Chapter 29 Part 1 Zhou Tingsheng didn’t touch the plate of crab meat . He had a hunch that loomed behind the back of his head that he would regret not eating . But at the moment, his heart was heavy like cloud and fog covering a hill . In the best season for savoring crabs, neither were in the mood to enjoy them; they hardly talked throughout the meal . Ye Qiao retrieved her cell phone and on the way back, tried to compose a message . Her mind, occupied by other things, seemed to find it difficult in writing a simple, proper greeting . After writing and deleting several times, she finally sent a message to Wen Shaoqian before arriving at their apartment . The awkwardness was still there . They went in the elevator together . The enclosed s.p.a.ce made the awkwardness even more unbearable . Ye Qiao spoke first: “It’s going to be National Day holiday soon . Do you have any plans?” One of them had no holiday to speak of, while everyday was a holiday for the other . Any official national holiday didn’t actually have much significance to either of them . It was obvious that Ye Qiao was trying to start a conversation . But Zhou Tingsheng didn’t seem particularly happy about it, only answering in a flat voice: “I’ll be very busy later on . ” “Even during the National Day holiday?” “That’s right . ” They reached the 23rd floor in less than half a minute . The moment the elevator door opened, Ye Qiao turned around, about to say something . Zhou Tingsheng on the other hand walked out of the door straight towards 2302 . When he opened his door and walked in, his back was swallowed by the darkness behind the door . Ye Qiao instinctively felt that something had drifted away . She was surprised that she even felt such loss . She took a hot shower to wash away the smell of spicy crabs . Though she had put on plastic gloves to peel the crabs and wiped afterwards with a napkin, the smell of crab lingered on her fingers even after the hot shower . The smell was still alluring but it was a savory taste that she couldn’t get back . There were too many emotions that weren’t easily dispelled . Wen Shaoqian happened to reply to her message when she just finished drying her hair . Ye Qiao couldn’t find anyone else to confide with and very naturally treated him purely as a psychiatrist: “Will you be together with someone who you’ve fooled around with?” Wen Shaoqian’s reply came quickly: “What kind of fooling around?” Ye Qiao was never afraid of seeing a doctor and was especially frank in front of them: “The physical kind . ” Wen Shaoqian wanted to confirm it: “One night stand?” Ye Qiao was unperturbed: “Something like that . ” But it wasn’t exactly like that . She tried to carefully remember everything and found the relations.h.i.+p between her and Zhou Tingsheng seemed to be deeper, more like lovers . Yet, they were just supposed to be friends with benefits . Wen Shaoqian: “Is this going to be a psychiatric consultation or a background investigation?” Ye Qiao felt she had to make it clear to him: “Psychiatric consultation and will always be in the future . ” Wen Shaoqian briefly answered: “Understood . ” Then he continued with his questions: “So, you’ve taken a fancy to your f.u.c.k-buddy?” “I’m surprised that you know the term in Chinese . I thought you were going to drop an English word there . ” Just by reading her words, he could tell she was laughing . Then she explained: “Not exactly . I just want to know how a normal person would think in this kind of situation?” She thought it would be a hard question to answer, but Wen Shaoqian continued without a pause: “There can be several scenarios . But in general, this is a common occurrence . The men or women in the world never know whom they might meet in the next second . Maybe the person sleeping next to you is the one who’s the right person for you . The only drawback in this kind of situation is that it’s hard to establish mutual trust mechanisms like normal loves . It’s easy to have suspicions about the disloyalty of the other or negative expectation on the partner . In many cases, since the two people are together under these special circ.u.mstances, it’s more than likely that the suspicions will come true . He sounded like he was giving a professional speech about modern day relations.h.i.+ps between men and women . Ye Qiao teased: “Is this from your personal experience?” “This is a professional psychiatric consultation,” was the reply .

Chapter 29 Part 1 Zhou Tingsheng didn’t touch the plate of crab meat . He had a hunch that loomed behind the back of his head that he would regret not eating . But at the moment, his heart was heavy like cloud and fog covering a hill . In the best season for savoring crabs, neither were in the mood to enjoy them; they hardly talked throughout the meal . Ye Qiao retrieved her cell phone and on the way back, tried to compose a message . Her mind, occupied by other things, seemed to find it difficult in writing a simple, proper greeting . After writing and deleting several times, she finally sent a message to Wen Shaoqian before arriving at their apartment . The awkwardness was still there . They went in the elevator together . The enclosed s.p.a.ce made the awkwardness even more unbearable . Ye Qiao spoke first: “It’s going to be National Day holiday soon . Do you have any plans?” One of them had no holiday to speak of, while everyday was a holiday for the other . Any official national holiday didn’t actually have much significance to either of them . It was obvious that Ye Qiao was trying to start a conversation . But Zhou Tingsheng didn’t seem particularly happy about it, only answering in a flat voice: “I’ll be very busy later on . ” “Even during the National Day holiday?” “That’s right . ” They reached the 23rd floor in less than half a minute . The moment the elevator door opened, Ye Qiao turned around, about to say something . Zhou Tingsheng on the other hand walked out of the door straight towards 2302 . When he opened his door and walked in, his back was swallowed by the darkness behind the door . Ye Qiao instinctively felt that something had drifted away . She was surprised that she even felt such loss . She took a hot shower to wash away the smell of spicy crabs . Though she had put on plastic gloves to peel the crabs and wiped afterwards with a napkin, the smell of crab lingered on her fingers even after the hot shower . The smell was still alluring but it was a savory taste that she couldn’t get back . There were too many emotions that weren’t easily dispelled . Wen Shaoqian happened to reply to her message when she just finished drying her hair . Ye Qiao couldn’t find anyone else to confide with and very naturally treated him purely as a psychiatrist: “Will you be together with someone who you’ve fooled around with?” Wen Shaoqian’s reply came quickly: “What kind of fooling around?” Ye Qiao was never afraid of seeing a doctor and was especially frank in front of them: “The physical kind . ” Wen Shaoqian wanted to confirm it: “One night stand?” Ye Qiao was unperturbed: “Something like that . ” But it wasn’t exactly like that . She tried to carefully remember everything and found the relations.h.i.+p between her and Zhou Tingsheng seemed to be deeper, more like lovers . Yet, they were just supposed to be friends with benefits . Wen Shaoqian: “Is this going to be a psychiatric consultation or a background investigation?” Ye Qiao felt she had to make it clear to him: “Psychiatric consultation and will always be in the future . ” Wen Shaoqian briefly answered: “Understood . ” Then he continued with his questions: “So, you’ve taken a fancy to your f.u.c.k-buddy?” “I’m surprised that you know the term in Chinese . I thought you were going to drop an English word there . ” Just by reading her words, he could tell she was laughing . Then she explained: “Not exactly . I just want to know how a normal person would think in this kind of situation?” She thought it would be a hard question to answer, but Wen Shaoqian continued without a pause: “There can be several scenarios . But in general, this is a common occurrence . The men or women in the world never know whom they might meet in the next second . Maybe the person sleeping next to you is the one who’s the right person for you . The only drawback in this kind of situation is that it’s hard to establish mutual trust mechanisms like normal loves . It’s easy to have suspicions about the disloyalty of the other or negative expectation on the partner . In many cases, since the two people are together under these special circ.u.mstances, it’s more than likely that the suspicions will come true . He sounded like he was giving a professional speech about modern day relations.h.i.+ps between men and women . Ye Qiao teased: “Is this from your personal experience?” “This is a professional psychiatric consultation,” was the reply