Middle-aged Love Patch

Xu Youyuan returned from the restroom to find Little Cha on the phone—Cang Lu wouldn’t be able to make it after all.

"Ms. Xu, Chief Lu asked me to apologize to you. Something urgent came up, and she can’t get away right now," Little Cha said carefully. "She said you should all go ahead and chat, and she’ll treat everyone to dinner next time to make up for it."

Xu Youyuan waved it off. "It’s fine. If she can’t come, we’ll just get to know each other better."

She asked everyone to share their past projects and specialties, framing it as casual conversation, though it was really a way to assess the team she’d soon be leading.

Then she asked if any of them had been in relationships. At first, no one answered, so Xu Youyuan broke the ice with some humorous anecdotes about her own past romances, joking about how she was now single and how Cang Lu had probably assigned so many young people to the team because she was worried Xu Youyuan had forgotten what love even felt like.

The group of industry newcomers, initially starstruck and nervous in the presence of a legend, quickly relaxed when they realized she wasn’t at all like the stern figure they’d seen in interviews. She was warm, approachable, and funny.

The atmosphere lightened, and soon they were all chatting freely—talking about their expertise, sharing thoughts on the project, and even swapping dating stories.

Little Cha, taking notes, chuckled to herself as she recorded the discussion.

Then, abruptly, the private room’s door slid open. Little Cha assumed it was a server bringing food—but instead, a strange man stood there.

"Goddess! Wow, long time no see! Never thought I’d run into you here!" Liu Feng, arms laden with items, immediately moved to drape an arm around Xu Youyuan. "When I heard you were here, I thought, ‘No way, the Goddess would never stoop to a place like this.’ But here you are!"

Xu Youyuan stood up swiftly, sidestepping his embrace.

Unfazed, Liu Feng topped up a glass of liquor. "It’s been, what, four years? Four years since I left SQUALL! Time flies, huh? I’ve been meaning to visit you, but you’re always so busy. And yet, fate brings us together here!"

Several others filed in behind him, each holding a drink. Liu Feng introduced them one by name—some from the old "Rebuilding the Universe" project team, developers, operations staff.

"And this one—you remember Little Jiang, right? My junior, the one I recommended as a planner? You shot down every single one of his drafts back then. Poor kid worked himself to the bone, even got pneumonia but didn’t dare take a day off. But look at him now—lead planner! That hit game recently? ‘AI Hunt’? That was his."

A girl beside Little Cha chimed in, "Oh, I know that one. The shooter where you gun down robots."

Liu Feng grinned. "Blow their heads off one by one. Satisfying, right?"

The girl forced an awkward smile.

Xu Youyuan remained silent, letting Liu Feng ramble, her expression unreadable.

Liu Feng nudged Little Jiang forward. "You think you got where you are on your own? Making 60K a month? Without the Goddess’s ‘guidance,’ you’d be nothing. Show some gratitude!"

Little Jiang beamed, eyes nearly disappearing. "Absolutely, Ms. Xu. I’ve never forgotten your… kindness. I’ve been waiting for a chance to repay you. Didn’t bring a gift today, but a toast will have to do. Here’s to you!"

He thrust the glass toward Xu Youyuan with both hands.

Little Cha stood to intercept, but Liu Feng shoved her aside, nearly knocking her over.

Liu Feng grabbed Xu Youyuan’s half-finished juice glass, dumped it out, and filled it with liquor, shoving it under her nose. "Come on, don’t be shy! This isn’t like you. When you kicked me out of SQUALL, you didn’t hesitate!"

The newcomers huddled together like frightened mice, unsure what to do.

"Ah, don’t get the wrong idea," Liu Feng said, waving a hand. "I’m not here to cause trouble. Honestly, I’m grateful. If you hadn’t driven us out, we wouldn’t have pushed ourselves to where we are now. Our monthly revenue? Eight digits. And the companies we work with—well, I won’t name them, or you’ll think I’m bragging."

He sighed dramatically, eyes glistening under the overhead light. "Life’s funny, isn’t it? Back then, getting fired felt like the end of the world. But look at us now—better off without the big corporate leash. And you? Well…"

His gaze swept over the table of wide-eyed, bewildered youngsters. Shaking his head, he leaned in and whispered to Xu Youyuan,

"If you’re in trouble, just say the word. Need funding for a new project? That whole ‘vehicle incident’—what really happened? Let me give you some advice: what’s yours is yours. What isn’t? Don’t grab for it. Money’s great, but earn it fair and square. Lucky for you, your old bosses were sentimental enough to cover for you. Could’ve been prison. And trust me, you wouldn’t last a day in there."

For a brief, naive moment, Little Cha had thought Liu Feng’s group had come to express genuine gratitude. Now it was clear—this was pure humiliation.

She glanced worriedly at Xu Youyuan. Rumors said the legendary designer had a temper. What if she snapped? Little Cha sized up the situation: four men, four women on their side, plus one hanging back. They were outnumbered. Their own team had only two scrawny guys—Liu Feng alone could flatten them. If things turned violent, they’d be crushed.

Little Cha discreetly pulled out her phone, ready to call the police.

As she glanced down at the screen, movement caught her eye—Xu Youyuan’s hand lifting the glass.

She looked up just in time to see Xu Youyuan drain it in one go.

"Thanks," Xu Youyuan said.

…

Later, Cang Lu called Little Cha to ask how lunch had gone. Xu Youyuan wasn’t answering her phone.

Little Cha hesitated, saying it had been "fine," but Cang Lu pressed until the whole story spilled out.

Cang Lu never expected someone could be so bored as to ask where Xu Youyuan went afterward. Little Cha said she didn’t know either:

"After that group left, we couldn’t keep discussing anything. There was a whole table of dishes barely touched when Sister Xu said she had to go. I offered to walk her home, but she just smiled and said it was fine, that we’d meet another day."

Cang Lu tried calling her phone, but no one answered. Worried but unable to leave, she called Shi Ye and asked her to check on Xu Youyuan at home, giving her the exact address.

Everyone knew Sister Bird wasn’t the fragile type—she’d weathered too many storms for mere mockery to shake her. But there was always that slim chance. Xu Youyuan lived alone, and if something really did happen, there’d be no one to talk sense into her or stop her.

Shi Ye rushed out, only remembering once she reached the parking lot that her car was in the shop. At this hour, it was nearly impossible to hail a cab or book a ride near home.

As she walked, she called Shi Yue and asked where she was and if she was free. Even though it was past work hours, Shi Yue was usually still busy, so she figured it was a long shot.

To her surprise, Shi Yue told her to send her location and promised to arrive in twenty minutes.

After sharing her location, Shi Ye could see Shi Yue’s position—still eighteen kilometers away. During rush hour, twenty minutes was impossible.

Little Teddy happened to be on her way to deliver documents to Shi Yue when she ran into her boss in the hallway.

"Hey, Boss!" Little Teddy watched as Shi Yue strode briskly, slipping on her coat as she walked. The billowing fabric carried a familiar perfume scent.

Wasn’t that the new K-brand fragrance she’d sampled at the mall last week? The oakwood note was unique and pleasant, but too expensive and unisex for her taste, so she hadn’t bought it.

"Leave ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‍the files on my desk," Shi Yue said without stopping, adjusting her collar as she glanced back.

"O-okay!" Little Teddy clutched the folder, staring at her boss’s retreating figure—the long, pale legs visible beneath the coat’s hem, straight and flawless, moving swiftly even in heels.

Little Teddy squeezed her skirt between her thighs, trying to suppress the explosion of girlish excitement in her chest.

Shi Yue owned a car, but with traffic being so terrible, she rarely drove, preferring bikes for their speed and eco-friendliness.

Settling into the driver’s seat in the underground garage, she checked the traffic conditions. The roads east of CRUSH Tower were a solid wall of crimson congestion.

Under normal circumstances, even at top speed, picking up Shi Ye would take over an hour.

Shi Yue rolled up all the windows, fastened her seatbelt, disabled the autopilot, and slammed the accelerator, shooting out of the parking lot.

Everyone knew the roads were jammed and tried to avoid them. The ramp to the twelfth-floor highway was undoubtedly packed.

But Shi Yue knew a shortcut—a narrow backstreet frequent bikers like her would recognize, but most drivers wouldn’t. She’d memorized every time-saving route around CRUSH Tower.

Watching the GPS, Shi Ye was stunned.

Shi Yue had covered ten kilometers in under ten minutes, speeding toward her like a bullet.

How was this possible? How had she done it?

In a deserted alley, the car roared past, taking sharp turns without slowing, its body skimming the walls without a scratch.

The steering wheel spun effortlessly under Shi Yue’s calm hands, the vehicle weaving like a dragon charging forward.

Soon, they burst out of the alley and squeezed onto the twelfth-floor highway ramp. Once on the expressway, Shi Yue pushed the speed to 200 mph, the car vanishing into the night like a streak of white light…

True to her word, Shi Yue arrived in exactly twenty minutes.

"How did you get here so fast?!"

Shi Yue didn’t answer. Her usual sweet smile was gone, replaced by a stern expression as she motioned for Shi Ye to get in and handed her a motion sickness patch for behind the ear.

"Are you planning to—"

Before Shi Ye could finish the word "race," the car roared forward, pinning her to the seat. The kaleidoscope of city lights flashed across her shocked face in a mere ten minutes.

Shi Yue drove impossibly fast yet broke no traffic laws—no red lights, no speeding.

It was the first time Shi Ye realized her little sister was such an expert behind the wheel.

Shi Yue stayed silent and focused, but Shi Ye could sense the worry beneath her calm.

She’d never asked Shi Yue directly about her relationship with Xu Youyuan, never quite sure where she stood. They hadn’t lived together in years, and the distance that had grown between them since adolescence—that reluctance to open up to family—had turned into something unfamiliar. Shi Ye had never found the right moment to ask.

But now, watching her sister’s furrowed brow and unblinking gaze, she realized she didn’t need to.

Even at this speed, reaching the western suburbs would take over half an hour.

Shi Ye periodically sent voice messages to Cang Lu, trying to figure out what had happened.

Cang Lu’s voice drifted into Shi Yue’s ears—she hadn’t been there, couldn’t say for sure, and could only relay Little Cha’s account.

What Shi Ye didn’t know was that while none of their friends had been present, her steady-handed sister had.

Shi Yue had witnessed everything that happened in Private Room 6, from start to finish.

The moment Liu Feng picked up his glass and walked toward Xu Youyuan, she’d guessed what was coming.

Of course, she could have stepped in. She had plenty of ways to humiliate Liu Feng on the spot, making a grand show of it. But what would that do for Xu Youyuan?

From the day Shi Yue met her, she knew Xu Youyuan was fiercely independent. She couldn’t ignore her pride.

No one wanted to be seen by someone they knew at their lowest, in the middle of being humiliated.

So Shi Yue stayed hidden, even retreating to the back of the crowd, letting others block her from view.

When Xu Youyuan left the restaurant, she didn’t follow.

…

Finally, they arrived at Xu Youyuan’s apartment complex in the western suburbs, Juheyuan. The elevator groaned ominously as they rode up, but after knocking for a long time, no one answered.

"She’s not home," Shi Yue said.

"Or… what if she’s inside but already…" Shi Ye couldn’t bring herself to finish.

"Don’t jump to conclusions. I checked—her lights are off. She probably went out."

"Xu Youyuan’s been such a homebody since moving to the suburbs. Last time, it took forever to drag her out for a gathering. Cang Lu said every time they discuss work, she has to go to her place in person. Plus, she’s taken on a ton of illustration gigs—she’s always glued to her computer, rushing deadlines. She wouldn’t just leave… Should we check nearby stores?"

Shi Yue glanced at her sister. "If she’s as much of a shut-in as you say, she wouldn’t go grocery shopping. She’d order delivery."

"Then…"

Shi Yue thought for a moment, stepped into the fire escape, and emerged after ten seconds. "I know where she went."

"Huh?"

"Come on. I’ll explain in the car."