chapter 11

“What are you doing here?”

Lin Yuan yawned.

“I traveled through the night.”

…

“I’m asking why you suddenly came over, not when you arrived.”

“I quit.”

“You…”

“I confessed to him, and he pretended not to hear. It’s exhausting, so I’m done!”

“Qi Muyuan?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t realize I liked him? The whole world knows I like him!”

…

…

Lin Yuan rattled on, spilling everything like a bag of beans.

The sudden barrage of information left my head spinning.

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say.

Lin Yuan just kept talking on her own.

She and Qi Muyuan were college classmates; she had liked him since then.

Her first confession was at a birthday party. She leaned into Qi Muyuan’s ear and said, “I like you.”

Despite being so close, Qi Muyuan just turned his head blankly and asked, “What did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

The second confession was the year they graduated. She stood below Qi Muyuan’s building holding a bouquet of flowers.

She called him and told him to come down. Qi Muyuan said, “Right away.”

But Lin Yuan waited all night, and Qi Muyuan never came down.

The next day, he said nonchalantly, “What did you want last night? I fell asleep.”

At that moment, Lin Yuan realized the truth.

Qi Muyuan knew she liked him, but he didn’t want to address it.

So be it.

They were classmates, friends, and then boss and employee.

But people are never truly satisfied.

And so, there was a third time.

She was helping a drunk Qi Muyuan home.

She said, “I like you.”

Qi Muyuan, who had been talking to her just a second ago, fell fast asleep the moment the words left her mouth.

Lin Yuan thought: Screw him, I’m done!

“Actually, I’ve wanted to quit for a long time. Qi Muyuan is such a workaholic. Working for him day and night, exhausting myself… my period has never been regular.”

“I have enough savings now to retire. Isn’t the point of making money to enjoy life? It’s not like I want to work until the day I die.”

We were sitting in the pavilion.

The tea pet on the table had been doused by her a hundred times over.

The frog in the tea basin had been spraying water all afternoon.