When she personally made that call, Fei Chaichai hadn't held out much hope—it was purely a last-ditch effort.
Unfortunately, the two pairs of eyes boring into her from either side were far too intense, as if she'd be letting down their full-throated support if she failed to save this horse today.
The psychological pressure mounted as she listened to the endless dial tone, and she began pre-calculating how to smoothly execute step two in the event the call was hung up on her.
The phone was picked up at that very moment.
Still lost in her worries, Fei Chaichai didn't notice at first.
Not until that cold, flat voice came through the receiver.
Her attention snapped back to the call, but her brain ground to a halt. It took her a moment to register that the speaker was Li Yuyuan.
Even more aloof than usual, his voice carried a rare hint of hoarseness.
He sounded like he'd just been woken up.
No wonder his temper was so foul.
Disturbing someone's sleep was indeed a truly inconsiderate thing to do.
Fortunately, Fei Chaichai had always been good at deflecting blame outward. After lodging her complaint about his harshness, she added in a tone of earnest counsel: "Your morning grumpiness is way too severe. That's not good for you."
Her words were met with another stretch of silence on the other end.
Fei Chaichai grew suspicious and pulled the phone away to check.
Still connected.
He hadn't fallen back asleep, had he?
She stopped her rambling and called out: "Li Yuyuan?"
"Mm."
His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and the boundary between dream and reality had sharpened.
Li Yuyuan stared at the empty air, looking distracted, yet he still answered her advice about his morning grumpiness, drawling lazily: "Not as bold as you."
"?"
How did this circle back to her again?
Fei Chaichai refused to accept it: "I'm not bold at all."
The wind stirred the curtains.
Light slipped in, dust motes dancing.
Li Yuyuan gradually came fully awake. His voice was still languid, but the coldness had faded, leaving only a cool detachment—just enough, no more, no less, to spook a girl with a guilty conscience: "You're the first person who's ever dared to burn the bridge and then call me afterward."
"…"
He was referring to her ditching him at the swimming pool last week.
Fei Chaichai had guessed Li Yuyuan would dredge up this old grudge, but she hadn't guessed he'd do it at a moment like this. She protested her innocence at full volume: "Heavens above, I beg you to tell right from wrong!"
Li Yuyuan added: "And you still dare to play the victim."
"…"
Fei Chaichai's conviction was starting to waver.
But she couldn't let her prepared lines go to waste, so she hastily produced her explanation: "I was rushing off to prepare your hush money back then—that's why I left in such a hurry. I really didn't mean to abandon you."
Silence again on the other end.
This time, however, it was different from before—simple and easy to read. Li Yuyuan simply couldn't be bothered to call out her flimsy, hole-ridden nonsense.
"…"
This time, Fei Chaichai fought for her dignity: "If you don't believe me, I can prove it to you. Are you free today? Can you meet me?"
Li Yuyuan: "No."
Fei Chaichai had prepared herself for rejection.
But now that it had actually happened, she realized she hadn't prepared nearly enough. She couldn't accept being dismissed with a single "no" from Li Yuyuan and demanded a concrete reason: "Why not!"
Li Yuyuan: "Not in the mood."
"—Huh?"
Not in the mood?
Was that even possible?
Fei Chaichai immediately showed concern: "What happened? Why aren't you in the mood?"
Her words practically dripped with an eagerness that screamed, "Tell me what's got you down so I can feel better about myself."
The sunlight outside decided to join in, creeping an inch further along the headboard, just reaching Li Yuyuan's left hand resting across the pillow.
The back of his hand began to tingle with warmth again.
He glanced at it casually, his words uninterrupted, as if he'd long grown accustomed to it. He tossed the question back at Fei Chaichai: "What do you think it could be?"
"I—I think?"
Why did he make it sound like it had something to do with her?
But aside from burning the bridge and waking him up, she shouldn't have offended him in any other way, right?
Fei Chaichai suspected Li Yuyuan was fishing for a confession, and held her ground firmly: "I think it's because you haven't seen me yet today."
Round and round, back to square one.
At least she stayed true to her original goal.
A scoffing laugh escaped Li Yuyuan's throat as he pushed open the bathroom door.
Perhaps because she'd lived in a clean environment for too long, even her misdeeds followed the same by-the-book pattern as a model student's—she thought herself flawless, but her cracks were showing everywhere.
Too bad she was so focused on the benefits of meeting that she overlooked the cost.
This time, Li Yuyuan didn't leave her to drown. Before she could eagerly leap into the trap, he offered a word of warning: "If my mood gets even worse after we meet, will you take responsibility?"
"I…"
Take responsibility?
Could she even afford to?
Fei Chaichai suddenly sank into deep self-doubt.
It wasn't that she was selling herself short—it was that Li Yuyuan was simply too difficult to handle, like a final boss in a game, where it took ten of your lives to chip away a single point of his health.
She was mulling it over seriously when the sound of running water from the other end interrupted her thoughts. Her mind hit a snag, and she grew alert: "What are you doing?"
Li Yuyuan: "Taking a shower."
"…………"
Fei Chaichai shouldn't have let her imagination run wild.
But her brain couldn't help conjuring an image of steam-filled haze, flushing her face red. Even the receiver felt hot against her ear, and she momentarily forgot her purpose, stammering incoherently: "T-t-take your time! I'll—"
The call was cut off in a hurry.
The word "see" stopped abruptly.
All that remained was the monotonous sound of running water.
In the bathroom, where no mirror could be found, only the glass door reflected a blurry silhouette.
Li Yuyuan held his phone, standing in front of the sink, eyelids slightly lowered, quietly watching the trickling water run over the back of his hand.
Perhaps the chill seeped into his skin, cooling his blood, and the moment the voice disappeared from the receiver, the restless agitation subsided as well.
As soon as the call ended, Fei Chaichai immediately shook her head, trying to shake off those unbearable images.
Seeing this, Qin Ling immediately leaned in and asked, "How did it go?"
Those words pulled Fei Chaichai back to reality. She stopped shaking her head, let it droop, and said dejectedly, "Li Yuyuan won't see me."
"Won't see you?"
Hadn't he been scheming to set a trap for her before? Why the sudden change of heart today?
Qin Ling was puzzled. "What's that bastard playing at, teasing her with a game of hard to get?"
"What?" Fei Chaichai didn't catch it.
"Huh? Oh, nothing." Qin Ling changed the subject. "I just wanted to ask, did you two meet last Thursday?"
"…How do you know?" Fei Chaichai tensed up, afraid that the affair between the new and old flames might be exposed.
Qin Ling said, "Just a guess."
Hearing that, Fei Chaichai relaxed.
Qin Ling, of course, wouldn't tell her that it was actually because starting from that day, Li Yuyuan had become somewhat off.
This off-ness was very subtle.
It wasn't that Li Yuyuan had never locked himself away to work before, but going several days without sleep was a first.
At first, he thought it was because of the difficulty of the new project signed with Ya'ao.
But whether in complexity or severity, last year's overseas cyberattack case far exceeded this one, and he'd never seen Li Yuyuan so consumed by work that he forgot to eat and sleep.
Now that he confirmed it was related to Fei Chaichai, Qin Ling grew even more curious. "Did something happen that day?"
Fei Chaichai said, "Nothing happened!"
Qin Ling understood.
It seemed everything had happened.
His curiosity ended there. He got back to business. "So what's your plan next? Do you need Li Yuyuan's address, or should I tip you off when he comes to the company?"
Fei Chaichai was once again moved by Qin Ling's thoughtfulness.
Indeed, away from Li Yuyuan, it wasn't raining outside at all.
However, neither of those options seemed quite suitable. She planned to try her luck again. "Besides the company, are there any other places he frequents?"
"Let me think." Qin Ling stroked his chin, pondering seriously. "Bars, nightclubs, hotels…"
"…"
She shouldn't have asked.
Fei Chaichai didn't know whether she should cover her ears first or interrupt Qin Ling first.
While she was hesitating, Qin Ling voluntarily stopped listing places, sounding a bit dejected, muttering to himself, "But he doesn't go to those places either."
"Huh?"
The unexpected twist halted Fei Chaichai's increasingly furrowed brow.
Qin Ling didn't notice, still silently complaining that Li Yuyuan did nothing but work every day, with no joy in life whatsoever.
If he kept going, he was afraid he'd leave the young lady with a dull and boring impression of him, so he quickly switched tactics, racking his brains, thinking hard, until finally a flash of inspiration struck—
"Got it!"
It was the summer solstice, when the days stretched long.
As the last wisp of evening glow was blown away by the evening breeze, the streetlights in the park gradually flickered on.
Fei Chaichai, slapping at her two legs covered in mosquito bites, sat on a swing, her thoughts swaying back and forth along with her body.
This morning, Qin Ling had barely said "Got it" before being called to a meeting.
In his haste, he only had time to tell her that if she had nothing better to do one evening, she could come wander around this little park.
She did as told, arriving without having eaten her fill, leaving footprints in every corner of the park, yet not catching a single glimpse of anyone who might be Li Yuyuan.
Besides, what would Li Yuyuan even do at a park?
It couldn't be an after-dinner stroll. He probably didn't have such a healthy lifestyle—
"Smack!"
While lost in thought, Fei Chaichai didn't forget to battle the mosquitoes, swiftly killing another one with a quick hand, its corpse and her palm print both left on her thigh.
She couldn't take it anymore. She jumped off the swing, planning to come back tomorrow with an electric mosquito swatter to try her luck again.
But a childish voice called out, "Big sister."
She looked down.
A little girl, about the same age as her little uncle, stood before her.
Fei Chaichai crouched down and asked, "What's the matter?"
The little girl handed her a box of mosquito repellent spray and anti-itch ointment. "Zhang Fei's brother asked me to give this to you."
"…Who, who?" Fei Chaichai stood there dumbfounded.
Zhang Fei's brother?
Guan Yu or Liu Bei?
She shouldn't know either of them.
Sensing Fei Chaichai's confusion, the little girl pointed to show her.
Fei Chaichai followed her gaze.
The first thing that caught her eye was a stray dog, carrying a bamboo basket in its mouth, limping on its right hind leg, energetically walking its owner.
And the dog owner being walked looked like he hadn't woken up yet, listlessly trailing behind, still having a weak sense of the seasons.
Two months ago, when the late spring chill was at its peak, he had been in a thin short-sleeved shirt. Now that summer had arrived, he was instead wearing a jacket—the classic three-stripe style, loose-fitting, but perfectly filled out by his tall, straight frame. His height gave him every advantage.
Even without seeing his face, people could recognize him at a glance.
Fei Chaichai's eyes lit up. She traded a bag of candy for the item in the little girl's hand and took off after him.
She'd barely run two steps before freezing in place.
No.
How did Li Yuyuan know she needed these things?
Could it be that he'd come to the park early, sat somewhere with a cup of tea and a newspaper, watching her feed mosquitoes all evening?
If it had been anyone else, Fei Chaichai would have thought she was being overly suspicious.
But Li Yuyuan was entirely capable of pulling such a petty stunt.
With that thought, Fei Chaichai decided not to chase after him. First, she'd see what tricks he had up his sleeve.
She hid in the shadows and observed.
The man and his dog walked further and further off the beaten path, finally stopping on a tree-lined lane outside the park.
Fei Chaichai stopped too, using a tree as cover, then pulled out her phone, opened the camera, and aimed it across the street.
At ten times zoom, she could barely make out the man and dog.
A flash of tattoo.
Li Yuyuan took something out of the bamboo basket and poured it onto the ground.
Before long, an orange cat with a notched right ear darted out from the bushes.
Fei Chaichai was momentarily stunned.
Perhaps it was because the night naturally made people uneasy, or perhaps because there had been frequent reports of stray cats being tortured and killed lately—she instinctively thought of Li Yuyuan's fondness for dissecting animal carcasses. A sudden panic seized her, and she clutched her phone, ducking back behind the tree.
This was far more serious than him teasing her for fun.
Fei Chaichai didn't dare jump to conclusions.
Once her heartbeat returned to normal, she poked her head out again, wanting to confirm what she'd seen.
But all she saw was darkness.
The gardenia fragrance that had been floating at the tip of her nose was now covered by a cold, sharp scent, like a gust of snow rushing toward her, freezing her breath.
Fei Chaichai's whole body went rigid.
She couldn't figure out how she'd been discovered. After struggling for a few seconds, she resigned herself and looked up.
The night beneath the tree was even darker.
The scattered specks of light filtering through the branches weren't enough to illuminate this small corner of the world.
In the shifting moonlight, the man blocking her path stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the tree in a lazy posture, as if he'd been there for a long time. His shadow loomed over her, enveloping her completely.
"…"
It's fine, it's fine.
As long as she hadn't been caught in the act of spying, there was still hope!
Fei Chaichai manually straightened her back and spoke first: "Weren't you just laughing at me behind my back? What are you coming to find me for now?"
The accusation lacked conviction.
Li Yuyuan raised an eyebrow slightly, not denying it. He looked at the mosquito bite right in the middle of her forehead and drawled lazily, dragging out his words: "Came to laugh at you to your face."
Fei Chaichai: "…"