Is it that when a woman falls in love with a man, she falls into endless fantasies? At least this was true for Shang Zhitao. In her fantasies, Luan Nian liked her somewhat. Even if this affection left no trace, she preferred to think this way.

Her work on Friday didn’t end very late, but she lingered at her desk, reluctant to leave. Perhaps, like before, if she left very late, Luan Nian would pass by and kindly offer her a ride. In her mind, she rehearsed many times what she should say when she got into his car, or perhaps say nothing at all—they had enough tacit understanding, and Luan Nian could take her home.

But Luan Nian left. He came out of his office and walked out without a sideways glance. Shang Zhitao felt like a cat’s paw was scratching inside her heart, slightly painful and itchy. It was bearable, but the feeling was certainly unpleasant.

She sat for a while longer before shouldering her bag and leaving, catching the last bus. During the journey, her bus stopped at an intersection right next to Luan Nian’s car. She saw him smiling while talking on the phone, with whom she didn’t know. Shang Zhitao put on her headphones and turned away. She felt that falling in love with a man she couldn’t grasp was truly too painful. At that time, she didn’t have such a long-term perspective; she only saw what was in front of her—that she was suffering immensely from someone’s hot-and-cold attitude.

This agonizing night stripped away her ability to think independently. As the night bus traveled through the city, that feeling of being adrift broke down the 22-year-old Shang Zhitao and sparked her rebelliousness.

She had said she would treat her roommates to dinner over the weekend. When she got home, everyone happened to be there, so she took out a small notebook to compile a list: “What would everyone like to eat?”

“Beef, beef!” said Sun Yu.

“Pork belly!” said Zhang Lei.

“Chicken wings!” Zhang Lei added.

“Live shrimp!” Sun Yu quickly followed.

Everyone called out dishes, all listing meat dishes. Sun Yuanzhu sat to the side, feeling sorry for Shang Zhitao’s wallet. He symbolically suggested onions and lettuce leaves, then proposed: “Let me go with you tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“Afraid you won’t be able to carry everything.”

Sun Yu looked on and chuckled: “Let’s all go together. It’ll be lively.”

Shang Zhitao had always been quick to move past things since she was young. The previous night she had been upset about her uncertainty with Luan Nian, but the next day she woke up as if nothing had happened. The four of them went to the farmers’ market, laughing and chatting. Several times, Sun Yuanzhu tried to pay, but Shang Zhitao swatted his hand away: “Not allowed! I’ll be angry.”

“Then I’ll treat you next time.” Sun Yuanzhu was sincere. He felt that girls like Shang Zhitao didn’t have it easy—coming to this city alone, dealt such a poor hand, treading carefully as if on thin ice.

“Sure.” Shang Zhitao smiled at him: “How about I treat you and Long Zhentian to roast duck later? Every time after class, Long Zhentian treats me to dinner. My tuition isn’t even enough to cover his meal expenses.”

“He just likes making friends; you don’t need to feel indebted to him. When he charges others, he’s particularly ruthless.”

“That’s too fond of making friends.” Shang Zhitao giggled.

“How’s your studying going?” Sun Yuanzhu walked beside her, taking the things from her hands, leaving only a small bag for her to carry symbolically. Shang Zhitao looked at him gratefully: “Long Zhentian says I’ve made great progress. He says at this rate, I’ll be ready in another year.”

“You’re amazing.” Sun Yuanzhu praised her as if he had never seen an outstanding girl before. The one thing he had no shortage of around him was people who excelled academically. The people around him were all graduates of top domestic and international universities, people who dreamed of the stars and the sea together.

Shang Zhitao felt a bit ashamed.

The two walked and talked. Sun Yuanzhu walked on the outside, letting Shang Zhitao walk on the inside. When crossing an intersection, his hand gripped Shang Zhitao’s wrist and pulled her back, preventing her from being hit by a car.

Zhang Lei saw this from behind and asked Sun Yu: “Does Shang Zhitao have a boyfriend?”

Sun Yu started to say yes, but then thought that her boss was probably a jerk who didn’t acknowledge people after pulling up his pants. Sun Yuanzhu was much better than that kind of man, so she shook her head: “No.”

“That’s good then; they can be a couple. They’re quite compatible.”

“They are compatible.” Sun Yu nodded.

Young people easily have fun together. The group washed vegetables, chatted, and had a lively time. Zhang Lei and Sun Yu were the kind of people who couldn’t sit still, which is why Shang Zhitao didn’t hear her phone ringing for a long time. It was Sun Yuanzhu, who went to get drinks and saw the phone flashing, who called Shang Zhitao: “Your phone is ringing.”

“Could you answer it for me?” Shang Zhitao was washing vegetables and couldn’t free her hands.

“Sure.”

Sun Yuanzhu answered the phone with a gentle “Hello?” He was the kind of person who sounded gentle even when just saying “hello.”

Luan Nian paused, held the phone away to check if he had dialed wrong, then said: “I’m looking for Shang Zhitao.”

“Alright. Please wait a moment.” Sun Yuanzhu said softly. At that moment, Zhang Lei told a joke, and everyone laughed. Sun Yuanzhu walked up to Shang Zhitao: “Someone’s calling you about something. Do you want to take it?”

“Could you help me?” Shang Zhitao turned her face: “My hands are wet.”

“Sure.” Sun Yuanzhu held the phone to Shang Zhitao’s ear. Shang Zhitao’s voice still carried a trace of laughter: “Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Luan Nian said, then, without giving Shang Zhitao time to react, “Today the supplier reported all project progress. Check the brief you submitted.”

“Okay.”

Luan Nian hung up first. Shang Zhitao dried her hands and took her phone, seeing a message from Luan Nian: “If you can’t even submit a basic brief correctly, what are you good for?”

Shang Zhitao hurriedly ran back to her bedroom, opened her computer, and saw the email she had sent. She had made an error—the data channel and data model were both wrong. The supplier had already started collecting data.

She had never made such a big mistake before and suddenly didn’t know what to do.

Luan Nian, in his anger, sent her another message: “This counts as a level one incident. I’ve already spoken with Tracy and Alex. You won’t be eligible for promotion or salary increase for a year, and your quarterly bonus will be reduced by half. Think of a remedial plan now.”

Shang Zhitao sat at her computer and suddenly burst into tears.

She felt terrible. That day, she had been distracted because of Luan Nian, leading her to make a fatal error. She felt especially wronged and even began to regret having that kind of start with Luan Nian. If they had done nothing, she would still be the careful and hardworking Shang Zhitao, and wouldn’t have messed up her work because of this.

Sun Yu knocked and entered, seeing her crying, and asked: “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Shang Zhitao wiped away her tears: “I need to make a call.” Things needed to be resolved; she couldn’t stand still. Her first call was to Alex, explaining her mistake. Alex expressed understanding and comforted her: “Nobody’s perfect. Don’t take what Luke said to heart. He’s just saying that; he won’t withhold your raise.”

“It’s not about the raise.” What upset Shang Zhitao was his business-like attitude, his harsh tone that hadn’t improved despite their having spent two incredibly intimate nights together—it had even gotten worse.

“Then what’s the issue? It’s fine. I’ve already spoken with the supplier. We won’t pay separately this time; we’ll withhold payment for them on future projects. Just send them the correct brief.”

“Thank you, Alex.”

“You’re welcome. Just don’t make this kind of mistake again.” Alex might not necessarily tolerate subordinates’ mistakes, but this was Shang Zhitao’s first offense, and it wasn’t serious—Luke was exaggerating. Alex couldn’t understand why Luan Nian was so angry. Perhaps it was as people in the company said: Luan Nian couldn’t tolerate Shang Zhitao.

Shang Zhitao quickly adjusted the brief to the correct version and sent it to the supplier.

Then she held her phone for a long time, wondering whether to reply to Luan Nian, but ultimately put the phone down. She didn’t reply to him.

Shang Zhitao didn’t want to reply.

If she couldn’t get promoted, so be it. If she couldn’t get a raise, so be it. If they deducted her bonus, so be it. Anyway, when it came to work, she didn’t have much to lose in the first place.

She never had much to begin with.

She couldn’t tell if she was arguing with her boss or her sexual partner; she just felt she didn’t want to say a word to Luan Nian. So she left her phone in the bedroom and went out to eat. She didn’t want to ruin her entire weekend.

Good food and friends can save any unhappiness.

Shang Zhitao ate with them. Sun Yu talked about her matchmaking project, telling stories of men and women dating online. She mentioned a male internet user who used a bald head photo as his profile picture and sent the same first message to every girl: “Hi, I have two apartments in Mudan Garden. Would you like to have dinner together?” She told this with a mischievous tone, then asked Shang Zhitao: “If he messaged you, would you reply?”

“I… My mom told me to find someone tall who isn’t balding.” Shang Zhitao answered seriously, and everyone burst out laughing again.

“How about I create a female account to chat with him?” Zhang Lei laughed: “I’m just curious what his apartments look like…”

Everyone laughed together. Then Sun Yu sighed: “Our problem is that we have too few quality users. Could you all register to improve our user quality?”

“Sure, sure, sure.” Shang Zhitao agreed and immediately grabbed her laptop. The group huddled together to register on the website. The profile required uploading a photo, which was a bit challenging. Shang Zhitao asked Sun Yu: “Does it need to be a real photo?”

“That would be good.”

“Doesn’t your system create virtual users?” Zhang Lei suddenly asked Sun Yu. With his background in commercialization, he was familiar with various business strategies.

“We’ve made some… but…”

“Let Yuanzhu and me take a look later.”

“You got it!” Sun Yu was very happy: “My career depends on you three, and of course, you can entrust your marriage prospects to me as well.”

“Let me check your female members first.” Zhang Lei’s commercialization instincts kicked in, and he began to seriously study the business model of Sun Yu’s project, asking her: “Will it extend to offline events?”

“Of course. But it’s too late for this year; we’ll probably only do one event at Christmas and start on a larger scale next year.”

“That’s good. Let me go when you have offline events. I want to meet some women.”

“I’ll go too. I’ll help you as a plant. Do you think I’d be suitable?” Shang Zhitao raised her hand.

“You’re more than suitable! You’re exactly the type of girl successful men like—a woman in her early twenties with a good job and good looks!” Sun Yu teased her: “I’ll feature you all prominently!”

“Isn’t that like a marriage scam?” Sun Yuanzhu suddenly said.

“Not really… after all, you’re all single…”

The meal continued in a lively atmosphere for a long time, with Shang Zhitao leaving Luan Nian and his criticism behind in her mind.