"You go on my behalf." Ji Chen took out a gold-stamped invitation from the inside pocket of his suit, the edges of which were slightly curled.

Zhu Yinlin held the invitation in her hand, rubbing her fingertips back and forth on the gold-plated pattern: "I heard that rumor that Young Marshal Xie will also go..." She suddenly lowered her voice, "Cousin, why don't you come with me? Maybe we can discuss a cooperation."

Ji Chen shook his head, and looked out the window at the darkening dusk through his glasses: "I have some things on hand that I can't let go of."

In the evening, the autumn rain poured down unexpectedly, and the fine raindrops were like countless tiny fingers, gently tapping on the glass windows of the newspaper office. Zheng Wanqing stood at the door of the newspaper office, holding tightly in her arms the manuscript she had just proofread. She looked at the gradually darkening sky, and a trace of melancholy involuntarily climbed up her eyebrows.

"Give me your umbrella." Ji Chen appeared behind her quietly and handed her a black silk umbrella. On the handle of the umbrella, there was an exquisite and delicate vine pattern engraved, "Remember to return it to me one day."

"What about you?" Zheng Wanqing looked up when she heard the voice, and the raindrops condensed into tiny water droplets on her eyelashes.

"I have an extra one at the newspaper office." Ji Chen pushed his glasses up, his eyes behind the lenses showing a hint of gentleness, "I remembered that I have something to go back for."

"Then I'd rather obey you than be disrespectful. Thank you, Editor-in-Chief Ji." Zheng Wanqing took the umbrella with a smile and slowly opened it. At this moment, her eyes fell on the pattern on the umbrella handle, and her memory floodgates were instantly opened. A smile of surprise bloomed on her face involuntarily: "Is this the one I bought on the Left Bank that year? You actually kept it now."

"Yes." Ji Chen nodded slightly and said in a low voice, with a barely perceptible nostalgia in his tone. "I tend to be nostalgic."

Zheng Wanqing's figure gradually blurred as she walked into the rain, her camel-colored figure blending into the black umbrella. Ji Chen stood under the eaves, and saw a familiar black car approaching, its headlights drawing two golden lines in the rain.

Zhu Yinlin stood at the corner of the stairs, her newly permed hair trembling slightly in the breeze. She looked at Ji Chen's lonely back staring at the rain, and her chest felt like something was tugging at it.

"Cousin..." She realized her voice was hoarse when she started to speak, and quickly covered her cough with a silk handkerchief, "Mom said... that she wanted you to come home for dinner this weekend."

She twisted her handkerchief until her knuckles turned white and her fingertips turned bluish white from the force.

When Ji Chen turned around, he brought with him a scent of pine ink, and the light behind the lenses looked particularly deep in the rain and fog. He took off his glasses slowly, and the metal frame reflected a cold light on his fingertips. His slender fingers pressed on the bridge of his nose, leaving two light red marks on his pale skin. His Adam's apple moved slightly when he nodded, but he didn't speak for a long time.

Zhu Yinlin's eyes traced his thin profile, and she suddenly plucked up the courage: "Cousin, are you taking special care of Sister Wanqing?" As soon as she said this, she regretted it, and her heart beat so fast that it almost burst out of her chest.

Ji Chen was slightly stunned, and his eyes behind the glasses flickered. He adjusted his cuffs a beat slower than usual, and the cufflinks shone coldly under the light. "Wanqing is a rare talent in our newspaper, and we are old classmates." His voice was calm, but the tips of his ears were quietly red.

Zhu Yinlin stared at the red, her heart was full of mixed feelings. She opened the umbrella embroidered with crabapple flowers, and water drops fell from the umbrella: "Cousin, do you want to join us?"

Ji Chen waved his hand, "I'll go back to the newspaper office." His eyes unconsciously drifted in the rain, "By the way, let's prepare a topic proposal for tomorrow."