She sat listlessly in the office chair, spacing out for a while, when Chen Xiaomu sent her a WeChat message.

During their freshman year, when Chen Xiaomu came from Hengdian to Beijing to visit her and brought up Chen An, she had confessed everything about her and Chen An. Her reaction had been very intense at the time, and she spent years being jealous that Zhong Ming had known about these things before her.

Chen Xiaomu: [I heard from Brother Zhong that you went back and ran into Chen An?]

Cheng Lele: [Brother Zhong heard from you that I went back to Taixi, and you heard from Brother Zhong that I ran into little brother. You two seem to be secretly communicating. I should be jealous too.]

Chen Xiaomu ignored her deflection and asked gossipily: [So how is it? After seven years apart, do you find Chen An unfamiliar now? Like he’s the opposite sex? Like he’s a man?]

Cheng Lele: [When has my little brother ever not been a man?]

Chen Xiaomu: [Does the current Chen An still wear his feelings on his face?]

Cheng Lele: [Big sister, he never wore them on his face before either.]

Chen Xiaomu: [That’s because you were blind. Cheng Lele, I think you might be frigid. Chen An is so handsome and treats you so well—how could you have no sexual interest?]

Cheng Lele: [Just assume I am then.]

Chen Xiaomu: [Want me to send you some porn to watch?]

Cheng Lele: [Get lost.]

Chen Xiaomu: [Sigh, I don’t know if you’re just clueless or overthinking things. If you ask me, you’re just trapped by those eighteen years.]

Chen Xiaomu: [During those eighteen years, you two grew up intertwined like conjoined twins. Family affection, friendship, and romantic love all got mixed together—it’s just a question of what the proportions are.]

Chen Xiaomu: [Stop psychologically suggesting to yourself that it’s only family affection. Maybe you’ve just never separated them out. Otherwise, why haven’t you ever been attracted to anyone else?]

Chen Xiaomu: [If you come to Hengdian and see what goes on, you’ll know you two were playing it way too pure!]

Chen Xiaomu: [If you two don’t get together, how will you justify my past suspicions about your inappropriate relationship?]

Chen Xiaomu: [We’re both 25 now. Back home at this age, people should be going on blind dates, right? If you met a blind date like Chen An, wouldn’t you be interested? You’d give a blind date a chance, so why not give Chen An a chance?]

Chen Xiaomu: [If you two end up together, you must show Chen An this chat log! Make him pay me!]

Chen Xiaomu continued chattering away with her brainwashing. After reading a few lines, Cheng Lele’s eyelids began to droop. As she lay on the desk about to pass out, feeling dizzy and lightheaded, she thought: Should I try? Can this kind of thing even be tried? How would I try it?…

Then during the half hour she was asleep, she dreamed that she kept smoothing down her own goosebumps.