Chapter 68
After another week and more of running around to interviews of all kinds, the balance slowly began to tip toward “there’s progress” and “there’ll be follow-up,” while the number of times she was cut in the first round kept dropping.
That gave Wei Xiaolu a huge boost of confidence. She started to believe that as long as she kept pushing forward at this pace, she would eventually find a job.
Another sign of progress was that she had grown used to this unfinished state of things. She no longer kept branding herself with the label of “unable to find a job” and flogging herself with it; instead, when she wasn’t feeling well, she would occasionally let herself go out and take a break.
Because she had realized that job hunting was not like studying; it wasn’t something you could accomplish simply by working hard. The broader social environment, how well you matched a position, the chemistry between you and the interviewer in the moment, and so on were all variables. Where she could put in effort, she would do her best; where effort couldn’t help—
she would just go have fun, wholeheartedly.
There were no interviews that weekend, and Shen Siyan didn’t need to work overtime, so the two of them immediately came to an agreement and set off on a spur-of-the-moment short trip.
From deciding to packing up and leaving, it took less than an hour.
When they got on the high-speed train, Wei Xiaolu was still fairly calm, but the moment the train started moving, it was as if someone had flipped a switch; she grabbed Shen Siyan’s hand and chattered excitedly.
Shen Siyan was booking the hotel. Hearing this, she let out a soft laugh. “Little sister, it’s not like this is our first time going out together.”
“It’s different!” Wei Xiaolu waved a hand. “This time even the air is sweet.”
Shen Siyan pretended to sniff the air and said, “Not as sweet as you.”
“Ah.” Wei Xiaolu tipped her head and leaned against Shen Siyan’s shoulder. “Then sister makes me sweet and lovely.”
“Sweet talker.” Shen Siyan rubbed her hair and booked a sea-view hotel for two nights.
The high-speed train took three hours, and by the time they reached the hotel it was almost ten.
Shen Siyan went into the bathroom to remove her makeup, while Wei Xiaolu wandered around the room with obvious delight, making several laps between the rooms. “I’ve never stayed in such a fully equipped hotel before!”
“What kind of description is ‘fully equipped’?” Shen Siyan said with a laugh.
“I mean it has everything, and the decor is so pretty,” Wei Xiaolu said as she slipped into the bathroom. Unconsciously drawn to Shen Siyan’s beautiful figure, her eyes drifted to the slightly exposed curve of her waist, and she snickered. “Just like you.”
Shen Siyan immediately understood. Turning her head, she gave Wei Xiaolu a quick once-over, then raised a brow. “Then wouldn’t little sister be called plump?”
“Hey!” Wei Xiaolu rushed over and thumped Shen Siyan’s back once, insisting, “I’m not fat!”
Shen Siyan wrapped an arm around her waist. “Mm, your face isn’t thin, and your arms and legs do have a little less flesh.”
“That doesn’t matter anyway. You only ever touch the meaty places.” As soon as she said that, Wei Xiaolu’s cowardice burst into a sudden flash of courage; she didn’t even have time to make a face before she bolted.
There was only one big bed, and this time neither of them bothered being polite about who took the left or right side. After Wei Xiaolu finished showering and came out, Shen Siyan was already sitting by the window with her laptop, looking at something.
Seeing that she was busy, Wei Xiaolu didn’t disturb her. After blow-drying her hair, she flopped onto the bed and happily played on her phone.
“Hahaha, this video is so funny...” Wei Xiaolu shook Shen Siyan’s arm and handed her the phone. “Sister, look.”
Shen Siyan paused her work, turned her head, and leaned over.
Unlike Wei Xiaolu, whose emotions always rose and fell so sharply that when she was happy she could laugh nearly to the point of disturbing the peace, Shen Siyan’s joy wasn’t so intense; but she would still smile when she looked at a video Wei Xiaolu shared. That gave Wei Xiaolu a steady, peaceful kind of happiness.
“Don’t you usually watch these things?” Wei Xiaolu asked suddenly.
In her eyes, Shen Siyan’s life was full of serious matters; the only things that resembled Wei Xiaolu’s “daily entertainment” were shopping and eating delicious food.
Shen Siyan returned the phone. “I do, just not much.”
“Oh.” Wei Xiaolu rolled over and lay on her lap. “I just saved a few places I want to go. Which one should we pick?”
“You choose. I still have an online meeting tomorrow morning, so I need to prepare.”
Shen Siyan’s hand rested on her head, stroking her hair like she was petting a cat. Wei Xiaolu felt so comfortable being touched that she hummed to herself and busied herself with choosing backup scenic spots.
But Shen Siyan’s hand stayed on her head the whole time. Worried her freshly washed hair would get greasy, Wei Xiaolu waved her away after a while. “Touch somewhere else.”
Shen Siyan looked down at her, a faint smile on her lips. “Our Xiaolu won’t let me touch anymore?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Wei Xiaolu was so absorbed in her phone that she didn’t really catch Shen Siyan’s words. She answered absently, then realized her tone had been too cold, so she simply grabbed Shen Siyan’s hand and put it on her chest. “Touch away.”
After she said that, she went back to watching videos and didn’t notice that the hand on her chest hadn’t moved at all. After a long pause, Shen Siyan withdrew her hand.
“Hm?” Wei Xiaolu blinked as if jolted awake. “What’s wrong, sister?”
Shen Siyan looked at her.
Then her gaze went back to the laptop, and she said as if nothing were wrong, “Focus on your work.”
“Oh, wow.”
Wei Xiaolu was full of bad intentions. She rolled over and braced herself over Shen Siyan. “So I’m the one distracting the beautiful lady?”
She was already practically dancing in front of Shen Siyan, so Shen Siyan clearly had no intention of putting up with it any longer. She set down the laptop, her voice low and slow. “It’s not distraction.”
Suddenly, Shen Siyan sat up and pressed Wei Xiaolu back underneath her. “It’s that all my attention is on you.”
“Didn’t you say you have a meeting tomorrow morning?” Wei Xiaolu smiled. “You’re not preparing?”
“There isn’t much to prepare,” Shen Siyan said. “The technical team is stuck on something; I’ll walk them through it tomorrow.”
“So busy, CEO Shen.” Wei Xiaolu felt sorry for their precious travel time.
“It won’t take long. At most two hours.” Shen Siyan’s hand settled on her waist.
Wei Xiaolu was ticklish, and she wriggled away with a laugh. “Workaholic.”
Shen Siyan glanced at the abandoned laptop, then back at her. “Can I still be a workaholic right now?”
“Seems like...” Wei Xiaolu laughed and scooted upward. “That energy needs to go toward me instead.”
Shen Siyan looked as though she had been waiting for this all along. Her shoulders relaxed, and with a helpless smile she called her baby.
“You say that so easily. It gives people ideas.”
Wei Xiaolu choked immediately. “What ideas?”
“As your girlfriend,” Shen Siyan said, the back of her hand resting against Wei Xiaolu’s earlobe as she gently rubbed it, “the kind of ideas I’m supposed to have.”
Wei Xiaolu had played too hard and too hot; her whole body felt light and unsteady, and her mood stayed high, no longer as relaxed as before. “...Sounds like ideas I shouldn’t have.”
“Don’t you have any ideas?” Shen Siyan leaned closer until the tips of their noses touched.
How could she not.
Wei Xiaolu swallowed, but the panic didn’t fade. Instead, with her movement, it drew Shen Siyan’s attention; her palm slid to Wei Xiaolu’s neck, her thumb brushing over the rising curve there.
Wei Xiaolu looked away.
Shen Siyan always acted with the confidence that once she made up her mind, things would get done. With the atmosphere heated to this point, the next step should naturally be action.
“No?” Shen Siyan tilted her head and kissed the side of her neck.
Wei Xiaolu fought down her erratic breathing, but she still couldn’t hide the tremor in her voice. “I do.”
“Do what?” Shen Siyan asked again.
“...” The places Shen Siyan had touched were faintly sore; Wei Xiaolu didn’t know if they would leave marks, and she very much wanted to bite back, but she still had to consider the earlier question. So she answered, “I feel something.”
Shen Siyan curved her lips in a smile. As she tugged open Wei Xiaolu’s pajamas, she asked again, “What do you feel for?”
Ask, ask, ask; why did she like digging so deeply into everything!
Wei Xiaolu shoved away the head making mischief against her chest, then darted under the blanket with a burst of force and shouted, “I feel something for you, okay? Stop asking!”
From outside came a soft sigh and a laugh. “Weren’t you the one who said you weren’t shy?”
“...” That was not true at all, and Wei Xiaolu felt like her face was about to boil over.
“You were the one inviting me to touch you just now,” Shen Siyan said, lifting one corner of the blanket and letting her teasing gaze shine through.
“No, it’s because you kept asking.” Wei Xiaolu glared at her.
“So things can be done but not talked about?” Shen Siyan got up and shut down the computer on the bedside table.
Wei Xiaolu wanted to argue, but then realized that was indeed how it was, so she couldn’t say anything. She could only give a low mm.
“Can be done?” Shen Siyan turned back to look at her.
Wei Xiaolu was just about to answer when she suddenly changed her mind, kicked Shen Siyan out, and curled up completely under the blanket. “No, I don’t have experience.”
If they kept discussing this, Wei Xiaolu really would be so embarrassed she’d want to crawl into the ground; fortunately, Shen Siyan had always known where her limits were. She didn’t tease her any further, only murmured, “Got it,” pulled her out, kissed the corner of her eye, and said, “Then I’ll wait until you have experience?”
Wei Xiaolu burst out laughing. “Then wouldn’t that be a dead end?”
“Your own experience counts as experience.” Shen Siyan said.
Her skin was getting hotter and hotter. Wei Xiaolu suspected that in Shen Siyan’s eyes, she must already have turned red as a shrimp.
This was truly unbearable. Wei Xiaolu rolled over heavily and turned her back on Shen Siyan. “I’m not talking about this with you anymore. Sleep!”
“All right, baby.” Shen Siyan kissed the back of her neck.
Wei Xiaolu huffed, thought about it, then turned back and lay in Shen Siyan’s arms, accepting a goodnight kiss.
“Goodnight, sister,” she said.
Shen Siyan held her close. “Goodnight, little sister.”
Perhaps because they had rushed so much on the way here, fatigue came quickly, and that night they slept better than expected. When Wei Xiaolu woke up the next day, Shen Siyan’s morning meeting was already over; she hadn’t heard the slightest sound.
Last night she had even minded that Shen Siyan was using their travel time to work, but in the end it hadn’t delayed anything at all. Instead, she herself had slept in too long, and they missed the morning scenic spot they had planned to visit, so they had no choice but to cancel it.
But the afternoon museum visit and the evening trip to the beach were both carried out as planned.
Shen Siyan also took a lot of candid photos of her. Wei Xiaolu lay in bed looking back through them and sighed that she really was beautiful beyond compare.
“Post one to Moments.” Wei Xiaolu started picking photos.
Just as she was agonizing over the final three-way choice, she pulled Shen Siyan over to help decide. But the moment Shen Siyan took the phone, she handed it back.
“Call.”
Wei Xiaolu looked down; it was an unfamiliar number.
Ever since she started job hunting, all kinds of messy recruitment calls had never stopped, but at this hour—ten-thirty at night—the caller...
She suddenly felt as if her whole body had gone strangely empty and still.
After exchanging a glance with Shen Siyan, Wei Xiaolu answered the phone.
“Hello, may I ask if this is student Wei Xiaolu?”
“Yes, that’s me.” Wei Xiaolu walked into the bathroom and saw her own expressionless face in the mirror. “May I ask who this is?”
“We’re calling from Keron Medical. Congratulations, you’ve passed our interview. May I ask if you’re interested in moving forward with the signing process?”
Wei Xiaolu saw herself in the mirror suddenly open her mouth wide.
“I am, I am,” she said, pacing two steps in place before replying firmly, “I’m interested in signing. We can continue with the process.”
After HR went through the next steps in detail, the notification call ended.
Wei Xiaolu didn’t feel anything especially intense at first; she was only dazed, not knowing how much excitement she should use to respond without tipping over into the opposite extreme. She didn’t want any more accidents to happen.
Stiffly turning around, she looked up and saw Shen Siyan leaning against the doorframe, smiling gently at her.
“Come here,” Shen Siyan said, opening her arms. “Give me a hug.”
Only then did Wei Xiaolu dare to start feeling happy. She bounced over and threw herself into Shen Siyan’s arms, her voice trembling with excitement. “Sister, I got an offer!”
The emotions that had been kept within safe bounds could no longer be contained. They surged wildly up and down, left and right, sweeping away all the hardship she had endured for so long.
She hugged Shen Siyan around the waist and looked up. “I finally have a job. I’m not unemployed anymore.”
Shen Siyan was smiling too, very happily. She wiped the moisture from the corner of Wei Xiaolu’s eye and said softly, “My girlfriend is really amazing.”