The First Day
Outside the top floor of a hotel in G City, skyscrapers rose in every direction, neon lights flowed across the night, and streams of cars hurried along far below, forming the dazzling nightscape of a prosperous metropolis.
However, the suite’s occupant was in no mood to admire it.
The only sound in the room was the rapid clacking of a keyboard.
“These two algorithms won’t work. If they run for too long, they’ll slow down the main system. They need to be rewritten.”
The woman sitting at the hotel’s office desk typed swiftly on her laptop. Tilting her head slightly, she spoke to the person on the other end of her headset.
She was dressed simply in a white crew-neck T-shirt, grey sweatpants, and a pair of hotel slippers. Her hair had been carelessly twisted into a bun, and her fair, unadorned face made her look like an ordinary university student at first glance. There was nothing about her appearance that revealed her true identity.
The old black laptop bag casually tossed onto the desk also looked completely out of place in the spacious, luxurious study.
An hour later, after finishing all her work, Cheng Liu leaned back heavily in her chair. She pulled off her headset and tossed it onto the desk, then closed her eyes and firmly massaged the space between her brows.
After staring at a computer screen all day, her vision was beginning to blur.
Just then, a buzzing vibration suddenly came from inside her bag.
Cheng Liu opened her eyes and instinctively glanced at the phone lying to the right of her laptop. Its screen was still dark. Only then did she remember that she had another phone for personal use.
She pulled the bag towards herself and took out a white phone.
Sure enough, someone was calling.
Caller ID: **Wang Haiyang**
Cheng Liu stared at the name for more than ten seconds before finally digging the person out from beneath all the programming code filling her mind.
Her boyfriend—the one she had started dating six months ago.
Cheng Liu swiped her thumb to the right and raised the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“It’s been twenty-three days. If I don’t contact you, are you really never going to contact me?” A magnetic male voice questioned her angrily from the other end.
Cheng Liu answered without hesitation, “I’ve just been too busy lately. I was actually thinking about you just now.”
She had been trying to remember who he was.
“You obviously forgot you even had a boyfriend!” he said furiously.
Cheng Liu felt a brief flicker of guilt.
She really had forgotten that such a person existed.
Six months ago, she had fallen in love with him at first sight during a banquet. She had immediately walked over and bluntly asked whether he wanted to date her.
Cheng Liu was tall, long-legged, and beautiful. Although she had been dressed like someone who had wandered into the banquet by mistake, he had only maintained his reserve for a single day before agreeing to date her.
However, after successfully winning him over, Cheng Liu had somehow been unable to find the same spark she had felt before. She quickly lost interest in her new boyfriend.
On top of that, she had spent the past few months travelling everywhere to deal with problems at the company. They had not seen each other for nearly three months, and Cheng Liu had completely forgotten about him.
She struggled to pull a few memories of their time together from her mind before changing the subject.
“Have you eaten? I’ll order some takeaway for you.”
She was all the way in G City, yet she was still offering to order food for her boyfriend in S City.
The more Cheng Liu thought about it, the more considerate she felt she was being.
She had learned this trick years ago from her business partners.
Back when Cheng Liu had been trying to sell her artificial intelligence system, she frequently dealt with all sorts of potential collaborators.
Through constant exposure, she had unconsciously learned many ways of handling people from that group of middle-aged businessmen.
For example, when pursuing someone, you had to give them gifts. When coaxing someone, you had to start with the little details.
That was why, on the first day she pursued her boyfriend, she had given him an expensive tie.
Sure enough, after acting reserved for a while, he had agreed to date her.
Unfortunately, her considerate takeaway method did not seem to work very well today.
“It’s already eleven thirty! I never eat late-night snacks!” he snapped, sounding even angrier. “I need to maintain my figure.”
Only then did Cheng Liu vaguely remember that he was a model.
She could only say, “Then go to bed early. I’ll order something for myself. I’m hungry.”
The person on the other end fell silent.
Cheng Liu turned on the speakerphone, switched to another screen, and swiftly placed an order for takeaway.
Just then, the man’s voice suddenly became low and gloomy.
“Have the feelings between us faded?”
As Cheng Liu scrolled through her phone, she distractedly wondered whether their feelings had ever been particularly deep in the first place.
Although they had started dating six months ago, Cheng Liu had always been too busy. The number of times they had spent time together could be counted on two hands.
“I still remember the first time we met that night,” the man said sorrowfully. “Have you grown tired of me?”
Cheng Liu placed her laptop inside her bag and stood up, leaving the study as she listened to his endless complaints.
The breathtaking glimpse she had caught of him at the banquet that night involuntarily surfaced in her mind.
Although their relationship had never been particularly deep…
Cheng Liu had to admit that her boyfriend was still very handsome, especially from the side. She was temporarily reluctant to break up with him because of that face.
Besides, a few business partners had recently been gossiping about her love life and trying to introduce her to the sons of their friends and relatives.
Having a boyfriend to use as a shield was quite convenient.
Cheng Liu once again recalled the feeling of falling in love with him at first sight during the banquet. Her interest returned slightly, and she decided to maintain the relationship for a while longer.
“How could our feelings have faded? I’ve just been too busy.” While speaking, Cheng Liu tapped a few times on WeChat. “I sent you a red packet. Don’t overthink things. Go to sleep early. I’ll be back next month.”
“Why are you sending me money again…” His voice initially softened, then became more distant. He had probably lowered his phone to check WeChat.
Cheng Liu kept the phone on speaker and looked down at the screen.
Sure enough, the transfer was accepted a second later.
She saw “typing…” appear beneath his name several times. Eventually, he said unhappily, “What am I supposed to do with this tiny amount of money? My daily spending allowance is more than this.”
Cheng Liu immediately frowned.
“You’re still young. You should spend less and save your money. You’ll need to buy a house in the future.”
“With housing prices in S City, a small-time model like me could never afford one.”
Cheng Liu completely missed the implication behind his words and said solemnly, “Young people need to have dreams. Look at me. I already own a home in S City at such a young age.”
“Not everyone is as capable as you,” the man said through faintly gritted teeth.
“That’s true,” Cheng Liu agreed.
She then earnestly advised him, “But you still need to save money. Take on more commercial appearances and earn as much as you can while you’re young.”
The man’s expression twisted.
The term she had used for “commercial appearances” carried a distinctly belittling, washed-up connotation. It might have been appropriate for some unknown, third-rate model, but not for him!
She had actually used that term to describe him!
“All right. Go to bed early. My takeaway is here.”
After saying goodnight, Cheng Liu hung up and opened the door to collect her food.
Whenever she worked, she easily forgot everything around her. She had only drunk a single bottle of water the entire day.
After bringing the takeaway inside, Cheng Liu searched for a flight home, took a screenshot, and sent it to her boyfriend.
The return date was clearly displayed in the screenshot: April 1st, three days from now.
Cheng Liu believed he would definitely notice it and come to pick her up.
During the first three months of their relationship, she had gone on several business trips. Whenever he asked about her return time, he would voluntarily come and collect her.
However, Cheng Liu had disliked him picking her up. She felt as though he was intruding into her professional territory, so she had stopped telling him when she would return from business trips.
This time, she had informed him of her arrival time and subtly indicated that she was willing to let him come and collect her.
Cheng Liu felt she had made an enormous sacrifice for the sake of maintaining their relationship.
However, immediately after ending the call, the man on the other side threw his phone forcefully onto the sofa. His expression was dark and ugly, and he did not notice the picture Cheng Liu sent afterwards.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine!
That miserly woman, Cheng Liu, had only sent him a red packet containing nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan. Did she think she was being romantic?
Who would have imagined that the founder of Shenyin Technology would be too stingy to send her own boyfriend nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine yuan?
The man carefully thought back and suddenly realised that, among all the gifts Cheng Liu had given him, only the tie had been worth more than a thousand yuan.
His face immediately turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
How could such a stingy woman exist?
She was clearly one of the new elites of the technology industry, and her net worth had skyrocketed over the past several years. Yet after dating him for six months, the total amount she had spent on him had not even exceeded ten thousand yuan!
Every other woman who had taken an interest in him had always been generous.
Still…
Cheng Liu was different from those other women. She was currently the wealthiest person he had managed to get close to, and Shenyin Technology appeared to be expanding further. Giving her up would be far too wasteful.
The man’s mood gradually calmed.
He picked up his phone again. A long stream of red notification dots filled his WeChat. Cheng Liu’s message was buried among them and was not eye-catching in the slightest.
He opened the picture Cheng Liu had sent and gave it a casual glance without paying much attention. Then he immediately switched away and enthusiastically replied to a woman he had recently met.
He needed to keep several options open and extract some money from the other women first.
…
At noon on April 1st, Cheng Liu hurriedly packed her luggage at the hotel and rushed to the airport, where she boarded a flight back to S City.
She took an eye mask from her bag, put it on, and prepared to rest.
She had not gone to sleep until three in the morning, and she had spent the morning walking through one of her business partner’s research laboratories. She desperately needed to catch up on sleep.
“I’ll arrive at S City Airport in two hours.”
Before the plane took off, Cheng Liu suddenly heard the person sitting beside her speaking. It was the voice of a young woman.
She had forgotten to take out her earplugs, and her bag had already been placed in the overhead compartment.
Cheng Liu struggled internally for a moment, but ultimately could not be bothered to move or ask a flight attendant for a pair.
As a result, the voice from the neighbouring seat continued drifting towards her.
“You didn’t come to my birthday party last time… I’m not asking you for a present.”
“I’m going straight home later. Aunt Yun has always wanted some of the lilies of the valley you grow.”
“Could you stop by the airport? We can go there together.”
With her eyes closed, Cheng Liu heard the young woman’s entire phone conversation.
Fortunately, the woman remained quiet after that.
Once the plane had taken off and stabilised, Cheng Liu felt around for the button beside her seat, reclined it completely, and fell deeply asleep.
She did not wake until a flight attendant roused her shortly before landing.
Still dazed, Cheng Liu pulled off her eye mask, returned her seat to the upright position, and rubbed her face. She was barely awake.
More than ten minutes later, the plane landed at S City Airport.
As she disembarked, Cheng Liu happened to see the young woman who had been sitting beside her.
The woman wore sunglasses and a face mask. Long, wavy hair cascaded down her back, and she wore a black spaghetti-strap dress. Her figure alone was dazzling enough to attract attention.
The young woman suddenly removed her sunglasses and mask, then tidied her long hair.
A faint commotion immediately broke out around her. People whispered among themselves, and a particular name could occasionally be heard.
She was probably some kind of celebrity.
Carrying her black laptop bag on her back and pulling a small suitcase with one hand, Cheng Liu briefly considered this possibility.
However, Cheng Liu had no interest in celebrities. She followed the people ahead of her and strode towards the exit.
Her suitcase was small enough to have been brought onto the plane, so she did not need to collect any checked luggage.
The female celebrity, on the other hand, had to retrieve her luggage and gradually fell behind.
Before Cheng Liu could turn the corner towards the exit, the phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated.
It was a call from the company’s chief executive assistant.
Pulling her suitcase with one hand, Cheng Liu slowed her steps.
“What is it?”
“The company has a quarterly review meeting this afternoon. Are you coming?” the assistant asked. “It might run for a while, though. You may not make it to your date tonight.”
A date?
Oh.
Yesterday, she had booked a restaurant in advance. She was planning to take her boyfriend out for dinner tonight to reconnect and strengthen their relationship.
Cheng Liu immediately said, “Postpone the date—”
At that moment, she reached the airport exit.
When she raised her eyes, she abruptly spotted her tall, elegant boyfriend among the crowd.
There were so many people gathered outside the airport, yet Cheng Liu noticed him immediately.
His shoulders were straight, and his dark hair formed a striking contrast against his pale skin. His brows and eyes were distant and cool, while his nose was high and his lips were red. He resembled an ink painting touched with vivid colour—restrained, yet intensely striking.
Amid the surging crowd, an indistinct sense of distance seemed to surround him, leaving him hazy and unreachable.
Cheng Liu’s heart, which had always been devoted entirely to her work, suddenly began racing uncontrollably again.
It was exactly the same feeling she had experienced when she first caught that breathtaking glimpse of him at the banquet six months ago.
Cheng Liu thought that after not seeing him for several months, her boyfriend had somehow become even more handsome.
Standing among the crowd, he practically seemed to glow.
Cheng Liu immediately began reflecting on why she had not contacted him more often.
In truth… she could probably make time for him if she squeezed her schedule a little.
The assistant on the phone naturally continued, “Since the date is being postponed, I’ll add your name to the attendance list.”
Looking at her beautiful boyfriend across the distance, Cheng Liu struggled to spare a fragment of her attention for the person on the phone.
“No.”
The assistant was so surprised that she failed to react for a moment.
“What?”
“The date can’t be postponed.”
Cheng Liu swiftly overturned her previous decision.
“You can hold the meeting without me. Put the summary report in my office afterwards.”
Without waiting for a reply, Cheng Liu ended the call.
She did not understand.
How could she ever have found such a handsome boyfriend annoying?
The complicated work of the past few months must have muddled her brain.
Fortunately, it was probably not too late to repair their relationship.
And so, dragging her suitcase behind her, Cheng Liu strode towards her boyfriend with one part guilt and nine parts shameless admiration.
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