Fang Nianchen’s smile at the corner of her mouth instantly stiffened. Her mouth hung slightly open as she didn’t know what to say.
After listening to Yu Wan’s introduction, the girl looked embarrassed too. She twitched the corner of her mouth and let out a dry laugh. “Ha… haha… I’m Luo Xi. This is my dog. It’s called ‘Flounder’!”
Luo Xi tugged on the leash, trying to get the dog to do something to ease the awkwardness.
But the shepherd Flounder was very clever. It loved watching its owner make a fool of herself. Instead of helping, it kicked out its four legs and flopped down.
Luo Xi blushed bright red. She scratched her head and explained, “It gets shy around beautiful women…”
“I was just kidding earlier. Don’t take it to heart.” Yu Wan’s face finally showed some expression—perhaps thanks to that “beautiful woman” comment. “I’m Yu Wan. I’m her friend.”
With that, she extended her hand in a friendly manner.
It was her usual left hand. Her slender fingers had distinct joints, and the black wristwatch on her wrist added quite a bit to her look. She truly had the aura of a female elite—her status wasn’t a joke.
Luo Xi took her hand, feeling both reverent and nervous. Her heart inexplicably raced a few beats faster as she grinned widely. “Hello, hello!”
“Its name—is it from the flounder fish?”
“Yeah, yeah! You’re so smart. How’d you guess?” Without waiting for Yu Wan to reply, Luo Xi eagerly explained, “It was a bit cross-eyed when it was little. But ‘cross-eyed’ sounds bad, so I thought—eyes are ‘mu,’ and flounders are ugly and flat just like it. So I named it ‘Flounder’!”
She really was enthusiastic with everyone.
Even though Yu Wan knew Fang Nianchen was a good kid who never lied, hearing the confirmation firsthand put her more at ease.
Yu Wan slightly lifted the corner of her mouth—barely a smile.
Lunch on the first day was quite sumptuous. Afterward, everyone headed to their accommodations.
There were no hotels in the mountains, so the organizers had rented a row of small bungalows. It also spared them the hassle of hotels not allowing pets.
Dog owners stayed with their dogs. Since there were two of them, Fang Nianchen got assigned to a room with a double bed.
After dropping off their luggage, it was free time until the opening ceremony that evening.
“Want to take a nap?” Fang Nianchen brought Pan-fried Dumpling’s food bowl and water basin inside, filling them one by one.
Yu Wan shook her head. “I’m good. Not really sleepy.”
Unless she was working, she never had the habit of napping. In fact, on days off, napping in the afternoon often led to insomnia at night.
Fang Nianchen sat on a little stool and looked up at her. “Want to go for a walk?”
The mountains were shaded by lush green trees, with no harsh sun and fresh air.
“Sure.”
Once decided, they headed out right away. But when they opened the door, Luo Xi was standing right there with Flounder on the leash.
Fang Nianchen blinked. “What’s up?”
“Wanna go for a stroll? Perfect timing for walkies.” Luo Xi glanced at the leash in Fang Nianchen’s hand. “Ah! Were you guys just about to head out? What a coincidence! Come on, together!”
She’d started out politely asking, but by the end it had turned into excited insistence, leaving no room for refusal.
That was exactly why Fang Nianchen had a headache about it. She didn’t want to get tangled up with someone like that.
Being outgoing wasn’t a flaw or anything, but having her original plans disrupted still left her a bit annoyed.
“Come on, I know all the fun spots nearby.” Luo Xi, afraid they wouldn’t want to, tried her best to show off how familiar she was with the place. “I’ve been here loads of times. Trust me, I’m not a bad guy. I won’t kidnap you to sell off or anything.”
Undecided, Fang Nianchen looked to Yu Wan.
Yu Wan nodded. “Since it’s like that, sure, together it is.”
It was hard to turn down such enthusiasm.
Plus, Luo Xi was Fang Nianchen’s acquaintance. Refusing might just make things awkward for her.
So they followed Luo Xi. The three of them took the winding mountain path toward the farmland on the edge of the village.
“Long City’s autism recovery center is one of the better ones I’ve seen. The one in North City I went to before? Facilities all rundown, stuck in some residential building. Total dump—I’d go autistic just staying there. How could the kids get better?” Luo Xi kept up a nonstop stream of chatter.
“Last year when I came, some of the kids had improved a ton. The older ones would even come up and greet us on their own.” As Luo Xi spoke, a satisfied smile bloomed on her face. “Seeing real results means our hard work wasn’t for nothing.”
From Luo Xi’s words, it was clear she’d been doing charity work for years—and loved every minute of it.
That earned her some respect from Yu Wan.
Some people did charity with ulterior motives—like Luo Xi’s boss, who didn’t want to come himself but let others bring his dog to rack up hours. But to say he had zero good intentions? He’d still bothered training his own dog as a therapy dog.
“Haven’t seen you at an event in ages. Feels like half a year at least,” Luo Xi said to Fang Nianchen.
“A bit busy,” Fang Nianchen said, bracing for her to immediately ask what with.
Luckily, she didn’t.
Luo Xi looked thoughtful. “I’ve always wondered what you do for work. So mysterious… Don’t tell me you’re some hidden rich second-gen?”
“Nope, just your average office drone.”
“Average? You graduated from Qingyuan! Nobody from there is average!” Luo Xi clearly didn’t buy it. “Nah, you’re definitely high-level. Nothing like a lowly street office peon like me.”
Fang Nianchen smiled, thinking her reaction was way over the top.
University was just a springboard. Sure, it gave you a longer runway, but if you didn’t lunge forward, you’d still crash into mediocrity.
“So… Miss Yu? If it’s okay to ask, what do you do?”
“HR director.”
“Wow! Knew it—your vibe screams big boss.” Luo Xi was super supportive. It was like everything was praiseworthy in her eyes.
The mountain ecology was pristine, which naturally meant plenty of bugs. They saw ants everywhere along the way—crawling in dense lines along the roadside, merging into a black streak.
Yu Wan spotted them and quietly edged farther away, sticking closer to Fang Nianchen.
Village roads had no separate lanes for pedestrians or vehicles—just a flat dirt path stretching ahead.
When a car occasionally passed, Luo Xi—who was on the outermost side—would squeeze inward. Yu Wan didn’t want to get too close to the bugs, so she deliberately slowed down, letting Fang Nianchen and Luo Xi pull ahead before following.
That put Luo Xi and Fang Nianchen walking side by side.
The sight of the two of them strolling along with their dogs in sync made Yu Wan feel oddly irritated for no reason.
Long City was famous for its pears—crisp and refreshing in the autumn.
Yu Wan had been born and raised in the city and had never been to the countryside. She was always curious about new things.
As they walked, her pace slowed, and her gaze drifted to the pear orchard in the distance.
“Long City pears go for crazy prices in the markets. My relatives asked me to proxy-buy some this time—they’re even worried my little Beetle won’t hold them all,” Luo Xi said. Catching sight of Yu Wan lagging behind in her peripheral vision, she stopped. “Eh?”
Looking back, she saw Yu Wan had fallen behind. Without a thought for Fang Nianchen, she doubled back.
“You… interested in this?”
“Just looking.” Seeing it was Luo Xi, Yu Wan pulled her gaze away. “Let’s go.”
“If you wanna go in and check it out, I can talk to the villagers for you. They let tourists pick their own—pay a picking fee, then by the jin for what you get.” Luo Xi sounded very familiar with the process.
“No need.” Yu Wan didn’t know how to explain that being interested didn’t mean she had to pay for it.
Plus, picking a bunch of pears on the first day? They’d be a pain to store and carry home.
By then, Fang Nianchen had caught up. She glanced between them. “Another time. It’ll be a hassle to lug them back.”
“Yeah, makes sense.” Luo Xi agreed it was reasonable and dropped it.
They set off again. They hadn’t gone far when cricket chirps sounded from the roadside.
Luo Xi was still raving about how great the ecology was here—in North City, you could barely even hear birds.
Suddenly, a cricket the length of a thumb burst from the grass and hopped right up to Yu Wan’s feet.
In that split second, Yu Wan saw something dark dart close. Realizing what it was, she let out a shriek of fright. Her hand flailed in panic and grabbed Fang Nianchen’s clothes as she shrank behind her.
Fang Nianchen had no idea what happened and got startled by the scream, but she quickly steadied herself.
Yu Wan took a deep breath, her brows furrowing tight as she glared death at the freakishly huge cricket. Her hand fumbled around before finally latching onto Fang Nianchen’s.
“Luo Xi,” Fang Nianchen called. She couldn’t move with her hand held captive.
“Huh?” Luo Xi had sharp eyes and spotted the massive cricket at a glance. Turns out she was scared of them too—she jumped back a step. “Holy crap!”
“What the hell did this thing eat to get so huge?”
“No, no, no way! Xiao Chen, hurry and get it away from her!”
She was hopeless like this. Fang Nianchen turned back to glance at Yu Wan. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll get rid of it.”
Yu Wan was clearly frightened into a daze. She swallowed and nodded. The hand tightly gripping Fang Nianchen’s loosened just a bit. She thought that if she got “attacked” by the cricket, she could still pull her back.
That cricket was bold. Fang Nianchen stomped hard first but couldn’t scare it off, so she had to use the side of her shoe to sweep it back into the roadside grass.
“It’s fine, it’s fine—very brave!” Luo Xi exclaimed admiringly. “But I didn’t expect Miss Yu to be afraid of bugs too…”
Yu Wan stared at her woodenly.
Luo Xi realized she’d said something wrong and laughed it off. “Totally normal. Those few years I worked in the south, I nearly got eaten by a cockroach.”
Fang Nianchen wasn’t listening to Luo Xi. This was the first time she’d seen Yu Wan so thoroughly spooked, so she stepped forward to comfort her. “It’s okay. It doesn’t bite.”
Glancing at the time, she realized they’d been out for two hours without noticing. Even Pan-fried Dumpling was getting tired.
