Cen Jin saw the message at the company and couldn't help feeling annoyed.
She had thought the two cartons of cigarettes would settle their grievances once and for all, never expecting Zhou Suian would still remember this dinner appointment.
She replied to confirm: I remember you said it was canceled last time.
Zhou Suian said: It was only temporarily canceled.
He was good at finding loopholes, and Cen Jin had to admit defeat: Fine.
Zhou Suian asked: You deliberately had your boyfriend deliver them, didn't you.
Cen Jin didn't avoid the topic: Yes.
Zhou Suian said: You two are well-matched.
Cen Jin said: Thank you.
There was no further response from the other side. Cen Jin closed the chat window and continued urging the creative team to deliver the splash screen poster and slogan.
Lù Qíqí complained: Damn, since you moved to the client department, you've become a capitalist squeezing the working class.
Cen Jin replied: Aren't I just the former wet nurse and current housekeeper for the spoiled young masters of the landlord's family?
Lù Qíqí felt targeted: ...Damn, you've got me there.
Cen Jin curved her lips slightly and was about to reply with a few more words when Zhou Suian's message box lit up again. Cen Jin opened it to find an elegant photo of white flowers that somewhat resembled magnolias and gardenias, yet weren't exactly either. Not being specialized in botany, Cen Jin couldn't identify them.
Remembering what he said last time, the woman's face cooled as she played dumb: Sent to the wrong person?
Zhou Suian fell silent again.
Already accustomed to his mysterious ways, Cen Jin took a sip of coffee and instead sent a message to Li Wu: Zhou told me he received the cigarettes. Thanks for making the trip.
She added a sticker of a little girl puckering up for a kiss.
Li Wu replied with the same sticker.
Cen Jin scoffed: Lazy. Li Wu: All my stickers are saved from you.
Cen Jin: Are you still a young college student? Don't you have any reserves?
Li Wu: Wait for me.
Thus, all the group chats and male friends in Li Wu's WeChat received the same message: "Can you send me some similar stickers? Urgent."
He even attached the one Cen Jin called lazy for reference.
Of course, some kind-hearted souls offered help, while others cursed his unconventional display of affection.
Twenty minutes later, all sorts of kissing stickers came flooding in. Cen Jin was dazzled by the barrage and finally laughed while calling a stop. Only then did Li Wu ask: Still lazy?
Cen Jin sent a masked yellow face emoji: I don't dare anymore, my lips are swollen.
Satisfied, Li Wu obediently went to class.
...
Around 5 PM, Cen Jin received another message from Zhou Suian saying he happened to be returning from the botanical garden on business, passing by Aoxing, and could settle this meal in passing.
Cen Jin replied: I'm not off work yet.
Zhou Suian replied: I can wait for you.
Cen Jin checked her schedule - she happened to have no arrangements tonight.
Not wanting to delay this matter day after day, Cen Jin agreed.
After explaining the situation to her director and getting permission to leave early, Cen Jin tidied her desk, shut down her computer, and went downstairs to meet him.
It was raining outside. Cen Jin, always forgetful, had accidentally left her umbrella in the office again. Using her bag as cover would be undignified, so she walked forward through the drizzle.
When they met at a nearby electronics store, Zhou Suian's first words were: "Does your family have some grudge against umbrellas?"
Cen Jin was taken aback: "What?"
Zhou Suian smiled without answering, taking a neatly folded gray checkered handkerchief from his pocket and offering it to her to dry herself.
It was rare to see men carrying such things these days. Though surprised, Cen Jin declined and began searching her bag: "I have tissues."Her impenetrable, unyielding demeanor piqued Zhou Suian's interest. He tucked away his handkerchief and silently curled his lips as he watched her.
Cen Jin briefly patted her cheeks and smoothed her hair, then lifted her damp lashes to look at him. "Where do you want to eat?"
Zhou Suian turned his face, his gaze traversing the dark, blurry curtain of rain outside, settling on the flickering restaurant logos atop the high-rises. "Any recommendations around here?"
Cen Jin pondered for a few seconds. "You don’t eat vegetarian, do you?"
Zhou Suian shook his head. "Why do you ask?"
Cen Jin said, "Because you’re a botanist."
Zhou Suian caught her underlying meaning and smiled faintly. "By that logic, every monk would be a zoologist."
"Don’t take it seriously." Cen Jin lowered her head and opened an app to search for a moment before suggesting, "How about Italian?"
Zhou Suian said, "Anything’s fine."
Cen Jin was familiar with the restaurant’s owner. After confirming they wouldn’t need to wait for a table, she led Zhou Suian over.
After leaving the electronics store, Zhou Suian opened an umbrella. The canopy was large, like a substantial black dome, allowing them to walk side by side without needing to stay close to avoid the rain. Cen Jin no longer felt annoyed and walked alongside him.
Under the umbrella, it was quiet. Overhead was the faint, chaotic patter of rain, like children stomping recklessly, leaving transparent, disorderly footprints before slipping and bouncing off the edges in playful abandon.
Zhou Suian said, "Don’t you think rain is like the sky mixing colors?"
At that moment, Cen Jin wasn’t in the mood for such poetic notions. "But rain has no color."
"Everything on the ground is the pigment. Some things become more vibrant, like oil paintings, while others blur and fade, like watercolors."
Cen Jin nodded, conceding that his point made sense.
Zhou Suian said, "No wonder you’re just an AM, Miss Cen, and not a writer."
Cen Jin chuckled lightly. "No need to take a dig at me. I was a senior copywriter before, you know."
"Now you don’t seem like Smiling Michelia anymore—more like Rosa laevigata." Zhou Suian kept his eyes forward, his tone relaxed and unaffected by her irritation.
"Are those two plants?" His abrupt shift in topic left Cen Jin completely bewildered.
"Smiling Michelia is the flower I sent you this morning. Rosa laevigata is another white-flowered plant in the rose family, but its flower stalks, sepals, and leaf stems all turn into thorns."
Cen Jin processed this. "Are we going to talk about this the whole time we eat?"
Zhou Suian said, "We can, if you’re interested."
Cen Jin stopped at the restaurant entrance and gave a dry laugh. "Are there other options? Like quietly enjoying the food, for instance."
Zhou Suian closed the umbrella and gave it a gentle shake. "Then it would be sharing a table, not sharing a meal."
—
During the meal, Cen Jin somewhat regretted bringing Zhou Suian for Italian.
It wasn’t because the seasonal set menu was pricey, but because the man’s discourse on white truffles could have easily been compiled into a graduate thesis on the spot.
His fervent passion for plants was nothing short of astonishing.
To be fair, he spoke in an engaging, accessible manner, even using various analogies to make his points understandable.
Unfortunately, to Cen Jin, it felt more like an outpouring. She wasn’t his student, and all she could do was rest her cheek lazily on her hand, feigning patience as she endured his eloquent monologue.
At first, Cen Jin maintained a faint, superficial smile, but eventually, she grew restless, half-rolling up her sweater sleeves and teetering on the edge of either wanting to strangle him or herself.She was beginning to believe Zhou Suian’s words held truth—there probably weren’t many people in the world who could withstand his encyclopedic conversational style.
At his core, he was still an old scholar wrapped in an artist’s appearance.
At one point, the man finally paused, took a sip of red wine, and fell silent for a moment.
A waiter brought the white truffle rockfish. Zhou Suian lowered his gaze to study it for a while, then looked up and asked, “Do you mind if I take a photo of the dishes?”
His phrasing made it sound as if he were gathering a group of children for a picture. Cen Jin didn’t object. “Go ahead.”
Zhou Suian took out his phone, found two angles, casually snapped a photo, and put his phone away.
Cen Jin asked, “How does it taste?”
Zhou Suian carefully sampled the rockfish and began a detailed analysis of the flavor layers, pairing quality, and nutritional value of each previous dish, with a seriousness that could qualify him as the restaurant’s resident nutritionist.
Cen Jin: “…”
As the meal approached its end with a sense of helpless resignation, Cen Jin let out a long sigh and glanced at Zhou Suian’s reaction.
The man showed no unusual expression; his demeanor and state remained relatively relaxed. He seemed satisfied and content, which put Cen Jin at ease. She silently thanked the heavens, grateful that this chapter could finally be closed.
They said their goodbyes at the restaurant entrance. The rain had grown heavier than when they arrived, and the world outside was a bizarre, distorted spectacle, like a fish tank being rinsed clean.
The ground reflected all the fleeting lights and shadows of the city in reverse.
Cen Jin and Zhou Suian stood under the eaves, waiting in silence, neither making the first move to leave.
The rain showed no sign of letting up. Zhou Suan, holding his overcoat in one hand, extended the folded umbrella toward her with the other and said, “Take this.”
Cen Jin subtly retreated half a step, refusing. “No need.”
Accepting the umbrella would mean having to return it later—a back-and-forth that could easily become endless.
With a man so hard to read, keeping her distance was the best option.
Even if his offer was genuinely well-intentioned, Cen Jin refused to put herself in a passive position again.
She would rather get drenched.
Let tonight be their last meeting.
“My company’s parking garage is nearby, less than two hundred meters away.” To preempt any attempt by Zhou Suian to persuade her, Cen Jin took two steps forward and strode decisively into the rain. This time, she held her tote bag over her head, proving she could use it as a shield against the rain, fearless and self-reliant.
Zhou Suian withdrew his hand and simply watched her. His expression was still and somber, the black shirt he wore making him resemble a pale paper lantern.
The moment she turned away, Cen Jin lowered her bag and hurried toward the building, clutching it tightly.
After walking about five meters, a sudden call came from behind: “Cen Jin—”
She halted, her vision already blurred by the rain. Just as she was about to turn around, a warm, smooth barrier descended over her head, instantly isolating her from the cold, wet world.
It took Cen Jin a moment to realize it was an overcoat. She turned to look for the person, but her limited peripheral vision prevented her from seeing him directly in time.
“If you don’t want the umbrella, use this instead.”
“Goodbye.”
With a soft snap, someone opened an umbrella, accompanied by the same parting words as before, sounding like a muted incantation in the rain.
Cen Jin stood stunned for a second, then quickly pushed the coat aside and stepped back into the drizzling rain.
But unfortunately, she could only see Zhou Suian walking away in the opposite direction, holding his umbrella, dressed in black from head to toe, as if he had materialized from the puddles on the ground.
Her hair was soaked and clung to her cheeks. She brushed it aside and called out urgently, “Mr. Zhou—”The man seemed not to hear her, merely glanced back before hailing a taxi and getting in.
Cen Jin watched helplessly as the car sped away, its rear window tightly shut, wheels crushing the scattered light and shadows on the road.
―
Back in her car, Cen Jin casually tossed the overcoat onto the passenger seat.
She hadn't worn it back - she was completely drenched, shivering in the still-chilly interior.
She stared at the black overcoat for a moment, her disgust so intense it felt like looking at some rude shackle. After a while, she leaned back against the seat, contemplating how to deal with this garment.
She quickly devised a plan―
Step one: Clean it thoroughly.
Step two: Get rid of it by contacting a courier to deliver it to F University.
When she reached her residential complex, Cen Jin stopped in front of the dry cleaner's, went around to the passenger side to retrieve the overcoat, and brought it inside.
Her demeanor was so fierce she resembled a hunter carrying a dying black eagle to the slaughterhouse for skinning and boning.
Recognizing her as a regular customer, the shop owner greeted her with a smile and turned to fetch a dry towel.
"No need," Cen Jin said, tossing the overcoat onto the counter. "Please clean this and charge it to my account."
The owner took it, checked the label, and said, "This will need to be charged as luxury care."
"I know. I'll pick it up next week," Cen Jin added, "Be thorough with the cleaning." She didn't want to leave any excuse for the other party to come looking for her again.
The owner agreed and began checking the pockets. When he reached the right one, he paused, pulled out something card-like, glanced at it curiously, then handed it to Cen Jin: "Is this yours?"
Cen Jin took it, her expression shifting slightly.
It was a plant specimen - on brown cardstock backing, a pristine white flower with two green leaves was perfectly pressed and displayed under cellophane, looking remarkably lifelike.
In the lower right corner were the flower's scientific name and a brief, easily understandable description in elegant handwriting.
Cen Jin flipped the card over - only the Yishi Botanical Garden logo was visible.
Confirming there was nothing more, she pinched it between her fingers.
After bidding farewell to the owner and stepping outside, Cen Jin didn't return to her car immediately. Instead, she walked some distance in the rain, found the nearest trash bin, and threw the card inside.
Her discomfort didn't diminish because of this.
When she finally returned to her car, Cen Jin had identified two new sources of her aversion: one was Zhou Suian, the other was Smiling Michelia.
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