Lin Shiyu's Troubles

"It's Sister Lin. Done with work?"

Li Yang turned his head and saw Lin Shiyu, dressed in the professional attire of a modern career woman, walking up behind him. A smile immediately spread across his face as he raised a hand in greeting. "You got off work this late today? It's already ten-thirty, and you just got back to the complex."

"Ah, something came up after work, so I had to deal with it. I'm used to it by now. But what about you? Is that Audi A6 your new car?"

Lin Shiyu shook her head, unwilling to say more about getting off work late. Instead, her eyes sparkled as she watched Li Yang drive his new car into a parking space, and she couldn't help asking.

Li Yang's resignation today had actually come as a sudden shock to her and many others at the company, albeit a subtle one.

Many people, Lin Shiyu included, couldn't quite understand why Li Yang had resigned when everything had been going so well for him.

Now that she saw this car, Lin Shiyu naturally couldn't help connecting it to that matter. A strange feeling stirred in her heart at how quickly his wealth had come.

"Yeah. I just picked it up, took it for a couple of laps around the outskirts, and haven't even had time to go home yet."

Li Yang jangled his car keys and replied with a smile, "Sister Lin, when are you free? I'll take you for a spin. It's brand-new."

"Sure. But where did you get so much money? This is an Audi A6! I can barely save five thousand a month. It would take me at least eight years to save enough to buy one. How did you suddenly get a new car?"

Lin Shiyu nodded repeatedly. Then she glanced at the pristine body of the car and the clothes on Li Yang, which looked expensive at a glance, and a gleam appeared in her eyes.

"It wasn't exactly sudden. I've been preparing for this over the past month. Today was just when it finally came to fruition."

A smile tugged at the corners of Li Yang's mouth. As he looked at the female superior he'd spent every day with for the past year, a thought suddenly welled up in him. He opened his mouth and blurted out, "Sister Lin, have you eaten supper? If not, let me treat you. I only had dinner a while ago, and I'm getting a little hungry."

"Sure, sure! I've been so busy today that I haven't even had dinner. If you want to eat, let's go together."

Lin Shiyu smiled brightly and nodded at Li Yang. "Sister Lin is going to fleece the newly rich Little Li today."

"Hahaha, what's that to me? Come on, come on. What do you want to eat? Do you want to drink? If we're drinking, I won't drive."

Li Yang laughed heartily. His eyes flickered as they swept over Lin Shiyu's tight-fitting skirt. He rubbed his stomach, which happened to be hungry, and waved it off. He was just about to walk toward his new car when he remembered that there would be more people grilling skewers at this hour, so he asked Lin Shiyu.

"Hmm, let's have a little to drink. We can drive there and call a designated driver to take us back. Sister Lin, I've never ridden in such a nice car before."

Lin Shiyu stamped her foot and gazed at Li Yang's new car with longing.

"Isn't that a bit exaggerated? Your ex-husband is a local, and he couldn't even afford an Audi A6?"

Li Yang nodded and asked casually. Then he turned his head, unlocked the car, and took Lin Shiyu inside. As they got in, he asked, "Where should we eat?"

"Ah, I'll tell you about those things after we get there. Let's go to East Street for barbecue. I haven't had a really satisfying round of skewers in ages."

Lin Shiyu followed Li Yang to the front passenger seat in a few quick steps, sat down, and tilted her head toward Li Yang in the driver's seat. Her eyes held a trace of gloom.

"Okay, East Street it is."

East Street was considered one of the better snack streets nearby. Li Yang thought that it had also been a long time since he'd relaxed like this, so he nodded without fuss. He started the car and drove the inexplicably restless Lin Shiyu toward this fairly decent food street.

Along the way, Lin Shiyu chatted with Li Yang while looking at the car's pristine interior and breathing in the pungent new-car smell. She seemed to remember something, and her eyes grew somewhat hazy.

Seeing her like this, Li Yang suddenly understood... She has a story to tell.

A story was good. People telling stories rarely did so without drinking. Once the alcohol started flowing...

A gentle smile spread across Li Yang's face, and his anticipation for supper grew stronger.

Before long, they arrived. Night-market signs blazed brightly everywhere, and fashionable men and women streamed back and forth. It looked less like the dead of night and more like a bustling shopping mall in broad daylight.

Li Yang found a parking spot about a hundred meters from the snack street. He got out and walked in with Lin Shiyu, both smiling broadly. In an instant, the lively human warmth of the night market washed over them.

"Boss, twenty lamb skewers, twenty beef skewers, and a case of ice-cold beer."

The two of them arrived at a barbecue stall together. Li Yang ordered the basics first, then told Lin Shiyu to get whatever she wanted. Smiling brightly, Lin Shiyu ordered some grilled squid. After asking Li Yang's opinion, she added a pound of crayfish, then a few skewers of chicken giblets and grilled mantou before finally stopping.

Li Yang had already scanned the QR code. As soon as he finished ordering, he paid directly. Then he and Lin Shiyu found a table and waited for the food.

For some reason, Lin Shiyu was unusually excited. Ever since they set out, she'd been constantly taking the initiative to talk to Li Yang, and she still hadn't stopped.

Li Yang happened to have just gained his fortuitous opportunity, and his emotions were surging as well. He didn't mind having someone accompany him in stirring things up a little.

Besides, although Lin Shiyu had eaten with him before, she'd never been this uninhibited or had this much to say. Add in the way they'd usually interacted at work, and the fact that he'd suddenly resigned and was now approaching her with a different mindset—listening to her speak so excitedly was quite a unique experience.

They had to wait more than twenty minutes before everything they ordered arrived. Fortunately, compared with the half-hour waits that were common at night markets, it wasn't too slow. After settling the bill, the boss went to attend to customers at another table, leaving Li Yang and Lin Shiyu to sit around the small table and chat freely.

"Come on, Sister Lin, eat first. We can eat, drink, and chat at the same time."

Li Yang picked up the lamb and beef skewers and beckoned to Lin Shiyu. She flashed him a toothy smile, put on a disposable glove, and grabbed a crayfish. "I'm eating crayfish first. Let me tell you, this pound might not even be enough for me alone. If you want some, you'd better dig in. There won't be any left if you wait too long."

"I'm not interested in that stuff. You eat it yourself."

Li Yang laughed heartily, picked up a lamb skewer, and happily took a bite. Lin Shiyu peeled crayfish while chatting idly with him. After they'd each eaten a couple of bites, they raised their cups together.

"Life isn't easy. To the days we spent working together—cheers."

Lin Shiyu wiped the seasoning from her lips, raised her disposable cup, and clinked it against Li Yang's. Then she tipped her head back and drank.

Li Yang followed her example. After finishing his drink, he continued eating skewers while Lin Shiyu ate crayfish and kept chatting about this and that.

They chatted, ate, and drank. By the time they finished the crayfish, they had unknowingly downed four or five bottles each. Li Yang was a little surprised. This was the first time he'd seen Lin Shiyu drink so fiercely.

"Li Yang, you have no idea how exhausting my life used to be. Some months, I couldn't even scrape together five hundred yuan for spending money..."

Perhaps she'd drunk too quickly. Lin Shiyu's face had turned bright red, and she had become much more talkative. She began confiding in Li Yang about the matters she'd been keeping bottled up inside.

Li Yang gradually came to understand. He looked at Lin Shiyu strangely, his gaze pausing on the rolling waves of her chest before he hurriedly pulled it back.

Yet some strange thoughts still rose uncontrollably in his mind.

Lin Shiyu's ex-husband was a full ten years older than her. She had been willing to marry him because he owned a house locally. After drifting around Linhai City for so many years, her greatest obsession had been putting down roots there.

But things hadn't gone as planned. After throwing caution to the wind and gritting her teeth to marry him, Lin Shiyu soon discovered that her ex-husband had nothing beyond the mere shell of that house...

Maybe the book title needs to be changed.