“We knew each other from school before. I was her senior, but back then… well, I thought she was too young, so I didn’t dare say I liked her. Later she went abroad to study, while I worked domestically and gradually worked my way up to director. When Xiao Chen joined the company, we met a few times, and it just naturally happened—we got together.”
It was like Yao Zhihao had a teleprompter in his head; he recited the character background she’d given him word-for-word, then improvised some details, turning the story into mutual pining.
The chances of that actually happening were slim to none, but at least it sounded like a romantic tale. Picking Yao Zhihao had been the right call—he was reliable.
The first hurdle passed smoothly, and Fang Nianchen’s heart finally settled a bit.
“Oh, I see.” Auntie Liu sighed along. “So Xiao Chen, you’ve liked him for a long time too?”
“Yeah.” Fang Nianchen nodded, fully in character. “I’d been crushing on him forever, but I was scared he didn’t like me, so I held back from confessing.”
“That’s interesting.” Guo Zhen suddenly laughed. “So who confessed first?”
They hadn’t rehearsed this question, and the two blurted out at the same time:
“She.”
“He.”
A brief silence fell, everyone at the table wearing different expressions. Auntie Liu and Guo Zhen seemed to notice something and looked at them both with disdain.
Yao Zhihao seemed choked for a second and lightly kicked Fang Nianchen’s foot under the table. “Cough cough…”
“It was him, but after he confessed, I told him my feelings again too.” In her panic, Fang Nianchen wasn’t even sure what she was saying. “So you could say we confessed at the same time.”
Whether the logic held up wasn’t her concern anymore—as long as it fooled them in the moment.
“You young people, really.” Auntie Liu laughed helplessly. “Mutual love is hard enough, but you two being together is the best outcome.”
“Yeah, it is.” Close call, but Fang Nianchen didn’t dare relax.
This meal was exceptionally tense. Fang Nianchen couldn’t even taste if the dumplings were as delicious as Auntie Liu claimed—she was too busy worrying about what questions might come next.
Luckily, Auntie Liu followed up by using fortune-telling as an excuse to ask for their birthdays. They each reported the other’s date, finally giving their fake relationship a touch of realism.
Guo Zhen’s questions were totally different. He asked, “Is office romance exciting? Have your colleagues noticed?”
Yao Zhihao’s face darkened instantly, and he gave a cold laugh. “It’s not like it’s something shady.”
“Look at you, I was just asking.” Guo Zhen grinned cheekily. “I always hear about bosses using their position to…”
“Hey, hey, don’t talk nonsense!” Auntie Liu scolded her son for his loose tongue, then smoothed things over by pouring Yao Zhihao a drink. “He hasn’t worked a day in his life, doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Ignore him.”
Yao Zhihao nodded good-naturedly, and the atmosphere eased.
By the time they’d finished eating, it was already past one in the afternoon.
Auntie Liu cleared the table and wanted them to stay for fruit and chat. Fang Nianchen didn’t have the energy for another round of questions; she was starting to feel dazed.
Yao Zhihao next to her wasn’t faring much better, his smile plastered on—Yao the big veterinarian’s face was stiff—and he kept getting sniped by Guo Zhen, his hand quietly clenching on his lap.
Seeing this, Fang Nianchen made an excuse to escape. “Auntie Liu, I have something this afternoon, so I need to head home and prepare.”
“No problem, go handle your stuff. Next time you have free time, bring Xiao Yao over to visit.”
“Sure.” Fang Nianchen smiled politely, but in her heart: There won’t be a next time.
If not for sympathizing with Auntie Liu as a worried mom anxious about her son’s marriage prospects—wanting her to give up on matching her with Guo Zhen and find someone else instead—she wouldn’t have bothered.
She had no need to prove anything to her.
This one moment of softness was already her limit.
And Yao Zhihao had been put through the wringer too; she owed him big time, already worrying from now about how to repay it.
Finally escaping Auntie Liu’s house, Yao Zhihao didn’t want to linger a second longer in this awful place.
Fang Nianchen walked him downstairs and heard Yao Zhihao grit his teeth. “Fuck, what kind of freak son does his family have? If his parents weren’t there, I could’ve beaten him till he was hospitalized.”
“Calling me old outright and implying I used my position to hook up. Screw him!”
“Xiao Chen, you gotta keep your eyes wide open when picking a boyfriend. If you end up with someone like that, I—I’ll beat you both!” Yao Zhihao fumed, swinging his fists for emphasis. “But speaking of, do you really have a crush on some senior? The story you spun sounded just like the real thing.”
Caught off guard, Fang Nianchen froze for a second before laughing. “Yeah… I’m not sure.”
Whether in front of Auntie Liu or debriefing with Yao Zhihao later, the story she’d told replayed smoothly in her mind.
The tale she’d spun seemed overlaid with shadows of her and Yu Wan—just that she’d idealized the ending, even Yu Wan’s feelings for her.
It might differ from reality, but one thing was certain: She really liked this happy ending.
“Alright, we survived this hurdle. They shouldn’t bug you anymore, right?” Yao Zhihao, still not wearing his jacket since it was hot outside, asked.
“Probably not. I think our acting was great.” Fang Nianchen teased. “If you ever lose your job, you could be an actor.”
“Get outta here, don’t jinx me.”
At the car, Yao Zhihao waved to Fang Nianchen. “Go rest up. Take a nap—my head’s killing me.”
“You too. Thanks for today.”
“See? Being all polite again.”
Called out, Fang Nianchen just smiled without replying.
Once Yao Zhihao’s car was out of sight, Fang Nianchen yawned.
Even without a napping habit, today was special—she really needed some shut-eye.
Back upstairs, lying on the bed, she remembered she hadn’t checked her phone at Auntie Liu’s.
Afraid she’d missed something important, she fought off the drowsiness and fished out her phone.
The work group was dead silent, just a red notification number on the pinned profile at the top.
Yu Wan 0720: [Are you home this afternoon?]
[My neighbor’s renovation broke the water pipe, water’s leaking everywhere in my place. Waiting for workers to fix it, nowhere to go. Can I crash at yours for a bit?]
The messages were from ten minutes ago. Fang Nianchen bolted upright—too fast, her vision went black, and she flopped right back down.
A few seconds later, her sight cleared. She quickly typed: [Of course, when are you coming?]
Hmm… was that too eager?
Fang Nianchen edited and revised, finally changing it to: “Mm, I’m at home.”
But even after changing it, she still felt something was off. Talking like this made it seem like their roles had reversed—wouldn’t it make her appear too aloof? Would it make Senior Yu think she wasn’t actually welcoming her?
Aaaah, so troublesome!
Fang Nianchen flipped over in bed, first sending a [Mm-hmm] emoji, then typing: “Tell me when you arrive, and I’ll open the door for you.”
Yu Wan replied quickly: “Okay, fifteen minutes.”
Sleep was out of the question now. This time, Yu Wan had given her plenty of time—enough to clean up all the cat hair and dog hair from the floor, so none would stick to Yu Wan.
No one would like having animal fur all over them, and inhaling too much could even lead to rhinitis.
After rolling the sofa thoroughly with the lint roller, Fang Nianchen scooped out the cat litter, sprayed air freshener around, ensuring not a trace of smell remained.
Knowing Yu Wan was extremely punctual, Fang Nianchen headed to the kitchen with five minutes left to brew some pomelo tea. As soon as the water boiled and she poured it, the knock at the door sounded right on cue.
Fang Nianchen smugly felt their coordination was perfect and hurried over to open the door.
“Will my sudden visit disturb you?”
“Of course not.” Fang Nianchen shook her head with a smile and crouched down to get slippers for her.
The last time Yu Wan had come over, it had been so sudden that she’d only had slippers chewed by Pan-fried Dumpling to offer her. Luckily, she hadn’t said anything about it.
Yu Wan’s care that time had made Fang Nianchen happy for a long while.
She didn’t know if there would be a next time, or how long it would be until Senior Yu came over again. But with anticipation and joy, she’d ordered several cute pairs of slippers online to keep at home.
A pair with little dog heads printed on them sat in front of Yu Wan, who praised, “These slippers are so cute.”
“Right? I fell in love with them at first sight.”
Fang Nianchen placed her hands on her hips, her expression one of proud boasting.
She was clearly more relaxed than ever before—was it because they were back on her home turf, or… was there really a difference now?
Either way, it was a good sign.
Yu Wan chuckled lightly, bending down to change into the slippers. The bag slung over her shoulder slipped, and Fang Nianchen caught it, asking, “Shall I put this on the cabinet for you?”
It wasn’t an illusion; she really was very different from before.
Looks like buying this cabinet wasn’t for nothing…
Surprised by her change, Yu Wan nodded gladly. “Mm.”
Once inside, the furnishings were the same as before, but Fang Nianchen had clearly tidied up specially before she arrived. The floor was spotless, and the air carried a fresh lemon scent.
She was still trying so hard to make a good impression, just like last time.
The only difference was that she didn’t clumsily bump into her arms again.
Fang Nianchen had Yu Wan sit first, then went back to the kitchen to bring out the brewed pomelo tea.
“Every time I come over, you bustle around doing all this. I’m starting to feel bad.”
“Not at all. I’d clean up anyway whether you come or not. Doing it ahead or after makes no difference.” Fang Nianchen made excuses for her.
Yu Wan sat on the long sofa facing the TV, and Fang Nianchen took the single-seater sofa to her right.
She handed over the cup, and before it even reached her nose, the sweet, fresh scent of pomelo wafted up. “It smells so good. Did you make it yourself?”
“Yeah, I saw online that pomelo tea clears heat, so I brew a cup almost every day.” With that, Fang Nianchen showed an expectant look. “I followed an online recipe—the sweetness is just right.”
Yu Wan took a sip, and sure enough, as she said, the slight tartness of the pomelo was balanced by the honey. The sweetness was perfect, and the refreshing liquid soothed her throat, even clearing her nasal passages.
“How is it? Tasty?”
“Mm, it’s the best pomelo tea I’ve ever had.” Facing Fang Nianchen, Yu Wan was never stingy with praise.
“If you like it, take a jar with you when you leave.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I made a lot.” Fang Nianchen started introducing more, her enthusiasm rivaling that of a street vendor. “I made lemon ones in the UK before too—great for infusing in water. And all kinds of jams.”
Fang Nianchen was this close to puffing out her chest and telling Yu Wan: I’ve got so many skills!
But she didn’t. Her self-praise was subtle, and only Yu Wan vaguely caught the implication.
Smiling and nodding along, “That’s impressive.”
They sat for a bit, and Fang Nianchen asked about her home situation. “Any word on when it can be fixed?”
“Not sure. The pipe burst pretty badly—my place was flooded like the Water Curtain Cave.” Yu Wan laughed helplessly. “I got a scare when I woke up in the morning; thought I was living in a waterfall cave.”
