2 – His Coat
A fine drizzle was falling as Su Qinghe draped the suit jacket over her long skirt, pushed open the door of the café, and stepped out into the misty rain with her umbrella.
Her cool, aloof figure gradually receded and disappeared around the street corner.
In a parking spot by the roadside sat a black Maybach. Lu Yanci was in the back seat, watching Su Qinghe’s retreating figure through the car window.
He concealed the depth in his eyes, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he instructed the driver up front, “Let’s go.”
Back at the Lu family villa, Lu Yanci was heading upstairs when Li Wanyun, seated in the living room, called out to him.
“Yanci, you’re back?”
He had been hoping to slip upstairs unnoticed, but hearing his mother’s voice, he turned and walked toward the living room instead.
Li Wanyun was sitting with two other ladies on the European-style sofa in the living room, sipping tea and chatting.
Lu Yanci walked over and stood beside the sofa, greeting the guests, “Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Li. How do you do?”
“Oh my, Yanci. It’s been so long.” Mrs. Li said with a smile.
“Yanci, why don’t you sit with us for a while?” Mrs. Zhang looked at Lu Yanci the way a mother-in-law appraises her son-in-law—the more she looked, the more she approved.
The circle of high society was small, and when word got around that Li Wanyun was looking for a prospective daughter-in-law, wealthy mothers with eligible daughters could no longer sit still. One by one, they came calling.
Lu Yanci’s credentials were exceptional—tall and handsome, elegant and refined in speech and manner, and shrewd in business.
Even setting aside his family background, he was a rare elite in the business world.
Li Wanyun shot him a meaningful glance, and he had no choice but to take a seat on the nearby sofa.
The two ladies exchanged pleasantries for a while, then took turns singing the praises of their daughters in front of Lu Yanci—how beautiful they were, how filial and well-behaved.
Lu Yanci maintained a polite demeanor throughout, responding with cool detachment.
Once the guests had left, Li Wanyun looked at her son and asked, “Yanci, what do you think?”
Lu Yanci replied in a calm, unhurried tone, “Nothing special.”
Li Wanyun frowned. “Yanci, your father and I have already given you plenty of freedom. You’re twenty-nine years old and haven’t even had a girlfriend—all you do is bury yourself in work. Who’s going to inherit the Lu family’s vast estate when we’re gone?”
Lu Yanci smiled nonchalantly. “We can leave it to An’an.”
The An’an he referred to was the son of his older sister, Lu Qiutong—Gu Li’an.
Hearing this, Li Wanyun immediately shot him a glare, her expression darkening. “What nonsense are you talking?!”
As much as Li Wanyun doted on her daughter and grandson, and had even given Lu family shares as her daughter’s dowry, a married daughter’s son could never inherit the family estate.
“In any case, I don’t have time for blind dates. There’s no need for you to go to all the trouble of arranging them for me.” With that, Lu Yanci stood up and headed upstairs to the study.
Li Wanyun took a deep breath and shook her head helplessly.
Of course, she had no intention of giving up.
……
Su Qinghe walked to the subway station. It was Saturday, so there were fewer passengers than on a weekday.
By the time she reached the entrance of the old residential complex where she rented, the rain had lightened considerably. She folded her umbrella and stepped into the aging apartment building.
This apartment was shared with her good friend He Nanzhi, a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout. Housing prices in the imperial capital were simply too high—even a rundown old place like this cost four thousand in rent every month.
Walking up the stairs to the third floor, Su Qinghe pulled the keys out of her bag, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
The sky outside had already darkened. A desk lamp was lit in the living room, and the light in He Nanzhi’s room was also on, with the occasional sound of keyboard clacking drifting out.
He Nanzhi worked as a screenwriter, which meant she had considerable freedom most of the time and could work from home, as long as she submitted her drafts on schedule.
Su Qinghe changed into her slippers at the entrance, casually switched on the ceiling light in the living room, and walked in.
Just then, the sound of typing from the room stopped.
He Nanzhi opened the door and stepped out, yawning as she looked at Su Qinghe and asked, “Hehe, how did the blind date go today?”
Su Qinghe walked over and sat down on the sofa, shaking her head. “Don’t even mention it. I went all the way there for nothing…”
“Oh? Tell me all about it.” He Nanzhi sat down beside Su Qinghe with an expression of rapt attention.
Su Qinghe twitched the corner of her mouth. Recalling the embarrassing moment of mistaking someone for her date, she felt once again that she had been utterly mortifying.
Seeing Su Qinghe’s odd expression, He Nanzhi poked her arm and laughed. “Come on, just tell me! I’m dying of curiosity.”
“Alright, listen…” Su Qinghe recounted everything—how she had mistaken the wrong person and how the actual blind date had turned out to be a mama’s boy.
“That’s way too much of a coincidence?!” He Nanzhi exclaimed in surprise. “What are the odds—that man was also wearing a black coat and holding a magazine too.”
“Exactly!” Su Qinghe helplessly pressed her hand to her forehead and let out a soft sigh. “That’s why I mistook him for the right person.”
He Nanzhi’s eyes darted around for a moment, then another thought struck her. “Wait, that’s not right. Didn’t you call out ‘Mr. Lu’? If you mistook him, why didn’t that man say anything?”
“Maybe that man’s surname is also Lu?” Su Qinghe felt that was the only possibility.
He Nanzhi nodded lightly. “Hmm, that’s possible.”
Su Qinghe got up, walked over to the water dispenser, filled a cup, then sat back down on the sofa and laughed at herself. “Today was just a terrible day.”
He Nanzhi spoke up to comfort her. “Don’t dwell on it. Who could have known it would be such a coincidence? Your blind date had stepped out to move his car, and just then a man happened to walk in wearing a black coat and holding a magazine.”
“Yeah, I know.” Su Qinghe took a sip of water and set the cup down on the coffee table.
He Nanzhi’s gaze swept over to the entrance, where she spotted a suit jacket hanging on the coat rack. She stood up, walked over, and examined it closely.
“Well, well, Hehe. Did you leave something out that you didn’t tell me? What’s the story with this jacket?” He Nanzhi was certain that the size of this jacket was definitely a men’s style.
“Uh…” Su Qinghe gave an awkward smile. “That jacket was left for me by the man I mistook for my date.”
“Oh my…” A huge grin spread across He Nanzhi’s face as she continued, “What’s going on here? Could that man have fallen in love with you at first sight?”
Screenwriters always had wild imaginations, and He Nanzhi was already conjuring up a romantic drama in her mind.
Su Qinghe recalled the look in that man’s eyes and said with certainty, “Impossible.”
He Nanzhi said, “How could it be impossible? If he didn’t care at all, why would he worry about you catching a cold and leave his jacket for you?”
“But he didn’t ask for my contact information, and the note he left me didn’t have his contact info on it either.”
Su Qinghe still wasn’t quite convinced that love at first sight existed.
He Nanzhi, “…” Well, that did make some sense.
If she had to come up with a reason, Su Qinghe figured he was probably just a warm and considerate person who liked helping others.
However, since he hadn’t left his contact information, Su Qinghe had no way to return the jacket to him.