After work that evening, Xu Yumo arrived at Yunxi Apartments as agreed, carrying a mix of nervousness and unease she couldn't quite articulate.
After registering her identity at the lobby downstairs, she took the direct elevator up. The enclosed cabin was so quiet that only the low hum of the machinery remained, the red floor numbers ticking upward one by one as her breathing unconsciously grew softer in tandem.
The top floor had a one-elevator-per-residence layout. When the elevator doors slid open slowly, the entrance door directly ahead wasn't fully closed—only left ajar with a narrow gap, clearly left open for her.
Xu Yumo politely knocked twice on the door panel before gently pushing it open.
"Just a moment—close the door behind you, and feel free to sit on the sofa." He Linxi's voice came from deep within the hallway.
"Okay…"
Xu Yumo acknowledged, slipped into the guest slippers placed at the entryway, and walked into the living room, perching herself stiffly on the edge of the large leather sofa.
The living room was spacious, decorated in a minimalist style dominated by black, white, and gray. Apart from the essential furniture, there was almost no trace of extra decor or signs of daily life—clean and tidy to the point of feeling cold and stark.
Before long, He Linxi emerged from the inner room, carrying a comically oversized LEGO box.
Her gaze landed on him, and she froze for a brief moment.
He had already changed out of the suit he wore at the office during the day, now dressed in a light gray cotton-linen loungewear set. The soft fabric hung loosely against his body, with two buttons at the collar left undone, revealing the clean lines of his collarbones.
The tips of his hair were still slightly damp, with loose strands falling naturally across his forehead. It softened his sharp, cold features, stripping away some of his unapproachable authority and lending him a more approachable, boyish air.
He Linxi walked to the coffee table and set the box down on the wide marble surface with a dull thud.
"A friend gave it to me. Never opened it."
He sat down on the sofa across from her, long legs casually crossed, and tapped his slender fingers lightly against the edge of the box. His voice carried a lazy, at-home quality: "Too many pieces. It'd take forever to build alone. Since you said you wanted to make it up to me, consider this your help."
Xu Yumo stared at the intricate Eiffel Tower design on the box cover, then glanced at the "10001" piece count marked in the corner. Her mind went blank for a brief moment.
She had prepared herself mentally for countless scenarios before coming, but the last thing she expected was that he'd call her over at night just to be free labor for building LEGO.
Seeing her remain motionless for a long while, He Linxi raised an eyebrow slightly and asked with a hint of a smile: "What, not in the mood?"
"N-no, it's not that."
Xu Yumo snapped back to reality. The tension that had been suspended in the air all the way here dropped back into place with a soft thud, and her tone relaxed along with it: "I actually really enjoy building these."
"Then let's get started."
He Linxi tore open the plastic seal, moving unhurriedly, though a faint curve tugged at the corner of his lips.
Soft overhead light spilled down from above. The two soon moved from the sofa to the carpet, sitting cross-legged, each bent over searching for pieces. There was no forced small talk, no unnecessary conversation.
The air was filled only with the faint rustling of plastic pieces being sorted and the crisp, satisfying click of parts snapping together—sounds that, in the quiet space, somehow felt remarkably soothing and restorative.
While working on the second tier of the base, Xu Yumo was bent over, searching through a pile of gray pieces for a tiny transparent clip, when a soft, drawn-out meow suddenly sounded from nearby.
"Meow—"
Her fingers paused, and she instinctively looked toward the source.
The master bedroom door at the end of the hallway, which had been ajar, had somehow been pushed open a little wider. A fluffy white head was poking out low through the gap.
It was a beautiful lion cat, pure white with voluminous, fluffy fur. It padded silently to the edge of the living room on soft paws, its large tail sweeping gently behind it.
It didn't approach immediately but stopped at a distance, squinting its blue eyes, warily yet curiously studying the stranger sitting on the carpet.
Xu Yumo's eyes lit up instantly, and even her voice unconsciously softened: "You have a cat?"
"Mm." He Linxi paused his movements and glanced over. "She's pretty timid. When a stranger came into the house earlier, she hid under the bed. She probably only feels safe enough now to come out."
With that, he reached a hand out toward the white cat, curling his finger slightly: "Come here, Nian'gao."
Hearing the name, Xu Yumo froze for a moment. "…Nian'gao?"
"What's wrong?" He Linxi scratched the cat's chin casually, looking up at her. "Don't like the name?"
"No, it's not that."
Xu Yumo pressed her lips together, her gaze fixed intently on the white cat purring loudly: "In the winter of my sophomore year of high school, I found a stray little white cat in the parking garage of my neighborhood. I named it Nian'gao too. But my parents said it shed too much and absolutely refused to let me keep it."
"I had no choice but to secretly keep it in a cardboard box in the garage, then I posted on the school forum and found someone to adopt it… I still remember, that cat had a gray spot the size of a fingernail on the inside of its right hind leg."
Upon hearing this, He Linxi's hand stroking the cat paused almost imperceptibly.
He picked up Nian'gao and turned over its hind leg—beneath the thick white fur, an irregular gray spot was clearly visible.
"What a coincidence, I adopted Nian'gao from the high school forum."
Xu Yumo's eyes widened in disbelief. "It was you who adopted it?! No wonder when Zhou Shiye helped me deliver it back then, he said its living conditions would be great from then on and told me not to worry."
"He didn't mention who adopted it?" He looked up at her.
"No… so I assumed it was someone I didn't know." Xu Yumo shook her head. "But I really didn't know you in high school either. I don't think we ever even spoke."
"Never spoke?" He Linxi raised an eyebrow, his tone ambiguous.
Xu Yumo felt a twinge of guilt under his gaze and hesitated before correcting herself: "Did we… speak?"
She wasn't even sure herself.
After all, she'd even forgotten that she'd added him on WeChat.
He Linxi stared at her for two seconds before giving a lazy smile. "Maybe not. I don't remember clearly either."
He paused, then asked as if casually: "But why didn't you come to vet and deliver the cat yourself? I saw the adoption criteria in your post were pretty strict."
"I happened to have a fever that day." Xu Yumo smiled sheepishly. "I went to the hospital for an IV drip, so I had to ask Zhou Shiye to make the trip for me."
"I see. I thought the cat was something he'd found."
He Linxi's gaze flickered slightly, an emotion passing through too quickly to read.
The next second, he held the white ball of fluff up in front of her.
"Now that we've reunited, want to hold it?"
"Can I?" Xu Yumo's eyes lit up instantly.
"Of course. It has a very gentle temperament and won't scratch. It's just gotten a bit heavy from being well-fed over the years."
Only then did Xu Yumo cautiously reach out her hands.
The Nian'gao she remembered was still a scrawny little kitten, but the one in her arms now had fur so fluffy it felt like a thick blanket, and its weight was substantial—like a solid bag of flour.
Having little experience holding cats, Xu Yumo instinctively stiffened both hands under its front armpits, as if she were carrying an expensive, fragile piece of porcelain.
Nian'gao was clearly uncomfortable with this hold. It let out a dissatisfied meow and began squirming its plump body, its four legs kicking wildly in the air, searching for something solid to push against.
"Ah… how am I supposed to hold it?" Xu Yumo was flustered by the ten-plus pounds of struggling weight, terrified she might drop it. A thin layer of sweat broke out on her forehead, and her posture looked awkward and comical.
Seeing her looking so alarmed, He Linxi couldn't help but let out a low chuckle.
"You need one hand to reach across and support its bottom, and the other arm to wrap around the front…"
"Like this?" Xu Yumo clumsily adjusted her arm position, but Nian'gao was too heavy, and with its sleek, frictionless long fur, one kick of its hind legs and most of its body was about to slip right out of her arms.
"Careful."
He Linxi reacted quickly, his broad palm already scooping underneath to catch it.
The cat was securely supported, but Xu Yumo's hand, which she'd frantically placed underneath, was also pressed beneath his palm.
The distance between them suddenly closed.
Xu Yumo could almost clearly feel his slightly heavy breathing near her ear.
And between their breaths, it was no longer that cold sandalwood scent she was used to.
Instead, it was the faint, fresh fragrance of body wash from a recent shower.
Without any warning, it invaded all her senses.
Xu Yumo's breath tightened. She froze in place, not daring to turn her head, nor daring to pull her hand away.
The air fell into a subtle, quiet silence for a few seconds.
He Linxi spoke in a low voice, a barely perceptible tension hidden in his tone: "Got it steady?"
"Steady… got it steady." Xu Yumo's fingertips unconsciously curled slightly within his warm palm.
"Then I'm letting go."
"Mhm." She gave a small nod.
The warmth on the back of her hand withdrew instantly. He Linxi leaned back, settling casually into the sofa as if nothing had happened at all.
Only then did Xu Yumo's unconsciously tensed spine slowly relax.
She smoothed the soft, warm ball of fur in her arms, using the motion of petting the cat to suppress the lingering awkwardness in her heart. After a moment, she looked up at him. "Nian'gao is really well-behaved. I never thought it would grow this big. You've taken such good care of it."
"Since it came into my hands, of course I'd raise it well."
He Linxi gave a lazy smile, his tone casual yet carrying a hint of something more.
"Giving up halfway isn't my habit."
Time slipped by quietly as they built LEGO and played with the cat. Before they knew it, the night had grown deep.
He Linxi glanced at the clock on the wall, set down the piece in his hand, and spoke calmly: "Let's call it a day. We'll continue tomorrow after work."
Xu Yumo froze for a moment, then lifted her eyes.
Continue tomorrow?
She hesitated briefly, but ultimately couldn't hold back the question: "You… hasn't the company been busy lately?"
"Not busy." He Linxi's expression was as calm as ever, his gaze lowered as he tidied the scattered LEGO pieces, and he asked in a casual, offhand tone, "Why, are you unavailable?"
"I…"
Xu Yumo was momentarily at a loss for words. The core algorithms for Aether Technology had all been delivered. Until Matrix Technology's technical evaluation results came out, she truly didn't have any pressing work on her hands.
But this feeling of passively waiting for a partner's favor wasn't pleasant. Unfortunately, she was in a weak position now, and didn't dare to openly press this big boss for progress updates.
All she could do was press her lips together and force out a cooperative smile: "I'm available."
"That's good." He Linxi closed the lid of the packaging box.
Xu Yumo stood up, grabbed her coat from the back of the sofa and slipped it on. While swiping open her ride-hailing app, she politely took her leave: "Then I won't disturb you any longer. Get some rest early."
Before the loading spinner on her screen had even stopped, He Linxi's voice pressed over from behind her.
"No need to call a car."
He didn't look at her, just casually patted Nian'gao on the head: "It's late, and it's not safe for a woman to take a cab alone. My driver will take you home."
She hadn't expected him to be so considerate. Xu Yumo was taken aback for a moment before putting away her phone and softly replying, "…Thank you."
He Linxi didn't say anything more, only giving a slight nod.
When the elevator reached the ground floor, the low-key, spacious black Maybach business car was already waiting outside the entrance lobby on the first floor.
The moment the car door closed, the cold night was completely sealed off outside. The interior was bathed in soft lighting, so quiet that only the faint hum of the engine could be heard.
Xu Yumo sank into the plush back seat, turning her head to watch the neon lights recede past the window.
As she watched, her thoughts suddenly hit a snag. A detail she had overlooked surfaced belatedly in her mind.
Yunxi Apartments was in the east of the city, the neighborhood she rented in was in the west, and Matrix Technology's tower was in the CBD to the south.
But that day, when they'd come out of Matrix Technology, He Linxi had said it was on his way, and had crossed most of the city to take her home.
What was he after, going so far out of his way?
Xu Yumo sat frozen in her seat. Uncontrollably, her mind began to replay the seemingly ordinary interactions between them since their reunion.
From the handkerchief he'd offered on the night of the first snow, to the meal he'd treated her to under the guise of testing, to drinking with her and listening to her vent, and even the compensation he'd asked for—which was for her to come to his place and build LEGO.
Could he possibly… have some feelings for her?
The thought had barely surfaced in her mind when she immediately suppressed it again.
How could that be?
Someone like He Linxi had seen all kinds of women. Why would he take special notice of her?
Perhaps Yunxi Apartments wasn't his only residence—after all, with his wealth, he probably owned properties all over the capital, and that day really had been on his way.
As for everything else, she was probably just overthinking it.
Xu Yumo curled the corner of her mouth in a self-deprecating smile and gently rested her head against the cold window glass.
It had taken her a full eight years to understand how heavy the phrase "reading too much into things" truly was.
Taking someone's casual courtesy for favoritism, and occasional kindness for special treatment.
That was a mistake that had left her bloody and bruised—and she absolutely did not want to make it a second time.