Liu Shiyun really hadn’t lied—this blind date she’d brought along did look pretty decent. His name was Zhou Qing, and he already had a U.S. green card, currently planning to move back and settle down, working in finance. He was quite talkative, shifting topics smoothly, and clearly quite interested in Qian Wei. Throughout the meal, he was very attentive to her, thoughtfully passing along dishes he noticed she liked, and refilling her tea the moment it ran low.
He was a genuinely good guy. And yet, Qian Wei couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
While Zhou Qing had stepped away to the restroom, Liu Shiyun wiggled her eyebrows at Qian Wei. “Pretty good quality, right?”
Qian Wei took a sip of tea and let out a long sigh. “Ohh.”
Liu Shiyun wasn’t pleased. “Tell me what’s not satisfying about him. Zhou Qing’s pretty good-looking, isn’t he? Tall too, fair skin, nice eyes!”
“Yeah, Zhou Qing’s decent-looking, but not as handsome as Lu Xun. Good height, but not as tall as Lu Xun. Fair skin, but not as fair as Lu Xun. Nice eyes, but they don’t give me that heart-pounding feeling the way Lu Xun’s do with just one glance.”
“But he’s so thoughtful! When has Lu Xun ever lowered himself to pour you tea?”
Qian Wei thought about it and said, quite seriously, “I’ve only just realized—I actually like that cold, aloof quality of Lu Xun’s. Think about it: the fact that he’s not thoughtful or considerate just proves he’s genuinely never dated before, and no one’s ever ‘trained’ him to think he needs to pour tea for a girl. That actually proves he’s still pure at heart, unlike Zhou Qing, who clearly knows all the moves. Lu Xun’s still a blank slate—whoever manages to land him could mold him however they wanted. There’s so much potential there.”
“…” Liu Shiyun gave Qian Wei a pitying look. “Qian Wei, you’re poisoned down to your bones at this point. Do you really think Lu Xun is something a normal person could reshape?”
“It’s fine. I’ve thought it through—if I can’t reshape him, and he won’t pour tea for me, then I’ll just pour tea for him instead.”
“Qian Wei, this is textbook Stockholm syndrome. Years of suffering under Lu Xun’s tyranny, and now you’ve fallen into some tortured, masochistic love with him. But listen, friend, what you’re doing right now is exactly like someone who’s survived for years eating nothing but excrement, and after eating so much of it, convinces themselves they can’t live without it and have fallen in love with it. It’s just an illusion. Wake up.”
“If Lu Xun is excrement, then I’m willing to lower myself and be a dung beetle.”
“…”
After saying that, Qian Wei glanced down at her phone out of habit.
Liu Shiyun looked puzzled. “Do you have something going on? Did you take on some high-maintenance client? You’ve been checking your phone about once every fifteen minutes since we sat down.”
Qian Wei looked a little dejected. “I’ve never once gone more than an hour without Lu Xun calling when I’m out for a meal. It’s messed with my head, I guess it’s become some kind of conditioned reflex now. If he doesn’t call me in for overtime, I actually get a little anxious.”
“It hasn’t even been an hour yet,” Liu Shiyun said, checking her watch. “Still ten minutes to go.”
But as if to prove Qian Wei’s point, her phone rang the very moment Liu Shiyun finished speaking, and there on the screen, plain as day, was the name “Lu Xun.”
Qian Wei picked up, composing herself and putting on an air of nonchalance. “Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t call me in for overtime tonight? And don’t forget—according to labor law, if an employer requires an employee to work extended hours during a standard workday, they must pay no less than 1.5 times the regular wage. I’ve been slaving away for you for years now, when are you finally going to settle up my overtime pay?”
There was a pause on the other end before Qian Wei heard Lu Xun say flatly, “Qian Wei, I’d suggest you take another look at the employment contract you signed with the firm. It clearly states that we operate under a flexible working hours system. Do you need me to walk you through it? A flexible working hours system refers to a work arrangement without fixed working hour limits, applicable to positions that, due to the nature of production, special work requirements, or the scope of responsibilities, require continuous work or cannot reliably maintain fixed hours, making a standard schedule inapplicable. Per the interim wage payment regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor, employees under a flexible working hours system are not subject to the standard overtime pay calculation rules that apply to ordinary employers.”
“…” Qian Wei thought, why on earth are we discussing legal statutes over the phone? Lu Xun, could you please put your occupational habits away for once?!
She choked back her frustration and, after a long pause, said, “So if it’s not about overtime, then what is it?”
Though her voice stayed composed on the phone, deep down Qian Wei was hoping he’d say it—go on, Lu Xun, say you need me, say that not being able to work overtime with me tonight finally made you realize you can’t do without me…
Lu Xun was quiet too. It felt like an eternity had passed before Qian Wei finally heard his voice again.
“Qian Wei, I’m having an allergic reaction.”
“What happened?!” All other thoughts vanished from Qian Wei’s mind, replaced entirely by worry. She exclaimed in alarm, “An allergic reaction to what?”
Lu Xun had a somewhat allergic constitution—whenever he came into contact with an allergen, the symptoms would flare up dramatically. Qian Wei still vividly remembered the cat-hair allergy incident from before; that time had been nothing short of brutal, with his eyes swelling nearly shut, completely ruining his usual good looks.
“Cat hair, probably,” Lu Xun said, his voice still fairly composed. “A client brought a cat in.”
Qian Wei felt a surge of anger, along with a deep pang of concern. Lu Xun couldn’t be around cats—she’d warned nearly every one of his clients about this repeatedly—and yet somehow, someone had still gone and brought a cat into the firm.
She had no room in her mind for anything else. She quickly gathered her things, shot Liu Shiyun an apologetic glance, and dashed out of the restaurant. By the time Lu Xun’s voice came through the phone again, Qian Wei was already in a taxi.
“Are you free right now?” Perhaps because his face had already started swelling, Lu Xun’s voice sounded a bit strained, his tone somewhat flustered. “We agreed I wouldn’t have you work overtime tonight, and I intend to keep my word, but I’ve suddenly had this allergic reaction, and honestly, it’s not something I want other people seeing. Since you’ve already seen it once before, I figured it wouldn’t matter.” Lu Xun paused there for a moment. “Of course, I know you’re on your date right now, but I thought, if the person you’re meeting really isn’t your type, this call could at least give you an excuse to leave.”
“And if my date is actually pretty good?” Qian Wei pressed her lips together. She didn’t tell Lu Xun she was already in a taxi heading back to the firm.
Lu Xun seemed not to have expected that response from her. He was silent for a long moment before finally saying, his tone somewhat low, “If your date is pretty good, then you should hold onto the opportunity.”
“And what about you?”
“You should focus on your date. Don’t worry about me.” Though his words tried to sound light and unconcerned, Lu Xun’s voice sounded like the calm before a storm. “Heh, it’s not like this allergy is going to kill me. Worst case, I’ll just sit here with a swollen face, put up with the itching, and keep working. Should be fine by tomorrow. After all, you’re just my employee—it’s perfectly normal for you not to be responsible for your boss’s personal life. Even though I brought you onto the Gaoke Electromechanical project, approved your leave, covered all your medical expenses, and I’m arranging for you to go train with our partner firm in the UK—all of that is just what I should be doing as your boss. You don’t need to feel any obligation over it.”
“…”
Wasn’t he just telling her not to feel obligated? So why, Qian Wei wondered, did his tone get more clipped and pointed with every word?
“So go on and enjoy your date. I’ll go back to being allergic,” Lu Xun said, his voice icy. It sounded calm on the surface, but Qian Wei couldn’t shake the feeling that the person on the other end of the line was already boiling with fury…
“Lu Xun.”
“Hm?”
“I’m on my way back.”
Lu Xun was silent for a long moment before he finally said okay. Whether it was just Qian Wei’s imagination or not, she thought she heard, for just an instant, a very faint, quiet laugh.
Qian Wei rushed into the firm in a hurry. Lu Xun, rare for him, wasn’t working—he was slumped over his desk, and only looked up when he heard her voice.
That face of his, the one that often left people awestruck, was indeed red and swollen now from the allergic reaction.
“I’ll take you to the hospital.”
But Lu Xun was stubbornly against it. “No. There’s no point going—they’d just draw blood to test for the allergen, and the results wouldn’t come back for a while anyway. Better to just go with the basic approach—shower, drink plenty of water to speed up my metabolism. It’s simpler, and I’ve already left the allergen behind anyway.”
The last time Lu Xun had had a cat-hair allergy reaction, he’d also refused point-blank to see a doctor, ultimately relying on this same conservative method to let the swelling subside on its own, which had taken an entire night.
But this time, Qian Wei wasn’t willing to go down that road again. She looked at Lu Xun. “For a cat-hair allergy, regular antihistamines should do the trick. Just take some medicine.”
Lu Xun turned his head away. “I don’t have any.”
Based on what she remembered from those experiences at nineteen, Lu Xun always kept antihistamines on hand, habitually carrying them in his pants pocket…
Almost as if possessed, Qian Wei reached out her hand, and by the time she registered what she was doing, her hand was already inside the left pocket of Lu Xun’s suit trousers…
But… unfortunately, there was nothing in there.
Lu Xun looked at Qian Wei. Qian Wei looked at Lu Xun. The moment was more than a little awkward.
Qian Wei sheepishly withdrew her hand. “Hahaha, ever since I fell into that pit, my brain’s probably still a little damaged, sometimes I can’t quite control my limbs properly, my hands and feet just don’t listen to me, hahahaha, I don’t even know how my hand ended up in your pocket just now, hahahaha.”
Lu Xun glanced at her. “A lot of pickpockets say the same thing after they get caught.”
“…”
Well, since she’d already embarrassed herself this much, might as well go all the way. Qian Wei thought it over and decided to grit her teeth and commit, plunging her hand decisively into the right pocket of Lu Xun’s trousers this time.
“Found it!”
Perhaps heaven had finally taken pity on her—she felt a small medicine bottle in Lu Xun’s pocket. Qian Wei pulled it out triumphantly, and sure enough, it was antihistamine medication.
“Weren’t you carrying medicine after all?”
Lu Xun looked a bit embarrassed, but his tone remained composed. “Oh, I forgot. After the last allergy, I did get some medicine prescribed and started keeping it on me, but it doesn’t do much good, so it didn’t really matter whether I had it or not—I just forgot about it.”
Qian Wei poured Lu Xun a glass of water and handed him the medicine. “Just take it anyway.”
Lu Xun eventually gave in to Qian Wei and reluctantly took the medicine.
Ten minutes later—
Qian Wei looked at Lu Xun, who had returned to his usual handsome self, and demanded, “See, the medicine works great, doesn’t it?!”
“My face is fine now, but my skin’s still itchy,” Lu Xun said, as if to prove his point, absentmindedly scratching at his face.
With Lu Xun’s allergy crisis resolved, Qian Wei let out a sigh of relief—but a new problem now loomed ahead of her. She’d bailed halfway through her blind date dinner, and Liu Shiyun would probably come after her tomorrow with a vengeance… The thought made her resent Lu Xun all over again. If this man weren’t so oblivious and unmoved by her, would she even be dragged into blind dates by Liu Shiyun in the first place? It was one thing for him to have no interest in her at all, but now, on top of that, he’d gone and had some allergy meltdown right in the middle of her date.
“Well, since your allergy’s better now, I’ll head out,” Qian Wei said, waving her phone. “Liu Shiyun just told me her friend’s still there, the two of them are still at the restaurant waiting for me. I’d better hurry over and treat them to the meal as an apology.”
“Wait.”
“Hm? Do you still feel unwell somewhere?”
Lu Xun cleared his throat. “Since you’re in a hurry, I’ll drive you to the restaurant.”
Qian Wei was quite surprised. “You’re not working overtime tonight???”
“I’m still feeling a bit off from the allergy today, so I won’t be working overtime.”
“Oh…” Qian Wei thought to herself, Lu Xun’s seemed rather fragile lately—normally he’d push through even minor injuries without missing a beat, insisting on working overtime even with a low fever…
“Besides, it’s because of me that you had to leave your date early tonight. It’s only right that I take you back.”
Come to think of it, that did make some sense. Qian Wei nodded. “Alright then.”