Accidental Love

Obviously, Zheng Shuyi's mother did not believe her at all, and yet, Zheng Shuyi couldn't take out any solid evidence either.

In fact, it wasn't impossible to find a male friend to fool her around, but based on Zheng Shuyi's understanding of her parents, once the play started, it would have to continue forever.

If she needed to make up countless other lies just to make up for one lie, that just sounded like way too much trouble.

And, Zheng Shuyi's mother was a quick person. Within two days, everything was arranged already.

On Wednesday afternoon, Zheng Shuyi received several messages from her mother.

Breeder: I've finished the arrangements. Go meet him this Saturday at 6.

Breeder: I found a place that's in the middle of both of your working spaces. It's right beside Jiang City's central business district (CBD), Bridge Cafe.

Breeder: This restaurant is very expensive, make sure you remember to pay for the meal. If you don't have enough money, just tell mom.

Breeder: I'll give you the handsome guy's WeChat.

Zheng Shuyi: …

Zheng Shuyi: I won't add it!

Breeder: How are you going to find him if you don't add his WeChat?

Zheng Shuyi: It'll be really awkward, I won't add him!

Breeder: Okay fine, when you get there, just look for the most handsome one.

Zheng Shuyi: Squirtle-sneer.jpg"leaderboard_btf" data-pw-mobi="leaderboard_btf">

Breeder: Although his family is rich, ever since he went to college, he has been using his own money. What an independent young man.

Zheng Shuyi kept seeing the "Typing" message appear and quickly interrupted her.

Zheng Shuyi: Okay! I have a meeting now!

Breeder: Okay. Good girl, trust your mother, you'll like this man.

Breeder: [Rose][Rose][Rose]

Breeder: Good-wishes-for-you.gif

She actually did have a meeting to attend. Zheng Shuyi stood up angrily with her laptop and slammed the phone face down on the table.

Kong Nan was taken back by her sudden anger and asked as she followed along, "What's the matter?"

"Disasters can never be avoided, ever!" Zheng Shuyi bit her lips and shook her head, "My mom is indeed faster, she already arranged a blind date for me this Saturday."

"That fast?!" Kong Nan laughed, "I understand the urge to get married, but you don't look like a person who needs a blind date."

――"What?"

Qin Shiyue, who was walking beside them, was originally playing on her phone. Upon hearing this, she quickly asked, "Sister Shuyi, you're going on a blind date?"

Zheng Shuyi didn't reply; it was an acquiescence.

"But, aren't you…" asked Qin Shiyue.

"My mom forced me," replied Zheng Shuyi with a frown, "Do you think I want to go?"

Qin Shiyue panicked, "Wait you can't go! Didn't we agree to go to a spa together this Saturday?"

Zheng Shuyi wanted to say something but changed her mind. In the end, she just said, "You won't understand the troubles of urging a marriage."

People like Zheng Shuyi's mother, who seemed to be gentle and kind, but in fact were actually stubborn and even a little old-fashioned.

Rather than confronting her head-on, it was better to just pretend to follow her and confuse her instead.

Zheng Shuyi was still a little irritated after returning from the meeting.

When she returned home from work, she continued to receive several WeChat messages from her mother, who was sending her pictures of the man.

In fact, he actually looked pretty good: had a clean temperament, wore a pair of glasses, and looked polite.

But he was completely different from the "polite" Shi Yan, who also wore glasses.

This man had a humble and gentle temperament.

Zheng Shuyi swiped the screen and arrived at the photo of Shi Yan that she sent to her mother earlier.

Instantly, she felt like that man was incomparable to this one.

Speaking of which, she hasn't settled Shi Yan down yet…

Thinking of Shi Yan, Zheng Shuyi suddenly got inspiration. She remembered a K-drama she watched before and an idea popped up in her mind.

If she told Shi Yan that she was forced to go on a blind date, how would Shi Yan react?

Would he be like what happened in the drama, telling her not to go?

Or, maybe he would just secretly feel jealous.

But when she turned on her phone to look for Shi Yan, the experience convinced her.

According to Shi Yan's attitude, he would probably reply to her with a "You can do this".

——

5 o'clock, Saturday afternoon.

Zheng Shuyi sat in front of the dressing table for a long time, holding the powder puff in her hand but not moving.

On one hand, she wanted to maintain her own image. Even though she was forced to go, she should still make sure she looked nice.

On the other hand, she wondered what if the other person fell in love at first sight after seeing her, what should she do then?

So frustrating.

After struggling for a long time, she finally decided to put on light makeup and wore a set of old clothes.

The place was in the CBD, which was commonplace for traffic jams.

In addition, Zheng Shuyi didn't want to go voluntarily, so she purposefully didn't leave early. Unexpectedly, she indeed did arrive a few minutes late.

She walked into the restaurant, and based on the impression of the photo, she saw the man sitting by the window at a glance.

He looked identical to the picture. Simple clothes, sitting there quietly, not playing on his phone, and just flipping through the books beside the table.

Zheng Shuyi quickly walked over.

"Are you Mr. Yu You1You is pronounced Yo? Sorry, I was stuck in the traffic for a while, sorry I'm late."

Yu You looked up and lightly glanced at Zheng Shuyi.

"It's okay, I just arrived too."

Seeing him being so indifferent, Zheng Shuyi was rather embarrassed.

"Please take a seat," said Yu You.

After sitting, the atmosphere at the table sank.

Yu You also sighed inexplicably and raised his hand to call the waiter.

"Let's order first."

Zheng Shuyi agreed.

——

In fact, although Yu You has been learning in school for a long time, he was not a nerd, and instead, he was a pretty good talker.

In the first 20 minutes of the blind date, Yu You was basically the only one talking. Zheng Shuyi just answered and never started a topic herself.

When all the food arrived, Yu You poured a glass of lemonade for Zheng Shuyi. He studied her and then asked bluntly, "Are you forced here by your family?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

She admitted, "Yes, my mom insisted for me to come."

Unexpectedly, Yu You smiled as if he felt relieved, "Actually, me too."

Hearing these words, Zheng Shuyi also let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm only twenty-five, not at the age yet."

"Yeah, you're still young," said Yu You, "I'm already thirty and my family members are very anxious. But I don't intend to start a family yet, I don't have the time and energy to do so. I'm not planning to start a relationship either, let alone getting married."

The two looked at each other, and both showed an expression of understanding each other.

——

At the same time, on the sofa in the living room of the Shi family, someone placed two issues of ‘Finance Weekly' there.

Shi Yan picked one up, and the featured article was about Guan Xiangcheng.

He turned directly to that page, and the words "Zheng Shuyi" were written under the title.

This interview has been published for a long time, but Shi Yan hasn't had the time to read it yet.

Now that he was reading it, he flipped it open and sank in.

He didn't even hear Shi Wenguang talking to him.

"Shi Yan?"

Shi Wenguang tapped the magazine in his hand, "Are you still listening?"

Shi Yan closed the magazine, "I'm reading an interview with Uncle Guan, what's wrong?"

Shi Wenguang asked directly, "I heard that you're recently hanging out with an actress?"

Even though he was Shi Yan's father, Shi Wenguang rarely talked about his private life.

There have been occasional rumors of that recently and it sounded pretty detailed. He also felt like Shi Yan had been acting a little differently recently, so he took this opportunity to ask.

Naturally, Shi Yan himself has heard about the rumors too, but he never thought of spending the energy to deal with these kinds of things.

However, at this moment, he was concerned for some reason.

"Who said it?"

"Just rumors floating around, how can I find the source?" replied Shi Wenguang, "Just answer the question."

"No," replied Shi Yan casually.

But when he finished speaking, he thought of something and said, "It's just that she likes to act, calling her an actor would be insulting the profession."

Hearing an answer, Shi Wenguang didn't feel it necessary to keep asking for the details.

At this time Qin Shiyue happened to arrive. Shi Wenguang's attention shifted and Shi Yan continued to flip open the magazine.

Before Qin Shiyue came in, Shi Wenguang already asked, "Why did you come here today?"

It has been said that people a generation away from each other were more likely to get along, especially for the elderly.

Even Shi Wenguang, who rarely shows a smile and was incredibly strict, would show some warmth towards his little granddaughter.

Therefore, when in front of her grandfather, Qin Shiyue always felt like she was backed up and was never afraid of Shi Yan.

She tossed her bag, kicked off her shoes, and walked over in a pair of slippers.

Shi Wenguang motioned for her to sit down beside him and asked, "Didn't you say that you were going to the library with your boss?"

"I got bailed," Qin Shiyue bent over to rub her legs, "She went on a blind date."

After speaking, Qin Shiyue chatted about some other things, and the aunt who was responsible for the cooking also came over to ask them what they'd like to eat. The living room was quite noisy.

No one noticed that Shi Yan suddenly raised his hand, glanced at Qin Shiyue, and then closed the magazine in his hand.

"Yeah, she's only two or three years older than you and is already going on blind dates, what about you?"

Shi Wenguang said with a smile, "You even had trouble graduating."

Talking about this sensitive topic, Qin Shiyue glanced at Shi Yan guilty.

Seeing that he was just looking down at his phone and didn't respond, she felt relieved.

"If I said I want to marry right now, you probably won't agree though."

Qin Shiyue murmured, "And, for people like us, we must be more careful when getting married. We can't just go on blind dates and pretend that we're set."

She thought of something and then suddenly asked, "Grandpa, do you remember Sister Tao Ning?"

Shi Wenguang nodded, "I heard that she is getting divorced recently."

"Yeah!" Qin Shiyue slapped her thigh and became excited, "Didn't she just get a flash marriage the year before? She insisted on marrying her bodyguard and no one was able to persuade her. They didn't even sign any agreements before the marriage.

"And now great," Qin Shiyue took a sip of water and continued, "After the divorce, she also has to lose a huge sum of her property. I heard that the man still thinks that it wasn't enough and is doing a lawsuit right now. I just met Sister Tao Ning a couple of days ago, she looks a lot more haggard. She's only thirty but looks like she was already in her forties."

Shi Wenguang was not interested in this topic and obviously wasn't paying much attention either. But Qin Shiyue continued to talk to herself, "This is a lesson for her. At first, everyone told her that the bodyguard wasn't marrying her for love and she didn't believe them. Now look, she got taken advantage of and lost money."

Just after speaking, Qin Shiyue was knocked on the head by a magazine.

"What is it, uncle?"

Shi Yan was looking at her coldly.

"Don't talk too much about other families."

——

After both sides confessed, the meal became much more comfortable.

Yu You didn't mention anything emotional related, she just talked to Zheng Shuyi about his experiences of studying abroad in the past few years.

Due to her profession, Zheng Shuyi was a very good listener and also knew what to say and when to say it. In the blink of an eye, two hours have passed.

After the meal, it was natural for Yu You to send Zheng Shuyi home.

On the way back, Yu You drove the car and asked, "Have you been single for a long time?"

Zheng Shuyi whispered, "Yeah, I guess."

In her heart, she has already left Yue Xingzhou out.

Yu You smiled and looked at her, "But I'm certain you have a lot of people pursuing you. Is it because you already have someone impossible to reach in your heart?"

Zheng Shuyi felt that what he said also made sense.

"I guess."

Along the way, the two reached another consensus.

Since both families were urging them, it was better for them to deal with the family first and pretend that they were getting along and needed to know each other more. That way, they could stop being sent to more blind dates.

After the car stopped at the gate of her neighborhood, Yu You also asked to add her WeChat.

"I actually have to go to America to study next year. At that time, let's just say we feel like it's better if we're just friends, is that okay?"

"Of course."

After adding WeChat, Zheng Shuyi untied the seat belt and got out of the car. She smiled and waved, "Be careful on the way back."

Yu You motioned her an "ok" and then drove for a few meters. But then he stopped and poked his head out of the window, "I think we'll have to meet again next week."

Zheng Shuyi gave him an "I understand" look, and replied, "No problem."

After watching Yu You's car driving away, Zheng Shuyi turned around to enter her neighborhood.

After taking a few steps, she suddenly heard someone call her name.

She was a bit uncertain.

Because this voice sounded like Shi Yan's.

She slowly turned around.

The vendors outside the neighborhood were still open, and the small lights they had were disorderly placed, showing a mess of light. People were walking back and forth to buy food, and children wearing bulky sweatshirts were everywhere as well.

Shi Yan stood by the side of the road, and his face was clearly illuminated by the street lights.

He looked completely unmatched to the style of the current street scene, which made Zheng Shuyi think her eyes were lying to her for a second.

But he was indeed standing there.

His car was parked behind him and it has already long been turned off. Even the engine had cooled down.

Zheng Shuyi was stunned for a moment.

The first reaction she felt was a sense of guiltiness.

Did he see me go on the blind date?

She watched Shi Yan walking towards her and subconsciously took a step back.

Because she realized after he got closer that his expression didn't look too happy.

There was even some anger in his eyes.

As Shi Yan approached her step-by-step, a child suddenly appeared and accidentally bumped into Shi Yan.

"Ah! Uncle, sorry!"

Shi Yan looked down at the child and when he looked up back, he stopped moving when he saw Zheng Shuyi taking a step back.

His eyes stared at Zheng Shuyi closely.

"You, you…" Zheng Shuyi was so nervous that she couldn't think of any act to do, "Why are you here?"

Why am I here?

Shi Yan also wanted to ask.

He knew that she had some other purpose, that everything she did was just acting.

But he still came.

He looked directly at Zheng Shuyi, and the noise in his eyes suddenly drifted away.

Zheng Shuyi felt numb by his stare and started to explain without even being asked.

"That was the son of my mom's boss, we knew each other from a young age."

Shi Yan didn't reply.

He wasn't even listening to what Zheng Shuyi was saying.

He just looked at Zheng Shuyi's eyes. They were bright, yet constantly moving around due to continuous thoughts in her mind. They didn't even dare to look directly at him.

But it was also at this moment, when he suddenly realized something.

So what if she has another purpose?

The most she could do would be just taking advantage of my looks and my money.

If she's doing this for my money, does she think she could win against me?

If she is doing this to take advantage of my looks――

Shi Yan took a step forward, and the shadow casted by the street lamp enveloped him and Zheng Shuyi, as if this small world only existed for them.

Zheng Shuyi became more nervous, and her ears also began to feel hot.

She slowly raised her head as her cheeks turned crimson red. Her eyelashes rose and dropped, trying to block her unstable eyes.

Shi Yan looked at her, and an almost imperceptible smile slowly formed at the corner of his mouth.

If she's doing this for my looks.

She'll be the one who's suffering losses.

Translator's note: Haha, she's not doing this for your looks or your money Shi Yan, she's doing all this for revenge XD

• 1You is pronounced Yo