Mr. Zhou, let’s give it a try.

Zhou Shiyu’s meaning… was to go on a blind date with her?

The proposal was so absurd that Sheng Sui didn’t even consider it, instinctively and decisively refusing: “Mr. Zhou, you know my physical condition. I might not be suitable for marriage.”

But Zhou Shiyu asked: “Has a doctor ever said that marriage would be harmful to a diabetic’s health?”

Sheng Sui was slightly stunned, not understanding what he meant.

“Sheng Sui, thank you for considering things from my perspective and thinking about my situation.”

Though the surrounding environment was noisy, the man’s warm, low voice gradually soothed her panic: “But I think, if it’s a lasting marriage, the participants’ own feelings should be more important.”

Having seen Zhou Shiyu communicate with just a glance while others understood his intentions, this was the first time Sheng Sui heard him explain so much:

“You don’t need to worry too much. Just base your decision on your current judgment of me and decide whether to meet again.”

Just the fact that the other party was Zhou Shiyu made it impossible for Sheng Sui to accept. She said with difficulty: “I’m sorry, this is too sudden.”

“It’s fine. I was presumptuous first. I hope this hasn’t caused you too much trouble.”

Sheng Sui already felt guilty about rejecting someone, and hearing Zhou Shiyu console her instead made her feel even more remorseful. Words of compromise and agreement rolled to her lips several times, only to be swallowed back.

For a moment, only suppressed breathing remained on both ends of the line. The situation was awkward, and even more difficult was how to end it.

Finally, Zhou Shiyu broke the deadlock.

Before hanging up, the man gently told her: “The matter of meeting again isn’t just a whim on my part. If Teacher Sheng changes her mind, you can contact me anytime.”

“…Alright.”

The call ended. Sheng Sui listened to the dial tone, feeling dazed.

Zhou Shiyu said it wasn’t just an impulse—but they had only met twice, and had only known each other for three days.

Reason told her Zhou Shiyu’s words weren’t unreasonable: since they both needed a marriage, rather than having their families force a stranger on them, why not give each other a chance?

Moreover, the man only wanted to meet once more.

She seemed to have no reason to refuse.

But they clearly didn’t belong to the same world. Sheng Sui just imagining herself standing beside Zhou Shiyu made her feel incongruous and out of place, like a piece of rough stone mixed in with white jade.

Most importantly, she couldn’t understand why Zhou Shiyu would choose her.

At this moment, Yu Xuemei came out of the classroom with her son. Seeing Sheng Sui still in the phone-calling position, she walked over and casually asked: “Who were you talking to? A man?”

Sheng Sui put away her phone, absent-mindedly humming in response.

Yu Xuemei became interested and pressed: “How old is he? Is he a colleague from work—”

“No,” feeling stuffy in her chest, Sheng Sui interrupted her mother for the first time. “He’s a student’s parent. Don’t read too much into it.”

Her daughter had always been gentle and obedient. Yu Xuemei was somewhat displeased at being contradicted, but thinking Sheng Sui was probably still bothered by yesterday’s blind date, she stopped gossiping and drove the siblings home for dinner.

The house in the old district was bought by stepfather Xu Xu years ago. Over more than a decade, housing prices had increased forty to fifty times. Though the low building looked somewhat old and was only about a hundred square meters, its value was at least ten million.

“…A person’s character shows in their face. That man was obviously no good.”

The Xu father and son were resting in the living room while Sheng Sui helped her mother in the kitchen, watching Yu Xuemei skillfully stir-fry and toss the pan, still indignantly defending her: “Breaking up sooner is better. If you’d really gotten together, he might have hit you when he couldn’t handle things, just like Sheng Tian.”

Mentioning her father, Yu Xuemei cautiously closed the kitchen door tight before lowering her voice to ask: “Are you still sending him money every month?”

Sheng Sui nodded, her tone calm: “He has no job and is sick. I can’t really abandon him completely.”

“You’re just too soft-hearted. Good people really do get bullied.”

Yu Xuemei looked at her daughter with complex eyes. Thinking of the past, she spat hatefully: “His illness is his own fault! I sent so much child support, and he used it all to buy alcohol. Otherwise, how could you have gotten diabetes at such a young age?”

The causes of Type 1 diabetes haven’t been definitively determined—multiple factors including autoimmune responses, genetics, and viral infections can trigger it.*

Yu Xuemei insisted it was due to her father’s poor care that led to Sheng Sui’s illness: “Drinking all the time and never coming home—it would be strange if the child didn’t get sick.”

But when she was hospitalized and during those years before coming to Magic City for college, at least she could see her father. Yu Xuemei had never even looked at her once.

Sheng Sui lowered her head and silently washed vegetables, not agreeing.

Her silence probably triggered Yu Xuemei’s guilt. The woman stopped bringing up the past and had Sheng Sui take the dishes to the table while she went to serve rice.

“This bowl is for you,” as if to compensate her, Yu Xuemei served a large bowl of rice, even specially pressing it down with a wooden spoon. “Eat more—look how thin you’ve gotten lately.”

Sheng Sui quietly looked at the bowl full of massive carbohydrates, then lowered her eyes after a moment: “Mom, diabetics can’t eat too much rice.”

“……”

Yu Xuemei awkwardly withdrew her hand, laughing embarrassedly: “Then serve yourself. I don’t know how much you eat.”

After speaking, she hurriedly took the bowl out, as if unable to endure the frozen atmosphere in the kitchen for another moment.

The Xu father and son were already waiting at the dining table.

Seeing Sheng Sui, the naturally quiet Xu Xu only nodded slightly, taking the bowl and chopsticks from his wife and saying quietly: “Next time you have something, just call me to go. Don’t trouble Sheng Sui.”

“But wouldn’t your research institute need you to take leave too?” Yu Xuemei felt it was unnecessary. “Sheng Sui happened to be getting off work anyway—attend the meeting then come home for dinner. How big a deal is it?”

She didn’t forget to ask Sheng Sui: “Right?”

Sheng Sui heard the subtext in her stepfather’s words and nodded: “It was on the way. No trouble.”

As the undisputed lady of the house, Yu Xuemei busily served dishes to the siblings and her husband in turn, then naturally asked about Xu Yanze’s week of dormitory life.

From studies to room and board to new semester changes, the mother who hadn’t seen her son for a week asked about everything in detail. The father, not good with words, occasionally joined in, while Xu Yanze looked completely impatient.

Sheng Sui remained an outsider throughout, burying her head in her meal. After finishing the rice in her bowl, since she couldn’t just leave the table, she could only sit there stiffly.

The family of three was harmonious and happy—only she was the superfluous, out-of-place outsider.

“Xiao Sui is full already?” Yu Xuemei noticed from the corner of her eye that her daughter hadn’t moved her chopsticks for a while and immediately served her a large piece of fish: “I remember you loved eating fish as a child. Perfect for nourishing yourself.”

Sheng Sui had indeed loved it before, until in ninth grade when a fish bone got stuck in her throat. After her father made her drink half a bottle of vinegar and she still couldn’t sleep from the pain, they had no choice but to go to the hospital to have it removed. After that, she rarely touched fish.

The fish meat lay quietly at the bottom of her bowl, its smooth surface covered with small bones.

But Sheng Sui couldn’t just pick it out and throw it away, so she forced a smile: “Thank you, Mom.”

The smile in Yu Xuemei’s eyes deepened, desperately trying to prove something: “See, Mom remembers everything you like to eat.”

The atmosphere at the table was momentarily joyful and harmonious. After dinner, Xu Xu washed dishes, Xu Yanze returned to his room to study, and Sheng Sui also needed to go home to prepare lessons.

Before leaving, Yu Xuemei saw her off at the entrance, sighing repeatedly: “If only you could bring a boyfriend home for dinner sometime—then Mom would be satisfied.”

Sheng Sui remained silent.

“When I was sick last year, I worried most about you,” her mother affectionately patted the back of her hand, speaking earnestly:

“In life, you need to have a family to be complete.”

“Mom,” Sheng Sui withdrew her hand and looked quietly into her mother’s eyes. “Is there anything else you want to say to me?”

Anything besides blind dates and marriage.

Yu Xuemei’s face showed that embarrassed, helpless expression again. Finally, she handed over an umbrella: “The weather forecast says it might rain. Be careful on the road.”

On the taxi ride home, Sheng Sui sat in the back seat looking at her phone, discovering that Xiao Ming had sent over a dozen messages during dinner—first saying the investment matter finally had progress, then complaining that her mother from home had sent too much homemade pickled vegetables that she couldn’t finish and had nowhere to store.

Sheng Sui could tell that despite Xiao Ming’s complaining tone, every word revealed undisguised intimacy.

After replying and exiting the conversation, inexplicably, she scrolled through the list and clicked into her conversation with her father.

The father-daughter chats had very fixed timing and content—always starting with Sheng Sui sending living expenses at the beginning of the month and ending with Sheng Tian praising her as a good daughter after receiving the money.

Sheng Sui lowered her eyes and smiled.

Good daughter.

Her mother often praised her the same way.

The taxi stopped at Sports Park. Sheng Sui put down her phone and rested her head against the cold window, aimlessly watching young parents playing with their children on the lawn, all wearing bright smiles.

Her mother earnestly told her that only by starting a family could life be complete.

But she had never even possessed a proper family of origin—how could she learn to form a family with another stranger?

Before school ended on Friday, Qi Yue asked for leave due to family matters, leaving Sheng Sui to handle student dismissal alone.

In the classroom, the other five students had all packed their bags and lined up properly in the front empty space, but Zhou Yi remained motionless in his seat, hugging a lamb plushie.

His dark eyes stared fixedly at the clock on the wall.

The boy had outstanding features, his dark eyes staring straight at the wall clock, as calm as if disconnected from the world—a typical characteristic of autism.

Sheng Sui crouched down to Zhou Yi’s eye level, trying to communicate: “Yi Yi, shall the teacher help you pack your bag?”

Zhou Yi remained unmoved.

Sheng Sui’s repeated persuasion was useless until five minutes later when Zhou Yi suddenly stood up, methodically putting things from his desk into his bag and standing at the back of the front line as if no one else existed.

Sheng Sui instinctively looked back at the clock, discovering the hour hand pointed to exactly 4:30—the usual dismissal time.

Besides social communication barriers, rigid behavior was another major characteristic of autism—patients had fixed, unchanging behavioral patterns.

The hyperactive child in front wasn’t behaving properly and accidentally knocked the lamb plushie from Zhou Yi’s arms.

Sheng Sui quickly stepped forward to pick up the toy, dusted it off, and handed it back to Zhou Yi, gently ruffling his hair.

Zhou Yi looked up at her, his dark pupils moving, his gaze clear but somewhat vacant.

The students held hands in a line walking toward the school gate, with Zhou Yi at the back of the line and Sheng Sui following behind.

Since the start of school, she had carefully observed Zhou Yi, discovering that although his communication abilities were limited, fortunately he had strong self-awareness, never letting others manipulate him, and actually had needs in all areas.

For autistic children, this was undoubtedly a good thing.

After personally handing the first five students to their parents, Sheng Sui crouched down to zip up Zhou Yi’s jacket and looked for the aunt who usually picked him up outside the school gate.

“Hello, Teacher Sheng.”

Not seeing the familiar figure, a well-dressed man approached, wearing glasses and appearing to be in his mid-thirties: “I’m Mr. Zhou’s secretary, surname Chen.”

The man had a steady demeanor: “The housekeeper is sick, so Mr. Zhou asked me to pick up Zhou Yi.”

The man looked unfamiliar. Sheng Sui’s alarm bells went off, and she casually moved Zhou Yi behind her: “I haven’t received a call from his guardian.”

Social news was full of kidnapping cases involving children for ransom. Given Zhou Yi’s special status, Sheng Sui naturally couldn’t hand the student over.

“Mr. Zhou’s car is across the street,” Secretary Chen stepped aside, looking toward the Aston Martin not far away, saying steadily:

“Mr. Zhou said his appearance would make Teacher Sheng uncomfortable, so he asked me to come over.”

Sheng Sui followed his gaze toward the luxury car across the street.

The windows were tinted so she couldn’t see inside, but her mind automatically conjured Zhou Shiyu’s elegant, noble appearance—long legs crossed in a leisurely posture, his dark eyes behind the lenses looking calmly in this direction.

The image was so vivid that Sheng Sui’s heart jumped. For safety, she still insisted on calling to confirm: “Someone claiming to be Mr. Zhou’s secretary is here. Can I hand Zhou Yi over to him?”

“Yes.”

After the concise two-word answer, Zhou Shiyu, to avoid embarrassing her, didn’t mention the blind date matter at all and took the initiative to hang up.

At this point, Secretary Chen handed over a receipt and four Yuxing Tower dining vouchers worth 500 yuan each.

Taking the receipt, Sheng Sui tried to return the vouchers: “I can’t accept the dining vouchers. Please pass them to Mr. Zhou for me.”

“The vouchers are from the restaurant manager for me to pass along,” Secretary Chen put his hands behind his back, explaining: “Teacher Sheng can give them to Mr. Zhou personally.”

The man bowed slightly to Sheng Sui and led Zhou Yi across the street.

Having no other choice, Sheng Sui could only follow, stopping beside the Aston Martin’s rear seat. Just as she raised her hand, the window rolled down first.

Zhou Shiyu’s sharp profile slowly appeared, his gaze falling first on the dining vouchers in Sheng Sui’s hand, his low voice even gentler in the early spring breeze:

“The vouchers indeed have nothing to do with me.”

“I know,” Sheng Sui stopped insisting and said seriously: “About the Zhou Qi matter, I haven’t thanked you in person yet.”

The man’s intervention that night had left a deep impression on her—it would be false to say she wasn’t moved.

“No need to thank me.”

Zhou Shiyu’s gaze fell on her soft hair moving in the wind, his lips curving in a slight smile: “I think if I proposed giving you a ride home now, you would refuse.”

Sheng Sui said tactfully: “Mr. Zhou, you’re a good person.”

“But not a suitable marriage partner.”

Zhou Shiyu’s tone was unhurried, as if recounting accumulated old events: “You were very surprised last time we met, saying you couldn’t imagine someone like me would be troubled by marriage.”

The man smiled with resignation: “I suppose I still have many shortcomings.”

That’s why she rejected him.

The unfinished second half of the sentence was understood by both.

The spring chill was sharp. Perhaps from standing in the wind too long and thinking unclearly, or perhaps the man’s fleeting expression of loneliness tugged at her heart, Sheng Sui’s hands clenched into fists under her long sleeves as she blurted out:

“When you said meeting again wasn’t just an impulse—was that true?”

Their eyes met. Zhou Shiyu’s dark pupils were full of solemnity: “On this matter, I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Alright,” Sheng Sui took a deep breath, shivering slightly as the cold air entered her lungs. “Give me some time to think about it, okay?”

“Of course,” Zhou Shiyu carefully noticed her shivering and removed his suit jacket, passing it through the window with a gentle voice: “It’s cold outside. Be careful not to catch cold.”

Sheng Sui once again declined the man’s kindness.

That evening she deliberately took the bus home.

Whenever she felt troubled or conflicted, Sheng Sui would throw herself into crowded places. Hidden among the marketplace bustle, knowing clearly that no one cared about her existence, she instead found a sense of security in going with the flow, enough to let her safely zone out.

It was rush hour, and the stop-and-go bus was packed with people. Only after leaving the city center for remote areas did passengers gradually thin out.

Near her stop, Sheng Sui finally found an empty seat in the back row.

Sitting down with her bag flat on her lap, she took out her phone intending to check her hair in the black screen, but unexpectedly received a text from Zhou Qi.

【Zhou Qi: I only told the matchmaker we weren’t compatible personality-wise. You don’t need to worry】

【Zhou Qi: I apologize for my rudeness that day. I won’t disturb your life anymore. Could you say something to that Mr. Zhou and ask him to show mercy?】

Reading this, Sheng Sui couldn’t help but frown.

She wasn’t clear what exactly had happened to make Zhou Qi’s attitude change so drastically in just one day, but she could be certain that only Zhou Shiyu could accomplish this.

Someone she’d met by chance had already helped her countless times.

And if Zhou Qi hadn’t reached out himself, Sheng Sui probably would never have known that Zhou Shiyu had silently helped her.

Sheng Sui opened her conversation with Zhou Shiyu, looking down at the last transfer payment and the screen full of her pale thanks.

So should she call to thank him again for this matter, then once more cruelly reject him?

While hesitating, Sheng Sui heard an elderly couple arguing in the front seats.

Listening carefully, she realized the window wouldn’t close and the cold wind was blowing directly on the grandmother. The grandfather beside her wanted to take off his coat to block the wind, but the grandmother wouldn’t let him for fear he’d get cold, which started their back-and-forth argument.

Finally, they compromised by sharing the coat, but this resulted in neither blocking the wind for the grandmother nor keeping the grandfather warm.

Sheng Sui watched from the back as the white-haired couple smiled at each other, her heart suddenly softening.

She didn’t believe in love. If forced to describe her highest expectation for marriage, Sheng Sui would answer “mutual respect” without hesitation.

Like the warmth she was witnessing now.

The black coat was half-draped over the two people in front, its sleeves dancing in the wind. For some reason, Sheng Sui suddenly remembered Zhou Shiyu’s black coat offered to her when saying goodbye, worried she might catch cold.

At least in this moment, she thought she probably envied this couple who had stayed together until their hair turned white, and equally treasured the brief warmth Zhou Shiyu had given her.

Even if this attachment had nothing to do with romantic love.

Until the dial tone stopped and the call connected, Sheng Sui still hadn’t figured out her specific reason for calling Zhou Shiyu.

The other end was silent—the man used silence to show his sufficient patience.

“…About the blind date matter, I’ve changed my mind.”

Speaking purely on impulse, Sheng Sui’s tone quickened, as if hearing sounds urging her to finish speaking in one breath, or else she’d hang up the next second with second thoughts: “What I mean is—”

“Mr. Zhou, let’s give it a try.”