**Chapter 1: Haha, Even Less Hair on Top Than…**
In Shen City, on a typical scorching summer afternoon, the cicadas on the nearby plane trees seemed to feel the heat too, lazily chirping on and off.
Lin Siyi received a call from Song Yunxiao while she was delivering food on her newly bought electric bike near the financial center. Due to the access restrictions on the first floor of the building, Lin Siyi could only call the recipient to come downstairs to pick up their meal.
Song Yunxiao was Lin Siyi’s classmate and best friend from high school through university and graduate school. After graduation, they both joined a local accounting firm but ended up in different departments. Last month, Lin Siyi abruptly quit and metaphorically served her direct supervisor a “hot plate of grilled squid.”
“Yiyi, let me tell you, Zhao Jie, who’s mentoring me, said there’s a rumor at work that you tried to seduce Lao Liu to get a permanent position.”
Song Yunxiao was indignant, her words firing like a machine gun, “Does Lao Liu have no shame? Who was it that touched your thigh in the office and threatened you on WeChat not to speak out, or else he wouldn’t let you go permanent? He should look at himself in a full-length mirror with a magnifying glass to see what kind of toad he looks like. Does he really think any woman would be interested in his pig-headedness? It’s laughable!”
“If you didn’t fire him and left overnight with a standing ticket, were you going to wait for him to fire you?”
“Hey, Yiyi, are you still listening? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Lin Siyi’s chest heaved as she slowly exhaled five words, “I am deep breathing.”
“I took screenshots of the chat where he threatened me and backed them up on multiple cloud drives. If I casually post them online, his reputation would be ruined in no time. Haha, an old man with less hair on his head than I have on my legs, I can’t be bothered to argue with him, and yet he spreads rumors that I seduced him. How much seawater has flooded his brain?” Lin Siyi’s face, slightly flushed from the heat, was full of disdain.
Song Yunxiao burst out laughing, “Why didn’t you say he has less hair than your armpits?”
Lin Siyi casually tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, “Because I just used my new laser hair removal device yesterday!”
Song Yunxiao: “…”
After venting about Lao Liu for a while, Song Yunxiao remembered to ask, “How’s the job search going?”
“Don’t even mention it. I’ve been sending out electronic resumes like they’re free flyers, and so far, no one has responded. I’ve been delivering food for almost a month now. You have no idea how pathetic it is, living in the luxury apartment my mom left me, but mooching off the free WiFi from my wealthy neighbor because I can’t afford the broadband fee. If this continues, I won’t even be able to pay the property management fee.”
Song Yunxiao was speechless at her friend’s lament, “Lin ‘Versailles’ Siyi, goodbye, see you, go away, not sending you off!”
“I’m serious! Hey, Song Song…”
Just as Song Yunxiao hung up, Lin Siyi saw the person coming down to pick up their meal approaching her. She had told them over the phone that she’d be waiting by the round stone pillar, and they hadn’t taken long.
Lin Siyi quickly got off her bike, carefully took out the customer’s meal box from the thermal box, and wished them an enjoyable meal. She then marked the order as delivered on her phone, a routine she had repeated hundreds of times over the past month, becoming quite adept at it.
Due to the unbearable heat, Lin Siyi decided to call it a day and head home to enjoy the air conditioning and take a nap.
On her way back, she stopped by a familiar noodle shop to pack a serving of squid and clam seafood noodles, specifically asking them not to add scallions, garlic, or cilantro, but to remember to add extra chili oil. While waiting for the seafood noodles, she also picked up a room-temperature pearl milk tea from the shop next door.
Lin Siyi had moved into her current apartment nearly two months ago after graduation. She usually ate out, occasionally having Song Yunxiao come over to cook. Recently, she had been delivering food nearby, often eating at the same place she liked until she got tired of it and moved on to the next.
Lin Siyi wasn’t skilled in cooking, and what she could make usually fell into the category of “dark cuisine.” Her cola chicken wings would turn out either black or green, quite an eyesore. Song Yunxiao once teased her, wondering who would be unlucky enough to benefit from her cooking skills in the future.
Carefully placing the packed seafood noodles and pearl milk tea in the thermal box on her electric bike, Lin Siyi put on her helmet, swung her long leg over, kicked the pedal with her left foot, twisted the throttle with her right hand, and with a “whoosh,” the bike gradually disappeared into the non-motorized lane.
Even the cool breeze from her “convertible” couldn’t dispel her inner frustration. The more Lin Siyi thought about it, the angrier she became. When she got home, she really wanted to expose the evidence and take down that old pervert who sexually harassed his female subordinates.
Her mind was like a stampede of a thousand alpacas, already listing all the tragic outcomes for Lao Liu.
Lin Siyi’s gaze was completely unfocused, not noticing that the red light ahead had turned green, nor realizing that an SUV beside her was starting to turn right. She was about to have a passionate collision with the SUV.
In a split second, Lin Siyi snapped back to reality and instinctively turned her bike towards the left greenbelt.
Damn it! Lin Siyi couldn’t help but scream internally.
Luckily, if she had been a second or two late, she would have been the perpetrator of a traffic accident.
Lin Siyi quickly parked her little scooter and hurriedly walked towards the SUV. The person in the driver’s seat was probably also shocked, as there was no movement.
“Hello, I’m really sorry, I almost hit you just now.” Lin Siyi apologized as she knocked on the window, but the person in the driver’s seat showed no intention of rolling down the window.
“Excuse me, are you okay in there? Were you scared just now?” Lin Siyi patiently knocked on the window again.
After about ten seconds, the window slowly rolled down about ten centimeters. Lin Siyi could see through the gap that it was a man, with a somewhat handsome jawline, but his lips were pursed in a way that seemed a bit impatient? She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination.
Cheng Yixiu asked, “Miss, is there something you need?”
Lin Siyi replied, “Are you okay? I almost hit you just now, so I came to check.”
Cheng Yixiu countered, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Lin Siyi was momentarily stunned.
“That’s good. You’re fine, I’m fine, so I’ll be on my way. Goodbye!” With that, the car sped off as if it was in a hurry to reincarnate.
Lin Siyi stood there, dumbfounded, inhaling a mouthful of exhaust, “??? What kind of person is this, so inexplicable.”
After the little incident, Lin Siyi felt even more that things weren’t going smoothly today, making her even more eager to get home.
As she approached her apartment complex, she slowed down her scooter, passed through the access gate, carefully drove into the underground parking lot, opened the seat, took out the charger to charge the scooter. After doing all this, Lin Siyi eagerly opened the thermal box to take out the packed food and head home for a feast.
Entering the elevator from the underground parking lot, she pressed the button for the 25th floor. It might not have been rush hour yet, as the elevator didn’t stop midway and went straight to her floor. With a “ding,” the elevator doors slowly opened, and Lin Siyi stepped out, pulling out her keys from her pocket with her right hand and carrying the takeout with her left, heading towards apartment 2501.
Half an hour after a satisfying meal, Lin Siyi lay comfortably in the bathtub, soaking while wearing a face mask from her ex-boyfriend, sipping pearl milk tea.
Recently, the nationwide restaurant industry had been vigorously promoting plastic reduction, and the milk tea shop was full of survival instincts. The new biodegradable PLA straws were good, but they always had a strange taste when used, which Lin Siyi found off-putting with every sip of milk tea.
After her bath, drying her long curly hair, Lin Siyi remembered to tell Song Yunxiao about the little incident that happened on her way back in the afternoon.
Her friend was probably busy, as there was no reply for a while. Before long, Lin Siyi drifted off to sleep.
Cheng Yixiu lived in a building with two units per floor. When he bought it, he liked that it was a fully furnished unit, so he didn’t have to bother with renovations and could move in with his bags. The property management was decent, justifying the hefty monthly fee.
He had lived there for a while and had never encountered his neighbor across the hall, so he assumed the apartment was unoccupied.
A few days later, one evening after work, Cheng Yixiu ran into Lin Siyi as she was about to go out while he was getting off the elevator. Surprised that someone had finally moved in across the hall, he was about to greet her but quickly retracted his long legs.
At first, he thought she looked familiar, like someone he’d seen recently, especially with her shiny black curly hair. Then he quickly realized that this girl was the one who almost staged an accident with him a few afternoons ago, given her not-so-convincing acting skills.
Cheng Yixiu thought, “The world is really going downhill, morals are declining. These days, people are really going all out to stage accidents!”
This was a high-end residential area where every inch of land was precious, with the average price per square meter in six figures. Even the rent wasn’t cheap.
However, Lin Siyi clearly didn’t remember Cheng Yixiu. Besides the half-raised glass window and the reflection of the afternoon sun, she hadn’t seen the driver’s face clearly.
But Cheng Yixiu had a strong impression of Lin Siyi.
Lin Siyi had striking features that were easy to remember, and she had a head of beautiful black curly hair.
One was about to greet but stopped halfway, while the other was in a hurry to catch the elevator, leaving no time for pleasantries. As the elevator doors slowly closed, Cheng Yixiu only saw Lin Siyi wave at him, her mouth forming what seemed to be a “bye-bye.”
Meanwhile, Lin Siyi, descending in the elevator, was eagerly anticipating her dinner with Song Yunxiao. After all, it had been almost a month since they last met after she quit her job.
For convenience, Song Yunxiao’s family had bought her a Volkswagen to drive. Today, she worked overtime, and their agreed meeting time was delayed. Song Yunxiao drove to the entrance of Lin Siyi’s apartment complex and called her to hurry down.
Once Lin Siyi got in the car, Song Yunxiao couldn’t help but start venting, “Yiyi, I think your bold decision to quit was absolutely wise. Recently, the company took on several big projects, and we’ve been working overtime like crazy. Every day feels like my liver is about to explode. We’re short-staffed and can’t hire anyone temporarily. It’s 9-9-5 now, and next time you see me, it’ll probably be 0-0-7. Look at my face, once a fresh young girl, now turning into a withered flower.”
“Let me see, it does seem a bit withered, hahaha…”