The team-building trip to the Hot Spring Manor left Ying Qixin exhilarated well into the work week.
She was in the break room, even chatting up someone from the neighboring department about it. Just as Ding Ya happened to walk by, Ying Qixin grabbed her, expressing one hundred percent envy: “She’s the one with real luck.”
Ding Ya had no idea what she meant. She placed her cup under the coffee machine and asked, “What’s up?”
Ying Qixin: “That hot spring suite of yours, what was it like?”
Ding Ya: “Pretty great. Luxurious. Awesome.”
She played along with Ying Qixin, her tone exaggerated enough to draw a chorus of “Oh wow” from several people.
Recently, the company was doing some “Pet-Friendly Day” event. Many people brought their pets to work, making it common to see cats darting past.
Luckily, there weren’t many departments on this floor, otherwise, the cats would get lost.
Ying Qixin and Ding Ya walked back together. Both had a busy morning; even though they sat across from each other, they hadn’t had time to chat.
Now, finally having a moment, Ying Qixin asked, “Are you close with that Second Boss from Wellpond?”
Ding Ya laughed and nodded as if it was obvious. “We drew the same room, so of course we’re close, right?”
Ying Qixin had no comeback for that logic. Thinking back to that day’s games, she was still a bit excited. “I noticed you and that Boss Shu really have some kind of destiny. Even Truth or Dare matched you two up.”
Ding Ya: “Yeah, your dare was the blissful one.”
That game had roped in almost everyone present that day. Ying Qixin had taken several turns. She was an expert at pranking her own boyfriend, even making people record videos. Absolutely brutal.
Ying Qixin: “In the new year, our collaboration with Wellpond doesn’t need new proposals anymore, and the limited-edition partnership is over.”
Her tone held a hint of regret. Ding Ya smiled and asked, “You’re going to miss it?”
Ying Qixin didn’t follow Ding Ya to her desk. The two went to stand by the window for a bit. Ying Qixin held her coffee and sighed, “I wish our company had such high-standard team-building events.”
Her WeChat Moments over the holiday were visibly bursting with variety. Ding Ya had liked quite a few posts.
Ding Ya: “Forget about it.”
Ying Qixin nodded, then asked Ding Ya, “But does that Boss Shu from Wellpond have a girlfriend?”
Ding Ya paused. “Huh?”
Ying Qixin waved her hand. “I’m just guessing. Mainly, she just gives off a vibe that’s a bit…”
It wasn’t like there were no homosexuals at the company. Ying Qixin had no prejudice; she just loved to gossip.
Maybe the team-building had piqued her curiosity. “Thinking back to our first time meeting her, it just felt kind of fated.”
Ding Ya asked with a smile, “What’s this, you like women now?”
Ying Qixin waved her hands hastily. “Of course not!”
Seeing the smile on Ding Ya’s face, she pretended to be annoyed. “There you go, joking again.”
They were old colleagues. Ding Ya dodged her playful swat, saying, “It’s just a joke, what’s the big deal.”
Ying Qixin put her hands in her coat pockets. “I’m straight as an arrow. But you, you’re a little odd too.”
Ding Ya looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the city. The afternoon sun was warm. There was still no message from Shu Chi on her phone.
She thought: What a mess. I’m the one planning to reel her in, yet I’m the one who can’t wait.
She usually didn’t care about others’ calm, but now she was somewhat curious. “How am I odd?”
Ying Qixin stared at her for a long moment, from her appearance to her outfit. Ding Ya truly wasn’t the type to set off anyone’s gaydar, and yet…
“You, you rascal…”
But before Ying Qixin could finish, an intern walked over holding a bouquet of flowers. She said to Ding Ya, “Sister Ya, I just passed the front desk. This bouquet seems to be for you.”
She had gone downstairs to pick up bubble tea. The courier for the tea and the flowers happened to be the same person. Seeing the address, the courier gave it to her.
The bouquet was enormous; the female intern, who was about Ding Ya’s height, was almost buried under it.
Ying Qixin let out a “Whoa,” wiggling her eyebrows. “You got something going on recently? You didn’t say anything?”
Ding Ya was also surprised. She put her cup down and took the bouquet.
The main issue was how eye-catching the flowers were. They were beautifully arranged, the roses so red they dazzled the eye, with other plants and blooms as accents, not cluttered at all.
Everyone looked over. The Brand Supervisor from next door joked, “Little Ding, are you in love?”
Ding Ya glanced at the card and felt a twinge of disappointment.
It wasn’t from Shu Chi.
[For the lovely Sister Ding Ya.]
The signature was Su Dinghun.
Even though Ding Ya knew Su Dinghun had feelings for her, she hadn’t expected her to be this good at currying favor, even knowing her company’s address.
But it wasn’t hard to guess; Shen Mu probably told her.
Ying Qixin leaned in to look. “Younger than you? Su-Ding-Hun? Is that a name or a nickname?”
In the next desk over was a colleague who joined last year, a huge music fan who always had some excuse to take leave and drift around various Strawberry Music Festivals.
Hearing this, she let out an “Eh?”: “Dinghun? I know a singer by that name.”
Ying Qixin, completely out of the loop, asked while sensing Ding Ya didn’t seem too happy: “Guy or girl?”
The colleague pulled up search results—
“Here, this one.”
She glanced at Ding Ya. “Is this her?”
The photo was pulled from Weibo, the watermark blatant. That face was unmistakable. It really was Su Dinghun.
Ding Ya had already figured as much.
She never overly researched people she wasn’t interested in. She nodded.
Ying Qixin let out a “Holy crap.” “She’s chasing you?”
Ding Ya hesitated. “Not… exactly.”
She hugged the bouquet. It was so huge there was nowhere to put it. She couldn’t even take it home after work.
Ding Ya snapped a photo for her WeChat Moments and sent one to Shen Mu: Did you tell Su Dinghun my work address?
Shen Mu replied a while later: Yeah, she said you left something with her.
Ding Ya was speechless. She texted back: Did you ask what?
Shen Mu also realized something was off. Right after Ding Ya messaged her, she had WeChatted Su Dinghun, who replied instantly—
My heart.
Shen Mu felt goosebumps erupt all over her body. She screenshotted it and sent it to Ding Ya.
With a bit of schadenfreude: So now there’s someone chasing you, while you’re still chasing Second Boss. Ever think about switching targets?
Shen Mu didn’t have an opinion on who was more suitable for Ding Ya.
She felt you couldn’t tell that kind of thing; you had to interact to know. Like how marriage needed a trial run, in case something didn’t fit.
She and Ding Ya shared the same taste in looks. If she had to pick simply based on that, she’d lean toward Su Dinghun.
Anyway, no plans to get married, so dating around was normal.
Su Dinghun was beautiful, knew how to charm, could sing, and her family background was probably good.
As for Second Boss…
Older, yes, but not by much. It was just that her aura was too heavy, her killing intent too strong, making people afraid to get close.
Only Ding Ya dared to pluck the tiger’s whiskers and enjoy it, not afraid of being bitten to death.
Ding Ya sighed and sent Shen Mu an emoji.
She posted the photo of the flowers on her WeChat Moments with the caption: The flowers are very nice, just don’t send them next time.
She specifically tagged Su Dinghun.
Unexpectedly, the first comment wasn’t from Su Dinghun, but from Jing Yuqi. She posted a question mark.
Ding Ya didn’t know how to reply, so she left it alone for now.
The bouquet was simply too conspicuous. People from neighboring departments even came over to see the commotion. Some searched the price, saying it was enough to feed everyone for a team dinner.
Unable to bear the attention, Ding Ya figured she couldn’t take it home anyway, so she simply dismantled it right there and distributed the stems to the gawking colleagues.
She eventually sent a video of the bouquet’s ‘dismemberment’ to Su Dinghun too.
Shu Chi stayed with Shu Qing for a few days. Her WeChat messages were still plenty. The pinned Ding Ya’s chat was still stuck on January first.
The ‘I had to go ahead, sorry’ she sent.
Ding Ya hadn’t replied at all.
And Shu Chi didn’t dare to.
Shu Qing’s divorce wasn’t as difficult as she herself had thought. The husband agreed anyway, perhaps dead set that he’d found his true love. He made major concessions on asset division, being uncharacteristically agreeable.
Shu Chi accompanied her through the whole process, from negotiation to decision.
She’d always been the type to not speak unless necessary. This time, seeing her handle things so efficiently, Shu Hua looked at her with surprise.
Shu Qing’s two daughters were both to be with the mother. Monthly living expenses were settled. Shu Qing hadn’t expected her usually difficult in-laws to be so agreeable either.
It seemed they were eager for her to divorce so they could make room for the new woman.
Although the divorce was Shu Qing’s choice, now that everything was truly decided and negotiated, just waiting for the cooling-off period to end before going to the Civil Affairs Bureau together—
Shu Qing still cried.
Shu Chi didn’t go inside. She waited with her two nieces in the relaxation area between hospital wards. The kids ate the cake she’d bought while watching a show on the phone.
The elder one was in middle school and understood everything.
The younger one was still in elementary school, understood somewhat, but didn’t seem to have any particular reaction.
Shu Chi breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned her head back and eventually opened her phone, logging into an old account. This time, she didn’t pay attention to Bean Sprout. She entered her own space.
Her account had barely any contacts. In the family group was Shu Qing, who liked playing with phones in earlier years.
But now everyone used WeChat, and these accounts were long dormant.
Her message board was still being updated. It wouldn’t trigger activity alerts—it was a perfect tree hole.
It was Shu Chi’s silent battleground, every line a whisper from her heart.
No one ever read it.
You could also call it a garbage dump.
She had just typed out the word “Today” when Jing Yuqi’s message aggressively popped up.
Before Shu Chi even opened it, Jing Yuqi sent another—
You and Ding Ya shared a room for a whole night and nothing happened?
This woman was way too gossipy.
Shu Chi felt helpless. Before she could reply, Jing Yuqi sent another message—
Even if nothing else happened, surely you talked about something romantic? A bit of poetry and moonlight?
She sent it but quickly retracted it.
She changed it to: Even if nothing else, surely you talked about home, your inner thoughts, right?
It was as if she was certain that Shu Chi, this block of wood, couldn’t utter anything romantic. Even her emoji perfectly conveyed her burning impatience.
Shu Chi opened the picture. It was a screenshot of Ding Ya’s WeChat Moments.
That bouquet looked lively and festive, and Ding Ya had even taken a photo of the card.
Even though the caption was ruthless, there were mutual friends joking around in the comments.
First was Jing Yuqi’s assistant Zhang Xi, who commented: Are we flexing?
Jing Yuqi’s question mark, left unreplied, looked especially lonely.
Su Dinghun was that guest singer, right?
Jing Yuqi sent another message: How’s the family matter on your end?
Shu Chi replied: Almost settled.
Shu Qing still needed to stay in the hospital for observation. After discharge, she’d need to rest. Shu Chi hired a caregiver for her and asked Eldest Sister to help out.
There were many things in this world that money could solve.
Like the cake Shu Chi had wanted as a child, which her little niece also wanted now.
But they didn’t have to pick it up like some charity, like a gift, just by saying “I want it.”
Having money was truly good.
The atmosphere at home had even improved.
Shu Chi sighed and opened Ding Ya’s WeChat, clicking into her friend’s Moments.
She also discovered Ding Ya’s previous post—a photo of Ding Ya with Su Dinghun.
Ding Ya, petite and delicate, leaning next to Su Dinghun. The filter added a pearlescent glow, making her look like someone out of a comic.
I’ve never taken a photo like that with you.
The thought sprang into Shu Chi’s mind unconsciously. The pictures with Ding Ya that came to mind were all work-related.
Taken during team-building, taken after meetings at the other company.
As if they were just ordinary business partners.
But they weren’t.
They’d taken photos together, eaten together, soaked in hot springs together, and even slept in the same bed together.
Why couldn’t it be a different relationship?
That kiss.
That deep kiss.
That embrace.
The person who bit my shoulder till it broke.
Why can’t she be my girlfriend?
Shu Chi lowered her head and touched her forehead.
It was a bit hot.
Jing Yuqi was still bombarding her relentlessly—
Can you have some sense of crisis?
The one chasing her is a musician. I even asked around, she’s somewhat famous!
Shu Chi, Mom isn’t asking you to be all fiery passion, but at least don’t leave yourself with regrets, okay?
Shu Chi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She replied: Don’t elevate your own seniority in the family.
On the other end, Jing Yuqi was still in her office, biting her bubble tea straw, staring at the screen. Just as she was about to scold her some more, she saw Shu Chi send—
“I’ll confess when I get back.”
