This was the third time Xu Huaisong had swung and missed. He had intended to walk through the entire matter of Lu Shenglan from beginning to end — and yet Ruan Yu had sidestepped him, again and again, with effortless precision.

The hollow feeling of throwing punch after punch into cotton pulled him out of the wretched, wrung-out state he’d been in just moments ago.

At this point, if he still couldn’t tell she was doing it on purpose, he would be a disgrace to his profession.

She was playing things this graciously on purpose — retreating in order to advance.

Because from her position, his feelings had appeared without warning and without explanation, so she needed to test the waters first.

And sure enough, without her having to say a single word, she had made him too impatient to hold back and had gotten him to lay out everything on his own.

Though even if she’d demanded answers in hysterics or cried her eyes out, the result would have been the same. But he was apparently some kind of deviant — because he found he rather enjoyed this calculating side of her.

Xu Huaisong glanced toward the kitchen.

A moment ago, he had actually thought she was in there deliberating over how to turn him down. But this person, soft on the outside and unyielding at her core, kept surprising him — and in the process, her presence had done what the medication alone hadn’t quite managed, and settled his stomach.

Xu Huaisong suppressed a smile and took a sip of warm water.

Ruan Yu’s carefully summoned composure dropped a notch.

How did this man make drinking a glass of plain water look like sipping a limited-edition Grand Martel? A moment ago he’d been holding her so tight she’d nearly blacked out, and now he was sitting here this calm and unbothered, not taking the bait at all — what was that supposed to mean?

Firm approach not working? Try soft?

She quietly adjusted her tone and said: “I haven’t eaten since this morning…”

Xu Huaisong did stop at that, setting down his glass. “Why not?”

Ruan Yu was just about to answer when she heard his next words: “I didn’t eat. Does that mean you didn’t either?”

She paused. “Your stomach — you still…” dare to skip meals?

At that, both of them picked up their phones and stood up at the same time.

Food is fuel — sitting here half-starved with nothing to do was pointless. In the end, they’d both been going hungry and putting on a brave face about it. Wasn’t that just ridiculous?

They headed out one after the other, and Xu Huaisong suddenly asked: “Do you drive?”

Caught off guard by the word “drive,” Ruan Yu’s occupational reflex kicked in before she could stop herself: “Which kind?”

Xu Huaisong’s gaze drifted over to her, unhurried and unreadable. “What other kind is there?”

She caught herself. “Bicycle and car — the first one, yes. The second one… I’ve had my license for seven years, but I’ve never actually driven on a real road.” Then she asked: “Why?”

“I wanted to have you drive. My stomach flared up this afternoon and I’m not sure I should be behind the wheel.”

“But when you came over earlier…”

“When I came over, I was by myself.”

Those words landed like a soft blow directly against Ruan Yu’s chest, leaving her with an aching, fizzing feeling — and the world tilted slightly around her.

She couldn’t find words for a long moment, and even her footsteps felt unsteady beneath her. Eventually she said, in a slightly dazed voice: “Then let’s take a cab…”

Ruan Yu chose the restaurant. Since Xu Huaisong’s stomach had just acted up, she found a place that served clay pot congee.

When it came to ordering, he left everything entirely up to her, so she didn’t bother with any polite back-and-forth — just picked up the pen and worked her way down the menu.

Then she ran into a problem.

Century egg and pork congee — the century egg was out. Fermented foods were harsh on the stomach.

Sampan congee — the seafood was out. What if there was inflammation in his stomach?

Silky beef egg congee — the beef was out. Too difficult to digest.

She looked up. “It sounds like plain congee might be your only option.”

“That’s fine. Just order what you want to eat.”

Ruan Yu turned back to choosing for herself.

Spare rib congee — the ribs were out. Far too inelegant to gnaw on.

Mud crab and shrimp congee — the shrimp and crab were out. She’d end up with the smell lingering in her mouth.

Shredded chicken congee — the chicken was out. What if a piece got stuck in her teeth?

She looked up again, and said with full gravity and conviction: “I also want plain congee.”

Xu Huaisong blinked twice. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

For the greater good, she could do this. She was willing.

The server brought them a steaming pot of plain congee and a few small complimentary side dishes.

It might have been her imagination, but Ruan Yu felt the server looked at her with a faint trace of sympathy.

As if this scene had given the server a glimpse into the not-so-distant future — this man and woman, crushed beneath the weight of life’s burdens, adrift in the storms of fate with nothing but plain congee to sustain them.

But even the congee couldn’t be eaten in peace.

Partway through the meal, Xu Huaisong received a phone call.

He didn’t step away from the table. His opening words were: “Speaking — hello, Teacher He.”

Teacher He? Wasn’t that the vice principal of Su Shi No. 1 High School — the English teacher they’d both had?

Ruan Yu’s ears perked up. And then, as if on cue, her own phone rang.

Mom calling.

The surroundings were quiet. If they both took their calls at the same table, their voices would carry across to each other. Ruan Yu was about to get up and move away, but Xu Huaisong made a small gesture — a light wave of his hand — indicating she should stay and take it here while he went outside.

She waited until he had turned and walked away mid-conversation, then answered.

Her mother, Qu Lan, said: “Yuyu, your dad and I just got a call from Teacher He. It’s his fiftieth birthday this Friday — he’s invited us to come to Su Shi for the celebration dinner.”

Ruan Yu went still, immediately connecting this to Xu Huaisong’s call. “Do I absolutely have to go?”

“Teacher He probably wouldn’t have thought of you at all, except you ran into each other at the school last time, didn’t you? Is something the matter? Are you busy with work?”

“It’s not that exactly…”

She stirred her plain congee with a pained expression.

The truth was — since she was now considering the possibility of pursuing something with Xu Huaisong, the fact that they were schoolmates would likely have to come out soon. But he’d only just barely opened the door to his feelings, and if she immediately exposed the fact that she’d had a secret crush on him for years, she’d spend the rest of their relationship being completely outmaneuvered.

Her mother continued: “Teacher He made a point of inviting you. Basic courtesy requires that you go. If you’ve got nothing pressing, just go.”

Xu Huaisong happened to return from his call at exactly that moment. Ruan Yu looked up, met his eyes, and quickly changed the subject: “Mom, have you eaten yet?”

“I have, I’m having sour plum juice with your dad right now. Did you actually hear what I said?”

Xu Huaisong had already settled back into the seat across from her.

She rushed to say: “Oh, I’d love some too…”

“What’s gotten into you? Are you selectively deaf with your own mother?”

“No, no, I’m not…” She glanced at the person across the table again, then said: “Let me think about it, I’ll get back to you. I have to go now, Mom.” She hung up.

Xu Huaisong picked up his congee spoon again, with the unhurried elegance of someone lifting a knife and fork before a steak.

He glanced at her. “What do you want to drink?”

She gave a light cough. “My mom’s homemade sour plum juice.” Then she began fishing for information: “Do you still keep in touch with your teachers from when you were in China?”

“I didn’t before. But I ran into him at the school last time and we exchanged contact information.”

“And Teacher He still remembers you after all this time.” Ruan Yu racked her brain for how to steer the conversation in the right direction, and found herself getting more and more awkward the more she tried.

Fortunately, Xu Huaisong’s next sentence landed right where she needed it to: “He invited me to the birthday dinner.”

She performed a perfect expression of dawning realization. “And will you go?”

Xu Huaisong looked up, and in her eyes he caught the telltale flicker — she was very much hoping he would say no.

He considered for a moment. “I’ll have to see if there are any scheduling conflicts.”

Ruan Yu let out a small laugh. “If you’re busy, just skip it!”

Xu Huaisong suppressed a smile. “Mm.”

Ruan Yu spent the second half of the meal in a state of distraction. But when it was over, she remembered the most important reason she’d invited him to dinner in the first place — and delivered her planned line: “You’ve been out for a while now. Will the cat get hungry back at the hotel? She’s four months old and still growing — nutrition needs to be balanced at that age. Just eating the same tinned food every day isn’t good for her. Should we bring something back?”

When someone suddenly turns chatty, there’s usually a reason for it.

Xu Huaisong allowed the corner of his mouth to curve upward.

Just as Ruan Yu was thinking that her ulterior motive — which had very little to do with the cat — had been seen through, she heard him say: “Then help me pick something suitable. Come back with me for a bit.”

And so, with perfect naturalness, Ruan Yu ended up going back to the hotel with him.

As they were about to step into the elevator, she launched the next phase of her plan: “Oh — I forgot about Ms. Lu. Has she eaten yet?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is she like you — so deep in work she forgets to eat? Maybe we could bring something up for her?”

Xu Huaisong glanced at her sideways. “You’re the one who wants to bring it.” Meaning this had nothing to do with him whatsoever.

Ruan Yu nodded. “Right.”

Xu Huaisong turned and accompanied her to the lobby to place an order.

She deliberated carefully and selected a seasonal set meal called “White Lotus in High Summer,” then added a single order of “Rich Affair Green Tea.” She had it all packaged up, got into the elevator, and after confirming the floor with Xu Huaisong, pressed “15.”

Ruan Yu quietly braced herself — but when the elevator chimed and the doors slid open on the fifteenth floor, she found Lu Shenglan already standing outside, a rolling suitcase in hand.

Their eyes met. Lu Shenglan smiled first, gave a small nod of acknowledgment to both her and Xu Huaisong, then wheeled the suitcase in, pressed “1,” and turned to say: “I’ve finished what I needed to do. I’m heading back to the States.”

Xu Huaisong gave a quiet “mm” and said nothing else.

Ruan Yu understood.

Lu Shenglan had used work as her justification for returning to China alongside Xu Huaisong. Now, even though he had not yet directly confronted her about what had happened that afternoon, she had clearly realized he knew. She understood that a face-to-face confrontation would be uncomfortable for everyone — so she had chosen to withdraw on her own terms.

If not for the coincidence of the elevator, she wouldn’t have had to face Xu Huaisong at all.

Ruan Yu found herself thinking, suddenly, that there was no longer any need to deliver this meal that had been meant as a quiet signal.

No one spoke for the rest of the elevator ride. The breathing of all three people was light and even.

When the doors opened on the ground floor, Ruan Yu and Xu Huaisong didn’t move.

Lu Shenglan gave them both one more nod, then walked out first with her luggage.

The evening summer breeze carried the scent of grass — just like eight years ago, when she had first laid eyes on Xu Huaisong in the White Dove Plaza on campus.

In the moment she had fallen for him at first sight, she had never imagined things would come to this.

The road to today had felt like fighting an eight-year war — every step taken with extreme caution. Because Xu Huaisong was far too sharp.

Dealing with him required staying one hundred and twenty percent alert at all times. The moment her actions — or even her gaze, her tone — gave the slightest hint of attempting to cross a line, he would reject her in that way of his that appeared perfectly gentlemanly and restrained, but left absolutely no room.

She had never raised the subject directly. Even the lightest probing had met with a wall, and she had always known what the ending would be.

But she had told herself — he would have to settle down eventually. Eight years, and there had been no woman in his life. His father, before the dementia had taken hold, had been fond of her too — had regarded her as a future daughter-in-law. So in the end, when it truly came down to it, was there really no chance he might simply settle for her? Even if they would only ever maintain a respectful, cordial distance.

She thought she could wait to see how that “in the end” turned out. Until just over a month ago, when he had suddenly made an unplanned trip back to China.

At first she assumed something had happened with his family. After a great deal of careful inquiry, she had managed to draw it out of his roommate — who was also their colleague — that after his trip back and forth to China, he had begun regularly video-calling a woman who spoke Chinese.

She reassured herself that it was likely a professional video consultation. But shortly after, she learned he had returned to China a second time — had told his assistant to prepare funds for buying a car, and had even brought his American driver’s license.

That was when she had truly begun to panic.

Her instincts told her that Xu Huaisong’s feelings for that woman were not a passing whim. In fact, it was very likely that through all those years when she had been holding onto her one-sided hope, he had been directing that same depth of feeling toward someone else entirely.

When he prepared to leave San Francisco again, she arranged it without any trace of contrivance — using work as her reason — and boarded the same flight back to China.

She needed to confirm what she suspected.

And then she saw the woman.

Outside the hotel room door. A scene that said everything without a single word being spoken.

Xu Huaisong had given her no room whatsoever to deceive herself.

He had immediately made his position clear — introducing the woman first, calling her by name: “Ruan Yu.” Then introducing her, with formal courtesy: “Ms. Lu.” The closeness or distance of those two introductions, the nature of each relationship — laid bare in an instant.

Xu Huaisong would never make such a basic error of etiquette by accident.

It was deliberate.

She felt the jealousy consuming her, close to madness.

It was that very afternoon’s blow that had caused eight years of controlled, suppressed emotion to finally erupt — so that when she saw that message, and with sharp instinct pieced together what it likely meant, she had pressed that fatal “b.”

The “b” that had made her act foolishly and make her first mistake in eight years.

The “b” that had reduced her to the level of a third-rate player and knocked her entirely out of the game.

As she stepped out of the hotel, Lu Shenglan turned back once more to look.

She remembered — when the elevator doors had opened just now, no floor number had been lit on the panel. Which meant they had come specifically to the fifteenth floor to find her.

And Xu Huaisong had clearly permitted it — had let Ruan Yu come.

What had they come to do? Every woman who has ever been in love already knows the answer to that.

Lu Shenglan gave a quiet, bitter smile.

So to build something close with a man like Xu Huaisong — beyond trying to be smarter than him — there was one other shortcut: to be like Ruan Yu. To make him willing, for your sake, to stop being so smart.

Author’s note: Ruan Yu: How did I set a trap and he just walked right into it? Am I that clever? Xu Huaisong: Keep going. Don’t stop.