Teacher Sheng will help me keep this secret, won’t you?

Offering to give a ride home to a woman in distress.

Sheng Sui had heard many such casually mentioned kindnesses throughout her life, knowing they were superficial gestures. She usually politely declined.

Rather than showing vulnerability or embarrassment in front of others, she preferred to grit her teeth and endure alone.

However, at this moment, trapped in the elevator and facing Zhou Shiyu’s outstretched helping hand, as if greedy for that brief moment of warmth and security, she couldn’t bring herself to say “no.”

The man was neither urgent nor questioning, hands in his pockets, looking straight ahead, patiently waiting for an answer.

The two remained silent until the elevator chimed and slowly opened, reminding Sheng Sui to return to reality and face the cruel unknown outside.

Zhou Shiyu was closer to the door. He raised his arm to block the doorframe, gesturing for Sheng Sui to exit first.

Just let her escape this once.

Sheng Sui finally honestly accepted her dependence on the man, turning to thank him: “…Then I’ll trouble you, Mr. Zhou.”

Though she was the one asking for help, Sheng Sui saw a smile appear on Zhou Shiyu’s lips, as if he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Only then did the tall, slender man exit the elevator, his eyes behind the lenses slightly curved, his low voice warm as jade:

“The honor is entirely mine.”

There was no sign of Zhou Qi’s car in the parking garage.

Sheng Sui walked while anxiously checking several times. After confirming the man wasn’t there, she finally relaxed, when she heard gentle reassurance from above:

“The restaurant manager checked the surveillance. Zhou Qi drove away directly without lingering.”

Zhou Shiyu led her to his car, opening the passenger door of the Aston Martin and carefully reminding: “Watch your head.”

“Thank you.”

Sheng Sui knew nothing about cars. After getting her driver’s license in college, she could count on both hands the times she’d driven. Even so, she could tell at a glance that this car was expensive. After getting in, afraid the food in the bag might spill, she carefully held the plastic bag flat on her lap and tied it tight, planning to eat when she got home.

Worried about low blood sugar during the drive, she took advantage of Zhou Shiyu walking around to the driver’s seat to pull emergency chocolate from her bag.

As she lowered her head to tear the wrapper, the car door opened. Hearing the sound, Sheng Sui turned her head, instinctively closing her palm around the candy.

Zhou Shiyu saw through her forced composure and chuckled helplessly: “Don’t you like any of the food in the bag?”

“No,” Sheng Sui quickly shook her head, hurriedly tossing the chocolate back into her bag, “I was afraid of spilling things and dirtying your car.”

“It’s just transportation. If it gets dirty, I’ll have it cleaned.”

After Zhou Shiyu settled into the driver’s seat, he was in no hurry to start the engine, saying casually: “If everyone kept cars spotless, cleaning staff would lose their jobs.”

The man smiled slightly at her: “So eat without worry. If you spill something, consider it providing employment opportunities for others.”

Sheng Sui: “……”

Was that even possible?

It turned out Zhou Shiyu’s words were indeed effective. When she opened the plastic bag again, her guilt was greatly reduced. Tasting the fresh and tender barbecued meat platter, she realized she had been hungry for too long.

With her stomach satisfied, her brain began to function and think. Sheng Sui lightly poked the pearl barley rice with her chopsticks, still unable to figure out many questions.

She probed indirectly: “Mr. Zhou, haven’t you had dinner yet?”

“I ate before coming,” Zhou Shiyu could always see through her thoughts at a glance and explained: “A diabetes pharmaceutical company our firm invested in successfully went public. The celebration banquet was set here.”

No wonder he had readily agreed to the meeting yesterday and knew so much about diabetes.

Sheng Sui finally sorted out the logic. She lowered her head and silently ate a few more bites when her phone rang from her bag—it was her mother calling.

Zhou Shiyu considerately inquired: “Do you need me to step away?”

It was a cold, windy spring night. Sheng Sui couldn’t possibly let Zhou Shiyu get out of the car to freeze. She shook her head and hung up several times, but when her mother persisted in calling, she could only reluctantly answer.

She turned the volume to minimum: “…Mom.”

“What kind of terrible person did Liu Qu introduce?” Sure enough, Yu Xuemei launched into a tirade as soon as she answered: “Agreeing to a blind date was giving him face, and he dared to look down on you? I look down on him—an upstart who didn’t even finish middle school!”

Her mother was actually defending her. Sheng Sui was pleasantly surprised and somewhat moved: “It’s fine, he didn’t do anything to me.”

“Still shouldn’t yell at my daughter,” Yu Xuemei remained indignant. “Don’t worry, next time before I ask you to go on a blind date, Mom will definitely screen them for you.”

So it was about the “next blind date.”

Sheng Sui lowered her head with a self-mocking smile, absent-mindedly placating her mother for a few sentences before hanging up.

Three minutes ago she had been holding delicious food, but now it tasted like wax. Even Zhou Qi’s harassment hadn’t made her this exhausted.

For a moment, Sheng Sui even thought despairingly: maybe if she just got married, she wouldn’t have to live under her mother’s control anymore.

“Are you in a hurry to get married?”

Zhou Shiyu, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up. Sheng Sui looked up to find the man gazing quietly at her, his eyes warm as jade, with the bright silver moon blooming quietly behind him.

Her restless emotions suddenly calmed.

Her troubles had been pent up too long, or perhaps Zhou Shiyu’s presence was too steadying. When he asked about her pain point, Sheng Sui wasn’t flustered.

“Family pressure is intense,” she smiled at the man, saying indifferently, “As for me, I probably do need a marriage.”

Zhou Shiyu asked again: “What would you want your other half to be like?”

“Gentle personality, emotionally stable, someone I can talk to.”

Only after speaking did Sheng Sui realize this answer described Zhou Shiyu perfectly.

Combined with them discussing ideal partners on only their second meeting, the strong blind date déjà vu inevitably left her momentarily confused.

Fortunately, Zhou Shiyu wasn’t overthinking like her. His slender fingers casually rested on the steering wheel as he suddenly smiled faintly: “Regarding being pressured into marriage, we’re quite alike.”

Sheng Sui froze upon hearing this.

The man leaned back against the seat with perfect posture. Seeing her surprised expression, he raised his eyebrows slightly and asked back: “Why do you look so surprised?”

Not expecting even Zhou Shiyu to face marriage pressure, just imagining the scenario made Sheng Sui smile with curved eyebrows, momentarily forgetting to use formal address:

“I just never imagined you’d have times of being involuntarily controlled too.”

The woman’s dimples were shallow beside her lips, her gentle and sweet smile captivating. Zhou Shiyu suppressed the urge to stroke her hair, quietly gazing into Sheng Sui’s smiling eyes, his gaze tracing her current appearance.

They were so close he could even see himself reflected in Sheng Sui’s eyes. So he leaned closer, his voice restrained: “So what I said earlier, I’ve never told anyone else.”

“Teacher Sheng will help me keep this secret, won’t you?”

The warm, low voice echoed in the enclosed car. Though knowing it was a joke, because of Zhou Shiyu’s deliberate questioning and intentionally slightly rising intonation, it suddenly became ambiguous and tender.

As if there really was a secret between them that others couldn’t know.

This realization made Sheng Sui’s heart skip a beat, her back pressing against the seat: “…I will.”

She suddenly felt grateful it was dark outside.

Otherwise her current panic would be completely exposed by her blushing.

Near quitting time the next day, Sheng Sui received a call from her mother saying she couldn’t get away from work and asking if Sheng Sui could attend the parent-teacher conference for Xu Yanze instead.

Xu Yanze was Sheng Sui’s half-brother from her mother’s second marriage.

Thirteen years ago, unable to tolerate her father’s alcoholism and domestic violence, the strong-willed Yu Xuemei chose divorce and quickly married Xu Xu—Xu Yanze’s father and Sheng Sui’s stepfather.

Stepfather Xu Xu was considerate toward Yu Xuemei, but for his biological son’s well-being, he had once refused to let Yu Xuemei bring Sheng Sui into the marriage.

So weighing the pros and cons, Yu Xuemei could only leave Sheng Sui with her father and remarry alone, moving to Magic City. The only remaining connection between mother and daughter was the monthly support payments Yu Xuemei sent, which were all used to buy alcohol.

It wasn’t until Sheng Sui came to Magic City for college a few years ago, when Yu Xuemei’s new family had also stabilized, that she suddenly and forcefully re-entered Sheng Sui’s life as a “mother.”

Over time, the stepfather gradually accepted Sheng Sui’s existence. During holidays, the family of three would invite Sheng Sui for dinner.

“Yanze is at the crucial second year of high school. Record the parent conference content for me, and come home for dinner tonight. Mom will make something delicious for you both.”

Sheng Sui had nothing after work and agreed: “Alright, send me Yanze’s school address.”

As a megacity, Magic City’s emphasis on education was incomparable to the small city where Sheng Sui grew up.

Second-year high school students had to take standardized tests after winter break. Not only that, but the school also required parent conferences after exams for review, facilitating identification of gaps and weaknesses.

Fortunately, Xu Yanze’s grades were among the top, though he had serious difficulties with Chinese literature.

After the parent conference, the homeroom teacher specifically asked Sheng Sui to stay, pulling out Xu Yanze’s Chinese test paper and pointing to the poetry recitation section:

“These questions are basically free points, but he just won’t memorize them. He loses twelve points on every exam.”

Xu Yanze drooped his eyelids, unconcerned: “Even without these twelve points, I can still make the top five in my grade.”

The teacher was exasperated: “You child!”

“Mind your manners,” Sheng Sui lightly touched her brother’s arm, frowning in reproach. “The teacher is looking out for you. Go home and study properly.”

Xu Yanze snorted dismissively, hands in his pockets. After a moment, he looked up at her: “How about you come home for dinner this weekend? I’ll memorize if you come.”

The stepfather didn’t like Sheng Sui disturbing their family life, so she didn’t immediately agree to Xu Yanze’s request. Fortunately, Yu Xuemei soon arrived hurriedly to take over.

Though not biological, Xu Yanze had been raised by Yu Xuemei since he was less than a year old, and she had long considered him her own.

Unlike Sheng Sui’s awkwardness, the woman immediately wanted to see her son’s Chinese test paper. Seeing the poetry section blank again, she sighed repeatedly before looking at other subject scores.

Sheng Sui watched from the side as her mother communicated with the teacher, recording and taking notes with focused, concentrated expression. She suddenly felt the person before her was utterly strange.

Elementary school didn’t hold parent conferences. By the time she reached middle school, her mother had already left and remarried. Her father, working construction, could never spare the time. As for high school, teachers knew her family situation and no longer insisted her parents attend conferences.

Throughout her entire life, Sheng Sui had never once experienced her parents attending a parent conference for her.

Xu Yanze looked completely impatient being lectured by Yu Xuemei, but Sheng Sui somehow felt a moment of envy.

Laughing at herself for being too jealous, she quietly slipped out of the office unnoticed, standing against the wall outside the classroom and checking her phone messages.

Her scrolling finger stopped at a familiar cat avatar. Sheng Sui remembered she had fallen asleep as soon as she got home last night and still hadn’t repaid Zhou Shiyu for the meal he’d covered.

【S: Mr. Zhou, how much was yesterday’s meal? I’ll pay you back】

The second after sending the message, Zhou Shiyu immediately called, acting so quickly that Sheng Sui was caught off guard.

Xiao Ming said the man was a famous workaholic in the industry—how could he reply to messages so quickly?

Zhou Shiyu was as direct as always: “Qiu Si didn’t tell me the price. I’ll let you know when I find out.”

Sheng Sui wasn’t comfortable taking advantage of others. Seeing the man agree, her psychological burden lifted. Then she heard an elderly male voice on the other end of the call, chattering endlessly.

She lowered her voice: “Are you busy over there?”

“The old master’s call, wanting me to go on a blind date,” Zhou Shiyu didn’t avoid the topic, signaling Sheng Sui didn’t need to deliberately whisper. “I put him on mute—he can’t hear.”

Once people have common ground, distance immediately closes. Sheng Sui couldn’t help but be curious: “So you plan to just never respond?”

“Delay as long as possible,” Zhou Shiyu chuckled softly, speaking concisely: “Avoidance is shameful but useful.”

Thinking of the high and mighty CEO commanding respect in public but having to sneak around making phone calls to avoid blind dates, Sheng Sui couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“You’re finally laughing.”

Seeming to find the old master’s nagging too much, Zhou Shiyu hung up that call, his warm, low voice reaching her ears clearly:

“When you answered the phone, you sounded very sad.”

The smile on Sheng Sui’s lips froze as the softest place in her heart was gently touched.

At sunset, in the bustling school corridor, she brought the phone’s receiver close to her lips and said softly:

“Zhou Shiyu, thank you.”

This was the first time she had called the man’s name directly, feeling for no reason that she wanted to be more formal.

“…It’s nothing,” after several long seconds of silence, Zhou Shiyu’s voice sounded slightly hoarse. “I also had ulterior motives first.”

Sheng Sui didn’t understand: “Hm?”

“Sheng Sui,” Zhou Shiyu called her name then fell silent again, as if lost in endless contemplation. After a long while, he spoke heavily:

“Let’s meet again.”

The man’s voice through the receiver remained steady, just slightly faster than usual: “Not as parent and teacher.”

“But as two people who both need a lasting marriage—let’s meet again.”