Noticing his own slip, Lou Ye coughed lightly, masking it with a question: “When did it happen? Back at Imperial University, you and Lu Jinnian were the famous golden couple—so how did it end in divorce?”
It wasn’t him. Sang Wan came back to herself. If the man who pulled her back from death’s door in the hospital had been Lou Ye, then even without knowing the details, he would have realized that Lu Jinnian had long since stopped caring whether she lived or died—he had abandoned her.
Impossible.
Lowering her gaze, Sang Wan murmured, “It’s all in the past… people change.”
Lou Ye fell silent.
The wonton broth wasn’t bone stock or chicken soup, nor did it rely on some secret recipe. It was nothing more than a simple seaweed-and-dried-shrimp soup. The seasoning was just right. The temperature was just right. Yet as it slid into his stomach, it burned with heat. The warmth spread, leaving Lou Ye with the same restless urge he felt after a morning run—desperate for a cold shower to calm down.
“Enough about me…” Sang Wan shifted the topic naturally: “Give me an address where you can receive packages. I’ll send you your engagement gift.”
He meant to refuse. But his eyes landed on her face, and he changed his words: “Add me on WeChat. I’ll send it to you there.”
Sang Wan froze, her heart pounding wildly. She had once had Lou Ye’s WeChat. At the freshman orientation, the aloof, handsome boy had swaggered in, asking with a careless grin: “Hey, which way to the architecture boys’ dorm?”
No one answered. She stepped in to help, and only then did Lou Ye ease up, showing a hint of good temper. That was the day he added her on WeChat.
For the next two years, they kept in touch—mostly him borrowing books or asking about coursework. Later, as they grew familiar, he occasionally asked small favors. After graduation, they spoke now and then, or exchanged holiday greetings.
Sang Wan told herself she had never crossed a line, never strayed. To her, Lou Ye was simply a diligent, slightly roguish junior. But Lu Jinnian grew jealous, insisting Lou Ye had ulterior motives. Seeing her chat or call him soured his mood. When pregnancy and childcare consumed her, and Lu Jinnian once again dredged up old grievances, Sang Wan simply blocked and deleted Lou Ye.
In a city as vast as the capital, she and Lou Ye were like mud on the ground and clouds in the sky—worlds apart, never to meet again. She hadn’t expected that, years later, the awkward boomerang would come back to strike her.
“Alright…” Her ears flushed red.
Sang Wan masked her embarrassment, pretending she had never added him before, and scanned his QR code.
His profile picture was still pitch black. His WeChat name was unchanged: SS.
On the campus forum, people joked that the school idol’s WeChat name was a silent threshold—that the girl he liked had to have a flawless “double-S” figure.
Lou Ye once explained it differently: S stood for everything he possessed. Super Super.
Back then, she hadn’t understood. Later, she realized that “Lou” meant the Lou family—the pinnacle of the capital’s elite pyramid.
Family, background, wealth, status… Lou Ye had everything others could never reach.
Sang Wan sent the friend request. Looking up, she saw Lou Ye calmly eating his wontons, making no move to check his phone. She rose. “Take your time eating. I’ll head out first.”
“I’ll go with you.” Lou Ye pushed aside the bowl, dabbed his mouth with a napkin, and followed her out. After a few steps, he turned back toward the busy shop owner behind the stove: “Uncle Wang, starting today—free meals for 29 days.”
Sang Wan glanced back, amused, only to see the owner nod with practiced ease: “Got it!”
“Where are you headed?”
They reached the car. Lou Ye looked back at her. “I’ll drive you.”
“No need.” Sang Wan shook her head politely. “I’m going to the school. It’s not on your way.”
The Lou family’s company was in the heart of the imperial capital. Imperial University was out in the suburbs. It really wasn’t on the way.
Lou Ye didn’t press the matter further. Instead, he asked, “So what are your plans next?”
Work was a must. But Sang Wan hadn’t started thinking about it yet. To be precise—she hadn’t had the time to think. She wanted to leave the capital, move to another city, start fresh, and cut ties completely with Lu Jinnian and Lu Xiaomu. But she had grown up in the capital; it was her hometown. To be nearly thirty and forced to leave home—because of two people who weren’t worth it— Sang Wan couldn’t quite bear it.
“I don’t know yet.” She shook her head. “I’ll clear my mind for a few days and then think it over.”
“Alright.” Lou Ye nodded, pulled out his phone, accepted her friend request, and sent her an address. “Then I’ll wait for your gift.”
The Ferrari sped off into the distance.
Sang Wan glanced up at the cloudless blue sky, then turned forward. She lingered in the mall for two hours. Every time she looked at a price tag, she regretted her impulsive words at the wonton shop.
Down to just a hundred thousand or so between her bank card and WeChat balance, she had actually suggested giving him an engagement gift? And Lou Ye had agreed???
Something cheap would be embarrassing. Something expensive—she couldn’t bring herself to spend it.
Meanwhile, Xu Yiyi kept messaging, urging her to hurry, saying the braised lion’s head meatballs at the second cafeteria wouldn’t last much longer.
Grinding her teeth, Sang Wan finally chose a pair of cufflinks priced at 19,999 yuan and paid.
The clerk wrapped them carefully and promised to notify her as soon as they were shipped by SF Express.
Sang Wan jogged into the subway station. She rushed and rushed, arriving at Imperial University’s second cafeteria just in time for dinner.
“What did you say you were doing on the phone?” Xu Yiyi still couldn’t believe her ears. If not for two open lectures that afternoon, she wouldn’t have dared to slack off—she would’ve called immediately to demand an explanation.
Sang Wan’s expression was calm. “I ran into Lou Ye while eating wontons. He got engaged today, so I picked out a gift for him.”
Wontons. Lou Ye.
Lou Ye. Engagement.
Sang Wan. Gift.
Every phrase sounded oddly off.
Xu Yiyi blinked. “You two… since when did you start hooking up?”
???
The savory lion’s head meatball caught in Sang Wan’s throat; she coughed until her face turned red. “Professor Xu, could you please watch your wording?”
Hooking up? Seriously?
Never mind that she and Lou Ye were perfectly innocent. Even just the fact that Lou Ye was engaged today made Xu Yiyi’s phrasing inappropriate.
Fortunately, both she and Lou Ye had graduated years ago. Imperial University’s campus legends now belonged to others. Otherwise, who knew what kind of storm this would stir up. She glanced around—no one was paying attention to their corner.
Sang Wan turned back and shot Xu Yiyi a fierce glare. “Never. Not before, not now, not ever—got it?”
“Heh…” Xu Yiyi replied with a cryptic smile, neither agreeing nor denying. “Stubborn as a dead duck. Let’s see how long you can keep it up.”
No sooner had the words fallen than both their phones chimed. At the same time, startled exclamations rippled through the cafeteria.
Sang Wan lowered her head. On her screen, a breaking news alert had just popped up. The moment she read the headline, her heart gave a jolt, and her gaze froze.