As she pushed open the door, a teenage girl could be seen laying in bed. The girl’s pale face, as white as the bedsheets, gave her a pitiful look, but she looked rather energized at the moment. She even smiled when she saw Mo coming. “Sister, you’re here.”

Mo put aside the melancholy she felt earlier and returned a sunny smile. “Yes. I made millet porridge today!” She whispered next to the girl’s ear, “I put some shrimp sauce in the egg.”

With Mo’s words, the girl gave another weak smile. Mo busied herself with putting the porridge in a bowl, and feeding the girl pieces of the egg. The two looked at each other, occasionally exchanging a smile. The scene felt warm, yet a sense of sadness couldn’t be missed as the girl quietly chewed her breakfast.

“Listen to the doctor. I’ll see you this afternoon.”

“OK. Don’t worry about me, go to work.”

“Little Rou...” Mo didn’t say more as she dragged herself out of the hospital room.

In her 20-plus years of life so far, she’s heard so many people complain about an unfair world. Mo also wanted to ask the same thing. Overnight, their father left them. Their mom became inconsolable and cared about nothing after their father’s death, meanwhile, her adorable younger sister was diagnosed with leukemia, the most cliche of illnesses as seen in books and movies..

Mo had more right to call the world unfair than many people, she also wanted to complain and blame the world. How come Jiang Hao could enjoy all of life’s privileges and happiness, while all they did was suffer?

If complaining did anything, would she really need to suffer and persevere for all of these years? Fair or unfair, it wasn’t up to them to judge; if it was truly unfair, they wouldn’t even have a voice to complain.

This is why she has worked toward a goal for the past two decades. If the world wasn’t fair, then she’d make things fair; she’d make the people who enjoyed other people’s labor pay the price!

Little Rou, things would get easier, they would.

After leaving the hospital, she got on a bus to her workplace. She knew the schedule down to the minute, so she could get on a bus the minute she left and wouldn’t need to wait. Many things became more efficient when they were a habit, and that was how life became more routine, even if she sometimes despised routine.

When Mo got to work, there was a big bouquet of flowers on her desk as usual. This time, the flowers were roses and not lilies.

“Hey Zhang, didn’t I already tell you? Don’t waste your money, if you don’t have places to spend it, just give me a red envelope, don’t bother donating money to the flower shop.”

“Mo, you’re mistaken this time. These flowers are not from Zhang. See?” The most gossipy person in their Planning department, Zhang Panpan, walked over and volunteered the information, motioning that there was a card with the flowers.

Mo picked up the card with doubt; five words were written in a striking style: See you at the villa tonight. It was from Hao.

Mo felt even more confused after reading the card. Hao was a cold person, always hiding his emotions at the deepest level and untouchable. He was not the type to send flowers, yet, the roses were right on her desk.

She couldn’t figure out why Hao would do this. Hopefully it wasn’t something she should worry about.

“So who was it? Do you have a new guy? Our Shen Mo is quite the G.o.ddess. Hey Zhang, I think you’re out of the running. There’s ninety-nine roses here, this guy is quite the spender.”

Before Panpan could comment more, Cheng Xiaoya walked in with her bag. “Panpan, do you feel like getting your hair pulled again?”

Panpan walked quietly back to her desk after Xiaoya’s warning, making Mo chuckle.

Panpan wasn’t a mean person, just a bit gossipy. After last time, when Xiaoya pulled her hair and made her cry, she has stopped being so outrageous in front of Xiaoya, and even avoided the woman whenever she could.

“You shouldn’t let her gossip so much. You have to show her you mean it, or she’d keep talking about you!” Xiaoya threw down her bag, showing her dissatisfaction about Mo.

“It’s alright. Even if I shut her up, there’ll be another Zhang Panpan.”

“People like her, who always insult other people with words, are the lowest, she deserves to get a taste of her own medicine.”

“Forget it. Let’s work.”

What is friends.h.i.+p? Mo has once read a quote about friends.h.i.+p: the word friend is an acc.u.mulation of months and days. She was very lucky that Xiaoya has been by her side all this time. After everything that’s happened, her friend has still stayed true, and sometimes made her feel as if she was closer than family.

“Can I have dinner at your place today?”

“Sorry, no.”

“Date with him?”

“Hm.”

“I’ll go see Little Rou after work.”

“Great.”

“Mo, I know you don’t need me to tell you, but Jiang Hao is not a simple person.”

“I know I know, don’t worry so much. I know what to do. Just take care of Little Rou for me. She’s tried to look happy recently, but I can tell she lacks energy. Please make sure she eats.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“Thank you.”