Even after the meeting ended, Cen Jin’s mood was indescribable, with no outlet for her feelings.

Back at her workstation, she immediately opened WeChat and messaged Chun Chang.

Cen Jin typed rapidly: I’m about to suffocate.

Chun Chang replied: When are you not at war with the whole world?

Cen Jin choked: The person who cut ties with me is now working part-time downstairs, and being completely brazen in front of me. Would you feel any better if it were you?

Chun Chang: Little brother Li Wu?

Cen Jin: Who else could it be?

Chun Chang was gleefully schadenfreude: Damn, little brother’s got some persistence! Can you handle it? I know I couldn’t.

Cen Jin: Right now, several women beside me are still discussing him.

Chun Chang felt discontent: How strange, why do your coworkers all get to see Li Wu in person before me?

Her focus had completely derailed, and Cen Jin could only respond with a “?” to humor her.

Chun Chang: You care so much! If you really can’t stand little brother flaunting himself and attracting attention, just go downstairs now and drive him away, or lock him back up at your place, never letting him appear in front of you or your colleagues again.

Cen Jin felt like there was a fishbone stuck in her throat.

She had realized it long ago, starting from that afternoon when she stumbled upon her photo in Li Wu’s dorm room. Her world began to tilt, falling toward an unpredictable direction, and everything concerning that boy was no longer completely under her control.

Especially during that minute when he just appeared in the conference room—although she kept a straight face the whole time and didn’t look at him once, she was already completely uncomfortable, her heart in tangles.

Her territory had been imperceptibly eroded. The youth had parasitically returned to her jungle in another way, and this time, she didn’t have powerful enough weapons, so she had no way to slash or expel him.

Cen Jin was utterly tired of this feeling.

There was a bit of frustration and some reactive stress from being challenged.

As well as a hint of pride that she didn’t even want to admit to herself.

Cen Jin couldn’t articulate these complex emotions. She only knew that when a relationship tends toward losing control, indifference is the best way to handle it.

Cen Jin closed WeChat, forcing herself to stop thinking about this matter, and turned to focus on her work instead.

Around nine in the evening, Cen Jin went to the basement level to get her car and head home.

Passing by Meet, she deliberately ignored it. Only after her car had completely passed did she glance in the rearview mirror. The nighttime café reflected in the tiny mirror surface looked like a warm-colored wishing bottle.

The people inside were like matchsticks—impossible to tell who was who.

Cen Jin withdrew her gaze and accelerated away.

―

Today was already Li Wu’s seventh day working part-time at Meet. Following the manager’s arrangement, he and Cheng Rui had clear divisions of labor—one responsible for making drinks, the other for cashiering.

Both wore the uniform store attire: gray mandarin collar shirts with brown aprons tied outside.

Li Wu was tall and slim with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, a typical clothes hanger figure. The work uniform made him look composed and artistic.

The injection of fresh blood indeed caused Meet’s customer flow to increase.

The white-collar workers at Jiuli Building, having heard the news, had been coming to the store these past couple of days under the pretense of consumption to observe the fresh meat. Those specifically requesting Li Wu for delivery were also increasing daily.

Whenever there was downtime, Cheng Rui would pull Li Wu aside to secretly admire and sigh over the beautiful sisters who came to sit in the store:

“Damn, that sister looks just like Suzy!”

“Wow, that short-haired one has such a great figure!”

“God… just think about what we used to see back at school.”

“Li Wu, I finally understand why you like older sisters—they’re all so beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to date an older sister after seeing them?”

Li Wu maintained a blank face: “…What about Tao Lianwen?”

Cheng Rui immediately shut up and patted his chest: “Though they’re beautiful, all of them combined can’t compare to Tao Lianwen’s position in my heart.”

Li Wu’s lips curved slightly, offering no comment.

Cheng Rui suddenly remembered something: “But we’ve been here a whole week, how come we haven’t seen your sister yet?”

Li Wu’s smile faded: “I saw her today.”

“Huh?” Cheng Rui’s eyes widened: “When?”

Li Wu said: “When I delivered coffee to her company this morning.”

Cheng Rui asked with concern: “How’d it go? Did you get to talk?”

Li Wu lowered his eyes, showing slight disappointment: “How could we? She wouldn’t even look at me.”

“Did you look at her?”

“I did,” Li Wu wiped the counter. “But I didn’t dare do it openly.”

Cheng Rui was exasperated, even demonstrating the action: “Why are you such a coward? If I were you, I’d deliver the coffee right to her with both hands and stare straight at her, with that kind of passionate, sincere, love-filled gaze.”

Li Wu looked disgusted: “You’re sick.”

“How dare you insult me when I’m giving you advice?”

“You don’t understand her.”

Cheng Rui mocked: “Oh? And you do? If you understand her so well, why haven’t you won her over yet?”

Li Wu’s movements stopped, silently noting down this method.

However, in the following days, Li Wu didn’t receive any more orders from Aoxing.

When Cheng Rui discretely asked the manager, he learned that Cen Jin’s team had gone to Yun City for a business trip and photoshoot. Li Wu immediately became dejected.

On the evening of July 10th, Cen Jin and several colleagues landed back in Yi City.

After several days of running around, everyone was extremely tired, slumped in the car back to the company, not even wanting to talk. Unfortunately, Yuan Zhen received an urgent call from another arrogant and overbearing client, insistently demanding they modify the video immediately.

Yuan Zhen negotiated to no avail and depressedly grabbed his head.

Cen Jin was leaning back in her seat with her eyes closed to rest, but hearing the commotion, she opened her eyes to inquire.

Yuan Zhen exchanged a knowing look with her, and Cen Jin immediately understood, wordlessly looking out the window.

Lu Qiqi was chatting on WeChat when she suddenly clutched her head and wailed: “Teddy says our floor lost power, and it’ll take a while for the maintenance worker to fix it. He told us to find somewhere else to work first.”

The video department guy hurriedly checked his laptop’s battery level, then looked outside and suggested: “Let’s go to Meet to work on it—it’s quieter there.”

Cen Jin hesitated slightly but still nodded.

Getting out of the car, everyone looked up.

Their company floor was indeed pitch black. Everyone collectively sighed, then marched en masse toward Meet, treating it as a temporary office.

The first to see Cen Jin was Cheng Rui behind the counter. His pupils dilated with excitement as he stared at her unblinkingly. When the woman glanced his way, Cheng Rui quickly raised his hand in a small wave. Cen Jin pressed her lips into a smile and followed her colleagues inside.

When one of Cen Jin’s male colleagues came to place their order, Cheng Rui hurriedly went to find Li Wu, who was still doing cleaning work in the back kitchen.

“Your sister is here!” he whispered excitedly, nearly jumping three feet high.

The tall, slim young man washing dishes turned around: “Where?”

“Outside,” Cheng Rui described excitedly. “Still wearing a spaghetti strap dress. Sister Cen’s arms are still so white—didn’t even get tanned from going to the plateau.”

Hearing this, Li Wu coldly flicked foam toward his face: “Who let you look?”

Cheng Rui’s eyes immediately stung as he squeezed them shut and cursed: “What, should I close my eyes when greeting her???”

Li Wu turned off the water and pulled off his rubber gloves: “Where’s their order?”

Cheng Rui, half-squinting, pulled the receipt from his apron pocket: “Basic drinks, plus two cakes.”

Li Wu took it: “I’ll make them.”

“Got it, and you’ll deliver them too, fine,” Cheng Rui gave up, rubbing his eyes as he walked away. “Acting like someone’s fighting you for it.”

Li Wu also lifted the curtain and strode back to the front counter, starting to operate the coffee machine.

During this time, his gaze several times crossed over the overlapping chairs and warm yellow light, secretly seeking out Cen Jin’s group.

They were quite numerous, so they had pushed together two four-person tables.

Cen Jin must be the most eye-catching one among them, otherwise, why could he find her at a glance and see no one else afterward?

The woman was sitting in the aisle seat with her laptop open in front of her. She was propping her chin up while talking with colleagues, her nose elegant, lips rosy, sometimes frowning, smiling.

Li Wu took a breath and lowered his eyes to concentrate on the latte art.

Several cups of coffee were prepared and placed on the tray. Li Wu bent down to take two desserts from the counter and carried everything over.

As soon as the young man arrived, the previously animated conversation at the table immediately quieted.

Several women turned their gazes toward him, admiring his face and movements, watching his long fingers with distinct knuckles grip the cup handles as he transferred the coffees one by one from the tray to the table in front of them.

Cen Jin sat by the aisle, so Li Wu was right beside her, within arm’s reach.

The youth’s tall shadow fell directly over her, bringing with it slight awkwardness. Cen Jin could only do as before, deliberately ignoring the screen while slightly curling her fingers.

Just as Li Wu finished setting everything down and picked up the tray, Yuan Zhen suddenly called out to him: “Little brother.”

Li Wu stopped and curved his lips slightly: “Yes?”

Yuan Zhen smiled and tilted her head: “Remember me?”

Li Wu thought for a moment: “I do.”

“Wow,” Yuan Zhen was greatly delighted: “You remember me! Since you still have an impression of me, want to reconsider giving me your WeChat?”

Li Wu remained silent.

Lu Qiqi let out a light snort and cut in: “Give it a rest? He already said he has someone he likes.”

Yuan Zhen was undeterred: “What do you mean ‘has someone he likes’? That just means it’s unrequited—they’re not dating. What’s wrong with getting to know me too?”

Lu Qiqi took a sip of coffee, then licked the foam from her lips and clicked her tongue: “You should be careful of her—she’s the female psycho that makes all the young and handsome men within several hundred miles tremble in fear.”

Yuan Zhen pretended to look severe and smacked her arm: “What kind of person are you making me out to be? I just want to be friends with my little brother, understand? Friends!”

Yuan Zhen smiled sweetly at Li Wu again: “Little brother, are you an adult yet?”

Li Wu nodded.

Yuan Zhen pressed further: “Just graduated high school?”

“Mm.”

Seeing how obediently handsome he was, Yuan Zhen couldn’t help teasing: “Besides part-time work, what other plans do you have for summer break? Sister doesn’t mind showing you around and broadening your horizons.”

Li Wu didn’t understand her meaning and could only laugh awkwardly.

Yuan Zhen cupped her face and said in a coy voice: “Little brother, you smiling at me like this—does that mean you agree?”

“Oh my god—” The other male colleagues all sighed in exasperation.

Li Fei mocked: “Show me around too, I want to broaden my horizons as well.”

Yuan Zhen gave him a white-eyed look of disdain: “You? You dare?”

Just as she was about to speak to Li Wu again, Cen Jin suddenly spoke up: “I’m going to the restroom.”

She stood up from her chair but didn’t move, staring straight ahead waiting for the person at the table to make way.

Li Wu reacted and hurriedly stepped aside two paces.

Cen Jin walked straight past him toward the restroom.

As soon as Cen Jin left, Li Wu also lost interest in lingering at that table. He perfunctorily responded a few times then returned to the counter.

Just after putting down the tray, the phone in his apron pocket suddenly vibrated.

Li Wu casually opened it and saw it was a message from his perpetually pinned WeChat contact.

Cen Jin: Come here.

―

Just two words made Li Wu’s heart pound wildly, and his breathing became irregular too. He untied his apron, hurriedly wiped his hands, and quickly walked toward the restroom direction.

He felt like he was her kite—as long as she was willing to reel in the string, no matter how fierce or swift the wind, he could struggle against it with all his might to rush to her side.

As soon as he turned the corner, he saw Cen Jin standing sideways at the end of the hallway.

Her pale yellow spaghetti strap dress fell to her ankles, the upper body revealing large patches of pristine skin, like a snowy field under moonlight.

Li Wu clenched his fists and slowed his steps as he walked toward her.

The woman glanced over too—after so many days, she was finally willing to look at him properly.

Cen Jin felt Li Wu seemed somewhat different, but she couldn’t say exactly how. His face was still the same, and his figure was also the same. Perhaps it was his gray work uniform that looked relatively mature, so it also gave him several parts of a haze-like aloofness.

She didn’t give him a chance to strike first. As soon as the youth stood before her, Cen Jin opened her lips to ask: “So this is your part-time job?”

Li Wu was stunned for a moment: “Mm.”

“Your way of being independent is selling smiles?” Cen Jin blurted out again.

There were several seconds of silence between them.

Li Wu stared at her, his gaze bright and sharp, but said nothing.

Cen Jin looked elsewhere, pressed her lips together, and then turned back to give him a sympathetic yet fierce glare. She immediately raised her phone, using her thumb to light up the screen and quickly operating it: “I’ll transfer the hundred thousand back to you now. I sponsored you until college not for you to sell smiles to people. Be better to yourself—just be a proper student.”

She was still entering numbers when her wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Li Wu’s movement was fierce and swift. Cen Jin stumbled slightly forward, quickly steadying herself.

The youth’s hand was like a branding iron shackle. Cen Jin’s heart seemed to be scalded too, contracting violently.

Cen Jin could barely move. She exerted force in the opposite direction, trying to break free, but he held on tight. Cen Jin became angry from embarrassment, raising her face to warn him with her eyes.

The youth’s dark bright pupils also locked onto her eyes: “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to see me again? Why call me over here?”

Cen Jin retorted: “Then don’t hover in front of me either. Hovering is one thing, but who are you degrading yourself for?”

“How am I degrading myself? Don’t you think your current behavior is what makes me seem like someone selling smiles?” Li Wu released her hand, his expression stern: “Today you came to the store, and you messaged me to come over. I came, but next time won’t be so easy.”

After dropping these words, Li Wu turned and left.