Yun Li couldn’t remember where she had put the robot. After the competition ended, the team captain told them to take their robots home as mementos. Yun Ye had even played with the controller for several days, reluctant to put it down.
On a whim, Yun Li decided to tinker with the robot again. After work, she waited restlessly in her rented apartment until 10 PM, then immediately video-called Yun Ye.
Yun Ye: [The other party rejected your call request]
Yun Li: [Why did you hang up on me?]
Yun Li: [???]
Meanwhile, Yun Ye was hurrying towards the school gate with his backpack. Knowing the consequences of ignoring Yun Li, he quickly replied, [I’m still at school].
As he swiped his student card to exit, his phone vibrated. A large red circle appeared on WeChat: [Message sent, but rejected by the recipient.]
Yun Ye: “…”
Taking a deep breath, realizing he had been blacklisted, Yun Ye could only call back on another chat app. The screen was dark, and Yun Li only saw his face, half-resembling her own, close to the camera, full of complaints: “I’m still at school.”
Yun Li responded resentfully, “So answering my calls depends on the situation now.”
Yun Ye: “…”
Yun Ye: “There are people around.”
Yun Li glared at him. Yun Ye panicked, “My classmates would think you’re my girlfriend.”
Yun Li: “?”
After making sure no one was around, Yun Ye finally relaxed: “What is it?”
Yun Li got to the point: “Remember that robot soccer competition I participated in during high school? I brought the robot home afterward. Go help me find it, and ask Mom to send it to me when she has time.”
Yun Ye: “Oh.”
Yun Ye then asked: “When are you coming home?”
Yun Li chose to ignore Yun Ye’s routine question about returning home.
Yun Ye was a day student, with less than a ten-minute commute. Upon arriving home, he went straight to Yun Li’s room, flipping the camera.
Yun Li saw her familiar room. Yun Ye rummaged through the drawers one by one, mostly finding old items, with yellowed letters and papers. Finally, he found the robot in the bottom drawer.
After all these years, besides looking a bit loose, the robot hadn’t changed much.
“Is this it?” Yun Ye asked.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Then I’ll put it away,” Yun Ye was about to close the drawer when Yun Li’s sharp eyes noticed a gold-embossed envelope inside.
“Send that blue envelope too, and the small soccer ball next to the trophy. Bye.”
“Wait!!” Surprised by Yun Li’s abrupt dismissal after using him, Yun Ye couldn’t control his volume. He quickly turned the camera back to himself.
Yun Li warned, “I’m not talking to Dad.”
Yun Ye looked exasperated, anxiously scratching his forehead with his index finger, “No, unblock me on WeChat.”
He Jiameng had arranged for her to pick up boxed meals with Fu Shize on Friday.
Early in the morning at the company, He Jiameng was about to leave for another city to deliver materials. Before leaving, she pulled Yun Li aside and whispered, “That Du Gefei came to our company. Her parents are elementary school classmates of the boss’s parents. I didn’t expect such an old connection could still be useful.”
Yun Li had a bad feeling.
This premonition was quickly confirmed. Returning to her workstation, Yun Li found many new items: a woman’s leather jacket hanging on her chair, a water bottle and lipstick scattered on the desk, and even a pair of slippers under the table.
Others hadn’t arrived yet, and there were no empty desks left in the office.
As Yun Li was pondering what to do, the door suddenly opened, and Du Gefei walked in. Seeing Yun Li, she also looked surprised but still waved hello with her usual familiarity.
Having had a conflict with Du Gefei before, Yun Li didn’t want to worsen their relationship now that they were in the same department. She responded with an awkward “Mm” to acknowledge the greeting.
Du Gefei sat directly in her seat.
“This seems to be my seat,” Yun Li reminded her.
The person sitting in the chair didn’t move, taking out a mirror to check her eyelashes while saying, “Yesterday when I came to work, they said since our internship times are different, whoever comes to work gets to sit here.”
Yun Li held back her anger: “What if our times overlap?”
“Mr. Qin said you’re nice and wouldn’t fight with me over the seat.”
“…”
Mr. Qin probably referred to Qin Haifeng, a full-time employee in the same department whom Yun Li had met on her first day as an intern. Du Gefei, feeling she had resolved the issue, added, “I didn’t touch your things, so don’t touch mine.”
Yun Li realized that her desire to maintain a good relationship was one-sided.
Her face now expressionless, she said, “Well, you’re quite rule-abiding.”
“Yes, I am,” Du Gefei winked at her. “By the way, I remember you interviewed for the tech department that day. How come you’re in HR like me?”
She exaggerated her confusion, “Or were you rejected?”
Yun Li: “…”
Du Gefei continued, “Don’t be too upset. We’re all just working jobs. If you don’t have the ability, you can’t eat this rice.”
“…”
At this moment, Qin Haifeng arrived. Seeing the two of them, he smiled, “Good morning. By the way, Yun Li, Feifei is also interning here now. You two only overlap on Fridays, and there’s space in the break room. See how you want to arrange it.”
“Mr. Qin, Lili is very nice and said she’d give me the seat,” Du Gefei’s voice softened as she looked at Yun Li, “Right?”
Unexpectedly, Yun Li didn’t play along at all and directly said, “No, I didn’t.”
Yun Li wasn’t stupid. With the “Mr. Qin” and “Feifei” already being thrown around, she saw no point in wasting energy here. She picked up her bag and left.
Only when the outside air hit her face did Yun Li feel herself calm down.
She couldn’t believe such a cliché situation had happened on just her second day of internship.
Reaching the break room door, fortunately, no one was inside.
Yun Li found a spot to sit down. In the short term, she couldn’t think of how to handle this situation, perhaps waiting for He Jiameng to return and ask for advice.
This was Yun Li’s first encounter with someone like Du Gefei.
After staying in the break room for a while, Yun Li’s nerves remained tense, fearing someone might push the door open at any moment.
Unexpectedly, the first person to enter was Fu Shize.
He glanced at Yun Li, walked to the bar area, scooped some coffee beans, and pressed a button. His white shirt paired with trousers accentuated his long, straight legs.
Yun Li heard the sound of coffee beans being ground.
As the coffee machine began to extract, Fu Shize slightly adjusted the cup’s position, then leaned against the table, looking down at the spout.
Yun Li stared at Fu Shize’s back until the water sound stopped. As Fu Shize picked up the cup to leave, she finally spoke, “Um, the coffee smells nice.”
Fu Shize paused, and turned his head to look at her: “You want some too?”
Yun Li was stunned for a moment.
Fu Shize put the cup back on the bar, took a disposable paper cup, and while waiting for the coffee this time, he asked, “Why are you sitting here?”
Yun Li didn’t want Fu Shize to know she had been bullied out of her workstation, feeling it would make her look too weak. She vaguely said, “I just came to sit for a few minutes…”
He didn’t ask further, placed the coffee in front of Yun Li, and put two packets of sugar and an individually wrapped stirrer beside it.
Having managed to deflect the question, Yun Li felt relieved.
With a bitter feeling in her heart, Yun Li picked up the coffee and took a sip. The moment the liquid entered her mouth, Yun Li furrowed her brows tightly.
Does he like drinking something this bitter?
In one go, Yun Li poured both packets of sugar into the coffee, using the stirrer to draw circles in the cup.
Close to 10 o’clock, Fu Shize entered the break room again. Yun Li hadn’t expected Fu Shize to come twice in one morning.
Seeing Yun Li, he didn’t seem surprised and went straight to the bar to make another cup of coffee.
Yun Li felt like she had been caught red-handed doing something wrong.
This time, Fu Shize didn’t seem to have plans to leave. He pulled out a chair for himself and sat down, leisurely drinking his coffee.
The two sat on diagonal corners, doing nothing, creating a rather strange atmosphere.
After a while, Yun Li couldn’t stand it anymore and took the initiative to ask, “Don’t you need to work?”
Fu Shize: “Slacking off.”
Sitting in the chair, Fu Shize supported his face with one hand, looking at the Venetian blinds, sunlight spilling over his angular eye sockets. After a moment, he asked Yun Li, “Do you have a book?”
Yun Li took out “How I Found My First Job” from her bag and handed it to Fu Shize.
“…”
Although they were supposed to pick up meals together, Fu Shize didn’t notify her.
Yun Li went to the restroom and came back to find the boxed meals already placed on the table in the break room. The table was fully occupied, so Yun Li retreated after just a few seconds.
She instinctively went to the office and sat in an empty chair for a while.
When her colleagues returned, Yun Li felt awkward again and decided to find a rest chair in the tech city to sit on.
Yun Li felt she might as well have “pushover” written on her face.
After sitting outside for nearly forty-five minutes, Yun Li pushed open the break room door like a defeated warrior.
Only one boxed meal was left in the bag, completely cold.
Yun Li was in a bad mood. She sat at the table, zoning out for a long time until someone opened the break room door.
Both of their gazes fell on the last boxed meal.
Fu Shize spoke first: “Have you eaten?”
Yun Li hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ve eaten. How about you?”
Fu Shize was quiet for a moment, then also said, “I’ve eaten.”
“…”
The two fell silent for another ten seconds before Yun Li asked doubtfully, “Then why did you come in? Do you need something?”
“…To make a cup of coffee.”
True to his word, he walked to the bar and made himself a cup of coffee, then opened the door and left.
Originally, Yun Li thought Fu Shize hadn’t eaten lunch and wanted to leave the boxed meal for him. Deep down, she probably knew Fu Shize wouldn’t take the meal if he knew she hadn’t eaten.
Her stomach was growling. She didn’t know why she was pretending to be strong.
Looking at the boxed meal on the table, Yun Li swallowed.
After glancing at the door a few times, Yun Li put the boxed meal in the microwave on the bar. The room filled with the humming sound of the microwave working. Soon, a ding signaled the microwave light turning off.
When she took out the boxed meal, the surface was still steaming, almost too hot to touch. Yun Li opened it to find a Western-style simple meal: two long ribs, a fried egg, and a portion of salad greens.
Clutching the boxed meal like a thief, Yun Li first peeked outside the break room. Only after confirming no one was there did she leave.
Worried Fu Shize might return, Yun Li didn’t dare eat in the break room. She didn’t want Fu Shize to discover her eating the boxed meal after she had told him she had already eaten.
She returned to the chair in the tech city.
“We keep running into each other today,” Yun Li muttered to herself. She sat down, placed the boxed meal on her lap, opened the lid, and moved the food onto the separate rice box. Surprisingly, it tasted quite good.
Halfway through her meal, Yun Li saw Fu Shize walking around the corner, holding a paper bag with bread, and eating slowly.
Their eyes met for a moment.
“…”
“…”
Yun Li didn’t react immediately. Hadn’t Fu Shize said earlier that he had eaten?
Fu Shize didn’t try to avoid her. He walked directly to her side and sat down half a meter away.
Both of them tacitly acted like riddlers.
Fu Shize asked her, “Is the boxed meal good?”
Yun Li: “…It’s pretty good.”
Yun Li: “Is the bread tasty?”
Fu Shize: “…”
Fu Shize: “It’s not bad.”
On the way back to the company, there was a vending machine. As they passed by, Fu Shize stopped, inserted a few coins into the slot, and waited for a while. The spiral storage rack rotated outward a few centimeters, and the heavy drink hit the machine with a thud.
Fu Shize opened the sugar-free cola with a hiss, then took a sip.
Yun Li also operated the vending machine, choosing a bottle of mint soda. Before she could open her phone to scan and pay, she heard the clink of coins.
Fu Shize had inserted a few more coins.
The two silently held their breath as the storage rack rotated outward with Yun Li’s soda, then dropped vertically. Before Yun Li could thank him, Fu Shize bent down, took the mint soda from the collection slot, and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” Yun Li took the soda. The can was so cold it felt like an electric shock.
Pressing down on the pull tab, Yun Li opened the soda and took a sip.
The mint-flavored carbonated water was a bit stimulating at first but left a refreshing feeling after swallowing.
The two seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement, taking turns drinking their sodas at a leisurely pace.
After staying in place for a few minutes, Yun Li heard Fu Shize squeeze his can, and then throw it into a nearby trash bin. The flattened can hit the plastic bin, bouncing like a jump before landing among the other cans at the bottom.
“Let’s head back.”
Fu Shize turned and walked back. Yun Li hesitated for a moment, then threw away her soda and followed, walking beside him.
Xu Qingsong happened to be returning from outside, drinking coffee and holding another cup.
“Hey, you two are together,” Xu Qingsong casually greeted Yun Li, then turned to Fu Shize and said, “Xiao Zhu isn’t open today, so just drink this.”
He handed the coffee to Fu Shize, paused midair, and then turned to Yun Li: “Here.”
Fu Shize: “?”
“I don’t need…”
After a few seconds of silence, Yun Li still accepted it under their gaze.
If they hadn’t met, it would have been different, but since they did, maybe Xu Qingsong would have felt bad about not bringing coffee for a subordinate or a lady.
“Thank you,” Yun Li said.
Xu Qingsong raised an eyebrow: “No need to thank me.” He took another sip of coffee, then said nonchalantly, “This cup is paid for by Aze.”
“…”
After spending an afternoon in the break room, Yun Li discovered that Fu Shize treated coffee like his lifeline. Using tally marks to record the number of times he drank coffee, she had already filled two sets of five-bar gates on the paper.
It was hard to imagine how he managed to sleep at night.
That evening, Yun Li collapsed onto her bed when she got home. Before she could complain to Deng Chuqi about the day’s events, she fell into a deep sleep.
Perhaps due to being upset by Du Gefei, Yun Li woke up the next day with her first severe cold since arriving in Nanwu.
For the entire weekend, Yun Li wrapped herself in her blanket, sleeping in a daze.
Sometimes she dreamed of Fu Shize holding an umbrella with a cold smile.
Sometimes she dreamed of Fu Shize carrying her off a motorcycle.
Sometimes she dreamed of Fu Zhengchu crying, saying he wanted his uncle to play house with him.
When Deng Chuqi called her and heard her nasal voice and jumbled logic, she rushed to the supermarket to buy a bunch of groceries before the leftovers at home could even be cleaned up. She arrived at Qili Xiangdu with bags of supplies to take care of Yun Li.
When Yun Li went to open the door wrapped in her blanket, only her face was visible, eyes closed, and confused.
“You look a lot like Deng Chuqi.”
“…”
After opening the door, she curled up on the sofa like a caterpillar.
Deng Chuqi put the groceries in the fridge and tidied up the room for a while.
While clearing the trash from the computer desk, she found a photo in the printer output tray. Shocked, Deng Chuqi rushed to Yun Li with it: “Damn, you even have a photo together?”
Yun Li, eyes closed, took the photo and stuffed it into the crevice of the sofa, her breathing rhythm unchanged.
“…”
Two days passed, and Yun Li’s fever subsided a bit, but she was still extremely sleepy.
Before leaving on Sunday night, Deng Chuqi specially made a large pot of porridge and put it in the refrigerator, instructing Yun Li to heat it in the microwave before eating.
“You just can’t take care of yourself properly,” Deng Chuqi felt a bit upset. She pressed her forehead against Yun Li’s, which was no longer as hot as before.
Yun Li mumbled something, and Deng Chuqi leaned in, only catching a few words.
“I want to be a mother…”
“…”
Deng Chuqi’s expression turned strange: “I’ve given you so many opportunities, but you didn’t cooperate. Now you’re sick like this and thinking about having Fu Shize’s child?”
After tucking Yun Li in, Deng Chuqi left.
Early Monday morning, the alarm rang for over ten minutes before Yun Li groggily woke up. The room was dim, and Yun Li turned on the light, fighting her headache.
She measured her temperature with a thermometer; it had dropped to 37.5°C.
Yun Li hadn’t eaten since Deng Chuqi left, and now her stomach was growling.
She ladled out a bowl of white porridge and heated it. Sitting at the table, Yun Li took a couple of sips of the hot food, finally regaining some strength in her limbs.
She still had to go to work today.
Yun Li had arranged with Fang Yuning to go two and a half days a week, half a day less than regular interns.
The graduate program only required about twenty credits, and she had completed half this semester. Yun Li had deliberately concentrated her courses from Tuesday to Thursday, with evening classes until 9 PM. Therefore, for these three months, she had fixed her EAW work schedule to Mondays, Wednesday mornings, and Fridays, while Tuesdays to Thursdays were almost filled with classes.
“You don’t need to go to your internship today, right? Just skip your university classes too,” Deng Chuqi sent her a voice message.
Having only interned at EAW for two days, Yun Li struggled internally but still didn’t want to take a day off.
The fever had subsided, and not wanting to worry Deng Chuqi, Yun Li told a white lie: “Mm-hmm, I’ll do as the boss says.”
She spent the entire day at the company in a daze. During her afternoon nap, she caught a bit of a chill, and Yun Li felt her cold worsening.
As it neared the end of the workday, Qin Haifeng brought over some documents for her to process and hand back to him that night.
Yun Li recalled He Jiameng mentioning that the department usually didn’t require overtime, and she didn’t think she had offended anyone last week.
At this point, Yun Li’s head was a complete mess.
She wanted to say something, but her throat felt like it was being torn apart. She could only nod and sit down.
It was all trivial work that didn’t seem urgent – checking if the purchase orders and inventory records from the past two weeks matched. Yun Li obediently hugged a cup of hot water and started checking them one by one, losing track of time.
Yun Li remembered writing homework with a fever as a child. It seemed somewhat ridiculous that as an adult, she was now working overtime with a fever.
Qin Haifeng hadn’t left either, sitting at his desk intently staring at his screen.
Yun Li thought: At least a colleague is willing to work overtime together…
Later, when Qin Haifeng went to the restroom and was gone for a while, Yun Li went to the break room to get water. She saw his screen lit up with colors – he was playing a game of Fight the Landlord.
“…”
Yun Li usually wouldn’t touch other people’s things, but this time, she used the mouse to click on the login time on the personal homepage. It showed 5:30 PM today, and it was now 8 PM.
She felt an indescribable mix of emotions.
When Qin Haifeng returned and packed up his things, he said to Yun Li, “Don’t work too late. Just leave the stuff on my desk when you’re done, then you can go home.”
The door closed with a bang.
The office was left in desolate silence.
Yun Li sat at her desk, her nose completely blocked, but her eyes began to sting.