The door was pulled open.
Chen Lu stood at the entrance, her anger still written across her face.
The hallway was empty.
Only from the corner of the stairs above came the faint sound of a footstep.
Chen Lu didn’t notice.
She gritted her teeth, turned back, and shot Shen Yuan a glare.
“Shen Yuan, you’ll regret this.”
With that, she descended the stairs in her high heels.
The sound of her footsteps quickly faded into the stairwell.
Shen Yuan stood inside the door, not chasing after her.
She closed the door, leaned her back against it, her fingers clenched so tightly they turned white.
…
At the corner of the stairs above, Xu Anran stood there.
Before Chen Lu had opened the door, he had already reached the entrance.
The sound of the argument filtered through the door panel.
He heard Chen Lu threaten Shen Yuan.
He also heard Shen Yuan say, “As you wish.”
The second before the door was pulled open, he retreated half a flight up.
Three minutes later, the hallway fell completely silent.
Only then did Xu Anran come downstairs and raise his hand to knock.
Shen Yuan had just turned around when she heard the knock, her movements freezing.
She thought Chen Lu had come back, and her expression turned cold.
When the door opened, it was Xu Anran standing outside instead.
Shen Yuan was stunned.
“Why are you back?”
Xu Anran didn’t look at her for long.
His gaze shifted from her face to the black trash bag at the entrance.
“Came back to get some documents.”
Shen Yuan stepped aside.
Xu Anran walked into the room, and as he passed her, he paused for a moment.
“I just saw Chen Lu.”
Shen Yuan’s fingers tightened abruptly.
She looked up at him.
Did Chen Lu say something?
How much did she say?
Those chat records, the things she’d done before, and the plan she and Chen Lu had discussed…
Shen Yuan’s throat tightened.
She opened her mouth, almost about to apologize.
Even the words “Let’s break up” were already on the tip of her tongue.
But Xu Anran continued, “She stormed downstairs in a huff.”
He looked at Shen Yuan.
“Did you two have a fight?”
Only then did Shen Yuan snap back to reality.
What he meant by “saw” didn’t necessarily mean Chen Lu had ratted her out.
She lowered her eyes, suppressing the panic from a moment ago.
“Yeah, we had a fight.”
Xu Anran glanced sideways at her.
Shen Yuan said quietly, “We won’t be in contact anymore.”
Xu Anran looked at her for a few seconds, then didn’t press further.
He turned and went into the room to get his materials.
In the end, he said nothing more and left the rental apartment.
The door closed again.
Shen Yuan stood in place, and only after a long while did she unclench her fists.
She walked over to the sofa and picked up her phone.
Chen Lu’s chat window was still pinned at the top.
Shen Yuan stared at it for two seconds, then directly blocked her.
After that, she opened her laptop and clicked into a job search website.
At the entrance of the residential complex.
The more Chen Lu thought about it, the angrier she got.
She took out her phone, scrolled through those chat records, and her gaze darkened.
“Shen Yuan, who are you pretending to be?”
She let out a cold laugh.
“You’ll regret this.”
…
In the rental apartment, Shen Yuan started looking for a job.
The original owner of this body had barely held a proper job since graduating college, and her resume was pitifully empty.
She stared at the computer, revising it again and again, and in the end, all she could write was “proficient in office software” and “has some copywriting ability.”
A whole morning.
The resumes she sent out received no replies.
Occasionally, there was a response, but after a few brief questions, it would go silent.
In the afternoon, she went to interview for a receptionist position at a media company.
The interviewer flipped through her resume, his gaze lingering on her face for a long time.
“You’ve had such a long gap on your resume—what was the reason?”
Shen Yuan answered honestly, “Personal reasons.”
The other person smiled.
That smile carried the unspoken dismissiveness of adults who understood each other all too well.
“We need employees with strong stability. You might not be a good fit.”
The second company was even more direct.
“You don’t have relevant experience.”
The third place asked her to write a sample WeChat article.
Shen Yuan finished it, but the interviewer barely glanced at it, only saying they’d be in touch.
She knew they wouldn’t be.
By evening, Shen Yuan sat on a bench at the bus stop, her heels burning with pain.
The original body’s shoes were pretty, but they rubbed against her feet.
She’d worn a pair of stilettos today to look formal, and she’d been walking in them all day.
Now her heels were already scraped raw, a hint of blood seeping through the edge of her socks.
Buses passed by one after another.
The evening rush hour crowd packed the platform.
Shen Yuan looked down at her phone.
Her balance was just over two thousand yuan.
It was what Xu Anran had transferred to the original body before, what was left over.
She’d already said she wouldn’t take Xu Anran’s money anymore.
Rent, utilities, living expenses, and the money she owed Xu Anran.
She needed to have an income as soon as possible.
Even if it was just a part-time job.
Her phone vibrated.
It was a reply from a coffee shop.
[Hello, we’ve seen your part-time application. You can come in for a trial shift tomorrow at 2 PM. Address: 198 Nantong Road, Shiguang Coffee.]
Shen Yuan’s eyes finally brightened a little.
She immediately replied: [Okay, I’ll be there on time.]
As she put her phone away, she noticed an electric scooter parked in the distance.
Xu Anran was wearing a delivery uniform, one foot on the ground.
The side profile under his helmet was cold and sharp.
He must have just finished a delivery and happened to pass by.
The two locked eyes for a moment through the crowd.
Shen Yuan immediately looked away, pretending not to see him.
She also tucked her injured foot back a little.
Xu Anran saw it.
His gaze landed on her feet, and his brow furrowed slightly.
In the past, Shen Yuan would definitely have taken a taxi when going out.
If she ran into him, she would definitely have asked him to take her home first.
Today, she pretended not to know him.
He didn’t go over.
Shen Yuan didn’t speak either.
The bus arrived.
She got on with the crowd, swiped her card, and stood by the window.
As the bus pulled away, she saw Xu Anran still standing there.
He seemed to be looking at her, or maybe he was just waiting for the light to change.
Shen Yuan looked away, her fingers gripping the handrail tightly.
Don’t disturb.
Don’t ask for anything.
That was the best distance she could offer right now.
When she got home that night, Xu Anran still wasn’t back.
Shen Yuan winced as she took off her shoes, sucking in a sharp breath.
The back of her heel was scraped over a large area.
She rummaged through drawers for a band-aid and only found half a pack that was expired.
She hesitated for a moment, then put it on anyway.
Then she started cooking noodles.
There wasn’t much in the fridge.
She chopped some greens, cracked an egg, and divided the remaining soup into two portions.
One for herself.
One covered and left on the table.
After that, she opened her computer and continued sending out resumes.
At midnight, Xu Anran came back.
Shen Yuan had already fallen asleep at the desk.
The computer screen was still on.
It was a job-hunting website.
Beside her hand was a notebook, densely filled with application records.
Xu Anran stood at the door, his gaze moving from her tired face down to her feet.
She wasn’t wearing socks.
A band-aid was stuck to her heel, its edges already stained red with blood.
Xu Anran’s fingers tightened.
He looked away.
She might just be putting on another act.
But that patch of blood was too glaring.
On the table sat a bowl of noodles.
Already cold.
A sticky note was pressed beside it.
[There’s still soup in the pot. Heat it up before you eat.]
Xu Anran stared at those words for a long time without moving.
Shen Yuan was sleeping restlessly and suddenly woke up.
Seeing him standing there, she froze for a moment.
“You’re back.”
She rubbed her eyes, her voice hoarse from just waking up.
“The noodles are cold. Let me heat them up for you.”
“No need.”
Xu Anran’s tone was cold.
Shen Yuan paused mid-motion.
She didn’t insist, only nodded.
“Then eat whenever you like.”
With that, she closed her laptop, picked up her notebook, and headed back to the living room sofa.
Xu Anran watched her limping figure, his lips pressed into a tight line.
He seemed to want to say something but held back.
In the end, he still didn’t ask what had happened to her foot.