Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Because I already had a solid foundation from my time in Beijing, I hit the ground running with my work in Shanghai.

The extremely intense pace of the job squeezed out almost all the time I might have spent wallowing in seasonal melancholy.

By the following spring, I received the promotion I had been working toward.

This meant that the possibility of me staying in Shanghai permanently was becoming more and more likely.

After leaving Liang Qiezhao, I certainly didn’t intend to live out the rest of my days in solitude.

When colleagues introduced me to guys, I would go on a date if they seemed like my type. If someone pursued me, I would try to get to know them.

I never encountered anyone particularly bizarre, but I never met anyone I truly clicked with either.

However, through one lackluster date after another, I began to examine the subtle changes within myself.

I had always thought that during the long, drawn-out process of emotional withdrawal-which had begun even before Liang Qiezhao and I officially split-I had detached myself at a rapid pace.

But one problem continued to plague me.

That was my subconscious tendency to compare any new potential partner to the man who had already vanished from my life.

If a man was good-looking, I would instinctively think that he didn’t seem as tall as Liang Qiezhao.

If his height was good, I would think that Liang Qiezhao’s shoulder-to-neck lines and muscle definition were much more attractive.

If I met someone with a robust physique, I would find his conversation dull, lacking the depth that Liang Qiezhao possessed.

On the rare occasion I met someone who seemed decent in every aspect, I would realize that he wasn’t like Liang Qiezhao, who could silently attend to my smallest emotional shifts.

Especially when that person made loud slurping noises while eating noodles.

I recounted these details to Yu Lili, and she shouted several “No ways!” over the phone.

“I’ve been picking up some Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge while writing scripts lately,” she said.

“The way I see it, loud slurping is mostly due to a deficiency in kidney qi. The kidneys govern the intake of qi; if the qi is unstable, it gets noisy.”

“If you pick someone who looks good on the outside but is weak on the inside, I’m telling you, I’ll laugh myself silly!”

Yu Lili’s laughter over the phone was the same as it had always been.

After all these years of life’s hardships and the relentless passage of time, it seemed she was the only thing that hadn’t changed.

After a few more pleasantries, I ended the call with a smile.

The moment the screen went dark, the lights from outside the office filtered in, reflecting off the floor-to-ceiling window to reveal a face that was more refined, yet colder, than before.

I had thought a completely new environment would be enough to dilute the past.

I had also thought that as long as I left decisively enough, the people and events of that city would become nothing more than an old address on my life’s journey.

But reality always waits until you’re ready to relax and take a breather.

Then, it catches you off guard with a sharp snap of its fingers.

Forcing you to snap back to attention.