“Can you drive?” Luan Nian picked up the alcohol. Shang Zhitao couldn’t drink, which was perfect for driving down the mountain. To his surprise, he saw Shang Zhitao shake her head: “I can’t.”

Luan Nian felt something fluttering in his heart. The plain and ordinary Shang Zhitao sitting across from him somehow made the alcohol taste better. If he savored the moment more carefully, he could detect a hint of boundless romantic feeling.

That strange desire he felt that one time in Guangzhou was now seeping into his body just a little bit.

…

Luan Nian put the alcohol aside and asked the owner for a bottle of cola, poured it for Shang Zhitao, and selected the most succulent piece of fish for her. She was a bit overwhelmed by the special treatment and hurriedly thanked him, only to hear Luan Nian say: “Thank you for treating me to dinner.”

Oh. Shang Zhitao, struggling at the subsistence level, was a bit stingy. If she could choose, she wouldn’t have dinner with Luan Nian in the first place. If she had to, she would choose a tasty but inexpensive roadside stall. After all, everyone had to live, and it wouldn’t be strange for Luan Nian to experience some of life’s hardships.

“You’re welcome, it’s my pleasure.” Despite thinking this way, she still responded politely. After taking a bite of fish, she felt she couldn’t let this treat go to waste: “You’re having dinner with me, does that mean you think I’m okay and can stay at the company for observation?”

“The last time I had dinner with a colleague, it didn’t prevent the company from firing him the next day.”

“Don’t scare me.”

Luan Nian glanced at her: “Have you considered learning to drive? You’re probably the first person at Lingmei who can’t drive.”

“I already signed up at a driving school. I’m studying for the test.”

“Study hard. I’m worried you won’t be able to learn it.”

“That’s impossible.”

Shang Zhitao grinned, her face flushed red from the steam of the fish pot: “Do you often bring your girlfriends here for dinner?”

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

“Hehe.”

Luan Nian ignored her and continued eating. He had drunk heavily yesterday and hadn’t eaten properly today. Now he finally felt his stomach wasn’t empty anymore. Not hungry, his mood naturally improved a bit, showing a touch of pleasantness. So he followed Shang Zhitao’s train of thought and asked her: “What about you? What do you usually do with your boyfriend during your free time?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“The one at the bar?”

“That’s my roommate.”

“Your roommate seems nice. You could try dating him.”

“My roommate is amazing.” Shang Zhitao sincerely praised Sun Yuanzhu: “He can do everything, and he has a great temperament, often helping me.”

“How does he help you? What has he helped you with?”

“Just… daily small things, everything big and small… he even accompanied me to register at the driving school…”

“So for you girls, that’s the standard for being good?”

“As a friend… isn’t that good enough?”

“It’s enough for being a friend, but he needs to work harder to be a boyfriend.” Luan Nian teased her.

Hearing Luan Nian say this, Shang Zhitao seriously thought about it: “So you’re very good to your girlfriends?” She was quite sharp-tongued. After a few bites of fish, she forgot who she was, daring to challenge Luan Nian. That plural “girlfriends” was deliberately emphasized.

Luan Nian saw her tilting her head up, in a posture ready to debate with him, and finally smiled. When Shang Zhitao wasn’t timid, she was quite entertaining.

Not only was she entertaining as a person, but her appetite was quite large.

“Aren’t you afraid of getting fat?”

“I’m hungry… I’ve only had this one meal today.” She looked a bit pitiful.

Luan Nian also thought she was quite pitiful and put another piece of meat on her plate: “Eat up.”

Their meal together was quite pleasant. As they were finishing, Shang Zhitao said to Luan Nian: “I’m going to the restroom.” She secretly went to pay the bill. She understood this etiquette.

“How much for that table?” Shang Zhitao asked the owner.

“Five hundred and thirty.”

Not too bad. Shang Zhitao thought that Luan Nian was still a decent person, not fleecing her too badly: “I’ll pay the bill.”

“No need to pay. Manager Luan has a card here with a lot of money on it. When we were catching the fish, he said to deduct it from the card?”

“What?”

Shang Zhitao was a bit shocked, recalling Luan Nian’s expressionless “You’ll pay.” He had said it casually, but she had taken it seriously. Shang Zhitao felt a bit foolish; she couldn’t tell when Luan Nian was being serious or joking. She had never been able to distinguish the truth from falsehood in Luan Nian’s words.

She returned to the table, sat across from Luan Nian, and cleared her throat: “Luke.”

“What?”

“Next time I must treat you.”

“There’s going to be a next time?” The expression on Luan Nian’s face was one of “Are you serious? You want to have dinner with me again?”

“Well, I’m serious.” Shang Zhitao knew she couldn’t see through Luan Nian, so she stated her position first: “I’m serious.”

“So what do you plan to treat me to?”

“I’ll go back and research it properly?”

“Don’t bother researching. I have many other ‘girlfriends’ to date. Today was an exception.” After saying this, Luan Nian stood up: “Ready to go back?”

“Yes. Just drop me off at the bottom of the mountain where I can easily get a taxi.”

“How considerate?”

Shang Zhitao’s considerateness made her appear like an outsider, afraid of causing trouble to others in social interactions. Luan Nian didn’t like women being this way; he preferred women to be direct. Know when to be strong, and know when to show vulnerability. For instance, in this situation, she should have said to him: “I’ll have to trouble you to take me home.”

But Shang Zhitao didn’t understand these things. She didn’t know how to use her gender advantages.

Luan Nian didn’t discuss further where he should drop her off, just slowly drove out. As soon as they left the fish restaurant, there was a road leading down the mountain. Shang Zhitao looked out the window and vaguely saw stars in the sky. She exclaimed in awe. Luan Nian looked at her and stopped the car at a viewing area, rolling down the windows. It was pitch black all around.

Shang Zhitao leaned her head out the window and saw the stars in the sky. Such beautiful stars were a small reward in her busy days.

Luan Nian got out of the car and leaned against it, looking up at the stars for a while. Shang Zhitao didn’t follow him out; her sense of propriety was perfectly displayed at this moment. She couldn’t stand beside Luan Nian and watch the stars—that was something couples would do, and he was her boss.

She knew the difference.

After they each admired the view for a while, they continued driving down the mountain. Luan Nian drove directly toward Shang Zhitao’s home. Shang Zhitao realized belatedly, only when they were almost at her house, did she had noticed Luan Nian’s kindness: “Thank you, Luke.”

“No problem. Remember to apply for overtime pay with HR the day after tomorrow. Submit it online and put my name down.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Luan Nian stopped the car and watched as Shang Zhitao’s figure disappeared before heading back.

It was just an ordinary overtime work session together, but Shang Zhitao felt that her perception of Luan Nian had changed. She firmly believed that Luan Nian was a good person now, just with a bad mouth. A sharp-tongued good person.

Thinking of Luan Nian, she also felt he was quite a strange person.

Sun Yu knocked and came in, her eyes red.

“What’s wrong?” Shang Zhitao asked her.

Sun Yu shook her head and sat on the edge of Shang Zhitao’s bed: “Can I talk with you for a while? I’m feeling a bit upset.”

“What happened to you?” Shang Zhitao pulled her onto the bed, and they sat facing each other. As soon as the girl from Guizhou faced Shang Zhitao, tears fell: “I broke up.”

“Didn’t you say yesterday that you were going to his place today?”

“He told me not to come anymore.” Sun Yu started crying: “You know what, Shang Zhitao, I lost my job, and I haven’t found a new one yet. His job is very good, and I’ve always felt there was inequality between us. He told me he feels we have less and less in common… actually, he just thinks I’m inadequate.”

“But you’re not inadequate…” Shang Zhitao didn’t know how to comfort Sun Yu. Sun Yu was so good, such a beautiful girl from Guizhou, and so smart—how could she be inadequate?

“You don’t know yet, Beijing is a very realistic and cruel city.” Sun Yu was too upset. She had invested her feelings, but the other person had put her emotions on a scale to weigh them. Her feelings had been given a price tag.

Hearing her speak like this, Shang Zhitao also felt sad.

The relationship she had during her school days hadn’t been tainted by worldliness. Back then, she and Xin Zhaozhou ate snacks near the school, took the bus to the park, or she would sit by the basketball court waiting for him. At that time, they only thought about whether they loved each other, not how much the love was worth.

Even though they broke up later, they parted with kindness and wished each other well.

“Maybe you’ll get back together…” Shang Zhitao wasn’t good at giving advice, she could only pick out a positive possibility: “What if in a few days he suddenly realizes that you’re still the best…”

“And then leave me again when he meets someone better?” Sun Yu cried harder: “I will never give him such an opportunity again.”

Sun Yu was heartbroken, as if all the good times from before had become unreal. She had thought his business trips and team-building activities were just work requirements. Only today did she understand that it wasn’t work that required it, but he. He needed to use these methods to cool their relationship down until they broke up.

Adults can be so ugly.

Shang Zhitao lent her shoulder for Sun Yu to lean on. She felt a bit confused. Yao Bei had told her that if she wanted to date, she should find someone with good conditions and suffer less. Shang Zhitao didn’t have much desire for material things, so she didn’t know exactly what “good conditions” meant.

She accompanied Sun Yu for a long time, until she heard Sun Yu start to wipe her tears and then sit up straight: “You know what, Shang Zhitao, I suddenly understand—to hell with men, I need to rely on myself. Only when you’re strong enough will men chase after you. Otherwise, they’ll never understand how to cherish you.”

Shang Zhitao nodded quickly: “Right! We need to become strong!”

It was like they had accidentally joined a pyramid scheme, looking quite stirred up. Sun Yu laughed through her tears and gently tapped Shang Zhitao’s forehead with her fingertip: “What are you so excited about?”

“I need to be strong too!”

Shang Zhitao thought, when she became strong, she wouldn’t be afraid of Luan Nian threatening to fire her every day. When she became strong, she would slam her resignation letter on Luan Nian’s desk and tell him: “I quit!”

Just thinking about this scenario gave her a sense of satisfaction—no, complete satisfaction.

Shang Zhitao hadn’t realized at all that Luan Nian was occupying a small corner of her heart, compelling her to move forward.

“So was your overtime with that annoying boss pleasant today?” Sun Yu had been so focused on crying that she forgot to ask Shang Zhitao.

“It was okay. Apart from being a bit serious, he’s not a bad person. He even took me to eat fish on the mountain.” Shang Zhitao told Sun Yu about what happened today. As Sun Yu listened, her expression changed: “Shang Zhitao, your boss isn’t trying to take advantage of you, is he?”

“What? Impossible, he has many girlfriends…”

“Men, especially rich men, are never afraid of having too many girlfriends. They just want to conquer the next one.”

“No, no way.” Shang Zhitao waved her hand: “I’ve seen his girlfriend in Guangzhou, she looks like Miss World.”

“So what? It doesn’t rule out that he might want something exotic. Besides, you have such a good figure.”

Shang Zhitao blushed: “Don’t talk nonsense. He doesn’t lack women, and I’m not interested in him either.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” After saying this, Shang Zhitao thought for a moment. No, that wasn’t right—she was too interested in Luan Nian. She wanted to do something with him.

But what about Luan Nian’s feelings toward her? Shang Zhitao wasn’t sure. She had insomnia again that night, carefully thinking through all the interactions she had with Luan Nian that day. The more she thought about it, the more she felt Sun Yu was right—he did want to take advantage of her!

Shang Zhitao suddenly sat up in bed!