Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The project proceeded fairly smoothly.

Compared to a high-rise commercial-residential complex, a teaching building was less difficult and more efficient to build.

I figured we might even finish earlier than expected.

That was good news for everyone. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t bad news, too.

Before I left, all those jinxes I’d casually thrown out just to make conversation had come true!

Whether there was a signal at all, and how many bars there were, depended entirely on fate.

Once the cement mixer started up, it drowned out every other sound.

As the boss, I had to lead by example. By the time work wrapped up, I was dog-tired. After washing up, I didn’t even want to move my fingers.

I could only call Lu Boya once every day or two, and we might not even manage one video call in three to five days.

“…Longing is a mysterious thing…”

Clutching my phone, which didn’t even have half a bar of signal, I finally snapped and shouted, “Turn that music off!”

The neighboring earthen house quickly fell silent.

They knew full well their boss was a hopeless romantic and still played background music? Did they think I wasn’t suffering enough?

By ten thirty, my phone still had no signal. I could only give up, burrow under the covers, and think about waking up earlier tomorrow. If worse came to worst, I’d climb onto the roof and try there…

The next day, I didn’t get the roof signal I was waiting for. Instead, I got a torrential downpour.

Standing by the window and watching the rain come down so hard it looked like smoke was rising from the ground, I frowned so deeply my brows nearly knotted together.

With rain this heavy, we had to stop work. Even after the rain stopped, we still had to consider the standing water. There was no hope of resuming construction for the next three to five days.

“President Xu, don’t be too anxious. We made fast progress earlier. Even if we stop work now, we can still deliver on schedule.”

“I thought we might be able to deliver ahead of schedule,” I said with a strained smile. “The sooner we finish, the sooner we can take on the next project… In our line of work, you earn as much as you build. Who wouldn’t want to take on a few more projects?”

There was nothing to be done. If the heavens refused to cooperate, I could only accept my fate.

After calling the weather hotline for advice and checking the forecast for the coming days, I estimated that once the rain stopped, we’d have about three days of downtime.

Maybe… I could go back to Sunan?

Since my career was at a standstill, I might as well develop my love life. When two flowers bloom, you have to at least describe one of them.

I optimistically comforted myself.

However, reality proved that my prediction had come too soon.

The heavy rain fell for an entire day. By evening, someone from the village suddenly said that two of the bridges leading into the village had been washed away by the flood.

I froze.

“It’s fine that the bridges are down. The village sits high, so there’s no danger. Once the floodwater recedes, everything will be all right!” a villager comforted me.

My face went blank, and the corners of my mouth twitched. If I wanted to return to Sunan now, it seemed my only option was to swim…

The mountain flood had even washed away stone bridges. My bones weren’t harder than stone, so I’d better stay put like a good girl.

With the workers idle, they gathered in groups of three or five. Some played poker, some played mahjong, all of them just killing time.

I was wondering whether I should go to the village chief’s house to borrow his landline and call Lu Boya when I heard someone shouting, “President Xu! Is President Xu here?”

“Here, here.” I ran out of the house and saw that it was a village official. Beside him was someone soaked through from head to toe, looking utterly miserable… Yi Lin?!

“Why is it you?” My eyes widened.

Yi Lin glanced at me without speaking.

The village official hurried to explain. Yi Lin had come to survey the bridges. Halfway through the survey, it started raining, and the bridges were washed away. She had nearly gotten into an accident.

I remembered then. Yi Lin’s project did seem to be here… But hadn’t Lu Boya withdrawn his investment?

“She said she knew you, so I brought her over. President Xu, you two do know each other, right?” the village official asked.

“Oh.” I nodded. “We know each other. We’re acquainted.” Love rivals.

After the village official handed her over to me, I looked at her ankle. “Is your foot all right now?”

“Mm.” She nodded once, her attitude as cold as ever.

A good woman doesn’t fight with another woman! A good woman doesn’t compete with another woman! A good woman doesn’t argue with another woman!

I upheld my Three Don’ts. At the same time, I upheld the principle of not pressing my warm face against someone’s cold butt. And at the same time as that, I upheld the principle that a guest should follow the host’s arrangements.

Since the village official had brought her here, I couldn’t very well kick her out into the rain. She could be as cold as she wanted. I’d do what I was supposed to do.

I found a clean set of clothes and a dry towel and handed them to her, then pointed to the little room inside. “There’s no water heater. There are two thermoses of hot water inside. Help yourself.”

“Thank you.” She took the clothes and towel, lowered her head, and went into the small room.

There were a lot of men on the construction site, so I moved over a little stool and sat outside the partition, fiddling with my phone.

When this thing called signal decided not to exist, it really didn’t exist at all.

Yi Lin moved quickly. When she came out wearing my clothes, she still didn’t say anything. She just stared steadily at me.

“I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” I asked.

“Go ahead.” She kept staring at me.

“The good news is, the rain has eased up, and it should stop tonight. The bad news is, there’s only one bed in this room.” I sighed. “So tonight, you’ll have to sleep in my blankets.”

Her gaze shifted slightly.

“Let me make this clear first.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Even if you’re disgusted, this is your only option. As for the workers, they’re either men or married couples. There’s no extra space to get you a single room. The village official just said outside that they’ve opened the floodgates downstream. The water should recede by tomorrow night at the latest. So even if you have to bite through your own teeth, you’ll have to endure it tonight.”

As I said that, I moved a bed board over from the room next door, borrowed a quilt and a pillow, and pulled a coat out of my luggage bag.

Lu Boya had been so foresighted. This coat was proving incredibly useful.

After setting up the bed board and spreading out the quilt and pillow, I wrapped myself in the coat and lay down on it.

Yi Lin didn’t say anything disdainful. She lay down on the bed too, only to keep tossing and turning.

My bed was a camp bed. It wasn’t sturdy, and every time she turned over, it creaked and groaned.

Outside, the rain had weakened to a steady patter. Inside, all I could hear was the endless creaking.

I didn’t care. I’d experienced worse environments before. This bit of noise didn’t affect me.

Just as I yawned and started to drift off, the creak suddenly became much louder.

Yi Lin sat straight up, both angry and frustrated, and snapped through gritted teeth, “Xu Li! Are you sick or something?”

Oh, that temper of mine!

I’d helped you again and again, and you were still cursing me out? Who could possibly endure that?!

I sat up too, rolling up my sleeves, ready to lose my temper.

But before I could, Yi Lin angrily said, “You’re a woman, and I’m a woman too. Can’t we just sleep together?”

Me: “…?”

In the darkness, Yi Lin’s anger weakened by three parts, though she stubbornly held on to the rest. “This bed-it’s not like it can’t fit two people. You insisted on rolling around on the floor. It’s not like I was bullying you!”

Me: “…”

“Say something!” Yi Lin barked, though somehow there wasn’t much anger left in her voice.

“Um,” I said, forcing the corners of my mouth up with difficulty. “Aren’t we love rivals? Don’t you hate me?”

“That’s not the same thing,” Yi Lin said in a muffled voice. “You helped me. I have no reason to be ungrateful. Besides…”

Besides what, she didn’t finish.

Then irritation crept back into her tone. “Are you getting in or not?”

“Coming, coming, coming.” I jogged over to the bed.

Yi Lin shifted back, freeing up more than half the bed.

I took off my coat and slipped under the covers.

The bed wasn’t big. Two people sleeping on it with a clear border drawn down the middle-the situation was exactly as awkward as you could imagine.

I seriously considered whether I should just go back to sleeping on the floor.

“Move a little closer,” Yi Lin said.

I made a sound of acknowledgment and shifted… two millimeters?

Yi Lin turned onto her side to face me and said testily, “There’s a wall behind me. Even if you move closer, I won’t fall off.”

“If I move any closer, we’ll be touching,” I said.

“Then touch,” Yi Lin said, still sounding unpleasant. “It’s so cold… At least being close is warm.”

You said it yourself!

I moved over without the slightest hesitation, and now my whole body was finally lying on the bed.

Yi Lin didn’t say anything, nor did she move.

I, being extremely carefree, soon grew sleepy in the warm, comfortable bed.

This was why Yi Lin and I were incompatible.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, she suddenly asked, “Are you asleep?”

I was speechless. “Thanks. I was about to be.”

“I can’t sleep,” she said.

I offered sincerely, “If you can’t sleep, count sheep. Count to a hundred and you’ll be asleep.”

Yi Lin’s breathing grew heavier. “Do you have to make me mad like this?”

I was so innocent. How had I made her mad this time? Why were all you highly educated, high-IQ elites so easy to provoke?

“Forget it.” Yi Lin rolled over, turning her back to me.

Even through her back, I could feel her sulking.

What else could I do?

Fine!

I rolled over too and poked her shoulder. “All right, I won’t sleep. You can’t sleep either. Let’s chat for a while?”

“No!” Yi Lin refused.

“Come on, just for a bit.” I smiled. “Actually, I’m pretty curious about you guys.”

“Us?” Yi Lin tilted her head slightly.

“You and Lu Boya.” I lay back flat and said with a smile, “You and Lu Boya were schoolmates when you were students. I imagine back then, when you were studying, you must have been at the best age of your lives, full of ambition and spirit. I never met Lu Boya from back then. I want to know. I want to know everything about him.”

Yi Lin was silent for a long time before she said mildly, “My mother and his mother were close, so we knew each other when we were young. Aside from being schoolmates, we were also friends who spent more time together than most people did. You said he was at the best age of his life, full of ambition and spirit… but actually, he wasn’t. Back then, he lived in a world different from ours.”

I didn’t understand what Yi Lin meant.

Yi Lin explained calmly, “Lu Boya was like a statue, a cold yet perfect work of art. There were invisible glass walls around him, shutting him in and shutting everyone else out. But the human pursuit of beauty comes from instinct. Even knowing full well he didn’t belong to you, you still couldn’t help coveting him.”

“You mean Lu Boya… kept everyone at arm’s length? Was untouchable? A flower on a high peak? No climbing allowed?” I performed beyond my usual level, firing off phrase after phrase.

“Mm,” Yi Lin answered softly. “That’s what I mean.”

“That doesn’t sound right,” I muttered with a frown. “The person you’re talking about and the one I know don’t sound like the same person.”

The first time we met, he had transformed into the leader of the praise squad and showered me with compliments.

The second time we met, he said he’d fallen for me at first sight. He also said he wasn’t that good, and I wasn’t that bad-a direct hit that made me fall for him so hard I could barely stand it.

After that, he gave me his school badge, built up my confidence, and bombarded me with reaction memes.

A gentle, capable, considerate little husband-there was no sense of distance at all.

“The Lu Boya I know is the Lu Boya everyone knows. The Lu Boya you know is a Lu Boya who belongs only to you.” Yi Lin paused, then said softly, “He favors you, so he treats you differently from everyone else.”

I nodded thoughtfully.

Then I realized her back was to me, so she couldn’t see me nodding. Besides-this person liked Lu Boya too.

I quietly stopped speaking. Some sweetness was better kept hidden in my heart.

“Ten years,” Yi Lin said faintly. “Whether it was a secret crush or admiration, for him… I held on for ten years.”

“It wasn’t easy for you,” I said softly.

Yi Lin suddenly laughed. She turned around and looked at me. “Xu Li, do you really have no sense of crisis at all? Empathizing with your love rival is way too stupid, isn’t it?”

“I’m not empathizing with a love rival.” I turned my face as well, meeting her gaze, my smile light and faint. “I’m empathizing with ten years.”

“What’s so special about ten years?” she asked.

“Ten years is a long time. A really long time,” I said, somewhat lost in thought. “For anyone, living through ten years that don’t go your way isn’t easy.”

Yi Lin didn’t speak. She lowered her head slightly, and the hair over her forehead brushed the center of mine.

After a long while, she said softly, “No matter how bad it was, it’s already over.”

I smiled. “Yes.”

No matter how bad it was, it was already over.

The debts were paid off, I was making more money, my family had been saved, and the person I liked was right beside me. The future was full of hope.

Those ten years.

For me, those ten years when I didn’t dare cry and didn’t dare scream had already ended.

My conversation with Yi Lin came in fits and starts, murmured in low voices… and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

Early the next morning, before I had even woken up, someone knocked on the door several times with loud bangs.

Yi Lin was sleeping like the dead. She made a gurgling sound and shoved her whole head against me.

I sat up groggily and yawned.

“President Xu!” The person outside had a rough voice. “There’s a man here to see you!”

“What man?” I rubbed my face and said casually, “What’s he looking for me for?”

Yi Lin grumbled and mumbled in annoyance.

“Fine, fine,” I could only say. “I’ll keep my voice down. You go back to sleep…”

“He says he’s your husband!”

“Huh?!” I jumped in fright. It was early in the morning, and I must have misheard. “What the hell?”

“Your boyfriend!” the person outside shouted. “Last name Lu.”