When Lu Yao arrived, the bar had just opened.
She parked her car outside and hurried in clutching the flowers. Since Shen Qing wasn’t there today, Lu Yao handed the flowers over to the front desk, and after verifying the details, she left in a rush.
The rain showed no signs of letting up. Lu Yao climbed into her car and rubbed her hands together vigorously.
It was far too cold.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally when the weather forecast mentioned an incoming cold front, her body wasn’t cooperating; she was still shivering from the chill.
“I’d rather it be summer,” Lu Yao muttered. Ignoring the fuel consumption, she blasted the heater, and only then did she begin to feel human again.
Once the stiffness in her fingers faded, she let out a long, heavy sigh.
She had made a loss today.
As she drove back, she received a call from her mother asking when she would be coming home.
Lu Yao stammered for a long time before saying, “I’m not coming back this year.”
Mother Lu: “Not coming back? Not even for the New Year?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell me the truth, have you really divorced Luo Yueming?” Mother Lu suspected that Lu Yao still couldn’t let go.
Whenever Luo Yueming was mentioned, Mother Lu became like a fierce mother hen protecting her chick.
Lu Yao’s nose twitched from the cold, making her sound as if she were crying. She didn’t notice it herself, focused only on reassuring her mother: “I really did. When I get back, I’ll take a photo of the divorce certificate and send it to you.”
Mother Lu remained skeptical: “Then why aren’t you coming back? You don’t have any friends you know over there.”
“Besides, who doesn’t come home for the New Year?”
“I have friends.”
“Who?”
“…Jiang Yunyun, from university. You know her.”
“But you can’t stay at her place forever. Your father and I won’t scold you if you come home. Staying there will only make you more heartbroken thinking about Luo Yueming.”
There was a red light ahead, and Lu Yao stopped the car.
Hearing those words, she dazed out for a moment.
Actually, she wasn’t quite that sad.
Mother Lu probably wouldn’t believe her if she said it, but she really wasn’t as fragile as her mother imagined.
If she had to say why… it was probably because she was used to it.
Lu Yao had been secretly watching Luo Yueming since high school. She had never dared to dream they would end up together. When she had argued with her parents about the marriage, it was only because the opportunity had presented itself, and a tiny sliver of hope had blossomed in her heart.
Now that she understood that hope was merely an illusion, everything would return to its starting point.
She thought that she still liked Luo Yueming.
But it would be enough to just like him secretly, just as she did in high school.
Add to that the four years of separation during university; during those four years, no matter how much she missed him, she couldn’t see him.
So, she had long since grown accustomed to it.
Life after divorce was nothing more than a return to the mundane.
Seeing the light turn green, Lu Yao started the car again. She chose to tell her mother the truth: “With Jiang Yunyun’s help, I’ve opened a shop. It wouldn’t be right to leave just a month or two after opening. I’ll wait until things stabilize next year, then I’ll find time to come back.”
This tactic of acting first and reporting later successfully silenced Mother Lu, who could do little more than grumble a few complaints.
Lu Yao listened patiently, coaxing her mother from time to time, until she finally drove back to her shop.
“I’ll take the photo for you in a moment. I’m hanging up now.”
Once the call ended, Lu Yao let out a sigh of relief.
She parked the car and pulled up the rolling shutter door.
It was already eight or nine o’clock. There was no point in staying open any longer. After tidying up the shop, Lu Yao closed the door and went up to the second floor.
She found the divorce certificate in her bedside drawer and took a photo to send to her mother.
Having done this, Lu Yao stared at the divorce certificate and began to daze out again.
She recalled the awkward scene at the Civil Affairs Bureau. At the time, she had kept her head down, thinking only about the fact that they were about to be divorced, and hadn’t noticed Luo Yueming’s expression at all.
Even though she knew he likely maintained that same cold, indifferent look.
But as long as she didn’t look, she could leave room for infinite fantasies in the future. Even knowing she was deceiving herself; Lu Yao couldn’t help but wonder: at that moment, did Luo Yueming feel even a little—just a tiny bit—of reluctance?
Lu Yao straightened the divorce certificate and placed it in front of her.
As she looked at it, she began to smile.
She didn’t think about the foolish things she had done when they married. Instead, she thought of a time in high school when the principal had called Luo Yueming up to the stage during morning exercises to receive an award.
Luo Yueming had won an award for the school and was being praised by the principal in front of the entire student body.
The reward was a red piece of paper with the date and the honorary title written on it. The principal asked him to hold up the certificate for a photo. Lu Yao had stood below, looking up at the flag-raising platform along with the rest of the school, watching Luo Yueming’s cold, stern expression.
The people around her were laughing and looking at him with admiration.
Lu Yao was no exception.
Ending her reminiscence, Lu Yao tucked away the red divorce certificate, thinking to herself that at the very least, she had been married to Luo Yueming.
Closing the drawer, Lu Yao smiled, but tears began to fall without warning.
Lu Yao woke up very early the next day.
After washing up, she went downstairs to open the shop for business.
She had just picked up stock yesterday, so she didn’t need to go today. Since it was winter, she only needed to restock once or twice a week.
Similarly, she didn’t need to run to the bar today; she could spend the whole day looking after the shop.
Feeling a bit hungry, she went to the breakfast stall on the street to buy two steamed buns, then slowly wandered back. No one would be coming to buy flowers so early in the morning, and with the surveillance cameras installed in the shop, she wasn’t worried about theft.
To her surprise, when she returned while biting into a bun, she found someone waiting at the shop door.
Lu Yao froze.
She observed cautiously. Although the person took a few glances inside the shop, they were mostly looking outward. Their expression didn’t look like that of a suspicious criminal. Lu Yao walked over and asked tentatively, “Are you buying flowers?”
When the person saw Lu Yao, a relaxed smile appeared on their face. “Hello, I saw that you’re hiring here.”
So, they were here for a job.
Lu Yao nodded and gestured for her to come inside.
Because Lu Yao knew her own personality, her recruitment notice had been very clear: no men. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to manage them.
The person who came was a young girl with a round face who looked a few years younger than Lu Yao, as if she had just graduated. There were a few inconspicuous freckles on her cheeks, making her look even cuter.
“My name is Li Jing. I live nearby, so I wanted to find a job in the area.”
“A local?”
“Yes.”
Lu Yao looked toward the newly built residential complex. Li Jing probably didn’t live there, so it must be the slightly older residential area further away.
Even if it was an old neighborhood, one couldn’t look down on them; the words “local” usually meant they had a bit more backbone than outsiders.
“The salary I offer won’t be very high,” Lu Yao said honestly.
Li Jing hadn’t expected her to be so direct and couldn’t help saying, “Usually, people lie a bit. You could say the base salary isn’t very high, but there are commissions if sales go up.”
Lu Yao: “…”
She hadn’t expected to be taught a lesson in return.
“Then… shall we encourage each other?”
Li Jing smiled. “Boss, you haven’t told me the job description yet.”
The recruitment flyer had already explained it clearly, but that didn’t stop Lu Yao from saying it again.
So Lu Yao introduced the role once more: “Usually, you’ll need to help watch the shop, and occasionally deliver goods nearby. You need to have a good personality and not get into arguments with customers.”
It seemed Li Jing could do all of that.
Since she was capable of “deceiving herself,” Lu Yao had nothing more to say.
The shop finally had a new employee. Although she wasn’t familiar with working in a flower shop, she could be trained.
There was plenty to do at the start of the day.
Lu Yao put on thick rubber gloves, picked up scissors to trim the leaves and branches, and then wrapped them in beautiful paper to make bouquets to place on the flower stands. If a customer needed one, they could take it away immediately.
These tasks required enough patience to sit still. Lu Yao had no problem with it, but after watching for a while, Li Jing started to feel discouraged.
It was too meticulous.
It wasn’t as simple as cutting off extra leaves and sticking them in a vase; every single flower had to be carefully prepared before being arranged into a bouquet, and it had to look good.
Li Jing stole a careful glance at her new boss.
The boss’s temperament, attitude, and speech were all gentle and peaceful. Being with her was comfortable, and her emotions were being looked after at every turn.
Whenever Li Jing let out a frustrated sound, Lu Yao would smile and advise her not to rush and to take it slow.
Li Jing was holding a flower she had accidentally trimmed poorly, feeling annoyed and worried, when Lu Yao’s fingers reached over, gently took the flower, and moved it into her own hand.
With two more snips, it was once again a vividly blooming flower, so beautiful it left one speechless.
Li Jing’s face reddened, feeling that this boss was going to be very well-liked.
Just as she thought this, she looked outside the shop.
“Boss, I think a customer is here.”