Poor cadre Zhou Cheng felt his ears inexplicably itching. Today was his birthday, yet he hadn’t received any phone call from Xia Xiaolan. No telegrams, no letters either.

Could Xiaolan still be upset about what happened last time? Zhou Cheng felt uneasy.

Xia Xiaolan was beautiful and wealthy, which made Gao Fei incredibly jealous and discouraged. She had no confidence in competing with Xia Xiaolan for a man. Even her excuse of introducing her cousin to Zhou Cheng wasn’t working anymore – whenever Zhou Cheng saw her, his face would turn cold as ice.

While Zhou Cheng used to simply ignore Gao Fei, he now treated her like a class enemy. Not just Gao Fei, but also Tong Lili – these two women had caused him so much trouble!

Gao Fei was truly shameless. The more unattainable a man was, the more she obsessed with him. Having learned that today was Zhou Cheng’s birthday, she used the excuse of visiting Old Fang to come to the office. Her apparent interest in “Old Fang” had even led leaders to ask Old Fang when they could expect to drink wedding wine. When Old Fang and Gao Fei first met, both had hoped to get married quickly.

But after Gao Fei became infatuated with Zhou Cheng, she started making excuses whenever Old Fang brought up marriage. She claimed her family needed more time to evaluate Old Fang. Being simple-minded and naive, Old Fang believed Gao Fei’s lies. Since Gao Fei’s family was well-off, it made sense that they would be cautious about her marriage.

But that was all before Xia Xiaolan appeared!

Once Xia Xiaolan showed up, with her stunning looks and generous nature, everyone in the office envied Zhou Cheng. Comparisons were inevitable, and Xia Xiaolan proved to be beautiful, wealthy, and willing to spend money on Zhou Cheng. In comparison, Gao Fei’s conditions suddenly didn’t seem so outstanding anymore.

Old Fang went from being full of pride to feeling like he was settling. If he could find someone better, why would he settle for Gao Fei?

When he asked Gao Fei about marriage again, Old Fang’s tone wasn’t as gentle as before: “If we’re not getting our marriage certificate, you shouldn’t keep coming to the office. It doesn’t look good. I’m straightforward like that – hasn’t your family finished evaluating me yet?”

Gao Fei felt guilty. The truth was her family quite approved of Old Fang. He was a promising young cadre who had become a team leader at just 30 years old. If not compared to anomalies like Zhou Cheng, he would be considered quite promising. It was Gao Fei herself who was being calculated, deliberately stalling Old Fang. If she came clean with Old Fang, she would lose her excuse to visit the office and wouldn’t be able to interact with Zhou Cheng… Besides, if things didn’t work out with Zhou Cheng, wasn’t Old Fang still there as a backup?

Old Fang had no idea he had become what would later be known as a “backup tire.” He was still hoping for an answer from Gao Fei.

Gao Fei’s eyes darted around as she changed the subject, “What do you think Zhou Team Leader’s girlfriend does for a living? How is she so wealthy?”

Old Fang’s thoughts were diverted. Indeed, where did Zhou Cheng find such a wealthy girlfriend?

As they were gossiping, they happened to see Zhou Cheng’s liaison officer walking past, wearing a foolish grin and carrying a stack of items.

“Did Team Leader Zhou receive more packages from home?”

The liaison officer recognized Old Fang from Team 3, who was narrow-minded and always comparing himself to Team 1’s Zhou Cheng. Wanting to irritate Old Fang, the liaison officer deliberately said, “Don’t know what’s going on today, but there are many packages for Team Leader Zhou.”

Old Fang wasn’t interested, but Gao Fei knew why! While helping Old Fang collect some documents at the office earlier, she had accidentally seen Zhou Cheng’s basic information – April 18th was his birthday.

Gao Fei had carefully prepared a birthday gift too but didn’t know how to give it to him. How could she give Zhou Cheng a gift in front of Old Fang? Though Old Fang wasn’t experienced with women, he wasn’t stupid. If he couldn’t figure out that Gao Fei liked Zhou Cheng from such an obvious gesture, how could he be a team leader who had served on the front lines? The grass on his grave would be taller than a person!

“Maybe they’re from Team Leader Zhou’s girlfriend.”

Unable to give her a gift, Gao Fei was particularly curious about what gift Xia Xiaolan would send. Could someone have endless money to spend? Last time she bought sheep for the unit, that must have cost quite a bit. Less than a month later, it was Zhou Cheng’s birthday – Gao Fei didn’t believe anyone could be that wealthy!

Last time, Xia Xiaolan had intimidated her. It was hard for women to genuinely admire other women, and Gao Fei wanted to see if Xia Xiaolan’s gift would be disappointing – she would feel a sense of vindication if it was.

Once Gao Fei mentioned it, Old Fang became curious too.

Living up to their status as boyfriend and girlfriend, they thought alike and followed the liaison officer, wanting to see what gifts Zhou Cheng had received. The liaison officer didn’t call them out – if they wanted to look, let them look. They would only end up envying their team leader more. It would be best if it kept them awake at night!

Zhou Cheng hadn’t received any “greetings” from Xia Xiaolan and felt quite disappointed. The day dragged on listlessly until evening when the liaison officer arrived carrying a pile of items.

“Team Leader, these are all your packages.”

Zhou Cheng asked hopefully, “Any from Yunan Province?”

The liaison officer shook his head.

Zhou Cheng thought to himself that his wife was being heartless – she must still be angry. As a grown man, he shouldn’t hold grudges against women. Young people didn’t have much experience with first love. Thinking about that young procurement officer in Shangdu City and the gang leader in Yang City, Xia Xiaolan hadn’t shown any interest in them, yet Zhou Cheng had still gotten angry.

Putting himself in her shoes, it was natural for Xiaolan to be upset seeing Gao Fei and Tong Lili.

When it came to Xia Xiaolan, Zhou Cheng never stood on principle. What principles should a man hold against his wife? Even if his wife made mistakes, as a man, he should be forgiving! If his wife wasn’t wrong and he was, then he needed to earn her forgiveness.

Zhou Cheng was thinking that in the future, not even a female mosquito should fly near him when he looked up and saw Gao Fei and Old Fang.

His wife wasn’t speaking to him partly because of this woman, who couldn’t read the situation at all. How could she compare to his wife in any way? Someone like Gao Fei wasn’t worth even a glance from Zhou Cheng on the street, yet she thought her family background was so great that she dared to play the “looking at other options while having a meal” game at work.

Zhou Cheng usually didn’t want to engage with Old Fang, but this time he suddenly spoke up:

“Old Fang, when are we drinking your wedding wine? I envy you!”

The only thing Zhou Cheng envied about Old Fang was that he was old enough to marry whenever he wanted, unlike Zhou Cheng – both he and Xia Xiaolan were too young.

Old Fang thought Zhou Cheng’s words were too harsh!

What bothered him most was exactly that – being ten years older than Zhou Cheng yet holding the same position.

Zhou Cheng’s words had struck both of their sore spots.

Gao Fei looked forlorn. Team Leader Zhou was truly dense, couldn’t he see that someone liked him? Not only could they not be together, but he had to remind Gao Fei that she was Old Fang’s girlfriend. When she was being matched for marriage, she didn’t know if Zhou Cheng was single – why did the matchmaker introduce Old Fang to her instead of Zhou Cheng?

“Team Leader Zhou, why hasn’t your girlfriend sent you anything?”

Zhou Cheng wanted to know that too.

But Zhou Cheng wouldn’t admit defeat. Just as he was about to retort to Old Fang, the liaison officer finally found his chance to interject: “Team Leader, there’s nothing from Yunan Province, but Sister-in-law did leave something at the guard room…”

Zhou Cheng’s mood swung like a roller coaster.

What an idiot – why didn’t he say this earlier?

The foolish liaison officer fumbled to take out the smallest box, “This is from Sister-in-law.”

Gao Fei and Old Fang couldn’t help thinking the same thing – what could fit in such a small box? Old Fang smiled: “What did my sister-in-law send this time? Let me and Gao Fei broaden our horizons. Gao Fei, you should learn from your sister-in-law about how well she treats Team Leader Zhou.”

They were just waiting to see Zhou Cheng embarrassed.

Zhou Cheng himself didn’t care.

He could earn plenty of money himself, so whatever Xia Xiaolan sent didn’t matter – what mattered was the thought behind it. Even if the box only contained a cufflink or a needle and thread, Zhou Cheng would be happy. His wife cared about him, and that care couldn’t be measured by the value of gifts. Even if Xia Xiaolan had picked up a leaf from the roadside because she thought it was pretty and wanted to share that moment with him, Zhou Cheng would be just as happy!

He didn’t bother arguing with materialistic people like Old Fang.

Old Fang was already quite old when he started looking for marriage through matchmaking, and he still treasured someone as fickle as Gao Fei. Zhou Cheng felt he could be more tolerant of poor Old Fang. In front of Old Fang and Gao Fei, Zhou Cheng opened the box. Those two were even more curious about the contents than Zhou Cheng himself.

When the box opened, a men’s watch with gold and silver tones was revealed. Gao Fei’s heart began racing – she had wanted to give Zhou Cheng a watch too but feared he wouldn’t accept it. The watch was still in her pocket, brought from Shanghai by someone. It cost two or three hundred yuan, certainly a presentable gift for Zhou Cheng. What limited Gao Fei wasn’t the price of the watch but her status.

She envied how Xia Xiaolan could openly give Zhou Cheng birthday gifts.

Coincidentally, Xia Xiaolan had also sent a watch – she wanted to see what kind of watch it was!

Though the street light wasn’t very bright, the luster of the high-end watch was impossible to ignore. At first glance, Zhou Cheng’s watch seemed almost too well-made. Gao Fei still wouldn’t give up and stepped forward to get a better look. As a proper university student studying medicine, she had read many English textbooks and had a decent foundation in English.

“Rolex?”

The simple-minded Old Fang looked confused, not understanding what Gao Fei was saying.

Gao Fei had no patience to explain to Old Fang.

Xia Xiaolan had given Zhou Cheng a Rolex watch!

A watch like that would cost at least a thousand yuan. Having just started working, Gao Fei couldn’t afford to buy one herself. Gao Fei felt utterly defeated – Xia Xiaolan was being too overbearing. Was having money something to be so proud of?

Gao Fei dragged Old Fang away, too discouraged to even look at the other gifts.

The liaison officer swallowed hard – the watch Sister-in-law sent looked expensive.

Why did Xiaolan send him a watch?

Zhou Cheng himself quite liked watches but wearing expensive watches at work didn’t look good. He hadn’t expected Xia Xiaolan to send him a Rolex. Zhou Cheng remembered that when he first met Xiaolan, he had been wearing a Rolex. His wife truly cared about him, noticing even such details.

Zhou Cheng put the watch on his wrist, “Take the other things back to my room.”

He had something to do – he needed to thank his wife.

Since she sent him a gift, that meant she wasn’t angry anymore, right?

Zhou Cheng ran to make a phone call. At this hour, his wife should be done with work at the store, right? After being transferred multiple times, the call finally connected.

“Hello, is this Zhou Cheng? Did you receive the watch? Do you like it…”