Chapter 19

After resting at home for two days, her illness had mostly recovered.

On Monday, Fang Nianchen went to the company, and Qiao Yan unusually pulled her aside to show concern. After perfunctorily asking a couple of questions, she thought of her overflowing workload and waved her hand before leaving.

Fang Nianchen was long used to her boisterous ways and didn’t pay it much mind. She brewed a cup of coffee and got to work.

But it wasn’t long before Xiang Xiaoyun sidled over, mysteriously handing her a red box printed with the golden character for “double happiness,” looking very festive.

Fang Nianchen looked up at her. “What’s this?”

“Candy from a wedding! A relative of mine got married the day before yesterday, and I went to the banquet. With so many single dogs in our department, we gotta soak up some wedding vibes, right?” Xiang Xiaoyun said the most heartbreaking words in the lightest tone. “My relative’s family got a few million from a demolition a few years back and instantly became nouveau riche. The wedding was held at that hotel under Guancheng—nearly made me sick from all the extravagance.”

Xiang Xiaoyun was a chatterbox and didn’t wait for anyone to ask before describing the wedding’s grandeur.

“That hotel was ridiculously huge. My relative said it was just a birthday gift from Guancheng’s president to his daughter—the Yin Chi who trended online before. Hiss… how loaded do you have to be…” Xiang Xiaoyun muttered enviously without any attempt to hide it. “I don’t even hope to be reborn rich next life. I just hope if I ever get married, I can have my wedding there too.”

Fang Nianchen listened silently, her expression suddenly darkening a bit.

Xiang Xiaoyun thought she’d upset her by calling her a single dog and immediately panicked to confirm, “You’re not married, right? Still single?”

“Yeah.” Fang Nianchen nodded calmly in response.

She thought to herself that she was only twenty-two—not in the countryside—so there was no way she’d marry that early.

Xiang Xiaoyun breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s what I thought. No way I’m the only one still alone.”

With her experience from last time getting caught, Xiang Xiaoyun’s anti-reconnaissance skills had improved. After chatting a bit, she glanced toward Director Yu’s office to confirm Yu Wan hadn’t come out, then relaxed and continued gossiping. “So, have you ever dated anyone?”

Fang Nianchen had no idea what had gotten into her today—she’d been harping on this boring topic forever.

To shake her off quickly, Fang Nianchen answered honestly, “No.”

“No biggie, you’re still young.” Xiang Xiaoyun actually comforted her, then asked, “Never dated, but people must’ve confessed to you, right?”

“Yes.” Fang Nianchen made the two words ring out as crisply as colliding glass beads.

“Uh, and then?” Xiang Xiaoyun suddenly looked at her expectantly, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“No ‘and then.’ I didn’t accept.”

“I need to get to work.” With that, Fang Nianchen turned away decisively, her tone still polite. “Let’s chat another time.”

“Fine…” The disappointment hit suddenly, like being tossed into the air and not caught, crashing hard. Xiang Xiaoyun’s brows furrowed in discomfort. “I’m off. Remember to eat the candy.”

“Thanks.”

Fang Nianchen didn’t touch the wedding candy box, just left it there.

She’d brushed off Xiang Xiaoyun just now not only because she didn’t want to talk about her past, but also because she was truly too noisy.

Having just recovered from illness, she didn’t have much energy and couldn’t stand someone yapping beside her nonstop—it gave her a headache.

Close to lunch break, Fang Nianchen received photos from her friend.

She had an additional condition for everyone who adopted kittens: they must regularly send her photos of the kittens’ current status as a way to vet the adopters’ suitability.

At first, it was once a week; once the adopter had cared for them longer, it became once a month; and finally, when she was fully at ease, she’d hand the kittens over completely.

True cat lovers wouldn’t find it troublesome and all understood, so the method still worked to this day.

Usually, Fang Nianchen handled it personally, but this time her friend had offered to step in, so she’d handed the task to him.

In the photos, the little black briquette was sprawled belly-up in a soft cat bed, completely defenseless.

She still remembered first meeting the little briquette—this little thing had been full of wariness, leaving several bloody scratches on her hand. Yet in a new environment, it was lazing about like this, so it seemed its adopter really treated it well.

Her friend sent a voice message: “That beautiful big sis brought Little Black Ball in for deworming yesterday. I wanted to chat her up, but she barely acknowledged me.”

Then he typed: [Heartbroken]

Fang Nianchen shot back bluntly: [Gross]

Not just for his cheesy pity play, but also for calling her “big sis.”

A man in his thirties, spouting that without shame.

Yao Zhihao wasn’t having it: “I’m approaching this from a veterinarian’s angle to get to know a kind-hearted pretty big sis. What are you imagining? Her Moments are all locked—I can’t contain my curiosity. Can’t I just chat a bit?”

Fang Nianchen didn’t bother exposing him and said straight up: [I’m at work, busy]

Hearing she was about to go offline, Yao Zhihao panicked and spilled his real intent in one breath: “Little Sister, here’s the thing—I did manage to learn a bit. That beauty works at Yunqi too. So, any chance for me to meet her?”

Fang Nianchen finally got what he was after. Helpless but finding it reasonable all the same.

Yao Zhihao was over thirty and still single. Partly due to his job—even though he made good money, he was swamped from dawn till dusk with no time for dating.

His family had set him up with a few blind dates before, all of which he’d friend-zoned. Some reluctant girls dragged to meet him, and he’d even played the nice guy, convincing their parents not to force marriage and preaching free love.

Yao Zhihao was a good guy, honest too.

Thinking of how much she’d troubled him already, helping out seemed like no big deal, so she relented: [You gotta at least find out her name first. How am I supposed to help without that?]

“Hey? I almost forgot. Like this—you wait a few days. Once I’ve gotten closer to the beauty, you’ll be my inside line. How’s that?”

“Hit me up when you have news.” Fang Nianchen ended the chat with a voice message, then got up to head to the bathroom.

Coming out of the bathroom, she turned a corner and bumped into Yu Wan washing her hands.

Looking at the person in the mirror, Fang Nianchen greeted her, “Director Yu.”

Then she lowered her head to wash her hands.

Yu Wan shed the cold aura from her meeting and no longer minded Fang Nianchen’s formal address. She figured it was because they were at the company—she was just a thin-skinned kid who didn’t want to seem like a special snowflake.

Of course, most importantly, she didn’t want to be seen as a nepotism hire.

So Yu Wan asked evenly, “How are you feeling today? Better?”

“Much better.” Fang Nianchen answered obediently.

Water slipped through her fingers, lathered with soap, rubbed carefully.

Her phone rang abruptly. Fang Nianchen froze for a second, quickly rinsed off the foam, and took it from her pocket.

Seeing the caller, she frowned and hung up directly.

Anxiety, irritability—emotions pent up for so long surged up all at once.

Even knowing it was impolite, she had no choice right now. She knew the huge trouble would come eventually, but she hoped the surface calm could last a bit longer.

Yu Wan glanced sideways at her.

But in the end, she said nothing.

Fang Nianchen had been quietly watching her the whole time, so of course the gesture was noticed.

She explained weakly, “That… scam call.”

Yu Wan smiled faintly. “I’ve been getting a bunch lately too. Probably year-end sales push.”

Her offhand remark made Fang Nianchen chuckle, and she smiled back with an “Mm”: “Maybe.”

The person on the other end wasn’t giving up, calling one after another. Fang Nianchen silently turned on silent mode and could only feel the phone vibrating.

Having run into her in the bathroom, they headed to the cafeteria together.

On the way, Fang Nianchen asked Yu Wan some questions, all work-related.

She’d never done recruitment before and didn’t know Yu Wan’s specific requirements, so she asked directly.

Yu Wan patiently explained, and naturally, they talked more over lunch.

It wasn’t until they’d finished eating that Fang Nianchen realized how sleazy she was being. Before, she’d pestered Yu Wan under the guise of asking questions; now she was doing it again.

No matter what Yu Wan had felt for her then or felt now, the one abusing her position for personal gain was her.

During lunch, Yu Wan had taken Fang Nianchen into the leaders-only private booth—quiet, few people, to avoid gossip if seen.

On the way back to HR, with more colleagues around, Fang Nianchen stopped walking with Yu Wan.

At their parting, Yu Wan pulled a small brocade pouch from her pocket and handed it over. “Wedding candy. Soak up some good vibes.”

Having been fed candy multiple times today, Fang Nianchen didn’t react at first and stood there stunned without taking it.

Seeing this, Yu Wan lowered her hand a bit. “Don’t like sweets?”

“No no, it’s just…” Fang Nianchen paused, not spilling that Xiang Xiaoyun had given her some too. “Didn’t expect you’d give me this.”

Fang Nianchen took it, but upon seeing the embroidery on the pouch, her gaze darkened.

“Too childish?” Yu Wan smiled relaxedly. “I feel like you’ve been under a lot of stress lately. You’re always frowning when you’re by yourself. Eating some candy now and then can lift your mood.”

Her “by yourself” probably meant when she was working alone.

Sitting in the square cubicle, there really wasn’t much to be happy about.

So… did she watch me even while she was at work?

Fang Nianchen was flattered.

This kind of casual, plain remark could always stir up massive waves in her heart.

Fang Nianchen calmed her emotions, extracted the simple joy from the complex feelings, and plastered it onto her face.

Returning to her workstation, Fang Nianchen picked a fruit candy from the bag of wedding candies Yu Wan had given her and ate it. Only then did her heart, which had been rattled by that midday phone call, finally settle.

Unfortunately, she had underestimated the impact of that call. Just seeing the name was enough to unsettle her mind and even make her panic.

As if deliberately trying to avoid something, Fang Nianchen voluntarily stayed late at the office. Only when the sun was hanging low, neither set nor fully up, did she finally emerge from the company gates.

The revolving door was bathed in the sunset glow, the reflected light somewhat blinding.

Fang Nianchen raised her hand to shield her eyes from the annoying glare, nearly crashing into the glass door.

Fang Nianchen silently cursed her bad luck.

Bad luck at the start often foreshadowed even more complicated and embarrassing developments to follow—she had always firmly believed this.

And reality proved her intuition never failed when it came to the worst situations.

Yin Chi was wearing a fresh, breezy blue floral maxi dress, a cigarette clamped between the fingers of her right hand as she lounged lazily against her car.

Like wild vines mixed into a flowerbed—unable to hide their sharp, poisonous thorns, yet forced to pretend to be harmless. It looked out of place, but excessively eye-catching.

Seeing Fang Nianchen approach, she lifted her sunglasses slightly, revealing her excessively shrewd eyes.

Her lips, painted with plum-colored lipstick, curved into a frivolous smile. “Isn’t this the person I’ve been thinking about day and night?”

Yin Chi extinguished the cigarette in her hand and strode elegantly over to her. She narrowed her eyes, reached out to tug at Fang Nianchen’s collar, leaned in, and breathed softly into her ear:

“You gave the umbrella I sent you to someone else. I’m heartbroken.”