Zhou Shiye bent down, helping Xu Yumo up from the sofa and letting her lean against his chest. He then picked up the warm tea from the coffee table and carefully brought it to her lips.
Xu Yumo's thick lashes hung wet and heavy, the redness at the corners of her eyes made even more vivid by the alcohol. Her whole body was as limp as if she had no bones, leaving her no choice but to let him half-hold her.
After a few sips of hot tea, she shifted restlessly, a faint murmur escaping her throat as if she had suffered a great injustice.
Zhou Shiye felt a surge of irritation watching her. His expression darkened, and his tone turned harsh: "How did you end up drinking like this? Did that bastard He Linxi do something to you?"
Xu Yumo squinted, struggling to focus her gaze on his face. After a moment, she mumbled out a single sentence:
"You're the bastard."
Zhou Shiye froze, the hand holding the teacup suspended in midair.
Before he could react, Xu Yumo had already lost all strength again, her head drooping softly into the crook of his shoulder as she fell into a deep sleep.
Zhou Shiye stared silently at her pitiful sleeping face for a long time. In the end, he could only let out a dejected sigh, carried her horizontally into the bedroom, and tucked the blanket tightly around her.
That night, Xu Yumo slept restlessly.
Turbulent dreams surged and pulled her back to the sweltering summer of her sophomore year in high school.
Zhou Shiye had come running to her excitedly to form a band, his eyes blazing as if they'd just caught fire.
"The school arts festival needs something cool. Mo Mo, will you be the keyboardist?"
Xu Yumo had complained about the hassle, saying she was already tired enough from practicing piano, but inside, she couldn't help but feel a flutter of joy.
She naively believed this was a secret plan meant only for the two of them.
Even during those days of budding first love, she had always been certain she was the closest person to him. She had received nearly all of Zhou Shiye's favoritism and always felt that if he ever wanted to date someone, the first person he'd look at would surely be her.
But reality shattered into pieces the moment she pushed open the rehearsal room door.
Zhou Shiye hadn't wanted to form a band with her.
He had gone through all that trouble just to pursue Jiang Yao, the lead singer.
In the weeks that followed, Xu Yumo sat behind the keyboard like an invisible backdrop, watching Zhou Shiye find endless ways to hand Jiang Yao water, tell her jokes, and show off.
Even though she felt miserable inside, she had to pretend she didn't care, terrified that Zhou Shiye would see through her and she'd lose even the last shred of their friendship.
On the day of the performance, the stage lights were blinding.
The song the band had chosen was "Swallowtail Butterfly."
Xu Yumo stood in the shadows at the very edge of the stage, her fingers moving mechanically across the keys. From her angle, she could only see the backs of Zhou Shiye and Jiang Yao.
Zhou Shiye, with his guitar strapped on, kept turning his head to glance at Jiang Yao, his eyes full of the spirited passion of youthful infatuation. In that moment, their silhouettes looked so perfectly matched—so perfectly that Xu Yumo felt like nothing more than a superfluous prop.
The music burst through the auditorium, and Jiang Yao's bold voice rang out from the microphone—
You are fire, you are wind, you are the devil weaving webs.
The broken swallowtail butterfly, still dreaming its final dream.
Let me have brief joy and emotion.
The song echoed through the hall, layer upon layer.
Every lyric was like a poison-tipped needle.
Each word pierced her heart, impossible to avoid.
When Xu Yumo woke with a start, the pillow was soaked through, her throat was parched as if scorched by fire, and her temples throbbed with a sharp pain in sync with her pulse.
Outside the window, the sky was still a pale gray, tinged with the faint light just before dawn.
The melody of "Swallowtail Butterfly" from her dream seemed to linger in her ears, tugging at her nerves again and again, leaving her feeling inexplicably suffocated and breathless.
She stared blankly at the ceiling as the fog of her hangover slowly cleared, and she remembered that she'd accidentally drunk too much at the bar last night.
But her last memory stopped at the moment He Linxi had shoved her into the car. As for what happened after that, it was as if the film had been abruptly cut—completely blank.
Xu Yumo quickly sat up and checked herself. Her clothes were still the same ones from last night—wrinkled, but with no signs of being touched.
She breathed a quiet sigh of relief, guessing that He Linxi had probably dropped her off and left right away.
She hoped she hadn't done anything too embarrassing in front of him while drunk…
She pressed hard on her throbbing temples, staggered out of bed, and shuffled toward the door in her slippers, planning to get a glass of water from the kitchen to soothe her throat.
But the moment she stepped into the living room, her footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
On the narrow sofa, a tall figure was curled up.
Hearing the sound of her slippers, the person raised a hand to rub their eyes and slowly sat up. Gazing at her with sleepy eyes, their voice hoarse from the morning: "Mo Mo, you're awake?"
Xu Yumo stood frozen in place, taking several seconds before she found her voice again. In disbelief, she said, "Zhou Shiye? Why are you here? Didn't He Linxi bring me back last night?"
At the mention of He Linxi's name, the drowsiness in Zhou Shiye's eyes instantly hardened. He let out a cold snort, his tone laced with an inexplicable hostility. "He did bring you back, but once he saw I was here, he had the sense to leave."
"Wait—why were you at my place last night?" Xu Yumo's mind was a complete mess, and the hangover headache made her tone sharp as well.
Zhou Shiye stood up, casually running a hand through his disheveled hair, and explained lazily, "Lin Yuhang and the others are all at the resort. Coming back alone yesterday would've been boring, so I figured I'd just wait here for you to get back."
Xu Yumo was so furious she let out a bitter laugh, finding the man before her utterly beyond reason.
If he didn't like her, couldn't give her the feelings she wanted, then who exactly was he performing this devoted act for—standing guard at her door in the middle of the night?
What she lacked was never a friend who asked after her well-being.
"Zhou Shiye, are you out of your mind?" Xu Yumo's voice trembled slightly as she pointed at the door. "Who asked you to wait? Go back to your own place!"
Zhou Shiye was taken aback by her merciless dismissal, and the young master's temper flared up instantly. "Xu Yumo, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Or is it that me being here is getting in the way of you and He Linxi developing something?!"
"What does this have to do with He Linxi?" Xu Yumo's temples throbbed as she lowered her voice. "I went to him purely for a business partnership."
"For business?" Zhou Shiye sneered. "Didn't I already find you a suitable supplier? You have ready-made connections right there, but you insist on going to beg that He guy instead?"
"Did I ask for your help? My own matters, I can handle myself." Xu Yumo raised her eyes to meet his furious gaze, her look cold and resolute. "And besides, you said we're just friends. Since that's the case, please keep your overstepping concerns to yourself from now on. I don't need them, and I don't want to misunderstand again."
"…"
Zhou Shiye opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, but found he had no words to refute her.
"Leave. At this hour, showing up here as a friend isn't appropriate."
With that final remark, Xu Yumo didn't bother looking at his face, which had turned pale and flushed by turns. She turned and walked straight into the kitchen.
A moment later, she heard the rustling sound of someone grabbing a jacket from the living room, followed by heavy footsteps.
Then, a loud slam of the door.
Zhou Shiye was gone.
Xu Yumo stood in front of the narrow stove, her hands going weak as she braced herself against the cold countertop. It took her a while before she straightened up and poured herself a glass of cold water.
The icy liquid slid down her throat, sending a sobering shiver through her and easing the hangover headache somewhat.
Her memories from after that glass of fruit wine were fragmented.
She vaguely remembered grabbing He Linxi and saying quite a lot, even crying at one point, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't piece together what exactly she'd said.
Realizing he was now the partner she most wanted to win over, if she'd lost her composure last night and said something wrong—or even inadvertently offended him—then Aether Technology's position would only become more precarious. Her heart tightened at the thought. She quickly pulled herself together, picked up her phone, and opened the WeChat chat with He Linxi.
Her fingers typed and deleted on the keyboard, still deliberating how to phrase things, when her fingertip accidentally slipped and tapped the emoji panel at the bottom.
A puckered-lip kissing emoji was sent out in an instant.
Xu Yumo's mind went blank with a buzz. She frantically long-pressed the screen and managed to recall the emoji within two seconds.
She let out a slow breath, reassuring herself that it was only seven in the morning—He Linxi was probably still asleep and wouldn't have seen it.
But before she could even finish exhaling, a reply popped up on the screen out of nowhere.
H: [?]
Xu Yumo's breath caught, her fingers freezing instantly.
With no way out, she had to tough it out and cover for herself: [Sorry, that was an accidental tap…]
[I actually wanted to properly thank you for bringing me back last night. Sorry for the trouble, really.]
After the message was sent, the "typing…" indicator immediately appeared at the top of the screen.
But those words flickered on and off, on and off, for a full several minutes. As if the person on the other end was holding their phone, pondering how to deal with all the foolish things she'd done.
Xu Yumo stared at the chat window with bated breath, her mind already cycling through all sorts of disastrous outcomes.
Until her phone finally vibrated.
H: [No worries]
Staring at this dry, bare reply, Xu Yumo was momentarily speechless.
That's it?
He'd typed and deleted for that long, and that's all he said?
She clutched her phone, hesitating over and over, but ultimately couldn't suppress the anxiety in her heart. She carefully followed up with another question: [Um… I drank too much last night. I didn't say anything too out of line, did I?]
This time, the reply came quickly.
H: 【There's something you said that I'm not sure if it was nonsense or your true feelings】
Xu Yumo's heart instantly leaped to her throat, her fingertips trembling slightly as she typed: 【What did I say?】
H: 【You said I'm not a good person】
Seeing those words, Xu Yumo felt her vision go dark, her entire body freezing stiff.
She was done for.
How could she have uttered such nonsense to a partner of this caliber?
Panicking, Xu Yumo didn't even bother to carefully choose her words, hastily replying: 【Nonsense! Absolutely nonsense! How could you be a "person" at all!】
The moment the message was sent, she realized it sounded even more like an insult. Her breath caught, and she scrambled to remedy the situation: 【No, I mean, you're a good person, an especially good person!】
H: 【Oh】
A simple "oh" — completely unreadable in terms of emotion.
Was he letting it go, or silently adding it to a mental ledger?
Xu Yumo could only steel herself and send a few more apologies in succession: 【I'm truly very sorry. I was out of line after drinking. Please don't take it to heart】
This time, the chat went completely silent.
Whether he had gotten busy or simply didn't intend to respond to her anymore, she couldn't tell.
Xu Yumo stared at the screen for a while, then could only set down her phone and go wash up, preparing for work.
She had hoped to push the matter out of her mind by burying herself in work, but once she arrived at the office, every time her hands paused, the morning's conversation would resurface, making her feel more embarrassed and more guilty the more she thought about it.
She endured until nearly the end of the workday, and finally couldn't hold back any longer. She tapped open the chat with He Linxi again and sent a cautious, tentative message: 【President He, I hope my rudeness last night won't affect the upcoming collaboration between our two companies】
After about five minutes, the screen vibrated.
H: 【What, in Miss Xu's eyes, am I someone who can't separate business from personal matters?】
The rhetorical tone carried a subtle edge that made one instinctively tense up.
Xu Yumo's heart tightened, and she immediately explained: 【No! I absolutely didn't mean that. I'm just very sorry about last night — I caused you trouble and don't know how to make it up to you…】
H: 【You genuinely want to make it up to me?】
Xu Yumo replied almost without hesitation: 【Of course!】
A moment later, a location pin popped up in the chat.
H: 【Come here after work】
Xu Yumo tapped on the location and searched for it, her finger pausing mid-motion.
It was a luxury apartment complex called Yunxi, and judging by the unit number, it was clearly his private residence.
She stared at the screen for a long moment, her heartbeat inexplicably quickening.
But at this point, asking further questions or declining would only make her earlier offer of compensation seem insincere.
Xu Yumo bit her lip, and in the end, could only steel herself and reply with a single word: 【Okay】