And so Gu Yan led Qi Xi out of the restaurant.

The moment they stepped outside, Qi Xi let out a huge breath of relief. “By the way, Gu Yan, where’s your car?”

Gu Yan looked perfectly composed, pressing his lips together. “Parked a bit far off.”

Qi Xi didn’t question it — after all, the parking around a Michelin restaurant really was always packed. She followed Gu Yan along the bustling street. The whole atmosphere inside the restaurant had carried a certain expensive weight to it, but it wasn’t until Qi Xi was standing on the lively, ordinary street that she felt she could actually breathe freely.

Except Gu Yan’s car really did seem to be parked unusually far away. Qi Xi walked all the way from the glittering financial district to the mouth of a narrow alley before she finally heard Gu Yan’s voice—

“Here.”

Qi Xi stared at an alley entrance too narrow to fit a single car through. “Huh? Where’s the car?”

Then she watched as Gu Yan calmly walked over to a bike parking shed, pulled out his key, and coolly unlocked an e-bike.

Gu Yan glanced at her calmly. “Isn’t the car right in front of you?”

“…”

Well, technically not wrong — it was a “car” of sorts…

Except…

Qi Xi gawked. “So you rode a bike here?”

“Mm.”

But if he’d biked, the ride from the firm to the restaurant should’ve taken at least fifteen minutes. How had he made it in just ten?

Maybe he’d just pedaled really fast — those long legs, probably…

Though Gu Yan’s bike had a back seat, Qi Xi still felt a bit awkward about hopping on. She’d just gotten an email from Gu Xuehan asking her to urgently look into a question about intangible-asset equity contribution ratios, and she’d been planning to head back to the firm anyway, so she figured she’d just walk there with Gu Yan.

But Gu Yan frowned. “Get on.”

“That doesn’t seem right… maybe you could just wheel the bike and we walk back together? Good for digestion too — we sit in the office too much, a bit of walking is healthy.”

Gu Yan wasn’t buying it. He said simply, “I’m in a hurry.” He pressed his lips together. “Still have a contract to revise.”

Hearing that, Qi Xi immediately felt guilty. If she hadn’t asked Gu Yan for this last-minute favor, he wouldn’t have had to step out in the middle of his overtime — he might’ve already finished the contract by now.

No wonder he’d only taken ten minutes to get here from the firm! All so he could get back to work sooner!

With that, Qi Xi stopped hesitating over the awkwardness and hopped straight onto the back seat of Gu Yan’s bike. Gu Yan said nothing, just started pedaling.

Even in a suit, Gu Yan still carried a strong air of youthful energy about him — a hint of maturity mixed with a boyish freshness that hadn’t quite worn off, so the combination of suit and bicycle somehow wasn’t jarring at all — if anything, it had its own kind of charm.

Sitting on the back seat, Qi Xi was slow to notice all this herself, but the frequent glances from passersby eventually made the fact sink in — in everyone’s eyes, Gu Yan was strikingly handsome, even pedaling a bike.

Except…

Despite claiming to be in a hurry, and despite riding quite fast on the way there, on the way back Gu Yan’s pace wasn’t fast at all — if anything, it was quite slow, slow enough that Qi Xi couldn’t help asking—

“Weren’t you in a hurry?”

“Mm.”

“But it only took you ten minutes to get there, and it’s already been ten minutes now, and we still seem to have two-thirds of the way left to the firm…”

Faced with her question, Gu Yan stayed perfectly composed: “You weren’t on the back seat on the way there.”

The man then added, fearlessly, “Do you think you’re light?”

…Gu Yan, was that necessary?

Still, riding along slowly like this on the back of the bike, watching the city’s shimmering night lights, the laughing crowds passing by, the occasional night breeze brushing her cheek, the smell of roadside candied chestnuts drifting through the air, and the tune from an ice cream cart somewhere — Qi Xi found her mood relaxed and genuinely happy.

This was the kind of life she loved — ordinary, within reach, lively and full of warmth.

A wave of feeling washed over Qi Xi, and she found herself saying, with real sincerity: “Thank you, Gu Yan. Thanks for coming out of your way tonight to bail me out.”

Qi Xi had expected Gu Yan wouldn’t bother responding, but to her surprise, he did — only what he said nearly made her furious.

“I didn’t come to bail you out.”

The man continued, entirely self-righteous: “You’re part of the team. If you start dating this early into the job, won’t that just add more pressure on my workload?”

Sure, sure, whatever.

Qi Xi rolled her eyes, and was about to fire back when her father’s call came through.

Qi Ruiming had apparently already heard how the evening’s blind date had gone, and his tone carried some irritation. “Xixi, what happened tonight? You’re making things difficult for Dad.”

Too tired to argue the point, Qi Xi simply insisted: “I have a boyfriend, Dad. Please stop setting me up with people without asking me first.”

“What’s this boyfriend’s family background like? Is he a good match for you? Probably some classmate of yours from school. Let me give you one piece of advice — you’re still young, school romances can’t hold up against real-world pressure. When it comes to marriage, a girl should really listen to her parents’ guidance. The people I introduce you to have all been vetted by me personally. If you didn’t click with Li Chenxin, fine, that happens. But there’s another client of mine right now — I’m currently helping his family’s company with an IPO. His son, Meng Kai, is three years older than you — perfect. You two should have dinner together next time.”

Qi Xi was getting fed up. “Dad! I told you! I have a boyfriend!”

“I know, I know.” Qi Ruiming had clearly committed to a workaround strategy, his tone brooking no argument. “But there’s no harm in meeting more people your age, right? Besides, is it really certain you and this boyfriend will last? The more outstanding young men you meet, the better you’ll be able to tell that this boyfriend from school of yours isn’t all that great by comparison.”

“Anyway, I’ve got another engagement, gotta go. So, fine, no spark with Li Chenxin tonight — but you’re meeting Meng Kai tomorrow night.”

With a burst of noise in the background, Qi Ruiming, true to form, hung up right after issuing his orders, leaving Qi Xi alone, fuming at her phone.

Because Qi Ruiming’s voice had been so loud, Gu Yan had heard the entire call clearly too.

This left Qi Xi thoroughly mortified.

Gu Yan didn’t say anything at first, just kept pedaling. But after they crossed a street and turned a corner, the man finally couldn’t hold back, his tone taking on a rather pointed edge—

“Sounds like you’ve got quite the busy dating schedule. Done with tonight’s, and tomorrow night there’s another one lined up. If tomorrow night falls through too, is the day after next up next?”

It was hard to blame Gu Yan for having an opinion about it — as newcomers, Gu Xuehan often paired her and Gu Yan together on assignments, and even if Qi Xi wasn’t the one initiating it, if she kept getting dragged off to blind dates every night, of course Gu Yan would have something to say about it…

Qi Xi felt she could completely understand where he was coming from.

“I don’t want to go either, but he’s my dad’s client — if I skip it entirely, it’ll put my dad in an awkward spot.” As she said this, an idea struck her. “How about this — tomorrow I’ll go show my face for a bit, and I’ll text you, and you call me partway through so I can claim I need to leave for something. And if I run into someone as clingy as tonight’s guy again, could you come pick me up?”

“My workload’s been pretty heavy lately,” Gu Yan said, sounding like he was mulling it over carefully, before seeming to reluctantly agree to her request. “But I work efficiently, so wasting a little time won’t be a big problem.”

This man was actually pretty easy to work with, honestly!

Qi Xi immediately said, gratefully, “I’ll treat you to durian tomorrow!”

Gu Yan, for once not looking to claim credit, turned her down almost instantly. “No need.”

The man added quickly, “No need to treat me to durian. Between classmates and coworkers, there’s no need to stand on ceremony like that.”

That was great news!

A proper Mao Shan Wang durian really wasn’t cheap, and ever since starting work — determined to prove herself to Qi Ruiming — Qi Xi hadn’t asked her family for money. But a trainee lawyer’s salary wasn’t much, and after rent, what was left for living expenses was already tight. If she didn’t have to keep buying durian, that would save a real chunk of her budget.

But before Qi Xi could feel too pleased about it, she heard Gu Yan continue—

“Treat me to something else instead.”

“Huh?”

Gu Yan said, perfectly composed, “I’m out of money.”

Qi Xi’s eyes went wide. “Didn’t you just get paid a few days ago?!”

By now they’d arrived outside the firm. Gu Yan stopped the bike, got off, looked at Qi Xi, and said flatly, without expression, “Just spent it all covering your bill.”

Right, she’d completely forgotten about that!

Qi Xi immediately asked Gu Yan for the receipt, and the moment she saw it, she nearly fainted — over three thousand! That one dinner had cost more than three thousand! A two-Michelin-star place really was that expensive!

Qi Xi was practically anguished. “I should’ve stayed and eaten before leaving, if I’d known!”

Because she’d been so eager to escape that awkward scene earlier, she’d barely touched her food — most of the dishes had gone nearly untouched.

Thinking of this, Qi Xi turned to Gu Yan with an expression of righteous grief. “It was that expensive, and you still went ahead and paid?! You’re way too honest for your own good — what if I’d just refused to pay you back?”

Gu Yan was bent over locking up the bike at that moment, so his voice came out a little muffled. “Then so be it if you don’t pay me back.”

Just then a gust of wind passed, rustling the camphor leaves along the roadside, and against that backdrop, Gu Yan’s cool, distant voice seemed to fracture slightly, carrying a strange, broken sort of beauty—

“That’s when I’ll give up on you for good.”

But just as Qi Xi was about to chase after the tail end of that tone, the wind died down, and whatever fragile atmosphere had briefly surrounded Gu Yan vanished along with it. Qi Xi heard him continue, in a perfectly ordinary tone, finishing the thought he’d left hanging—

“Once I’ve seen your true character, I can just cut ties with you cleanly on my own. No need to bother cultivating some fake, superficial coworker relationship.”

Ah, so that’s what he meant!

“Don’t worry, Gu Yan, I’ll take full responsibility for this! I definitely can’t pay it all back at once, so I’ll pay you back in installments! Until then, I’ll feed you dinner!”

To save money these days, Qi Xi mostly cooked her own dinners — it wouldn’t be much extra trouble to just make a bit more and have Gu Yan over to eat with her and Zhao Yiran, who shared the apartment with her.

Still, she had committed a serious offense against Gu Yan once before — and even though he seemed pretty even-tempered now, what if some day he had a bad moment and decided to report her after all?

Qi Xi figured that once she got home, she’d better go dig through “The Complete Guide to Gu Yan” again — cook to suit his tastes, just to be safe!