Chapter 69

The long, grueling job hunt was finally over. Wei Xiaolu held back and held back, but in the end, she still couldn’t resist calling home that night. Puffing out her proud little chest, she said, “I found a job.”

Unlike Shen Siyan’s gentle congratulations, Tang Xiaofen and Wei Zongqing were all concern: “Since you found one, then take a break. Don’t wear yourself out so much.”

“Take a break!” Wei Xiaolu agreed wholeheartedly.

At that moment, Wei Jialuo’s voice squeezed in. “How much does this job pay a month?”

“When we talked salary, they said fifteen thousand,” Wei Xiaolu couldn’t help sounding smug. “Anyway, I think that’s better than selling noodles.”

“So they really did sweet-talk you into it,” Wei Jialuo said maliciously. “No way they’re actually giving you that number.”

“Why not? If you’re jealous, just say it.” Wei Xiaolu snorted.

Wei Jialuo kept running his mouth. “Jealous of what? Jealous you get up early and work till late on a 996 schedule?”

“If you don’t know how to talk, then shut up.” If her parents hadn’t still been on the line, Wei Xiaolu would have hung up already.

They bantered for another ten minutes, and after sharing the good news, Wei Xiaolu set her phone down.

She turned around and looked at Shen Siyan, who was working at her computer.

“Jiejie,” Wei Xiaolu scooted closer and leaned against her side, “I feel like this hotel is my lucky hotel.”

Shen Siyan glanced casually at her phone and asked, “Finished talking?”

“Mm.” Wei Xiaolu said, “I don’t want to go out tomorrow either. I want to stay in the lucky hotel.”

“Not going to celebrate?”

Wei Xiaolu shook her head and said no, but the motion shook her thoughts upside down too. She let out a goofy laugh and changed her mind. “A meal at a restaurant to celebrate would be fine.”

“No problem, little sister.” Shen Siyan picked up her phone. “I’ll book a table.”

“Yoo-hoo!”

Wei Xiaolu sprang up and bounced on the bed, no longer willing to suppress the joy in her heart.

When luck turned, even staying low-key was impossible.

She ate a big meal and her weight went down instead of up; on the way back, she bought a lottery ticket at random before catching the high-speed train, and won eight hundred yuan; after returning, she sent her graduation project to her advisor, who said the idea was excellent and told her to find an agency to file a patent; her pre-employment physical also went smoothly, and in less than a week she finished signing the contract and became a glorious employed citizen.

With the huge worry in her heart finally gone, Wei Xiaolu suddenly found herself with nothing to do. A great wave of freedom washed over her, and for a moment she even felt a little bored.

The last time she’d felt this way was after the college entrance exam.

Back then, she still had plenty of friends, and they spent every day roaming around the little town together. But four years of university had left her trapped with her roommates; she hadn’t made many new friends, and none of her old high school friends had the time to come into the city to see her. Her life had become a monotonous loop of getting up, eating, and scrolling on her phone.

The moment she looked forward to most every day was the instant Shen Siyan opened the door and walked in.

Shen Siyan almost always brought her something.

Maybe a flower, a cup of milk tea, a slice of cake, a box of fruit—nothing expensive, but those little things always stirred up huge feelings inside her.

Every time, Wei Xiaolu would shriek and throw herself onto Shen Siyan, who carried the chill of the outside air, repeating “Jiejie, I love you” several times over, until Shen Siyan peeled her off, kissed her, and the whole interaction could finally be considered complete.

But most nights, Shen Siyan could only divide half her time to her.

And seeing Shen Siyan working so hard, Wei Xiaolu couldn’t help thinking that maybe she was living too uselessly.

Mostly it was because the goal she had originally planned to work toward for a year or two had suddenly been achieved. It felt as if life had lost its clear rhythm, and she hadn’t yet stepped out of that battle-ready state, so inevitably there was a vacuum in her mind.

Her credits were finished, her thesis was done, and all three parties had signed. Originally, she had planned to rest like this in peace until graduation.

But Shen Siyan, as the person closest to her and the one she measured herself against most often, was still steadily working hard, giving her consistent support materially, emotionally, and in terms of future planning.

That made Wei Xiaolu, who was now sitting beside Shen Siyan during an online meeting and playing games, deeply feel the stillness and passivity of her current life.

So she started looking for things to do.

She tried cooking, but Wei Xiaolu couldn’t feel any joy in it. After two days, she thought it was too much trouble and returned to her delivery-app life.

She also tried making some DIY accessories, but she wasn’t the crafty type; the things she made were ugly, and she couldn’t even bring herself to give them to Shen Siyan.

In the end, she was so bored she was practically growing mold. One night, when she suddenly realized even eating chips while watching variety shows felt boring, Wei Xiaolu finally couldn’t take it anymore and slumped down dejectedly.

“So boring.” She squeezed the chip bag to make a little noise.

Shen Siyan was browsing the news. Hearing the sound, she looked up and glanced at the TV.

“This variety show is too formulaic,” she said, handing the remote to Wei Xiaolu. “Switch to a new one.”

“You don’t get it, jiejie.” Wei Xiaolu was dissatisfied; the all-seeing Shen Siyan had actually misread her complaint.

Shen Siyan’s expression froze. She looked at Wei Xiaolu with deep, quiet eyes. After a moment, she turned off the TV and sat down beside her.

“You’ve seemed to try a lot of things these past two days.”

Her tone wasn’t a question, but a statement. So Shen Siyan had seen it all along.

“Mm…” Mentioning this made Wei Xiaolu droop even more. “But they all just felt... not that interesting.”

Shen Siyan rested a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed gently, as if encouraging her.

“After I found a job, I suddenly felt like I had nothing to do,” Wei Xiaolu muttered, laying her chin on Shen Siyan’s shoulder. “Other than waiting for you to come back, doing anything else feels like it’s missing something.”

Shen Siyan gave a soft laugh. “So you’re obsessed with me?”

“Throw this narcissist out,” Wei Xiaolu said, poking Shen Siyan’s chest before slowly sliding her hand downward. “But you’re so busy with work. You’re always working overtime, and when you get back, we barely have any time together.”

After a brief pause, Shen Siyan tilted her head and caught her face for a kiss.

“Mm!” Excitement quietly surged up. Wei Xiaolu tossed aside the chip bag and wrapped herself around Shen Siyan, kissing her with everything she had.

The intensity was unusual. Wei Xiaolu was like someone dying of thirst, desperately using the tip of her tongue to blur her faint confusion into Shen Siyan’s breath.

Shen Siyan responded naturally, her palm moving over Wei Xiaolu’s back, feeling the slight trembling beneath it.

And then Wei Xiaolu was no longer satisfied with her hand staying only on the surface.

A little awkwardly, she reached back and caught Shen Siyan’s wrist. While her lips and tongue moved together in sync, she guided Shen Siyan to press against the warmth of her waist; then, when she pressed her lips to the other woman’s collarbone, she also sent Shen Siyan’s hand to her own chest.

This near-demanding intimacy made Shen Siyan feel a trace of wild, all-in desperation.

“Jiejie.”

Wei Xiaolu lifted her head, breathing hard. There was a faint mist in her eyes, making them shine brilliantly.

“...” Shen Siyan looked away.

The buttons of the home shirt had been undone, and that damp sensation reappeared at her neck, with a tendency to move lower.

When a bite landed on a sensitive spot, and softness was trapped in Wei Xiaolu’s mouth, Shen Siyan’s breathing grew heavy. She called out, “Xiaolu,” her voice low and hoarse, but there was still a trace of reason left.

But Wei Xiaolu wouldn’t listen; she was already starting to undo the ties.

Shen Siyan closed her eyes.

She had never felt so torn. Maybe just now, when Wei Xiaolu blamed her for not understanding her and showed her that dependence, she shouldn’t have responded to a moment of guilt with a kiss.

Wei Xiaolu was already sunk in an inner hollow; as the older one, she should have offered healthy guidance, helped her find what her heart truly wanted, and led her step by step through the right way to do things she could feel proud of or devoted to.

Not pulled this spiritual support onto herself.

If Wei Xiaolu ended up treating sexual stimulation as salvation, she would be unable to absolve herself.

“Experienced already?” Shen Siyan still did not open her eyes.

Wei Xiaolu was unhappy with her pulling away, but when it came to answering her question, she was especially enthusiastic. “No. It’s the first time, for you.”

Her fingertips trembled slightly. Shen Siyan had to clench her fist to barely suppress the unbridled images in her mind.

“Then I’m applying to keep it on file,” she said, opening her eyes; when she saw Wei Xiaolu’s flushed face, she quickly closed them again. “I still have work to finish.”

That sentence was like a fine needle, pricking through the dreamy bubble Wei Xiaolu had created.

“Oh.” She seemed to deflate all at once, sitting dazedly in Shen Siyan’s lap. After two seconds of silence, she wordlessly tied her clothes back up.

When Wei Xiaolu came over to fasten Shen Siyan’s buttons, Shen Siyan sighed and pulled her into her arms.

She tightened her hold and gave Wei Xiaolu a solid hug. Only after the two hearts pressed together had gradually steadied did Shen Siyan ease back a little and look into Wei Xiaolu’s eyes.

“Baby, are you really ready,” Shen Siyan asked, pinching her cheek. “Or are you just lonely and acting on impulse?”

“I don’t know.” Wei Xiaolu’s face instantly turned bright red.

“Is it because you feel empty inside?” Shen Siyan asked.

“Mm... yeah.” Wei Xiaolu said softly, “It’s just empty. I felt like I’d been busy for so long that I should rest for a while, but when I really do rest, every day feels so boring.”

Shen Siyan smiled. “So chewing on me is interesting?”

“You kissed me first.” Wei Xiaolu glared at her.

“Fine, I started it.” Shen Siyan was willing to take the blame. Once Wei Xiaolu had slowly come out of the mood from just now, she added, “If you don’t have anything to do, I’m thinking you could proactively contact Keron Medical and ask whether you can start your internship early.”

Wei Xiaolu blinked in confusion. “Early?”

“As far as I know, after you join, there should be a six-month internship period. You still have six months until graduation. If you finish the internship in those six months and then graduate and go in, you’ll be a regular employee.”

Seeing that a trace of curiosity was gradually mixing into Wei Xiaolu’s bewilderment, Shen Siyan continued painting the picture. “That way, when the day comes that you officially sit down at your workstation, everyone else will still be scrambling around, but you’ll already be able to start real work calmly and confidently.”

When she finished, she quietly looked at Wei Xiaolu and waited for her answer.

Wei Xiaolu rolled her eyes twice, then suddenly burst out laughing. “That works! I’ll ask the HR lady tomorrow.”

After saying that, she seemed to come back to life all over again and shoved Shen Siyan a little. “So you weren’t uninterested in me just now, right? You’re not going to work either right now.”

Shen Siyan laughed. “You have no idea how interested I am in you.”

“Then kiss me a little more.” Wei Xiaolu smiled and pounced again.

Shen Siyan gave her a kiss that was neither short nor long, then patted the small of her back and smiled as she pulled away.

But Wei Xiaolu was still clinging to her and refusing to get down.

Physical intimacy was important, of course, but mental fulfillment and growth were the fundamental weapons that could help Wei Xiaolu resist boredom.

“All right,” Shen Siyan said, scratching under her chin. “Go do something else.”

“Hug me a bit more.” Wei Xiaolu tightened her hold on her, thought for a moment, then suddenly said, “I’m going to learn some new data-processing techniques and work hard to become a tech expert.”

Shen Siyan answered, “Okay.”