“Director Yue’s real younger sister?” Shao Yihan’s expression registered a flicker of surprise, her voice involuntarily rising a few notches and causing others at the table to turn and look toward her.
Yan Nianyi half-closed her eyes, casting a cold sweep over the rest of the group. Those who caught her gaze quickly averted their eyes, not daring to look any further.
Shao Yihan quickly lowered her volume, covering her mouth with a hand. “You’ve seen Director Yue’s sister?”
They all knew that Yueyi had a younger sister, but none of them had ever known her name or what she looked like.
Yueyi protected her far too well.
“No.” Yan Nianyi’s gaze fell upon the automatically rotating lazy Susan, her delicately patterned chopsticks picking up a slice of beef and placing it into her bowl.
Wen Mo glanced at her, taking the seat next to Shao Yihan.
“Then how are you so sure?” Shao Yihan pressed.
Yan Nianyi parted her thin lips slightly as the beef was popped into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. “Do you have a lot of questions?”
Shao Yihan clicked her tongue. Seeing that Yan Nianyi was unwilling to talk, she turned back around with a slightly sheepish expression and resumed a low-voiced conversation with Wen Mo beside her.
“It’s been this long, has Director Yue still not noticed?” Sang Wan’s slender, graceful fingers pressed against the surface of the circular table, tracing the raised, intricate patterns beneath her fingertips.
“Mhm?” Yan Nianyi picked up a piece of boiled spicy pork and placed it into her bowl, the bright red sauce exceptionally jarring to the eye.
She stared blankly at the food, which looked fiery hot, and her hand holding the chopsticks came to a halt.
“Perhaps not yet,” she answered of her own accord.
The tender fish fillet was split in two, dividing it into separate pieces. Hesitating for a moment, Yan Nianyi picked up a small portion and popped it into her mouth.
A combination of rich savoriness and intense heat instantly exploded across her palate, with the spiciness hitting the hardest.
She rarely ate spicy food, and this level of chili was already beyond what she could comfortably handle.
Quietly, Sang Wan reached over from a small side table to pick up a bottle of milk, poured it into a clean glass, and handed it over. “If you can’t handle spicy food, don’t force yourself.”
“It’s fine.” Yan Nianyi accepted the milk and took a few sips.
The burning sensation in her mouth faded significantly.
“Thank you.” Yan Nianyi removed her glasses and folded them away into her pocket.
“Wan, since you don’t have anyone you like, you wouldn’t understand.” Yan Nianyi felt an impulse to open her heart.
Among her many friends, Sang Wan had the mildest temperament and was also one of the few truly reliable friends in her eyes.
“Actually, sometimes I really envy Wen Mo and Qingyan. A mutual unrequited crush that turned into a relationship right after high school graduation, and their bond has always stayed so strong,” Yan Nianyi said, growing a bit more talkative.
Hearing her own name and Zhou Qingyan’s, Wen Mo instinctively looked toward Yan Nianyi, only to meet Sang Wan’s gaze from the side.
Sang Wan gave her a slight head shake, signaling that everything was fine.
Wen Mo withdrew her gaze, calmly continuing to eat her food while occasionally replying to a few text messages.
“Someone you like?” Uncharacteristically, Sang Wan didn’t immediately answer someone else’s question. She offered a soft laugh, lowering her head gently with an inscrutable expression. “I’m a little bit looking forward to it, too.”
“Mhm?” Yan Nianyi looked over at her.
“Nothing.” Sang Wan had no intention of expanding on it, as a small, slightly dazed figure flashed across her mind.
At the dinner table, Yan Nianyi spoke very little. This group of people had grown accustomed to all sorts of upscale cuisines, yet in the end, what they still craved most were the distinctive local dishes from home.
Inside the private dining room, someone pulled out a cigarette and a lighter clicked. The first wisps of gray smoke began to drift upward, bringing a sense of mild discomfort to the enclosed space.
Yan Nianyi raised her eyes to look, spotting an unfamiliar face. She frowned slightly, coldness hardening in her gaze.
“Who told you to smoke?” The person sitting right next to the offender snapped sharply. Reaching out, he snatched the cigarette away and stubbed it out on the spot. “Do you not know the rules?”
The fellow accused of breaking the rules froze for a moment, preparing to retort, but as his gaze swept unintentionally across the entire room, he noticed that everyone who had been talking moments ago had fallen completely silent, staring straight at him without a word.
The words the young man meant to say caught in his throat, transforming into an apology instead. “Sorry, my apologies.”
“It’s fine,” Shao Yihan soothed softly. “Just pay attention next time.”
The small interruption was quickly brushed aside, and the sound of conversation gradually resumed.
“It’s been so long since we last gathered.” Shao Yihan stood up with an easygoing air, raising her wine glass high. “Let’s all have a toast.”
“Cheers.”
“Come, come, come.”
Yan Nianyi pulled out a tissue to wipe her mouth, her fair fingers gripping the stem of the glass as she tilted the back of her hand upward and stood to clink glasses.
The wine in her glass was drained in a single gulp, but Yan Nianyi’s mind remained entirely fixed on one specific person out in the main lobby. She rubbed her temples and picked up the remaining half-piece of fish in her bowl.
Swallowing it down through the lingering sting of spice.
The meal was neither exceptionally fast nor particularly slow. An hour later, everyone had more or less finished eating, packing up their things and preparing to head to the next venue.
“Where are we going next?” someone asked.
“Didn’t Yihan mention a movie theater earlier?” another chimed in. “A bunch of films just came out for the May Day lineup.”
“A movie theater?” One of the young women furrowed her brow. She rarely frequented places like cinemas.
If she wanted to watch a movie, she could easily do so in a custom-built home theater right at her own house.
Besides, among this entire circle of people, how many didn’t have their own private home theater? They could go to anyone’s place instead, so why bother going out to a public theater.
“If anyone doesn’t feel like going, we can head somewhere else instead,” Shao Yihan smiled. “Anything works.”
Since the location had been chosen on a whim anyway, switching to another spot was entirely fine.
“How about a bar, then?” the earlier female voice suggested.
“Sure, that works,” Shao Yihan raised no objections. “Nianyi, is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“You guys can arrange it.” Yan Nianyi walked over to the front desk, her gaze sweeping quickly across the lobby.
A large portion of the area was blocked off by various decorative partitions and walls, allowing only a small fraction of the people and tables to be seen.
And among them, there was no sign of Yueyi.
Yan Nianyi’s eyes deepened as she turned back to look at Wen Mo.
“Let’s go.” Catching her gaze, Wen Mo turned her cool, poised expression toward the area partially obscured by a folding screen not far away.
The diningware on the table had not yet been cleared away, suggesting that whoever had been sitting there had left only moments ago.
A sudden, unexplainable wave of disappointment welled up in Yan Nianyi’s heart.
“Director Yue is right outside the door.” Sang Wan walked up beside Yan Nianyi without a sound, her eyes drifting toward the two figures standing outside the glass wall.
Yan Nianyi followed the direction of her voice.
Yueyi was standing in profile, speaking with a simply dressed young woman. The girl had her back turned to the people inside the hotel, hiding her face from view, though she nodded from time to time.
“Big Sister.” Yan Nianyi called out softly in her heart, her body tensing up instantly as her hands grew clumsy, unsure where to place them.
As a rigid thought struck her, she reached into her pocket, pulled out the gold-rimmed glasses she had folded up during dinner, unfolded them, and slipped them back on.
The chill on her face seemed to melt away under the warmth of the morning sun, dissolving into a gentle, rippling pool of water.
“Sang Wan and I have some errands to run, so we’ll head off first.” Wen Mo glanced at the people outside the door, turned to Sang Wan, and asked, “Did you drive here?”
“Took a taxi.” Sang Wan’s gaze remained fixed on the person standing opposite Yueyi, the one with their back turned.
For some reason, she felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity emanating from that young woman.
“Then let’s head to my place first.” Wen Mo nodded, directing her next words to Shao Yihan. “We’re heading out now. Have fun, guys.”
“Drive safe on the way,” Shao Yihan replied.
Yan Nianyi took a few steps forward, walking slowly and deliberately toward the entrance, her slender, straight posture carrying a hint of delicate vulnerability.
“Just put it on my tab,” Shao Yihan told the two staff members at the front desk.
“Understood, Miss Shao.”
“Nianyi?” The moment Shao Yihan turned around, she saw that Yan Nianyi was already approaching the exit.
Meanwhile, Sang Wan and Wen Mo had already boarded the elevator down to the underground parking garage.
Yan Nianyi came to a halt right by the doorway, standing just a few meters away from Yueyi.
From here, she could faintly catch the woman’s soft tone of voice.
“Have you been busy lately? How did your tutoring session go yesterday?” Yueyi reached out to pat the head of the person in front of her, then gathered the girl’s shoulders to turn her fully toward her.
“It went well.” Yuebai lowered her head with a bashful look, glancing down at her spotless white sneakers before offering a shy smile. “The senior who tutored me yesterday was very thorough.”
“Wasn’t it the usual person?” Yueyi asked, surprised.
She knew who usually tutored her younger sister, and it was Wen Mo and Zhou Qingyan.
She had originally wanted to invite the two of them out for a meal this May Day holiday to express her gratitude, but upon second thought, they had no idea that Yuebai was her actual sister.
She wasn’t ready to make Yuebai’s identity public quite yet, so she had ultimately dropped the idea.
“No, Senior Zhou had matters to attend to at school and didn’t come back, so she asked a senior from the same university to tutor me instead,” Yuebai said, a hint of amusement coloring her voice.
“I see.” Yueyi nodded. “Are you heading out to hang out with friends tonight?”
“Mhm.” Right as she spoke, Yuebai’s phone rang. Glancing down at the caller ID displayed on the screen, she gave it a little shake. “Big Sister, I’m heading off.”
“Do you want me to drop you off?” Yueyi offered from behind.
“No need!” Yuebai waved a hand without looking back and hopped into a waiting taxi.
“This child.” Yueyi shook her head with a helpless smile, the doting expression lingering at the corners of her lips until the taxi carrying Yuebai drove out of sight.
She let out a soft sigh, lifted her gaze, and amidst the shifting view, spotted the young woman standing by the entrance.
Blinking, she let the faded smile bloom across her features once more as the heels of her shoes clicked rhythmically against the ground.
“Nianyi?” Yueyi walked over, her clear, melodic voice flowing outward. “Are you dining here too?”
“Ah? Big Sister.” Yan Nianyi acted as though she had only just noticed the older woman. Her expression lit up with pleasant surprise, and she instinctively pushed up her frames. The accumulated smile on her face bloomed in its entirety. “I came out to eat with some friends.”
She shifted her body slightly sideways, catching out of the corner of her eye that the rest of the group was already heading toward the parking lot to move on to their next destination.
“What a coincidence,” Yueyi smiled.
“Yeah, such a coincidence. I didn’t expect to run into Big Sister here,” Yan Nianyi said obediently.
Her hands were clasped together, resting properly in front of her waist.
“It’s past seven. Are you heading out somewhere else to hang out with your friends?” Yueyi asked.
She had noticed several cars parked not far away, with passengers leaning out to peer in their direction, though the distance made things a bit blurry.
“I…” Yan Nianyi’s words were cut short by a voice carrying over from inside the hotel lobby.
“Sister Yan, why are you still standing out here? Everyone’s waiting to head to the bar.” One of the female companions had just returned from the restroom and, upon seeing Yan Nianyi standing motionless by the door, called out to remind her.
“A bar?” Yueyi’s eyebrows arched upward.
“No, that is not…” Yan Nianyi’s expression shifted slightly. The curve of her mouth stiffened as her eyes widened in a trace of panic, her lips parting slightly as she grew eager to explain.
The image she had carefully maintained in Yueyi’s eyes could not be allowed to shatter just yet.