The conversation had wandered very far indeed.

Su Man stood outside her bedroom door for a moment, listening as her parents’ topic had already drifted to her future pregnancy, how she would do her postnatal recovery, who would come to watch the baby, how many nannies to hire, and so on and so forth…

Su Man’s feelings were complicated.

Part of her was speechless. Part of her wanted to laugh. And then, when she thought about it more carefully, part of her was quietly moved.

— Parents always mean it for their child’s good. Her father didn’t want her to marry far away; if something went wrong in the marriage, the family wouldn’t be able to reach her and offer support. Her mother didn’t want her to suffer — she wanted her to marry someone attentive and caring, not someone she’d be fighting with day in and day out.

But the question was — were the two of them getting a little ahead of themselves?

Su Man went back to her room, picked up her phone, and sat on the edge of the bed, scrolling through the chat history between herself and Lu Yuwen.

In the beginning it had been no more than polite pleasantries. Then the frequency of their conversations gradually climbed, and the words between them grew incrementally warmer and more familiar… Today they hadn’t chatted much — only their morning greeting exchange was on record.

She wondered what he was doing right now.

【ManManManMan: What are you up to?】

Su Man looked at the message she’d sent and blinked in mild surprise — she hadn’t even figured out what she wanted to say, and it had already left her fingers without thinking…

Oh well, so be it.

She waited a little while. Lu Yuwen didn’t reply.

Maybe he was eating, or taking a shower. Or perhaps he was busy with the branch opening…

Su Man thought it over and typed another message:

【ManManManMan: I still didn’t manage to see Li Li. He’s really the height of childishness — locking himself in his room and refusing to see anyone, like an elementary school student. 】

【ManManManMan: You were right — he probably won’t really mature until he leaves the academic world behind. 】

But then again, constantly bringing up Li Li’s name probably wasn’t the right note to strike either.

She checked her calendar, then looked up recently released films, along with theater programs and concerts — but as expected, these weren’t things she was well-versed in. After browsing for a while she couldn’t find anything that seemed like a good date option.

Better to just ask Lu Yuwen’s opinion.

She closed the app and opened their chat window, only to find that the last message was still hers. Lu Yuwen still hadn’t replied.

Strange. In the past, when they chatted, Lu Yuwen always replied quickly.

Maybe… he was still busy?

Seven or eight in the evening was prime time for business dinners and toasting over deals.

Su Man hadn’t forgotten — Lu Yuwen was a businessman.

Calling might disrupt him. Besides, once he saw her messages he would certainly reply.

Holding onto that thought, Su Man didn’t phone him, didn’t send any more messages, found a mobile game at random to pass the time, then washed up and got ready for bed.

Just before turning in, she checked her phone one more time as usual. Lu Yuwen still hadn’t replied.

A small wave of disappointment moved through her. She assumed he’d had a late engagement, and without reaching out again, she switched off the light and went to sleep.

……

The next morning, her biological clock woke her early as always. She sat on the edge of the bed for a few seconds, then realized she was still on suspension — there was absolutely no reason to be up this early — and lay back down to sleep some more.

This time, she accidentally slept far too long.

When she opened her eyes again, it was nearly ten o’clock.

Su Man was startled. She had never slept this late! And the extra hours she’d slept felt somehow deeper and more dreamless than her nighttime rest. The danger of going back to sleep was real.

By now Lu Yuwen has probably sent a whole stream of messages! He must be wondering why I haven’t replied!

Su Man quickly picked up her phone to check.

She unlocked the screen and went still.

The last message was still hers. After their morning greeting the previous day, Lu Yuwen had not sent her a single message all the way up to now.

This was very wrong…

—