Chapter 39

Yu Wan’s forehead rested against her shoulder, and Fang Nianchen’s body went rigid, so tense that she didn’t even dare to breathe.

A few short seconds later, Yu Wan finally pushed herself up.

“Are you really okay?” Sensing that something was off with her, Fang Nianchen asked with concern.

“I’m fine, just a bit dizzy from drinking too much.” Yu Wan said as she stood up and casually tossed out the trash. “I’ll be good after sleeping it off.”

Seeing her walk steadily enough, Fang Nianchen nodded. “Let’s go.”

Fang Nianchen dropped Yu Wan off at home first. Only after hearing her address did she realize Yu Wan lived pretty far away. So she had been taking detours every time she sent Fang Nianchen home?

There were few cars on the road at night, and they soon arrived downstairs at Yu Wan’s building. As Yu Wan unbuckled her seatbelt, she said, “It’s not safe to call a ride this late. You can drive my car back.”

“Don’t you need it tomorrow?”

“Nope.” Yu Wan shook her head. “I’m off tomorrow.”

It was a rare weekend without a mountain of work piled up, but she didn’t want to stay home tomorrow either—because she was hung up on that matter of someone hiring a fake boyfriend.

After confirming today that Fang Nianchen liked girls, she figured Fang Nianchen was doing it to fend off her elders.

Or maybe… it was that persistent guy from last time, the neighbor’s son?

“Okay, then once you’re up tomorrow…” Fang Nianchen had been about to say she’d bring the car back after Yu Wan woke up, but then she suddenly remembered tomorrow was Saturday—they were going to Auntie Liu’s for dinner.

She changed her words. “I’ll bring the car back tomorrow evening.”

“Do you have something tomorrow?” Yu Wan suddenly asked.

“Kinda…” Mentioning it gave Fang Nianchen a headache.

This whole week, Yao Zhihao had been helping her find suitable candidates to fake as her “boyfriend,” but unfortunately her requirements were too strict and detailed. There were a few willing to help, but none met the criteria.

Fang Nianchen had considered just canceling on Auntie Liu, claiming she had something come up, but she immediately shot down the idea herself.

Auntie Liu’s intentions this time were crystal clear—she wanted to probe whether Fang Nianchen really had a boyfriend. As long as she didn’t prove she did, Auntie Liu wouldn’t let it go.

She could dodge it with a lie this time, but what about next time, or the time after? And in the meantime, Auntie Liu would only push her son harder.

Just thinking about it annoyed her to no end, and Fang Nianchen pressed her lips together tightly.

“Then you should rest early tonight.” Seeing Fang Nianchen reluctant to talk about it, Yu Wan didn’t want to press her into dwelling on it—seemed like she was getting ahead of herself with the anxiety.

“You too, get some rest soon.” Fang Nianchen tilted her head, thinking for a moment before still asking with concern, “Do you have any hangover meds at home?”

Seeing her still worried, Yu Wan smiled faintly. “So nervous about me?”

Teased like that, Fang Nianchen embarrassedly turned her face away, yet somehow still managed to look earnest.

“I’m fine. I drink way more than this at regular business dinners.” Yu Wan opened the car door and stepped out, then leaned down to remind her, “Drive safe on the way back.”

“Mm-hmm, got it.” Fang Nianchen’s response came out all sweet and obedient.

She watched until Yu Wan entered the building. The security here was on duty twenty-four-seven, so residents never worried about safety issues, but Fang Nianchen insisted on waiting in the car anyway—until Yu Wan texted that she’d gotten home safely. Only then did she start the engine and drive off.

—

Opening the door and entering, Little Briquette was lounging aloofly on its cat tree, glancing at Yu Wan but not coming over.

After changing into slippers, Yu Wan went over and cradled its head, rubbing it.

Out of habit, she glanced at its food bowl and saw that the dinner she’d prepared hadn’t been touched.

Could it be sulking because I got home late? Yu Wan had a sudden, inexplicable hunch. Almost like she was testing it, she inexplicably started talking to Little Briquette. “I came back so late—are you mad at me?”

Little Briquette twitched its ears but didn’t even meow.

“You still can’t skip meals like that. Going on a hunger strike—who taught you that?”

“Meow—” As if it couldn’t stand the lecture, Little Briquette let out a protesting meow, buried its head between its front paws, and went off to sulk and sleep.

Yu Wan laughed helplessly. Why were they all so tricky to deal with, one after another?

And she always seemed to have a special knack for these tsundere types.

Fang Nianchen was like that, and even the cat she’d picked up had a personality that was exactly the same—impossible to read.

Figuring out how long it would take Fang Nianchen to drive home from here, Yu Wan thought she could take a shower first. That way, once she was in bed, she could chat with Fang Nianchen a bit when she reported back that she’d arrived safely.

Yeah, that’s the plan.

Yu Wan was in an unprecedentedly good mood right now, humming a tune as she took the dried towel from the balcony, got her robe ready on the bathroom rack.

Just as she was about to close the door, her phone rang in the living room.

She had two phones with different ringtones. This ring clearly belonged to her personal number. Plenty of people knew it, but few would call so late to disturb her—Fang Nianchen especially wouldn’t.

Ruling out all the other possibilities, the answer was obvious.

Sure enough, the screen showed Shi Yumei calling.

Yu Wan hesitated over whether to pick up, and the call already ended. But not two seconds later, it rang again—clearly, she wasn’t giving up.

Yu Wan could only answer and wait for her to speak.

“Hey? What are you doing? Why didn’t you pick up?” Shi Yumei’s voice came through amid a bunch of noise—clattering sounds, machinery rumbling.

“Something wrong?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, don’t move, declaring!” Shi Yumei didn’t even wait for Yu Wan to finish, excitedly knocking over the tiles in front of her and slapping the table. “Come on, pay up, pay up!”

Lady Luck had smiled on her this round—she’d miraculously pulled off a heavenly win through sheer dogshit luck.

Pocketing the cash, Shi Yumei was grinning so wide her face creased up. She immediately grabbed her bag to leave. “Not playing anymore!”

“Hey! What kind of person are you? Win money and run!” The others weren’t happy about being left behind and started booing her.

“Yeah, how do you play like that?”

“I’m on the phone with my daughter—don’t make a racket!” Shi Yumei shot them a glare, and not wanting trouble, they quieted down. She made her escape.

Only once outside did she remember her daughter, forgotten on the other end of the line.

Clipping the phone between her shoulder and cheek, Shi Yumei spat on her fingers a couple times and started rubbing and counting the bills one by one, all while asking amiably, “Ah Wan, how’s it been getting along with Yuyang lately?”

Yuyang this, Yuyang that—she sure called him intimately.

Yu Wan’s face darkened, her good mood from tonight utterly ruined. “Not great.”

“Not great…” Shi Yumei finished counting the money, her mouth nearly splitting to her ears, but then hearing that, she paused before reacting and demanded loudly, “What do you mean, not great!”

“Woof woof woof—”

Her voice was loud enough that the big yellow dog in the yard across the way barked furiously at her.

Shi Yumei shrank back a bit. “How many times have I told you? He came all this way to find you—you should at least be polite, go out to a few meals with him, build some rapport, right? Besides, weren’t you two pretty good back in college?”

Yu Wan figured Shi Yumei must have early-onset dementia, not even that old yet.

She’d lost count of how many times she’d told Shi Yumei that from start to finish, it had always been Chen Yuyang approaching her under Shi Yumei’s encouragement—or harassment, more like.

“There’s nothing for me to talk about with him.” Yu Wan said sharply. “I’ve already been plenty polite. What more do you want?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You don’t like him? You don’t?!” Shi Yumei sounded stung, repeating it twice, her voice getting louder each time. “Yu Wan, let me tell you—my business right now is entirely propped up by Yuyang. If he gets upset and stops giving me money, we’ll both be eating northwest wind!”

Yu Wan was stunned. “What business are you doing?”

Shi Yumei’s last investment flop had been right after Yu Wan finished grad school, leaving her saddled with nearly a million in debt.

It hadn’t been fully paid off until a year ago, and most of it Yu Wan had cleared on her own.

The family finances had only just stabilized, and now Shi Yumei was off on another round of investments.

To put it bluntly, Yu Wan didn’t believe she had the capability or the funds to back whatever she was scheming.

“Investing.” Shi Yumei sounded entirely justified. “You know how real estate makes bank, so I bought shares in a property company. Don’t say it—I’ve already made over ten thousand these past few months.”

“That doesn’t count as investing.”

“It’s a start. That’s why I’m saying, help your mom out a bit. Yuyang’s family is well-off. Once you marry him, you won’t even need to work, and Mom can enjoy her later years, right?” Shi Yumei sounded all earnest and heartfelt. “Marrying a good man beats everything.”

Yu Wan had a strong aversion to topics like men and marriage, stating bluntly, “I’m not getting married.”

“Heh… You’re not getting married… If you’re not getting married, what do you plan to do?” Shi Yumei said in a sarcastic tone. “Don’t you dare follow those people and go for DINK or non-marriage nonsense—what the hell is that? You don’t want to be looked down on for not getting married, do you?”

“That’s my own choice.”

“Don’t think that just because you’ve grown wings, I can’t do anything about you. You’re in North City, right? Still working at Yunqi. Yu Wan, don’t force Mom to be the bad guy, okay?”

Threatened by her own mother, Yu Wan felt no sadness to summon; she had long since gone numb.

Shi Yumei had gone through two failed marriages, both ending in divorce amid acrimony, yet she kept throwing herself into the same situation.

Yu Wan had long stopped holding out any hope for this mother.

Finally, the call ended, and Yu Wan collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion.

Anger, grievance, and a tangle of complex emotions clogged her chest, making it ache dully.

After finishing her shower, she saw that Fang Nianchen had already been home for ten minutes and had sent a message to say she was safe.

Having tangled with Shi Yumei for so long, Yu Wan was mentally and physically drained. Staring at the text on her screen, she had no desire to chat and replied mechanically: [Good night]

When she received the message, Fang Nianchen was leaning against the headboard reading a book.

She quickly set the book down, picked up her phone, and replied: [Good night]

Perhaps because she was too excited today, she inexplicably didn’t want the conversation to end there. It felt too bland; she didn’t want to let a rare opportunity slip without doing anything.

If she did, she would really prove Yin Chi right, and she’d truly become the kind of person she hated.

So Fang Nianchen rolled over and typed: [The meaning of good night is that I hope all your worries won’t disturb you, and you’ll wake up happy tomorrow morning]

[I saw it online]

Yu Wan replied quickly.

[I saw something else online too—good night has another meaning]

Fang Nianchen: [What is it?]

After sending the message, a long time passed with no new reply from Yu Wan.

Fang Nianchen thought she had fallen asleep, so she took a shower and came back out. Picking up her phone, she saw Yu Wan had finally replied.

Senior Yu 0720: [Not telling you]

Hmph… Not telling me.

If you’re not telling me, can’t I just search it?

Fang Nianchen thought she must have drunk too much; she was acting all silly.

She opened her browser to search, and as soon as she typed “good night,” the search bar auto-suggested related terms.

Fang Nianchen decisively tossed her phone aside, turned off the light, burrowed under the covers, all in one swift motion.

Her hot breath warmed the blanket, seeping into the fabric. Soon, the space under the covers grew stuffy and hot, with heat escaping from the gaps where it wasn’t fully tucked in.

Good night… could it mean that too?