’s eat first! Work never ends!” And so, Shang Zhitao was dragged to the skewer shop. Other colleagues had already arrived, sitting around two small tables. When Dony saw her, he waved at her: “Flora, sit here.” He moved aside to make room for her. After some hesitation, Shang Zhitao finally sat down.
Dony joked with everyone: “I always feel like Flora is afraid of me. Am I some kind of monstrous beast?” He asked Shang Zhitao.
“Of course not!” The colleagues laughed, excusing her: “Flora is just shy.”
Shang Zhitao forced a smile and got up to prepare the dipping sauce. Dony followed her, asking in what seemed like a casual tone: “Flora, which hotel are you staying at? Is it one of the company’s partner hotels?”
Shang Zhitao nodded: “Yes.”
“Then we can head back together later.”
“Okay.”
After replying, Shang Zhitao returned to the table. When they started drinking, she turned her glass upside down: “You know I can’t drink. No alcohol for me today!”
She asked the waiter for a bottle of mineral water, placing it beside her.
All this was thanks to having a good teacher.
Luan Nian had said, “If you can’t drink, don’t take even a single sip.”
Luan Nian also said, “Girls should drink their own water in public places.”
Shang Zhitao felt as if Luan Nian were sitting beside her, supervising her every move. Dony didn’t force her but complimented her instead: “Flora looks like such a well-behaved girl.”
As he praised her, his hand naturally landed on her knee. Shang Zhitao shifted her leg slightly to avoid it and said to a colleague across the table: “I want something spicy. Let’s swap dishes.”
Her subtle avoidance, in the eyes of a hunter, was merely playing hard to get—a young girl trying to boost her value by acting coy in front of a wealthy man, only to eventually give in.
But what the young girl was thinking was: “A maggot like you doesn’t deserve to sit next to me.” Regardless of what you possess, being beneath standards means remaining beneath standards.
Shang Zhitao calmly finished the meal, watching her drunken colleagues gradually lose their composure. Dony had a high tolerance; all those drinks passed through him without changing his complexion. He coldly observed the female colleagues losing control and then looked at Shang Zhitao with an ambiguous gaze. He sent her a message: “Come to my room later for a chat?” His intentions were now clear.
“No, Dony,” Shang Zhitao replied.
“Just for a cup of tea.” When a man has intentions toward a woman, tea and coffee are the best excuses. It was nothing more than a pretense.
“I have tea in my room.”
It was time to end this boring conversation. Shang Zhitao lifted her gaze from her phone and said to a nearby colleague: “You’re drunk. Let me take you back.”
Shang Zhitao helped her up and walked out, leaving the remaining colleagues behind. The female colleague leaned on her after exiting the restaurant, taking a few steps before suddenly straightening herself once they turned out of the alley where the skewer shop was located.
Shang Zhitao was somewhat stunned looking at her.
The colleague, however, sighed: “I didn’t want to drink.”
“Why? I remember you used to enjoy drinking.”
“Because... there was a wolf at the table.” The colleague didn’t elaborate, but Shang Zhitao vaguely sensed they were facing the same wolf.
After parting ways with the colleague and returning to the hotel, Shang Zhitao locked the door, placed her luggage on a chair and pushed it against the door. Only after completing these actions did she take a shower and lie down on the bed. The work wasn’t particularly exhausting, but dining with Dony was draining—Shang Zhitao hadn’t eaten much. Over the years, she had realized that some people were inherently bad to the core.
“Has your fever subsided? Have other symptoms improved?” She sent a message to Luan Nian, not expecting a reply.
Surprisingly, Luan Nian called her directly. When Shang Zhitao answered, she was slightly flustered: “Why did you call?”
“You complained that I don’t reply to your messages or call you, didn’t you?”
“... You heard what I said.” This feeling was great. Shang Zhitao felt her little vanity satisfied, giggling nervously like a child throwing a tantrum: “So, are you better now?”
“No.”
“Didn’t you take your medicine?”
“Yes.”
“What’s going on then?” Shang Zhitao became anxious: “Should you go to the hospital? Maybe get an IV? Once when I was sick, I had a fever for several days, and nothing worked until Sun Yu took me to a small clinic downstairs for an injection, and I was fine that night!” When anxious, she tended to talk more. Luan Nian listened to her chatter, wondering how someone could talk so much.
Talkative, yet not annoying.
Sometimes, Luan Nian disliked talkative people because they felt noisy to him. He preferred the world to be quiet and orderly.
“Is Sun Yu the roommate who’s starting a business?” Luan Nian asked her. Shang Zhitao occasionally mentioned her roommates in passing—like Sun Yu’s injured foot, Zhang Lei’s promotion, and Sun Yuanzhu’s frequent stays in the northwest. She also had a senior named Yao Bei who often took her out for meals. While she talked about these people, Luan Nian didn’t interrupt, but over time, vivid images of them formed in his mind. For example, Sun Yuanzhu—an erudite and benevolent nobleman, admired by countless girls, including Shang Zhitao.
“Mhm!” Remembering her promise to Sun Yu, Shang Zhitao hesitated on how to bring it up.
Luan Nian sensed the meaning behind her pause and said: “Just say it.”
“Well, Sun Yu... hasn’t she been looking for investment? I remember one day you were talking to a friend on the phone, and that friend seemed to have joined an investment bank... I...” Shang Zhitao still felt awkward bringing it up, fearing it might bother Luan Nian.
“Were you eavesdropping on my call?” Luan Nian teased her. He didn’t avoid her and took calls freely in her presence.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping...” Shang Zhitao hurriedly explained: “You were taking the call right next to me. I’m not deaf...”
Low laughter came through the phone. Shang Zhitao stopped mid-sentence, realizing Luan Nian was teasing her, and her face suddenly flushed.
“Shang Zhitao.”
“Hmm?”
“Does Sun Yu’s company have an introduction? Or a project proposal? Anything will do. Send it to me.”
“Really?”
“What else?”
“No, no other conditions! I’ll send it to you right away!” Surprised by Luan Nian’s quick agreement, Shang Zhitao quickly opened her computer to find the materials and sent them to him: “I’ve sent it.”
“Mhm, let me take a look.” Luan Nian leaned against the headboard, picked up his computer, and opened the file. His eyebrows raised: “Sun Yu does matchmaking?”
“Ah... What’s wrong with matchmaking... Isn’t it a great market... I think... I mentioned it to you before...”
“Hold on.” Luan Nian flipped through the documents. They were well-prepared and reflective, making it seem not too difficult to secure some investment. Further along, he saw past case studies, including a photo that appeared to be from a matchmaking event. Shang Zhitao was shaking hands with a man holding a rose, smiling brightly. Unconsciously, Luan Nian’s brows furrowed.
“Is Sun Yu doing matchmaking or scamming?” There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“Huh?”
“What kind of people attend their offline events?”
“Singles, all singles.”
Luan Nian’s eyes fell on the photo of Shang Zhitao shaking hands with the man: “Does handing a rose and shaking hands mean they’re a match?”
“Mhm... Yes... Afterward, the organizers provide contact information, and then they can chat, date...”
Damn.
Luan Nian was probably burning up again. A surge of anger rushed to his head, giving him the urge to kill Shang Zhitao. Damn chatting and dating... Why are you always so busy?
Seeing him silent, Shang Zhitao thought he was pondering and asked: “Do you think the materials are okay? Sun Yu is very reliable, as are her partners and team. If the materials are fine, can you ask your friend to help?”
“Help with what? Aiding and abetting?” Luan Nian’s tone was unfriendly.
“How can this be aiding and abetting? It provides a platform for single men and women to meet and helps them find their destined partners...” Shang Zhitao repeated the brainwashing phrases Sun Yu had instilled in her: “This benefits humanity.” After saying it, she even mentally praised herself for not wasting Sun Yu’s teachings, using them all at the crucial moment.
Luan Nian finally understood what Shang Zhitao did on her vanished weekends—spending time with her roommates, attending matchmaking events to meet men, and going on dates. He thought she was a perfectly well-behaved girl, but it turned out she transformed on weekends, mingling among strange men, likely considering her own marriage prospects.
He had truly been deceived by her seemingly well-behaved exterior.
“Why aren’t you speaking? Are you tired? Should you rest early?”
“Not sleepy.” Energized by anger towards Shang Zhitao.
“Oh. So, will you help?”
“Mhm.”
After reviewing the materials, Luan Nian found it to be a promising project and forwarded it to a friend named Song Qiuhán, who worked at an investment bank and reviewed various projects.
“Thank you.”
“Mhm.”
“So, check your temperature again and see if your fever has gone down?”
“You sound like my mom.”
“I care about you...”
“Save it!” Despite his words, Luan Nian still reached for the thermometer and placed it under his arm. As expected, he was running a fever again.
Shang Zhitao was hungry and got up to eat some welcome fruit. Biting into an apple, its crispness was especially audible over the late-night phone call.
“You didn’t eat?” Luan Nian asked.
“I ate, but I didn’t have much appetite.” Shang Zhitao omitted the detail about Dony. However, Luan Nian wasn’t foolish—he knew Dony was in Chengdu for a business trip, so he asked: “Were you with Dony?”
Shang Zhitao thought for a moment: “There were many people.”
Regarding the matter with Dony, Shang Zhitao’s deliberate evasion was evident to Luan Nian. He kept asking, and she kept avoiding.
“Dony isn’t a good person. If any female colleagues think Dony getting close to them is for romance, tell them to save their energy. Dony looks down on everyone in the company. He just keeps changing partners for novelty.” Luan Nian’s words were harsh, meant for Shang Zhitao. Though he knew she wasn’t that kind of person, her repeated evasions made him suspicious.
To Shang Zhitao, it sounded like he was referring to them. Him and her—one a fleeting shadow in the clouds, the other plain grass on the plains—was it all for novelty? It was strange; in the third year of their relationship, Luan Nian’s sense of novelty hadn’t faded.
She took another bite of the apple and told Luan Nian: “I don’t know which female colleague Dony has feelings for—I barely know him. Nor do I know which female colleague has feelings for Dony—it’s none of my business. Whether Dony wants to fall in love or have sex with someone, only the parties involved would know. In other words, I don’t meddle in others’ affairs.”
...
What nonsense was this? Luan Nian felt his temperature rising again. He checked the thermometer—sure enough, 38.4°C. Continuing this call would surely kill him. Who said phone marathons were beneficial? What idiocy! Why waste time on such trivialities?
He hung up abruptly, ignoring Shang Zhitao.
He was furious again.
Unaware of the danger, Shang Zhitao messaged him: “What if Dony is genuinely seeking true love?”
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