Jiang Nanshu went home to wash her hair and take a shower.
After drying her hair, she picked up her phone and saw that Song Ye had sent her several red envelopes over half an hour ago.
shu: [？]
Because she said “Congratulations and wish you prosperity”? So he sent her red envelopes?
After a while, Song Ye finally replied.
S: [Usually, when kids say “Congratulations and wish you prosperity,” they receive red envelopes. ]
Jiang Nanshu was picking out clothes to go back to Jiang Yu’s place.
She heard her phone ring, sat on the bed, and looked at the message, feeling a bit speechless.
She replied to him: [I’m not a kid.]
S: [Friends are the same.]
Jiang Nanshu: “……”
Her mind wandered a little.
She lowered her head, pursed her lips, and felt that Song Ye had grown thicker-skinned.
shu: [Who is your friend? Has he given you a title?]
In a private room of a restaurant, Song Ye leaned back in his chair, looking at the message with a slightly darkened expression. He didn’t really care about getting a title, but her lukewarm attitude had made him a little anxious.
He couldn’t tell if she really had no feelings for him anymore.
He frowned slightly, quickly replying: [It’s not much money. Just accept it. You can buy game equipment or toys for your pet.]
After sending the message, he put his phone back on the table.
The middle-aged man sitting across from him smiled and looked at him: “Should be a lot of companies contacting you, right?”
The middle-aged man was Li Xiangming, a senior executive from HT Entertainment.
This was the second meal Song Ye had with him.
HT Entertainment’s headquarters was in Beicheng.
They had made their fortune with web games and had top-tier development capabilities in the country.
They had also released several blockbuster games over the years.
Later, they created the super-speed game platform, which accumulated a very large player base.
HT only took a small percentage of the revenue from promoting games on this platform, which gained them a lot of support from game developers.
Almost all released games were promoted on this platform.
HT had always wanted to create an open-world game project, but they had never found a suitable producer.
When Song Ye left his previous company to form a team, they reached out to him.
At that time, Song Ye was focused on opening his own game studio, so he turned them down.
Later, because of Li Yi’s situation, he had temporarily shelved the idea of registering his company and took over the Ji Fan project.
“There are quite a few,” Song Ye knew that many developers weren’t optimistic about the current project they were working on, and since Ji Fan wanted to cancel the project, many companies had privately contacted him.
“But no, I still don’t plan to switch jobs.”
Li Xiangming was confused: “I heard Ji Fan still wants to cancel this project.
Why take on a mess like this?
It would be better to let Ji Fan cancel it, and you bring your team to our company.
At our company, as long as the project development goes smoothly, whether it’s people or funding, the company supports it.”
“It’s not a mess.
The core gameplay of this project is good.”
Song Ye took over the project not just because of Li Yi, but because the core gameplay was indeed good.
He raised his glass and lightly clinked it with Li Xiangming’s.
“Please thank President Gao for his good intentions.”
President Gao was the owner of HT, who usually stayed abroad.
Li Xiangming was representing him.
Li Xiangming left without success, feeling a bit regretful.
“Alright, if you change your mind, feel free to contact me anytime.”
At 3 PM, the two of them came out of the private room and were waiting for the designated driver.
Suddenly, Li Xiangming remembered something and turned to look at the young, handsome man beside him: “Last time you mentioned the company wanted to register in Shenzhen.
After this project is over, are you still going to Shenzhen?”
Song Ye looked down at his phone.
Jiang Nanshu had received the red envelopes, but not all of them—she only accepted one.
The other ones were refunded.
shu: [I only said “Congratulations and wish you prosperity” once, one is enough.]
shu: [Screenshot]
Song Ye opened the screenshot and saw that it was a recharge screen for a certain game.
Jiang Nanshu had received his red envelope and used it to raise her virtual husband in the game.
He felt a little conflicted. Should he be glad that it was just a virtual husband?
He shoved his phone back into his pocket and turned to look at Li Xiangming. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly: “No, I plan to stay in Jiangcheng.”
The designated driver was on the way back to the neighborhood when Song Ye placed an order online for many hot pot ingredients.
Before he arrived home, Lin Yao called and said he couldn’t make it tonight.
“My friend’s parents suddenly came to Jiangcheng and didn’t give any notice.
I have to stay with them for the next couple of days.
It’s unavoidable. We’ll have to meet another day.”
Song Ye lazily responded with an “mm”: “Alright, we’ll do it next time.”
Lin Yao sighed: “You’re such a busy person. Who knows when next time will be.”
Lin Yao still harbored some resentment over the fact that they didn’t have late-night snacks together after their last basketball game.
Song Ye casually leaned back in his chair, his tone emotionless: “I just ordered a bunch of hot pot ingredients.
I’ll store them in the fridge and invite you guys when I have time.”
“That you and Jiang Nanshu…” Lin Yao pressed on, unwilling to give up.
@InfiniteGoodWritings, all on Jinjiang Literature City.
Song Ye’s tone grew colder: “I know what I’m doing. You don’t need to say more.”
Lin Yao sighed heavily: “Alright, I’ll shut up.”
After hanging up, Lin Yao, and Song Ye chatted a bit in the group.
When Song Ye got home, he received the delivery.
Rarely without anything to do, he changed into his sportswear and went to the fencing gym.
The gym was run by Xu Hao and his friends, and Song Ye was a member there.
For him, sports were a way to relax and vent.
Jiang Nanshu came back early today and was cooking with Jiang Yu.
She wasn’t very good at cooking, so she could only help out.
The two women chatted while cooking, and Jiang Yu asked about Cheng He’s family several times.
“Does he have any feelings for you?”
Jiang Yu said: “Don’t I know you well?”
“I already said I don’t want to go on blind dates.”
Jiang Nanshu’s tone was filled with helplessness.
“What kind of feelings can you have when meeting a stranger? How can you talk about love if you don’t have feelings?”
Jiang Yu covered the pot, steaming the pork ribs inside, then turned to look at Jiang Nanshu’s side profile and asked softly: “Then, do you have feelings for anyone?”
Jiang Nanshu didn’t know how to answer Jiang Yu’s question.
She knew that if she said anything, Jiang Yu would ask more, but her relationship with Song Ye hadn’t reached that point yet.
Seeing her silent, Jiang Yu sighed: “Xiao Shu, did you see Chen Qingyue when you came back?”
Jiang Nanshu froze for a moment and shook her head: “No.” She paused and glanced at Jiang Yu.
“Why? Did you run into him?”
“I saw him at the hospital a few days ago. He was there with his mom for a checkup.”
“Oh…”
Mentioning that mother and son, both of them fell silent.
Amid the hum of the range hood, Jiang Yu suddenly sighed, looking at her: “Xiao Shu, tell me honestly, do you like Chen Qingyue?”
Jiang Nanshu had been classmates with Chen Qingyue for four years, sat next to him for two years, and they were both at the age when emotions began to stir.
During holidays and weekends, they often met up.
She even suspected that they might have started dating early, and subtly hinted at it a few times.
But later, when Jiang Tianlei passed away in a car accident, she found out that her husband had been cheating on her.
Jiang Tianlei had gone to a parent meeting and met the other person there.
They had been cheating for three years.
She had told Jiang Yu many times not to stay in touch with Chen Qingyue.
Only when she turned 22 did she find out they had been secretly meeting and staying in contact all along.
Jiang Yu revealed the truth to her, not only because she had already passed her college entrance exam, but also because she had grown up.
The thing Jiang Yu feared most was that she would develop feelings for Chen Qingyue.
The two of them absolutely could not be together.
Even after so many years, Jiang Nanshu had never been in a relationship.
Jiang Yu had recently run into Chen Qingyue, and suddenly she felt worried.
These past few days, she couldn’t even sleep well at night.
“How could that be! I don’t like him.”
Jiang Nanshu quickly denied it when she heard Jiang Yu’s words.
She hadn’t expected Jiang Yu to think in that direction, but after thinking about it, it did seem somewhat reasonable.
She had secretly been in contact with Chen Qingyue, and had never been in a relationship for so many years.
She looked at Jiang Yu, feeling helpless but honest: “I did like someone back in high school, but it wasn’t Chen Qingyue.
It was a classmate I transferred to a new school with, his name is Song Ye.
You should remember him.”
“Song Ye?” Jiang Yu thought for a moment. “The one who got directly admitted to Qinghua?”
Jiang Yu was too busy, and since Jiang Nanshu transferred schools, she had only attended two parent meetings, both of which were during the senior year parent meetings.
The first time she went, Jiang Nanshu was no longer sitting next to Song Ye, so Jiang Yu didn’t meet him.
The second time, they were sitting next to each other again, but Song Ye had already been directly admitted, so his parents didn’t need to attend the meeting.
Jiang Yu only learned from the homeroom teacher that their class had a student admitted to Qinghua, and she saw his photo on the recognition board.
She remembered that the young man was very handsome.
Jiang Nanshu lowered her head, peeling beans from the basket, and softly said: “Yes, but… he rejected me back then.
The reason I haven’t been in a relationship these years isn’t entirely because of him, I just truly haven’t met someone I really like.”
As long as it wasn’t Chen Qingyue, Jiang Yu was relieved.
Jiang Yu sighed with relief and then felt sorry for her daughter: “Since he doesn’t like you, forget about him.
It’s been so many years, stop thinking about him.
You might as well meet with Cheng He? Maybe you’ll like him?”
“……” Jiang Nanshu thought for a moment and seriously looked at Jiang Yu.
“Mom, my current boss is very handsome.
I feel a spark with him, so I plan to observe for a while. Can you stop arranging blind dates for me?”
“Really?”
“Really!”
Jiang Yu was doubtful but finally stopped mentioning blind dates.
After a while, Lu Mingkun, who had gone out for tea with friends, came back, and Jiang Nanshu had dinner with them.
Lu Youchuan didn’t come back, so of course, Lu Mingkun gave him a lecture.
Around nine o’clock, Jiang Nanshu took a taxi to the pet hospital to pick up Xiaobei.
After getting Xiaobei from the pet hospital, the distance was not too far nor too near, so she couldn’t get a cab.
She had to stuff Xiaobei into a cat carrier and carry it while dragging the rolling pet carrier behind her, walking slowly through the snow.
Fortunately, the pet carrier that Song Ye bought for her had wheels, so it wasn’t too tiring to drag, but her hands were frozen stiff.
The wheels left two long tracks in the snow.
She placed Xiaobei on top of the carrier and took a very artistic snow photo of it, posting it on her social media.
The snow scene with the cat made her former colleagues in Shen City incredibly envious.
[So envious! A city that snows is so romantic.]
[We’re still working overtime! You actually have the leisure to walk a cat in the snow?]
And you’re raising a cat now? Not bad.
Did you start dating someone?
She smiled and replied to a few of their comments, then exited her social media.
Scrolling down, she went to Song Ye’s chat.
He hadn’t replied to her messages all afternoon.
Could the screenshot she sent him have left him speechless?
Song Ye finished his shower, his hair still damp.
Hearing his phone ring, he could only grab a towel to dry his hair as he walked to the bed, reached for the phone on the bedside table, and sat down to answer.
The light in the bedroom was on. After hanging up, he lowered his head and saw two long strands of hair on the pillow.
He paused, picking up the soft strands of hair and briefly looking at them.
He remembered the scene from last night when the girl had casually lay on this bed, her clothes scattered on the floor.
His throat tightened suddenly.
Leaning against the headboard, he closed his eyes for a moment, one leg half draped over the edge of the bed, the other leg resting loosely.
He casually rolled up the strands of hair with the towel and tossed them onto the bedside table.
He covered his face with his hand and sighed helplessly.
After a while, he raised his hand, turned off the light in the room, and the room was plunged into darkness.
The sound of his heavy breathing grew louder.
Jiang Nanshu returned home, carefully wiped down the pet carrier, and took it to Song Ye’s door, ringing the doorbell.
She rang it once but no one answered.
Is he not home?
She rang it again, still no answer.
She took out her phone, lowered her head to text him to ask if he had gone out when the door suddenly opened.
Song Ye, dressed in home clothes, stood in the doorway, his black hair slightly messy and still a bit damp.
He looked down at her, his eyes faintly red, his gaze deeper and more restrained than usual, with an unnoticeable impatience.
Jiang Nanshu had never seen him like this before.
There was a coldness to him that seemed oddly sexy.
For some reason, when she saw him like this, her heartbeat suddenly sped up.
She even felt a little uncomfortable, like she had discovered some secret.
But she didn’t know why she was nervous.
She blinked and stared at him. “Are you… sleeping? Did I wake you?”
It was just past ten o’clock, and she thought he hadn’t gone to bed yet.
“Hmm,” his voice was very low, with an almost hoarse tone.
Jiang Nanshu paused for a moment, bit her lip.
“Sorry, I just came to return your pet carrier, didn’t know you’d be sleeping so early.”
Song Ye walked out, took the pet carrier from her hands, and whispered, “Give it to me.”
He suddenly stepped closer.
Jiang Nanshu raised her head and quickly noticed the red, swollen marks on his neck that had gotten worse since the morning.
She instinctively said, “Your neck… it’s hurt…”
Song Ye took a deep breath, his tone becoming more normal, but his eyes no longer looked at her.
“I got it in the gym tonight. Sweat made it worse.”
“Oh…” Jiang Nanshu couldn’t help but glance at his long, fair neck.
The red marks looked like hickeys at first glance.
She suddenly felt dry in her mouth, quickly looking down and saying, “Then I’ll go back now.”
Song Ye grunted in acknowledgment.
She turned around, closed the door, and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water.
At the beginning of their reunion, she had sworn she wouldn’t like Song Ye again.
She had been trying to control her feelings.
She always thought she could manage it, but just now, some unknown impulse uncontrollably surged inside her.
She actually wanted to bite Song Ye’s neck.
Is this what they call physiological attraction?