She thought that thanking Ji Shijing was one thing, but whether she had the time to thank him was quite another.
Although it wasn’t the annual crunch time for hitting KPIs, Financial Storm had been planning an interview with Ji Shijing himself for a long time. There were many interview questions, some of which involved professional financial knowledge, so Ning Wanji had to find ways to integrate her background expertise to make the draft thoroughly prepared.
In college, she attended P University’s Guanghua School of Management, which was closely tied to the financial sector; working as a financial journalist happened to align with her undergraduate major as well. The reason why Xue Yike criticized Ning Wanji less was also determined by her workplace professionalism.
At Financial Storm, strange and odd people were by no means a minority. Although it was a top-tier magazine社 in the industry, wherever there were people, there were office politics—intrigues and rivalries were inevitable.
Since Xue Yike gave her opportunities, Dai Wei’s opportunities naturally decreased, which was why Dai Wei had always found Ning Wanji displeasing.
However, the workplace had always been like this; her opportunities didn’t come for free and had to be fought for by herself.
He Qingqiu kept asking her about the follow-up to that blind date. Ning Wanji lightly brushed it off by mentioning that she had met Ji Shijing again, without offering any further details.
Regarding the two of them, He Qingqiu had always been very curious. Although the blind date guy didn’t work out, Senior Ji was far better than that blind date guy by a huge margin.
After working overtime until midnight and finally leaving the company with great difficulty, she was snapped back awake by a phone call from He Qingqiu. Fortunately, the next day was the weekend with no work. Right up until leaving the company, Ning Wanji was still repeatedly thinking about whether she had saved her backups, or else the news drafts she worked so hard to prepare would all go to waste.
She even spent quite a while double-checking the door lock.
As soon as she stepped out the door, she found Ms. He Qingqiu waiting for her at the entrance, driving a small pink car.
Seeing Ning Wanji arrive, He Qingqiu rolled down the car window and said: “Let’s go, your big sister is taking you out for barbecue to make amends! Sorry Wanwan, I didn’t know that guy was that kind of person either.”
The night wind was slightly chilly, and Ning Wanji tucked her hands into her trench coat. She laughed softly: “Alright, then tonight I’ll risk my life to accompany a noble lady. If it’s not delicious, I’ll definitely cause trouble for you.”
“Fine, fine, fine.” He Qingqiu unlocked the car door, watching Ning Wanji slide directly into the passenger seat, and said: “So, you haven’t seen Ji Shijing for years—didn’t any sparks fly between you two?”
“What sparks could there be?” Ning Wanji shut the car door directly and said: “My relationship with Senior is just like that. Don’t overthink it; letting your imagination run wild won’t do.”
“How is it letting my imagination run wild?” He Qingqiu continued: “Let me tell you, back when Senior Ji was at school, he was quite special toward you. When you clung to him relentlessly, he never ignored you. This time he even proactively handed you his business card—didn’t you add him as a WeChat friend?”
He Qingqiu made it sound as if the two were rekindling an old romance. In reality, there had never been a story between them to begin with; even if there had been, the present was no longer the past, and bygone days were beyond reach.
“No,” He Qingqiu continued while driving: “Wanwan, listen to me analyze it for you: if he didn’t have feelings for you, he wouldn’t have proactively given you his business card. Strike when the time is right! Don’t you know that good men are hard to find these days? Just take that last blind date guy—don’t even mention how bizarre he was.”
“He handed me his business card just out of ordinary alumnus friendship from knowing each other.” Ning Wanji looked out at the magnificent night view of Beicheng, where the non-stop flow of traffic still showcased the fast pace of this city.
“…” He Qingqiu was somewhat speechless, not knowing how to knock sense into her friend’s stubborn mind: “Your way of thinking is no different from those girls online who think their boyfriends taking them out without booking two rooms is just to chat under a cotton blanket.”
“That line—’You are very good, you don’t need to go on blind dates’—sounds like an explicit hint that he’s single no matter how you hear it.”
The more He Qingqiu analyzed, the more worked up she got. Traffic in Beicheng wasn’t that heavy at night, and her navigation system was already issuing a speeding warning.
Ning Wanji bit her lip and continued: “Qingqing, I think you’d better pay attention. We’re not on a highway—restrain yourself.”
“I got too excited bringing up Senior just now,” He Qingqiu continued: “He even said that to you, did you really not add his WeChat when you went back?”
If she searched for his contact info, she could definitely find it. Ji Shijing wouldn’t leave her a fake phone number. But Ning Wanji didn’t proactively add him, and the reason was simple: people not from the same world didn’t need to get overly involved together, which would only add unnecessary troubles and wild hopes.
“How old are we, my young lady? Please wake up.” Ning Wanji continued: “We’re almost there. I haven’t even made it home yet, so I don’t intend to start daydreaming first.”
As soon as the car came to a steady stop, Ning Wanji jumped out of the vehicle, casually closing the car door. He Qingqiu locked the car and continued: “Our Wanwan needs to have confidence! That blind date guy was blind, but you have to believe in yourself—you can definitely make Senior Ji fall for you. Don’t feel inferior.”
These words actually made a lot of sense. Among students of her cohort at P University, Ning Wanji counted as exceptionally and strikingly pretty. As for falling into a position where she needed others to arrange blind dates, He Qingqiu was puzzled as well. She felt that if Ning Wanji were willing to hook rich men, she really could catch plenty of them, but the problem was that she was unwilling.
Therefore, when she learned that Dai Wei claimed Ning Wanji wore haute couture to hook rich guys, she was extremely displeased.
Sitting at the barbecue stall, He Qingqiu chewed on skewers and took a sip of fruit wine, saying: “I’m telling you, if I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have let you go on that blind date. That guy was so low! But I really didn’t expect Senior Ji to step in and rescue you.”
“Aren’t you driving?” Ning Wanji opened her mouth to ask: “You still dare to drink fruit wine?”
Traffic police in Beicheng were strict, and drunk driving would get caught eight or nine times out of ten. Getting caught meant going to the station to sip tea and having points docked; Ning Wanji really couldn’t fathom what He Qingqiu was trying to do by drinking alcohol.
“Oh, it’s not important,” He Qingqiu pulled her hand and said: “Can’t we just call a designated driver? When a person is happy, they ought to drink a bit more wine, or else how can we speak our minds freely?”
This night market barbecue wasn’t in a particularly remote area of Beicheng; driving out without getting pulled over for drunk driving was impossible. Furthermore, even if He Qingqiu dared to drive, Ning Wanji wouldn’t dare ride in her car.
Only after hearing her say she would get a designated driver did Ning Wanji’s heart settle down slightly. Fortunately, she had kept a few business cards for designated drivers in her wallet; otherwise, the two of them really wouldn’t know where to go tonight and couldn’t possibly sleep at the barbecue shop.
Fruit wine didn’t have a high alcohol content, but Ning Wanji and He Qingqiu were clearly not people with high alcohol tolerance. However, since her best friend wanted to drink in the middle of the night, Ning Wanji had to risk her life to accompany her friend.
“Speaking of which, Wanwan,”
He Qingqiu took a bite of a lamb skewer, took another sip of green plum fruit wine, and said: “After you went back that day, did you really not try adding Senior Ji at all? Back in high school, I remember you used to cling to him quite a lot. After all these years, your taste can’t have gotten so high that you don’t even look up to Senior Ji, right? Even if you don’t look up to him—which is even stranger—you were willing to let me check out blind date guys for you, isn’t Ji Shijing way stronger than a blind date guy?”
“…” Ning Wanji felt she needed to explain: “It’s not that my taste is too high to look up to Senior Ji, but that the two of us are simply not on the same level at all. Rather than daydreaming, it’s better to think about realistic things like getting promoted and making a fortune. Happiness has to be created by the industrious hands of the rabbit itself. Compared to Mary Sue romance, I advise you to watch more of Year Hare Affair—the rabbit has to earn money on its own.”
The two of them didn’t eat their barbecue inside; they ate under an open shed. The air was slightly cool, with distant lights flickering and vehicles rustling past on the streets of Beicheng. He Qingqiu propped her head with her hand, her voice somewhat slurred, as she whispered: “Wanwan, is it really impossible?”
Ning Wanji took a bite of a chicken wing, shedding the illusion of a career elite, and then downed the green plum wine: “Whether it’s possible or not isn’t up to me to decide. We’re past the age of dreaming; why keep thinking about those useless things? You’re acting just like those forum posts, you know?”
The cool night wind blew against Ning Wanji’s side profile, lifting the stray hairs by her temples. The dim yellow streetlights illuminated her beautiful face. Her voice had already carried a hint of vagueness, and her face was slightly flushed as she said: “Online, people always post things like, ‘If you were given 5 million, or if you won 100 million in the lottery, what would you do?’ or ‘If given 10 million, would you live on a deserted island without social contact for a year?’ But the poster hasn’t transferred the money over first.”
“It’s all daydreaming stuff. You sit there overthinking it repeatedly, just wasting time.” Ning Wanji continued: “Why should I go fantasizing about someone who is simply impossible for me?”
“Sigh.”
He Qingqiu was also somewhat touched by emotion. Although her family background wasn’t bad—being a Beicheng native—she still understood Ning Wanji’s mental journey to some extent.
A favored son of heaven like Ji Shijing was truly completely unrelated to bottom-tier ordinary citizens like them. She encouraged Ning Wanji to strive and pursue him on her own, yet she also understood her reservations.
However, speaking up to this point, He Qingqiu also felt somewhat emotional: “That’s right, where in the world is there such a good thing? But if you like him, shouldn’t you give it a try? Otherwise, do you really plan to do what your parents say, and casually find any random man to get married to when the time comes?”
This subject was impossible to discuss. Originally, Ning Wanji hadn’t wanted to go on blind dates so early either, but her family was pressing for marriage too urgently. Acting on the idea of treating a dead horse as a live horse—viewing a failed blind date as a failed workplace interview—she gritted her teeth and told her uncle that a classmate had introduced someone, intending to take her time with matchmaking.
At the end of the day, it was just to cope.
However, future matters couldn’t be left unconsidered. Yet, when life is good, one should enjoy it to the fullest. Ning Wanji felt that if humans overthought things too much, they would probably go extinct early, so she simply didn’t think about it, taking it one day at a time.
“Not joking,” He Qingqiu continued: “Let me ask you, why do some people feel like they can settle with just anyone? My mom is rushing me too, but I told her directly that I’m an advocate of non-marriage.”
“…” Ning Wanji said: “I want to as well, but I think there’s a high probability my mom would threaten to kill herself.”
In China, filial piety is a tradition. Just thinking of her own parents gave Ning Wanji a headache. She couldn’t truly let her mom make life-or-death threats while remaining indifferent.
Even though she also felt that a low-quality marriage was inferior to a high-quality single life.
The moment each other’s parents were brought up, the two people drowning their sorrows in alcohol simultaneously raised their glasses, clinking them together.
Although Li Bai’s poem said it well—drowning worries in wine only brings more worry—there was currently no better alternative.
Apart from drowning worries in wine, Ning Wanji couldn’t think of any other way to numb her nerves. Just thinking about the last failed blind date, and her uncle bringing out a long list for her to keep selecting from, that terror of being controlled made her scalp go numb.
Marrying and having children with someone she didn’t like was practically more painful to her than killing her.
After grieving for a while, she raised her glass again and said: “Come, let us drink a great cup! To our revolutionary friendship—stay away from blind date guys, or you’ll become unfortunate.”
In the end, the person who clamored to drink joyfully at the very beginning ended up not drinking as much as Ning Wanji. However, it made little difference; the two of them swept clean dozens of barbecue skewers and finished off all the wine.
The battlefield wasn’t wrapped up until half-past one in the middle of the night.
The bill was settled by He Qingqiu. Ning Wanji dazily pulled out a random card from her wallet.
She remembered that they still hadn’t called a designated driver.
Her fingers were somewhat clumsy. It took her quite a while to see the numbers on the business card clearly, and she didn’t have the mind to carefully read the job title either. Pressing the dial button, the phone call went through.
The first call went unanswered by the other party.
The night wind blew Ning Wanji’s face until it felt uncomfortably hot. She touched her cheek, refusing to believe it, thinking to herself that this designated driver lacked professional ethics.
After making three consecutive calls, the long beeping sound ended. Just as Ning Wanji was preparing to switch to another designated driver card to call, the other party’s phone was finally connected.
After waiting so long, Ning Wanji had a bit of a temper. Having consumed alcohol, she didn’t control her emotions either. Upon hearing the other party’s cool and faint line—“Hello, excuse me?”—she retorted directly:
“Don’t you designated drivers offer 24-hour service?”
“Why is it that after I made so many calls, someone from your company finally picked up? You sales representative really won’t do—believe it or not, I’ll complain to your boss about you tomorrow!”