If Song Zhi had a tail, it would probably be wagging like crazy right now.
However, she still feigned a bit of reservation and asked, “Ah? Won’t I be bothering you too much?”
【Xu You】 No.
【Xu You】 You can come over anytime.
Without a single second of hesitation, Song Zhi replied, “Aww! Awesome!”
She immediately switched back to her family group chat on WeChat.
“Dad! Mom! I’m not coming home tonight!”
Tan Yingying replied very quickly. “Why aren’t you coming home again, baby?”
“Did your dad make you work overtime at the company again?”
“@Tao, speak up [Smiling Face.jpg]”
Song Zhi hurriedly cleared her father’s name: “No! Lately, I…”
She suddenly realized she couldn’t mention being at Xu You’s place. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her parents, but she felt like Xu You was working on something big, so this kind of information should be kept confidential.
Thus, she replied vaguely, “I just have some things to take care of.”
Tan Yingying’s intuition was incredibly sharp.
“Are you dating someone?”
Song Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly replied, “Mom, what are you thinking…”
She certainly wanted to date her, but Xu You didn’t like her that way.
Inviting her over, making breakfast for her, and even setting up facial recognition so she could come and go as she pleased, these were all just things Xu You would do for a good friend.
“Alright, Mom won’t pry anymore,” Tan Yingying said. “Just stay safe.”
Song Zhi: “Got it! [Kisses]”
Putting her phone down, Song Zhi threw herself into her work. Mondays were always the busiest. With a numb expression, she handled the cold, tedious tasks, with only six words echoing in her mind.
I surrender, please spare me.
She couldn’t help but wonder what the point of this job even was.
When evening finally rolled around, Song Zhi clocked out right on time, grabbed her bag, and left.
The central elevators were packed, and Song Zhi couldn’t stand waiting. She walked quickly to a more secluded elevator bay and pressed the down button. Suddenly, she overheard a tearful voice. “Mom, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t come to my company. It wasn’t easy for me to find this new job. Do you want to force me to resign again? Besides, I don’t want to go on blind dates, and I don’t like guys.”
It was Ye Guiqi’s voice.
Unlike her usual gentle and sweet tone, her voice right now was filled with exhaustion and emotional collapse.
“You are being abnormal!”
A woman’s voice escalated in anger: “You must go to that blind date tomorrow, and you must get married by next year at the latest! Our Ye family has produced a homosexual, if word gets out, where am I supposed to put my face?”
Ye Guiqi bit her lower lip, stubbornly replying, “I’m not going.”
Slap!
A sharp, crisp slap rang out.
Ye Guiqi’s face was whipped to the side, a red swelling rapidly appearing on her fair cheek.
Just then, someone tapped Song Zhi on the shoulder. She turned around and saw it was the woman who had called Ye Guiqi to her side earlier that afternoon.
The woman signaled with her eyes that the elevator had arrived. Song Zhi stepped inside, and the woman followed her in.
The elevator descended slowly in absolute silence.
When they reached the 8th floor, the doors slid open. The woman stepped out, but before leaving, she said to Song Zhi, “Just pretend you didn’t see what just happened.”
With that, the elevator doors closed.
Running into Ye Guiqi in such an awkward situation was embarrassing enough. Song Zhi naturally had no intention of gossiping about it.
She was just very worried about Ye Guiqi.
An overbearing mother, suffocating marital pressure… so was that why Ye Guiqi had been crying this morning too?
Song Zhi couldn’t help but think: if one day she were to tell Song Tao and Tan Yingying, “Dad, Mom, I actually like girls.”
How would they react?
Would it really be like what Song Xian said, that he would have to collect her corpse?
Then, Song Zhi realized she was getting way ahead of herself.
She hadn’t even caught the girl yet, and here she was already thinking about how to come out to her family.
The moment Song Zhi sat in the driver’s seat, a message from Xu You popped up.
【Xu You】 What do you want to eat? I’ll cook for you.
Perhaps Song Zhi’s high praise this morning had given her an immense boost of confidence, making Xu You eager to try her hand at cooking again.
However, Song Zhi was truly worried that she wouldn’t be able to perfectly control her facial expressions later, which might crush Xu You’s confidence.
After hesitating over and over, she replied. “Let me handle dinner tonight! [Puppy Spinning Around.gif]”
Humming a little tune as she arrived at the front door, she saw Xu You leaning casually against the doorframe. She was wearing a white shirt, her hair loosely draped over her shoulders, looking as though she had been waiting for her for quite a while.
Upon seeing Song Zhi, a faint, gentle smile graced Xu You’s lips. Against her naturally cool and stunning features, such a smile made her look even more breathtaking.
She stepped aside and said, “Come on in.”
As Song Zhi looked down to change her shoes, she noticed a pair of pink bunny slippers sitting in the shoe cabinet.
She froze for a moment, then quickly glanced at Xu You’s feet. She realized they were wearing the exact same style, except hers were pink bunnies and Xu You’s were gray bunnies.
So… these were prepared specifically for her?
Song Zhi couldn’t stop her lips from curling upward.
“Did Sister buy these specially for me?” she asked, completely playing dumb.
Xu You gave an “mm” in response. “Do you like them?”
“I… love… them… so… much… ” Song Zhi drawn out her words playfully.
Pattering over to the living room in her slippers, she was surprised to find the table already laden with dishes. Stunned, she said, “You’ve already cooked everything? Didn’t we say I was going to do it?”
Xu You casually walked over and began kneading Song Zhi’s shoulders. “That would be too tiring for you.”
The pressure from Xu You’s hands was absolutely perfect, and her fingers were incredibly soft.
Song Zhi could even smell the cool, pleasant fragrance of the perfume on her.
“So fragrant…” She blurted out her internal thoughts without thinking.
Xu You’s hands paused. “What?”
Song Zhi snapped out of it instantly, loathing herself for being so loose-lipped. Terrified that Xu You would think she was some kind of creep, she frantically tried to cover it up: “The food! I meant the food smells so fragrant!”
Xu You remained in an uncanny silence for a few seconds before letting go of her shoulders. “Let’s eat.”
She added, “I’ll go grab the chopsticks.”
While grabbing the chopsticks, Xu You expressionlessly tossed the perfume on the counter straight into the trash can.