"Liu Shiyun, the method you gave me didn't work at all." After Qian Wei got off work she agreed to meet up with Liu Shiyun, so now they were sitting together at an upscale bar. Qian Wei couldn't help but complain, "Nothing worked at all, he's really as dense as a brick."
Liu Shiyun was quite surprised to hear that: "Really? Then are you going to play that final card?"
Qian Wei rolled her eyes at her friend: "What, showing off my 'bed skills'? Forget it. Even if I went into his office and took off all my clothes, he probably wouldn't even care. At most, he would just scold me for indecency and lack of professionalism in the workplace."
Liu Shiyun seemed shocked: "Wow, there's actually such a strange person in the world who likes working so much besides Lu Xun?"
"..."
"Wait! Qian Wei! Why are your eyes moving away? You... you're not going to tell me that the man is Lu Xun, right?"
"..."
Liu Shiyun's eyes opened wide: "Qian Wei, I'm afraid that you might have really damaged your brain when you fell in that pit! I'll admit that Lu Xun is very attractive, both his personality and body, but first of all, he's not the type of man who can be 'eaten', and second, even if you did manage to 'eat' him, wouldn't you be afraid of indigestion?"
Qian Wei wanted to endure, but in the end she couldn't help but retort: "My stomach is very good. I won't have indigestion."
"..."
Anyway, after making a fuss for a while, Liu Shiyun finally seemed to accept the premise that Qian Wei had unexpectedly fallen for Lu Xun.
"Qian Wei, do you want to hear the truth?"
After Qian Wei carefully and selectively told Liu Shiyun some of what she was feeling about Lu Xun, Liu Shiyun said firmly: "You're already finished."
Qian Wei: ???
"I really would never have expected for you to develop such crazy ideas about Lu Xun." Liu Shiyun said, "It's Lu Xun! The icy noble prince who has never liked anyone, that Lu Xun! Who gave you the courage? Liang Jingru*?"
"..."
"Qian Wei, you are a person who recently survived disaster, so you should be more open-minded when you're looking at life. Why would you have any thoughts about that Lu Xun? If you had the qualifications to get a man like him, then you would have had the strength to be directly admitted into Tsinghua or Peking University back then! I'm warning you, right now you are now on the verge of making a tragic mistake!" Liu Shiyun thought for a moment and gave Qian Wei her final conclusion. "I think that probably your brush with disaster has spurred an instinctual desire for love. And because you usually do nothing but work overtime every day and never meet any men, you just ended up latching onto the person who was closest to you. Right now, not to mention Lu Xun, I'm afraid you would probably even fall in love with a male toad. I completely understand what you're thinking, but don't worry! Actually, my father's friend has a son who just returned from abroad. Although he's not quite as good-looking as Lu Xun, he's at least decent looking and, most importantly, he's very normal! He's gentle and warm! You just wait, I'll arrange everything and you two can meet in a few days!"
After that, the topic moved on and the two talked about various other things and, just as Liu Shiyun was about to invite Qian Wei to a nearby restaurant to have barbecue, Qian Chuan showed up.
He scanned the bar with his eyes, eventually spotted Qian Wei, and called out: "Qian Wei! There you are!"
Qian Wei was a bit surprised to see him: "What's the matter? Did something happen at home? "
"No, it's not like that. I just saw that it was nearly nine, so I thought I would come and take you home."
On the side, Liu Shiyun sneered: "Do you think Qian Wei is still 18 or something? She needs a curfew? Do you want her to write an essay if she isn't home by 7 p.m.? Should she make a list of all her friends and report it to you?"
Ever since last time at the hospital, Qian Chuan and Liu Shiyun seemed to have formed a 'unique' relationship. Now, whenever they saw each other, it was as if all their old and new hatreds would immediately begin to overflow and cause the air between them to become choked with fire and brimstone.
Naturally, Qian Chuan wasn't going to just take her provocation lying down, and he immediately fired back: "Of course an only child like you can never understand the kind of affection there is between Qian Wei and I! Also, with the personality of yours I'm sure that you'll never be able to find a boyfriend. Probably even if you wanted someone to come and pick you up before it got too late, I'm afraid there's no one who would be willing to, right? However, my family's Qian Wei is different from you! She has me to protect her!"
"If I, Liu Shiyun, announced that I wanted to find a boyfriend, do you believe that half the men in this bar would form a line for me? It's you who will never find a girlfriend!"
Qian Chuan exploded: "You think that I, Qian Chuan, won't find a girlfriend? What could possibly justify that idea?"
"Because you have a problem with your prostate!"
In the end, Qian Wei had no choice but to act as the peacemaker and say a few good words until the tense atmosphere between the two people was resolved. But in her heart she felt confused, and she really didn't know what was going on. After all, Liu Shiyun, who usually liked to portray herself as a 'cool intellectual beauty' kept completely breaking character the second she saw Qian Chuan, and Qian Chuan, who had worked to create a mature and stable image for himself over the years, would also instantly cast that facade aside the moment he saw Liu Shiyun. Whenever they met the two people unbelievably transformed into a pair of childish imps, and Qian Wei could only helplessly wonder if maybe this was just their predestined fate.
Anyway, because she hadn't been able to resolve anything regarding Lu Xun, Qian Wei felt very depressed. However, despite her low spirits she still had to go to work.
Early the next morning, Qian Wei arrived in the office and, as expected perhaps, Lu Xun was there and had already been working for an unknown length of time, unclear if he came in very early or if he just never left the night before. Qian Wei looked at the lights that were lit up in his office and sighed in her heart, lamenting the fact that Lu Xun was like this. After all, what was the use of his excellent genes if this was how he was? She was a bit worried that by the time he finally found a partner the little 'tadpoles' would have already stopped swimming...
Then, just a few minutes after Qian Wei had turned on her computer, the door to Lu Xun's office opened and he walked out and headed towards Qian Wei's desk with his usual handsome, if extremely frosty, expression.
Qian Wei got nervous all of a sudden and couldn't help but try to recall any reason for him to look like that.
Did she screw up a case?
Or did she forget to reply to a client's email?
Or was there some problem with her clothes again? She checked secretly and reassured herself that, no, her buttons were all buttoned up properly today.
While Qian Wei was still busy working herself up into a bundle of nerves, Lu Xun had already arrived in front of her desk. He looked at Qian Wei with an unreadable expression, and set some small boxes down on the desk.
"Eat these."
After saying those two words that he probably felt were worth at least 200 yuan at his normal rates, Lu Xun turned and left.
Qian Wei picked up the things he had left behind and saw that they were a box of cold medicine and a box of throat lozenges.
"I happened to remember they were in my drawer." Lu Xun said without looking back. Then he once again disappeared into his office.
For the rest of the morning Qian Wei just stared down at the two boxes of medicine in a daze. In the end, she was so muddled that it was only when several colleagues sent back documents she had sent to them with mistakes she needed to amend that she finally regained her focus. And, despite nominally regaining her focus, it was still a struggle to make it all the way to lunch break. However, the moment her lunch break started, Liu Shiyun called.
"Qian Wei, I took care of that matter I talked to you about yesterday. You have dinner plans tonight."
Qian Wei was at a loss: "Huh?"
"I'm introducing you to a man!" Liu Shiyun said, "In fact, there are already seven or eight aunties who want to set him up with their daughters, but I jumped the queue and got you the first slot. At six o'clock tonight, Meihua Mediterranean Steak House, remember to be there on time."
Qian Wei had thought Liu Shiyun was just talking casually yesterday, so she didn't expect her to take action immediately like this. Qian Wei immediately refused by saying, "That's definitely not possible. I have overtime tonight!"
Liu Shiyun responded in a strange tone, "You almost died from a work-related injury just the other day, but you still have to work overtime? I know Lu Xun is like a robot that works overtime crazily all day long, but do you really want you to accompany him in wasting your life like this? You should know that men have an advantage over women when it comes to age. They say that a forty year old man is 'mature', but what about a woman at forty?! A woman at forty is half-way in the grave!"
"I... I'm just not in the mood to fall in love right now."
"Don't try to lie! You just want to chase Lu Xun! It's a sickness Qian Wei!"
"..."
Liu Shiyun settled everything in a decisive tone: "Anyway, I can't control it if you have to work overtime on other days, but tonight you have to make time to go to this dinner. Even if you don't end up liking each other, or if you don't want to fall in love from the beginning, you need to at least come out for the meal. Otherwise, where am I going to put my face? This man is really high-quality dating material that has a horde of aunties chasing after him." Liu Shiyun pressed on, "Just go to the dinner and treat it as making a new friend. All you do is work overtime in your office all day long, so your social circle is way too tiny. At least if you try to meet some more people then maybe something will come of it in the future!"
Qian Wei really felt she couldn't refuse, so in the end she just helplessly nodded and said yes.
At the end of her lunch break, Qian Wei's internal company line suddenly rang, and it was Lu Xun asking her to come into his office.
"You weren't able to participate in Hi-Tech Machinery's acquisition case during the early stages, but we'll still need you to write some legal documents for the later stage. Here are the relevant materials, take a look through them first. We'll meet again tomorrow morning and you can ask me about anything you don't understand. In addition, you will be paid according to the proportion of your participation in the case overall."
If he wanted to discuss things in the morning tomorrow, then it was clear that Qian Wei would have to work overtime tonight to fully digest all of the materials he had just handed her.
Qian Wei said nervously, "I've already taken a look at this case and the deadline isn't very close, so there shouldn't be any hurry, right? Could I discuss things with you tomorrow afternoon instead? I have something to do tonight."
Lu Xun paused: "What's the matter?"
Qian Wei immediately began spewing nonsense, "Well, it's like this: Didn't I survive a big disaster last time? Because of that, several of my relatives have been very worried about me so I invited them out to dinner to tell them about my recent situation so that they could feel more at ease."
Unexpectedly, Lu Xun seemed to be in a reasonable mood today and directly agreed to Qian Wei's request. He nodded and said: "Okay, that's no problem. Go ahead and put your email on automatic reply and tell your clients that if they have something urgent that needs to be done tonight they can come to me instead."
Qian Wei felt very moved, so she said sincerely, "Thank you, Lu Xun."
"En, you don't have to work so much overtime these days. Take care of yourself."
Just as Qian Wei was going to feel even more moved, she heard Lu Xun add: "Only by being in good health will you be able to work your overtime more efficiently in the future."
"..."
Anyway, there was no need to work overtime for tonight at least. Qian Wei felt a little happy, but also a little lost. After so many years in the workforce, it was really rare for her to get off work on time, so she was happy to escape from that. But what made her feel lost was that, if she didn't work overtime, she wouldn't be able to see Lu Xun. Although he always had an unpleasant expression and, as a boss, his heart was like a stone, Qian Wei still couldn't help but feel that he was really handsome!
Qian Wei didn't have much to do that afternoon, so she began to look through the materials on Hi-Tech Machinery while she waited to get off work.
What she didn't expect was that at exactly 5:30 p.m. a high spirited Liu Shiyun suddenly walked through the door. And, when Liu Shiyun stepped insided, Lu Xun also happened to be discussing work in the open area of the office with Qian Wei's colleagues, so he saw Liu Shiyun's flamboyant entrance at a glance.
"Hey! Lu Xun! Good afternoon!"
Lu Xun looked at Liu Shiyun: "What kind of legal problem do you need to have solved for you to come to our office personally?"
Liu Shiyun laughed: "No way, what kind of legal problem could I have? It's enough if I don't create legal problems for other people. I'm just here to pick up Qian Wei once she gets off work."
Lu Xun frowned: "Isn't Qian Wei going to meet..."
"So you already know? Yep, Qian Wei is going on a blind date with the handsome guy that I introduced her to!" Liu Shiyun sounded very proud, "I introduced him myself, so his quality is guaranteed!"
Lu Xun didn't say anything, he just pressed his lips into a thin line and looked over at Qian Wei. Of course, she didn't dare meet his gaze, instead, she chose to stare intently at a nearby trash can...
Liu Shiyun was completely oblivious to the strange atmosphere, and she patted her chest while saying cheerfully: "Don't worry Lu Xun, I have a hunch that we can say farewell to the single Qian Wei very soon! As her boss, you should probably thank me!"
Lu Xun said coldly, "Why would I thank you?"
"Haven't you heard? Married employees tend to be more stable workers, ah. Also, married people are generally less inclined towards job hopping."
Normally, Lu Xun definitely wouldn't care about this kind of topic at all, but maybe he was bored today because he unexpectedly continued the topic with Liu Shiyun by saying, "Heh, it's just a blind date. Why did it directly turn into marriage when it came out of your mouth?"
"Haven't you ever heard of Jay Chou**? Nowadays, love comes fast like a tornado. As long as an older man and woman go on a blind date and don't hate each other at first sight, they basically go from acquaintances to getting married and having children half a year later. After all, they aren't 17 or 18-year-old young people who will get swept away in all the 'you are my moon, I am your sun' nonsense anymore."
For some reason Lu Xun's face had turned black by this point.
Qian Wei felt that it was necessary to explain, so she said: "Lu Xun, let me explain, I'm not really going on a blind date, it's just..."
But Liu Shiyun boldly interrupted Qian Wei: "Qian Wei, what is there to hide? Could Lu Xun possibly not be able to understand you? We're all old classmates here, what's there to hide? Lu Xun, you tell me, do you have the heart to see our Qian Wei wasting away her golden years like this? How can you always lock her up in the office? Well, with her face and figure, I can understand wanting to keep her around to admire her, but in the end it's not like your law firm can assign her a boyfriend! So, obviously, you have to give your employees some time to settle their life-long events, right?"
It would have been fine if Liu Shiyun hadn't opened her mouth, but after she did Qian Wei only felt that Lu Xun's face had darkened even further.
Whatever, she would just forget about it. It was clearly better not to be standing in front of Lu Xun right now. Best to just implement that 36th stratagem and beat a hasty retreat!
"Anyway, I'll be taking off work on time tonight! If I delay too long, the roads will probably be congested, so I'll go first. Goodbye, Lu Xun! Hahaha!" Qian Wei didn't dare to look Lu Xun in the eye as she hurriedly pulled Liu Shiyun to run away.
*this lady's name is a Chinese meme. Basically she had a hit song back in 2000 called 'courage' and the rest is history
**Chinese pop singer. The next paragraph is basically a long reference to one of his songs that I mostly butchered