Although Chu Yuan had sent the friend request early in the morning, she ended up waiting until dusk when the sky turned dark.
The waiting time was truly agonizing and boring.
Waiting throughout the day left her completely distracted. She couldn’t even stomach her food properly. When she realized she was opening her phone to check if Yan Dai had approved her request every three minutes on average, she knew she was well and truly doomed.
At five in the evening, the friend request was finally approved.
When she saw the system message in her WeChat chat box with Yan Dai. “You are now friends. Start chatting!” she couldn’t control her elation. Suddenly, the day of excruciating waiting felt like nothing at all.
She was now completely immersed in the joy of successfully adding her “future wife” on WeChat.
Clutching her phone, Chu Yuan giggled foolishly to herself. Even that automated system message seemed to be bubbling over with pink hearts.
Chu Yuan took the initiative to say hello, feeling no embarrassment at all.
After all, it was perfectly normal to build a good relationship with one’s future wife, what was there to be shy about? Perhaps after they officially married, they would do even more… shy things.
More, even shyer things…
Hehe…
Student Chu Yuan was daydreaming again.
Chu Yuan: Sister Yan, it’s Xiao Yuan.
Chu Yuan: Where are you on your business trip right now?
She felt her questions were quite normal.
Think about it: they were currently in a “fiancé-fiancé” relationship, yet she didn’t even know where the other person was for work. Was that reasonable? Showing concern for the other’s work was the best way to improve her “favorability” rating.
However, since it was usually others who pursued her, this was her first time taking the lead. To be honest, she was a bit nervous and eager to see how Yan Dai would reply.
Two minutes later, Yan Dai finally replied.
Yan Dai: Yunnan.
Two simple words. Compared to the long string of messages she had sent, it seemed a bit cold.
Chu Yuan was somewhat dissatisfied.
Eh? Just a place name? Why does it feel different from when we first met at the family banquet?
During their last meeting, Yan Dai had proactively greeted her and smiled at her. It was precisely because she smiled so beautifully that Chu Yuan couldn’t help but fall in love at first sight.
However, Chu Yuan didn’t overthink it for now.
Perhaps “Sister” was just too busy. Besides, those two words didn’t really reveal much information.
In short, Chu Yuan’s enthusiasm remained undiminished.
Chu Yuan: Yunnan? That seems quite far from Beijing.
And it was far, literally across the country.
Chu Yuan: Sister Yan, roughly when can you come back?
Actually, she wanted to just call her “Wife.” Unless a major accident occurred, they would definitely get married, so what was the difference between calling her that now versus later?
However, since Sister Yan wasn’t particularly familiar with her yet, she decided to be a bit more reserved to avoid accidentally scaring her away.
This time, Yan Dai’s response again took two minutes, and was again two words: TBD.
This time, Chu Yuan couldn’t help but feel a flicker of defeat.
Was this Yan Dai’s style of chatting online? So parsimonious with her words, she was truly aloof.
But thinking back carefully, at the family dinner, aside from taking the initiative to greet her, Yan Dai hadn’t said much throughout the evening.
Maybe this cold Yan Dai was the real her!
It seemed she didn’t know her well enough yet.
But it didn’t matter if the other person didn’t talk much. She was a social butterfly, she could be the proactive one.
Chu Yuan: Which city specifically?
Chu Yuan: My mom took me to Yunnan a few times, but that was back in middle and high school.
Chu Yuan: I remember the wild mushroom hotpot there is delicious. I want some now (drooling emoji).
Yan Dai: Kunming.
Yan Dai: Going into a meeting now.
The good news. Yan Dai replied instantly this time, and the word count had reached a staggering seven characters.
The bad news, she shut down the conversation entirely.
It left no room to continue the chat.
Still, at least she knew Yan Dai was in Kunming, Yunnan.
Chu Yuan pulled up Baidu Maps. Kunming and Beijing were worlds apart, separated by over 2,000 kilometers.
And since she didn’t know when Yan Dai would return, who knew when their next meeting would be?
Chu Yuan checked flight tickets.
If she left for Yunnan now, she could be there in a few hours.
The problem was, even if she knew where Yan Dai was, she couldn’t just fly there. First, there was the issue of her status. If she were thick skinned enough, it wouldn’t be impossible, she’d be Yan Dai’s wife anyway, so why not visit? Feelings are cultivated through little things, even if they’d only met once.
But Chu Yuan wasn’t worried about that; she mainly didn’t know how busy Yan Dai was. It wouldn’t be good to abruptly disrupt her work rhythm.
So, even though she had added her, she could only miss her silently.
Chu Yuan replied. Then we’ll chat when you’re free~
After sending this, she waited a while. There was no reply, so she guessed the other was busy.
She exited the chat and immediately clicked into Yan Dai’s Moments (social feed).
Yan Dai posted very infrequently, perhaps once every ten days or two weeks.
Unlike Chu Yuan, who posted about eating and sleeping. Sometimes, when she was on a roll, she’d post over ten times a day.
Before graduating university, her “desire to share” was explosive. Complaining about teachers, mocking the cafeteria, sharing her shopping hauls, and frequently posting conceited selfies.
She and Yan Dai were total opposites.
However, while Yan Dai posted rarely, she hadn’t set her profile to “Last 3 Days Only.” The total number of visible posts was decent.
BUT!
Not only did Yan Dai post rarely, but why were there no photos of herself?
It was either reposts or work-related content. It was so formal that Chu Yuan felt like she had added a fake account.
Yan Dai had such a flawless, exquisite, and radiant face, she should be the person with the most photos in the world. To not take 10,000 photos a day was an insult to that face!
Could it be that she saves all her photos in her private album to admire alone and doesn’t want to share them with the public?
But Chu Yuan wasn’t someone who gave up easily.
She kept scrolling. She scrolled back two years before finally finding a photo.
It was a selfie of Yan Dai.
It looked like a casual snap, no filters, no makeup, completely bare faced. There was no caption either. Just a simple selfie.
In the photo, Yan Dai looked a bit thinner than she did now. The “living” Yan Dai in person was more vivid.
Regardless, the photo was still stunning. As long as it was Yan Dai, she looked good no matter what.
Overjoyed, Chu Yuan felt her persistence had paid off. Even if she only found one single selfie, it was enough.
Chu Yuan saved the photo directly.
Then, she set it as her WeChat chat background and her phone wallpaper.
Right after setting it, she felt a slight sense of shame. After all, this was Yan Dai’s private selfie.
Now that it was her wallpaper, every time she unlocked her phone or chatted with anyone on WeChat, she would see those beautiful fox like eyes staring straight at her. Every time she saw it, her heart skipped a beat.
But then she thought again: I’m using my future wife’s photo as my wallpaper, not some other woman’s. I’ll use it!
She felt completely justified.
If it weren’t for the fear of being too obvious, she would have changed her profile pictures across all platforms to this selfie. (Though she wouldn’t actually do that, because what if someone stole the image?~)
After the change, Chu Yuan “harassed” Yan Dai on WeChat again. Unfortunately, there was still no reply.
Hmph, my fiancée is so busy she doesn’t even have time to reply to a message.
But she wasn’t sad at all. Not even a little.
She had to learn to be considerate of her “Sister Yan.”
So, she decided to harass her friends instead.
The fact that Chu Yuan had changed her wallpaper was quickly known to everyone around her. With her mouth that loved to brag about her future wife, she couldn’t wait a second before letting her friends know.
When Ji Xiran found out, she gave a massive eye-roll and said, “I suspect Xiao Yuan has been drugged.”
With this level of “love brain,” was this still the same Chu Yuan who would immediately agree to a breakup without any lingering attachment when a previous girlfriend cried?
Ji Xiran didn’t remember Chu Yuan ever using a girlfriend’s photo as a wallpaper before.
Xue Qinghuan looked at the photo: “She really is a great beauty. The eyes, nose, mouth, everything is perfect. Even this ‘angle of death’ selfie didn’t make her look ugly. This type is basically the ‘top tier’ of the girl love circle.”
Then, Xue Qinghuan asked, “Is she mixed-race?”
“Mm-hmm, of course,” Chu Yuan said, her tail practically wagging in the air as she heard Yan Dai being praised. “Chinese-German!”
Ji Xiran was speechless. “Who asked?”
Chu Yuan jumped up. “You’re just jealous!”
Ji Xiran: “Bullshit.”
Xue Qinghuan gossiped: “Didn’t you say you just met her? Are you already at the stage of exchanging photos for wallpapers?”
Chu Yuan lost her steam “No… I took the photo from her Moments myself.”
Ji Xiran burst into laughter. “Hahahaha!”
Xue Qinghuan: “?”
Chu Yuan couldn’t help but kick Ji Xiran. “What are you laughing at? Yan Dai and I will definitely be very sweet later!”
Ji Xiran kept laughing. “Haha.”
Chu Yuan felt insulted.
But, hmph… just wait and see. Once she and Yan Dai spent more time together, their love would make them die of envy.
She was very confident that she could make Sister Yan fall for her.
After all, she was so cute, cheerful, and understanding…
In a while, she and Yan Dai would definitely be using a couple’s photo as their wallpaper!
Chu Yuan was full of fighting spirit.