Having developed with Yu Shanshan was not beyond Liu Jun’s expectations – his track record seemed to have no stain of pursuing without success. But the rapid progress with Yu Shanshan was greatly beyond Liu Jun’s expectations. In his rich and colorful pursuit experience, beauties were often the hardest to deal with, and a natural beauty like Yu Shanshan should be harder to catch than an acquired beauty like Yang Li. Thinking of this, Liu Jun couldn’t help but laugh heartily in his mind – his skills were still sharp. Of course, he also laughed joyfully without concealment in front of Yu Shanshan, making her suspicious and paranoid.

Liu Jun finally couldn’t help but ask: “That time when Shen Huadong drove you home, seeing you dressed so… I almost didn’t recognize you. Do you dress like that for work? You didn’t dress like that before at Shi Yiji.”

“Don’t ask – I get angry when you ask.”

“Just tell me.”

“I told you not to ask, yet you still ask.”

“You can’t discriminate against your boyfriend. From now on, you need to develop the habit of telling your boyfriend first when something makes you angry, then analyzing it yourself. This is called putting others before yourself.”

“Bah, can I act first and report later?” Yu Shanshan was amused. “What’s wrong? Don’t I look good dressed up?”

“No, no, no, you look good no matter what. I just hate you dressing up in front of others. That night, seeing you with Shen Huadong dressed so beautifully, my first impulse was to fight Shen Huadong. What gives him the right?”

“Just because he’s a major client of our company. Our boss fawns over him endlessly, practically wanting to scrub me clean and offer me up. Every time Shen Huadong comes, she creates opportunities for me and Shen Huadong to be alone together, like a matchmaker. Sigh… I don’t want to, but if it’s not Shen Huadong, there’s still North China, South China, West China, Central China – I can turn clients into bastards. Shen Huadong is at least a gentleman. Those North China and South China types think they can hook me with tens of thousands in business – bah, I hate you men.”

“I’m an exception. Since it’s unpleasant, why not come back to do technical work? Just starting from scratch…”

“No, it’s the same everywhere. Intellectual men specialize in setting little traps, not as direct as businessmen. The former are hypocrites, the latter genuine scoundrels.”

Liu Jun remembered that time eating at the dirty little restaurant when Yu Shanshan also vigorously attacked bastard men. “Is it because you want to avoid attracting attention that you usually dress carelessly when meeting people?”

Yu Shanshan’s face reddened: “I don’t like shopping. My current clothes were all bought when colleagues dragged me along – I don’t know what’s good to wear. What about you? Who buys your clothes? I love looking at the clothes you wear – so handsome.”

“I’m the handsome one – the clothes just borrow my light. From now on, I’ll buy your clothes… uh, don’t move, there’s a caterpillar on your pant leg.”

According to Liu Jun’s usual romantic conventions, Yu Shanshan should now cover her eyes, scream, and throw herself into Liu Jun’s arms. But Yu Shanshan’s action was beyond Liu Jun’s expectations. Liu Jun only saw Yu Shanshan extend her delicate jade fingers, easily pinch up that inch-long, colorfully patterned caterpillar, turn around with a mischievous smile, and the caterpillar came flying toward Liu Jun’s face. Liu Jun wanted to act tough, but couldn’t stop the caterpillar from getting closer and closer to his forehead. He had no mind to look at Yu Shanshan’s triumphant smile, didn’t dare reach out to catch the caterpillar, and his face turned red for a moment.

Seeing Liu Jun thoroughly scared, Yu Shanshan was satisfied and threw away the caterpillar, saying nonchalantly: “What’s to be afraid of? Only the fingertips aren’t afraid of caterpillar hair. When we were little, we often climbed poplar and willow trees to catch caterpillars for fun. The more vivid the warning colors of the caterpillars, the more we loved catching them. We even raised caterpillars into butterflies – my observation diary won prizes. How about that? Scared now? Let’s see if you dare be handsy in the future. Hmph.”

Liu Jun was dumbfounded, finally managing to respond: “Big sister, if you want to climb trees in the future, I absolutely won’t stop you.”

“Your word is your bond!” Yu Shanshan immediately escaped from the wolf’s claws and rolled up the tree. Liu Jun saw her agile movements and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry – what kind of girl was this? Now he became the virtuous helper, picking up the storage box and standing under the orange tree, catching the oranges that Yu Shanshan picked. At this moment, he believed Yu Shanshan wouldn’t suffer losses in front of bastard men, because Yu Shanshan wasn’t someone to mess with. He felt relieved.

At noon, with the sun shining overhead and insects flying above their heads, Yu Shanshan insisted on taking out the sandwich she’d made herself for Liu Jun to eat. Liu Jun looked – two slices of uncut bread, with a slice of cheese, a slice of lunch meat, a piece of fried egg, and several thick cucumber slices. If Liu Jun hadn’t been driven crazy by this kind of Western food in Germany, he might have found it quite romantic. But he was someone who had suffered endless torment from sandwiches. Facing Yu Shanshan’s simple sandwich, his face was full of pain. Not eating would be too ungrateful to Yu Shanshan’s intention of getting up early with panda eyes to make him breakfast, but eating it, he feared dropping dead on the spot.

“Big sister, if I tell the truth, will my fate be miserable?”

“No, hmph.” Yu Shanshan was resentful, snatched back the sandwich, and stuffed it into a plastic bag – she had no appetite for her creation either. She thought about how she couldn’t cook, couldn’t dress up, couldn’t act coquettish, only knew how to catch caterpillars to scare Liu Jun, and felt very uncomfortable. Fortunately, Liu Jun was whispering in her ear that he loved her, so Yu Shanshan put away her anxiety about gains and losses. But she didn’t know how to love Liu Jun. Before, when she tried to help Liu Jun, she ended up causing Liu Jun to have intense conflicts with Yang Xun, landing him in the hospital. Later, hearing that Liu Jun was quite busy, too busy to sleep, she could only refrain from bothering him. Now, looking at Liu Jun’s thinness, she couldn’t come up with solutions. She thought of many things like making soup, but she was afraid of mixing red dates, ginseng, and angelica root – if done wrong, it might turn into poison instead. She finally thought of one move – while they were hungry, going down the mountain to find a place to eat, she peeled some oranges for Liu Jun to stave off hunger. She didn’t know that her willingness to peel oranges for Liu Jun nourished Liu Jun’s heart more than eating ten-ingredient tonic paste.

Finally entering a restaurant, both wanted to order what the other loved eating. After finally arguing out a menu and the waiter left, Yu Shanshan told the truth: “Liu Jun, we’re very strange to each other…”

“We love each other.” Liu Jun quickly interrupted, to prevent Yu Shanshan from saying she planned to only date at thirty.

“But we’re so strange to each other, what exactly… uh… are we to each other? Appearance?”

“Don’t know, anyway I want to see you, want to be close to you. Do we need a reason? What about you? Why do you?”

“I don’t know. But you’re experienced – you should find the reason.”

Facing this knowledge-hungry oddball, Liu Jun was momentarily speechless. Finally having a flash of inspiration, Liu Jun took Yu Shanshan’s hands: “Shanshan, let us spend a lifetime finding the reason.”

But Yu Shanshan very uncooperatively laughed: “Wow, even Qiong Yao dramas aren’t as nauseating as you.”

“This girl doesn’t understand romance at all,” Liu Jun muttered in his heart. He was completely defeated and would never dare use such sickly sweet tactics in front of Yu Shanshan again. But Yu Shanshan’s heart was very pleased with this lifetime promise – her heart was as sweet as if filled with honey. She just didn’t know how to cooperate by batting her big eyes, but also didn’t have the nerve to tell the still quite unfamiliar Liu Jun her true feelings. She could only see what Liu Jun loved eating and eat less herself, wanting to leave it for Liu Jun. As a result, Liu Jun seemed to love eating everything, and she was already very hungry, so she could only give up and compete with Liu Jun for food.

Throughout the day’s date, Yu Shanshan was very happy, but reflecting at home, she felt she’d been particularly embarrassing, doing nothing right, a complete little bumpkin. Liu Jun reluctantly left and soon found a reason to call Yu Shanshan again. “Shanshan, I’ll pick you up for work tomorrow morning. What time?”

“Don’t pick me up – I can go myself. You go busy with your things.”

“Just once. Once I move back to the company, I won’t be able to rush over to pick you up and drop you off. Just once, tomorrow – tell me what time you start work.”

“No, I have great mental pressure. Let me think for a week.”

Without thinking, Liu Jun made a 180-degree turn and rushed back to Yu Shanshan’s home – he didn’t know what problem had emerged. “Shanshan, I’ll be downstairs soon. Come down in five minutes.”

“No, go home and rest early.”

Yu Shanshan’s tone was firm, but she never hung up the phone. When Liu Jun appeared downstairs, Yu Shanshan was full of joy, but refused to come downstairs. She was afraid that, like the sandwich in the plastic bag, she would eventually be seen through by Liu Jun. She needed to modify and perfect herself before daring to see Liu Jun again.

The two talked across the distance for a long time. Yu Shanshan suddenly said: “Be careful, someone’s approaching behind you.”

Liu Jun spun around and saw Shen Huadong in the half-light, half-shadow, with an ambiguous smile. “Getting rejected?”

“We’re just playing around – what’s it to you?” Yu Shanshan dropped a stink bomb from upstairs.

Liu Jun didn’t expect Yu Shanshan to be even fiercer than him, and said proudly: “See? We are internal contradictions among the people. You have no chance.”

“Tch, you’re just a meat shield,” Shen Huadong wouldn’t back down.

“Don’t refuse to admit it…” Liu Jun was extremely proud, but didn’t stay proud long before his phone rang. Seeing it was the company workshop’s number, his scalp exploded – definitely no good news. Sure enough, something had happened at the company again, and it was a life-threatening matter.

Shen Huadong only saw Liu Jun’s face change dramatically and thought the caller was another girlfriend: “Oh, girlfriends fighting, please come over…”

“Shanshan, there’s an accident at my company. I have to leave immediately…”

“What happened? I’ll come with you.” Yu Shanshan could see clearly from above that Liu Jun was in complete panic when taking the call – it must be something serious. She immediately grabbed her keys and bag, rushed out the door, with no time to hear Liu Jun’s following words. Liu Jun didn’t hear what she said either – he quickly got into the car, wanting to rush to the company immediately. But Shen Huadong blocked the front of his car. He quickly stuck his head out: “Brother, let me through – it’s life and death. Find me later if there’s something.”

Shen Huadong pointed upstairs: “Don’t you hear the stairs? Wait for her.”

Only then did Liu Jun notice Yu Shanshan rushing down the stairs toward his car. In his urgency, Liu Jun didn’t forget to leave a parting comment: “Brother, you’re a good man.”

Shen Huadong watched that broken car slide in a beautiful arc out of the residential complex, feeling completely uncomfortable. A meat shield? Not really. With Yu Shanshan so anxious, did it need an explanation? Being a good man was useless.

Yu Shanshan saw that Liu Jun’s whole body seemed tensed up and wanted to help him relax: “What happened?”

“High-frequency welding. A worker violated regulations, fell, and landed right on the high-frequency head. Please, let him wear insulated shoes.”

Yu Shanshan, with her engineering background, certainly knew what high frequency was and what consequences high-frequency current penetrating the human body would have. She was so shocked she covered her mouth and couldn’t speak. Growing up with parents in mechanical factories, she was used to seeing severed fingers and arms, but high-frequency penetration of the human body… if serious… Yu Shanshan didn’t dare think further.

She turned to look at Liu Jun, seeing his thick eyebrows tightly furrowed, jaw clenched. She boldly reached over and gently caressed Liu Jun’s face: “Don’t be afraid. You said your safety management is strict – workers can’t violate two operating procedures consecutively. That worker must be wearing insulated shoes.” She desperately steadied herself to prevent Liu Jun from feeling that her arm was trembling.

“I’m not afraid. I’m just worried about human life. High-frequency current penetration burns internal organs to carbon. Damn, where’s the shielding wall? Every day in pre-shift meetings, I tell them a thousand times that safety equals life. In post-shift meetings, I remind them to rest and not drink heavily. They all think I’m trying to scare them. I don’t know how many times I’ve corrected their operations hand by hand – they only take it seriously after I curse at them. The moment I’m not there, they stop caring about their lives…”

Yu Shanshan heard Liu Jun cursing, but could feel his facial muscles relaxing. “Dad said that even with a thousand considerations, there’s bound to be an oversight, let alone workers doing repetitive labor daily. So one of the technical personnel’s responsibilities is to ensure equipment operates as safely as possible.”

“The shielding wall was specially configured by me for the equipment, just in case workers accidentally hit something and fall on it. It also reduces radiation damage simultaneously. That domestic equipment is quite wild. For him to hit the high-frequency head, there’s only one reason – he was lazy and didn’t close the shielding wall according to procedures.”

“Does that still count as a work injury?”

“Yes.”

“You pay full compensation?”

“Right.”

Yu Shanshan was speechless, watching Liu Jun overtake a screaming ambulance. She felt that the ambulance must be going the same way as them.

Arriving at Tengfei Company, Yu Shanshan was unusually obedient and listened to Liu Jun, not getting out of the car. Liu Jun was afraid she’d be scared to death seeing the scene, and she was afraid of causing Liu Jun trouble, saving him from having to handle things while also managing her. The ambulance quickly came and took the person away. Liu Jun ran out of the workshop after a while.

“Drunk on duty!” Liu Jun got in the car in a rage. He had maintained composure in the workshop, comforting everyone, but after learning the cause and effect, he was furious. “Three people on the middle shift drank together at a small restaurant before work. Though each only had one bottle of beer, the alcohol was enough to numb their safety awareness. Damn, drinking arsenic would be quicker. Sorry.”

“Drive carefully. Take deep breaths before driving.”

“I’m very agitated.” Liu Jun took many deep breaths but still couldn’t calm down, so he pointed to the speedometer and had Yu Shanshan watch it, telling him to slow down if he exceeded sixty kilometers per hour.

“Is that employee not going to make it?” Yu Shanshan asked carefully. Liu Jun was more distraught than when coming, and there had to be a reason.

“God bless him. I just told the doctor that as long as they can save his life, don’t worry about saving medical expenses for me.”

But when they reached the hospital, the attending doctor informed Liu Jun that all hospitals in the city couldn’t handle it – they could only send him to the provincial capital. Liu Jun had to let Yu Shanshan go home by herself while he followed the ambulance to the provincial hospital. But even with all this effort, early the next morning, that worker still passed away.