Day Fourteen: No Thoughts

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The moment Si Nian finished asking, she saw the smile on Zhao Chao’s face stiffen.

She tilted her head in hopeful anticipation. “Tonight? I’m free.”

Just a few days ago, she had still been saying she didn’t know whether she would ever see Lu Shuyan again. And now the man had actually come looking for her himself. What was that if not heaven hearing her prayers, dropping a windfall from the sky, and making her wildest dream come true?

She really did want to meet Lu Shuyan face-to-face and have a proper “talk” with him. At the very least, she had to reclaim the dignity and pride she had lost that night.

Zhao Chao’s mouth fell slightly open. At that moment, it was genuinely difficult for him to connect the girl standing before him with his employer’s former girlfriend—the girl who used to shyly call him “Assistant Zhao.”

All the lines he had prepared in advance remained unsaid.

Si Nian continued waiting expectantly for his answer.

Zhao Chao: “…”

He suddenly felt that if he didn’t put Si Nian on a rocket and send her straight to Lu Shuyan, or put Lu Shuyan on a plane and bring him straight to Si Nian, he would be committing an unforgivable offense against the mood.

Zhao Chao covered his mouth and coughed dryly twice. “Er, well…”

Lu Shuyan had a social engagement tonight. The time he had actually proposed meeting Si Nian to talk was Saturday afternoon. He had only come today to inform her in person ahead of time.

After all, every means of contacting her had been blocked.

The moment Zhao Chao finished explaining, he saw the unmistakable disappointment on Si Nian’s face.

“So I’ll come pick you up promptly on Saturday afternoon?” Zhao Chao could only regain control of his expression and put on a courteous smile.

Si Nian pursed her lips, then looked at him again. “Fine, then.”

……

Si Nian still remembered her first date with Lu Shuyan.

At the time, she had only just added him on WeChat. She had heard through industry gossip that Lu Shuyan was the Lu family’s famously notorious young master, and had been envying the ex-girlfriend who had received a severance payment in the eight-figure range after dating him for less than three months.

Then she had looked at her own phone and been brought brutally back to reality: she still had no idea where next semester’s tuition would come from, and there were several harassing messages from her bald little boss.

The bald boss had changed his number again. He sent her a long, hazy, painfully saccharine love poem he had apparently copied from somewhere online, confessed his love, and solemnly declared that he wanted to be with her not because he coveted anything else about her, but because it was true love.

Then, at the end, he had asked: Are you free this weekend?

If not for the fact that the bald boss was old enough to be her father, with a gleaming scalp almost entirely devoid of hair, she might actually have believed him.

Dazed and light-headed, Si Nian put down her phone and went to collect her parcels.

She had accepted countless product-photography jobs, and the parcels waiting for her at the collection point were piled up like a small mountain. Holding her phone in one hand and hugging so many packages in the other that they blocked her view, Si Nian made her way back to the dormitory.

Only after she returned and looked at her phone did she realize that something seemed to have gone wrong.

With so many parcels in her arms, she must have accidentally touched the screen while walking.

And the chaotic, overly sentimental love poem the bald little boss had sent her as proof of his true love had somehow been forwarded to someone else.

Si Nian stared at the chat window with Lu Shuyan, which had previously been empty but now contained an aggressively saccharine confession.

Sent by her.

Three minutes ago.

Just past the window for recalling a message.

Her pupils contracted as she stared at the love poem she had accidentally sent to Lu Shuyan, her head swelling with panic. She was fumbling to figure out how to explain herself, just beginning to compose a message saying that she had pressed the wrong button and that he must not misunderstand, when a reply appeared first.

Lu Shuyan wrote: “I’ll think about it.”

Si Nian: “…”

“…?”

………

Si Nian now felt that, back then, when Lu Shuyan had replied to her with “I’ll think about it,” she should have risen to the occasion and laughed at him mercilessly.

She had never meant anything romantic by it. Nor was she the delicate, innocent little flower of a girl he had apparently imagined. It had merely been a misdirected message. Yet this man had actually taken it seriously. He had neither agreed nor refused, but had replied with the full arrogance of a pampered heir: “I’ll think about it.”

And so, through one moment of carelessness, she had ended up working for him for five years, day and night, without earning a single cent in compensation.

Saturday seemed to arrive much more slowly than usual.

The results of her commercial audition had not come out yet either, but that was not what concerned Si Nian most. The previous evening, she had even posted an update containing a photograph of two carefully coordinated outfits.

One was a sweet look: a cherry-pink sweater paired with a dark-gray, long wool skirt, worn with little leather shoes. The other was a fashionable casual look: a light-gray sweatshirt with an oversized leather jacket and a short pleated skirt, paired with canvas shoes.

Si Nian asked her fans which outfit she should wear the next day.

Unexpectedly, the moment they saw the post, her fans seemed to detect a certain scent in the air. Their attention was nowhere near which outfit looked better.

“As far as I know, people usually post things like this when they’re going on a date with someone the next day.”

“Miss Ramble, didn’t you say you were single? Are your fans going to become part of your little play too?”

“I always said that someone this beautiful couldn’t possibly be single. Hah.”

“Damn, why do I feel like I’ve been cheated on?”

“Tell us. Who’s the man you’re seeing tomorrow? Speak!”

Si Nian’s eyelids twitched as she stared at the comments, which had gone completely against her expectations. She was clearly going to battle tomorrow, yet everyone had mistaken it for a date.

It was all the fault of those people who had exhausted everyone’s trust in the past.

She hurried into the comments to explain:

“I’m not going on a date with anyone, and I’m not looking for a relationship!”

“If I’m lying, may I never make money in this lifetime. Orz.”

The moment those two comments appeared, the comment section, which had been speculating about a date the next day, abruptly changed direction. After all, for the people of her country, there could hardly be a more terrifying oath.

“Oh my God, never make money for an entire lifetime? That’s a vicious vow.”

“Okay, okay, we believe you. You’re not going on a date.”

“Ha ha ha, this is the first time I’ve seen someone refute a rumor so bluntly.”

“Ahhh, both outfits are so well put together! I want the same ones!”

“Plus one, plus one. As expected of a model—she’s so good at styling clothes. Her taste is amazing.”

“If only those idols had this level of awareness when denying their relationships. Sob.”

“Don’t even dream about it. Deny their relationships? Eight out of ten of them are secretly dating.”

“The outfit on the left is a little prettier, I think.”

“I vote for the one on the right.”

“I vote for the left in the morning and the right in the afternoon.”

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…

Once the comment section had finally returned to normal, the votes for the two outfits were evenly matched.

Si Nian failed to get a decisive answer. She stared indecisively at the two outfits she had put together, both of which had fans clamoring for matching pieces, and then suddenly remembered that the person she was meeting tomorrow was Lu Shuyan.

Why bother dressing up so beautifully?

A model’s carefully styled outfits and pretty clothes came at a price.

Hadn’t she been exploited for five years already? Did she really want to keep being exploited?

With that thought, Si Nian immediately put away both carefully assembled outfits and began searching through her clothes for the ugliest thing she could find.

…………

Zhao Chao arrived at the gates of the residential compound in the afternoon and waited there.

Watching the stream of people coming and going on the weekend, he knew that many young white-collar workers from other cities who worked in City B lived here. The location was somewhat remote and the commute was long, but the surroundings were pleasant and the area was well served by bustling commercial streets.

Zhao Chao stood beside the car, his gaze unfocused on the ground for a while, until at last the person he was supposed to collect today came downstairs.

At first glance, he thought he must have been mistaken.

Si Nian appeared in a black sweatshirt paired with jeans, flat canvas shoes on her feet, and her hair simply tied into a ponytail.

Even with his thoroughly unromantic male eyes, Zhao Chao could tell that she was not wearing makeup. Not the kind of “natural” makeup designed to look bare-faced, either. She genuinely had not applied a trace of powder.

That did not mean Zhao Chao thought she looked bad.

On the contrary, such an utterly simple look depended most heavily on one’s natural features. With Si Nian’s looks, she would still be beautiful wearing a burlap sack. It was simply that Zhao Chao had not expected her to dress so plainly when the person she was meeting today was Lu Shuyan.

The dinner venue was a three-Michelin-star restaurant, no less. Yet Si Nian looked as though she might head to the market to buy groceries at any moment.

She could practically be said not to have dressed up at all.

In Zhao Chao’s previous understanding, when meeting a member of the opposite sex—especially a man like Lu Shuyan—and dining at a three-Michelin-star restaurant, most women would choose to dress up, even if the relationship had already ended.

Si Nian vaguely saw the shock in his eyes.

“Let’s go,” she said, both hands tucked into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

Zhao Chao belatedly opened the car door.

…………

Si Nian once again sat in the back of a Rolls-Royce, gazing at the endless traffic beyond the window.

Strictly speaking, not much time had passed, but her state of mind seemed to have changed completely.

The last time Lu Shuyan had asked her to meet him to “talk,” she had dressed with painstaking care and spent the entire journey so nervous she had nearly vomited, believing that her dream had finally come true.

Instead, she had received a devastating lesson in the ruthless, vindictive nature of capitalists.

Now she was enveloped in the relaxed, easygoing feeling of someone who had already clocked out.

In a society governed by law, no matter how vast the world might be, nothing was greater than a worker saying, “I’m done serving you.”

Si Nian let out a relaxed breath and finally arrived at the place where Lu Shuyan had asked to meet her and “talk” today.

Whether deliberately or not, Lu Shuyan had once again chosen the same restaurant where they had shared a candlelit dinner.

A waiter in a tailcoat led Si Nian into a private room.

Lu Shuyan was already waiting.

The man looked up and saw the person being ushered in by the waiter.

He seemed to freeze for a moment.

Si Nian did not greet him. She pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him.

The waiter presented her with a menu.

Si Nian closed it at once and handed it back. “No, thank you.”

“I’m not here to eat.”

The waiter had clearly never encountered such a situation and could only look toward the man across the table.

Si Nian noticed that Lu Shuyan had hardly changed.

He sat there exactly as he had that day, as though someone had copied and pasted the scene.

Receiving the waiter’s glance, Lu Shuyan looked at Si Nian’s fearless expression. His first words were still, “Won’t you have something to eat?”

“I don’t want to.”

Then she added more precisely, “I don’t want to eat with you.”

Lu Shuyan said nothing.

He glanced at the glass of champagne in front of him and asked, “Then have something to drink.”

Si Nian thought for a moment before telling the waiter, “A latte.”

Unfortunately, a restaurant this expensive did not serve spicy pepper soup. After considering her options, she decided that a latte was the only thing whose color might produce a similar effect.

The waiter took the order, put away the menu, and left the private room.

There were no pretentious candles on the table tonight, either.

Sensing the hostility radiating from the person opposite him from the moment she entered, Lu Shuyan’s brows shifted slightly. Even so, he called her name.

“Si Nian.”

She looked at him too.

She did not want to waste time on pleasantries and went straight to the purpose of the meeting.

“What do you want with me?”

Lu Shuyan studied the woman before him. She was relaxed and casual, open and composed, almost completely unlike the person he had known before.

This confirmed that she really had been deceiving him all along.

Whether it was their relationship or her entire identity.

For the sake of an absurd severance payment, she had been able to act sweet and obedient at his side for nearly five years.

And he had never noticed.

If not for that final accident, when he had happened to look through his “girlfriend’s” phone.

The man’s lips pressed into a thin line, then he let out a quiet laugh.

What had happened in this place that day had been incomplete. He felt that there were certain matters the two of them needed to clarify properly.

Lu Shuyan asked, “After seeing me, is there nothing you want to say?”

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When Si Nian met his questioning gaze, she nodded seriously.

“Of course there is.”

“But it’s all profanity.”

“The kind that needs to be censored with a beep.”

Lu Shuyan: “…”

“I always thought you didn’t like working.” The man steadied his emotions and changed the subject.

Si Nian guessed that Lu Shuyan had probably seen her trending searches or photographs from the runway.

But so what if he had? She had never intended to hide any of it.

“I don’t like working in the first place,” Si Nian replied frankly. “If you could lie around at home every day, eating, drinking, playing, and enjoying yourself, who would still want to work?”

“Not everyone is like you.” She glanced at the man before her. “Born at the finish line.”

Lu Shuyan felt the mockery and sarcasm that had accompanied her from the moment she arrived.

At last, he seemed unwilling to continue making small talk with a girl. He inhaled, finally arriving at the matter he had most wanted to discuss today.

“Si Nian.” The man stared calmly at the person opposite him and asked, “Was deceiving me fun?”

“Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?”

Si Nian: “?”

For a moment, she felt as though she no longer understood her own language.

“An explanation? For what?”

“Didn’t you read my diary? You know everything perfectly clearly.”

She had been after the severance payment from the very beginning. She had endured humiliation and worked tirelessly for five years, only to crash at the final hurdle and end up with zero in labor compensation.

Hearing her answer, Lu Shuyan could only silently regulate the emotions surging in his chest.

Yes, he knew everything. What explanation was he still asking for? What explanation could there possibly be?

The thought of someone secretly reading another person’s phone diary still made Si Nian grit her teeth with anger.

After a while, Lu Shuyan seemed to have finally calmed down. He asked, “Why did you delete my contact information?”

The fifty-million check he had prepared afterward had never been handed over.

Si Nian understood even less. “We broke up. Why would I keep your contact information? To celebrate New Year’s?”

Besides, she had no idea how a man who had refused to let her take even the bags and jewelry he had bought for her during their relationship could have the nerve to ask why she had deleted his contact information.

She truly could not understand the thought processes of these spoiled heirs who had been born with silver spoons in their mouths and had never experienced a setback.

Lu Shuyan gazed at the woman before him, whose expression made everything seem perfectly self-evident.

The air appeared to fall silent.

Si Nian’s latte arrived.

She stared at the rich, fragrant drink, wondering how she could splash it precisely and righteously over Lu Shuyan’s head before making a safe escape from the restaurant.

Then the man opposite her suddenly spoke.

“How much do you want?”

“Hm?” Si Nian looked up abruptly, thinking she must have misheard.

Lu Shuyan’s gaze was as calm as still water. At last, he repeated, “How much do you want?”

Si Nian’s mouth fell open in shock.

Lu Shuyan remembered how, that day, Si Nian had embraced him in this very place. After everything had been exposed, she had asked him through tear-filled eyes for five million.

Now, the man took out a check from somewhere and pushed it across the table toward her.

“This is ninety million. Take it.”

“The apartment at Brightview Residence will be yours as well.”

At that moment, Si Nian felt her mind go dizzy.

The world spun around her.

Lu Shuyan waited for her reaction and answer.

Si Nian’s hands and feet felt weak.

Confronted by the face before her—a face bearing the detached indifference that could only be cultivated by someone raised in luxury from birth, someone whose every desire had always been fulfilled—she felt dizzy for a moment, then pinched her thigh to force herself awake.

She looked at the check pushed before her. The amount had already been written in, and the signature was complete.

Ninety million.

And a residence of more than four hundred square meters in one of the city’s most valuable locations.

Lu Shuyan had asked to meet her today, to have a talk with her, because he wanted to give her money?

Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. It seemed that in the next second, she would reach out and take that staggering sum.

Lu Shuyan waited for Si Nian to accept.

He saw the indescribable longing in her eyes as she looked at the check. Then, in the very next moment, she raised her head again.

Si Nian felt herself suddenly come to her senses.

She picked up the check and examined it more carefully. Then she abruptly threw it back at Lu Shuyan.

“Take your money. I don’t want it.”

Lu Shuyan’s brows drew together lightly in confusion. “Why?”

But Si Nian already looked as though she had seen through everything, and anger was beginning to rise in her.

“Do you really think ordinary people are all innocent idiots?”

“I take the money and the apartment, and then you contact your lawyers…”

“And make me, at such a young age”—she gritted her teeth furiously—

“—spend the rest of my life in prison.”