Chapter 17

Chapter 17

99% of positions do not require a specific person to fill the position.

So do journalists.

It is graduation season, and crowds of graduates are rushing up.

Before Shu Yao officially resigned, the company had already found a replacement.

Personal belongings had been taken home one after another in the past few days, and he had also done a lot of psychological preparation, so when he officially left the office where he had worked for almost three years, Shu Yao had little regret left in his heart.

She went to the cafe downstairs, bought a cup of iced American coffee that she usually drank, and sat by the window to enjoy a moment of leisure.

The early summer sun wasn't scorching, and the café wasn't crowded. The faint scent of gardenias wafting through the window brought a sense of peace and tranquility. The artificial lake not far away shimmered. Shu Yao had passed by it countless times before, but this was the first time he'd noticed koi in it.

The koi swam back and forth for several rounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone pushing the door open, and Shu Yao instinctively looked over there.

A handsome man dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, with fair skin and a smooth Adam's apple.

The gold-rimmed glasses on his nose made him look more refined, but the unbuttoned collar made him look unruly.

The waiter seemed to be nervous because of the beauty, but his hand shook when he picked up the cup, and the cup fell to the ground.

She quickly picked it up, replaced it with a new one, and politely apologized to the man.

The man smiled gentlemanly and didn't care.

Shu Yao's first reaction was to think of the white fox in a movie he had seen not long ago, which was elegant yet a bit cunning.

It's a completely different style from Chen Ye.

Wait, why did she suddenly think of Shen Ye?

Shu Yao shook his head. As the name disappeared from his mind, someone pushed the door open and walked in.

It’s Lin Ruiyang.

These days, perhaps to make up for his previous mistakes, Lin Ruiyang has been unusually active and has even taken the initiative to undertake several business trips.

It will probably take only one or two days to return to Fuchuan.

Normally, Lin Ruiyang is actually quite good-looking, but following behind that man, he seemed a bit inferior.

In order to protect his eyes, Shu Yao withdrew his gaze.

But when Lin Ruiyang passed by her in the aisle, he suddenly stopped.

A shadow was cast on the table. Shu Yao raised his eyes with a cold look: "What's the matter?"

"I heard that you quit your job?" Lin Ruiyang leisurely walked up to her and sat across the table from her.

He leaned back on the sofa, his right hand resting on the armrest, tapping his fingers with his index finger, his face showing an unconcealed smugness: "After all, we were colleagues. Now that you're leaving, I have to express my regrets."

Shu Yao finished the last sip of coffee, and the bottom of the cup touched the porcelain plate lightly, making a crisp sound. "If that's all you want to say, then there's no need. I have to go feed my dog."

"We've been working together for more than two years, and yet a dog is less important?"

Shu Yao was amused: "What else?"

The fake smile on Lin Ruiyang's face gradually disappeared, and he simply stopped pretending: "I told you before, some things belong to whoever they belong to. People are not born equal. After all this effort, in the end, you will still leave, and I will continue to stay here peacefully."

"Lin Ruiyang." Shu Yao smiled softly, but her tone was puzzled. "I didn't want something, but you put so much effort into it and still haven't been able to get it. Is this something worth bragging about?"

"You!" Lin Ruiyang's face darkened as he warned in a low voice, "Shu Yao, don't be so arrogant. I let you go before because we're colleagues, but from now on, you better hope you don't run into me in the circle again."

Shu Yao seemed to have heard a joke and had a hard time holding back his laughter.

She stood up with her handbag, supporting herself on the table with her right hand, her upper body slightly leaning forward, looking down at him, her tone soft, her smile gentle and harmless.

"Don't worry, we'll see each other again."

*

It was still late at night on the other side of the world.

Shen Ye had just finished taking a shower and was drying his hair with a towel when the screen of his mobile phone lit up.

Zhou Jinghuai: [I met your wife again. It seems like she and I are more compatible than you. Is she not on a blind date this time?]

Chen Ye's eyes darkened slightly: [Stay away from her.]

Zhou Jinghuai: [Why, are you afraid she'll fall in love with someone else?]

Chen Ye: [I’m afraid she’ll get tired of me and everyone in my family.]

Zhou Jinghuai: [There's no need to be so self-deprecating.]

Chen Ye: [You are the house. ]

Zhou Jinghuai replied with a smiling emoji.

Chen Ye suddenly remembered something: [By the way, last time you mentioned that wedding ring custom shop, where exactly is it? ]

Zhou Jinghuai sent him a location and asked him: [When are you planning to deliver it?]

Chen Ye: [It depends.]

Chen Ye: [No more than eighty years old.]

Zhou Jinghuai: [……]

Ended this unpleasant chat.

Chen Ye dried his hair, leaned against the headboard, and opened the video chat recording of that day with Shu Yao.

These days, due to the time difference, they didn't chat much, and the topic was all about cookies.

The only video, from that day.

Shu Yao was probably tempted by the huge sum of 88 yuan, so she reluctantly started the video. Except for saying hello at the beginning and saying goodbye at the end, the camera was focused on Xiaobingbing the whole time, and she herself was hardly in the frame.

He also said with confidence that there was no requirement to show the face before.

Only then did Chen Ye realize that sometimes she was quite shameless.

But her gentle voice-over seemed to have the effect of soothing the mood.

"It seems like it has eaten a bit too much. I will control it tomorrow and not spoil it too much."

"Is the ham sausage edible? I bought a few today."

"Ah, no, I just said not to spoil him too much. Then you should just put him in a sandwich and eat it yourself tomorrow morning."

…

At the end of the video, Shu Yao asked him how the cookies got to his house.

He said, it’s a stray dog, he picked it up.

At that moment, the camera shook and Shu Yao's face flashed by. Her eyes at that time made Chen Ye feel that his image in her heart seemed to have become much taller.

Shen Ye laughed, put his phone aside, and closed his eyes safely.

In his intermittent dreams, he seemed to have returned to that winter night, when the cold rain was like needles piercing the ground.

He vaguely heard some movement outside the door. When he opened it, he saw a puppy, probably only as big as his palm. It was soaked and covered in mud. It was shivering and scratching at the carpet at the door, as if it thought it was food.

Hearing the noise, it stopped and raised its head, looking at him with wet eyes, pitiful and wary.

Every time Chen Ye took a step forward, it would immediately take a few steps back.

Finally, he tricked it into the house with a sausage.

After giving it a bath and drying it, Chen Ye originally wanted to send it to a stray dog ​​rescue center. Because he was busy with work and didn't like hiring a nanny, not only did he have no experience, he also didn't have much time to take care of it.

But at that moment, something Shu Yao had said came into his mind.

She said that when she was a child she met a little local dog and raised it for a while, but later because of some things, the puppy was beaten to death. That was the saddest and most regrettable thing in her childhood.

Chen Ye looked at the puppy concentrating on chewing the sausage, and gently touched its head. This time he was not rejected.

He thought, forget it.

A puppy only has one life and should have only one owner.

*

As May draws to a close, the weather is getting hotter.

Just two days after Shu Yao officially resigned, Zhao Tiantian also successfully completed her thesis defense. It was a double blessing, so Zhao Tiantian made an appointment with her to celebrate early in the morning.

But the strange thing is that more than half of the couples in the reserved restaurants are lovers.

Shu Yao wiped her hands with a wet wipe and asked curiously, "Isn't 520 already over?"

"520 has passed, but this restaurant's 520 series of activities haven't ended yet. Today is the last day! Just walk in and say you're a couple, and you can play a trick to get a gift." Zhao Tiantian pointed at the small gift box on the table. "Look, this is what I just got."

Shu Yao couldn't help laughing: "Why, are you my girlfriend?"

"Thank you. I have no intention of ruining anyone's family," Zhao Tiantian said with a playful smile. "When I was waiting in line, I saw the two men in front of me also had a ring. I thought it would be a good deal, so why not take advantage of it? Thanks to my superb ring-tossing skills, I think mine must be the most expensive of all the gifts because it's placed the farthest away."

Shu Yao took the pink gift box and took a look at it: "What is it?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen it yet."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shu Yao opened the box.

Under the cold white light, a pair of plain rings sparkled. Although they certainly could not be compared with the rings in the jewelry store, as a free gift from the restaurant, they were already very presentable.

Zhao Tiantian habitually opened the shopping app and searched for pictures. Although the price was not expensive, it was already higher than the cost of their meal.

"Damn, I made 50 for a meal."

Shu Yao handed her the box with a smile, but Zhao Tiantian refused it.

"Why did you give me one that just broke up? It reminded me of the past. You'd better keep it." Zhao Tiantian shook her head sadly.

Shu Yao had heard her talk about this. The man had cheated on her and was caught in bed by Zhao Tiantian. She was quite nonchalant. After talking to Shu Yao once, she never mentioned the man again and didn't even shed a tear. She said that crying too much made her eyes swollen, which would affect her appearance the next day, and in turn would affect her search for a new target.

“But I can’t use it.”

"Of course you can't use it. Don't you have a fake husband?" Zhao Tiantian pulled her left hand over and slipped the smaller one onto her ring finger. It was the perfect size. "You know what, it looks pretty good on you. If you wear it on your hand and say it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a pair, people will probably believe you."

We are best friends for many years, so there is no need for so many formalities.

Thinking that it might be useful for show later, Shu Yao took off the ring, stuffed the box into her bag, and said with a smile, "Then I'll keep it. This meal is on me."

"Then I won't be polite!" Zhao Tiantian picked up the knife and fork, cutting the steak while asking, "Hey, how have you and Chen Ye been doing recently?"

Shu Yao rolled up the noodles in the bowl with a fork: "Who is Chen Ye?"

Zhao Tiantian: "..."

Shu Yao stopped teasing her and said with a smile, "To be honest, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten that I had obtained the marriage certificate."

It has been half a month since they got their marriage certificate... They have never met each other, and they even rarely chat.

He really took the word "fake" in "fake marriage" to the extreme.

But this was exactly the effect she wanted, so it suited her perfectly.

The two chatted idly and the meal lasted almost two hours. After eating and drinking, Zhao Tiantian touched her stomach and began to look for the next entertainment.

Initially, she planned to go see a movie, but Zhao Tiantian searched for a long time and couldn't find anything satisfactory: "Boring, what kind of movie is this? It's obviously a bad movie..."

Shu Yao slowly drank the orange juice in his hand: "It's okay, just pick whatever you want, it's just to kill time."

Zhao Tiantian looked at him for a while, then suddenly looked up, her eyes full of anticipation: "How about we not go to the movies, let's go to the bar?"

Bar is a rather unfamiliar word to Shu Yao.

For the past twenty-five years, she had been following the rules and rarely even went to entertainment venues, but after impulsively marrying Shen Ye, she felt that she seemed to have become a little bolder.

Life is so short, sometimes it’s okay to try new things.

She nodded and asked where to go.

Zhao Tiantian said as a matter of course, "See you again. It's only about ten minutes' walk. Meier gave me some coupons last time, and I haven't used them yet. And maybe they can even give us a discount."

Good things like this can't wait until tomorrow.

Shu Yao put down the cup and asked curiously, "When did you become so familiar with Zhao Meier?"

"It's a long story. Not long ago, Mei'er seemed to have had a quarrel with Xu Zhaoli, and she asked me if he used to be so childish. I told her all about Xu Zhaoli's past mentally retarded deeds. My original intention was to say that he had matured a lot and could still grow. But after listening to me, she said I had suffered so much, and in return comforted me for half an hour."

Shu Yao: “…”

*

The two rested in the restaurant for a while and walked to the bar.

The gate is decorated in an industrial style, but has such a literary name "Meet Again". It is bustling inside, with dim lights, strong drum beats, and restless music, everything makes people's adrenaline rush involuntarily.

Walking to the reserved booth, Zhao Tiantian began to order.

Shu Yao went to the bathroom first.

The corridor on the second floor was much quieter than that downstairs, but the light was still dim, and Shu Yao couldn't even find where the switch was.

Her phone vibrated, and she looked down to see Shen Ye, who had been missing for a long time, rarely asking her where she was.

There's nothing that can't be said.

She quickly typed a few words and sent them to tell him she was at the bar.

As soon as I turned off the phone, a symbol popped up on the screen: [? ]

Any questions? Isn't that possible in a bar?

She was about to reply when a tall figure came towards her. Shu Yao narrowed her eyes and saw that the other person walked a little unsteadily, so she wisely moved aside.

However, the corridor was not wide. When they passed each other, the man suddenly stopped and whistled at her without any concealment.

Shu Yao ignored him, but the next second the man reached out to stop her. He looked drunk, and the smell of alcohol filled her face as he spoke: "Miss, can you add me on WeChat?"

"No."

The man in front of her was still chattering and even tried to grab her wrist: "Just add WeChat, I won't disturb you, you have a great figure."

Shu Yao dodged quickly, and the man missed and staggered against the wall.

There were hurried footsteps in the empty corridor, and someone grabbed Shu Yao's wrist. Before she could react, someone protected her behind him.

The faint mint scent on the clothes covered up the smell of alcohol in the air, making people feel inexplicably calm.

A tall figure stood in front of her, raised his hand and patted the man's shoulder, his tone was a little nonchalant, mixed with a smile, but it was extremely oppressive.

"I have a nice figure too, how about adding mine?"