Chapter 44

When Wei Xiaolu caught up to her, Chen Yuran was standing by the lounge window, staring blankly down at the stream of traffic below.

Her shoulders were trembling slightly.

Wei Xiaolu didn’t say much. She simply walked over and handed her a bottle of mineral water in silence.

“Thank you...” Chen Yuran’s voice was hoarse. “I made a fool of myself in front of you.”

“Not at all,” Wei Xiaolu said, shaking her head. “I think you’re incredibly brave. If it were me, I wouldn’t have had the courage to say it.”

A bitter smile tugged at Chen Yuran’s lips. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip.

The two of them stood quietly for a while before Wei Xiaolu started offering praise and encouragement, cheering Chen Yuran on.

They didn’t need to bare their hearts to one another; when it came to comforting words, she could make them sound half true and half not. But Wei Xiaolu had a kind of bright, infectious energy, and in the end she really did help Chen Yuran find a new foothold and a new hope to look toward.

“Thank you, Xiaolu,” Chen Yuran said with a long sigh. “And please thank CEO Shen for me too. She really helped me a lot.”

“What’s there to be polite about?” Wei Xiaolu smiled, feeling very accomplished. “We’re coworkers. We should help each other.”

Chen Yuran looked at her. Her eyes were still a little red, but the firm nod in her reply made Wei Xiaolu feel a wave of indescribable longing in her chest.

We’ll all keep getting better, won’t we?

Actually, looking back on her internship as a whole, she had changed so much. From slacking off and muddling through each day, to constantly making mistakes and taking the blame while getting tangled up in rumors, to now being able to handle difficult work problems on her own and still having enough energy left over to comfort someone else; she was only an intern who hadn’t even officially joined the company yet, and she’d already come this far on the road to becoming better. Sister Chen would definitely be able to do it too.

She shared this realization with Chen Yuran and got the same amount of encouragement in return: “We definitely can.”

Wei Xiaolu nodded vigorously and laughed brightly.

She had completely started treating Chen Yuran as one of her own now, and with one of her own there was nothing to guard against. Over the next few days, Wei Xiaolu generously kept Chen Yuran updated on everything related to the special task force.

Sure enough, before the weekend arrived, Chen Yuran knocked on Shen Siyan’s door again. She came in and told her that she was willing to take on the role of task force leader.

After that, Shen Siyan began coordinating the work with Chen Yuran. They talked for a long time; by the time the end-of-work alarm had gone off twice, Wei Xiaolu decided not to keep accompanying them. She seized a gap, stood up, and said to the two of them, “CEO Shen, Sister Chen, I’ll head home first.”

“Xiaolu.”

Just as she had taken two steps, Wei Xiaolu was called back again.

She turned around and said obediently, “CEO Shen, is there anything else?”

“Wait for me a moment,” Shen Siyan said.

Wei Xiaolu felt it was necessary to make it clear that this “home” was not that home, and that she wasn’t going back to the apartment. “CEO Shen, I’ve already bought my ticket. I still need to catch the bus in a bit.”

“Mm, soon.” Shen Siyan’s gaze brushed over her before turning back to say something to Chen Yuran.

Wei Xiaolu didn’t dare disobey, so she had no choice but to wait at the door.

Five minutes later, Shen Siyan finally finished discussing the last few points with Chen Yuran. When Chen Yuran turned to leave, she even gave Wei Xiaolu a friendly smile.

“Let’s go.” Shen Siyan put on her coat and neatly picked up the car keys from the desk.

Wei Xiaolu scratched her head, a little unable to make sense of the situation, so she could only follow along obediently for the time being.

It wasn’t until they reached the underground parking lot and Shen Siyan tilted her head toward the passenger seat to motion for her to get in that she finally realized what the other woman intended to do.

Still not quite believing it, Wei Xiaolu could only say hesitantly, “CEO Shen, I’m taking the bus. I need to go to the station to catch the coach.”

“I’m taking you to the station,” Shen Siyan said.

“Ah,” Wei Xiaolu blinked. “B-but it’s not on the way.”

Shen Siyan had already opened the passenger door for her. “It is. I just happen to have a drinking engagement over there.”

“Oh, like that,” Wei Xiaolu said, a little disappointed. So CEO Shen wasn’t making a special trip just to see her off. But that also made her feel a little more at ease. She climbed into the car, fastened her seatbelt, and said in a sweet, obedient voice, “Okay then. Thank you, beautiful lady.”

Maybe the title beautiful lady had already been overused, because Shen Siyan didn’t show much reaction. In the past, hearing it at least would have made her smile.

They didn’t talk about work on the way, so Wei Xiaolu chatted casually with her boss for a couple of lines.

...Not completely casually, though. She’d also deliberately said some funny things, mainly because she wanted to see the smile on Shen Siyan’s face.

The drive to the bus station was short, but by Wei Xiaolu’s count, Shen Siyan had laughed out loud three times. Wei Xiaolu was very satisfied with herself. She thought she really was the top-tier king of cheering up a boss.

“Thanks for the ride, CEO Shen,” Wei Xiaolu said in a sweeter voice than before. “Please drink less at tonight’s dinner and take care of yourself!”

“Hey—” Just as Wei Xiaolu was about to get out of the car, Shen Siyan stopped her.

She looked back and saw Shen Siyan reaching toward the back seat. “I bought too many yogurts at noon today.”

Then Shen Siyan lifted out a large bag filled with yogurts in all different flavors and set it heavily on Wei Xiaolu’s lap.

“I can’t finish them,” Shen Siyan said. “Take these back and drink them.”

Wei Xiaolu forgot how to blink.

She didn’t even need to look down to see how big the bag was; just the weight of it dropping onto her legs was enough to make her question life.

What kind of person buys too much stuff and ends up with this much extra?

Wei Xiaolu slowly recovered and blinked.

Was it really bought by accident?

I don’t believe it. There has to be some other explanation.

And truly, thanks to this name of hers, why had her heart been skittering around like a startled deer lately?

She took a breath, pretended to refuse a couple of times, but couldn’t overcome Shen Siyan’s firmness, so in the end she accepted it with a “I’ll repay this kindness someday” attitude and a completely at ease heart.

“Thank you, beautiful lady,” she said to Shen Siyan.

Shen Siyan’s expression didn’t change, only the corner of her mouth curling up very slightly.

Whether it was because she wanted to see an even bigger reaction, or because Shen Siyan’s completely unbelievable behavior had suddenly made her bold, when she got out of the car, Wei Xiaolu took a deep breath and said, “Love you, CEO Shen. I’ll bring you something yummy when I’m back next week.”

“Sure.” Very promptly, Shen Siyan covered her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed.

So she likes hearing that kind of thing—Wei Xiaolu told herself this with complete righteousness as she walked toward the bus station.

Exactly. She’d only been testing the boss’s preference for compliments so she could say things more to her taste in the future.

It wasn’t anything about loving or not loving her. Didn’t those marketing and customer service accounts say “love you, baby” all the time too? Everyone was used to that already.

That had to be it.

After drinking two yogurts on the way home, Wei Xiaolu reinforced that idea, because she just happened to hear one of the two girls sitting behind her say to the other, “Oh my god, I really love you so much.”

See? When girls say they love each other, there’s no burden to it. If someone thinks another person is very nice, of course they’ll politely say they love her. That’s just the great love of humanity; it’s praise and admiration for a person.

Then when the coach arrived and she got off, Wei Xiaolu saw those two girls kissing by the roadside.

Wei Xiaolu: “...”

Her dulled sensitivity had come back around; after listening to the two of them talk the whole ride, she still hadn’t realized it.

Deeply shocked, Wei Xiaolu called Wei Jialuo and summoned her tool-man brother to come help carry her things.

Wei Jialuo said over the phone that he’d only just started a game and would come after he finished, so Wei Xiaolu was once again “forced” to watch the two girls kissing each other.

This was endless. Did their mouths not get numb?

Wei Jialuo was outrageously inefficient and made her wait nearly twenty minutes before riding up on an electric scooter and screeching to a stop in front of her.

“If you’d come a little earlier, would you die?” Wei Xiaolu vented her frustration by slamming the bag of yogurts into her brother.

“What nonsense is that?” Wei Jialuo frowned and tossed the floral padded jacket from home at her. “I’d just started the match. If I left one second earlier, I’d die.”

Wei Xiaolu climbed onto the back seat speechlessly.

Still wanting to give Shen Siyan a bit more credit, on the way she stabbed open a carton of yogurt with a straw and shoved it toward Wei Jialuo’s mouth. “Here. A gift. My boss bought me this yogurt.”

Wei Jialuo took a sip. “Tastes weird.”

“Someone with a stinky mouth thinks everything tastes weird,” Wei Xiaolu said. “These are all flavors I like. They’re all supreme delicacies, okay?”

Wei Jialuo clicked his tongue in disgust.

Wei Xiaolu couldn’t be bothered to pay him any attention anymore. This guy never said anything decent.

By the end of October, the weather had quietly turned cold. Wrapped in the floral padded jacket, Wei Xiaolu didn’t feel especially chilly, but Wei Jialuo, riding in front, shouted “fuck” several times along the way; he was probably freezing.

“You cold?” Wei Xiaolu patted him.

“No,” Wei Jialuo insisted, still worried about saving face as he forcibly changed the subject. “Fuck, if you end up working on this side in the future, that’s going to be a pain. Every time you come back, I’ll have to rush out and pick you up.”

“Then rush,” Wei Xiaolu said, not caring much.

But Wei Jialuo’s words did remind her. After going a little farther, Wei Xiaolu still asked, “And you? I’m almost about to find a job already; you really don’t plan to go out and look for one?”

Wei Jialuo didn’t answer at first.

That made Wei Xiaolu a little uneasy. After all, Wei Jialuo hadn’t not looked for work at the beginning; with only a junior college diploma, though, he’d sent out a few resumes and every one of them had sunk without a trace. After that, he simply stopped making any moves.

The silence made Wei Xiaolu uncomfortable until his shameless laugh rang out. Only then did she let out a breath.

“Now that you’ve found a job, I’m relieved,” Wei Jialuo said with a grin. “Finally no one’s going to fight me for the family business, hahaha. The whole noodle shop will be mine from now on.”

Wei Xiaolu had thought the first half of that was the start of a revival of sibling affection, and then he went and did this.

She hammered a punch into Wei Jialuo’s back and swore she really would never bother with him again.

But when they got home and faced a table full of tempting food, Wei Xiaolu forgot the vow she’d made on the road and fought Wei Jialuo for the meal with great enthusiasm.

After eating and drinking her fill, Wei Xiaolu sprawled into her warm little nest and turned her phone over in her hands on the bed. She wanted to remind Shen Siyan to drink some hangover soup, but she also felt that if she wasn’t the one who made it for her, even a reminder wouldn’t carry the right feeling.

After thinking about it for a long time, she finally leaned in shamelessly.

[Wei Xiaolu: CEO Shen, remember to drink some hangover soup when you get back tonight~]

Very quickly, Shen Siyan replied.

[Shen Siyan: I forgot the ingredients. Can you guide me, little sister?]

Huh? Wasn’t she able to make it herself the last time she was drunk? And now she’d forgotten?

Wei Xiaolu sent back an uncertain OK emoji and was typing out the ingredients when a video call invitation came in.

“Ah!”

It was the first time she’d ever seen Shen Siyan on video. So startled she nearly threw her phone and covered her eyes.

After taking two deep breaths, she put on her headphones and tapped to answer.

When that person appeared on the screen, Wei Xiaolu immediately thought of the two girls she’d seen by the roadside, and quickly blinked, plastering innocence all over her face.

“CEO Shen,” Wei Xiaolu greeted respectfully.

“What do you need for hangover soup?” Shen Siyan looked into the camera, smiling. “Tell me, and I’ll get it.”

Wei Xiaolu stared so hard at Shen Siyan she nearly bored through the screen, but no matter how she looked at her, the woman didn’t seem especially drunk. She probably hadn’t had much to drink.

“First, cut up some apples...” Wei Xiaolu began explaining one step at a time.

Following her guidance, Shen Siyan carried out each step accordingly. By the end, only the waiting before boiling remained, and Wei Xiaolu grew a little reluctant. “That’s it, CEO Shen. Just wait a bit longer. Once you drink a bowl later, you’ll feel much better tonight.”

After she said that, she didn’t hang up. Shen Siyan paused for a beat, then suddenly smiled. “What, little sister wants to keep me company over a drink too?”

Wei Xiaolu was seized by a burst of playfulness. She picked up the water cup on her bedside table and toasted Shen Siyan with it. “Little sister awaits sister here; let’s drink until we drop.”

That made Shen Siyan laugh again. This time, when she smiled, a faint flush showed on her face, and she looked a little drunk.

After a few more teasing exchanges, they heard Tang Xiaofen call out from the bedroom, “Who’s going to turn off the light in the living room?”

She called quite loudly; Shen Siyan would definitely be able to hear it. Wei Xiaolu very much wanted to show off her clever, capable side, so she answered and ran out of the room to switch off the light.

“Are you two going to sleep?” Shen Siyan asked.

“No,” Wei Xiaolu said with a bright smile. “I’m just coming out to turn off the light for my mom.”

“Wei Xiaolu, what are you on about?”

Wei Jialuo, who had arrived in the living room at the same time as Wei Xiaolu, looked at her with narrowed eyes, utterly baffled.

Wei Xiaolu almost laughed herself into a facial spasm.

She was too embarrassed to look at Shen Siyan on the video anymore. She only wanted to hurry and turn off the light so Shen Siyan wouldn’t have to hear Wei Jialuo cursing.

But just as she reached out to the switch, Wei Jialuo added another jab: “Did the lazy bum mutate? Why are you so diligent today? Isn’t it usually me who turns off the light?”

Taking advantage of the dark, Wei Xiaolu deliberately stepped on Wei Jialuo’s instep, then fled back to the bedroom clutching her phone while he howled in outrage and swore at her.

“It gets too dark when I turn the light off, so I can’t see anything...” Wei Xiaolu still tried to explain to Shen Siyan.

But in the video, Shen Siyan was looking at her with that penetrating, all-seeing gaze, and Wei Xiaolu could say nothing at all.

So the one who spoke became Shen Siyan. Smiling, she said, “Xiaolu is very diligent.”

Wei Xiaolu’s face burned. She hastily covered it up with nonsense: “Xiaolu is naturally lazy; when she meets CEO Shen, she becomes diligent.”

Shen Siyan laughed until the light in her eyes scattered like stars. Maybe she was already too far gone, because without thinking, she said to her:

“Then I’m the opposite. I was naturally very diligent, but now that I’m looking at you, I don’t want to move.”

Wei Xiaolu sucked in a breath, feeling as if her soul had already floated straight up to heaven.