In a spacious 180-square-meter apartment within the C City Unit Welfare Housing Community, only the study room held any activity.
Zhou Ren, Ren Yu's father, sat in the study, perusing a newspaper. He circled certain news items with a black ballpoint pen.
He then looked up, rubbing his neck. The red landline phone to the upper left of his desk rang.
Zhou Ren pressed the speakerphone button. Soon, his elder brother Zhou Jun's voice came through.
"Zhou Ren, have you seen Weibo?"
Hearing Zhou Jun's boisterous voice, Zhou Ren's expression darkened slightly, his lips pressed together.
"What is it?"
"What is it? It's about your son's lifelong commitment! Do you know that young girl, Liu Chen? The one I mentioned before, the one Ren Yu brought to my market to buy a shop?"
Zhou Ren's eyelids drooped slightly. He glanced at the photos under the newspaper, one of which showed Liu Chen and Ren Yu walking together in a Beijing supermarket.
"Yes."
"Yes, yes what! That child has publicly declared her relationship with Ren Yu on Weibo! Do you know how many fans she has? Hundreds of thousands! So now, hundreds of thousands of people know Ren Yu is dating her!
With this public announcement, how will Ren Yu break up with her in the future? Huh? I had originally thought about introducing Ren Yu to the younger daughter of someone influential, as she's close in age. Now, it's ruined!"
The anger in Zhou Jun's voice on the other end of the line was almost palpable through the phone's microphone. Zhou Ren, however, remained calm.
"Young people, they should date freely, there's no issue with that."
"Ah! I know, I know. Ah Ren, you feel you were wronged when you were asked to pursue Yuan Ying back then, but think about it, if Yuan Ying hadn't invested heavily in the initial years, using her money and connections to pave the way for you, where would you be today?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ren, who had been placid, frowned.
"What happened back then is what happened back then. Besides, I've already divorced Yuan Ying. These years, every step I've taken has been on my own merits."
"Yes, yes, yes, you've relied on yourself. But outsiders don't see it that way. Forget it, we're getting sidetracked. Regarding Ren Yu, remember to give him a reminder. With his current status and net worth, he should find a more supportive partner."
Hearing this, Zhou Ren closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
"Mmm."
-
Liu Chen was sitting in the living room. Her phone had already crashed multiple times due to the sheer volume of Weibo private messages and mentions, so she'd stopped checking it altogether. She could guess the comments anyway.
Meanwhile, Mi Zhuzhu, Ren Mo, and the other two were going wild in their QQ group chat.
Lai Jielun: WTF?
Mi Zhuzhu: OMG OMG OMG?
Ren Mo: Am I crazy, or is this world for the insane? How are Sister Chen and my brother together???
Sang Ling: Liu Chen, you're amazing, you've captured my idol.
Liu Chen: Everyone calm down, Ren Yu is at the Chen family's old house right now.
Mi Zhuzhu: I can't calm down! My scream just attracted my dad. I told him you and Brother Ren Yu are a couple, and he said it's a powerful alliance.
Lai Jielun: Thinking calmly, Brother Ren Yu really is a good match for Sister Liu. After all, Brother Ren Yu is also super human.
Ren Mo: Holy crap, thinking about it from another angle, with Sister Chen on board, why should I be afraid of my brother anymore?!
Sang Ling: Calm down. If you get too excited, you'll likely face a mixed doubles beatdown.
Liu Chen looked at the messages in the QQ group, a smile spreading across her face.
"Mmm, Sang Ling is right about that."
Ren Yu's voice came from above her, followed by a warm breath brushing past her ear.
Liu Chen pressed the power button on her phone and turned to face Ren Yu, who had emerged from behind the sofa holding a cup of coffee.
"Peeking at someone's phone isn't a good habit."
He placed the coffee cup on the coffee table and sank lazily into the sofa. Turning his head towards Liu Chen, he smiled.
"My phone is yours. The password is your birthday. You don't need to peek; my phone is always open to you."
Liu Chen's gaze fell on the black, ultra-thin Nokia being offered by his fair, slender fingers. She felt a pang of emotion, not because she wanted to check anything.
When you care about someone, you want to understand them – their past, their present, what they're thinking.
And in modern society, the quickest way to understand what someone is thinking is undoubtedly by looking through their phone.
Just as Liu Chen was about to reach for the Nokia, it vibrated. The screen displayed: Incoming call from Zhou Ren.
"It's your dad."
Liu Chen blurted out almost instinctively, then turned her head away. She didn't see how tightly Ren Yu clenched the Nokia in his palm, his knuckles white with strain.
"It's okay. I told you, you can know everything about me."
With that, Ren Yu answered the call and put it on speakerphone.
"Ren Yu."
"Mmm," Ren Yu softly responded, acknowledging his father's greeting.
"Tell Liu Chen to delete that Weibo post."
Hearing this, Ren Yu first looked at Liu Chen sitting beside him. Seeing her calm reaction, he felt a mix of disappointment that she didn't seem to care about him as much as he cared about her, and relief that she wasn't misunderstanding him because of his father.
Torn between these emotions, Ren Yu's voice became more resolute towards his father on the phone. "No."
Zhou Ren hadn't expected Ren Yu to refuse so directly, without even offering an excuse.
"You're a man, you shouldn't compromise for a woman," Zhou Ren chastised on the phone, sounding disappointed.
Liu Chen, hearing this, looked at Ren Yu, smiled, and raised an eyebrow. She then crossed her arms and leaned back against the sofa.
"It's me who wants Chen Chen to give me a proper status. You don't know how many people are watching Chen Chen."
Zhou Ren on the other end of the line fell silent. Liu Chen figured he was too enraged by his son's words to speak.
Indeed, after a moment of silence, Zhou Ren hung up the phone, seemingly too exasperated to continue the conversation.
Liu Chen looked at Ren Yu, spread her hands in a shrug, and chuckled. "It seems your dad is too angry with your love-struck brain to talk. Why don't you explain it to him?"
Ren Yu shook his head. "Let him be. Besides, we are a couple. You've already posted on Weibo to confirm it, so what's there to explain?"
Jiang Di, who had just heard the whole story from her mother and second aunt, took a deep breath and spun around 180 degrees.
Muttering, "It's all fake, it's all fake!"