“What a coincidence.” Wu Mangmang had always been a very gracious ex-girlfriend. Having been dumped so many times, she could maintain a ladylike smile when seeing her ex-boyfriends.
Last time when they encountered each other outside the pork rib restaurant, that was too unexpected, and being the first time, she really hadn’t been mentally prepared. This time was much better.
Lu Sui didn’t turn around, responding indifferently with a simple “Mm.”
Wu Mangmang looked at Lu Sui’s cold back of the head and didn’t speak again.
After half a year, Wu Mangmang looked at the figure before her and felt somewhat dazed. Had she really dated Lu Sui?
Looking back now, it seemed so surreal.
This person’s indifference was truly chilled to the bone.
Shen Ting’s type was aloof—one look from him could freeze you solid.
But Lu Sui’s kind of indifference was like you were just one drop among billions of drops of seawater in his eyes—you couldn’t even make a ripple.
Wu Mangmang’s mind wandered, and she tragically forgot to press the elevator button, ending up following Lu Sui all the way to the 11th floor.
The 11th floor housed SVIP patient rooms. Boss Wu could only stay on the 7th floor, and even with money, it wasn’t possible. This unconscionable hospital had an extremely strict hierarchy system—having money still wouldn’t get you a room, as they had to keep rooms available in case some big shot suddenly had a stroke and there wouldn’t be anywhere to put them.
Wu Mangmang only realized when she saw the glaring Arabic numeral “11” on the display screen. How terrible.
Lu Sui walked out of the elevator ahead of her, caught a glimpse of Wu Mangmang pressing “7” from the corner of his eye, then the corner of his mouth curved up slightly as he walked away directly.
Wu Mangmang saw this smile.
Ten thousand mythical beasts galloped through her heart. This was truly a misunderstanding—she absolutely wasn’t lingering with unfinished feelings, okay?
And she absolutely hadn’t failed to press the floor button just to spend an extra second with him, okay?
But given Lu Sui’s confidence and narcissism, Wu Mangmang felt any explanation would be useless.
In Lu Sui’s eyes, she had probably already been categorized as a pretentious bitch who said she wanted to break up but then lingered with regret and wanted to take it back.
Just after lunch, Ms. Liu came to take Wu Mangmang’s shift. She had an appointment with Du Yuntao that afternoon. Although Wu Mangmang didn’t want to keep the appointment, Du Yuntao’s intermediary had contacted Ms. Liu directly, so Wu Mangmang could only surrender.
Before this, Ms. Liu had also arranged for Wu Mangmang to get a facial and have her hair done.
“Is it necessary to be so formal?” Wu Mangmang asked in confusion.
Liu Lewei glared at Wu Mangmang. “Didn’t you say to introduce someone from City A? I’ve arranged it for tomorrow afternoon. Their family has businesses in both this city and City A—once you’re married, you can live wherever you want.”
Wu Mangmang rolled her eyes. “I already have a boyfriend. I’m meeting Du Yuntao today to make things clear with him.”
Ms. Liu was completely unconcerned. “You said it yourself—just a boyfriend.”
Wu Mangmang was speechless. Ms. Liu’s moral standards had always been low, and consequently, the children she raised also had questionable moral standards.
As they were talking, someone knocked on the door. Wu Mangmang thought it was a nurse, but Peng Ze entered instead.
Lu Sui’s special assistant.
Liu Lewei immediately looked back at Wu Mangmang when she saw Peng Ze.
Wu Mangmang cursed inwardly, then walked over with a bright smile. “Peng Ze, how did you come?”
Peng Ze held flowers and a fruit basket. “Mr. Lu asked me to bring some things to visit Mr. Wu.”
Visiting patients was all routine procedure. After going through the motions, Peng Ze said goodbye and left, staying for no more than three minutes total.
Liu Lewei grabbed Wu Mangmang, who was preparing to leave. “What’s going on? You and Lu Sui…”
“Lu Sui and I broke up peacefully—we’re not enemies. He knew Boss Wu was in a car accident and sent some fruit. This is completely normal courtesy, okay?” With one sentence, Wu Mangmang extinguished the excited flower blooming in Ms. Liu’s eyes.
“Tch.” Liu Lewei glared at Wu Mangmang irritably. She actually hadn’t expected Wu Mangmang to be able to rekindle things with Lu Sui anyway.
Now Lu Sui’s girlfriend was the precious granddaughter of the Zhao family—they were a perfect match of golden boy and jade girl.
When Wu Mangmang had dinner with Du Yuntao that evening, she had planned to cut straight to the chase and say that long-distance relationships weren’t reliable, but Du Yuntao struck first. “Mangmang, I designed a little game for you.”
Wu Mangmang swallowed back the words that had already rolled to her lips.
In all these years, Wu Mangmang had encountered quite a few suitors, but none had ever designed a game specifically for her.
Girls liked this kind of uniqueness.
“Oh, let me see.”
The game Du Yuntao designed for Wu Mangmang was a puzzle game with ninety-nine levels. The main storyline was about an incredibly beautiful princess (whose avatar was a cartoon-processed version of Wu Mangmang’s face) overcoming obstacles and ultimately saving the hero.
Wu Mangmang tried playing two levels—it was quite interesting, rather challenging intellectually, but not so crushing that you’d completely despair about your intelligence.
“How is it?” Du Yuntao asked ingratiatingly.
Wu Mangmang had accepted someone’s gift, so her stance softened.
It was obvious that Du Yuntao had put a lot of effort into this game.
“Is it really designed just for me? You won’t release it for others to play?” Wu Mangmang looked at Du Yuntao.
“Yes, I absolutely won’t give it to anyone else. After you complete all levels, I’ll delete the master copy on my end. There’s a treasure chest after the final level with a big surprise inside,” Du Yuntao smiled.
So Wu Mangmang spent the entire meal playing the game.
During this time, Wu Mangmang even opened Weibo once, logging into her alt account called “Five Branches of Red Apricot,” and posted a screenshot of the little game to Weibo: “This is a game he designed just for me, one of a kind, (^__^) hehe…”
This alt account had posted very few Weibos and had pitifully few followers—only five people.
If you had X-ray vision, you could see that Wu Mangmang had many other alt accounts, called One Branch of Red Apricot, Two Branches of Red Apricot, Three Branches of Red Apricot, and so on, all the way to Nine Branches of Red Apricot.
On the “Three Branches of Red Apricot” Weibo, the latest post read: “Christmas night, he specially rushed over from out of town to accompany me listening to the twelve o’clock chimes. Also beautiful necklace and sweet Christmas cake.” The Weibo was accompanied by photos, including the perfume necklace Ning Zheng had given her.
On the “Two Branches of Red Apricot” Weibo, it said: “He even takes care of my friends—50% off is really a great deal.”
On the “One Branch of Red Apricot” Weibo, it said: “Days when someone brings breakfast every day are just too blissful.”
And on the “Nine Branches of Red Apricot” Weibo, it said: “What a baffling person, actually saying others aren’t worthy of me.”
This Weibo had only posted one message and currently had no followers.
Wu Mangmang exited Weibo, hiding away her darkest secret, then continued with the game.
After dinner, Du Yuntao drove Wu Mangmang to the hospital entrance. “Let me go up and see Uncle.”
Only then did Wu Mangmang reluctantly lift her eyes from her phone screen to look at Du Yuntao. “No need, no need.”
Du Yuntao was very determined—this was a rare opportunity to make a good impression on his future father-in-law.
Wu Mangmang refused repeatedly, but just as she entered the hospital room, she saw Du Yuntao knocking on the door with a fruit basket.
Wu Song and Liu Lewei were quite satisfied with Du Yuntao. Du Yuntao sat for half an hour, which counted as meeting the parents.
Wu Mangmang walked Du Yuntao all the way downstairs. Just as they were about to part ways, she saw Lu Lin getting out of a car across the street.
“Mangmang,” Lu Lin called out.
“Sister Lu Lin.”
Lu Lin walked over quickly, her eyes sweeping over Du Yuntao before asking Wu Mangmang with a smile, “Your boyfriend?”
If it had been anyone else asking, Wu Mangmang would have immediately refuted, but she really couldn’t handle the Lu family people and needed to maintain distance, especially with Lu Lin.
So Wu Mangmang remained silent.
“I won’t disturb you two. I’m just going up for a bit—Auntie is hospitalized upstairs,” Lu Lin said.
“Little Auntie?” Wu Mangmang asked upon hearing this.
Lu Lin nodded.
Wu Mangmang thought to herself, no wonder she had bumped into Lu Sui in the elevator today.
After sending Du Yuntao away, Wu Mangmang regretted her big mouth. Since she now knew that Lu Jianan was sick and hospitalized, it would be awkward to pretend she knew nothing.
Lu Sui had sent a fruit basket when he learned about her father’s injury and hospitalization, so it would seem inappropriate if she didn’t visit Lu Jianan.
Besides, although Wu Mangmang didn’t like her, she had to admit she had learned quite a bit from Lu Jianan.
Lu Lin went up to the 11th floor to get something and then came back down. Lu Sui was waiting for her in the car.
“Did you see Mangmang’s new boyfriend just now?” Lu Lin asked Lu Sui with an expression of watching a good show.
Lu Sui looked Lu Lin up and down. “If you changed your personality, she might look at you twice more.”
Lu Lin’s face immediately darkened, but she quickly smiled again. “Mangmang’s new boyfriend doesn’t look like much. I don’t know what’s good about him that he actually managed to win Mangmang over.”
Lu Sui said, “If you spent the time you waste caring about irrelevant people on serious matters, you wouldn’t need to come begging me.”
Talking to Lu Sui really risked death by anger. Lu Lin snorted coldly and glared at Lu Sui’s profile for two seconds. Since she was asking for his help, she wouldn’t poke at Lu Sui’s sore spots.
Irrelevant people?
His anger still hadn’t subsided?
Wu Mangmang arrived at the hospital early the next morning. “Ms. Liu, do you know about Ms. Lu Jianan being sick and hospitalized?”
“I know. I sent a flower basket yesterday,” Liu Lewei said.
“Do you think I should go see her?” Wu Mangmang really couldn’t decide and had to ask Ms. Liu for help, since Ms. Liu often boasted that she had eaten more salt than Wu Mangmang had eaten rice.
Liu Lewei glanced at Wu Mangmang. “If you want to go, then go. Didn’t you always say she took good care of you?”
Wu Mangmang scratched her hair. How could she explain to Ms. Liu that Lu Jianan actually looked down on her?
However, being human didn’t mean you could avoid social courtesies just because the other person didn’t like you.
“Didn’t you and Lu Sui break up peacefully? If it was truly peaceful, why wouldn’t you visit his aunt?” With one sentence worth ten, Liu Lewei decisively convinced Wu Mangmang.
Flower arrangements at the hospital entrance were ridiculously expensive. Wu Mangmang spent four hundred yuan on a bouquet of birds of paradise that Lu Jianan liked and went up to the 11th floor.
The 11th floor had SVIP patient rooms, and all visitors had to register. People not on the approved list wouldn’t be seen by patients, or permission had to be requested first.
Wu Mangmang didn’t insist on seeing Lu Jianan, so she registered her information at the nurses’ station, wrote a card to place in the flower arrangement, and asked the nurse to deliver it.
As Wu Mangmang was writing the card, she heard footsteps nearby, then Lu Sui’s voice: “Go ahead in.”
Wu Mangmang’s hand writing froze, then she turned around, picked up the flowers, and followed Lu Sui toward Lu Jianan’s room.
When Lu Jianan saw Wu Mangmang, the surprise on her face passed in an instant, immediately replaced by a gentle smile. “Mangmang, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”
Wu Mangmang handed the flowers to Lu Jianan’s assistant and walked to Lu Jianan’s bedside with a smile. “I haven’t seen Auntie for a long time either.”
The word “Auntie” just slipped out naturally. After saying it, Wu Mangmang realized what she’d done and looked embarrassed. “Sister Lu Lin told me you were sick, so I came to see you.”
“Thank you,” Lu Jianan said. “Are you getting used to studying at University A? It’s much colder there than here.”
“I’m quite used to it,” Wu Mangmang said.
Both of them were making conversation where none existed. Wu Mangmang felt uncomfortable all over. “Auntie, please take good care of your health. I…” will come see you another day.
But before Wu Mangmang could finish, she was interrupted by a loud “Auntie!” “Auntie, I bought your favorite pineapple buns.”
Zhao Xinyun walked in from outside, only belatedly noticing Wu Mangmang, then playfully covered her mouth and laughed. “Oh, there’s a guest here.”
Zhao Xinyun put down her things, naturally walked to Lu Sui’s side, wrapped both hands around Lu Sui’s arm, then turned to look at Wu Mangmang.
“This is…” Zhao Xinyun acted as if she didn’t recognize Wu Mangmang.
“This is Wu Mangmang,” Lu Jianan took over from Zhao Xinyun, then introduced to Wu Mangmang, “This is Zhao Xinyun from Xinhe Electronics.”
Zhao Xinyun nodded at Wu Mangmang. “Hello, Miss Wu.”
“Hello,” Wu Mangmang said, looking into Zhao Xinyun’s eyes.
When her peripheral vision caught the physical contact between Zhao Xinyun and Lu Sui, Wu Mangmang suddenly had an awakening. Originally, she had thought Lu Sui had some feelings for her, and when they broke up, she had been quite pleased that she was the one who dumped Lu Sui first.
Only now, seeing Zhao Xinyun, did Wu Mangmang snap out of her blind smugness. It turned out no one was irreplaceable, and no feelings couldn’t be substituted.
Thinking of this, she inevitably felt that sometimes life really had no meaning—coming into the world naked and leaving naked, unable to take anything with you.
“Auntie, I’ll come see you another day,” Wu Mangmang said her goodbyes.