Chapter 7: Further Steps
“Of course!” Zhou Qinglan completely forgot the scolding words she had used earlier that morning. Now she was selling her own wares like a peddler praising her melons.
“My grandson is 189 cm tall, mature, steady, successful in his career, handsome, with a good personality. Meeting him won’t be a loss for you.”
Shen Zhuying lowered her head and thought for two seconds before finally saying, “Then please arrange for us to meet.”
—
“Grandma, I told you I’m not going on a blind date.” When Fu Sizhuo received Zhou Qinglan’s call, he was still in the office dealing with some trivial matters.
On the other end, Zhou Qinglan sounded displeased: “You were the one who said you liked a girl with a pretty smile, who loved wearing skirts, and who carried the scent of flowers on her.”
“Oh, this old woman had to thicken her skin, sniff around all over Jingbei City until my nose nearly gave out, and finally found a young lady who meets your requirements. And now you’re telling me you’re not going?”
Fu Sizhuo: “……”
“I’ll tell you what, if you weren’t my grandson, do you think such a good thing would fall into your lap? That girl runs a flower shop on Cuiwu Street, business is thriving, and the flowers are beautiful.”
“Forget it, if you really don’t like her, I’ll introduce her to your cousin. Whether I keep you as my grandson doesn’t matter, but this young lady, I’m keeping her no matter what…”
“Wait a moment…” Fu Sizhuo’s temple twitched. For the first time, he interrupted the old lady’s words.
“A flower shop on Cuiwu Street?”
“Yes, that’s right, seems to be called… Hua…”
“Hua Jian Ji.” Fu Sizhuo filled in for her, then said, “Then please make the arrangements.”
The sudden change in attitude was too much.
The old lady was no fool; she immediately caught on. So this grandson had already planned it out? Those three conditions weren’t about some ‘fragrant concubine’ at all.
She deliberately said, “Arrange what? Arrange her for your cousin?”
“Grandma.” Fu Sizhuo sounded helpless. After pausing a moment, he said, “Arrange her for me.”
“Oh, you brat.” The old lady was pleased with herself.
“So I can still handle you after all.”
“Yes.” Fu Sizhuo coaxed, “You’re the best.”
After pondering for a moment, he asked, “What’s the young lady’s name?”
“You didn’t even ask her name?” The old lady was heartbroken, feeling this grandson was hopeless.
“She’s called Shen Zhuying, ‘Zhu’ as in pearl, ‘Ying’ as in wood flourishing.”
No sooner had Fu Sizhuo hung up the call than a knock came at the door.
His expression returned to its usual coolness. “Come in.”
“Director Fu, these are the foreign policies just drafted at the meeting, please have a look.” The woman placed the documents on his desk.
“Mm.” Without raising his head, Fu Sizhuo said, “I see.”
A few seconds of silence passed. Seeing the woman had no intention of leaving, he finally raised his eyes and gave her a questioning look.
“Director Fu, someone as outstanding as you also gets forced by family into blind dates?” The woman asked with a casual, testing tone.
“This seems irrelevant to work.” His voice grew colder.
“Isn’t this just a case of shared suffering?” The woman feigned a wounded sigh.
“You really are no fun.”
A few seconds of silence again. Seeing he had no intention of responding, she felt embarrassed. Just as she turned to leave, she heard Fu Sizhuo say,
“This time I wasn’t forced.”
“—I chose it willingly.”
—
The time was set for Wednesday evening at 19:30, the place a Western restaurant at the end of Cuiwu Street.
On that day, Shen Zhuying hung up the “Closed” sign early. She took her time putting on full makeup, matched a knitted skirt with a red sweater, bright yet intellectual.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Shen Zhuying felt quite satisfied. After some thought, she picked up a cherry-patterned headscarf and tied it around her head.
She tugged at the little cherries on her headscarf and clicked her tongue lightly.
So beautiful.
More than enough to toy with a man, wasn’t it?
When Shen Zhuying arrived at the restaurant, she swept her gaze around.
Back then, when she had asked the old lady for a photo, the old lady had mysteriously said, “No need for a photo, just pick the most handsome one in the restaurant, and you won’t go wrong.”
Shen Zhuying felt that was a bit of an exaggeration.
At that moment, her eyes were drawn to a broad, imposing back. It looked… somewhat familiar?
Heavens, why would she run into him here?
She felt they had been bumping into each other far too often recently.
In the past ten years, they hadn’t crossed paths nearly as many times as they had in this one month.
Was he going to watch her go on a blind date?
Shen Zhuying turned on her heel, ready to run.
A calm voice stopped her.
“Shen Zhuying.” He called her name with precision. “Why are you running?”
Her hand tightened on her bag. Resigned, she forced out a smile, turning back and pretending to be casual: “What a coincidence, haha. You’re here for a blind date too?”
Under the bright lights, the man’s features were etched clearly, each line sharp and smooth.
“Not a coincidence.” A faintly amused smile tugged at his lips. “Your blind date is me.”
Shen Zhuying couldn’t believe it. She looked around, trying to spot someone more handsome than him.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t.
She gave two awkward laughs. “Well, that’s really…” Too unfortunate.
Throughout dinner, neither of them spoke. The only sounds were the crisp scrape of knife and fork against porcelain.
After the meal, Shen Zhuying fell silent for a moment before saying, “If there’s nothing else, then I’ll be going first. The flower shop keeps me quite busy.”
In the context of a blind date, this was, of course, a subtle rejection.
Fu Sizhuo’s brows pinched slightly as he asked outright. “Shen Zhuying, are you very afraid of me?”
“Yes.” Shen Zhuying admitted generously, her face full of sincerity. “I’m allergic to handsome men.”
Fu Sizhuo froze for two seconds, then let out a laugh, half exasperated, half amused.
He stood, picked up his suit jacket, and didn’t press her further. His voice was even cooler: “Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”
“No need.” Shen Zhuying hurried to refuse. “I have…”
But when her eyes met the man’s expression, utterly cold now, her courage crumbled. She wilted and muttered, “Then… thank you.”
The return journey was silent as well. When they passed by Huajianji, the man didn’t stop. He only let out a light hum: “Already closed. Anything else to do?”
Shen Zhuying didn’t dare utter a single word.
When the car drove into the residential complex, Fu Sizhuo asked her, “Which building, which floor?”
Shen Zhuying answered honestly, “Building 9, unit 1302.”
The car pulled up beneath Building 9.
The two of them sat in silence for a long while.
Shen Zhuying took a deep breath, forced out a smile, and said, “Thank you for bringing me back, then I’ll just…”
She reached with her other hand to open the car door, tugged at it twice but couldn’t pull it open, so the words ‘be going now’ got stuck in her throat, neither up nor down.
—“Unlock the car…”
—“Shen Zhuying, let’s talk.”
The two voices overlapped in the confined space of the car almost at the same time.
Shen Zhuying fiddled with her seatbelt, her black-and-white eyes fixing on him. “Alright, what do you want to talk about?”
The man was silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Although I don’t really know why you’re afraid of me, you can rest assured, I don’t smoke, and I rarely drink. I don’t have any bad habits.”
Shen Zhuying didn’t know how to respond, so she could only give an awkward “Oh.”
“I have some assets under my name, houses, cars, a few of them, though I haven’t counted carefully. I wouldn’t say I’m poor. My job is stable. At home, it’s only my grandmother at the moment, my parents have gone abroad…”
What was the point of saying all this?
Shen Zhuying started to feel increasingly restless in her seat.
“Shen Zhuying.” Fu Sizhuo lifted his gaze, calling her name with utter seriousness.
“Ah?”
Shen Zhuying raised her head and met the man’s eyes, softened and clear under the moonlight.
Then she heard him say—
“I came to this blind date because I want to take things further with you.”
—
Author’s Note – I said before that there’s a bit of a misplaced, one-sided crush going on, so please don’t feel it’s abrupt, it will all be explained later.
