That night, Zheng Wei went to bed early. Before sleeping, she pulled up all the curtains, afraid that she would not be able to help herself from taking a peek. She didn't know when he left, and the next day they met in the elevator during rush hour. The elevator was packed with familiar colleagues, and Zheng Wei exchanged greetings with everyone as usual. Finally, she looked at him standing beside her, "Good morning, Assistant Chen."

  He was still as neat and tidy, the white shirt with every small wrinkle in place, a gentle smile, and distant eyes. In a group of colleagues with tired expressions and sleepy eyes, his calmness was like a wall that isolated him from the crowd.

  He glanced at Zheng Wei and responded to her greeting. "Good morning."

  The elevator stopped on the sixth floor, he leaned over to let her go first, Zheng Wei hurriedly made a gesture, "You first." He smiled and walked out first, Zheng Wei followed closely behind him leaving the elevator, and then they each went into their respective offices.

  Everything last night was just a fleeting dream.

  However, from then on, every time Zheng Wei returned home late at night and stepped onto the stairs, her footsteps would always hesitate. She never looked in that direction, but the living room lamp would always be lit until deep into the night.

  During the day at work, they were more polite and harmonious than anyone else. Many things that Zhou Qu entrusted to them required their joint completion. Zheng Wei was efficient in her work, while Chen Xiao was meticulous and demanding. Even Zhou Qu, who had high standards, praised their results. However, the gossiping little logistics staff often said, "Sister Zheng, when you're with Assistant Chen, just casually record a segment with your DV, it's the best teaching material for etiquette class."

  Sometimes during meetings, Zheng Wei would occasionally look up from the meeting records and mistakenly think that his gaze had lingered on her. However, when she glanced in his direction with a hint of uncertainty, she always found that his line of sight had merely passed over her and stopped at some point elsewhere.

  After August, Zhou Qu's various big and small gatherings became more frequent, Zheng Wei often worked overtime to help him sort out meeting materials, sometimes staying in the office until very late, only to find that the whole building was left with only himself when he left.

  It was the first time I met Chen Xiao Zheng when I was working overtime, and he had just returned from a social engagement.

  Zheng Wei saw him with some surprise.

  He said, "I came up to get something and saw that your office light was still on, so I just dropped by to take a look."

  Used to the icy politeness of daytime, the quiet office at night suddenly became cramped and narrow with one more person.

  "Oh, I still have some things to take care of." She thought she could say "goodbye" right away, but he sat down on the sofa in the living room with a tired look.

  "Do you have anything else?" She made an effort to look busy. He caught the implication of her words, "I'll sit for a while and then leave."

  Zheng Wei buried her head in work, but after just a few minutes, she couldn't help but glance at him again. He was leaning against the back of the sofa, his eyes slightly closed, with his jacket draped over his legs and his tie loosened and hanging around his neck, looking like he was half asleep. From afar, she could smell the alcohol on him.

  "Don't fall asleep here," she said, still getting up to pour him a cup of water and placing it on the tea table beside him. "Drink, hot tea can sober you up, and once you're more awake, go back."

  He opened his eyes and looked at the cup of tea, "This is still your first time pouring me tea. You were really lazy before, I was the one who brought you hot water all the way to downstairs, even washing bowls for you."

  "You're drunk, what's the point of talking about those past things?"

  He picked up his cup and smiled, "You didn't mention it, I almost forgot. It's really been three years already. Probably had a bit too much to drink... This is good too, I'm afraid of being too sober."

  Zheng Wei changed the subject, "Who were you drinking with to end up like this?"

  He said, "With the heads of several other branches, this kind of gathering doesn't happen often, but Manager Zhou doesn't drink much, and in two rounds, it all came to me."

  Zheng furrowed his brow, "I wonder if we've run into those drunkards again."

  Chen Xiao Zheng shook his head, "No, I didn't go with the one fen (one cent) guy, but I did drink a lot with the seven fen deputy manager, do you still remember him?"

  "Seven parts of deputy manager, I don't remember." Zheng was dazed.

  "Don't you remember?" Chen Xiao Zheng was somewhat surprised, "I had just arrived at Er Fen's place that time, and we had dinner together once. You were there too, he sat across from you, staring at you the whole time."

  Zheng Wei attended countless banquets, but couldn't recall anyone like that. "Really? You must be mistaken."

  He smiled, "How could I possibly remember wrong? That day you were wearing a white top, a light green skirt with small polka dots, your hair wasn't tied up and you're also wearing the same earrings as today."

  He said that, and she vaguely remembered that she had such a set of clothes, but more than half a year had passed, and she had long forgotten. He still remembered it. If she didn't remember wrong, in those occasions, he never looked at her straight in the eye.

  After saying this, the two fell silent. Zheng Wei stared blankly at the computer screen, lost in thought, while the hot tea in his hand emitted a wisp of white smoke.

  "Micro..."

  "Don't mention it..."

  After that night, Zheng Wei's overtime hours increased, and whenever he saw the light on, he would come up to sit for a while. She still didn't pay much attention to him, but when he wasn't there, every time she heard the wind rustling through the leaves, she mistook it for footsteps.

  Zhou Qu was amazed at her increasingly surprising work efficiency, handing over the tasks assigned to her during the day, requiring her to do well within half a month, and delivering them to his office desk the next morning.

  "Working late at night? It's actually not that urgent, there's no need to make yourself so tired. A young girl should have more private time at night."

  He didn't know, it had been more than three years, and she finally felt that time had meaning for herself again. She could feel the faint spark of expectation rekindling in her heart, quietly spreading without a sound. Yes, she knew, she was well aware that there was nothing more foolish than this expectation, yet she yearned for that weak flame of joy, which would be extinguished by the slightest breeze, but it warmed her nonetheless. He sat silently on the couch reading the newspaper, occasionally saying a few words to her, and at this moment, Zheng Wei thought, why can't we choose our own memories, remember happiness, forget sorrow, and blissfully ignore the pain. After all, she still loved him, and precisely because of that love, she could forget nine parts of bitterness for one part of sweetness.

  One time Zhou Qu suddenly asked her, "Zheng Wei, have you been in contact with Deputy Prosecutor Lin since that day you had dinner together?"

  Zheng Wei was taken aback for a moment, "Uh, very few."

  Zhou Qu nodded, "I see he's quite taken with you. I heard he's not married yet. His conditions are certainly good, but he's too cunning and may not be a suitable match."

  Zheng Wei felt somewhat unexpected, Zhou Qu had never made such a biased comment about her private life before, even if he was aware of her and Chen Xiao Zheng's past relationship, he would not mention it, and now his seemingly casual remark had an unknown intention.

  "Leader, where are you going?" She smiled awkwardly "hehe".

  Zhou Qu also smiled, "I just casually said it, didn't mean anything else." He thought for a moment and mentioned in a light tone, "By the way, I was working late in the office last Monday and Tuesday, and coincidentally met Assistant Chen both times. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was overtime, saw me there, and just chatted with me casually. But as soon as he sat down, he left after saying a few words. Young people are really interesting."

  Zheng Wei's face suddenly turned red, and she responded with a smile, "It's quite interesting." Turning around, she started to smile unconsciously.

  Not long after, Zheng Wei welcomed her 26th birthday. Originally, she didn't plan to make a big fuss, but as soon as she went to work, she received a large bouquet of lilies sent to the office. The card on it had no signature, only a few simple words: "Happy Birthday." As a result, everyone asked about the origin of the mysterious flower sender in vain, and they all shouted that they wanted her to treat them to dinner that night, with He Yi being the first among them. After getting married, He Yi became more restrained, and after his father got into trouble, he was no longer as reckless as before. He still worked part-time, although he was no longer the young master he once was, but he didn't care at all. Perhaps for him, without the constraints of that identity, he would be even more comfortable. After his father was detained for a few days, through coordination with the superior department and the procuratorate, he was finally able to resolve the issue internally. The unit dismissed him from his public office and party membership, allowing him to retire early. Having an ordinary and comfortable later life was already the best outcome for him. Of course, his quiet retirement and silence made many people secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

  Zheng Wei couldn't resist He Yi and a group of colleagues who usually got along well, so he had to invite them to dinner that night. In the private room, everyone was noisy and wanted to toast Zheng Wei's birthday, Zheng Wei sighed that he had grown another year older, and unknowingly drank a lot.

  He Yijian saw her checking her phone several times and teased her, "Waiting for whose call? You're not going on a blind date on your birthday, are you?"

  Zheng gave him a white eye, "Nonsense, I'm afraid my mom will call me."

  Just as she was saying that, her phone rang. She quickly grabbed the phone and He Yi sneakily approached to take a look, but was skillfully dodged by her. Hurriedly walking out of the private room and closing the door, she finally answered the call.

  "Hello?" She didn't know if her voice betrayed the secret of her racing heartbeat.

  "It's me."

  She knew it was him, of course. She had a premonition all day today, so she has been waiting for this call.

  "Anything wrong?"

  Nothing in particular, just suddenly remembered today is your birthday. Happy Birthday!

  Zheng Wei bit her lip, "Mm, thank you."

  "Is it noisy on your side? Are you outside?"

  "He Yi and those guys from the marketing department insisted that I treat them to dinner."

  "Really... Alright, go eat then."

  She suddenly felt a strong sense of disappointment, she had waited all night, only to get such a sentence in return, and so she said with a huff, "I'm going in to eat, nothing's up, bye!"

  "Goodbye... wait..."

  Just as she was about to hang up the phone, he suddenly added a sentence in a hurry.

  Zheng Wei gritted her teeth, "Chen Xiao Zheng, if you're a man, then don't be so wishy-washy. What do you really want? If there's nothing going on, then don't waste my time."

  "When are you going to finish? I want to see you." He said in a low voice. He had always been like this, beating around the bush and not saying what was on his mind until he was forced into a corner.

  "If you have something else going on later, then forget it."

  She suddenly wanted to scold him severely, but ultimately let herself off, "I'll call you after I finish dinner, we can talk about it then."

  As she walked back to the dinner table, they all looked at her.

  "What are you looking at? Haven't seen a woman before?" Zheng Wei cursed with a smile at He Yi, who was leading the group.

  He Yixuan said, "You don't have a mirror with you, take a look at the smile on your face. When you answer your mom's call, do you need to smile so brightly and cheerfully?"

  Zheng Wei really took out a makeup mirror and examined herself carefully, "Is it that exaggerated?" The her in the mirror had a flushed face, even her eyes were shining.

  "Hurry up and tell me who it is, we'll go find him and settle the score. There are already too many useless monks around here. It's not easy to find a normal-looking girl, and now you're telling me that some pervert from outside is coming to steal her away? Are they trying to make our lives impossible?"

  "Look at you guys, you're all so vicious! Some of you have wives and girlfriends, but when I was lonely and had no one, none of you pitied me. Now that I've got something good going on, you're all popping out one by one to ruin it for me? Whoever messes up my good thing will have to deal with me!"

  He Yixiao said, "This kid has been single for a long time and is going crazy. So what you're saying is that there's actually a man who's interested in you?"

  "What's it to you?" Zheng smiled as he ate.

  "Union Li Cuifen that old woman must be vomiting blood now, a few days ago she said, after looking at you two, I estimate only Chen Xiao Zheng can enter your eyes, and also said to set you up on a blind date, maybe it'll work out."

  Zheng Wei was slightly startled and forcibly suppressed the unnatural expression on her face, smiling and saying, "Auntie Li is again randomly matching couples."

  He Yixin felt a pang, "I think so too, you can't choose anyone over Chen Xiaozheng that guy, no matter how good his overseas background is, he's got a gloomy and sinister air about him, it's like he's about to fly up to the sky, if you were his girlfriend, you'd go crazy."

  Zheng Wei suddenly remembered the past, for no reason he wanted to laugh, most of the days they spent together, the person who was often driven mad by anger seemed to be him.

  The deputy director of the marketing department, who has a good relationship with Zheng Wei, said, "He Yi, you can't say that Li Cuifen usually has a good sense of news, but this time she made a mistake. Chen Xiao is what kind of person, he is completely qualified to be arrogant. I heard from someone in the company's personnel department that on his first day back from the construction site, our boss Ouyang personally took him to the personnel department and said in front of the director of the personnel department that he wanted to go to that branch for a few years of training."

  "Yes, I've also heard that when Chen Xiao Zheng chose the second division, Zhou Qu went to find Ouyang boss. On the surface, of course, he said that such a talented person coming to the second division was a waste of talent, but in reality, he wanted to reject him. As a result, he was blocked by Ouyang boss with just one sentence. You all know that Zhou Qu has been too popular these years and needs to be more restrained upstairs, so whatever the higher-ups say goes. He's also very polite to Chen Xiao Zheng usually."

  "What do you think Mr. Ouyang values about Chen Xiao Zheng? I've heard that sometimes the boss invites him to go fishing together on weekends. They say it's because he loves talent, but there are many returnees from abroad in Zhongjian, not just him. Some people say they're relatives, but that doesn't seem very likely either, since the boss is from the north and Chen Xiao Zheng seems to be a local."

  "You know what? There's a kind of kinship in this world that doesn't require blood ties."

  As soon as this was said, everyone suddenly understood and made a gesture of sudden realization.

  He Yiran suddenly said, "Could it be that he and Ouyang Jing... Ah, I see, how could I not have thought of it? They must have been in the same university in America."

  "That's right. From now on, you can take it easy and don't offend the young master without knowing it. He Yi, do you know Mr. Ouyang's daughter?"

  He Yi said, "What's up with that, Ouyang Jing has been living across the street from my house since she was a kid. At that time, my old man was still in power and Ouyang was the deputy secretary. I've even seen her butt naked."

  Someone laughed and said, "Then why don't you take action? Let others take advantage of it."

  "Hei patted his chest, "Spare me, her temper... all the men in the world are dirty in her eyes, I didn't expect that there would still be a man who could enter her eyes, not simple at all. But Ou Yang Jing seems to have not returned to China yet."

  Everyone was chattering and speculating, with a hint of excitement at being privy to secrets, but mostly mixed with envy and disdain. It wasn't until much later that someone noticed the protagonist of the day had not participated in their discussion at all, standing with his back turned, silently staring at the TV in the corner of the private room.

  He Yi glanced over and saw that the TV was playing a recent popular drama "The Mute Bride", where the poor daughter-in-law was sobbing in a sad scene. He chuckled and nudged Zheng Wei, "Hey, you wouldn't like watching this kind of melodramatic soap opera, it's not your style."

  Zheng smiled and turned around, but her face was full of tears. "Yes, I didn't expect it either. Such a low-quality plot actually made me cry."