Accidental Love

After winning the battle, Zheng Shuyi was finally able to concentrate on the movie.

However, the movie was already halfway through, now that she just started watching, she didn't have much idea of what was going on.

She leaned closer to Shi Yan and asked, "Are the male and female lead together yet?"

Shi Yan looked at the screen and said calmly, "This isn't the male lead."

"Ah? Really?" Zheng Shuyi didn't even have time to eat popcorn anymore.

Isn't the name of this movie called Blooming Flowers and Full Moon? Then who is the female lead hugging and kissing with right now?

And so far, this man appeared the most. If he isn't the male lead, then who is?

However, in the last twenty minutes, the director swiftly sped everything up like they didn't have sufficient funds or something. In a matter of minutes, the ex-boyfriend left the female lead, and then immediately after, she went to another man, fell in love, and prepared to get married. It made the audience so stunned that many of them even forgot to curse and complain.

Seeing that the progress bar couldn't hold for much longer, Zheng Shuyi couldn't help but mumble, "Huh? The ML only appeared for the last twenty minutes?"

Shi Yan turned his head, glanced at her faintly, and said nothing.

In the end, the female lead handed the invitation to the man she loved for years. The man was so mad that he violently destroyed hundreds of thousands of lines of code. Zheng Shuyi, holding her popcorn, got so shocked by the scenes that she even forgot to blink her eyes.

"Why is she so cruel?" she said to herself.

Suddenly, Shi Yan's voice sounded in her ears.

"Yeah, it is quite cruel to send that invitation when his career is at a critical time."

Zheng Shuyi nodded.

"Yeah."

Shi Yan said, "Should've waited a little longer."

Zheng Shuyi, "Yes."

Shi Yan continued, "She should've sent it when the child was a month old. For the one-month celebration, you know?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

She stuffed two popcorn in her mouth and stopped talking.

Why does it feel like Shi Yan was pointing at one and talking about another just now…

The more Zheng Shuyi thought about it, the more she felt that was what Shi Yan was trying to say was targeted toward her. So when the movie ended, she suddenly said, "But I think, women who aren't cruel wouldn't last."

She got up with Shi Yan and followed him out, "Right?"

As soon as she finished, she seemed to have stepped on something and tripped.

In the split of a second, Shi Yan held onto her to prevent her from falling.

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

When their eyes were looking at each other, she had a hunch that Shi Yan would start being enigmatic again.

But Shi Yan just looked at her and suddenly smiled. Then he let go, turned, and walked towards the exit.

What…?

Zheng Shuyi walked out holding the popcorn that she hadn't finished yet.

Everyone from the theater came out at this moment, and 80% of the noise from the people was all insults about the shitty plot twist of this story.

Who would have thought that such a beautiful name turned out to have such a plot?

Zheng Shuyi didn't understand why Shi Yan's secretary chose such a film. Could it be because Shi Yan has always been oppressing his secretaries, and the secretary thought it would be a good way to take revenge against him?

But she couldn't really blame the secretary who probably thought that it was a good choice since it was now around Valentine's Day, and it would be nice to naturally choose a romance movie. In addition, the name of the movie sounded so nice, and there have been many recommendations in WeChat too. Something like, "You should really bring your lover on Valentine's Day to see Blooming Flowers and Full Moon! It's really good!"

Next to the restroom, there were many people in line. Although Zheng Shuyi didn't get any water, she did want to go in and check on her makeup.

So she shoved the popcorn to Shi Yan.

"Help me hold this for a second, I'll go use the restroom."

The moment she turned around, Shi Yan saw a shiny object slipping from Zheng Shuyi's neck.

However, the person was already far out of his reach.

Shi Yan squatted down and picked up the necklace.

——

When Fiona and her friend came out, they saw Shi Yan standing at the window by the elevator.

He was alone, but he held the bucket of popcorn that belonged to the girl who was with him just now.

This seemed really out of place, but it also seemed to be very natural.

Fiona notified her friend and then walked straight to Shi Yan.

"Mr. Shi."

Shi Yan looked over and nodded slightly.

Fiona leaned against the window, looked around, and said, "I heard Guan Ji say that you have a niece who is only a few years younger than you."

She observed Shi Yan's expression, and concealed her purpose in her words with an extremely relaxed tone, "Is that your niece just now? She's very beautiful."

"She's not my niece."

When Shi Yan said this, there was no emotion nor warmth.

Fiona's mouth curled up slightly.

However, just as she was about to continue speaking, she heard Shi Yan add, "But she is rather beautiful."

"…"

Fiona pursed her lips, lowered her eyes to adjust her emotions, then smiled and said, "By the way, I reserved dinner, do you want to come along?"

"No."

Shi Yan looked up and looked over Fiona's head, "She's shy with strangers."

As he said that, Fiona seemed to hear Zheng Shuyi's voice.

When she turned her head, she saw Zheng Shuyi and a middle-aged couple walking side by side, while still chatting warmly.

"Yes, yes, yes, this whole movie is a lie. Why release this around Valentine's Day? Is the director taking revenge on society or what?"

The woman replied, "I'm not very sure, but I've heard gossip. It seemed that this was supposed to be a sweet and lovely story, but the male lead provoked the investors toward the end of the production and then suddenly lost his position as the male lead."

"Huh?? That's a thing???" replied Zheng Shuyi.

Fiona: "…" What a ‘shy' woman…

——

The driver was waiting downstairs at the movie theater.

Seeing Shi Yan and Zheng Shuyi coming out, he immediately came down to help them open the car door.

However, just as Shi Yan was about to step into the car, he felt that the person behind him stopped.

He turned his head and saw Zheng Shuyi standing there holding half a bucket of her precious popcorn. Her toes turned slightly on the ground and tried to put on a shy look.

"The weather's quite nice today."

Shi Yan didn't take out the leg that was already on the car, "What do you want now?"

"I don't want to ride the car, can you walk with me for a while?"

In the evening when it had just cleared from the rain, just above the horizon, the sun shone its yellow warm light onto the pedestrians.

Shi Yan looked at Zheng Shuyi; his expression was difficult to interpret.

Zheng Shuyi continued confidently, "We've watched the movie already, would it hurt to take a walk? Services must be complete."

"Service?"

Shi Yan raised his eyebrows slightly and put his hands on the car. But he didn't have any intention of getting out, "I'm serving you?"

Zheng Shuyi suddenly felt like she lost her confidence.

"That's not what I meant…"

"Who's trying to ‘behave'?" Shi Yan finally walked over, "Me?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

"Whatever!" She waved her hand and walked forward, "I don't want to walk in high heels anyway."

When she passed by Shi Yan, she was dragged back.

Just as she got back to her balance, Shi Yan stared at her for a moment, and then went his hands through her hair and put his hand on the back of her neck.

As he suddenly got closer, Zheng Shuyi's heart also suddenly started to speed up in shock.

With an almost conditioned response, she immediately held her breath and closed her eyes.

But in her head, she was thinking, was what I just did too beautiful for him to handle?

But, but… it's in the public, it might not be such a good place to kiss.

There are so many elementary school students on the side of the road too, we might be a bad influence for the children.

And there are so many elderly people walking too, they'll probably find this uncomfortable.

Sigh.

Sometimes, men's uncontrollable aggressiveness is very worrying.

Zheng Shuyi did a good job of preparing herself to be kissed in public, but the kiss didn't land after a long wait.

Instead, the hair on the back of his neck was lifted up by Shi Yan, and then he let go of his hand.

"What are you doing?"

Zheng Shuyi opened her eyes, saw Shi Yan's expression, and at the same time, felt something cold on her neck.

"…"

She forced out a smile from her stiff lips, "Nothing, just breathing the fresh air after the rain."

"…"

Shi Yan obviously didn't believe her lie. He looked down and leaned closer.

"You thought I was going to kiss you?"

He just came out of the office today, so he was dressed sternly, but his unmatching tone sounded very frivolous.

I'm not a very serious person in Shi Yan's eyes anyway, thought Zheng Shuyi. Therefore, she said confidently again, "Yes, so what?"

Shi Yan didn't move his eyes, but his tone suddenly became a little cold, "I don't have the habit of kissing in public."

He looked directly at Zheng Shuyi. The thoughts in his heart that irritated him were rampaging silently.

What, she did this often with her ex-boyfriend?

However, Zheng Shuyi didn't understand the meaning that Shi Yan wanted to express.

She suddenly smiled, her eyes gleaming, "So you can if it's not in public?"

Shi Yan: "…"

All the jealousy in him was suddenly crushed by her smile, and they had trouble forming together again.

But Shi Yan was not very willing.

It was just that he couldn't say them out loud, and could only let it become an indescribable emotion.

Under the mottled tree shadows, it made the smile at the corner of Shi Yan's mouth very faint.

"Then why didn't you get in the car with me?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…Oh!!!"

"You could have said it earlier!" She smiled and grabbed Shi Yan's arm, making a gesture to walk in the car.

It was just that she moved very lightly and didn't use any strength at all. So all it took was a gentle pull and she returned to her original place.

“Watch what you're doing."

Zheng Shuyi submissively released her hand.

But of course, she knew Shi Yan wasn't being serious. She wasn't that dumb.

Under the dim twilight and in the noisy streets, Shi Yan was holding the half bucket of popcorn, making him look a little more casual.

Following Zheng Shuyi's footsteps, he walked extremely slowly. Stepping on the stone road step by step, he made time seem to flow slower.

”You‘re going to the art exhibition with Qin Shiyue tomorrow?"

He spoke abruptly, and Zheng Shuyi let out a "yeah". "Why did you ask if you know already? Do you want to come?"

Shi Yan ignored her and continued in his own line of thoughts, "You don't seem like a person who likes art…"

Zheng Shuyi suddenly interrupted, "What do you mean? Do I look like a very vulgar person? Very tasteless?"

Shi Yan tilted his head and looked at Zheng Shuyi speechlessly, and she persisted, "I demand a reply from you, what are you trying to say?"

However, Shi Yan still did not answer her, "Although Qin Shiyue studied art appreciation, I know how much she actually knows."

"So."

He paused. His voice was casual, but the meaning in his words was obvious, "What are you two up to?"

Zheng Shuyi felt a guilty conscience.

She couldn't directly tell him that his niece was trying to date a man.

Why can't you be more careless? How can you even guess such a thing?

"Then you should go and ask your niece yourself," Zheng Shuyi's voice was much quieter now, revealing his lack of confidence, "You're much closer to her than I am."

"And you two have secrets now too?"

Zheng Shuyi was silent for a while and suddenly didn't want to lie anymore. So she said, "It's actually that Xiao Yue wants to know a friend of mine, so she asked me to help her out."

"Oh?" Shi Yan asked casually, "Which friend?"

"A… just…"

Zheng Shuyi was troubled and didn't know how to tell him.

A friend that you met on a blind date?

Shi Yan felt her hesitation and looked down at her, "Male?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

She nodded.

Shi Yan raised his eyes, his expression gradually serious, "The friend who went on a blind date with you?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

"What blind date? Don't be corny."

Shi Yan seemed to find her words funny. He nodded with a slight smile.

"Yes, I'm corny."

Zheng Shuyi glanced at him, feeling a little unhappy.

She murmured again, "And stingy."

"I'm stingy?"

Shi Yan suddenly stopped and looked at Zheng Shuyi. The words that he was about to say didn't come out.

If he was stingy, how could she still be standing in front of him right now…

If this happened to one of his friends, like Guan Ji, even a good-tempered man like him, after being used as a tool by a woman who suddenly appeared to get revenge on her ex, the least he would do would be to cut ties with her forever.

Shi Yan just looked at Zheng Shuyi heavily.

His look made Zheng Shuyi scared. She quickly tried to change the topic, "No, you're the most generous person in the world. So, would you like to come along tomorrow?"

"No."

"…You don't want to see what the man that your niece likes is like?"

Shi Yan resumed his sluggish pace, and said unhurriedly, "How bad can a man that you liked and went on a blind date with you be?"

Zheng Shuyi felt sweet by what he said, but she also wanted to roll her eyes at him.

How come it sounded so ambiguous?

Wait…

"Since when did I say that I like him?"

Shi Yan smiled and said nothing.

Zheng Shuyi didn't want to argue anymore. She pulled on his sleeve and then said, "Then he's even a little older than you, don't you mind?"

"Why would I mind?" Shi Yan raised his eyebrows, "Won't I still be his elder even if he's ten years older?"

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

Wow, he sounds so right.

——

Fortunately, Shi Yan really didn't plan to go, otherwise, Qin Shiyue might end up so angry that she would take a time machine back to January and go cut her hair.1It is a popular Chinese belief that when one gets a haircut in January, his/her uncle will die. Some would consider it to be a tradition to not have a haircut in January, but others would consider it to be black magic. It has to do with some Chinese history stuff back in the Qing Dynasty, but it's not needed to understand the story here.

She rarely got up so early in the morning and even called a beautician to do her face and her. After all this hassle, if Shi Yan came, then it would 100% limit her performance.

Maybe Yu You would even think that something was wrong with her.

It was a sunny day, and the temperature rose sharply. Pedestrians have already taken off their winter coats and put on light and thin clothes. There were some young ladies who even wore skirts.

When Qin Shiyue and Zheng Shuyi arrived at the Exhibition Center, Yu You was already there waiting.

Because it was the weekend, he dressed more casually too, wearing only a thin gray sweater. He was reading the instructions on the display board at the door.

In the crowd, he bowed his back slightly, but his focused expression added a sense of alienation to him, making him stand out in the crowd.

Qin Shiyue glanced at him from a distance and pulled Zheng Shuyi's sleeves. She said with a smile, "Look, the temperament of a highly educated person is indeed different. Look how decorous he looks, unlike my uncle…"

Qin Shiyue felt Zheng Shuyi gave her a cold look.

She coughed, then changed her words, "Unlike my uncle… who… is such a well-rounded person excellent in all fields."

"Look at you now," Zheng Shuyi patted her on the shoulder, "But even if you praise him to the sky here, he still can't hear you."

When she walked over with Qin Shiyue, their footsteps caught Yu You's attention.

He turned his head and smiled at the two of them, "Here?"

"Have you been waiting for a long time?" asked Zheng Shuyi.

"Just arrived."

"Okay, that's good," Zheng Shuyi pointed to Qin Shiyue, "This is my friend Qin Shiyue, you two just met the day before yesterday."

Qin Shiyue immediately waved to Yu You, "Mr. Yu, good afternoon."

"Hello," Yu You glanced at his watch and then raised his chin towards the two of them, "Let's go in."

He walked in front, and the two women were a little bit behind him, giving them room for whispers.

"Remember to let me do some talking in a while," whispered Qin Shiyue, "I'm professional."

"I know."

Zheng Shuyi made a gesture of sealing her mouth with a zipper.

In the next half an hour, Zheng Shuyi only spoke whenever she had to.

Even if Qin Shiyue passed the topic to her, she would fool around just by saying, "I am an amateur, I don't understand these."

The characteristics of a very responsible and cooperative female side character.

Today, the exhibition center was having the "Monet Impression Art Exhibition". The theme was multimedia holographic projection technology, which displayed nearly 400 digitally copied Monet's works in the form of streaming real-time images.

Since Monet was one of the most important painters in France and also a key representative of Impressionism, even many people who didn't understand painters heard about his name before.

Upon hearing about such an interesting art exhibition, many came to leave artistic traces on their Weibo and Moments.

Therefore, although the art exhibition was divided into eight sections, each one of them was overcrowded, which was not exactly the deserted and high-spirited style Zheng Shuyi imagined.

Many people even dragged their family along, as if they came here to watch 4D movies. There were children playing around everywhere.

Fortunately, Monet was a great impressionist. Although Zheng Shuyi couldn't tell these painting's artistic value, the paintings themselves looked very pleasing to the eye.

On the other hand, Qin Shiyue eloquently explained these famous paintings to Yu You.

Zheng Shuyi listened to Qin Shiyue say "color scale", "brushstrokes", “impressionism", etc, and was actually impressed by her.

Unexpectedly, although she seemed to be very casual and barely does anything every day, she still had some knowledge regarding the major that she studied.

When the three of them turned to the "Monet's Light" area, Zheng Shuyi leaned to her ear and said, "Impressive, I didn't know you knew this much about art.

"What do you mean impressive," Qin Shiyue said while covering her mouth, "I checked Baidu Baike2Baidu Baike is the Chinese alternative to Wikipedia and Baidu is the Chinese alternative to Google before I slept yesterday and I'm just shoving pieces together right now. I don't even know what I'm talking about."

Zheng Shuyi: "…?"

Seeing her shocked look, Qin Shiyue comforted her, "Well he's just like you, I'll just try my best to fool him."

Zheng Shuyi: "…"

What she said also sounded very reasonable.

For example, at this moment, Qin Shiyue pointed to the world-famous "Impression, Sunrise" and started talking again. But what she said made a lot of sense to Zheng Shuyi.

And Yu You listened carefully too. He never interrupted her and even replied to her from time to time.

For some reason, Zheng Shuyi suddenly felt a little bit pitiful to Yu You who was just being fooled around.

He was probably thinking that he was gaining a lot of knowledge and insight right now.

Zheng Shuyi smiled helplessly, notified the two of them, and went to the restroom.

The women's restrooms in public areas were always overcrowded. While Zheng Shuyi was waiting in line, she suddenly received a call from Wang Meiru.

Her calls were always just pointless chats.

When Zheng Shuyi listened to her talk about life again, she naturally started thinking about her, and therefore, some distant memories in her mind were also suddenly brought up.

She was stunned for a moment and then quickly found an excuse to hang up. Then she opened Baidu and searched for the chancellor of Qingan University School of the Arts.

――Then took a screenshot and sent it to Qin Shiyue.

After a while.

Qin Shiyue: Who's this?

Zheng Shuyi: Yu You's mom.

Qin Shiyue:…

Zheng Shuyi now began to pity Qin Shiyue.

When she returned to the exhibition hall, Qin Shiyue had already finished her "explanation" and followed Yu You to the studio with an expressionless face.

Zheng Shuyi followed their footsteps, leaned close to Qin Shiyue, and comforted her in a low voice, "It's okay, just because his mom is the chancellor of the School of the Arts, that doesn't mean he understands art too."

Qin Shiyue looked at her pitifully and shaped the words with her mouth, "Are you trying to comfort me?"

"No," Zheng Shuyi held her hand as a sign of encouragement, "Your dad and uncle are both people in the finance industry, but you still don't know anything about it."

Qin Shiyue: "…"

Thank you, I'm comforted now.

——

One part of the exhibition was to show a documentary about Monet's life.

Perhaps many people's intuitive impressions of documentaries were that they were boring, so there weren't many people in the theater.

The fact proved that the general public was correct.

Even though the paintings were beautiful and the music sounded very pleasing, the slow pace and the hypnotic sound almost made Zheng Shuyi fall asleep.

Of course, Qin Shiyue wasn't much better.

She sat between Zheng Shuyi and Yu You with her arms folded in front of her chest. She leaned back on the chair as if she was paying full attention to the documentary, but in fact, she almost lost consciousness several times.

Halfway through the film, they were the only three left in the theater.

Qin Shiyue quietly glanced at Yu You and started to think.

His mom works as the chancellor for a School of the Arts, then he must have grown up under the influence of art.

Especially for a famous person like Monet, he must know his works very well.

But even so, he didn't stop my nonsense and is accompanying us to watch such a boring documentary that he probably knew everything already.

Then…

Qin Shiyue thought, Yu You must have at least a decent impression of me.

Thinking of this, Qin Shiyue snickered for a moment and completely lost her sleepiness.

But she gradually leaned towards him, pretending as if she was about to sleep.

Unexpectedly, as soon as her head was about to touch Yu You's shoulder, he suddenly avoided her.

――His movement looked natural and flawless. As if he really was just trying to switch to a more comfortable posture.

As a result, Qin Shiyue almost bumped her head into the seat.

She froze in place for a while and widened her eyes.

Fuck?

The subtle movements here did not attract Zheng Shuyi's attention.

Yu You turned his head and looked at Qin Shiyue. "What's the matter? Are you sleepy?" he asked.

It took Qin Shiyue a long time to return to her senses, "Oh, yes, a little."

"Then I'll take you back home?"

——

"Huh? We're leaving?"

When Zheng Shuyi was dragged up by Qin Shiyue, she was still very confused, "It hasn’t been long since we came."

Qin Shiyue smiled at her, "I'm sleepy, I want to go home and sleep."

"Huh?"

Before Qin Shiyue found a chance to explain to her, the three had already walked out of the exhibition center and ran into Shi Yan head-on.

Zheng Shuyi: "???"

Qin Shiyue: "???"

"Didn't you say you won't come?" Zheng Shuyi was surprised.

Didn't you say that you won't come? Why did you suddenly appear?

When Qin Shiyue saw Shi Yan, she suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of guilty conscience.

Moreover, Shi Yan glanced at Yu You blankly with a sense of imperceptible arrogance in his eyes.

"This is?"

Yu You looked towards Shi Yan but was asking Zheng Shuyi.

Shi Yan looked at this situation, and his eyes changed slightly.

But before Zheng Shuyi could speak, Qin Shiyue replied, "He's Sister Shuyi's boyfriend."

Zheng Shuyi: "???"

Since she shot the words out, after receiving the looks from Zheng Shuyi and Shi Yan, she forced herself to continue.

"He came to pick Sister Shuyi up."

She simply felt that Shi Yan didn't seem to have any kind feelings toward Yu You, so she subconsciously wanted to pretend that she had nothing to do with him.

As for the aftermath…

I'll worry about it later.

——

Because of Qin Shiyue's words, in the end, only Zheng Shuyi followed Shi Yan into his car.

Shi Yan unbuttoned the bottom button of his suit and loosened his bow tie at the same time. He asked coldly, "Did you have fun?"

"It's okay. It's pretty fun, the first time I took notice of digital paintings, it's quite new to me."

When she said that, Zheng Shuyi suddenly felt that the atmosphere in the car became a little awkward.

Then, she started to realize that when Shi Yan appeared, he seemed a little hostile to Yu You.

She turned to look at Shi Yan and moved towards him little by little.

"Don't tell me you think he's interested in me?"

Shi Yan tilted his head and looked at Zheng Shuyi, "I think every man in the world is interested in you."

It was an obviously aggressive sentence.

Zheng Shuyi listened but felt tempted for some reason.

The corners of her mouth slowly rose up. Just as she was about to talk, Fan Lei, the driver in front, suddenly stepped on the brake.

Then in the car, Fan Lei's voice slowly came.

"I definitely don't."

• 1It is a popular Chinese belief that when one gets a haircut in January, his/her uncle will die. Some would consider it to be a tradition to not have a haircut in January, but others would consider it to be black magic. It has to do with some Chinese history stuff back in the Qing Dynasty, but it's not needed to understand the story here.
• 2Baidu Baike is the Chinese alternative to Wikipedia and Baidu is the Chinese alternative to Google