Shine on Me

I didn't respond to my father's offer to transfer shares to me. Meanwhile, without my father's interference, Lin Yushen smoothly progressed with the share transfer process.

At the same time, company affairs were proceeding in an orderly manner. The expanded factory area was nearing completion, requiring final touches and a series of inspections. The company had purchased two second-hand production lines from a struggling photovoltaic component manufacturer in Chengdu, with the contract signed before the New Year, but the equipment had yet to be delivered. We needed to recruit relevant technical personnel first. There was also the matter of arranging a visit to Shanghai D University's Photovoltaic Research Institute to discuss establishing a joint laboratory in Suzhou, among other things...

Of course, I was merely an observer in these matters—my main job was still being a diligent little accountant. Amid the busyness, April arrived.

On the first weekend of April, Lin Yushen was scheduled to attend a three-day neurosurgery forum in Shanghai and asked if I wanted to tag along. "You might find it boring."

"I'll go."

Having just survived the hellish end-of-month financial closing, I was eager to get out and about. As for boredom—what could be more tedious and torturous than spending an hour hunting down mismatched data in financial statements?

Since the first lecture was on Friday morning, we left for Shanghai after work on Thursday, for which I even used my precious compensatory leave.

On the way, Lin Yushen proactively brought up the question of where I would stay in Shanghai.

"Of course, I'd prefer you to stay at my place. I wouldn't feel comfortable with you staying alone in a hotel for three days. But if you stay with me, your mother might not be at ease, so her peace of mind takes priority."

I zeroed in on the key point: "So my safety is less important than my mom's approval of you, huh?"

"..." Lin Yushen surrendered immediately without resistance. "Words betray me. My mistake."

Hehe~

See, if you approach it from the right angle, the boyfriend is always the one at fault.

Once the lodging was settled, I secretly began calculating. The hotel near Lin Yushen's place had cost two to three thousand per night during New Year's. Even though it wasn't a holiday now, it probably wouldn't be much cheaper. Three nights... might even exceed my monthly salary.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t afford it, and Lin Yushen might insist on paying, but the thought of such a waste made me cringe—that money could buy so many good meals! The more I thought about it, the braver I became. After some deliberation, I sent my mom a message.

"Mom, I already told you I’m going to Shanghai with Lin Yushen for a few days, right? The place you gave me isn’t ready yet, and I don’t want to stay alone in a hotel—it’s scary and too expensive. His place is big, with a guest room that has its own bathroom. Can I stay there? I promise to stay safe!"

I edited and rephrased it several times before finally hitting send, then anxiously waited for a reply. I’d been mentioning Lin Yushen’s words and actions to my mom often lately, hoping to earn him some goodwill points...

Ten minutes passed with no response. Just as I thought it was hopeless and I was about to get scolded, Her Majesty the Mother replied with four words: "Just this once."

That meant yes, right?!

I reread the message twice before excitedly sharing the good news with Lin Yushen: "Reporting great news—I just asked my mom if I could stay at your place, and she agreed! She said ‘just this once.’ We can save money now!""What?" Lin Yusen, who was driving, didn't seem happy at first—his expression changed instead. "What exactly did you say? Read me the message you sent."

What was going on here?

"...I just said I'd be staying in your guest room when I come to Shanghai."

Lin Yusen sighed while keeping his eyes on the road. "Nie Xiguang, I have a suggestion for you. Next time you make a decision with such high stakes, could you discuss it with me first?"

I was baffled. "How is this high stakes?"

"What if your mom thinks I put you up to it? My personal rating in her eyes would plummet—maybe even hit zero."

"...You're overthinking it."

"Not at all." Lin Yusen looked genuinely worried. "But I'm glad your mom trusts me this much. I feel like I can't betray that trust. Xiguang, let's keep some distance while we're at my place."

Me: ???

Fine. You said it yourself.

"So you came to Shanghai to accompany your boyfriend to a lecture? How do you have time to meet me for afternoon tea then?"

The next afternoon, at a famous courtyard café in Shanghai, Xiaofeng asked me curiously.

I sighed and complained, "I think doing accounting might be easier. I could still follow along with the robotic surgery talk this morning, but the afternoon one—I glanced at the description, and it's one of those things where you recognize every word but they might as well be hieroglyphs when put together. Plus, one of the speakers is a foreigner, so of course I had to bail."

"Can you just walk into these forums like that?"

"It was an invitation from one of Lin Yusen's doctor friends in Suzhou. He couldn't make it last minute. I saw some people entering without invites too—the venue's huge, and there were empty seats."

"Oh. But why is your boyfriend still attending medical forums? Didn't he switch careers to become a CEO?"

I hesitated before answering, "He's thinking of returning to the medical field. Don't mention this to Rongrong or the others, okay?"

"Of course I won't. But why?" Xiaofeng looked shocked. "Being a doctor is exhausting, and it doesn't pay as much as being a boss."

"Not as a practicing doctor—maybe research. He's incredibly talented in medicine! CEOs are a dime a dozen, but genius doctors are rare. I'm willing to contribute to the nation."

Xiaofeng forgot to take a bite of her cake, gaping at me. "Watermelon, I never realized how shameless you could be. Even if your boyfriend goes back to medicine, he's the one contributing. What does that have to do with you?"

I gave her a meaningful look and said earnestly, "Feng, you should get yourself a boyfriend."

Xiaofeng shook her head vigorously. "No way, no way. I'm perfectly happy on my own. Anyway, if you're bored these next couple of days, just call me. I'll take you to this amazing restaurant near my school for dinner."

"Lin Yusen already made dinner reservations for tonight. You should join us. Tomorrow he has a business dinner—want to meet up then? We can invite Lao Da."

"Married people have no time. I've tried inviting her a few times..." Just as Xiaofeng was about to complain, her phone rang. She glanced at it. "Huh, it's Siliang."

She answered the call. "Siliang... No, I'm not busy. I'm having afternoon tea with Watermelon."

"Yeah, she called me out for tea after coming to Shanghai and spent the whole time showing off... Of course I'm free tomorrow, it's Saturday and I don't have class... Oh, your birthday? Hahaha... I didn't forget, I just hadn't remembered yet... I'll definitely be there... Oh, here, I'll pass the phone to her."Xiaofeng handed me her phone, and I took it without thinking, quickly swallowing the cake in my mouth.

"Hello, Xiguang."

"Silian."

"So you're in Shanghai and you only look for Xiaofeng, not me?" Silian chided playfully.

"It's not the weekend. You'd definitely be at work."

"True. But tomorrow night is my birthday dinner, and you have to come."

Silian spoke so quickly there was no room for refusal. "You're definitely staying in Shanghai for the weekend, so don't make excuses about going back. Rongrong and Zhuang Xu can't make it because they're busy. If you don't come, my birthday dinner will be way too quiet."

Silian had always been clever, effortlessly sweeping away all my concerns. I couldn't refuse anymore. "Alright, what time and where?"

"I'll text you the address later," Silian said, her tone brightening. "If your handsome boyfriend has time, bring him along. Xiaofeng said she's stuffed from all the dog food you feed her—share some with the rest of us so we can see what it tastes like."

"Colorless and tasteless," I laughed. "He already has plans tomorrow night, maybe next time."

"Tch, stingy. See you tomorrow then—this working girl has to get back to it." Silian hung up efficiently.

Xiaofeng took her phone back. "You don’t mind that I mentioned you, do you?"

"It's fine. Lin Yusen has dinner plans tomorrow night anyway, so I was free."

"I was just worried you might not want to see Rongrong and the others. But since you're dating now, it shouldn’t matter, right? Besides, Rongrong isn’t quite the same as before."

Curious, I asked, "What happened to Rongrong?"

Xiaofeng thought for a long moment while eating her cake. "Hard to describe. She seems gentler now, and she even said nice things about you."

I was shocked. "Really? What exactly did she say?"

"That she wronged you before graduation and felt really bad about it. She said she’d apologize if she got the chance. Silian just said she didn’t mean it back then and all that."

Xiaofeng clasped her hands together. "My bad, I owe you another apology."

"It's in the past. Besides, you already made sure to explain the truth to everyone back then." That was actually why I became closer to Xiaofeng. Sometimes mistakes are unintentional, but not everyone is willing to face them and make amends.

But for Rongrong to say something like that was unbelievable. I thought about it for a while before guessing, "Did she win the lottery or something?"

Xiaofeng shrugged. "Maybe! I can’t really describe it—you’ll see for yourself tomorrow."

"Ah, Silian said Rongrong isn’t coming tomorrow." I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

Seeing that the cake on the table was almost finished, I signaled the waiter for the bill. "Let’s go, we need to buy a gift."

By the time we finished shopping, it was nearly dinnertime. Lin Yusen drove over to pick us up, but Xiaofeng got called away by her advisor last minute, missing out on a meal with the CEO.

After dropping Xiaofeng back at her university, we headed to dinner. On the way, I remembered to update Lin Yusen. "You have dinner with your professor tomorrow night, right? I’ve got plans too—a birthday dinner for a classmate, followed by KTV and stuff."

Silian’s text had all the details.

Lin Yusen frowned slightly, as if recalling something. "A university classmate?"

"Yeah, Silian—you met her at Lao Da’s wedding."

"Oh." It took him a long moment to respond.

I stifled a laugh. "I wasn’t going to go at first, since my relationship with some of them is... well, not great. But conveniently, the ones I’m not close with aren’t coming."The driver's furrowed brow relaxed slightly.

"So tomorrow we'll each do our own thing, but you have to message me whenever you're free—once every hour... no, make that two hours. At least one message every two hours. When you eat, send me what you're having with photos. And come pick me up after dinner."

The driver's expression completely smoothed out, though his tone remained reluctant. "So many demands?"

"You're the one who brought me to Shanghai. Don't you want to take responsibility?"

"Of course, of course." He looked utterly helpless. "I'll set alarms tomorrow to send messages on time. But how about paying some information fees first? Ten cents per message might be a bit expensive."

"Wha—"

Before I could finish speaking, someone took advantage of the red light to steal a kiss.

When the light turned green and we started moving again.

Me: "Maintain distance?"

Lin Yushen said righteously: "We're not at home now."

Alright then—the Lin family's version of maintaining distance.