Chapter 1
“Tell me, Tingting—how are we only twenty-eight, yet our parents already talk about us like we’re thirty-eight?”
Yu Xi’s voice came through the phone as she cracked sunflower seeds.
Qi Ting stepped out of the elevator with a thermos of chicken soup in hand.
“Your mom set you up on another blind date?”
“What else? Lately, every time she sees me, she acts like I get on her nerves. She keeps calling me an old maid.” Yu Xi paused. “Where are you, anyway?”
The line fell quiet for a moment.
Standing outside a dark-colored apartment door, Qi Ting reached out and pressed the doorbell.
“At Tan Yucheng’s place.”
“Oh.” Yu Xi immediately understood. “Bringing him food?”
“Mhm.”
The doorbell rang.
Two minutes later, the door opened.
Tan Yucheng stood there with the lingering dampness of a shower clinging to him. A gray towel rested over his head, his hair still wet.
Qi Ting looked up at him.
“Pulled another all-nighter?”
“Mhm.”
Leaning lazily against the doorframe, dark circles beneath his eyes, Tan Yucheng watched her. A few droplets of water slid from his hair, tracing the bridge of his nose.
Qi Ting looked away.
As she stepped inside and bent to change into slippers, she said softly,
“Your mom called mine and asked her to make you something to eat. She was worried you’d starve yourself working at home.”
Tan Yucheng closed the door behind her and chuckled.
“I’ve only been working overtime for a few days. I’m not going to die.”
“What did you bring?”
He followed her into the living room, absently rubbing his hair dry. As he lifted his arm, the defined muscles beneath his sleeve flexed naturally.
Walking around the coffee table, Qi Ting set the insulated container down and opened it.
“Chicken soup.”
“My mom made sure to save you the drumsticks and wings.”
“Oh?”
Tan Yucheng sat beside her, pulled the container closer, picked up the chopsticks inside, and took a sip of the soup first.
They were sitting close enough that the faint scent of his body wash drifted toward her with the steam.
Qi Ting paused.
A second later, she stood up.
Not wanting to stay so close to him, she picked up the basket of dirty laundry and carried it onto the balcony.
Last year, Tan Yucheng had moved.
He’d left his old single-story house and bought an apartment in the city center, much closer to work. Aunt Xiao had mentioned that the old house was about to be renovated.
Qi Ting tossed the clothes into the washing machine, dropped in a laundry pod, and closed the lid.
Standing on the balcony, she quietly admired the view.
The apartment overlooked a beautiful stretch of the city.
After finishing the chicken soup, Tan Yucheng carried the container and chopsticks into the kitchen. Then he grabbed a lighter and a pack of cigarettes, lit one, and stepped outside.
A cool breeze swept across the balcony, lifting strands of Qi Ting’s hair.
Leaning against the wall with a cigarette between his lips, Tan Yucheng spoke in his usual lazy tone.
“So... your family’s arranging blind dates now?”
His voice suddenly came from behind her.
Qi Ting froze briefly before turning around.
Resting against the washing machine, she shrugged.
“Yeah.”
“My mom already set one up.”
“Didn’t Aunt Xiao tell you?”
Tan Yucheng nodded.
Taking another drag from his cigarette, he said,
“Give it a try.”
“After all...”
His gaze lingered on her for a few seconds.
Only then did he seem to realize something.
She had never had a boyfriend.
Raising an eyebrow, he smiled.
“Qi Ting... don’t tell me you’ve secretly liked someone all these years.”
“You’ve been single for way too long.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
Qi Ting smiled.
Brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she replied calmly,
“You’re overthinking it.”
“I just haven’t met someone I truly like yet.”
With one arm folded across his chest, Tan Yucheng took another puff of his cigarette.
“Mhm.”
He didn’t ask any further.
“Oh, right.”
“Meng Jia’s birthday is coming up.”
“Are you going?”
Qi Ting looked at him.
He still looked exhausted from days of overtime.
Crushing the cigarette beneath his shoe, he answered,
“Yeah.”
“She sends me dozens of messages every day.”
“If I don’t show up, she’ll probably splash chicken blood all over my front door.”
Qi Ting laughed.
But after the laughter faded, she remembered what Meng Jia had said recently.
After waiting for so many years...
Meng Jia had finally realized that she still couldn’t forget him.
So she had decided to make her move.
Sooner or later, Tan Yucheng would have a girlfriend.
Maybe a senior.
Maybe a junior.
Maybe a classmate.
Or a coworker.
Then...
Why couldn’t that person be Meng Jia?
The smile on Qi Ting’s lips gradually faded.
Turning to look at the clothes spinning inside the washing machine, she straightened up.
“You can hang the laundry yourself later.”
“I’m leaving.”
After finishing his cigarette, Tan Yucheng followed her back into the living room.
“Drive carefully.”
After changing back into her shoes, Qi Ting tidied her hair before looking at him.
“Remember to bring my thermos and chopsticks back.”
“Don’t make me come after them. We still need them at home.”
Tan Yucheng nodded.
“Got it.”
“I’ll bring them over tomorrow.”
Qi Ting smiled.
Then she opened the door and left.
He didn’t walk her out.
Instead, he returned to the sofa, pulled his laptop onto his lap, and began typing.
The door clicked shut.
Qi Ting withdrew her gaze.
Even sitting there casually, one arm resting against the sofa while he worked, he carried an effortless, slightly roguish charm.
She headed downstairs.
After driving to her café and parking, she was about to go inside when Yu Xi called again.
Pushing open the café door, Qi Ting answered.
On the other end, Yu Xi sighed dramatically.
“My hometown is so boring.”
“Then come back.”
Qi Ting casually tossed her car keys into a drawer, tied on her apron, and headed behind the counter.
“I’d love to.”
“But my mom insists I meet one more blind date before she’ll let me leave.”
“If I’d known I was coming home just to meet all these awful men, I wouldn’t have come back at all.”
“People are so strange.”
“When you’re living in a big city, you miss home.”
“But once you’re back home, all you want is to leave again.”
“I was planning to use up all my vacation days this year.”
“Looks like I won’t bother.”
“That bad?”
Qi Ting glanced at an order ticket.
Someone had ordered a tiramisu.
She opened the display case, carefully placed the slice onto a delicate dessert plate, and handed it to one of the staff.
“It’s not that they’re ugly.”
“Their personalities are.”
“Remember how back in high school it wasn’t that hard to meet decent guys?”
“Why is it impossible now that we’re adults?”
She paused before adding teasingly,
“Maybe the best one’s been right beside us all along.”
“For example...”
“Tan Yucheng?”
The employee carried the tiramisu to the customer. Qi Ting wiped the condensation from the countertop. Hearing those words, she froze.
Before she could respond, Yu Xi continued,
“Other than being ridiculously popular with women, impossible to pin down, and a complete menace...”
“He’s basically the perfect man.”
Qi Ting smiled, wiped down the table, then walked over to the espresso machine to make a cup of coffee.
It was a little past three in the afternoon. There weren’t many customers in the café at this hour, and the quiet atmosphere was perfect for coffee and dessert.
