The area around the primary school gates was filled with the smell of street food.
The Samoyed walked faster than the wind and was silly enough to sniff at everything it passed.
If Zhou Wu had not been strong, he might not have been able to hold it back.
A more tempting smell of meat drifted from ahead. The dog was just about to charge forwards when its owner mercilessly restrained it by the neck.
Zhou Wu tugged the leash, easily stopping the large, fluffy white dog that had been bursting with enthusiasm.
“Slow down. She can’t keep up.”
The dog turned its head and gave him a confused “Woof?”
A few seconds later, the sound of hurried footsteps approached, accompanied by the rolling wheels of a bicycle.
By the time Wen Ci reached him, Zhou Wu had just managed to suppress the curve at the corner of his lips.
It was dismissal time, so there were many people around. Wen Ci was also pushing her bicycle, which made running especially tiring.
She had never been very athletic to begin with. After finally catching up with Zhou Wu, she spent a long while panting before her breathing steadied.
Wen Ci stole a glance at him.
Zhou Wu had one hand in his pocket and held the dog’s leash with the other. He stared straight ahead without acknowledging her.
She would have to face him sooner or later.
Wen Ci had gathered her courage while running after him. She pressed her lips together and called his name.
“Zhou Wu.”
He gave a quiet hum, then asked indifferently, “Is this also the direction of Ms Wen’s staff dinner?”
“I’m sorry,” Wen Ci said. “I wasn’t actually going to a dinner today.”
Zhou Wu had previously only thought that he could not understand Wen Ci.
Today, he discovered that he might not understand himself very well either.
Wen Ci’s lying skills were as poor as ever. He had known she was lying the moment she opened her mouth.
If someone else did not want to see him, Zhou Wu would ordinarily let them do as they pleased. He certainly would not continue asking whether they were free tomorrow or the day after.
Yet not only had he asked—he had come here himself.
And after arriving, he discovered that the person who had made excuses to avoid him was still wearing his jacket.
Wen Ci was too thin.
The outdoor jacket fitted Zhou Wu perfectly, but looked slightly strange on her. It puffed out at the front and back, while the overly long sleeves had been pushed up around her elbows. The hem nearly covered her bottom.
Beneath the oversized jacket, her jeans outlined a pair of slender, well-proportioned legs.
Wen Ci truly was a strange person.
“I know,” Zhou Wu said. “You’re terrible at lying.”
“Am I?”
Wen Ci rarely experienced being caught in a lie on the spot.
For a moment, she could not think of how to make her apology sound sincere. She could only say stiffly, “I’m sorry.”
As they spoke, they turned a corner and finally left the narrow roads beside the school.
There were fewer people around now.
Zhou Wu finally turned his head to look at her.
Wen Ci stared at the ground as she pushed her bicycle dejectedly. Her brows and eyes were lowered, making her look rather pitiful.
He suddenly no longer wanted to tease her.
The deliberate tension in Zhou Wu’s manner disappeared.
“Wen Ci, you seem to enjoy apologising.”
“You didn’t need to lie to me. If you didn’t want to see me, you could have said so directly. I wouldn’t have been angry.”
“That’s not it.”
Wen Ci stopped walking and immediately raised her head.
“I didn’t not want to see you.”
Zhou Wu stopped with her and raised an eyebrow, silently indicating that she should continue.
“Really. I regretted it the moment I ended the call at lunchtime. I only…”
Wen Ci blinked repeatedly, forcing herself not to avoid Zhou Wu’s gaze again.
“That night, I drank too much and offended you several times. I remember everything too clearly. I… I wasn’t mentally prepared to face you yet.”
Zhou Wu watched as her cheeks grew increasingly red while she spoke.
She was almost turning into a tomato, yet her expression remained solemn, as though she were confessing to a crime.
Zhou Wu tried to hold back.
He genuinely could not.
Turning his face aside, he began laughing.
Wen Ci froze.
Before she could understand what he found amusing, a weight landed against her.
The Samoyed had placed both front paws against her again and was enthusiastically rubbing them across her jacket.
“How did you offend me?” Zhou Wu asked, laughter in his voice. “Do you mean when you kissed me?”
“If that counts as offending someone, then I offended you more.”
“…”
Wen Ci felt as though she were about to overload.
“No… I meant verbally.”
Zhou Wu laughed even harder.
A group of primary school students approached from behind them, running and fooling around.
One of them was even walking backwards.
Just as the child was about to crash into Wen Ci’s back, Zhou Wu caught him by the collar and moved him aside beneath the child’s stunned gaze.
“Since Ms Wen doesn’t actually have a dinner to attend, would you like to eat with me?” Zhou Wu asked.
“Yes,” Wen Ci replied immediately.
Zhou Wu smiled.
“Since you’re more familiar with the area, shall the teacher make the arrangements?”
He tugged the dog leash in his hand.
“I’ll have to trouble you to find somewhere that allows dogs.”
…
They went to a nearby noodle shop.
Wen Ci visited it frequently. Whenever she did not want to deal with the crowded school canteen or her parents were away, she came here for a meal.
The shop was very small, so the two sat at an outdoor table, where there was enough space for the dog.
After ordering, Zhou Wu glanced at her clothes.
“Are you hot?”
“No.”
Wen Ci was not merely pretending.
She did not know what material Zhou Wu’s jacket was made from, but it somehow felt faintly cool against her body.
Only then did she remember to explain.
“I originally planned to take this jacket to the dry cleaner today. But this afternoon, a student spilled milk tea on my cardigan, so I couldn’t wear it anymore. I could only… borrow this temporarily.”
“Do you need it back urgently?”
“No,” Zhou Wu said. “There’s no need to dry-clean it. When you’re finished with it, put it in any bag and bring it the next time we meet.”
Naturally, Wen Ci could never return something without washing it first.
She did not argue and instead bent down to look at the dog beside them.
The Samoyed had been trying to leap onto her the entire time.
However, Zhou Wu kept it under control, so it could only stand stiffly nearby as though at attention.
When Wen Ci leaned closer, it could no longer resist and began sticking out its tongue ingratiatingly.
“It’s so adorable. What’s its name?”
“Yeye,” Zhou Wu said lazily, resting his chin on one hand. “The *ye* from coconut.”
“Yeye,” Wen Ci repeated softly. “May I pet him?”
Yeye seemed to understand human speech and had already pushed his head towards her.
Seeing its shameless behaviour, Zhou Wu scoffed.
“Go ahead. It’s been waiting for you the whole journey. It has finally got what it wanted.”
Wen Ci reached out and stroked its head, then scratched beneath its chin.
Her hand disappeared into the dog’s thick fur, making her fingers appear even more slender.
Zhou Wu watched her fingers, which were almost as pale as Yeye’s fur.
He remembered the gentle feeling of her fingertips that night, and his teeth inexplicably began to itch.
“Is Yeye male or female?” Wen Ci asked.
“Male.”
At first, Yeye had approached Wen Ci because of Zhou Wu’s scent on the jacket.
Yet after only a few minutes of interaction, the dog’s affection for her had clearly surpassed its interest in the coat.
Wen Ci held out her hand.
“Yeye.”
Yeye felt as though no one had ever called him so gently before.
He immediately raised one front paw and placed it in Wen Ci’s hand.
“He’s so clever.”
Wen Ci smiled and curled her hand into a fist, pretending it was a pair of sunglasses as she held it in front of Yeye’s eyes.
“He seems a little fatter than he does in your profile picture.”
“That picture was taken three years ago,” Zhou Wu said, slandering his own dog. “Now he’s as round as a ball.”
“Woof!”
“Bark again and I’ll tie you up across the street.”
“…”
Wen Ci’s eyes curved with laughter.
Unable to resist, she took out her phone and photographed Yeye several times.
The owner brought over their bowls of noodles.
“Sorry for the wait, Ms Wen. We’re busy today, so they took a little longer…”
He then looked at Zhou Wu.
“Is this your boyfriend?”
Wen Ci froze and hurriedly waved her hands.
“No. He’s only a friend.”
“Oh, sorry. I thought…”
The owner took two bottles of iced soy milk from the side and placed them on the table.
“These are on the house.”
“Thank you,” Wen Ci said with a smile.
After the owner walked away, Zhou Wu asked, “Do you know him well?”
“Mm. I come here often.”
Wen Ci casually continued, “You didn’t eat in the canteen before, so you probably don’t know. He used to sell rice noodles and noodles in Jiangcheng Middle School’s canteen. He opened this shop later.”
“How do you know I didn’t eat in the canteen?”
Wen Ci’s hand froze around her chopsticks.
Remembering that Zhou Wu always said she was bad at lying, she tried to answer naturally.
“Everyone knew, didn’t they?”
Zhou Wu had disliked the school food. Every lunchtime, he used to race the security guards while collecting food deliveries.
Zhou Wu smiled.
“All right. I didn’t eat there often.”
He tasted the noodles again.
“But for some reason, they seem slightly familiar.”
“…Most noodles taste similar,” Wen Ci said.
That was also true.
The flavour suited Zhou Wu, and he ate with satisfaction.
He picked up a piece of beef brisket and tossed it into Yeye’s mouth as a reward.
After eating their fill, the two walked back together.
Zhou Wu handed Wen Ci the leash and pushed her bicycle himself.
Perhaps Yeye was satisfied after begging for plenty of food at the noodle shop, or perhaps he understood that Wen Ci was not very strong.
On the return journey, he walked slowly instead of darting around everywhere, displaying an intelligence and sensitivity entirely unlike that of an ordinary Samoyed.
Worried that she would fail to hold him properly, Wen Ci tightly gripped the leash handle with both hands and concentrated completely.
Looking at the woman and dog, Zhou Wu inexplicably wanted to laugh again.
Wen Ci was so focused on walking Yeye that she did not react until they reached the car park near Jiangcheng Primary School.
Zhou Wu opened the boot of his Mercedes G-Class and placed her bicycle inside.
“Your car is parked here?” Wen Ci asked. “Did you specifically bring him to this area for a walk?”
The roads near Jiangcheng Primary School were narrow and crowded.
It was hardly a suitable location for walking a dog.
“I didn’t come here to walk him. I came to catch a little liar.”
Zhou Wu stopped pretending.
He opened the rear door, and Yeye skilfully jumped inside.
Zhou Wu turned towards her.
“Get in. I’ll take you home.”
The little liar, Wen Ci:
“…”
…
As the car approached the entrance to her alley, Wen Ci remembered how people had surrounded them the last time she and Zhou Wu stopped there.
This Mercedes G-Class was equally conspicuous.
If someone familiar saw her stepping out of an expensive car, she would inevitably face more trouble.
She was still struggling to decide how to bring it up when Zhou Wu stopped the car first.
“Do you want to get out here?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Wen Ci immediately unfastened her seat belt.
Her hand had just touched the door handle when she suddenly remembered something and quietly sat back down.
Yeye behaved well during car journeys.
He had remained silent in the back seat the entire time.
The moment the car stopped, he immediately leaned between the two front seats and placed his head directly between Zhou Wu and Wen Ci.
Wen Ci reached out with both hands and gently covered Yeye’s ears.
Under Zhou Wu’s questioning gaze, she asked softly, “Zhou Wu, are you… free on Saturday evening?”
“I am.”
Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow.
“Why are you covering his ears?”
“He seems to understand a little human speech.”
Wen Ci’s ears grew hot.
“Then can we meet on Saturday?”
Zhou Wu looked into her eyes and lowered his voice to imitate her.
“Yes.”
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