“Xing Yu.” The man’s voice was deep and magnetic. “Thirty-one, boxing coach.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Lin Yan never imagined she’d end up so down on her luck that she’d have to return to her small town for a blind date.
The matchmaker said the man had decent prospects—an outsider, both parents deceased, with a healthy elderly grandmother. He owned a three-story self-built house in town, a fully paid apartment in the county seat, and a car worth over two hundred thousand. He’d also opened a boxing gym in the county, with a considerable income. Everyone called him Coach Xing.
At this moment, this Coach Xing with the decent prospects was sitting across from her, tall and imposing.
He wore all black—shirt and pants—with a wild, roguish aura. His features were sharp, his head shaved clean, the kind of upright, handsome look the older generation often praised. But his face was set like a terracotta warrior’s, the cold, brooding air about him too heavy to hide.
Cool and tough, handsome yet rugged.
He didn’t seem easy to approach.
Lin Yan responded politely: “Lin Yan, twenty-eight. I work in translation.”
Xing Yu looked at the woman before him, glowing pale and bright. Though a smile lingered in her brows and eyes, her gaze was actually cold and distant. Her temperament was ethereal yet aloof.
As he studied her, his eyes locked onto the sesame-sized mole at the corner of her eye, a flicker of something stirring in his expression…
After the introductions, there was no follow-up.
This was Lin Yan’s first blind date, and she wasn’t good at handling such situations. Add to that Xing Yu’s icy demeanor, and she had no interest in making conversation. So she picked up her cup and took a tactical sip of water.
After she’d drained the cup, Xing Yu still leaned back in his chair, silent, staring at her with a sloth-like, expressionless face.
Lin Yan’s scalp prickled. She parted her lips calmly.
“Coach Xing, I heard you have decent prospects. Why are you still here on a blind date?”
“I’m picky.”
“…” Lin Yan quipped, “I thought you were forced into it by your family.”
“Yeah.” Xing Yu’s voice was low. “My grandmother said if I didn’t come, she’d never rest in peace.”
Just as Lin Yan was mulling over how blunt this Coach Xing could be, his casual tone continued into her ears.
“Don’t take blind dates too seriously. Lucky ones find true love, unlucky ones find a good time, and worst case, you gain experience.”
Nonsense.
Lin Yan tugged at the corner of her lips. “Seems like Coach Xing is a seasoned veteran of the blind date scene.”
“Not really.” Xing Yu shrugged. “Only been through about a hundred or so.”
“…” This man was too frivolous. Unreliable.
“Coach Xing, I think our personalities don’t match. Personally, I prefer serious, steady men.” Considering they’d inevitably run into each other around town, Lin Yan tried to give him as much dignity as possible.
“To be honest, I lost my job, got scammed, and I’m still carrying debt. That’s why I came back to town to mooch off my family. I’m really not good enough for you. I hope you find the right person soon.”
Xing Yu’s eyelids drooped, a deep meaning swirling in his pupils.
After a long moment, he said, “Fine.”
Lin Yan watched him pick up his jacket and stride away. Her gaze unconsciously followed, and she couldn’t help but pause.
He was tall and broad, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. His muscle lines were excellent, radiating sheer strength. Even in a big city, let alone a small town, his build and looks would be top-tier.
Too bad his personality wasn’t likable.
In the end, she brushed off the matchmaker with a “I don’t like frivolous men” and ended the blind date.
The January wind was bitingly cold. Colorful lights hung from the trees lining the town’s streets.
A thick wave of New Year’s atmosphere washed over her—familiar yet strange.
Thinking back, from starting college to entering the workforce, she hadn’t been back in eight years.
This year had been a disaster.
In the first half of the year, a company insider with connections swooped in and took the deputy general manager position that was practically hers. In the second half, she was framed by a colleague, made a mistake at work, and got fired. And at year’s end, a single phone call got her scammed out of all her savings.
After all those years fighting in the big city, she had nothing to show for it.
So she decided to come home.
One, she couldn’t afford rent. Two, the man she’d secretly loved for years had gotten engaged the week before.
The day after she returned to town, her aunt An Chunfang forced her into a blind date. Which led to that awkward encounter just now.
The moment she got home, she heard her uncle Zhou Gang and aunt arguing in the hallway. The voices weren’t loud, but in the old, poorly insulated apartment building, they were unmistakably clear.
“Yanyan just got back and you’re already sending her off to blind dates! That Xing Yu’s prospects are fine, but a man in his thirties who hasn’t settled down must have something wrong with him!”
“And what’s the deal with your precious niece suddenly quitting her job and coming back? She says she’s not leaving for now! Planning to freeload off us? I’m not supporting any idle mouths.”
“Yanyan hasn’t asked the family for a single cent since she started college! This time she came back and even bought us clothes and gifts from the city. Can’t you, as her aunt, be a little more generous?”
“Zhou Gang, wasn’t I generous enough when I agreed to let you bring her back from the orphanage back then? She ate and lived off us for free her whole childhood—she ought to be filial to us! Besides, she’s a nearly thirty-year-old leftover woman, accomplished nothing, not even married. How does she have the face to come back? I don’t care if the neighbors gossip, but I can’t afford to lose face.”
“And another thing—there are only two rooms in this house. Don’t forget Yuanyue and her husband are coming back for the New Year this year. She either finds her own place to stay, or she gets married and moves in with the man. There’s no room for her here…”
Lin Yan stood frozen outside the door.
So many years had passed, and she was still an outsider who was never welcomed.
By the time she composed herself and went inside, An Chunfang still wore a sour expression and began lecturing her in an overbearing tone.
“The matchmaker said you didn’t take a liking to Coach Xing? What qualifications do you even have? Still being picky! A woman past twenty-eight is like a rotten vegetable leaf—nobody wants her!”
“You think just because you’ve spent a few years in the city, you’re some urban beauty? While you still have a decent face, hurry up and get yourself married. Your aunt is doing this for your own good. Here’s what—I’ll have the matchmaker scout out a few more prospects, and you’ll go on more blind dates tomorrow!”
“An Chunfang, will you ever stop! Our Yan Yan is so outstanding—”
“Uncle.” To quell the dispute that had arisen because of her, Lin Yan interrupted with a smile that didn’t match her heart. “I’m not opposed to blind dates. If I can meet someone fated to be with me, that’s not so bad either.”
Back in her room, she closed the door, let the stiff fake smile fade, and her brows gradually knitted together.
A sense of palpitation slowly crept over her entire body, and a cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
She walked to the bedside, pulled out the medicine hidden under her pillow, swallowed it, and collapsed onto the bed in exhaustion.
It took a long while before she pulled out her phone and opened WeChat, only to find a friend request.
The profile picture was a wisp of black smoke—gloomy and eerie, looking rather unsettling.
Lin Yan accepted the friend request and immediately sent a message.
[Who are you?]
Half a minute later, the person replied.
[The frivolous Coach Xing.]