“Knock, knock.”
“Why are you here?” Yan Luji glanced over and saw Xiao Dong standing at the doorway with a shamelessly gossipy expression on his face.
“I’m here to verify whether the gossip is true,” Xiao Dong said bluntly.
“What gossip?” Yan Luji’s hands did not leave the keyboard.
“The company forum is full of gossip about you. They’re saying our unapproachable Director Yan has been taken down by the new traditional Chinese medicine doctor.” Xiao Dong leaned closer and asked, “Tell me, is it true?”
“Isn’t she your cousin’s girlfriend? Hearing a rumour like that, shouldn’t you be filled with righteous indignation?” Yan Luji glanced sideways at his friend.
“My cousin changes girlfriends every three months. But you only fall for someone once in a thousand years. If you like Doctor Lin, I’ll firmly stand on your side.” Xiao Dong looked at Yan Luji with the expression of a loyal brother.
Yan Luji rolled his eyes at his friend. “Doctor Lin was hit by an electric bike at noon and sprained her ankle. I happened to run into her, so I brought her back.”
“Instead of gossiping here, you might as well call your cousin and tell him to come pick his girlfriend up after work.”
“What a pity…” Xiao Dong shook his head in disappointment.
…
Lin Yao massaged her ankle with her homemade medicinal wine. After an entire afternoon, although her ankle still looked a little red and swollen, it no longer hurt much.
She definitely could not squeeze onto the subway, so Lin Yao planned to go downstairs and take a taxi home.
“Yaobao.” Yue Mingyuan, who had been waiting downstairs for a long time, saw Lin Yao limping out and quickly ran over to support her.
“Why are you here?” Lin Yao asked in surprise.
“My cousin called and said you were hit by an electric bike. He told me to come pick you up after work.”
“Director Xiao? How did he know?” Lin Yao asked doubtfully.
“Don’t worry about how he knew. You’re a grown adult—how did you manage to get hit by an electric bike?” Yue Mingyuan looked at Lin Yao’s red and swollen right foot and could not help scolding her.
“You were the one standing outside the safety line first.”
Lin Yao thought of what Yan Luji had said to her and, feeling a little guilty, bit back, “Isn’t it all because you left me alone in the café? Otherwise, would I have run into an electric bike?”
“I specially brought you your lipstick, and that was wrong too?”
“Lipstick???” Only then did Lin Yao remember the lipstick. She immediately let out a wail. “My lipstick…”
“Did you lose it?”
“My lipstick… I hadn’t even opened the packaging yet.” Lin Yao was in agony.
“All right, all right. A colleague of mine is going to France next week. I’ll ask him to bring you another one.” Yue Mingyuan did not know whether to laugh or cry as he comforted her.
To comfort his friend, who had “lost both person and fortune” and suffered misfortune upon misfortune, Yue Mingyuan took Lin Yao to eat something good, then personally drove her home.
When they were almost at the entrance of Lin Yao’s neighbourhood, Yue Mingyuan glanced out the window, saw a small park, and casually asked, “Is that the place where you said you met your god?”
“That’s the place.” Lin Yao nodded.
Yue Mingyuan raised his brows and smiled without saying anything.
“Turn right up ahead.” Seeing Yue Mingyuan’s disbelieving expression, Lin Yao suddenly spoke.
“What for?”
“To wait for my god,” Lin Yao said. “The last time I met him, it was around this time too. Maybe he’ll be there today.”
“Stop messing around. Your leg is still injured.”
“Turn right, turn right.” Lin Yao forced Yue Mingyuan until he had no choice but to turn right and drive toward the small park.
Yue Mingyuan helped Lin Yao to the spot she designated, and then the two of them sat on the bench like a pair of fools, watching the elderly men and women stroll back and forth.
“How long are we supposed to wait?” Yue Mingyuan asked, bored out of his mind.
Lin Yao looked at her watch. “Another half an hour.”
“Another half an hour?” Yue Mingyuan cried miserably.
Lin Yao shot him a glare, and Yue Mingyuan immediately fell silent.
Just as Yue Mingyuan was feeding mosquitoes while counting down the minutes until half an hour passed, Lin Yao beside him suddenly became excited. She pointed ahead incoherently and shouted, “Look… look…”
“What is it?” Yue Mingyuan raised his head and looked forward, but there was nothing there.
“He just ran past,” Lin Yao said in frustration.
“Your god?” Yue Mingyuan asked in disbelief.
Lin Yao nodded desperately in excitement.
“What a coincidence?” Yue Mingyuan found it a little hard to believe.
“You… hurry and think of something.” Lin Yao grabbed Yue Mingyuan’s hand anxiously.
“All right, all right.”
Three minutes later, Yue Mingyuan stood beside the running track, waiting for Yaobao’s park god to run over again. “For the sake of your happiness, I’m really giving it my all.”
“You’re a true friend.” Lin Yao gave him a thumbs-up.
“He’s coming, he’s coming. Get ready.” From far away, Yue Mingyuan saw a figure running over. He immediately turned back to remind Lin Yao, then threw his lighter on the ground.
After the person ran past him, Yue Mingyuan immediately picked up the lighter from the ground and called out, “Hey, bro, wait a second.”
Hearing someone call him, Yan Luji stopped in confusion and turned around. He saw a stylishly dressed man chasing after him with a lighter in hand, saying, “You dropped your lighter.”
Yan Luji shook his head and said, “It’s not mine.”
Seeing that Yue Mingyuan had stopped him, Lin Yao immediately limped over toward the two of them while knowingly asking, “Xiao Ming, what happened?”
Yan Luji found the voice somewhat familiar. When he saw the woman limping toward him, he subconsciously frowned.
“What the…” When Lin Yao came closer and raised her head to see his face, she immediately sucked in a cold breath, covered her mouth with both hands, and looked horrified.
“Be reserved.” Student Xiao Ming, thinking that Yaobao had been stunned by the appearance of the god in her heart, whispered a reminder into Lin Yao’s ear.
“Is your foot better?” Yan Luji saw that although Lin Yao was walking unsteadily, she was clearly better than she had been at noon.
“Much… much better.” Lin Yao still had not quite reacted.
“You two… know each other?” Yue Mingyuan asked doubtfully.
“You’re Xiao Dong’s cousin, right?” Seeing Lin Yao, Yan Luji almost immediately guessed Xiao Ming’s identity.
“Mm.” Yue Mingyuan nodded blankly.
“The lighter isn’t mine. Go ask someone else.” Yan Luji nodded, put his earphones back on, and continued running.
“What exactly is going on?” Once Yan Luji had run far away, Yue Mingyuan could not help asking.
“Don’t ask. Hurry up and leave.” Lin Yao urged Yue Mingyuan to flee the park as quickly as possible.
Thirty minutes later, in Lin Yao’s living room.
“So, in other words, this park god is Yan Luji, the Director of the R&D Department you said had always disliked you before.” After understanding the whole sequence of events, Yue Mingyuan summarised.
“That’s right.” Lin Yao nodded.
“How melodramatic,” Yue Mingyuan commented.
Lin Yao grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him.
“But your taste really is consistent.” Yue Mingyuan still remembered Lin Yao telling him that Yan Luji’s looks were exactly her type.
“What am I supposed to do?” Lin Yao wailed and collapsed onto the sofa.
“What’s there to be conflicted about?” Seeing Lin Yao looking as if she were mourning a death, Yue Mingyuan asked in confusion.
“The god I fell in love with at first sight is actually Yan Luji.” Lin Yao still could not believe it.
“If you like him, then pursue him,” Yue Mingyuan encouraged her. “Who cares who he is?”
“I only just scolded him at the company a few days ago and said he had kidney deficiency.” Lin Yao pulled a bitter face.
“Hahaha…” Yue Mingyuan laughed until his stomach hurt. “You reap what you sow.”
“Get lost…” Lin Yao threw another cushion at him.
“But you could also take responsibility for him yourself, to save him from harming anyone else,” Yue Mingyuan said as he caught the cushion.
“Stop taking pleasure in my misfortune.”
“Then you can slowly struggle over it yourself.” Yue Mingyuan stood up and said, “I’m going back first. Tomorrow is the weekend, so stay home and recover properly. I’ll come pick you up for work on Monday.”
Lin Yao waved at him lifelessly.
Sigh. Why did it have to be Yan Luji? My love root that hadn’t even sprouted yet has withered just like that?
…
Two o’clock late at night.
Unable to sleep after tossing and turning in bed, Yan Luji simply got up, went to the kitchen, poured himself a cup of cool boiled water, took a sip, then picked up his phone and opened Taobao.
From his favourites page, he entered the page selling mosquito-repellent sachets, placed an order, and bought one.
Ding, ding.
[Sorry, the mosquito-repellent sachets are sold out. They’re temporarily out of stock.]
Yan Luji frowned and replied:
[When will they be back in stock?]
[Probably in a week.]
[Can it be sooner? I need it urgently.]
[I’m very sorry. The shop owner injured her foot and temporarily can’t go out to restock.]
[Then please ship it to me as soon as it’s back in stock. Wishing you a speedy recovery.]
[OK, thank you.]
Yan Luji put down his phone and felt his head hurt even more. His sleep was getting worse and worse. Now even the only sachets that could improve his sleep were out of stock. How was he supposed to get through next week?
**Author’s note:**
Crab really is hopeless at naming things. I’ll change it back after all.
Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions.
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