“Teacher Yan, there’s a welcome dinner tonight for the new captain who just transferred in — don’t forget to come.”

“Teacher Yan, what do you want for breakfast? The usual three dishes?”

“Xiao Qing, are you still half-asleep? Rose Western Restaurant, noon at 12:00 — don’t you dare forget. Your Second Aunt is telling you, the other party is the cream of the crop. Miss this one and you’ll be waiting a hundred years for another.”

Yan Qing sat up in bed, bleary-eyed, and listened to the WeChat messages one by one.

Yesterday a case had kept her late, and by the time she got home it was already past midnight. She had barely managed to get some sleep, only to be bombarded with messages from all directions first thing in the morning.

She tossed her phone onto the covers, eyes half-shut, and shuffled into the bathroom. The case had kept her and her colleagues grinding away for an entire week. If the bureau chief hadn’t told her there was nothing for her to do for the time being and sent her home to rest, she’d probably still be at the station right now.

Yan Qing put her toothbrush in her mouth and immediately sensed something was wrong after just two brushes. She quickly spat out whatever was in her mouth and looked down — the facial cleanser on her right side had been uncapped. She had used it instead of toothpaste.

At that moment, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from outside, followed immediately by her Second Aunt’s voice: “Xiao Qing, are you up yet?”

It had to be said that Second Aunt’s voice had a way of jolting one wide awake. The still-groggy Yan Qing snapped to attention instantly.

“Second Aunt, you’re here so early,” Yan Qing called out from the bathroom doorway.

Second Aunt tucked her key into her bag and swapped into slippers at the entrance. “Early? It’s already eight o’clock. Don’t you have work today?”

“They gave me some time off to rest.”

“Just look at you.” Second Aunt began tidying up the apartment, then headed into the bathroom for a cloth. “You’re always so busy with work you have no time for romance. Let me tell you — at your age you can just barely pass as a ‘leftover warrior,’ but in another two years you’ll be a ‘Leftover Saint,’ and a few years after that? You’ll be the ‘Great Sage of Leftovers.'”

Yan Qing nearly choked on her toothpaste foam. “Second Aunt, you really do keep up with the times — you even know these internet memes.”

“It’s all because of you. You’ve worried me half to death.” Second Aunt launched vigorously into cleaning. “Your parents left early, your Second Uncle is busy every day — if I didn’t look out for you, you’d really end up a spinster.”

Yan Qing stepped forward and threw her arms around Second Aunt’s neck with a grin. “Being unmarried isn’t so bad. I’ll look after you and Second Uncle for the rest of your lives.”

“Ptooey, ptooey — there you go talking nonsense again. An unmarried woman is an old maid.” Second Aunt shook off her hands with distaste. “This one today is the absolute finest of the finest.”

“Second Aunt, you say that about every single one. Last time you called that man a literary type — I met him and he started reciting poetry at me immediately. I stepped away to use the restroom and he’d already composed a poem about it. Then a few days later he sent me poems he’d written. I couldn’t take it, so I blocked him.”

“This one is different. Auntie Liu promised me personally — if he’s not top-tier, full refunds, no questions asked.”

Yan Qing couldn’t help but laugh. “A refund? How exactly would that work?”

“You little rascal.” Second Aunt gave her a swat. “Dress up nicely — don’t embarrass me.”

Yan Qing raised an eyebrow and replied perfunctorily, “Got it!”

“Whatever you do, don’t tell him what you do for a living.” Second Aunt repeated herself over and over. “You’ve already scared off quite a few of them.”

“If someone can’t accept my profession, what’s the point of dating them?” Yan Qing pursed her lips. “It’s not like I’m going to change careers.”

“Feel him out first. Once you’ve gotten to know each other, then you can tell him. That’s better than scaring him off right away.” Second Aunt sighed. “I hear this one is also a workaholic — so busy he has no time for romance.”

“Second Aunt, I’m already busy enough as it is. If I find someone even busier than me, even if we do hit it off, we’d be apart more than together.”

“Oh, stop overthinking it.” Second Aunt picked up a vase and began wiping it down. “Besides, if I don’t handle this properly, your Second Uncle will have something to say to me about it. For the sake of our mid-life marital harmony, just go, go on.”

Yan Qing couldn’t help but roll her eyes. How in the world had blind dating become tied to their mid-life marital harmony?

Yan Qing didn’t have much free time ordinarily. The moment a case came in she was consumed by it completely. In what little time she had left, aside from sleeping, Second Aunt had her booked solid with blind dates.

Two years of blind dates and not a single match, though she’d encountered more than enough oddities to fill a book — and at this point, she could genuinely write one.

Having been through so many of these encounters, Yan Qing had long since grown immune to them. As for Second Aunt’s instruction to dress up nicely — that simply wasn’t going to happen.

She was a forensic pathologist. A case could come in at any moment, and arriving at a crime scene in full makeup might just frighten the corpse.

When Yan Qing walked into Rose Western Restaurant wearing not a scrap of makeup, she followed Second Aunt’s directions: her blind date would be sitting by the window, and to make identification easy, he would have an overturned cup on the table.

Yan Qing spotted the man by the window immediately. He sat in the light, the lazy midday sun falling across him, his upright silhouette reflected in the floor-to-ceiling glass beside him.

He was wearing a white T-shirt under a brown jacket. Just from his upper half alone, it was clear this man was tall.

He had his head bowed at that moment, glancing at the watch on his wrist. In the light, his eyelashes were thick and long, the lines of his face close to perfect.

Yan Qing thought to herself that Second Aunt hadn’t lied to her this time. By looks alone, this one was genuinely exceptional.

Though someone this handsome without a girlfriend — she wasn’t quite ready to believe it.

Even as she was thinking this, the man seemed to sense her gaze and looked up.

Their eyes met. In his deep, searching gaze, Yan Qing felt a kind of pressure — a natural, effortless presence that required no deliberate projection, forming a high-pressure field around him all on its own.

“Hello,” Yan Qing said, walking over. “Were you introduced here by Auntie Liu?”

“Yes.” The man’s voice was rich and pleasant.

“I’m Yan Qing. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Shi Ting. Nice to meet you.”

The two exchanged the obligatory greeting, and Yan Qing took a seat beside him.

“Have you ordered yet?”

“No.” Shi Ting studied the young woman across from him without making it obvious. She wore her hair at shoulder length, undyed, naturally black and smooth.

Her face was bare of makeup — only a light layer of skincare. Her skin was soft and clear, radiating a natural, unaffected beauty.

“Do we even need to order?” Yan Qing smiled at him. “The food here is quite expensive. If we don’t like each other, there’s no point wasting money.”

“You’re averse to blind dates as a concept?”

Yan Qing spread her hands. “Averse isn’t the word. I despise them.”

“Then why did you come?”

Yan Qing gave him a slight squint. “Same reason as you — I was forced.”

“Oh?” Shi Ting asked with interest. “What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know you, but with a face like yours, I’d bet the girls chasing you stretch from here to the far end of Xi Nan Road with a few extra bends thrown in. You’d have no need for something this old-fashioned. My guess is someone at home has been pressuring you to find a girlfriend, so you came along just to give them something to say you’d tried.”

“Looks like you’re in the same boat.”

“My Second Aunt is terrified I’ll become the ‘Great Sage of Leftovers’ — her eyebrows are practically turning white with anxiety.”

“Great Sage of what now?”

“Not the monkey kind. It means rotting away at home, unmarried.”

Shi Ting quirked the corner of his mouth. This was the first time he’d ever heard phrasing quite like that.

“Since we’re both here under duress, let’s just go through the motions and report back, shall we? No need to eat — have you seen how much one steak costs here?”

Shi Ting, seeing she was already wrapping things up, asked, “So what do I tell Auntie Liu? I’ll need a reason to turn her down.”

“Tell her I’m ugly.”

Shi Ting: “Try again.”

That one was obviously not going to fly.

Yan Qing thought for a moment. “Tell her I’m a bottomless pit — I can eat six steaks in one sitting and you can’t afford to keep me fed.”

“I think I could probably manage that.”

Yan Qing pursed her lips. “Then tell her we had no chemistry. That you felt absolutely nothing when you looked at me.”

“And what will you tell your relatives?”

“Easy. I’ll say you were creepy — that you got handsy the moment we met.”

Shi Ting: “……”

“Could you use a different one?”

“This reason is the most direct. One strike, right on target.”

Shi Ting frowned. “Is this how you’ve been getting rid of all your blind dates?”

“More or less. But you can’t reuse the same excuse — you have to know how to vary it, otherwise people catch on. Wisdom born of experience.”

Shi Ting said nothing, watching her with a faint glint of amusement in his eyes.

“Alright, sir. Just sitting here with a glass of water is free of charge, no need to stress over splitting the bill. We part ways here, go our separate directions, and neither of us is out a single cent.”

“Wait.” Shi Ting suddenly called after her. “Leave me your contact information.”

Yan Qing blinked. “Is that really necessary?”

They were nothing more than ships passing in the night. They’d met once today; after this they’d likely never cross paths again. Exchanging contact information truly seemed pointless.

“This is my number.” Shi Ting suddenly reached over and took her phone, rapidly typing in his number.

Yan Qing felt her hand go empty before she realized he’d taken her phone. She was about to reach for it back when it began ringing urgently in his hand.

Shi Ting, only halfway through entering his number, had no choice but to return the phone. “You’ve got a call.”

Yan Qing had barely taken the phone back when another ringtone sounded. She helpfully pointed at his pocket. “Yours is ringing too.”

Both of them answered at the same time. Neither knew what was said on the other end, but almost in unison they said: “Got it. I’ll be right there.”

They hung up and couldn’t help but exchange a glance.

“Where are you headed? My car is outside — I can drive you.”

Yan Qing shook her head. “No need to trouble yourself. I’ll grab a cab.”

She gave him a quick wave. “I’ll head out first then. Goodbye.”

Shi Ting watched her figure disappear through the revolving door — and then, as if compelled by some inexplicable force, he followed.

He watched her step to the curb and flag down a taxi. It pulled away, leaving behind a cloud of dust in his line of sight.

—