Since getting their marriage certificate, the two hadn’t seen each other again.
Meng Chu scrolled up slightly through their chat history-only to find it ended right there.
Clearly, even after marriage, their interactions were pitifully few.
Both Cheng Jinyu and she were exceptionally busy with work, especially Cheng Jinyu, who rarely stayed in one place for long, constantly flying around the world.
Even the fact that he had attended yesterday’s summit forum was something Meng Chu only learned about today in the office break room. She glanced at their last conversation.
It was from a month ago, on Qixi Festival, when she suddenly received a bouquet of flowers.
Inside was a card with a printed message: Happy Qixi Festival
-Cheng
To be honest, Meng Chu had been quite surprised when she received the flowers.
But upon reflection, she figured it was probably just a courtesy gesture.
After all, they were married.
Though it was rare for a married couple to be as distant as they were.
At the time, Meng Chu had immediately sent him a message on WeChat, thanking him and complimenting the beautiful flowers he’d chosen.
Cheng Jinyu: As long as you like them.
That had been his reply.
And Meng Chu had responded:
Meng Chu: Yes, I really do.
That was her reply, and it had also been the end of their conversation.
Since then, they hadn’t contacted each other again.
Truthfully, Meng Chu quite liked their current dynamic-no commitments, no pressure on each other, and no need to feign excessive familiarity.
But now!
Her husband, who had been lying dormant in her WeChat contacts, had suddenly “come back to life.”
Meng Chu stared at the two messages Cheng Jinyu had sent, especially the second one.
This was the first time he had explicitly proposed meeting up.
After a moment’s consideration, she quickly replied.
Meng Chu: Still at the office, but I’m free to meet.
Her response was concise and direct, much like her work style.
This time, there was no immediate reply from the other side.
Meng Chu set her phone down and prepared to continue revising the proposal on her computer.
But her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a long while without typing a single word.
Her eyes were fixed on the screen, but her mind was still on her phone.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed—perhaps only a short while-when her phone buzzed again with that familiar vibration.
She quickly picked it up.
Cheng Jinyu: Good.
Meng Chu’s fingers lingered on the screen, unsure how to respond.
Then another message came through.
Cheng Jinyu: Your place works.
He wanted to meet at her home??
Meng Chu blinked, feeling as if a dull thunderclap had just exploded in her mind.
The sense of unreality grew even stronger.
Cheng Jinyu was actually suggesting coming to her place?
She typed out a message: Do you know my address?
But she quickly deleted it and instead sent her home address directly.
This time, there was no reply.
Not surprising someone as busy as him wouldn’t have time to chat endlessly on his phone.
After sending the message, Meng Chu quickly notified the team via the office software that the proposal revisions could continue tomorrow and everyone could leave for the day.
The team, who had expected to work late to finish the proposal, immediately let out quiet cheers at their desks.
But Meng Chu had always been a perfectionist.
Leaving work unfinished always nagged at her.
Yet today, no matter how much it bothered her, she shut down her computer, packed up, and stood to leave.
As she stepped out of her office, she ran into some of her colleagues.
Everyone was quite surprised.
Meng Chu was the type who treated overtime like drinking water.
Of course, as a boss, she had one particularly good trait-she never pressured employees to work overtime, only burying herself in work alone.
So her rushing off work today was quite unusual.
The elevator ride down was mostly silent.
After exiting the elevator and watching Meng Chu stride quickly toward the main entrance, the remaining employees began whispering.
“Director Meng seems in such a hurry today-could she have a date?”
“Don’t worry, if there’s one person who wouldn’t rush for a date, it’s Director Meng.”
“Exactly. Everyone knows our Director Meng is famously detached a lifelong single, okay?”
“No way, Director Meng is already twenty-seven.”
“With a face like that, she actually resists dating? I’m genuinely impressed.”
*
Completely unaware of her colleagues’ chatter, Meng Chu was fortunate that getting a ride at this hour wasn’t difficult.
She didn’t have to wait long outside the company entrance before her driver arrived.
Her apartment complex was very close to work—just a fifteen-minute drive.
In Shanghai, this commuting distance was practically like living right next door.
She’d originally chosen this slightly dated complex for convenience, so the environment was just average.
Yet even so, the property prices here were shockingly high.
The phrase “every inch of land is worth its weight in gold” was embodied perfectly in Shanghai.
The ride-hailing car could only drop her at the complex entrance.
After getting out, Meng Chu entered through the pedestrian gate.
The complex had decent greenery, with trees lining both sides of the walkway.
Their tall trunks supported layers of leaves, while the summer night’s cicadas sang loudly.
Occasionally, children would zoom past on scooters, their colorful wheel lights flashing conspicuously in the dark.
Meng Chu usually returned after 9 PM, when the complex was half-asleep.
This lively, mundane atmosphere was something she rarely experienced.
She lived in Building 11, located in a relatively remote part of the complex-about a five or six-minute walk from the entrance.
As she reached her unit’s doorway and was about to swipe her access card, a voice suddenly broke the quiet.
“Meng Chu.”
The voice blended into the summer night like a cool breeze, carrying its own natural chill.
Turning, Meng Chu saw a black sedan parked in a spot before the unit entrance.
Under the dim lighting, the Maybach emblem wasn’t particularly noticeable.
Now the rear door opened, and the speaker emerged-long legs first.
When the man’s tall figure settled beside the car, the slightly yellow streetlight cast its glow downward over him.
No wonder people said to view others under lamplight—the warm tones softened his strikingly handsome, sharp features, making his cold demeanor less intense.
Yet as he walked over, his impeccably tailored suit pants emphasized his long legs to perfection.
Compared to the heavily photoshopped images of male celebrities today—or their disappointing real-life counterparts—this man, usually only who appeared in press photos, was even more handsome in person than in pictures.
Even someone as indifferent to looks as Meng Chu had to silently admit:
Someone like Cheng Jinyu truly deserved the title “better in real life.”
“Meng Chu.”
As Cheng Jinyu approached, he called out her name again.
Meng Chu finally snapped out of her daze, but when she realized it was really him, she couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “How did you get here so fast? I rushed home as soon as I got your message.”
After all, her office was only a fifteen-minute drive from home.
At most, it should have taken thirty minutes.
Today, Cheng Jinyu was wearing a light blue shirt with the collar slightly open, revealing a slender neck.
Compared to the all-black suit photo Meng Chu had seen in the breakroom earlier, he looked much less distant now.
Indeed, his cool, pale complexion gave him an advantage-everything suited him.
But with a face like his, no matter what he wore, he could hardly be called approachable.
After she spoke, the usual coldness in Cheng Jinyu’s eyes seemed to soften slightly, and the corners of his lips curved upward in a faint, thoughtful smile as he murmured, “It’s fine.”
After a pause, he added in his usual detached tone, “You didn’t have to rush.”
Huh?
Ha!
At first, Meng Chu didn’t quite grasp his meaning, but then it dawned on her—there was a subtle implication of, “So you were this eager to see me, but really, you didn’t have to hurry so much.”
But almost immediately, she dismissed her own sensitivity.
She must be overthinking it. After all, she and Cheng Jinyu weren’t that close.
Besides, he was the one who had reached out to meet.
Surely he wouldn’t turn it around on her like this.
Suppressing her thoughts, Meng Chu chuckled lightly and said, “I was just worried you’d be waiting too long.”
“When I messaged you, I happened to be nearby. I didn’t realize your place was this close,” Cheng Jinyu replied with a slight nod, his tone carrying the same aloofness as his public speeches.
That earlier sense of ambiguity vanished instantly.
Meng Chu thought to herself-she had been overanalyzing.
Then she swiped her keycard to unlock the building’s entrance and politely invited, “Let’s head upstairs first.”
Not a word was exchanged until the elevator stopped on the twelfth floor.
Meng Chu stepped out first, with Cheng Jinyu following behind.
When they reached her door, she took out her keys to unlock it.
But as she inserted the key, her fingers hesitated.
The man behind her waited silently, forcing Meng Chu to steel herself and turn around, giving him a heads-up: “The place is a bit messy—hope you don’t mind.”
Cheng Jinyu stood behind her, one arm draped with his coat, the other resting casually at his side.
“Not at all.”
Meng Chu took a deep breath.
The whole reason she had rushed home was to tidy up a little beforehand.
Who would’ve thought he’d already be waiting downstairs?
Finally, the door swung open, and Meng Chu stepped into the entryway first, flicking on the light switch.
In an instant, the entire living room was laid bare before Cheng Jinyu’s eyes.
Even someone as worldly as him couldn’t help a flicker of surprise.
The living room wasn’t messy in the conventional sense.
On the contrary, though filled with items, everything was meticulously organized -evidence of a tidy owner.
But this space was a far cry from the stereotypical image of a woman’s home.
Where a TV would typically hang, an entire wall was instead lined with a long, narrow table.
Above it stretched a massive white pegboard, beneath which were two rows of white shelves holding one white storage box after another-clearly meant for small, scattered components.
The pegboard was fully stocked with everything from various screwdrivers to hand drills-every tool imaginable.
A robotic dog lay obediently on the living room floor, its posture so docile it almost seemed like a real dog waiting for its owner to return home.
On the long workbench, a small, quiet robot suddenly lit up the LCD screen where its eyes should be.
A cute mechanical voice echoed through the room.
“Chu Chu, welcome home.”
Cheng Jinyu’s gaze shifted over, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
“This is a little robot I designed in college. It doesn’t have much language interaction capability—just a few phrases,” Meng Chu explained casually.
Cheng Jinyu glanced at her.
“But it can sense when you come home. That kind of situational application surpasses many companion robots.”
Meng Chu was surprised.
“I didn’t expect you to know about robots.”
But then she remembered that Cheng Jinyu’s company, Yunji Capital, had deep investments in the tech and medical industries.
It wasn’t strange that he had some understanding of AI.
After changing her shoes, Meng Chu turned and said, “Sorry, I don’t have any men’s slippers at home. You can just come in.”
Cheng Jinyu’s calm gaze settled on her face.
Only then did Meng Chu realize the ambiguity in her words.
By convention, since they were already married, her home should theoretically be his home as well.
Fortunately, Cheng Jinyu didn’t comment and simply walked in, the soles of his leather shoes tapping crisply against the floor.
Meng Chu gestured for him to sit and went to the kitchen to fetch water from the fridge.
But when she opened it, she realized she had run
out of bottled water and hadn’t restocked yet.
“Would you like some tea?” she asked, emerging from the kitchen.
Cheng Jinyu had already settled on the living room sofa. He slowly lifted his eyelids.
“The guest follows the host’s lead.”
“Then tea it is.”
Meng Chu didn’t bother with unnecessary politeness.
She picked up the electric kettle from the sideboard, filled it with water in the kitchen, and placed it back, ready to plug it in.
But when she inserted the plug, the kettle didn’t light up as usual.
Broken?
Unsure whether it was the kettle or the socket, she unplugged it and tried another socket.
Still no light.
Now she was certain the kettle was the problem.
Meng Chu stared at it helplessly and sighed.
“You’re so useless.”
Of all times to break, why now?
“Hmm?”
A low, questioning sound came from the sofa.
Meng Chu instinctively looked up and met Cheng Jinyu’s gaze, his eyes filled with unspoken meaning.
Wait-had she just spoken aloud?
Had she actually voiced her thoughts without realizing it?
Ah!
Even someone as composed as Meng Chu was stunned by herself.
How could she have said that out loud?!
An awkward silence thickened in the air.
Flustered, Meng Chu was the first to regain her composure.
She tapped the kettle lightly and explained, “I was talking about this. It was fine earlier, but now it suddenly stopped working.”
She forced a lighthearted joke.
“Maybe it’s just nervous around important people.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
That was so cringeworthy-she should’ve just stayed quiet.
But Cheng Jinyu, still watching her from the sofa, slowly curved his lips into a thoughtful smile before saying leisurely, “Was it too excited?”