On Saturday, Luo Qi signed the rental contract, checked out of the hotel in the afternoon, and moved into the rental house.

Luo Yu helped and they tidied up the house together, thoroughly cleaning the inside and outside of the house. It was an old house, but the interior was well-maintained. There was only one bedroom and one living room so she didn’t need to share rent with others.

Luo Yu started to unpack the cooking utensils she bought online. Thinking to improve their eating habits, she planned to come over to cook for her cousin on weekends.

There were seven or eight packages in all—some big, some small. Luo Qi put down the cleaning rag and came over, “What did you buy?”

“A set of pots and various kitchen utensils.” What Luo Yu currently had in her hand was a fried egg mold in the shape of a heart, “Isn’t it cute?”

Luo Qi’s first reaction wasn’t that it was cute or not cute but, “Waste of money. Just fry eggs in the frying pan.”

“Fried eggs with love, it will put us in a good mood.” Luo Yu put the egg mold aside and grabbed another package to open.

“Older sister, how many days off will you have on October 1? Do you plan to work overtime?”

“Director Jiang should let me off for seven days.” Since Jiang Yueru knew that she was heart broken, she would definitely take special care of her mood.

“I have eight days off, let’s find a place to play?”

“Mm.” Luo Qi was not in the mood to discuss where to go right now, “Let’s talk about it later.” 

She sat cross-legged on the floor and helped to unpack the packages. She was unusually silent.

The dull pain of breaking up was only just seeping in now. A few days ago, she mostly felt empty in her heart and somehow it didn’t hurt so much, but now it was like the anesthesia during the operation had worn off, and her heart felt like it had a knife stabbed through it.

Six years. Such a long time. And it was the six years that she was the most helpless. He was by her side through it all, he never quarreled with her, and he gave her everything. They withstood the pressure from his family and waited until they finally received his family’s agreement but, in the end, their feelings still changed.

She didn’t know how to let go of it all.

Luo Yu stopped chattering and piled the dismantled cartons together. She had looked at Cui Peng’s circle of friends again this morning. She blocked Cui Peng’s circle of friends after that day but she didn’t unfriend her.

She didn’t want to think too closely about what made her not delete Cui Peng’s account and only just block her Moments.

This morning, she couldn’t help being mean and unblocked Cui Peng’s circle of friends from the blacklist. Sure enough, Cui Peng updated her news last night and posted a few photos of her working overtime at the company.

The background of the photo was the meeting room of Huanheng Capital. The people who attended the meeting were not photographed, but judging from the cups and laptops on the meeting table, there were at least six or seven people.

She didn’t know whether Pei Shixiao broke up with Cui Peng, but what was certain was that he had no plans to let Cui Peng leave her job for the meantime, otherwise Cui Peng would not be allowed to participate in the project discussion meeting again.

After catching Pei Shixiao’s cheating that day, her cousin never asked anything about that woman. She was so hurt that she didn’t even want to know anything.

“Older sister, I’ll live with you before the holiday, and I’ll be in charge of cooking.”

Luo Qi unpacked the last package; it was a juicer.

“No need.” She placed the juicer on the kitchen counter and turned back to Luo Yu. “Even if you are with me, I would still feel bad. It’s only normal to be sad when you lose a relationship, it’ll be fine in a couple of months. But I have a favor to ask.”

“What’s the matter? Tell me.” Luo Yu followed to the kitchen.

“If you go home in November, go and see my parents. Although they are angry with me and don’t want to talk to me, they must be very worried about me, but they would be too embarrassed to ask how I am doing. You tell them that I don’t have time to feel uncomfortable, the men chasing me are lined up outside, but I’m so busy I can’t even make time for a date.”

Luo Yu smiled, seeing that her cousin could still make jokes, she felt relieved.

After dinner, Luo Yu left.

Luo Qi locked the door after her, and the room suddenly fell silent.

She hasn’t gotten used to the strange house and its strange furniture. There was no drinking water at this new home, so she looked for the electric kettle to boil water.

Luo Yu sent her a message on the subway: [Older sister, you still want to fall in love, right? After a few months, I will introduce a handsome guy to you. The project leader of our Party A¹—I know of two girls in our team who like him. He is so good-looking that no one dares to chase him.]

Luo Qi opened a memo, took a screenshot of the balance owed by her family and sent it directly to Luo Yu: [More than 10 million. Right now I just want to focus on work and make money, and pay back the money owed to eldest uncle’s family as soon as possible. About men, let’s talk after.]

After moving to an unfamiliar environment, Luo Qi didn’t sleep well at all.

… … 

Luo Qi just arrived at the office on Monday morning when Jiang Yueru called her to come over.

“Director Jiang, you are so early today?”

“I’ll go to the hospital for a check-up in the afternoon, so I’ll take care of what needs to be done in the morning.” Jiang Yueru glanced at Luo Qi: her complexion was as she expected.

“I’m afraid your holiday is going to be wasted working,” she said.

Luo Qi didn’t care about vacations now, “What is it, tell me.”

Jiang Yueru explained that Jiang Shenghe made an appointment with He Wancheng to talk about the Suzhou City project, and at the same time, talk about the development of the market in the south for Yuanwei Medical. He Wancheng was only free during the holidays, so the two made plans to meet in Haicheng for a detailed discussion.

“You managed the Suzhou project, it’s best if you also go. Chief Jiang asked me to coordinate your vacation time. It will take at least three or four days for the Haicheng trip, and there will only be a few days left from the long vacation. If you wish to take your annual leave now, just say so, and I will give you approval in advance.”

“Not for now.” Luo Qi had actually been worried about how to pass the long vacation. It was easy to think wild thoughts when one had free time, so it was better for her to work overtime, diverting her attention and earning her much needed overtime pay.

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FOOTNOTE:

¹In Chinese business parlance, Party A is generally the client or the one who pays for the service. Party B is the service provider. They never say what exactly Luo Yu’s job is but she transferred to Beijing under this new project for a Party A client ↩︎  

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