上海安全生产监督局

Chapter 13

Seeing the smile on her face, Shen Nian also hooked the corners of her lips: "Sure."

"Hee hee, thank you Sister Nian." Jiang Lingling happily shook her head.

Shen Nian lowered her head to eat, accidentally touching the wound on her lips. She sucked in a breath at the pain.

She covered her lips. The injury on them would probably take two or three days to heal.

"Pff—"

Hearing laughter, Shen Nian looked up to see Jiang Lingling giggling to herself.

"...What\'s so funny?"

Jiang Lingling looked at her, eyes curving: "Sister Nian, you have a boyfriend now."

Shen Nian was startled, denying it a second later: "I don\'t."

"Sister Nian, you\'re lying. I\'ve been staring all morning. Your lips must have been bitten by your boyfriend."

Having said that, Jiang Lingling pointed at her mouth.

"..." Biting her lip, Shen Nian didn\'t know how to respond for a moment.

Just as she was about to explain that she had accidentally bitten herself, Jiang Lingling waved her hand indifferently across from her.

"But it doesn\'t matter. Today is Singles\' Day anyway, so all the couples are out there torturing us singles. I\'m already numb to it."

"Singles\' Day?"

"Yeah." Jiang Lingling blinked. "Sister Nian, you don\'t know? Today is May 20th, 520. When I got up this morning and checked Moments, I saw so many people showing off gifts, red packets, and their lovey-dovey relationships."

Is that so? If not for Jiang Lingling\'s reminder, she wouldn\'t have noticed it was almost June.

"I didn\'t notice." Shen Nian took back the fleeting strangeness in her eyes and explained.

Jiang Lingling took a bite of her food. "Sister Nian, what will your boyfriend give you? Flowers or a ring? Sister Nian, you\'re so outstanding and hardworking that your boyfriend must want to hurry up and marry you back home, right?"

"Stop talking nonsense." Shen Nian whispered.

She lowered her head to look at the chopsticks in her hand.

A ring...she would never wear one in her life again.

Realizing Shen Nian had become unhappy, Jiang Lingling quietly closed her mouth.

[...]

At 6 o\'clock sharp when she got off work, Shen Nian bid farewell to her colleagues and stood by the roadside, taking out her phone to call a taxi home.

Just as she was about to open her ride-hailing app, a message popped up.

[Come to the street corner.]

It was a text from Xiao Mubai.

The street corner...

Shen Nian looked in a certain direction, considered it, and then walked over.

After walking for about three minutes she arrived at the street corner Xiao Mubai mentioned. A familiar car was parked at the roadside.

Shen Nian was surprised and quickened her pace, pulling open the passenger door to get in.

"What are you doing here?" Shen Nian asked.

Xiao Mubai had one hand resting lazily on the steering wheel, tapping it absently. Seeing Shen Nian arrive, he smiled slightly, then turned to grab the flowers on the back seat and handed them to her. "Happy birthday."

Seeing the sunflower bouquet in front of her, Shen Nian\'s eyes flashed with pleasant surprise. "I didn\'t expect you to remember."

"Of course." Xiao Mubai laughed. "How could I forget your birthday?"

He nodded at the flowers. "I remember you\'ve always really liked sunflowers. I didn\'t buy the wrong ones, did I?"

"No." Shen Nian took the flowers, a rare smile appearing on her face as she stroked the sunflowers. She asked him, "It\'s impossible to have sunflowers at this time of year. Where did you manage to buy them?"

"You\'re right. To get this bouquet of sunflowers, I almost went around every flower shop big and small in the capital. One shop owner asked why I was so insistent on buying sunflowers. When I said they were for a girl, he looked at me like I was crazy."

It was probably the first time the owner had heard of someone giving sunflowers to a girl.

Why give sunflowers? To snack on the seeds?

"But as long as you like them, that\'s all that matters." No matter how many flower shops he had to scour, it was worth it to see her happy.

Shen Nian looked at the sunflowers in her arms, smiling brightly. "Thank you, I really like them."

Seeing that she genuinely liked them, Xiao Mubai finally breathed a sigh of relief. Remembering something, he reached behind the seat again for a paper bag. "Here, this is your birthday present."

"A present?"

"Mm. See if you like it?"

With one arm holding the sunflowers, Shen Nian freed her other hand to take out the box from the paper bag and open it. Inside was a white dress, simple yet clean.

She turned to look at Xiao Mubai.

"I remember when I first met you, you were wearing a white dress. I thought the color really suited you."

Xiao Mubai explained, then indicated her business attire. "It\'s your birthday today so dress prettier."

Her favorite sunflowers, her favorite white dress.

It was obvious he had put thought into this.

"Thank you, I really like them."

Hearing Shen Nian say this, Xiao Mubai finally relaxed completely. "It\'s your birthday today. Can I take you out for a meal?"

Shen Nian burst out laughing. "Sure, since someone\'s treating I\'ll be happy to bleed them dry."

After fastening her seatbelt, Xiao Mubai started the car and drove away.

He first took her to a clothing store so she could change, then brought her to a certain place for dinner.

Knowing Shen Nian didn\'t like noisy environments, Xiao Mubai had booked a private room.

Since it was just the two of them, he didn\'t order many dishes—four simple ones along with soup, and a six-inch pink cake in the middle.

Although simple, it had a homely feel.

"This restaurant\'s home cooking is pretty good. Want to try it?"

Shen Nian picked up her chopsticks and took a bite.

"How is it?" Xiao Mubai watched her.

She paused, then chewed and swallowed the food in her mouth. "Not bad," she murmured.

Hearing Shen Nian\'s reply, Xiao Mubai revealed a smile.

Her nose felt a little sour. She tilted her head slightly, closing her eyes to compose herself before looking back at Xiao Mubai with a smile. "Thank you for the flowers, the dress, the birthday cake and the dishes you made."

Caught out, Xiao Mubai\'s expression grew awkward as he continued bluffing, "What dishes I made? You\'ve got it wrong."

Shen Nian held back laughter. "Mr. Xiao, your acting skills are decent, but your cooking has given you away."

She lightly tapped the edge of that previously mentioned dish with one end of her chopsticks. "A restaurant this big would probably have gone out of business long ago if they hired a chef who doesn\'t even know how much salt to put in."

Hearing this, Xiao Mubai immediately picked up his chopsticks and took a bite of the dish.

It was a little salty...

He frowned slightly.

He had prepared so meticulously for so long, yet oversights still occurred.

"But I really like it. Truly." Shen Nian looked at him earnestly. "Thank you for the thought you put into this."

Thank you for cherishing me like this.

"Cough..." Caught out, Xiao Mubai grew somewhat embarrassed. His gaze landed on the cake as he hastily changed the subject, "It\'s my first time cooking so my skills are limited, but I bought the cake myself and guarantee it tastes fine! Shall we make a wish first?"

"Sure."

Xiao Mubai pulled the cake over, stuck a candle in it and lit it.