Gazing out the train window at the familiar scenery, Lin Yuhui had traveled this road home countless times. Yet all those who once mattered to him were gone. Home now was merely a cold house and the faint, indifferent familiarity that remained.
Amidst the tedium of the journey, Lin Yuhui’s thoughts drifted to Seres. Could she be the new person entering his life? Reason told him the odds were slim, yet the chain of events felt like fate’s subtle hint. While updating his contract and personal details in the company cloud directory, Lin Yuhui discovered Seres's file. She had joined the company just a month before him. Her birthday matched his ex-wife's, her zodiac sign was the same as his daughter's, and she was exactly twenty years younger than him. Ah, Forget it. Even if they were the same age, it wouldn't necessarily work out. Women nowadays seek the best match during their prime years. Unless...? Unless they were extraordinary, with souls that resonated.
It seemed that since joining the new company, Lin Yuhui had begun a new chapter in his life. Yet the old trivial matters remained unresolved. This trip back to court was to finally settle those affairs and free himself from their drain. He had taken leave from his boss and completed his tasks, so there shouldn't be anything urgent requiring his attention during this period. Yet his boss still sent an email—a client had some misunderstandings that needed clarification. But Lin Yuhui was on a train, and the detailed drawings were stored in his office folder, thousands of miles away. Unless someone could lend a hand there...
Lin Yuhui thought of Seres. She was a junior employee whom he had assisted before; she should be able to help. As for Dylan, it would be difficult—Lin Yuhui knew his temperament well. So, through Safir, Lin Yuhui added Seres on WeChat. After a brief exchange, she promptly scanned and forwarded the necessary drawings as expected. Mission accomplished.
Lin Yuhui's return to his old stomping grounds didn't involve visiting his child or even his parents. It felt like they were living parallel lives. After a weekend of rushing, he managed to reappear in his office on Monday morning.
Arriving early, he found only Jin Yan present among his colleagues. As they exchanged pleasantries, Seres arrived. While thanking her and making small talk, Lin Yuhui noticed her unusually excited tone and radiant expression. Could it be because of his presence?
“Seres seems especially cheerful this morning,” Jin Yan remarked as she walked past, having noticed the change too.
By mid-morning, the office atmosphere had grown lively again, largely thanks to Dylan.
“Hey, our community's promoting the COVID vaccine—have you guys gotten yours yet?” He bounced from conversation to conversation, asking this person and that, seemingly basing his own decision on others' responses.
“Hey, Stephanie, have you gotten yours?”
Lin Yuhui listened nearby, amused. How could someone use others to test the waters for them? Stephanie ignored him. She wasn't one for small talk, and whether she acknowledged Dylan depended entirely on her mood. Being married, she was careful about maintaining appropriate boundaries with the opposite sex. But that didn't stop him from shamelessly joining female colleagues for lunch every day.
“Hey, Seres, are you getting the vaccine?” he asked Seres over Lin Yuhui's shoulder—probably just to chat up the pretty girl.
Lin Yuhui, however, was always serious and straightforward.
“Don't get vaccinated. Industry insiders say it has an ADE effect,” he stated before mass-mailing his research materials to colleagues for reference.
Lin Yuhui's logic was simple: the safety of those around him made him safer too, but how to achieve that depended on individual beliefs.
Soon, Jin Yan, the colleague from their morning chat, replied with thanks. With two young children, he genuinely needed multiple layers of protection.
Lin Yuhui noticed Dylan merely glanced at the email before moving on, while Seris beside him showed real curiosity, searching online for the ADE effect—a promising student.
As lunchtime approached, Lin Yuhui pondered whether Seres intended to pursue a relationship with him. He took out his meal ticket and asked,
“Want to grab lunch together?” After all, she had once indirectly...
“Hmph, I'm not worthy,”
Lin Yuhui hadn't expected such a retort. He wasn't exactly easygoing himself, nor did he typically micromanage others.
He snorted, “Hmph,” and walked away without glancing back. He found her attitude poor—if she didn't want to go, she should just say so. What did social standing or worthiness have to do with it?
Midday sunlight streamed into the cafeteria hall, making the tables and chairs by the floor-to-ceiling windows gleam. Lin Yuhui sat alone in a quiet corner, savoring his lunch. Having worked in Shanghai before, he knew a thing or two about Jiangsu-Zhejiang cuisine. He particularly enjoyed local dishes like cold-tossed lettuce—tasty, refreshing, and packed with dietary fiber from the variety of home-style sides. His gut health had improved significantly since adopting this diet. The only issue was needing to take smaller portions of rice. He wasn't a factory worker, and though the lady at the window adjusted portions based on appearance, his belly fat had visibly thickened over the past month.
Chewing slowly and savoring the flavors, he gazed at the tables and chairs bathed in sunlight, feeling as if he existed in his own private dimension, relishing this quiet moment. Only Seris, whom he’d secretly tucked away in his heart, needed to be slowly pried out.
Lin Yuhui now understood clearly: she had absolutely no interest in him. But why did she and Safir gossip daily behind his back about finding partners? Knowing full well no suitable men worked in this office, they still chattered incessantly, as if desperate for everyone to know she was dating—what were they thinking?
Thinking back to the WeChat messages he'd sent her—the 33% optimal stopping theory for blind dates, the advice to avoid letting subpar men swarm her lest they scare off genuinely worthy suitors, and so on—it all felt like a waste of breath.
On Monday afternoon, the boss held a project kickoff meeting in the office. Before any new equipment order went into production, the project department would lead a meeting with all departments to finalize details and data. Basically, everyone in the office attended, plus some production staff.
Seris was the new hire in the project department, so naturally she was tasked with taking meeting notes. The boss was something else. As the meeting drew to a close, he repeatedly called on Seres and Lin Yuhui together, grilling them with questions:
“Is that right?”
“Is that how it is?”
He made them take turns answering, putting them on the spot.
Lin Yuhui understood the boss's good intentions and his recognition of her life experience, but young, beautiful women didn't value such things. They simply didn't get it.
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxMKoCZd4Qq
79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScNdmh8eMZ
and then Add to home screen.