Song Jin tapped on that familiar avatar and entered their chat box. She discovered that Wen Yu had sent her a message two hours ago; she had simply been asleep at the time and hadn’t received it at all.
Song Jin: Sorry, I just woke up.
Song Jin: Is there something you needed?
The status “The other party is typing…” flickered on and off. Just as Song Jin thought Wen Yu might be delayed by something, the doorbell suddenly rang from downstairs.
Song Jin frowned, reluctantly wrapping her quilt around her like a cape. Stepping into her plush slippers, she headed downstairs.
She had wondered if someone from the company was looking for her, but to her surprise, when she opened the door, she met Wen Yu’s eyes.
Song Jin froze for a moment, then instinctively slammed the door shut with a loud thud. The resulting gust of wind whipped Wen Yu’s hair and made her shiver.
Am I still dreaming?
Frowning, Song Jin wrapped the quilt even tighter around herself. Tentatively, she cracked the door open again, poking her head out to peer at Wen Yu.
How awkward.
After all, she had just “gone a bit crazy” in front of the imaginary Wen Yu in her dream; now that the real person was here, she didn’t know what to say.
Noticing the large and small bags in Wen Yu’s hands, Song Jin paused for two seconds: “Why did you bring them back again?”
“I still feel they are too expensive,” Wen Yu said.
Even if Wen Yu didn’t understand such things, she could guess from the quality that they were worth a fortune.
She had later specifically checked the prices one by one. The cheapest item was five figures, and since Song Jin had given so much at once, the cumulative total had become a staggering, “scalding” number.
Although she knew Song Jin was wealthy and didn’t care about these things, Wen Yu still felt a bit uneasy. After all, she hadn’t contributed anything to deserve such lavish spending.
Seeing Song Jin open the door fully, Wen Yu reached out and handed back the bags containing items worth several million and continued: “Besides, the banquet is over. I have even less reason to borrow your things.”
“They weren’t meant to be ‘borrowed’ in the first place…” Song Jin mumbled under her breath, but she took the bags anyway.
Thinking about it, Song Jin tried to step into Wen Yu’s perspective. This was likely a “supernatural” story where a rival-turned-colleague suddenly gave you a pile of precious items for no reason—it looked a bit like a “weasel paying a New Year visit to a chicken” (harboring hidden motives).
The Wen Yu opposite her continued to explain: “Everything is here. You can count them later to see if anything is missing. I took the dress to the dry cleaners; I’ll return it to you once it’s delivered back.”
“Ah? There’s no need. I trust you. As for the dress—” Song Jin refocused her attention on Wen Yu and said sincerely, “You really suit it better than I do.”
As she spoke, she shook the bags in her hand: “I’ll take these back, but keep the dress for yourself. Since you haven’t worn it in front of the media yet, you can use it for a small event next time.”
“……Okay, thank you.” Wen Yu knew that pushing back further would be unkind, so she finally agreed.
Like a magic trick, she pulled a palm-sized kraft paper bag from her thick coat pocket and handed it to Song Jin: “By the way, these are the cookies I baked for you.”
“Sorry, it’s been a long time since I made desserts. After two batches, only these few pieces were successful… taste them first to see if they suit your palate. If you like them, I’ll make more for you next time as a thank you for taking care of me these past few days.”
Song Jin was surprised. She set the gift bags on the floor and took the paper bag. Her slender fingers pinched the somewhat heavy bag; it felt quite precious.
Song Jin leaned against the doorframe, her gaze occasionally drifting toward Wen Yu while the bag in her palm still felt warm.
Back when they weren’t close, she always thought Wen Yu was a bit dull, with few expressions and fewer words. After getting to know her, she found the girl quite interesting like a little treasure that became more rewarding the deeper you dug.
“Thank you, I like them very much.” Song Jin looked down at the bag, but quickly thought of something and hurriedly stepped aside to make room: “Look at my head, I’m still groggy from sleep. I forgot to let you in to sit down.”
“No need, I should be leaving soon,” Wen Yu said, her face devoid of any major expression.
“Leaving?” Song Jin searched through her mind for a while, finally pulling a memory from a dusty corner: “Oh—you have a scheduled appearance today.”
“It’s gone.” Wen Yu pursed her lips. “I told my manager that I’ve connected with the Li family. She was very happy and gave me the day off.”
Song Jin “tisked”: “She didn’t just give your… ‘investment-pulling’ job to someone else because you already landed one, did she?”
“Who knows…” A flash of loneliness crossed Wen Yu’s eyes, but it vanished quickly, replaced by a bit of relief: “But I don’t think she sent anyone else. I checked.”
“That’s good.” Song Jin nodded thoughtfully, then looked at her again: “So are you going out to play later?”
“I plan to go help out at my cousin’s cat cafe,” Wen Yu explained. “I probably won’t have time once I get busy later, so I’m going today.”
“A cat cafe?!” Song Jin’s interest was instantly piqued.
She had no resistance to fluffy little animals, especially cats.
Seeing her eyes light up, Wen Yu continued: “Yes, she’s closed for a deep clean today and asked me to go help out.”
“Do you… want to come along?”
Without even thinking, Song Jin nodded frantically, throwing all awkwardness and avoidance to the back of her mind. She opened the door wider: “Yes, yes! Wait for me, I’ll go change now. You can take my car and we’ll go together.”
“Okay.” Wen Yu followed the opening she made and stepped inside, finding a place to sit on the sofa.
Song Jin jogged upstairs but quickly remembered something, poking her head out from the second floor: “Are you in a rush? It might take me a little while.”
“I’m not in a hurry. Take your time.” Wen Yu looked up at her, her long hair sliding slightly over her shoulders with the movement.
Despite saying that, Song Jin moved much faster than usual. She rushed to the bathroom to wash up and then dashed to change her clothes. Things she would usually deliberate over for half an hour were decided in under ten seconds. After dressing, she went to her vanity to tie a side braid. She couldn’t be bothered with makeup, so she just applied some lip glaze to brighten her complexion.
Song Jin originally wanted to put on some jewelry, but then she remembered she was going to a cat cafe. What if a kitten licked her finger and accidentally swallowed a ring?!
Thinking this, the hand she had extended toward her rings pivoted toward the birthday gift Wen Yu had given her.
Inside the box was an exquisite “Chanhua” (wrapped silk) brooch. It had five petals, predominantly pale pink, with the color deepening toward the center. The stamen in the middle was a beautiful primrose yellow, and there were two tender green leaves at the base.
Song Jin had looked it up; it was a Hibiscus flower (Mùjǐn), which matched her name perfectly.
After a moment’s thought, she pinned the brooch to her white trench coat and headed downstairs.
“I’m ready, let’s go.” Song Jin snapped her fingers as she passed Wen Yu, signaling for her to follow.
“That was fast.” Wen Yu, who had been spacing out while listening to music, was surprised. She thought that since Song Jin had said it would take a while, it would be at least an hour. She glanced at her phone—it hadn’t even been twenty minutes.
“I didn’t want to keep you waiting, since you already have an appointment,” Song Jin said, grabbing her car keys from the magnetic disc on the wall. The two left one after the other. In the elevator, Song Jin asked: “By the way, where are we going? Tell me the name so I can set the navigation.”
“Sangu Maolü (The Three Visits Cat Hut),” Wen Yu said. Song Jin understood, typed the name into her phone, and instinctively clicked “Start Navigation.”
In the next second, a crisp voice—”I am very UNHAPPY to serve you”—exploded between them. The media volume, which had been turned to the max before she went to sleep, was no joke. Even though she pressed the volume button as fast as she could, the sound still created a “surround sound” effect in the small, enclosed space.
Song Jin cursed inwardly.
She didn’t dare look at Wen Yu, her toes curling in embarrassment inside her socks. But for some reason, Wen Yu didn’t react at all.
Song Jin stole a glance and quickly noticed the clip-on Bluetooth earphones tucked under Wen Yu’s hair. Perhaps because she had been listening to music for too long, Wen Yu’s ears were slightly red from the pressure.
She breathed a secret sigh of relief. Thank goodness, she didn’t hear it.
Song Jin pulled her own Bluetooth earphones from her coat pocket, double-checking the connection multiple times along the way, terrified of letting Wen Yu hear anything she shouldn’t.
Because of this little episode, Song Jin didn’t dawdle and drove like a bolt of lightning all the way to “Sangu Maolü.”
Song Jin had seen “Sangu Maolü” on Li Hang’s social media feed before, but she never had the chance to visit. She didn’t expect it to be Wen Yu’s cousin’s place.
The sunlight was just right, slanting against the white walls. The cafe was decorated in the currently popular “Creamy Log Ins-style.” It had three floors, and a row of wooden tables and chairs sat outside for passersby to rest.
As soon as Song Jin parked and looked up, she locked eyes with a row of cat heads in the second-floor window.
Wen Yu climbed out of the car, ignored the “Closed” sign on the door, and pulled the glass door open. Song Jin locked the car and followed quickly, silently observing the interior.
The space was large, and since three of the four walls were glass, it felt very airy and bright. The decoration style was similar to Wen Yu’s home a sort of forest theme which felt strangely welcoming.
The air was thick with the rich aroma of coffee, and occasionally, a passing kitten would affectionately rub against their legs.
Song Jin bent down to stroke an orange cat’s forehead. Seeing it didn’t resist and even proactively rubbed against her hand, she grinned and picked it up.
“Hey, where’s your cousin? Is she not here?” Song Jin asked, unable to suppress the smile on her face.
Wen Yu looked down at a message and replied: “She went to buy a robot vacuum. The last one was clogged and broken by cat hair. She asked us to help by lint-rolling the hair first; she’ll be here soon.”
“Okay!” Song Jin took a deep breath. The kitten was fragrant and soft, seemingly just bathed today. She planted a loud kiss on the cat’s head the sound was as loud as a suction cup leaving Wen Yu feeling a bit amused.
“You don’t necessarily have to solve the problem ‘at the source’ (by kissing the cat),” Wen Yu joked.
As she spoke, she naturally reached out and plucked a strand of cat hair from the corner of Song Jin’s mouth, brought it close to her lips, and gently blew it away.