Chapter 31

Looking at the way Shen Siyan was gazing at her, Wei Xiaolu felt as if something had slammed straight into her heart. The pain was so sharp it seemed to make even her heart muscles ache from the impact.

Unlike her usual decisiveness at work, Shen Siyan’s decision this time felt like a piece of fabric that had been stitched and restitched, with the final seam handed over to her to decide, asking for her opinion when she was someone who didn’t even need the fabric in the first place.

Of course Wei Xiaolu knew Shen Siyan should go.

Emotionally, Qi Lang’s situation was more urgent, and he was already humbling himself to this extent while still trying so hard to look cool and composed.

Logically, Shen Siyan did in fact owe him a favor. Refusing would seem a little cold.

But... her heart itched in a way she really didn’t like, not painful, but impossible to ignore, lodged in her chest until she couldn’t bring herself to say yes.

“I, I think...” Wei Xiaolu felt her smile grow heavy; she had to fight against a strange, crushing weight just to lift the corners of her mouth. “Mr. Qi... sounds, um... like he really needs it. You should go... probably.”

Shen Siyan looked at her expressionlessly.

A sudden gust of wind swept past, sending the long waves of her hair swaying against Shen Siyan’s chest.

Wei Xiaolu felt as if she had become that same fierce wind. Whether it would hurt to be swatted against Shen Siyan, she didn’t know.

Qi Lang was still chattering and pleading on the side, but Wei Xiaolu seemed not to hear him at all. The moment their silent stares met across the space between them, some vague possessiveness seemed to stir.

In the locked line of sight was a silent question, and a silent confession.

She wanted Shen Siyan to read that reluctance in her eyes and give up on going along with Qi Lang’s act; yet she was also afraid that Shen Siyan would really see through her thoughts and quietly tip the balance between superior and subordinate.

“Okay.”

Shen Siyan nodded.

Then she looked at Wei Xiaolu again, her expression a little complicated, as though she wanted to say something but stopped herself. In the end, she only turned to Qi Lang and said, “Where to? Send me the address; I’ll drive there myself.”

“To my dad’s place,” Qi Lang let out a long breath of relief and returned to his usual shameless self. “Thank you, I’ll drive you, Miss Shen.”

“I still have to drive to the airport tomorrow,” Shen Siyan had already turned back around. “You drive and lead the way.”

“Okay.” Qi Lang sent Wei Xiaolu a flying kiss. “Bye, pretty girl. Next time there’s a scene with more beauties, I’ll call you out to hang out with us.”

Shen Siyan stopped and glanced back coldly. “Say one more word and I’m not going.”

“Not talking, not talking,” Qi Lang immediately lowered his voice, covering his mouth while badmouthing her behind her back. “Shen Siyan is so boring.”

Wei Xiaolu said nothing.

Watching their cars drive off one after the other, she felt as if she were sulking at being left behind, her steps slow and heavy.

In front of Shen Siyan, reason could defeat emotion; once Shen Siyan left, emotion devoured reason.

She felt like a traitor.

She had betrayed Shen Siyan, pushing her into an uncomfortable situation; and she had also betrayed herself, actually helping to create the “connection” between Shen Siyan and Qi Lang with her own hands.

But...

What did Qi Lang know? Had he known Shen Siyan for long? He was just using her for his own purposes. He didn’t understand Shen Siyan at all; he hadn’t even noticed how unhappy Shen Siyan had looked when she left just now.

I work with Shen Siyan during the day, live and eat with Shen Siyan at night, I study her thoughts every single day, I think about her all the time—who could understand Shen Siyan better than I do?

Wei Xiaolu could hear her own teeth grinding.

Was something threatening her? Was the position of the person closest to Shen Siyan being shaken?

Then why was a pool of such sharp, overbearing anger surging up from the bottom of her heart?

She took a deep breath, swallowed down the emotions hidden in all the fine details, and turned toward the bus stop, preparing to go back to the apartment.

While waiting for the bus, she lifted her head and looked across the road.

Right opposite was a pink cake shop.

Wei Xiaolu hesitated for only two seconds.

Then she abandoned the bus that was about to pull in and rushed across the street.

What made it feel almost fatefully destined was that the four-inch mini cakes in the refrigerated case actually came in yogurt flavor.

At first, all she had thought was that since she had learned today that Shen Siyan’s birthday had been overlooked, she should buy her a small cake to make up for it. She hadn’t expected that the cake she bought for Shen Siyan would happen to be her favorite flavor.

She paid in full.

After buying the cake, Wei Xiaolu felt a little better.

She carried it back to the apartment. Shen Siyan sent a message saying she’d be back for dinner, but it would probably still take more than an hour.

[Wei Xiaolu: That’s great. I’m not hungry, so I’ll wait and eat with you~]

Since there was still some time, Wei Xiaolu wrestled with whether she should prepare the place a little, but then her thoughts tangled again: would someone as highly educated as Shen Siyan look down on these childish little rituals?

She turned it over and over in her head, but in the end she didn’t do much. She just cleaned the apartment and went downstairs to buy a bundle of noodles—boiling a longevity noodle bowl shouldn’t be wrong.

Even if the date was wrong, the sentiment definitely wasn’t.

Afraid the noodles would get soggy, Wei Xiaolu timed it perfectly and finished cooking just as the clock hit the mark. The moment she turned off the heat, she heard the front door open.

“You’re back.” Wei Xiaolu pulled off her apron and darted into the dining room, placing the yogurt cake in the center of the table.

“I’m back.” Shen Siyan’s voice sounded first; a few seconds later, she appeared in front of Wei Xiaolu through the screen partition.

Her gaze fell on the table, and her usually calm expression suddenly trembled.

“You—”

She didn’t finish, but Wei Xiaolu picked it up for her. “CEO Shen, I bought you a little cake.”

Shen Siyan stood there unusually still, as if something had struck her.

“It wasn’t like you got to celebrate your birthday that day, so I thought I should make it up to you somehow.” Wei Xiaolu pushed the cake forward a little. “And this is yogurt flavor, too; it’s your favorite.”

Shen Siyan’s eyes lowered slightly.

It seemed she was hiding the brief surge of emotion that had just risen in them.

She let out a soft breath with a smile and lifted her right hand from behind the table, placing a boxed blueberry cake on the table.

Her brain shut down instantly.

Her gaze went back and forth between the two cakes of similar size sitting side by side. Finally, Wei Xiaolu slowly lifted her head and looked at Shen Siyan.

“CEO Shen... you, you also...” Wei Xiaolu’s fingers were trembling along with her voice.

“I bought you a cake too.”

Shen Siyan’s gaze rose again. Seeing her dumbfounded expression, a wave of tenderness almost spilled over in her eyes.

She took a step forward, pulled out a chair, and sat down across from her.

Just like Wei Xiaolu had done earlier, Shen Siyan pushed the blueberry cake forward a little. “Originally, I felt bad about letting you come back alone while I went off to do something like that... so I thought I’d buy you something you like to eat, to coax you a little.”

Wei Xiaolu could barely control her breathing.

Even the corners of her eyes were faintly burning.

The emotions she had suppressed downstairs at the company had actually been sensed by Shen Siyan, and now they were being answered here.

It was as if Wei Xiaolu wasn’t the only one who understood Shen Siyan; Shen Siyan could see through and understand her too. It was as if it wasn’t only Wei Xiaolu who had been thinking about Shen Siyan all this time; in that unpleasant situation, Shen Siyan had also been thinking about her.

Wei Xiaolu felt as if she had turned into a cloud full of moisture, and warm, gentle fine rain began to fall. Yet clearly, she hated rainwater.

She looked at the pair of cakes on the table and said softly, as if afraid of disturbing something, “I didn’t expect us to buy the same thing.”

“Yeah,” Shen Siyan said with a smile. “Thanks for the cake, little sister.”

Wei Xiaolu also laughed. “Thanks for the cake, big sister.”

Then she suddenly remembered. “Ah! And I made longevity noodles.”

She jumped up from the table, went into the kitchen to serve the noodles, and when she came back with the bowl, she saw Shen Siyan had placed the two cakes close together and was taking photos with her phone.

“The noodles are here,” Wei Xiaolu grinned. “Birthday girl, please eat.”

“The birthday girl was ten days ago already,” Shen Siyan said, snapping another picture of the noodles.

“It’s a makeup celebration,” Wei Xiaolu said. “I didn’t know that day. If I had known, I would’ve celebrated your birthday for you long ago.”

Shen Siyan’s finger paused over the shutter button. She looked at Wei Xiaolu again with a smile and said, “I haven’t celebrated my birthday in many years.”

“You’re too busy,” Wei Xiaolu said happily. “That means I should remember it for you. From now on, I’ll remind you every year.”

Shen Siyan seemed moved by that sentence; even her brows gave a faint tremble.

“Alright then. From now on,” Shen Siyan said, lifting her hand to stroke the yogurt cake’s box, “my birthday is yours to handle?”

“Mine to handle?” Wei Xiaolu let out an “eh.” “Then today’s celebration is too sloppy. I didn’t do it justice.”

Shen Siyan chuckled softly and tapped the cake box. “Today’s already good enough.”

“It’s still too perfunctory,” Wei Xiaolu leaned forward. “Celebrating an important person’s birthday can’t be handled carelessly.”

Shen Siyan looked at her.

In the end, as if she could no longer hold out, she smiled and shook her head.

Then she lowered her head and began eating.

She ate the longevity noodles Wei Xiaolu had made. It was nothing more than an ordinary bowl of plain noodles in broth, yet she ate it like some rare delicacy, very slowly and very carefully.

Halfway through, amid their casual conversation, she suddenly inserted a solemn “Xiaolu.”

“Hm?” Wei Xiaolu took a bite of blueberry cake and looked up.

“Qi Lang and I,” Shen Siyan said, holding her chopsticks, her gaze calm and open, “aren’t that kind of relationship. It doesn’t even really count as a blind date.”

A blueberry got stuck in her throat.

Wei Xiaolu looked into her eyes and listened as she spoke in a tone so clear it was almost like making an important report. “It’s just that his father thinks we’re in contact, so we’re covering for each other.”

Her heart was lifted by four ounces and pressed down by a thousand catties.

Wei Xiaolu’s heartstrings had already been shaken into a sine wave; she stared at her in utter disbelief.

Why is she telling me this?

What does this explanation mean?

Does she not want me to misunderstand?

But wasn’t the point of her pretending to be on a blind date with Qi Lang precisely to make everyone think she was in some kind of relationship, so as to avoid troublesome matchmaking setups?

“Ah,” Wei Xiaolu wanted to make her brain move, but her dead mind was frozen solid. She could only say, “So that’s how it is.”

“That’s how it is, and...” Shen Siyan’s voice paused. After a moment, it rose again with something that sounded almost like a promise:

“Today I helped push things along a bit. His father has already agreed to give him the company he wanted.”

Wei Xiaolu nodded. Her brain was finally starting to work again. “That’s great. He finally got what he wanted, and you can consider one worry off your mind too.”

“So there won’t be a next time,” Shen Siyan said, her gaze settling on her with calm certainty, a trace of determination hidden within it. “I can spend my time on more important people and things.”