That day, when we came out of Pei Shiyu's house, it was almost seven o'clock.

In the car, I asked her, "What do you want to eat?"

"Isn't it a bit late now?" she replied, glancing at her watch.

"Not late, there are plenty of late-night snack places everywhere."

"Can we find a place that's a little more... elegant?"

I glanced at the clothes I'd put together for her. "Does it have to match your elegant attire?"

"Of course, otherwise it would be mismatched."

"How about we go to my mom's restaurant? I can call her now and have her prepare something..."

Before I could finish, Pei Shiyu flatly refused, "No."

"Why are you so against it?"

"I don't have good feelings about your mom." Pei Shiyu sat up straight, staring ahead as she spoke.

"It was just that one time she asked you to switch seats, and besides, she didn't even know who you were."

"Who am I?" Pei Shiyu finally turned to look at me.

"Back then, you weren't even a friend, so I deliberately told her you were someone else's... wife. Now it's different, you're definitely my girlfriend."

"Who's your girlfriend!"

As soon as she said that, she sternly asked, "Whose wife am I?"

"My wife. It's just a matter of time. I'll definitely marry you into my family in style and make you Lin Che's rich wife."

Pei Shiyu didn't seem interested in this topic, so she didn't respond. Since she was so opposed to it, I turned the steering wheel and pulled into a stir-fry restaurant. I'd been eating Western food for a while and was really missing local cuisine. There was nothing I could do; it was a taste I'd grown up with and was used to.

While I was parking, Pei Shiyu didn't wait for me and went straight into the restaurant.

When I went inside, I saw that she hadn't ordered anything. She had just found a seat and sat down, looking down at her phone, her eyes fixed on the screen on the table.

I only glanced at her briefly before ordering six dishes on my own. After spending the last few days together, I had more or less figured out her tastes: what she liked, what she couldn't eat. I could basically make decisions for her.

I casually opened the refrigerator, which had many kinds of alcohol. But I just took a can of beer with a low alcohol content. Ever since Wang Rui went back to her country, I hadn't had anyone to drink with.

I went over and sat down across from Pei Shiyu. It wasn't until the sound of the can opening that she looked up at me. When she saw I was drinking beer, she suddenly quipped, "How can one can be enough for you?"

"I haven't had a drink in days. My alcohol cravings are going crazy."

My unintentional remark may have made Pei Shiyu's imagination run wild. Perhaps she imagined bugs crawling out of my mouth or something? I saw the fine hairs on her hand standing up on the table, and she deliberately held it out for me to see...

"Is it that bad? It's just a figure of speech," I said after looking at it.

"Then don't say such disgusting things in the future."

At this moment, my eyes stopped on her chest. I had deliberately chosen a sweater with a low neckline for her, and the scenery inside was very pleasing to the eye, making it hard to look away.

At this time of day, the dishes came out quickly. They were all based on Pei Shiyu's tastes; I wasn't picky about food, especially when I was with her.

"When do you start work?"

"Tomorrow. What about you?" Pei Shiyu rarely asked a question in return.

"Me too. I need to manage the restaurant properly now. I'll be learning here for a month, and then I might be running around to other cities."

"A chain store?"

"Yeah. Should we get a foreigner to invest and expand the business overseas?"

"Ask him yourself when he comes next time. It should work as long as he's interested."

"What's his name?"

"I call him Lao Mei. Anyway, you don't understand English, so just call him that." (Lao Mei = Old America)

"You're just replacing the country directly, aren't you?" I laughed.

"Everyone in China calls him that. He likes it himself."

"I'll talk to him about it when he comes next month."

"He likes making friends and can really drink. You guys should be able to chat."

"Maybe we can become kindred spirits. If that's the case, I need to start learning English. Although he can speak Chinese, I don't like it when you guys speak English in front of me. It makes me feel stupid."

"You're stupid anyway." Instead of being recognized by Pei Shiyu, I was kicked.

I deliberately took out my phone and took a picture. After being nourished these past few days, my face looked radiant. My already handsome face looked even more energetic.

I turned off the camera and confidently asked, "Aren't we a good match in terms of appearance?"

"I only look at the inner qualities."

"The inner qualities aren't bad either," I had to praise myself.

"How's your friend?"

"Xiao Wu?"

"Who else is your friend besides him?"

Pei Shiyu's words suddenly made me realize that I really didn't have any friends now. I didn't know if this was a good thing or if it was a turning point at a certain age. Friends around you will be replaced as new and old, in different situations. Those drinking buddies from before had been replaced by Pei Shiyu and Wang Rui. Maybe a positive life was coming towards me, and I was confident that I could approach and embrace it.

This time I looked at her and answered, "Pei Shiyu!"

She was stunned by my answer. Maybe this answer surprised her and was hard to understand. After a moment, she seemed to understand what I meant. After being with her, I sometimes seemed willing to express some thoughts. Like now, I started to say, "Now the friends around me are very clean, like you and Wang Rui. You are my mental power bank, and Wang Rui is my psychological mentor. Maybe friendship and love are different. Whenever I have confusion, I will talk to her first. She has studied psychology, so she can quickly relieve and heal."

Pei Shiyu kept looking at me. I couldn't guess what she was thinking at this moment, but her eyes showed surprise and joy. Maybe it was the most high-level thing I'd said to her since I met her. Perhaps in her heart, the impression she had of me was that I wouldn't say such delicate things.

She didn't answer and gently pushed the plate in front of her away, as if telling me that she was done eating. I observed that she didn't eat much, only a few vegetables. I finished off the seafood dishes that were ordered.

"Didn't you like to eat fish and shrimp last time?" I asked curiously.

"Appetites can change at any time. Today I like to eat vegetarian food."

"Your personality is the same. Sometimes I feel like you're very gentle, and sometimes I feel like it's hard to talk to you. Which one do you think is you?"

"It's all me. Have you ever seen a woman who doesn't change?"

"Of course there are. You're the most unpredictable. I wanted to give up on chasing you when I was abroad."

Pei Shiyu smiled rarely, then stood up and said, "Let's go."