Zhang Ruowei looked at the message Xu Ye had sent, pouted, and handed the phone back to Chen Qingqing.

“So boring~” she muttered.

Jiang Yu burst out laughing. “The veteran got outplayed for once!”

Zhang Ruowei grabbed Jiang Yu and pinned her to the bed, fingers going straight for her stomach. “What do you mean outplayed, huh? What exactly did I lose at?”

“Hahaha… stop, it tickles… Xinyi… help… hahaha… someone save me!”

Qingqing picked up her phone, looked at the chat log, and couldn’t help smiling. She typed back: “Zhang Ruowei grabbed my phone. I didn’t give it to her.”

Xu Ye: I know.

Chen Qingqing: Why haven’t you eaten yet? It’s so late.

Xu Ye: Peak hours right now. I’ll eat once things slow down.

Xu Ye: Did you think about me today?

Chen Qingqing: No.

Chen Qingqing: Get lost.

Xu Ye: Getting lost.jpg [a goofy sticker of someone dramatically fleeing]

Qingqing was smiling when her phone buzzed with an incoming call. No contact name saved, but she recognized the number immediately — her father, Chen Hansong.

She hesitated, then declined.

Chen Hansong heard the call cut off and fired off a WeChat message immediately. “Qingqing, why aren’t you picking up?”

She typed back quickly. “Busy.”

He kept his tone as mild as he could manage, adding a smiley face at the end. “What are you up to?”

Chen Qingqing: Video calling with Xu Ye.

The message sat on his screen.

Chen Hansong stared at those few words and felt his blood pressure spike.

He held himself together and typed, steady as he could: “Qingqing, tell your dad — what exactly does this Xu Ye have going for him? What is it you see in him?”

Qingqing didn’t take the bait. “You don’t know him.”

Chen Hansong nearly lost it. “You’re right, I don’t know him. But right now I want to end him.”

…

Business at the fruit shop stayed strong in the days that followed.

The WeChat group kept growing. The Moments likes campaign was pulling in steady new customers, the freshly stocked eggs had brought in a whole new stream of foot traffic, and the nightly clearance sales kept excess stock from piling up. One thing built on another, and the shop’s numbers climbed steadily.

As the owner, Xu Ye was happy to watch it happen.

But not everyone was happy.

Luo Wenbing, the owner of Kangyuan Fruit Shop, watched Qingqing Fruit Shop’s business improve day after day and was fit to be furious. Before they opened, he’d been the only fruit game on the food street — no matter how he priced things, people bought. But ever since Qingqing Fruit Shop appeared, his place had been seeing almost no one.

He decided he couldn’t just sit and let this happen. On Wednesday, he launched a third-anniversary promotion: all fruit at thirty percent off, with an additional five yuan knocked off orders over fifty.

Zhang Xinzhou spotted the new signs outside Kangyuan and came to Xu Ye a little worried. “What do we do about this?”

Xu Ye smiled. “Stay calm. He wants a price war. But a price war hurts everyone — if he keeps this up, he’s not going to make any real money, and he might actually lose money. Once the promotion ends, he’s probably going to see even fewer regulars than before. He’s got no way to build customer loyalty.”

“Customer loyalty?”

Xu Ye didn’t elaborate. He just clapped Zhang Xinzhou on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about him. Keep running things the way we are — I don’t think he can do us much damage.”

“If you say so.”

Kangyuan did see a bump in business once the promotion launched. Luo Wenbing felt briefly smug, like he’d clawed back a win. But when he sat down to count at the end of the night, the profit margin was almost nonexistent — once labor costs came out, he’d barely broken even. That soured his mood right back.

More customers, and still no money. He knew he couldn’t keep this going longer than a week or it would turn into an actual loss.

Exactly as Xu Ye had predicted, the promotion did shave a little off Qingqing Fruit Shop’s numbers — but only a little. Delivery service turned out to be a hard advantage to compete against.

Friday afternoon.

Xu Ye sent Chen Jianjun a message to lock in the next delivery, then turned to Zhang Xinzhou. “I’m going to see my girlfriend. I’m out for the next two days — the shop’s yours.”

“You’re leaving today? Friday?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you staying tonight?”

“Hotel.”

Zhang Xinzhou cleared his throat and adopted the exact tone Xu Ye had used in front of Yanqing that night. “Do remember to stay safe.“

“Less talking, more riding — take me to the subway on the electric scooter.”

…

This time, Xu Ye didn’t tell Qingqing he was coming.

The two of them had barely talked all week — partly because the shop had been hectic, but partly because Xu Ye had done it on purpose.

If two people spent all their time together, things could start to feel stale. A little distance, a little closeness, an unexpected surprise every now and then — that was how you kept a relationship alive.

An hour and a half later, he arrived outside the women’s dorm building.

In one hand he was holding a bouquet — but not flowers. It was strawberries, dozens of them, arranged and bundled up to look like a floral arrangement. [TL: 水果花 — “fruit flowers,” a popular novelty gift in China where seasonal fruit (often strawberries) is arranged in the shape of a traditional bouquet, wrapped and presented like florist’s flowers]

A guy standing outside a women’s dorm holding a strawberry bouquet was not a sight that passed without notice. Female art students walking by kept glancing over, openly curious about who would be coming down from the building.

Xu Ye called her.

“Hello?”

“Come down.”

“What did you say?”

“I said come down. I’m outside your building right now.”

As soon as the words landed, Qingqing hung up and was on her feet.

Jiang Yu was the first one up when she saw Qingqing bolt toward the door. “What’s going on?”

Shen Xinyi guessed, “Could it be Xu Ye again?”

“It has to be!” Zhang Ruowei declared.

All three of them were on the balcony in seconds, craning over the railing to look.

Qingqing came out at a light jog and spotted him immediately.

Two weeks.

He actually had gotten a little lighter. A little slimmer too, maybe.

Noticing the small audience gathering around them, she walked over somewhat self-consciously and said in a low voice, “Why are you here?”

Xu Ye smiled. “I missed you.”

Qingqing raised her foot and aimed for his — but this time he was ready for it, stepping back fast and immediately backpedaling. “I said that wrong, I said it wrong — I meant I wanted to see you. Better?”

She made a face, something like a pout. “You could’ve at least told me you were coming.”

Xu Ye stepped forward and held out the strawberry bouquet, answering at the same time. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“More like a shock.”

“I handpicked every single one of these. Kept them covered with stretch wrap the whole trip. They’re completely clean.”

Qingqing had never been given flowers before — though these were a different kind of flower entirely. Even fighting to keep her expression steady, the smile in her eyes gave her away completely.

Up on the second-floor balcony, Zhang Ruowei called down with barely concealed envy. “Xu Ye, I want strawberries too~”

Jiang Yu was right behind her. “Same!”

Shen Xinyi added sweetly, “Me too.”

Xu Ye tilted his head back, found them leaning over the railing, and waved. “There’s enough for everyone, don’t worry.”

Qingqing, deeply unwilling to keep being the center of this little outdoor performance, turned red and grabbed Xu Ye’s hand — and hurried them both away.

(End of Chapter)