Just as he was about to reach out and pull the drawer open, the office door was knocked, and Assistant Zhang’s voice sounded, “Mr. Han…”

Han Jingnian stopped his movement and calmly said, “Come in.”

Assistant Zhang pushed the door open and handed the phone to Han Jingnian with a mixture of reluctance and pain. “Mr. Han, your phone.”

Han Jingnian gave a sideways glance at the empty space on the desk, gesturing for him to place it there.

With a heavy heart and a sense of loss, Assistant Zhang reluctantly put the phone down on the desk and asked, “Mr. Han, there’s a dinner at the BJ Grand Hotel at 6 o’clock tonight. Should you leave now, or do you prefer to go a bit later?”

Han Jingnian glanced at the time, intending to suggest waiting a bit longer. However, as the words were about to leave his mouth, he suddenly changed his mind. “You go ahead; I won’t be attending.”

Assistant Zhang had an inkling that there might be some juicy gossip, but after tasting the bitterness of the previous “gossip,” he didn’t dare to dive into another one. “Alright, Mr. Han.”

Han Jingnian didn’t say anything more, but his expression clearly conveyed, “Report if you have something important; otherwise, get lost.”

Assistant Zhang hastily retreated with his phone.

As soon as the office door closed, Han Jingnian seemed to run out of patience. He quickly picked up Assistant Zhang’s phone and opened WeChat.

Staring at the animated rabbit emoji sent by Xia Wan’an to Assistant Zhang, he hesitated for a while. Then, with a mixture of reluctance and disdain, he put himself in Assistant Zhang’s shoes and replied, “Hello, Madam.”

Three minutes later, his phone chimed.

Busy processing emails on his computer, Han Jingnian immediately grabbed his phone.

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Hello, Assistant Zhang~”

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Assistant Zhang, why did you suddenly add me on WeChat? Is there something you need?”

Han Jingnian instinctively typed a simple “No.” However, just before hitting send, he realized that he should mimic Zhang Cheng’s communication style. So, he changed his response to match Zhang Cheng’s tone: “Nothing, Madam.”

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Oh.”

Han Jingnian stared at the screen, his fingertips hovering for a long while. Eventually, he sent another message, “Madam, Mr. Han added you on WeChat this morning. Why haven’t you accepted his request?”

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Oh.”

Oh? What did that mean? Han Jingnian scrutinized the word on the screen for a while, then sent another message, “Madam, Mr. Han might have something to discuss with you.”

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Oh.”

Han Jingnian furrowed his brow deeper. Undeterred, he continued typing.

“Madam, you’ve added me on WeChat but not Mr. Han. This makes me feel… uneasy.” He originally wanted to use “awkward,” but he remembered that Zhang Cheng often used “uneasy” instead. Zhang Cheng had told him that “uneasy” was a synonym for “awkward.”

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “Oh.”

Han Jingnian’s brow furrowed even more. He stared at the screen, lips pursed into a thin line. Just as he was contemplating how to respond, a new message appeared on the screen.

The Most Beautiful Wan’an: “How about I delete you? That way, you won’t feel uneasy anymore…”

Han Jingnian: “…”

Han Jingnian typed, “Then I’ll keep feeling uneasy.”

Xia Wan’an didn’t respond to the messages.

Han Jingnian stared at the screen for a while, then clicked on her profile picture—a cute female Q version character lying in bed with a chubby face, sleeping soundly with a big bubble popping out of her nose. The whole picture was cute and adorable, and through the lovable character, one could vaguely discern her appearance.

Han Jingnian became somewhat engrossed in the image, to the extent that he accidentally tapped on the profile picture and entered Xia Wan’an’s WeChat profile without even realizing it.

When he snapped back to reality, he looked down and saw Xia Wan’an’s personalized signature below her profile picture: “Your casual smile has become my emoji.”

Han Jingnian: “…”

It seemed that she was quite different from the image he had in his mind.

—

After leaving Assistant Zhang’s chat, Xia Wan’an couldn’t help but tap on the new friend in her WeChat contacts, “Han Jingnian.”

She stared at the friend request for a moment, thinking about what he had done to her last night. She pursed her lips firmly and, in the end, acted as if she hadn’t seen anything, closing the WeChat app.

It was almost time to get off work. Xia Wan’an tidied up her things and called a car to go to the Han family’s old residence.

Every Monday, she had to go to the Han family’s old residence for dinner. It was a rule set by Han Jingnian’s grandmother. On Mondays, no matter how busy the family members were, they had to gather for a reunion dinner.

However, this so-called reunion dinner was often far from being a real reunion, as the chances of Han Jingnian attending were extremely low. In the two years since she married him, she had only seen him three times at Monday dinners. Two of those times happened when his grandmother was unwell, and he was forced to stay.

As the daughter-in-law, she had no support from her husband and no one to back her up, so she couldn’t afford to be as casual as him. She had to attend these dinners whether she wanted to or not.

As Xia Wan’an stepped out of the office building, she saw her car waiting by the side of the road. Mondays usually meant heavy traffic, and what would normally take twenty minutes took a full fifty minutes today to reach the Han family’s old residence.

Upon arrival, Xia Wan’an noticed Lu Yangui, who was trimming the flowers and plants in the garden with a maid.

Lu Yangui was Han Jingnian’s elder sister and Han Zhijin’s mother. Despite being fifty-five years old, time had left very few marks on her. She looked like someone in her thirties.

Lu Yangui had a very good temperament, always speaking in a calm and gentle tone. Her standard reaction when meeting someone was to give a warm smile, making people feel very comfortable around her.

Xia Wan’an had known Lu Yangui for many years since her friendship with Han Zhijin, so after she married Han Jingnian, she struggled with the transition from addressing her as “Aunt Han” to “Elder Sister.” She had accidentally slipped up quite a few times.

Approaching her, Xia Wan’an greeted, “Elder Sister.”

Hearing Xia Wan’an’s voice, Lu Yangui immediately set down the scissors and greeted her with a warm smile before instructing the maid to move the orchids to the study. She then entered the house with Xia Wan’an.

“Grandma Gang was thinking you would normally have already arrived by this time. Why haven’t you today?”

“I’m not sure what happened, but the road was exceptionally congested today.”

“…”

Just as they entered, grandmother received news of Xia Wan’an’s arrival and came out of her room.

Grandmother was very fond of Xia Wan’an. Although they hadn’t seen each other in a week, as soon as they met, she bombarded Xia Wan’an with questions. “An’an, how have you been lately? Is your work going well? Is there anything wrong with your health?”

“Grandmother, I’m doing well, work is good, and I’m very healthy…” Xia Wan’an replied to her grandmother, and she was about to ask her how she was doing, but just as the words were about to leave her mouth, the elevator not far behind them made a “ding” sound.

“Is Zhijin coming back?” Grandmother said, looking toward the elevator.

“Most likely Zhijin,” Lu Yangui added.

Xia Wan’an didn’t say anything. She looked toward the elevator with them.