“Why Shanghai all of a sudden?” the woman asked before she could stop herself.

The moment the words were out, she remembered their relationship was no longer the same. Asking like that made it seem as though she still cared.

She quickly added an explanation: “I was just asking casually.”

“No particular reason.” Lu Yuwen’s tone remained warm and even. He replied politely: “Those things of yours—if you need them urgently, you’re welcome to come get them yourself. You should still have the key, right?”

“It’s fine, I’ll come by when you have time…”

“All right.”

The call ended.

……

Lu Yuwen set down his phone and looked at his feet again. He flexed his toes gently, then slowly rose onto his heels and came back down…

A steady, solid sensation—gratifying in every part of his body and mind.

Unbelievable.

He had to mark this day down.

——May 6th. An unbelievable day.

He stood there for a moment with a smile, then began washing up and getting dressed.

The large dark wooden wardrobe slid open. Clothes were arranged neatly by category. Hanging beside them were a few women’s garments—clearly out of place among the rest.

These were items Fang Zixin had left behind—the woman who had just called.

Lu Yuwen and Fang Zixin had dated for nearly a year. At one point, marriage had seemed a real possibility. But last month, they had broken up.

Perhaps afraid he would refuse to let go, or worried about the awkwardness, Fang Zixin had rapidly left for abroad after the breakup—posting travel photos on social media, saying she was on holiday to clear her head.

In truth, she needn’t have bothered.

Because Lu Yuwen respected her decision. The choice to part had not been made on impulse; both sides had said what needed to be said. There was no need to go back and salvage anything.

The past flickered across his mind for only a few seconds before his attention shifted back to the matter of going to Shanghai.

If a lame foot could be healed for no apparent reason, then whatever was driving his mind to tell him to go to Shanghai must certainly carry some meaning.

May 6th, 11:30 PM.

SH City, XH District, Wanping Road.

Lu Yuwen quietly reviewed the information in his mind, then raised his wrist and checked the time.

It was nine o’clock in the morning. A high-speed rail from Nanjing to Shanghai took only two hours. Even factoring in traffic, there was plenty of time to spare.

His excitement gradually built. He was filled with curiosity about what was about to happen.

What would he find when he got there?

Lu Yuwen quickly finished getting dressed. But as he was heading out the door, he ran into a small complication——

He had no shoes to wear.

More precisely: he had no suitable shoes to wear. In the past, because of his lame foot, his shoes had to be custom-made to compensate for the deformity. For instance, the heels—the height and angle were different for each foot.

Now that Lu Yuwen’s foot had healed, those old shoes obviously wouldn’t work anymore.

He couldn’t help but smile at this. Even such a trivial inconvenience carried a flavor of joy.

He closed the shoe cabinet, called his driver, and asked him to buy a pair of leather shoes and bring them to the house.

The driver asked: “Boss, what size?”

Lu Yuwen realized he couldn’t let his driver know his lame foot had suddenly recovered.

The employees at the restaurant rarely saw him. He could claim he’d had surgery and they would believe it. But his driver was with him almost every single day—there was no way to explain how his foot had abruptly gotten better.

“A friend of mine has about the same size foot as me. Just buy my size for now,” Lu Yuwen said after a moment’s consideration. “Once you’ve bought them, leave them at my front door—I’ll call him to come pick them up.”

“Understood, boss.”

He waited another hour.

An hour later, the driver left the shoes at the door and hurried off, then called Lu Yuwen to let him know.

Lu Yuwen thanked him, though in his heart he felt somewhat guilty. His driver had done nothing wrong, yet for personal reasons he had no choice but to let him go.

After all, there was simply no way to explain about his foot. He would just have to give extra compensation and severance pay when he had the conversation.

With that thought settled in his mind, he put on the shoes and stepped out the door.

Next—to the high-speed rail station.

—