Probably not expecting Fu Shize to be so cooperative, Yun Li was quite pleased, a smile lingering on her lips as she continued watching the match.
Compared to the initial feeling of sitting next to an ice cave, Yun Li now felt the atmosphere around her had warmed considerably. Fu Shize leaned back in his chair, occasionally picking up the Clapper to wave it a few times.
Just as Yun Li stole a glance at Fu Shize, the atmosphere in the stadium erupted once more. Yun Li hurriedly joined the fans in the white section, wildly shaking her Clapper. The announcer’s voice grew increasingly excited over the speakers: "The match has reached a tense moment—just one more goal, just one more, and victory is practically assured! We can see the white team’s forward breaking through the defense now, this is—"
The announcer’s words sped up, followed by waves of cheers and screams from the crowd. Though Yun Li didn’t understand soccer well, she could still grasp the meaning of the "2-0" displayed on the scoreboard.
The cameras zoomed in on the players, and the large screens in the stadium, along with the LCD screens in the stands, rapidly switched between shots of the celebrating, embracing athletes before panning to the nearly frenzied fans in the white section. Those caught on camera waved excitedly at the lens.
The announcer continued his passionate commentary, but Yun Li turned her gaze to Fu Shize, who was leaning lazily in his seat, slowly waving his Clapper a couple of times.
Until the camera lingered on the two of them.
Exposed in front of thousands of spectators, Yun Li abruptly stopped shaking her Clapper, her smile vanishing instantly as she awkwardly lowered the noisemaker. Beside her, Fu Shize shifted slightly, crossing his arms and staring defiantly and coldly into the camera.
The camera seemed to malfunction, showing no signs of moving away.
At that moment, the announcer happened to comment on the scene: "Absolutely unbelievable—the fans are so stunned by the goal they’ve frozen in place..."
"......"
Fortunately, the awkward moment didn’t last long. Once the camera moved away, Yun Li felt as though she had been revived.
Realizing how she had just behaved on camera, it dawned on her that her "awkwardness queen" trait had leveled up again.
For the next few minutes, Yun Li simply sat there in a daze.
Noticing the sudden silence beside him, Fu Shize glanced at her. Yun Li was staring wide-eyed at the Clapper in her hands, looking as deflated as a wilted eggplant.
Fu Shize turned his attention back to the field. He shifted, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward, the Clapper gripped in his hand. After a pause, as if overcoming some internal struggle, he suddenly shook it vigorously a few times.
Hearing the noise beside her, Yun Li looked over in surprise.
Fu Shize gave her a sidelong glance. "Didn’t they score?"
Caught off guard, Yun Li hadn’t noticed another goal being scored. She quickly joined Fu Shize in shaking her Clapper, saying, "This team is really good." Then she peeked at the black team’s section and sent a message to Fu Zhengchu with a grin.
[Fu Zhengchu, you should switch teams.]
Slacking Off with Wine Homestay: [Damn it, wuwuwu, I hate this so much.]
Yun Li returned to her initial state, carefree as a child, waving along with the fans in the white section.
Seeing this, Fu Shize rubbed his tired eyes and leaned back in his chair again.
......
Ten minutes later, the match ended with the white team winning 3-1. Nearly all the fans around Yun Li were hugging each other in excitement, celebrating their first championship in years.
The atmosphere brought a surge of emotion to Yun Li’s eyes. Perhaps this was the unparalleled pride one felt when something they truly loved achieved glory.Until her gaze met Fu Shize's again.
He already looked somewhat sleepy.
Yun Li snapped back to attention, clearing her throat lightly to cover up her earlier 'absentmindedness.'
Fu Shize, seated on the aisle side, stood up first and began moving with the crowd. From Yun Li's perspective, his tall and slender figure resembled a pen, his hands tucked into his pockets, revealing only his distinctively bony wrists.
From childhood to adulthood, Yun Li had always been among the fairer-skinned in any crowd.
But compared to her, his pallor was almost sickly and unnaturally striking. His oversized white jacket made his frame seem as if it could topple over with a single push.
Wait.
Was she really thinking about pushing him over?
Dismissing her wild thoughts, Yun Li guiltily maintained a two-step distance from Fu Shize.
The people behind her didn’t give her the chance. As soon as the event ended, they surged forward as if racing to be reborn. Yun Li lost her balance and bumped her forehead against Fu Shize’s shoulder blade.
His lean frame made his bones feel like hard shells beneath the earth, sending a sharp pain through Yun Li’s head.
It hurt so much her tears welled up.
Seeing Fu Shize turn to look at her, she thought it was because she had bumped into him and managed to apologize despite the pain.
With her hand clutching her head, Yun Li felt the people behind her pushing relentlessly. Without any particular emotion, Fu Shize unceremoniously reached out and shoved the person at the front backward.
"Step back."
"What the hell!" the man reflexively shouted.
But the moment he met Fu Shize’s gaze, his anger fizzled out.
Though the man before him was tall but not burly, and his tone was far from menacing, something about him sent an inexplicable shiver down the man’s spine. The man who had been pushing forward pouted and only dared to retreat a step in surrender.
Fu Shize lowered his eyes and stepped aside, motioning for Yun Li to walk ahead of him.
Earlier, while seated, no matter how engrossed Yun Li had been in the match, she had always made sure to leave some space between them to avoid physical contact.
The aisle was narrow. Even as she deliberately leaned away while walking beside him, their clothes inevitably brushed against each other.
The friction felt like flint striking.
Yun Li kept her head down, pretending not to notice anything.
Once she was ahead, Fu Shize maintained a one-step distance behind her. Amid the post-game clamor around them, his silence made him seem almost nonexistent.
Since childhood, Yun Li had disliked being touched by strangers.
Throughout elementary, middle, and high school—even in college—many overly familiar boys would get too close, take the headphones she was wearing, pat her shoulder in excitement, or tug at her clothes when calling her.
These actions had unsettled her to varying degrees.
But from the moment she met Fu Shize, he had always been polite and proper, consciously avoiding physical contact with others.
From these small details, Yun Li could tell he was a well-mannered person—never irritable, never crossing boundaries.
Except for not liking to talk.
Or smile.
Outside the stadium, Fu Zhengchu was already waiting at the entrance, having shed his black outerwear, leaving only a school short-sleeved shirt.
Fu Shize asked, "Where’s your jacket?"
Fu Zhengchu grumbled, "Threw it away." He groaned dramatically, "Never falling in love again."
His bad mood lasted only a few minutes before dissipating. Just as they were about to leave, a few medium-built guys at the stadium entrance greeted him.
After a brief chat, Fu Zhengchu returned. "Haven’t seen them in ages. We’re gonna play some soccer before heading back."
Yun Li looked at Fu Shize. "Are you going?"
Fu Shize admitted without hesitation, "I don’t know how.""Then do you usually—" The words slipped out before Yun Li realized it might be inappropriate. What if Fu Shize didn’t play any sports? She quickly changed her question: "Do you not play sports at all?"
Fu Zhengchu, who had just been handed a Snickers bar by Fu Shize, answered for him: "Uncle doesn’t play soccer. He plays badminton. I’m all-around though—next time let’s play badminton together, Lili-jie."
"Ah, sure." Yun Li glanced at Fu Shize, who remained silent. Fu Zhengchu nudged him with his elbow in dissatisfaction. "Uncle, Lili-jie is asking you something."
Yun Li: "?"
Fu Zhengchu: "Lili-jie is asking if you want to play together."
Yun Li immediately felt flustered, but fortunately, Fu Shize didn’t seem to mind and nodded.
Friends at the entrance were calling for Fu Zhengchu, who waved at them before heading over.
Yun Li followed Fu Shize to the parking lot, the two of them silent the entire way.
If everything hadn’t happened so naturally, Yun Li might have suspected Fu Zhengchu was some divine intervention sent to help her.
Autumn had arrived, and the winds of Nanwu carried a chill. The dim lights of the open-air parking lot cast faint glows, with shadows and murmurs dissolving into the darkness.
Fu Shize opened the passenger door for Yun Li.
"Get in first."
After she settled in and he closed the door, Fu Shize didn’t immediately return to the driver’s seat. Instead, he leaned against the front left side of the car, his shoulder tilting slightly as he rummaged through his pocket.
He lowered his head, and in the brief flicker of light, wisps of pale smoke unfurled into the air.
The first cigarette didn’t bring an end to anything.
His solitary figure seemed swallowed by the boundless dark, the faint ember a fleeting remedy for the long night.
When Fu Shize returned, he rolled down the window, and the rushing night wind carried the scent of tobacco to Yun Li’s nose. He started the car and drove toward Seven Mile Fragrant Capital from memory.
Midway, Fu Zhengchu sent a voice message. Fu Shize glanced at it but kept his hands on the wheel.
As the car entered a particularly secluded stretch, Fu Shize turned on the headlights, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. Softly, he said, "Help me check this."
It was the first thing he’d said since they got in the car. His voice, gentle and close, brushed against Yun Li’s ear, stirring an inexplicable warmth in her. She picked up his phone, unlocked it, and opened WeChat.
She hadn’t expected him to let her use his phone.
The WeChat homepage displayed several chat windows. Yun Li didn’t want to pry, but she couldn’t help noticing the second chat, labeled ‘Lin Wanyin,’ with over a hundred unread messages. The most recent one began with: 【Aze, my mom made some zongzi for you and asked me to bring them over】.
The rest of the message was hidden, but Yun Li could tell it was a girl’s name.
For some reason, she felt a slight discomfort in her chest.
She opened Fu Zhengchu’s chat and played the voice message. In the quiet car, Fu Zhengchu’s breathless voice came through—he must have sent it mid-game.
"It’s late, Uncle. Make sure you take Lili all the way to her door. Remember," Fu Zhengchu emphasized, "no going upstairs."
Yun Li’s face flushed, and she set the phone down.
A car overtook them from behind, and Fu Shize checked the rearview mirror, his tone indifferent. "Ignore him. He’s just noisy."
"Mm..." Yun Li murmured in agreement, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, are Xia Xia and Fu Zhengchu siblings? Their surnames seem different."
"Fu Zhengchu took my sister’s surname."
"Oh, okay."Not wanting to pry further, Yun Li responded briefly and fell silent.
The scenery outside the window blurred past like a waterfall. Just as she thought the rest of the journey would pass in silence, Fu Shize spoke up first: "Originally, Xia Congsheng was supposed to take my sister’s surname too."
Yun Li let out a slow "Oh," then asked, "So was Fu Zhengchu originally meant to take his father’s surname?"
"No. My brother-in-law is a bit afraid of my sister."
Yun Li asked naturally, "Are you afraid too?"
The air instantly turned still.
Realizing her slip, Yun Li quickly explained, "I meant, are you afraid of your sister? Not whether you’re afraid of... uh... a wife..."
This time, the silence was so deep even the sound of breathing seemed to vanish.
......
The drive wasn’t long. Ten minutes later, the car came to a smooth stop at the entrance of the residential area. Following routine, Yun Li thanked Fu Shize and opened the door. The warm air inside clashed with the chilly wind outside, making her tighten her collar.
"I’ll head back now. Drive safely."
"Wait."
Yun Li paused mid-door-closing and bent down. Fu Shize tilted slightly toward the backseat, nodding at the bag of snacks.
"Take them back with you."
Unlike that night, the car quickly shrank into a distant dot in the darkness, forming a straight line that left behind two faint red taillights at the end.
Back home, Yun Li first placed the large bag of snacks on the coffee table. She took out the cookies from her tote bag, the rich aroma of butter filling the air.
Her mind drifted to Fu Shize’s figure standing in line at dusk, his silhouette blurring against the vibrant hues of the sunset.
After pouring the cookies into a glass jar and sealing it, she placed it in the corner of her computer desk.
Turning on her laptop, she typed "Fu Shize" into the search bar, one character at a time. The webpage quickly flooded with information about him. Unsurprisingly, pages upon pages were packed with notifications of awards he’d won throughout his academic career, from elementary school all the way to his Ph.D. studies.
The drone video from before was already old news from years ago. The most recent update was from March of last year, reporting that his research team had published a groundbreaking paper in a top-tier journal, achieving a major breakthrough in their field.
"The study was completed by Professor Shi Xiangzhe’s team, with the first authorship belonging to our university’s direct-entry Ph.D. student Fu Shize, Class of 2012..."
Yun Li silently read the passage. Today was October 10, 2016. A direct-entry Ph.D. program lasted five years, meaning Fu Shize was due to graduate in eight months.
For the longest time, Yun Li had assumed he’d already graduated. But now, it seemed things weren’t as she’d imagined. Earlier at the convenience store, Fu Zhengchu had also mentioned that Fu Shize had stayed in Nanwu.
Dragging her finger across the touchpad, she scrolled through the webpage as images of Fu Shize from different periods flashed before her eyes like subtitles.
Yun Li’s thoughts wandered.
None of these versions of him were the present him—someone who lived under the sunlight yet carried an air of gloom.
She had a hunch that something unfortunate might have happened in the past two years. The thought made her chest feel heavy.
By the time Yun Li finished showering, it was already half past midnight. A notification on her phone showed a message from "Leisurely Sip Homestay"—two attached photos.
The first one was a group photo of her and Fu Shize displayed on a large screen. Both sat stiffly upright, the camera capturing her nervously clasping her hands on her lap, staring blankly ahead. Beside her, Fu Shize sat with his arms crossed defiantly, lips pressed tight, his gaze directed toward her.Neither of them showed any other expression, looking just like a young couple who had just had a tiff.
The second photo was a screenshot of a chat between Fu Zhengchu and Fu Shize. Fu Zhengchu had asked him: [Uncle, why are you secretly watching Sister Lili?]
Fu Shize’s reply came half an hour later, devoid of even punctuation: [Openly watching]
Yun Li swallowed hard—no matter how she interpreted this sentence, it didn’t seem quite appropriate. Touching her cheeks, she found them burning hot. Fu Zhengchu had also sent her a message, questioning: [Sister Lili, look at my uncle!! Doesn’t he seem like a peeping pervert!!]
Yun Li curved her lips slightly—Fu Zhengchu really had a good personality. After casually sending him an emoji in reply, she enlarged the first photo, cropping it until only the two of them remained.
This was their first photo together.
She liked it so, so much.
The other message was from He Jiameng, informing her that she had received an offer from EAW.
The wording was very tactful, stating that the technical department had interviewed many candidates recently, so unfortunately, she hadn’t made it to the second round of interviews. If she was willing, she could intern in the HR department without needing a second interview, working three days a week, and she needed to reply as soon as possible.
She hadn’t expected the results to come out so quickly.
Yun Li’s tense nerves finally relaxed a little as she lay on the bed, resting her chin on the Teacher Cat plush. She sent a WeChat message to Deng Chuqi: [EAW officially sent me an offer! They’re placing me in HR.]
Deng Chuqi: [Why hesitate? Just go for it!]
Yun Li: [I’m still a bit conflicted qaq. I originally applied for the technical department but got reassigned. This isn’t really related to my major.]
Deng Chuqi: [Have you been looking for anything else?]
Yun Li: [All the others rejected me…]
From a career development perspective, the position EAW offered wasn’t the best choice, but EAW was indeed a good platform, especially since its parent company was U Saint Technology.
Deng Chuqi teased her: [But EAW has Xia Xia’s uncle, isn’t that great? Isn’t it?]
She added: [Admit it, did you rent a place so close because you had ideas from the start?]
Although she hadn’t done these things because of Fu Shize, Yun Li felt as if her secret thoughts had been exposed, and she grew flustered and annoyed from afar.
She tossed her phone aside and prepared to sleep.
After tossing and turning in bed for a long time, Yun Li exhaled heavily, got up, and directly replied to Fang Yuning’s message.
[Okay, I can start work the day after tomorrow ^_^]
As soon as she arrived at the company, Yun Li ran into He Jiameng, who was helping out in the HR department.
The naturally sociable He Jiameng eagerly took Yun Li around to familiarize her with the company environment, giving her a detailed introduction to each department.
EAW Technology City was a subsidiary of U Saint Technology, primarily operating VR Experience Centers and the customization and retail of related hardware equipment. The products were initially developed by U Saint Technology, so employees here usually referred to the parent company as "headquarters."
The HR and administration department where Yun Li was placed was managed by Fang Yuning, the interviewer who had evaluated her during the hiring process. Since EAW had only been established a few months ago, the entire department, including Fang Yuning, had only six full-time employees.
"Teacher Xian Yun, I didn’t expect you to come to our company," He Jiameng said happily, then asked mysteriously, "Is it because our boss is too charming? Even Teacher Xian Yun couldn’t resist?"
As usual, she couldn’t go three sentences without mentioning handsome men.Yun Li gave an awkward smile. Being new here, seeing He Jiameng again had eased much of her first-day jitters at work.
After briefly introducing her to EAW’s main operations, He Jiameng led her to her workstation and cleared away the leftover plastic film on the desk.
As a new employee, Yun Li wanted to appear as proactive as possible and asked, "Jiameng, what should I do now?"
He Jiameng paused, as if facing a major dilemma. "Teacher Xian Yun, to be honest, you’re our first intern hire. So... I’m not really sure."
"Should I ask the interviewer from last time, then?"
"Uh... She doesn’t know either. Probably just help out wherever needed for now."
Yun Li instantly felt like she’d stepped into another pitfall.
Noticing the shift in her expression, He Jiameng tried to reassure her. "Don’t worry too much. Remember the boss’s relative? Fu Shize—heard he was originally supposed to join the R&D department at headquarters, but somehow ended up here as a worker..."
Realizing her phrasing was off, she quickly corrected herself, "No, I mean, equipment maintenance technician."
"The boss assigned him to the experience center, but most of the machines there are new and rarely have issues. So he usually just helps out wherever too. It’s not so bad."
"But I heard he’s highly educated. He must be pretty capable," Yun Li instinctively defended Fu Shize.
"That may be true, but he’s just so hard to work with." He Jiameng’s delicate brows furrowed. "He’s cold to everyone he talks to—even I can’t stand it. Only our boss can tolerate his temper."
Mentioning Xu Qingsong, He Jiameng’s expression did a complete one-eighty, brimming with admiration. "He does listen to the boss, though."
"Yuning’s still in interviews right now, so there probably won’t be much else to do this morning. Just take some time to familiarize yourself with the place," He Jiameng said, checking the time.
"Alright, I’ll go over the materials again."
"The company doesn’t have a cafeteria, so we order boxed lunches. They only deliver to the entrance, though, so someone has to go pick them up. And since I’m in charge of assigning who goes—two people each time—I figured I’d give you first dibs." He Jiameng grinned at her, looking anything but innocent.
"So, anyone in mind?"
Yun Li thought for a moment before answering, "No."
He Jiameng cut straight to the chase: "How about Fu Shize?"
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