On the way to her company in Yu Lingshan’s car, Xu Shi kept her head down, eating breakfast.
She didn’t dare look up because her face was just too red.
Just as she had when she sent her to the bathroom last time, Yu Lingshan gave her enough space, not speaking to her and focusing on driving, not even sparing her a glance.
Xu Shi’s home wasn’t far from her company, only about three streets away.
So, halfway down the second street, Xu Shi stopped eating. She had calmed down.
She hastily swallowed the food in her mouth and asked Yu Lingshan, “Did you eat this for breakfast too?”
Yu Lingshan: “Mhm.”
She added another compliment: “It’s especially delicious.”
Yu Lingshan laughed. “Alright, I get it. It’s just bread and eggs.”
Xu Shi giggled foolishly.
Yu Lingshan freed a hand to pat Xu Shi’s head. “Next time I have a chance, I’ll make you something more impressive.”
When Yu Lingshan said this, there was an inexplicable pride in her tone, which made Xu Shi laugh.
“What’s something more impressive?” Xu Shi asked.
Yu Lingshan: “I’m not telling you.”
Xu Shi nodded. “Then I’ll look forward to it.”
Yu Lingshan: “No.”
Xu Shi: “Huh? I can’t look forward to it?”
Yu Lingshan: “You can’t.”
Xu Shi: “Why?”
Yu Lingshan: “What if I don’t make it well? The higher your hopes, the bigger the letdown. You can’t look forward to it.”
Xu Shi hummed. “How could that be? Teacher Yu succeeds at everything she does. It’s just breakfast.”
Yu Lingshan laughed at that. She beckoned to Xu Shi with her finger. “Your face, come here.”
Xu Shi obediently leaned over and, as expected, Yu Lingshan pinched her cheek.
Yu Lingshan: “Not bad, Xiao Zhi. You know how to say things like that to me now. Who taught you?”
The pinch made Xu Shi squeeze one eye shut. “I learned from Teacher Yu.”
Although she was being teased with a bit of sarcasm, Yu Lingshan seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
After she let go of Xu Shi’s face, Xu Shi poked the spot with her tongue and then rubbed it with her hand.
“Does it hurt?” Yu Lingshan asked.
Xu Shi answered honestly, “A little.”
Yu Lingshan: “Ah~ Then bring the other side over. I’ll make it symmetrical for you.”
Xu Shi actually did as she was told, turning her head and leaning her face over. Yu Lingshan chuckled, pressed her index finger to Xu Shi’s forehead, and pushed her back. “Don’t distract me while I’m driving.”
Xu Shi mumbled under her breath, annoyed but not daring to voice it.
Yu Lingshan glanced at Xu Shi’s expression and couldn’t help but laugh again.
“Why are you so obedient?” Yu Lingshan asked. “Do you listen to everything everyone says?”
Xu Shi thought for a moment. “No.”
Yu Lingshan seemed a little skeptical. “Are you aware of how obedient you are to me?”
Of course, Xu Shi was. “I know.”
Yu Lingshan was suddenly interested. “Are there times when you’re disobedient?”
Xu Shi smiled. “Yes.”
Yu Lingshan: “For example?”
Xu Shi couldn’t think of an example right away. “I don’t know, but there must be some. Sometimes I don’t even listen to my mom.”
Yu Lingshan: “Do you resist directly, or do you feign compliance?”
Xu Shi smiled. “I feign compliance more often.”
Yu Lingshan clicked her tongue. “I didn’t expect you to be that kind of Xu Shi.” She posed a hypothetical. “If your boss asked you to do something outside of your job description, would you do it?”
Xu Shi: “I would at the office, but probably not after I go home.”
Yu Lingshan: “Then how would you refuse? You tend to stutter when you’re nervous.”
Xu Shi chuckled. “By typing.”
Yu Lingshan was curious. “Sounds like you’ve done it before?”
“It happened once,” Xu Shi began to recall. “Our Manager Zhao called me very late. I saw it was after ten, so I didn’t pick up. Then she sent me a message saying she had a meeting the next day and needed me to help her make a PowerPoint she needed to use. After sending the message, she called me several more times.”
Yu Lingshan: “And then?”
Xu Shi: “I didn’t get back to her until after midnight. I told her I hadn’t had my phone on me. After she replied that it was no problem, I then asked if she still needed help.”
“Ah~” Yu Lingshan understood. She smiled. “I never would have thought. You seem so well-behaved on the surface, but you know how to deceive people.”
Xu Shi: “Hehe.”
Yu Lingshan: “I’ve gotten to know you a little better today.”
Xu Shi defended herself, “I never said I was well-behaved.”
“You just don’t like to talk, aren’t good at conversation, and aren’t sociable, so you seem very well-behaved. But you’re actually secretly mischievous,” Yu Lingshan said, as if hinting at something. “Perhaps you’ve even done many unspeakable things in secret.”
Xu Shi shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I’ve never done anything bad.”
Yu Lingshan let out a soft laugh. “Is that so?” She then asked, “You won’t deceive me like that in the future, will you?”
Xu Shi: “Just don’t ask me to make a PowerPoint. I don’t like making PowerPoints.”
Yu Lingshan scoffed and playfully challenged her, “Actually, I do need a PowerPoint made for a meeting report tomorrow.” She raised an eyebrow at Xu Shi. “Hmm? What do you say?”
Xu Shi said slowly, “Huh?”
Yu Lingshan: “Please?”
Xu Shi: “Alright then. Do you really need it?”
Yu Lingshan: “Just kidding.”
As they chatted, they arrived at the building where Xu Shi’s company was located.
Yu Lingshan didn’t immediately unlock the doors to let Xu Shi out. She produced a hair tie from somewhere and handed it to Xu Shi.
Xu Shi took it, confused, and asked, “What for?”
Yu Lingshan didn’t answer. She reached out directly, untied the hair tie in Xu Shi’s hair, and Xu Shi’s hair instantly fell loose.
Yu Lingshan gestured with her eyes for Xu Shi to use the hair tie she’d given her, then slipped Xu Shi’s hair tie onto her own wrist.
“It’s mine now,” Yu Lingshan said, touching it. “It even has a cherry on it. I’ll switch to a black watch when I get back, so it matches better.”
A sweet feeling filled Xu Shi’s heart. She gathered her hair up again as she listened to Yu Lingshan say, “I’m a bit busy for the next few days. We probably won’t be able to see each other until Saturday.”
Xu Shi finished tying her hair. “Okay.”
Yu Lingshan looked into Xu Shi’s eyes. “I want to eat your cooking for lunch on Saturday.”
Of course, Xu Shi agreed. “I can do that.”
Yu Lingshan: “A friend’s birthday is on Friday night, so I’ll definitely be sleeping in on Saturday morning. I won’t come pick you up, and I don’t want to put on makeup. You can buy the groceries and come over on your own.”
Xu Shi: “Okay.”
Yu Lingshan: “After lunch, I’ll take you out.”
Xu Shi: “Where are we going?”
Yu Lingshan smiled. “Somewhere fun.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the car door on Xu Shi’s side clicked open.
Xu Shi glanced at the door, then looked back. Yu Lingshan had already raised her hand, and the movement caused the watch on her wrist to brush against the two cherries, making a pleasant sound.
Yu Lingshan said goodbye to Xu Shi. “Work hard, and study hard.”
Xu Shi: “Okay.”
But Xu Shi didn’t get out of the car right away. Instead, she stared into Yu Lingshan’s eyes for a moment, then mustered her courage, suddenly leaned over, and gave Yu Lingshan a quick kiss on the lips.
“Goodbye.”
After saying that, Xu Shi pulled open the car door, but perhaps she was too flustered, because she managed to hit her head on the doorframe as she got up.
Xu Shi sucked in a sharp breath. Behind her, Yu Lingshan started laughing.
“Xiao Zhi, how can you be so funny?”
Xu Shi had no rebuttal. She didn’t dare look at Yu Lingshan anymore, quickly getting out, shutting the door, shouldering her bag, and running into her company building.
Save me.
After the morning meeting, Xu Shi received a cup of coffee from Xiao Yu. There was a sticky note on it, thanking Xu Shi for letting her take a photo with Yu Lingshan and cheering Xu Shi on.
This time, Xu Shi could understand it, but she only replied with a “thank you” to Xiao Yu and didn’t say anything more.
In the afternoon, Xu Shi learned that Yu Lingshan’s busyness was due to a business trip. The two of them became online friends.
Xu Shi hadn’t even realized that she had become more talkative around Yu Lingshan. It seemed she had so much to say—she could talk about a leaf on her potted plant dying, a minor traffic accident downstairs, or the sky suddenly turning overcast.
When Yu Lingshan had a free moment, she would reply to Xu Shi, responding to every single message. She even showed Xu Shi her wrist and told her the black watch wasn’t a good match, so she had picked out another one.
Occasionally, when Yu Lingshan was too lazy to type, she would send Xu Shi a voice message.
No matter what she said, Yu Lingshan’s voice was always so pleasant. She spoke in a gentle, unhurried manner, and Xu Shi would listen to every voice message twice.
This situation gave Xu Shi a very familiar feeling. She recalled her time with Heard; aside from Heard not sending her voice messages, everything else was very similar.
Thinking of this, Xu Shi opened Ding Dong Dong again, tapped on Heard’s profile picture, and zoomed in on the little cat Heard was holding.
Because of the competition, Xu Shi had been busy at night recently. Sometimes, when inspiration struck, she would stay up until the early hours of the morning. But Yu Lingshan seemed to be even more of a night owl; every “good night” message Xu Shi sent before bed would receive a reply from her.
But they were still different. Yu Lingshan had a flexible career; she could sleep until two in the afternoon the next day.
To Xu Shi, time passed especially slowly that week. She had never looked forward to seeing someone so much.
On Friday afternoon, Xu Shi couldn’t get off work on time. By the time she left, the sky was already dark.
By then, Yu Lingshan was already back in A-City. Xu Shi had received a message from her after she landed around three in the afternoon, and then she’d said she was getting ready for a birthday party and had gone silent.
Leaving the company, Xu Shi wondered if Yu Lingshan was already eating. She loved food so much, yet she was so picky. Xu Shi wondered if the food at the party would suit her taste, and whether she would come find her for a late-night snack after the party was over.
As she was thinking, Xu Shi’s phone suddenly vibrated.
She took it out and was surprised to see a message from Yu Lingshan.
The fact that they had been thinking of each other at the same time filled Xu Shi with joy, and she couldn’t help but smile.
Yu Lingshan wrote: Guess where I am?
For Yu Lingshan to say that…
Xu Shi immediately looked around and, sure enough, spotted Yu Lingshan’s car in a corner near her company building.
Xu Shi broke into a smile. Without even replying to the message, she immediately ran over, pulled open the passenger door, and got in.
“What are you doing here?” Xu Shi asked as soon as she got in the car.
Yu Lingshan was wearing a dress today—a dark blue strapless dress with a shawl, a necklace on her collarbone, and her long hair in large curls.
The ever-beautiful Yu Lingshan.
She propped her hand on the center console and leaned toward Xu Shi. “Did you miss me?”
Xu Shi’s face instantly turned red. She mumbled a soft “mhm” and quickly changed the subject. “Have you been waiting long? I was just in a meeting, and it ran late.”
Yu Lingshan: “It’s fine.”
Xu Shi asked, “Hasn’t the birthday party started yet?”
Yu Lingshan: “It starts at seven-thirty.”
Xu Shi glanced at the time; it was already seven. She couldn’t help but ask, “Then why did you come here?”
Yu Lingshan: “Of course, I came to see you about something.”
Xu Shi: “What is it?”
“Something important,” Yu Lingshan said, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Have you noticed I’m not wearing any lipstick?”
Xu Shi nodded. “I noticed.”
Yu Lingshan leaned closer. “When a girl isn’t wearing lipstick, it means she wants to be kissed.”
They hadn’t seen each other in a while, and Yu Lingshan’s sudden move left Xu Shi a bit stunned.
But Yu Lingshan didn’t give her time to be stunned. She started counting down.
“3.”
“2.”
There was no 1. Xu Shi kissed her.
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