Chapter 16 You bastard!

You Yu didn't have class that day. Looking back now, it was all because he didn't have class that he had the mood and time to meddle in things that spanned half the globe.

While Xu Weisheng and the person opposite him were chatting and laughing, he secretly took a picture with his phone and sent it to Jian Zhen.

Just as Jian Zhen was about to leave work, Paopao came and took away the last cut of the second episode. Once again, she was on the verge of submitting the manuscript at the last minute. Having narrowly escaped death, she was sprawled on the chair like a pancake, her body weight pressing against the back of the chair as she leaned backward. Unfortunately, she couldn't lie completely flat, and the part where her tailbone met the back of the chair was hollow, making it uncomfortable for her to even lie down.

This work environment—sitting makes my shoulders ache, lying down makes my back ache.

Jian Zhen was speechless. She stared blankly at the ceiling, silently calculating in her mind: the company spends hundreds of millions on MRO every year, and the ergonomic chairs they buy are just this kind of thing. Whose pocket did the money end up in?

The phone screen on the table lit up briefly, but she remained motionless, only shifting her gaze downwards by 60 degrees.

Another new message popped up, and this time Jian Zhen saw that the sender was You Yu!

She gritted her teeth, gripped the edge of the table, and sat up straight, grabbing her phone to unlock it. There was a seven-hour time difference between her and You Yu, and they usually didn't chat unless there was something wrong. The fact that You Yu was sending her messages one after another meant that something serious had happened.

Jian Zhen opened iMessage, and the first thing she saw was You Yu's few lines of text. Even through the screen, she could feel his enthusiastic shouting: "Look who I ran into!" "Is it the same guy we saw in the pool hall before? He's changed so much!" "Damn, he looks pretty rich now."

She instinctively gripped her phone tighter and solemnly opened the photo. Although it was taken secretly, the image was blurry due to some shaking, and only a side profile could be seen, but she still recognized the person's identity at a glance.

Xu Weisheng... how did he end up in London, and even get bumped into by You Yu?

She stared at the photo for about five minutes before she belatedly realized that her heart was stirred like a stone thrown into a lake.

—That damned bastard! I haven't even settled the score with him for leaving without saying goodbye!

Jian Zhen immediately sent a message to You Yu, her eyes gleaming with anticipation: "It's him! Keep a close eye on him!"

"Alright!" You Yu reported after a while, "He's finished eating and looks like he's getting ready to leave. Should we follow him?"

“Yes!” Jian Zhen said decisively.

"OK".

The scene is divided in two. On the left, Xu Weisheng and Hao Jiaren leave the coffee shop together after finishing their brunch, and You Yu quietly follows them after wrapping his scarf around his neck. On the right, Jian Zhen bends down to zip up her down jacket from bottom to top, puts on a woolen hat, stomps her feet, and walks out of the Qili Building.

They walked at the same pace, but the street scenes passing by were quite different. Jian Zhen entered the subway station and occasionally took out her phone to check You Yu's latest information, which had been updated to "The two men separated, one went forward and the other turned back."

"Who turned back?" Jian Zhen was pushed into the train car on the subway platform.

Yu sent another photo, this time a frontal shot of Xu Weisheng. Although the distance was far, the shot taken in haste was surprisingly beautiful. The man emerged from the gray background, like a British gentleman's solo show.

Jian Zhen was startled by the handsome photo. The carriage door in front of her opened, and she was pushed out by the crowd again.

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" Jian Zhen grabbed her phone and stuffed it into her down jacket pocket, complaining as she was swept along by the crowd. Finally, she got out of the ticket gate and onto the ground. In another five minutes, she would be home.

Before she could even check her phone, You Yu realized something was wrong—not that Jian Zhen was in trouble, but that he himself was in a precarious situation.

The man turned back, seemingly heading straight for him!

Could he have recognized me?! No way, I'm all bundled up like this, but wow, he's looking at me, and we've even made eye contact!

You Yu was instantly at a loss. Seeing that the two were less than ten meters apart, he decided to give up and turned around to run away.

He needed to get to a relatively safe place as soon as possible. You Yu remembered a nearby ice cream shop that he had been to a few times. It had become his best haven. So he started walking quickly, but the footsteps behind him quickened. You Yu didn't dare to turn around. He was too nervous and sweat was seeping out under his scarf.

As soon as Jian Zhen entered her home, she received a distress text message from You Yu: "It's over, he found out I was following him!"

"??? How did you figure that out?" Jian Zhen plopped down on the shoe-changing stool in the entryway, her heart pounding in her chest.

"He followed me into an ice cream shop!" In this freezing weather, they entered the shop one after the other; You Yu couldn't fool himself even if he wanted to!

“He’ll definitely check your phone.” Jian Zhen was about to tell You Yu to delete the photos she had secretly taken of people when You Yu directly called her via FaceTime.

Before Jian Zhen could think, she answered the call. You Yu's face appeared on the screen. The two looked at each other, both having not seen each other for a long time. However, this was not the time for small talk. You Yu hid the lower half of his face in his scarf and said in a low voice, "Pretend we're on the phone."

"Huh?" Jian Zhen was led astray by him and immediately racked her brains, desperately trying to think of something to talk about.

"Hey, have you lost weight?" she asked dryly.

The words echoed through the ice cream shop, finally landing in front of Xu Weisheng—he walked straight up to You Yu, snatched the phone from his hand without a word, and sat at the only pink round table in the shop, rediscovering the fear of being dominated in the billiard room, tilting his head up innocently to look at him.

Xu Weisheng stared at the person on his phone screen for about half a minute. During this time, his furrowed brows relaxed. How could it be such a coincidence? He looked at the phone screen and then glanced at You Yu, who had already untied his scarf—it was that loser. No wonder.

The long silence was broken by Xu Weisheng's laughter. He winked at Jian Zhen in the video and said cheerfully, "Ask me? Can I answer?"

Upon hearing this, You Yu's eyes widened. Aren't they... sworn enemies? Aren't he and Jian Zhen teammates on the same side? How come these two seem to have a private relationship behind his back!

Chien Chen never expected to see Hsu Wei-sheng again in such an unexpected and dramatic way. The moment his face appeared, Chien Chen felt that even the resolution of her phone screen had improved. It seemed that Yu Yu's portrait photography skills needed more practice, as he hadn't captured even half of the person's good looks.

“…No, I asked You Yu.” Jian Zhen froze on the spot, even her tongue was stiff, and she had to squeeze out each word one by one to speak.

Xu Weisheng raised her eyebrows, looking a little disappointed, but quickly forgave her and stared at the screen, saying, "Looks like you've almost forgotten me. Well, that makes sense, after all, it's been a long time since we've seen each other."

Have you forgotten him?

A surge of anger suddenly rose in Jian Zhen's heart. Who was it that left without saying goodbye? Who was it that made her so heartbroken and almost depressed? She tried so many times to get his contact information, but if he hadn't avoided her, would they have lost all contact and not even know if the other was alive or dead?

She recalled that afternoon at the Yungang Cinema when she had to bite the bullet and ask someone for his phone number, only to be unable to get through no matter how many times she tried. The humiliation of being late overwhelmed her. If this had happened before, Jian Zhen would have angrily berated him for ten minutes straight while holding her phone. But the Jian Zhen of today was no longer the headstrong little girl she used to be.

She's someone who's so exhausted from a long day at work that her hands tremble when she inserts the key. She keeps her emotional energy at a minimum, and is reluctant to feel anything or anyone. Work has burned out all her energy for the day, and now that she wants to protest, her first choice isn't to argue, but to give it the cold shoulder.

Beep—the phone hung up.

Xu Weisheng was just about to chat when he suddenly realized that the face he hadn't seen in a long time had disappeared from his phone screen. How disrespectful! What had he done to offend her?

He gripped his phone and reflected for two seconds before suddenly realizing that he had indeed wronged the other person.

At this moment, Jian Zhen unusually placed her phone directly on the floor and began to take off her shoes. She had worn a pair of Martin boots when she went out, and the laces were tied too tightly. Her fingers were trembling as she untied them, whether from exhaustion or suppressed emotions, it was hard to tell.

After finally managing to take off her boots, she shoved her feet into the cold cotton slippers. The soles were a bit hard and cold. She buried her head, hugged her knees, and suddenly burst into tears.

Does Xu Weisheng know how many times she has worried about him? She is busy every day, and is forced to deal with countless dirty things in the workplace. Even the weather in this unfamiliar city often makes her unhappy. Sister Da Mei commented that she works hard, but what does hard work matter?

What Jian Zhen can't stand the most is feeling wronged.

This pent-up resentment was like an undercurrent hidden within her body, flowing freely throughout the day with no outlet. But at night, especially at the moment she hung up the phone, when she realized that Xu Weisheng was now living a life of luxury, with elegant clothes and a car full of fruit, the resentment suddenly burst forth.

Is she cursing me? Xu Weisheng sat opposite You Yu, seemingly listening to him, but actually lost in thought about the Pacific Ocean.

While eating the ice cream that Hsu Wei-sheng was treating him to, Yu Yu readily betrayed his friend for personal gain and recounted all the experiences he knew of Chien Chen.

If she's really cursing at me, should I sneeze? Xu Weisheng raised her hand and rubbed the tip of her nose, even turning her head away to wait a few seconds, but to no avail.

Yu Yu: "She's really quite amazing. I heard that the retention rate of new recruits at Qili is less than 50%, which is lower than the doctoral graduation rate at our school."

Half? Xu Weisheng frowned. A few years ago when he left Qili, the figure was 70%. It seems that the speed of competition in the industry is even more astonishing than he imagined.

"You're pursuing your doctorate here?" Xu Weisheng didn't chat with him about romance; instead, she carefully examined his appearance and clothing, and continued, "What's your major?"

"World history," You Yu said, puffing out his chest.

“…Oh.” Xu Weisheng instantly lost interest. The kid seemed to have no future or financial prospects. In addition, he was physically weak and lacked courage. His appearance did not pose any challenge to him at all. So he naturally crossed him off the list of potential rivals.

However, this process happened so quickly, almost in the blink of an eye, that Xu Weisheng didn't have time to figure out what it meant to list the girl's male friends as potential rivals.

Xu Weisheng received a timed reminder on his phone. He glanced down at it, then remembered that he had to rush to see Dr. Ma. So he got up to say goodbye. Before leaving, he paused, took out his phone, and made eye contact with You Yu.

You Yu thought to himself, "Great, fate has brought us together from afar. They're going to exchange contact information." He immediately and eagerly took out his phone: "I'll add you."

Xu Weisheng handed over the phone, screen up: "...Okay, could you please send me Jian Zhen's number?"