May in Jiangbei City marked the gentle shift from spring to summer, bringing the most comfortable temperatures of the year. Shen Zhirou sat in a cozy tea restaurant, waiting for someone. She had applied a touch of light makeup and wore a moon-white, cinched long skirt that made her figure appear even more slender.
Shen Zhirou’s looks were only a cut above average—not breathtakingly stunning, but her eyes held a captivating shimmer, like clear water under light. She had ordered a cup of black tea and was stirring it idly with her slender, pale fingers. She glanced down at her phone; only five minutes remained until their scheduled meeting time, but the person she was waiting for still hadn’t shown up.
How many blind dates had it been this year? Shen Zhirou had lost track. It wasn’t even her idea—her mother had been hounding her relentlessly, acting as if hitting twenty-eight meant she was suddenly undesirable.
Shen Zhirou let out a soft sigh. In that moment, a faint narcissus fragrance drifted into her nostrils. When she looked up, she saw a strikingly attractive woman standing not far away. The woman had porcelain skin, a pert nose, full lips glossed with lipstick, and long, wavy hair loosely draped over her shoulders. Yet she was dressed in crisp business attire, looking more like she was en route to a meeting than a date.
The next instant, Shen Zhirou watched the woman walk straight toward her.
Lu Yao studied Shen Zhirou as she approached, her expression impassive, betraying no hint of interest. But when their eyes met, a subtle spark lit in Lu Yao’s gaze, softening it with a touch of warmth.
She nodded at Shen Zhirou and spoke. “Sorry, I got held up by some urgent business at the company and arrived late. I’m Lu Yao—we just talked on the phone.”
Lu Yao’s voice was melodic, a pleasant contrast to the seriousness etched on her face.
Shen Zhirou smiled at her and waved it off. “No worries at all. I only just got here myself. What would you like to drink?”
Lu Yao signaled to the nearby server. “A cup of coffee, please.”
“Right away, miss. Please wait just a moment.”
Lu Yao glanced at Shen Zhirou and took the initiative. “Miss Shen, our matchmaker should have filled you in on my situation. I’m a project manager at New District Construction Group, pulling in around six million a year, with a two-hundred-square-meter house and a Bentley. No fancy hobbies—I’m swamped with work, so I end up putting in a lot of overtime. Your turn, Miss Shen?”
Even as Lu Yao recited her credentials, Shen Zhirou felt a pang of unease. Every blind date devolved into this ritual of listing assets, reducing everyone to commodities with price tags. She hated the feeling.
Still, she couldn’t very well clam up now, especially since she found herself quite taken with the woman across from her.
“Please, just call me Zhirou, Miss Lu. I work as an office clerk at AFN Group, making about two hundred thousand a year. No house or car yet.” The words left her feeling increasingly deflated; her prospects seemed worlds apart from Lu Yao’s. This date was probably a lost cause.
Shen Zhirou finished and stole a glance at Lu Yao’s face. Lu Yao seemed unfazed, though her eyes flicked repeatedly to her phone screen, as if some pressing matter demanded her attention.
“Got it. Is your job demanding? Lots of overtime?” Lu Yao asked, looking up.
“It’s manageable. We’re in admin—mostly prepping documents, no client-facing work, so overtime is rare.” Shen Zhirou was telling the truth; the department’s easy pace came with correspondingly modest pay.
Lu Yao nodded. “Alright, Zhirou. I’ve got a meeting to dash back for, so let’s wrap up here. I should be free tomorrow evening—how about dinner then?”
Lu Yao was already on her feet as she spoke. Shen Zhirou had no choice but to nod. Only after Lu Yao departed did the coffee arrive. Shen Zhirou stared at the untouched cup and sighed. Dinner tomorrow—surely that meant Lu Yao was at least a little interested? She clung to the hopeful thought.
But the next day brought no call from Lu Yao. The WeChat messages Shen Zhirou sent vanished into the void, unanswered.
Later that evening, her mother, Ning Jianfang, rang her up. “Zhirou, how’d the blind date go? That Lu Yao comes from solid stock—house, car, parents retired from big firms, and they’re Jiangbei locals to boot. Once you’re married, she could really help out your brother.”
At first, Shen Zhirou thought her mother was just looking out for her best interests. But as the conversation dragged on, it inevitably circled back to her younger half-brother once again. That half-brother—born to the same mother but different father—was Kang Yunheng. Her parents had divorced twenty years ago, and at the time, neither of them wanted custody of Shen Zhirou or her little sister. They saw the girls as nothing but burdens. In the end, Shen Zhirou and Shen Yumian had been raised by their paternal grandmother. Fortunately, their parents hadn’t cut them off entirely; they sent regular payments for tuition and living expenses straight to the grandmother. But that was the extent of their involvement—nothing more for the sisters.
Ning Jianfang had only reconnected with Shen Zhirou in recent years, after she started working. As for Shen Zhirou’s father, Shen Hongxing, he stopped sending money altogether once she graduated from university and cut off all contact. In his own words, “I’ve raised you all the way through college graduation. What happens to you after this has nothing to do with me.” Shen Zhirou still remembered every word of that final phone call from him.
She let out a sigh. “Mom, you’re overthinking things. Lu Yao never took a shine to me in the first place. We haven’t seen each other since yesterday, and she hasn’t replied to my WeChat messages. Looks like it’s not meant to be.”
“Ai, I told you to prepare properly! She had such great prospects, and that young lady was pretty to boot. But you just wouldn’t listen. Zhirou, you’re twenty-eight now. Boyfriends or girlfriends aren’t easy to find at your age. You should’ve started getting ready years ago…”
Huaguo had legalized same-sex marriage five years earlier, and societal acceptance had grown considerably since then. Dating men or women alike was no longer anything out of the ordinary.
Ning Jianfang kept chattering away on the line, but Shen Zhirou’s mind had already drifted elsewhere. She and her sister had grown up at their grandmother’s side; one could say the old woman had raised Shen Zhirou single-handedly. But by the time Shen Zhirou headed off to university, her grandmother had passed away, leaving just the two sisters to rely on each other. True family affection had always been a rare luxury for them. That was why, when Ning Jianfang came crawling back after Shen Zhirou started her job, both sisters had flung themselves at the chance like moths to a flame—even knowing full well that their mother still loved their little brother, Yunheng, the most.
“Mom, I’ve got something to handle at the company. If that’s all, I’m gonna hang up. Our supervisor needs it tomorrow.” Shen Zhirou just wanted some peace and quiet, so she threw out the first excuse that came to mind.
The moment Ning Jianfang heard it involved her boss, she backed off at once. “Fine, fine—go take care of work. I’ll keep asking around about blind dates for you; we’ll find someone suitable eventually. Jobs like yours aren’t easy to come by. Don’t go losing it.”
Shen Zhirou ended the call. The brief silence that followed finally eased the tightness in her chest a little. In recent years, as major corporations boomed, housing prices in Jiangbei City had shot through the roof. She lived in a company-provided studio apartment—just thirty square meters—but as the saying went, good things came in small packages. It had a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom: everything she needed.
Since graduating university, Shen Zhirou had worked right there in Jiangbei City. After covering her essentials, she’d managed to save nine hundred thousand yuan over the years. That would buy a decent place in some fourth- or fifth-tier city without a hitch. But in Jiangbei? It wouldn’t even cover a tiny apartment. She shook her head. This year, her mother had really gotten under her skin. Truth be told, though, living single suited her just fine.
Shen Zhirou gathered the long strands of hair that had fallen across her back. Her hair was exceptionally fine—silky and lustrous, even without any special products.
She slipped into her pajamas, ready to wash up for the night. The blind date had left her utterly drained.
The next day at the office, her colleague and close friend Zhao Tongtong waylaid her right away. “Zhirou! How’d the blind date go? You sneaky thing—I only found out you took the day off the day before yesterday from the others.”
Shen Zhirou laughed as she gently pried Tongtong off her. “She wasn’t into me. No contact since.”
Tongtong remembered how Shen Zhirou usually just shook her head and brushed off questions about her dates with a simple “nope.” This time was different—she’d actually admitted the other girl hadn’t been interested. Tongtong leaned in close. “Hold on, what do you mean by that? Do you like her?”
Shen Zhirou’s thoughts drifted back to Lu Yao’s face in that tea restaurant. She rarely felt drawn to anyone; even the most stunning men or women failed to spark anything in her. The office was full of attractive girls, but she’d never once felt a flicker of interest toward them. Lu Yao was the exception. Still, Shen Zhirou knew the gap between them was too vast. Nothing would ever come of it.
“A little, I suppose, though it’s hard to put into words. But she doesn’t like me. Anyway, enough of that—stop overthinking it. I need some time to clear my head too. No more blind dates for me. It felt just like bargaining over some overpriced commodity. Zero fun in it.” Shen Zhirou gave a light laugh and shook her head.
“If you feel something for her, then go after her. How will you know unless you try?” Zhao Tongtong pressed.
“No need. She doesn’t like me. Chasing her down would only make things awkward for her. Let’s head back to work.” Shen Zhirou smiled, looking for all the world as if she truly didn’t mind.
Shen Zhirou passed the next few days in calm tranquility. Come the weekend, she preferred holing up in her apartment to catch up on sleep. Her phone buzzed a few times, and a WeChat chat window popped open.
She glanced at the screen. It was Lu Yao, who hadn’t reached out in a week. Shen Zhirou perked up at once. The message read plainly:
Lu Yao: Sorry, work’s kept me swamped—no time to reply till now. Tonight, 6:30, table 16 at Yuelan Bay Restaurant. I’ll be waiting.
When Shen Zhirou fired off her reply to Lu Yao, silence followed once more, her words vanishing into the void like every other message she’d sent before.
