Accidental Love

Zheng Shuyi immediately called Wang Meirui back.

Although it was late at night already, Wang Meiru obviously couldn't fall asleep. That sentence "I'm Shi Yan" was still lingering beside her ears.

So when she picked up the phone, she didn't know what to say. In the end, she finally asked, "Finally finished showering?"

"It's so late, why did you call me?"

"Why sound so bothered?" Wang Meiru sneered, "I just wanted to ask if you would come home on May first.”15/1 is International Worker's Day (like Labor Day in US), a national holiday in China.

Zheng Shuyi held the phone and secretly glanced at Shi Yan on the side, then said quietly, "I know what you want."

Qingan is one of the best places to go for vacation. Every year, the tickets to Qingan during May 1st were always very hard to get. And because of how crowded it would get, Zheng Shuyi and her family have already reached a consensus on not going home during such holidays.

The way Wang Meiru asked, it was obvious that there was a deeper reason.

Wang Meiru: "Don't care what I want, just tell me if you're coming back."

Zheng Shuyi didn't reply. Instead, she covered the mic and glanced towards Shi Yan.

Shi Yan was leaning on the front of the bed and flipping through a magazine, during which he took a chance to glance at her back.

"What is it?"

To cover her little embarrassment, Zheng Shuyi raised her chin and cleared her throat, "Do you have time on May first?"

"No."

The sound of pages flipping came along with Shi Yan's short reply, "but I'll make some."

Zheng Shuyi couldn't help but reach out and kick him, "Next time finish your words in one go."

Then she turned her back towards him and lifted the hand on the mic, "Okay, I'll see. I'm pretty busy here these days, but I'll come back if I have time. I'll let you know when the time comes."

As if she accidentally jinxed herself, work started to overload her the week before May 1st.

Zheng Shuyi was so busy that she even called Qin Shiyue, who usually just chilled on Sundays, to come help.

When Wang Meiru's call came to ask, Zheng Shuyi didn't even have the time to wear earbuds. She held the phone with her shoulder and organized some folders while replying, "I really can't come back, too busy, and it's almost mid-year examination soon, I really don't have time."

Wang Meiru was a little annoyed, "Okay okay, go do your busy work, children, after they grow up, are indeed ungrateful."

After hanging up, Zheng Shuyi quickly threw this matter to the back of her head.

——

On the last day of holiday.

This was the only rest day that Zheng Shuyi had this week. And Shi Yan happened to be abroad and wouldn't come back until midnight. She didn't want to go anywhere and just lay on the bed at home for the afternoon. In the evening, she suddenly wanted to cook something.

Although the two rarely cooked, the aunt who came to make food always kept the fridge in stock.

But having all the ingredients and tools was one matter.

Turning these into tasty dishes was another.

Two hours later, the fridge was half empty, but only three successful dishes came out.

"I guess this will do."

Zheng Shuyi took off her apron and praised herself, "A nice variety too. Shi Yan, having me is from all your luck in your past lives."

Edison failed over a thousand times to make a light bulb, yet she only failed five or so times. It wasn't too bad.

Although sweat has already covered her back, she tried to make it look like it was nothing.

As she was setting up the table, the sound of footsteps came from the entrance hallway.

Zheng Shuyi was delighted. She quickly wiped her hands and ran over.

"You're… back?!”

The last word's tone suddenly changed, as if her surprise turned into shock.

Because what appeared at the door was not only Shi Yan.

Beside him was her mom, Wang Meiru.

Zheng Shuyi's mouth was still left open. After a full three seconds, she finally spoke.

"Mom?"

"What," Wang Meiru pulled her suitcase and walked in, "Did you forget how I look like after not meeting for a few months?"

“……”

This tone, yep, it was her real mom without a doubt.

Zheng Shuyi finally slowly gained her senses back. She gave Shi Yan a resentful look and then obediently went to help with Wang Meiru's suitcase.

"How, how did you two come together?"

"We happened to meet at the airport."

Before Zheng Shuyi got her confusion of how they met resolved, Shi Yan had already taken the suitcase from her hand and took a sniff, "Did you cook?"

Zheng Shuyi nodded.

After Shi Yan took the suitcase and left, she finally whispered to her mom, "Mom, why did you come without even letting me know?!"

"If I told you, could this still be considered a sudden inspection?" Wang Meiru replied.

Zheng Shuyi: "……"

Her homeroom teacher habit again…

She pointed at Shi Yan, "I don't think you two met before? How did you two find each other?"

There was no way Zheng Shuyi could believe that her mother and her boyfriend just randomly met in the middle of the airport.

It was just a face that looked similar to Zheng Shuyi's and another face that she only saw once from a photo.

"It's true we never met before," Wang Meiru crossed her arms across her chest and studied the house Zheng Shuyi has been living in. Then she said lightly, "I recognized him at the airport, greeted him, and now here we are."

After speaking, she looked at Zheng Shuyi in the eyes, "And you, you lived in someone else's house without even telling me?"

"Oh, during my senior year you went to Singapore with a tour group and didn't tell me either," murmured Zheng Shuyi, "You told me you were going to Cowshed Hill."

“……”

——

When Shi Yan came back, the conversation between the mother and the daughter immediately stopped.

Wang Meiru turned back into her nice Teacher Wang form.

Since the two have been together since the airport, Zheng Shuyi didn't know how much they have chatted already. Either way, the awkward scene she expected didn't appear.

But after all, this was the first time they met in person. When looking at Shi Yan, Wang Meiru's looks had a sense of examination in them. 

Until the food was brought onto the table.

She took a few bites, and then her examination turned into a sense of care.

"This is what you usually eat?" Wang Meiru shook her head, "Well, at least it's a little healthier than takeout."

With this one sentence, the confidence Little Chef Zheng had after comparing herself with Edison disappeared.

"Not really."

Shi Yan said calmly, "I'm usually the one who cooks."

Wang Meiru nodded with satisfaction, "Thank you for all you've done."

Shi Yan: "It was nothing. I'm glad to do the cooking."

Zheng Shuyi: "……?" ”

You only cooked once, how do you feel no shame at all?

——

Although Wang Meiru's sudden appearance really surprised Zheng Shuyi, after all, they haven't met for several months and Zheng Shuyi missed her a lot.

And she came here all the way from Qingan, it made her quite excited.

Even after dinner, Wang Meiru told her that after meeting her boyfriend, she felt very assured and would be returning to Qingan tomorrow since school was about to start.

Remembering that her mother was this busy, Zheng Shuyi almost cried on the spot.

And Shi Yan was just sitting on the side looking at him with somewhat of a smile.

How could he laugh in front of such a scene?

People tend to be not reasonable when emotional.

When Wang Meiru was about to leave, Zheng Shuyi hugged her for a long time, then went with her to the subway station.

Until she left, Zheng Shuyi was still looking at the station in a daze.

After a while, her emotions calmed down. It wasn't until she returned to the car did she find the situation weird and asked Shi Yan, "But how did you two meet in the airport?"

This was a really good question.

Qingan was a city without an airport. Even if Wang Meiru really wanted to come, it didn't make sense for her to be at Jiang City International Airport.

Shi Yan held the steering wheel and just pursed his lips with a smile in his eyes. 

"Tell meee, ”

Zheng Shuyi shook his arm, "Didn't you just come back from France? How did you two meet at the airport? ”

“Because.”

Shi Yan used the most soft tone to say the most hurtful words, "Aunt just came back from a tour group in Malaysia and needed to change trains at Jiang City to return to Qingan."

Zheng Shuyi: "……"

She was wrong after all.

She suddenly took a deep breath and brought all her tears back in.

"Let's go home."

——

There has never been Spring in Jiang City. After a few cool days during May, the temperature immediately shot up to thirty-five degrees. It lasted until June and was still slowly rising.

In the work building, the AC was turned really low. During the lunch break, many young ladies even put on a blanket they brought.

In the silence, QIn Shiyue heard waves of keyboard sounds and raised her head in a daze, "Are you not going to take a break?"

Zheng Shuyi replied while typing quickly, "I'm editing my PowerPoint."

"For what?" asked Qin Shiyue."

Zheng Shuyi looked around and whispered, "Job report."

About the promotion, although everyone knew clearly who it would be, Zheng Shuyi still tried to stay low-key and not brag about it.

Otherwise, hope could easily be lost.

But Qin Shiyue suddenly became interested. She sat beside her and watched for a while, then suddenly sighed.

Zheng Shuyi asked, "Are you okay?"

Qin Shiyue rested her head on her hand and said weakly, "I'm just thinking, maybe Yu You's ideal type is a girl like you."

"Shh," Zheng Shuyi made a motion to tell her to be quiet, "Make sure you don't say this in front of your uncle, you'll end up killing me."

Qin Shiyue smiled, "About right, he's so stingy."

When she was about to finish, Zheng Shuyi was adding final touches as she asked, "Why say that?"

"*Sigh*, it's just the car crash last time, didn't he come to the hospital?"

Qin Shiyue changed her position and used her hands to cover her face, "It was so embarrassing wasn't it?"

Thinking of the scene of Qin Shiyue yelling at the driver, Zheng Shuyi couldn't hold in her laugh.

"It's not that embarrassing. In fact, I think what you did is right. No matter who or what, one should always be responsible for what they did."

"Yes yes yes! ”

Qin Shiyue hit the table with excitement, "When I asked him if he thought I was making a fuss of every detail, that was the same thing he said."

Zheng Shuyi took a sip of coffee and didn't reply.

"I was reading your report just now, and I was thinking, you are those who are responsible for what they do. As for me, I'm just a nobody."

Qin Shiyue drooped her eyebrows and lost hope in the future, "But the more I can't get it, the more I want it, what should I do?"

Zheng Shuyi asked, "Is he very cold to you?"

Qin Shiyue was stunned for a second, then her face turned red and she buried her head down.

"N, no not really."

Once, she was having a party with her friends at the bar and coincidentally met Yu You.

Under the ambiguous lights, Qin Shiyue just stared at him without any concealment.

Yet he soon left and never came back.

Qin Shiyue drank a lot of wine in sadness. By the time she left, it was already early morning.

But when she came to the doors of the bar, she suddenly found that Yu You was sitting in his car and didn't leave yet.

That night, he drove her home.

Although it had been a month already, Qin Shiyue still clearly remembered when he was helping her take her high heels off. She was kicking around and accidentally kicked him.

Then, her ankle got held onto tightly.

The warmth and strength suddenly came and Qin Shiyue felt as if she turned into a puppet.

But she seemed to be the only one uncomfortable. After Yu You placed her leg on the sofa, he asked respectfully as usual, "Anything else you need help with?"

Thinking of that scene, Qin Shiyue still wanted to slap herself to this day.

For whatever reason, she said, "My underwear's too tight, it's uncomfortable."

The saying that people forget what they do when drunk didn't happen to her.

While Qin Shiyue quietly recalled her embarrassing moments, Zheng Shuyi had already finished and pulled out the USB. Then she patted her shoulder.

"I have to go to the meeting room to test the equipment out, see you later."

"Oh, oh, you can do this."

There were still twenty minutes until the job report.

There, other than Zheng Shuyi was another employee whose position would be changed.

Seeing her coming, that male colleague stopped what he was doing and smiled, "Congratulations, Deputy Editor-in-chief Zheng."

Zheng Shuyi didn't know him well. Hearing his praises, she was quite shy.

"The process hasn't been finalized, please don't say that yet. People will laugh at me if they hear that."

"Ah don't worry, nothing can go wrong. This is almost certain, Editor Zheng."

Although he was saying such kind words, his face immediately turned cold after turning his head.

He came to "Finance Weekly" a year before Zheng Shuyi. Yet while he was still trying hard to maintain his team leader position, Zheng Shuyi was already setting for deputy editor-in-chief.

When one is having a hard time improving, the other's hard work will all disappear in their eyes.

He knew that the only difference between him and Zheng Shuyi was a high-status lover.

"Deputy Editor-in-chief" was just the beginning. Zheng Shuyi was already at a different level from people like them who still had to spend efforts seeking resources.

She had a boyfriend who stood on the top of the pyramid in the industry. In the future, seeing all the other bigwigs would just be a piece of cake for her. 

Unlike them, who would still have to go through numerous troubles to arrange a time and sometimes even be treated with unkindness? Now, as long as Zheng Shuyi wishes, let alone an interview, his boyfriend could even arrange a dinner with the interviewee.

"Editor Zheng, after you set a path onto your bright future, make sure you don't forget your old colleagues."

Turning his head back around, his face returned to the big smile, "If we need help please don't refuse."

Hearing this, Zheng Shuyi just gave an "Mm".

Soon after, the higher executives came in.

When Tang Yi walked by Zheng Shuyi, she patted her shoulder.

"Don't be nervous, just perform like you usually do, you got this."

To be honest, Tang Yi's words gave Zheng Shuyi a lot of confidence.

With her sitting down there, Zheng Shuyi went through the PowerPoint without any stutters.

When she put down her laser pen, there was a loud round of applause.

——

"You're done?"

When Zheng Shuyi came out, Kong Nan and Qin Shiyue immediately walked up to her, "How did it go?"

The wind from the air conditioner was quite cold. She stood under the blow for a while to calm her excitement then said calmly, "It was okay, steady and smooth."

Kong Nan and Qin Shiyue almost said at the same time, "Treat us to dinner."

Zheng Shuyi made an "ok" sign, "What about tomorrow night, you can choose wherever."

Back at her desk, Zheng Shuyi picked up her pen to write her weekly job report, but her hands didn't move for a long time.

She turned her head to look at the view outside and was lost in thoughts for a while.

By the time she looked away, it had been ten minutes already.

With a smile on her lips, she wrote the weekly report that she hated extraordinarily fast.

Two hours later, Zheng Shuyi raised her head, leaned back on her chair. With a calm look on her face, she texted Shi Yan three exclamation marks.

Zheng Shuyi: I'll treat you to dinner tonight!

Zheng Shuyi: Choose wherever!

Zheng Shuyi: Don't worry, Editor Zheng got you covered!

After a long time, Shi Yan finally got the chance to check his phone.

He sent an audio message.

"Bay of Clouds, is that okay?"

Zheng Shuyi smiled: Okay, Editor Zheng will cook for you herself.

The second she sent the message, she received a mail on her laptop.

She immediately clicked it open, and after seeing the topic clearly, her eyes froze on the screen.

She thought she must have misread as she blinked and read out every word to herself.

As if she fell down from the sky, Zheng Shuyi was at a loss. Even the window and the dim sunlight seemed to have disappeared as her mood instantly changed.

Then.

She immediately recalled the message to Shi Yan.

Zheng Shuyi: No more dinner.

Zheng Shuyi: Your girlfriend has depression now.

• 15/1 is International Worker's Day (like Labor Day in US), a national holiday in China.