Chapter 50

Wei Xiaolu felt as if her brain had overloaded; with a buzzing pop, everything went completely white.

Fortunately, Shen Siyan was drunk, and drunk rambling didn’t require Wei Xiaolu to exhaust herself trying to flatter her. So the explosion in her chest, the heat spreading through every limb and bone, could burn quietly in the silence without a single spark.

After about ten seconds, she finally came to a little and said, “Video calls are fine too.”

The moment the words were out, she felt like she was getting ahead of herself. She hurriedly fanned at her face and put on an exaggerated act. “Oh, CEO Shen, what you just said burned my brain out. I’d already decided I was leaving tomorrow...”

“Has it rebooted now?” Shen Siyan tapped her on the forehead.

“It has,” Wei Xiaolu blinked, leaning a little closer. “Then I really am going to shamelessly cling to you and not leave, okay?”

Shen Siyan didn’t answer directly. She lifted a hand to sweep her hair behind her shoulder and said naturally, “The next time I drink, there’ll be hangover soup waiting for me when I get back, right?”

“There will be,” Wei Xiaolu nodded. Her voice was softer than she expected, but her promise was unusually earnest. “I’ll also make you warm stomach-soothing congee, and I’ll keep the room very clean.”

“I’m not hiring a live-in assistant.” Shen Siyan smiled.

Wei Xiaolu was briefly stumped by that. Her excitement stalled in midair, and she couldn’t help asking, “Then what is it?”

“It’s...” Shen Siyan touched her chin, as though considering it. In the end, she said, “It’s hiring someone who, when I push open the door and see you, will make me feel like coming home was worth it.”

Shen Siyan must really be drunk.

Wei Xiaolu was absolutely convinced of that.

It was the alcohol that had made Shen Siyan keep slipping up; it wasn’t because Wei Xiaolu had led her there. She didn’t need to give that sentence an equal response. Once the alcohol wore off tomorrow, everything would go back to the safe track it had always been on.

But—

On the way back to the apartment with Shen Siyan, Wei Xiaolu rose and fell countless times in the stormy waves inside her head.

She was at a loss over the thought that Shen Siyan might also need her; she was afraid she was being self-important, yet also afraid that the balance of their relationship was about to tip.

She didn’t want to end up so passive.

So when Shen Siyan said such a disruptive thing to her, she ended up saying, in the damp night wind on the street, in a deliberately exaggerated tone:

“CEO Shen, I can’t even imagine how happy I’m going to be from here on out.”

The moment she said it, it was as if she’d flipped some switch. She grew strangely energized, and the words in her mouth poured out like sugar water from an opened sluice gate. “Every day I can look forward to you coming home from work; at night we can chat and take walks, and on the weekends, if we’re free, we can go grocery shopping together. It’s so much more interesting than being alone...”

“Yeah,” Shen Siyan looked at her and said, even though she herself was the one who was happy, “my little sister looks very happy.”

“I am happy,” Wei Xiaolu said, slightly dazed by the night wind. “Really, CEO Shen, these past few months living with you have been the happiest time since I started college. I’ve learned things, and it’s been especially relaxing too.”

When one was in high spirits, it was easy to lose control of one’s mouth; before she knew it, she blurted out a line she hadn’t meant to say. After accidentally getting to “I really like you so much,” Wei Xiaolu hurriedly added, “I just mean, you’re really nice, really amazing. Getting to keep living with you, I’ve already profited so much.”

The halo of the streetlight seemed to shine into Shen Siyan’s eyes, making her expression impossible to read.

Just as Wei Xiaolu’s cheeks were growing hot and she was starting to regret whether her explanation had been too awkward, Shen Siyan finally gave a soft laugh, relaxed in that uniquely drunken way.

“I like you a lot too.”

Shen Siyan had probably deliberately left that pause there, as if she were building the same scene for Wei Xiaolu, letting her feel the impact of such a direct confession.

Then, after a moment, she lazily added the rest: “You’re smart, quick-witted, have potential at work, and you’re pleasant to be around.”

“Hehe.” Wei Xiaolu gave a foolish little smile in the pounding of her heartbeat and gladly accepted the praise.

Maybe she really had caught the feeling, because that night Wei Xiaolu kept feeling dizzily lightheaded all over. She went back to the apartment, made soup for Shen Siyan, and after showering, she climbed into bed and fell into a wine-drunk sleep.

Just like that, she slept.

...She actually just slept like that!

The next day, she didn’t wake until nearly noon, and when she saw the message Wei Zongqing had sent in the family group chat—[Still an hour and a half away]—Wei Xiaolu fell into endless confusion.

Slapping herself once on the face, she regretted it bitterly. How had she forgotten to tell her family that she might keep living here and not go back?

But more than an hour had already passed since her dad sent the message, so Wei Xiaolu could only call him with a guilty look on her face and ask, “Where are you now?”

“Ten more minutes; we’ll be at the neighborhood gate soon,” Wei Zongqing said. “Can the car even get in? If not, we’ll park across the street and walk in.”

“Okay.” Wei Xiaolu threw off the blanket and pulled on a windbreaker. “I’ll come down to find you.”

“Wear more. It’s cold outside today.”

“Got it.” Wei Xiaolu wrapped a down jacket over that too.

After washing her face, brushing her teeth, and pulling the curtains open, she rushed out in a panic.

When she got to the neighborhood gate, she saw her parents unloading the trunk. Wei Xiaolu grinned smugly; she hadn’t wasted a single minute, and she’d caught them exactly right.

She slipped over quietly and poked her head out from behind Tang Xiaofen. “Mom!”

“Oh my.” Tang Xiaofen turned around, carrying two boxes of pancakes in her hands. “Why’s your neck out in the open? Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m not cold. Dad was trying to scare me; I thought it was way colder than this, but it’s actually fine,” Wei Xiaolu said, then suddenly froze. “Wait, why did you bring all this when you came to pick me up?”

“For your boss,” Tang Xiaofen said. “Isn’t she living with you?”

Wei Jialuo clicked his tongue beside them. “You’re already leaving and still bringing gifts? What a pain.”

“Ah...” Wei Xiaolu had no words, so she scratched her head and took the things from Tang Xiaofen a little guiltily. “Why don’t we go upstairs first and talk? Oh, right—my boss is at work right now, so no one’s home.”

She pushed Tang Xiaofen toward the apartment and thought hard about how she should make up a reason not to go home.

As they neared the door, Wei Jialuo realized it was a keypad lock and called out, “What’s the password?”

“Are you stupid? Asking me the password in the hallway?” Wei Xiaolu quickened her steps. “Move, I’ll open it.”

Watching her open the door, Wei Jialuo instantly got annoying again. “Whoa, this password looks like a date. What good day is it?”

Wei Xiaolu rolled her eyes. “My idol’s debut day, my ship’s official announcement anniversary, the day my game launched, my crush’s birthday. Satisfied?”

“Oho, oho, oho.” Wei Jialuo was practically about to rap.

Seeing his expression of I knew there was something fishy, Wei Xiaolu was speechless and kicked him. “Please, big brother, I’m sharing an apartment with someone. Do you really think I get to decide the password by myself? Can your brain think of something a little more realistic?”

Her exasperated contempt must have been strong enough to bulldoze past him, because Wei Jialuo stopped pestering her. Otherwise, Wei Xiaolu would have been too embarrassed to admit that the password was actually her boss’s birthday.

That was because back then, Shen Siyan had said she was handing her birthday over to Wei Xiaolu. In order to show confidence that she could shoulder such a heavy responsibility, Wei Xiaolu had secretly changed the front door password to that date.

Wei Xiaolu still remembered how, after coming back from a business trip with Shen Siyan and being unable to open the door, CEO Shen was about to call a locksmith when Wei Xiaolu said she was going to perform a magic trick; then she entered Shen Siyan’s birthday, and with a click, the door opened.

“Why did you change it to this?” Shen Siyan had asked with a smile then.

“Didn’t you say your birthday was under my management?” Wei Xiaolu went inside and closed the door, blinking at Shen Siyan. “Then this string of numbers is under my management too. I put it here and enter it every day, remember it every day, and from now on I’ll never forget birthdays again.”

Then she couldn’t remember what Shen Siyan said. She only remembered that at the time, both of them had been laughing very happily.

After that, every time they unlocked the door together, once the password was entered, Wei Xiaolu would turn back and exchange a smile with Shen Siyan, as if to say: look, the important moment for you now is the key to us entering our shared space.

Wei Xiaolu really liked that secret, unspoken feeling.

Wei Jialuo would never understand that kind of feeling. He’d probably just mock her for using every possible means to curry favor with her boss. So Wei Xiaolu had no intention of telling him.

But there was something else she did need to tell them now.

She was a little flustered and didn’t know what kind of reasonable excuse she should use to stay.

After setting the things down, Wei Xiaolu boiled some hot water and poured it out. “What good food should we go out and eat later?”

Tang Xiaofen glanced twice into Wei Xiaolu’s room. “Girl, you haven’t even packed your things yet?”

“Ah, yeah...” Wei Xiaolu had no choice but to improvise on the spot. She went over and hooked her arm through Tang Xiaofen’s. “Mom, I was just about to tell you. I might... I’m not going back.”

“Not going back?” Wei Jialuo burst out. “Your internship is over, isn’t it? If you’re not going home, are you planning to stay in that haunted dorm at your school?”

“It is over,” Wei Xiaolu said quickly. “But CEO Shen—my boss—said I performed well and could stay here as I please. I think living here would be better for getting familiar with the company environment in advance, and... it also gives me a chance to prove myself, help her handle some work, and this place is close to school too, so it’s convenient for me to go to the library and write my graduation thesis...”

Wei Zongqing frowned. “Your boss really said you could just stay however you want? What if she was only being polite again?”

“She wasn’t being polite at all,” Wei Xiaolu blurted out. After saying it, even she froze for a second. When she saw the questioning looks they gave her, she hurriedly added, “I mean, my boss isn’t the kind of person who just says things politely. If she said I could, then I really can.”

Wei Zongqing and Tang Xiaofen had always respected Wei Xiaolu’s decisions. Once she said she wasn’t going back, the two of them digested the news for a bit, then started saying it was a good thing they’d brought some local specialties over in advance; otherwise, just staying there and troubling her boss would be bad too.

Only Wei Jialuo had displeasure written all over his face. “I think you’re just a troublemaker. You should’ve said earlier you weren’t going back. We made this trip for nothing today.”

“Well, that’s really a tragedy for you,” Wei Xiaolu said, putting her hands on her hips. “We’re going out for food later; I’m paying. Happy now?”

“Why would you pay?” Wei Zongqing said. “We came to celebrate the end of your internship. I’m paying.”

“Okay!” Wei Xiaolu immediately beamed. “Dad, you’re so good to me. I love you the most.”

The family chatted in the living room for a while longer. By mealtime, Wei Xiaolu went into her room and put on makeup, ready to eat a grand meal beautifully. But choosing what to wear became a problem too; she tried on several pairs at the door, but none of her shoes matched what she wanted.

Just then—

The neighboring door suddenly made the clear sound of a password being entered.

All the blood in Wei Xiaolu’s body froze.

Shen Siyan usually didn’t come back at noon for lunch break. They usually ate lunch in the office and took a little nap there, so why was she suddenly back today?!

There was a whole family in this apartment. How was she supposed to handle this!

The door was pulled open from the outside.

“Little sister, I bought—”

Shen Siyan glanced into the room, and the hand holding the fruit platter just froze in midair.

Wei Xiaolu closed her eyes; she knew it was too late.

Sure enough, Wei Zongqing and Tang Xiaofen’s voices came from behind her.

“Are you Xiaolu’s boss?”

Before Shen Siyan could react, the two of them shouted again, “Oh my, this is amazing, hello, hello!”