Chapter 5

Chapter 5

For the following week, Qin Song felt as though his blood were boiling with a youthful vigor, his heart fluttering as if he were eighteen again.

On the very day he got the napkin, Qin Song had returned to his hotel, and before he could even set his bag down, he dialed the crookedly written phone number.

As it turned out, the Southern Girl was named Huang Yuanrui, and she was only twenty-one years old. The seven-year age gap gave Qin Song a sudden, pleasant rush of feeling like a mature older man. He knew her hometown-a city famous for its backward customs and culture, where the people were generally short. But Huang Yuanrui wasn’t small at all; she stood a full 165 centimeters. Qin Song felt like he had struck gold. From morning till night, he barely wanted to eat or sleep, glued to his phone chatting with her.

Huang Yuanrui was quite idle. She wasn’t in school and didn’t have a job; she had been staying at home since graduating from vocational college. Later, finding it annoying to be at home, she rented a small apartment and moved out. Sometimes she cooked for herself, sometimes she ordered takeout, and occasionally her mother would pack up a meal and bring it over to her.

She loved sharing every little detail of her life with Qin Song. Even when he was too busy to reply, she didn’t mind and would just keep sending messages. Her meals were very delicate, and Qin Song loved looking at them. She always ate very little, and everything was spicy. Yet, for some reason, her skin remained fair and supple, and she was very thin.

She told him she got her nails done every month and went to beauty salons for treatments.

These trivial feminine matters were entirely fresh to Qin Song. She was a completely different kind of woman from He Qian.

Qin Song recalled that when he had first started blind dating, the type of woman he disliked most was the kind who loved dressing up and spending money. Yet now, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he found himself utterly captivated.

He thought back to his first love’s narrow eyes-which reminded him of Sandy Lam-and found the memory completely dull. Compared to Huang Yuanrui’s large, watery eyes, those narrow eyes and that innocent look felt incredibly bland. If his first love was a lilac, then Huang Yuanrui was a bright, vivid rose. She wasn’t just beautiful; she was passionate and proactive. Qin Song felt she was like a rushing river, while he was more like a pool of still lake water.

“Give me your bank card,” Qin Song messaged Huang Yuanrui on their fourth day of chatting.

Huang Yuanrui called him immediately, saying with a giggle, “I only have one bank card. If I give it to you, what will I use?”

Qin Song laughed and said, “The card number.”

Huang Yuanrui giggled for a while longer before hanging up and sending over a string of digits.

Qin Song transferred twenty thousand yuan to her, telling her to get more beautiful manicures and beauty treatments.

Huang Yuanrui sent a giggling emoji and replied, “Big Brother, you can only get your nails done once a month. You can’t do it ‘more.’ Are you an idiot? But it’s too late to regret it now; I’m not giving the money back!”

Qin Song stared at the screen, unable to stop smiling.

Hu Heng walked into the office and asked Qin Song what he was so happy about.

Qin Song laughed and said, “You pig, what do you know!” Then, showing off, he picked up his phone, opened Huang Yuanrui’s social media feed, and showed Hu Heng her photos.

Hu Heng frowned. “Who is this? Are you chatting with her?”

Qin Song clicked the screen off. “Shh,” he whispered, nodding.

Hu Heng glanced outside the office and lowered his voice. “What are you doing? You have my sister-in-law. How can you be with another wom-”

Qin Song patted Hu Heng on the shoulder, cutting him off. “Oh, it’s just chatting. You don’t understand the world of married people. You’ll get it once you’re married.”

Hu Heng looked at him for a moment and said, “You’d better watch yourself. Don’t do anything out of line. No, I’m being serious-you really need to be careful.”

Qin Song pushed Hu Heng by the back, ushering him out of the office while muttering, “Fine, fine, stop nagging. You’re starting to sound like my mother.”

Hu Heng turned around, wanting to say more, but Qin Song slammed the office door shut with a loud thud.