Accidental Love

While waiting, Zheng Shuyi held her phone tightly and constantly glanced back at the screen from time to time.

After a long time, Shi Yan finally gave a reply.

Shi Yan: Take what the wrong way?

Zheng Shuyi took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down.

Zheng Shuyi: Nevermind.

Shi Yan: What do you mean? What are you trying to say?

Shi Yan: Please make yourself clear.

Here, Bi Ruoshan ripped open a pack of snacks and gave herself a handful. She said as she chewed, "And then guess what my boss did? She threw the pot on me!"1In Chinese, the pot is frequently understood as the word, responsibility. Having the pot or having to carry the pot means being blamed for and taking responsibility. Zheng Shuyi didn't pay attention to Bi Ruoshan's words at all. She held her phone together and gritted her teeth.

Why did my hands do it?

Why did I add that sentence?

I should have just pretended that nothing had happened.

Zheng Shuyi: Pretend I didn't say anything, happy new year.

"So ridiculous, why would I carry the pot for him?"

Bi Ruoshan didn't realize that she was pretty much talking to herself at the moment, her tone was still quite excited.

"It's not like I need that job anyway, I can support my living just by working as a retailer in a random industry. So I immediately sent the evidence to the big boss's email and also sent him my resignation letter. He thought I'd be afraid of him huh?"

Two more messages came. Zheng Shuyi took a look and then her eyes froze.

After not receiving a reply for a long time, Bi Ruoshan glanced towards Zheng Shuyi. Without even needing to look at her phone, she knew what was going on.

She suddenly felt like the person in front of her was a hopeless A Dou.2A Dou(The A is pronounced as ‘ah') was Liu Bei's(The king of one of the three kingdoms during the Three Kingdoms era), son's nickname. He plays around and doesn't do anything every day which led to the fall of the kingdom. Hopeless A Dou is an idiom used to refer to a completely hopeless person.

She threw the snacks in her hand onto the side and got up. "I'll go shower!"

Shi Yan: Hurry up.

Shi Yan: I'll sleep you if don't tell me.3Again this part is a bit tricky to translate, but the author removed some punctuation again which could change the meaning from, "I'll sleep if you don't tell me." to "I'll sleep you if you don't tell me." (Depending in how you read it)

Zheng Shuyi looked at these two lines. Her hands were trembling and her cheeks were slowly turning red.

Shi Yan… he absolutely! Did! It! On! Purpose!

And he was still pretending that he didn't understand.

Some people would learn the full story from a hint. Shi Yan, on the other hand, learned three stories from the hint.

Zheng Shuyi: I said never mind already, you're so annoying.

Zheng Shuyi: I didn't mean anything, I'm just making sure you're not thinking too much.

Zheng Shuyi: Bye, I'm sleeping now!

She threw away the phone, grabbed a pillow, and laid on the sofa.

The firework show outside the window has ended, but the night sky was still illuminated by all the lights.

Zheng Shuyi opened her eyes wide. She stared at the moon hanging in the sky and could feel that her ears were burning.

Hazy clouds blocked the moonlight occasionally, and at other times, the curved arc was clearly outlined against the night sky.

After the New Year celebration, the city finally returned to its usual peacefulness.

Looking from the Bay of Clouds, one could see the river still shining with sparkling waves.

Shi Yan rested his legs on the stool with his eyes closed; the wine beside him was half-drunken.

When the phone finally stopped buzzing, he stood up and walked to his bedroom.

——

Early in the morning of the first day of New Year, some idiots were launching firecrackers downstairs, awakening Zheng Shuyi and Bi Ruoshan from their sleep.

"Who's setting off firecrackers?! This is New Year's Day, not Lunar New Year!

Bi Ruoshan opened the window and wanted to curse. But when she looked down, other than the remains of used firecrackers, there wasn't a single soul around.

"Some damn disrespectful people. Next time I'll have to call the police. It's illegal to set off firecrackers in the city, don't they know?!"

After she released her anger, she turned her head and found Zheng Shuyi still sitting on the bed. She had dull eyes and messy hair as if she had been ravaged all night.

Bi Ruoshan yawned and said, "Keep sleeping."

"Nah, forget it," Zheng Shuyi rubbed her hair, got out of bed, and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After that, she returned to the room, turned on her laptop and phone, and started to send New Year greetings via WeChat and email to the people she has interviewed before.

This was her habit during every New Year and holiday so that she could maintain connections and information sources.

Bi Ruoshan sat on the bed and watched silently for a while, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Don't bother me."

Zheng Shuyi looked at her laptop screen carefully, checking every single word in fear that she might make the same punctuation mistake she made last night.

What happened last night gave her a great psychological shadow.

She could try to forget what happened with Shi Yan, but if she made the same mistake with someone else again, she would shut herself in solitary confinement for three years.

Bi Ruoshan watched her send emails after emails, then poke around on her phone. She finally couldn't help but ask, "Are you sending messages to Shi Yan again?"

Zheng Shuyi was stunned for a second, then she showed Bi Ruoshan her phone screen.

"No, I'm messaging my friends."

"Okay good," Bi Ruoshan kicked her legs and got off the bed. When passing Zheng Shuyi, she patted her on the shoulder, "Slow and steady wins the race. Just ignore him these days, we can have fun playing."

After speaking, Bi Ruoshan went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

Zheng Shuyi refreshed the screen and the chat history between her and Shi Yan was still at the embarrassing moment last night.

Even if Bi Ruoshan didn't tell her, she would ignore Shi Yan for at least a few days either way.

The first person Zheng Shuyi sent New Year blessings to on WeChat was Guan Xiangcheng.

Ten minutes later, Guan Xiangcheng replied via voice message.

"Happy New Year to you too, are you on holiday break now?"

Zheng Shuyi: Yes, we are. It's a normal holiday break.

Looking at her words, Guan Xiangcheng felt that young women's lives these days were quite tiring. No matter what industry they were in, working overtime seemed to be a normal thing. Therefore, he said, "Use this time to rest. If you have time, feel free to come to my horse farm. Exercise is very important, and staying healthy is the key to everything."

Zheng Shuyi: Okay! If I have time I'll definitely come!

Zheng Shuyi: Thank you in advance!

Guan Xiangcheng: "Just go whenever you want, there's always someone there taking care of the horse farm for me."

Bi Ruoshan happened to be brushing her teeth and when she poked her head out, she vaguely heard the voice message. "What horse farm?" she asked.

"It's Guan Xiangcheng, you know him?" said Zheng Shuyi, "The one our Investment Principles teachers kept mentioning."

"I think I remember him," said Bi Ruoshan with the toothbrush in her mouth, "was that him just now?"

"Yeah."

Bi Ruoshan wasn't surprised that Zheng Shuyi had contacts with such a person, so she nodded and continued to brush her teeth.

When Zheng Shuyi finished sending messages to everyone, it wasn't early anymore.

The two sat beside each other to put makeup on and they left the apartment after eating a takeaway lunch.

On New Year's holiday, every dining place that was open was crowded with people, let alone commercial centers.

Just by thinking of the crowded scene, Zheng Shuyi and Bi Ruoshan felt very uncomfortable. They didn't like places with too many people, so they didn't bother to go find themselves in trouble.

"Let's go to our university," said Bi Ruoshan, "When we got there for dinner yesterday, it was already too late. Today there won't be many people there, so it'll be a good opportunity to check if anything has changed."

After making up their minds, they immediately took a taxi to the University of Finance and Economics.

For the next two days, they avoided crowds whenever possible.

At the university, they happened to meet a group of students holding a music festival on the campus. The two enjoyed the show in the afternoon and took a lot of photos.

On the next day, they spent another afternoon watching a movie and getting their nails done. In the evening, they went to the riverside to watch fireworks and eat supper. Life was comfortable and leisure, the holiday life they have been longing for a long time.

But in the meantime, Bi Ruoshan has been feeding an idea to Zheng Shuyi.

"Just be patient, make him wait. Make him wait long enough that he gets anxious."

Bi Ruoshan was sitting in front of a street food shop and said seriously, "Don't send him anything, and post more in your Moments, understand?"

Zheng Shuyi was sorting out the photos she took in the past few days. After hearing what Bi Ruoshan said, she wasn't very confident in herself.

"You make yourself sound very experienced," she said.

"At least I'm more experienced in this than you. Unlike you, when I like a man, in most cases, I have to be the one to seduce him first."

She thought for a while, and then asked again, "Has he contacted you in the past two days?"

Zheng Shuyi shook her head, "No."

Then she added, "He's normally like this."

"Humph."

Bi Ruoshan sneered, "Just let him wait. He'll start to feel uncomfortable after seeing your Moments."

During the conversation, Zheng Shuyi posted nine more pictures to her Moments, all of which were photos taken by them in the past two days.

Just after eating a few bites of food, there were already dozens of likes and comments.

Zheng Shuyi placed her chopsticks down and looked through the comments. She didn't find the uncomfortable Shi Yan Bi Ruoshan was talking about.

Instead, just a minute ago, Shi Yan posted a financial-related article.

Zheng Shuyi felt that the trick Bi Ruoshan told her wouldn't have any effect on a person like Shi Yan.

"Look, he didn't buy it at all!"

——

The entire New Year's holiday had no special meaning for Shi Yan.

The higher the position, the less the concept of vacation.

But Chen Sheng's situation was a little more miserable.

He originally thought that after Shi Yan suddenly returned to China, all he had to do was to be present at a banquet, nothing too much. But when he was planning how to spend his New Year in New York, Shi Yan seemed like he had nothing to do and sent him loads of work.

Fortunately, on the last day, Shi Yan finally had an appointment to do. Chen Sheng was finally able to sleep peacefully for a night.

But it wasn't true that Shi Yan had nothing to do. That was because Guan Xiangcheng's son had returned.

Guan Ji was just like Guan Xiangcheng, a low-key person who didn't like to be the center of attention. He came back home without many people knowing at all, and it wasn't until the third day when Shi Yan finally received the news.

During the holiday season, most of the places were noisy and crowded. So he contacted a couple of friends and went to the horse farm together.

The main purpose was just to have a good time, and the weather happened to be really good as well. With the winter sun shining warmly on the body, it was easy for one to relax.

As soon as Shi Yan arrived, he saw several people sitting relaxedly on the deck chairs, nothing like their usual aristocraticness.

He greeted his friends but didn't join their conversation. He found a seat and sat down on his own. He took off his glasses, placed them aside, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

In the blurry field of vision, he could see the grass on the vast plain. Shi Yan wasn't looking at his phone nor chatting with his friends. He just had his eyes closed as if he was meditating.

After sitting there for a long time, his friends were still chatting with joy, yet Shi Yan still didn't join the conversation. Guan Ji felt that something was unusual and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

Shi Yan replied with a faint expression as if he wasn't interested in anything.

He stretched his legs and looked at the green grass in front and several horses eating the grass leisurely.

——

After chatting for another while, Guan Ji suddenly thought of something. He quickly ran to the changing room and took out a wooden box.

"What's this?"

Several friends leaned forward to ask.

"The stock market isn't stable, I keep getting worried."

Guan Ji said straightforwardly. He opened the box, which contained several jade Buddha carvings.

"The more of the world I see, the more I started to believe in these. A while ago, I specially went on the mountain and asked for a few of these."

Some people were joking around, and others were nodding with Guan Ji.

No matter what era it was, superstition has always been popular.

Guan Ji happily turned to ask Shi Yan, "What are you thinking about? You look so down today."

Shi Yan didn't answer his question, he just asked back, "What's the matter?"

Guan Ji placed the box in front of him and replied, "There's one for you too, pick one. In our industry, our emotions are like riding roller coasters every day."

Shi Yan glanced at it with lack of interest, then picked a random one up, "You really believe in these things?"

Guan Ji replied seriously, "Either way, just use it for the placebo effect."

"Oh?" Shi Yan turned the jade Buddha casually around and saw that the words "Dream Come True" were carved behind it.

He put on his glasses and smiled, "It can bring whatever I want?"

Guan Ji answered, "Sure, you can understand it this way. Whatever you want will appear."

Just as he finished speaking, Shi Yan raised his eyes and suddenly saw a familiar figure appear.

She was walking toward him.

Shi Yan clenched his fingers and grabbed tight on what was in his hand.

• 1In Chinese, the pot is frequently understood as the word, responsibility. Having the pot or having to carry the pot means being blamed for and taking responsibility.
• 2A Dou(The A is pronounced as ‘ah') was Liu Bei's(The king of one of the three kingdoms during the Three Kingdoms era), son's nickname. He plays around and doesn't do anything every day which led to the fall of the kingdom. Hopeless A Dou is an idiom used to refer to a completely hopeless person.
• 3Again this part is a bit tricky to translate, but the author removed some punctuation again which could change the meaning from, "I'll sleep if you don't tell me." to "I'll sleep you if you don't tell me." (Depending in how you read it)