Although Zhou Zhuofei found it utterly absurd that Xiao Wang would ask her for permission to smoke, she still replied instinctively, "Go ahead."
Xiao Wang didn’t walk far. Through the rearview mirror, Zhou Zhuofei saw him stop at the back of the car and lean against it in a relaxed, effortless posture.
He tore off the plastic wrapper from a pack of cigarettes, pulled out one but didn’t light it. Instead, he turned it around and slipped it back into the pack, then took out another cigarette and placed it in his mouth.
Next, he pulled out a cheap plastic lighter from the shopping bag and lit the cigarette in his mouth.
Now Zhou Zhuofei was certain: this smoking was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Xiao Wang.
Because someone like him, if he wanted to smoke, would carry his own lighter—not use some cheap one bought at a convenience store.
With a click, the flame sparked to life, and a wisp of blue smoke curled up from between his fingers, drifting away with the night breeze.
Xiao Wang smoked calmly and intently, his gaze fixed on the distance. The smoke he exhaled curled around him like a gentle caress from the god of love.
Even though Zhou Zhuofei had often seen actors make smoking look cool in films and TV shows, she always thought that was thanks to lighting, camera angles, and atmosphere.
But now she had to admit, Xiao Wang could make smoking look genuinely handsome.
If her dislike for smoking was a solid 100%, Xiao Wang could reduce it by 99%.
Still, that remaining 1% lingered—because she really hated the smell of smoke.
But none of that mattered. She had no right to judge Xiao Wang. He was only doing this because he noticed her awkwardness and thoughtfully spared her any embarrassment.
Thinking about how Chu Qing had deliberately liked her recent posts these past few days, Zhou Zhuofei suddenly understood her better. Someone as wonderful as him, it was only natural to want to pursue him.
People naturally gravitate toward excellence and beauty.
Lost in thought, she accidentally loosened the clip holding her wig in place.
The wig shifted instantly. She hurried to fix it, but the net underneath that held her real hair was also loose and about to unravel. To properly fix it, she would have to take off the wig and adjust the net.
The thought of all the steps still ahead made Zhou Zhuofei break out in a cold sweat. She had no idea if she could fix it quickly, or if it would even get better.
As soon as she eased her grip a little, the wig completely slipped out of control. She gave up, took off the net too, and raked her fingers through her hair.
At that moment, one word summed up how she felt: relief.
The sudden coolness on her head brought a wave of calm.
Though she probably didn’t look very presentable now, she felt that all her efforts to maintain her appearance might not have been so necessary after all.
After all, colleagues don't really care much about appearances. To put it bluntly, everyone is just using and being used by each other. As long as the work goes smoothly, they're grateful. Nothing else really matters.
She should be more straightforward with herself. In Xiao Wang’s eyes, she was still that slightly reckless, somewhat naive colleague. No amount of pretense would suddenly turn her into someone like Chu Qing.
So why bother adding this idolized image onto herself?
Once she figured that out, Zhou Zhuofei tidied up her wig and secured it with a hairnet, then smoothed her hair in the mirror. The situation wasn’t as bad as she had imagined. At worst, her hair was a bit flat, with some stray strands sticking to her face, but most of her makeup was still intact.
She comforted herself: after all, it was evening, and with her glasses on, plus the social distance between them, no one would notice.
After calming herself down, Zhou Zhuofei picked up the apple juice that Xiao Wang had just handed her and took a sip. It was sweet and tangy. She glanced at Xiao Wang in the rearview mirror. He was lost in thought, a cigarette held between his long, slender fingers, burning steadily.
She watched him like that, and her mood gradually settled.
Xiao Wang hadn’t smoked much of the cigarette; he just let it burn, using this rare moment to clear his mind.
He rarely smoked by the roadside, and even less often in front of others.
Because smoking was a deeply private thing for him.
His first cigarette was probably back in college. Although his family gave him living expenses, he wanted to try supporting himself. So, through an acquaintance with a senior, he got a part-time job at a studio—attending classes during the day and working there at night.
The senior was a heavy smoker, often stepping out mid-shift for a smoke break. He frequently invited Xiao Wang to join, but Xiao Wang always declined.
Until one holiday, when everyone else at the studio had gone home, Xiao Wang stayed behind to work. But he had no clue what to do, his mind tangled with frustration. So he picked up a cigarette and lighter left on the senior’s desk and tried smoking for the first time in his life.
Though it didn’t bring any particular pleasure, nor the “addiction” his friends talked about, it strangely eased his emotions.
It was as if he had finally found something he could fully control—he could decide when to light it, when to put it out, when to inhale, and when to exhale.
So he kept the habit, even though he knew it wasn’t good. Until he found a better way to cope, he wasn’t going to change.
The cigarette in his hand had burned out. Xiao Wang silently checked the time, thinking Zhou Zhuofei should be done by now. He flicked the butt into the trash can and then pulled a third item out of a plastic bag.
After taking care of it, he got back into the car.
As soon as he opened the door, a refreshing cool breeze greeted him, mingled with a faint, sweet fragrance.
Having just smoked, still tasting the bitter, choking tobacco, the sudden scent of fresh sweetness cleared his mind and stirred his heart.
Could that be the scent of Zhou Zhuofei’s perfume?
When they first met, he had vaguely caught a whiff of it, but it was so faint that he wasn’t entirely sure. This time, though, since she had been in the car for a long while and he had just stepped out for a moment, his senses had sharpened subconsciously, and he began to follow that subtle fragrance.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“No problem.”
He switched on the light, ready to put his things away, only to notice that Zhou Zhuofei had already taken off her wig, revealing her natural black hair.
Xiao Wang was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected her to do that—wasn’t she just insisting on keeping it on a moment ago?
“You took it off?”
“Yeah.” Zhou Zhuofei said sheepishly, “I thought about it and decided it was too much trouble, so I just took it off.”
Xiao Wang said, “You look good like this too.”
He wasn’t just trying to be polite. Although the purple hair was beautiful, her natural black hair suited her temperament better, making her appear more delicate and graceful.
“Haha, well, I’ll take your word for it.”
Zhou Zhuofei watched as Xiao Wang opened the storage box and placed a pack of cigarettes and a small spray bottle inside. She recognized the spray immediately—it was the smoke-removal spray from their company’s smoking room.
Only then did she realize that the faint smell of smoke on Xiao Wang was almost negligible.
Sure enough, Xiao Wang was someone who could do everything perfectly. That tiny one percent of annoyance she felt toward him seemed to vanish, and her opinion of him was now a full hundred percent positive.
In front of him, even her little pretenses felt utterly ridiculous.
As Zhou Zhuofei thought this, she turned her head slightly—and her glasses slipped down her nose again.
Seeing her reach up to adjust them, Xiao Wang asked proactively, “Are your glasses a bit loose? I feel like I always see you pushing them up.”
“Yeah, they’re a little loose. These are props I used back in college, so maybe they’re a bit worn out.”
“Want me to take a look?”
“Xiao Secretary, you know how to do that too?” Zhou Zhuofei didn’t suspect a thing and immediately took off her glasses, handing them over.
Xiao Wang took them and examined the frame under the light, adjusting the temple arms slightly before signaling for Zhou Zhuofei to try them on again.
“Try them now.”
She put them back on as instructed, but before she could even react, Xiao Wang had already leaned in close.
Instinctively, she held her breath, feeling as if even the slightest delay would let her catch the scent lingering on him.
But when someone gets that close, you can feel the warmth radiating through the air. She could sense a gentle, warm current drawing nearer.
This was way too close!
She didn’t even have time to think about how much her makeup might be smudged because with her peripheral vision, she caught sight of Xiao Wang’s face. At that moment, she didn’t dare move her head at all—her neck was stiff, and only her eyes darted nervously in their sockets.
Stay calm. Don’t look around. Don’t move.
Xiao Wang seemed oblivious to her reaction. His attention was fully on the glasses, tracing the frame along the temple and finally settling on her ears.
They had known each other for three years, and only now did he notice that Zhou Zhuofei didn’t have pierced ears.
Her jet-black hair was neatly tucked behind her ears, making them appear even more prominent and delicate. From the tips to the lobes, including the soft cartilage of her ears, there was a faint blush of pink, like a finely crafted piece of art.
How could this be...
Xiao Wang immediately glanced at Zhou Zhuofei. At this moment, her eyes were fixed straight ahead, seemingly indifferent to whatever he was doing.
Yet, her ears were growing redder by the second, gradually deepening from a soft pink to a rosy hue, glowing beautifully in the dim light.
He knew the best thing to do now was to step back—his actions had clearly made Zhou Zhuofei nervous.
But even realizing this, he didn’t want to retreat. Instead, he found himself wanting to observe her more closely, even to take a step further.
As soon as he caught himself having such a reckless thought, Xiao Wang took a deep breath and stepped away from Zhou Zhuofei.
She seemed to sense it and glanced at him, her eyes asking a silent question.
He cleared his throat, swallowing nervously. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he said, “Take them off. I’ll adjust them for you.”
When Zhou Zhuofei took off her glasses and handed them to him again, her fingernails accidentally brushed against the palm of his hand. She didn’t notice, but Xiao Wang felt a sudden itch in his palm and instinctively moved his fingers. Fortunately, her hand had already moved away, or else it would have been hard to explain.
After some careful adjustments, he returned the glasses to her.
This time, he didn’t lean in. Instead, he watched as Zhou Zhuofei put on the glasses and smiled brightly, clearly pleased that they now fit perfectly.
“Xiao Mi, you’re amazing. I really wonder if there’s anything you can’t do.”
“There definitely is,” Xiao Wang replied. “I can’t do cosplay.”
“I believe if you were interested, you’d be great at it. After all, you have the perfect look.”
Xiao Wang didn’t quite understand what she meant by “perfect look,” but Zhou Zhuofei didn’t elaborate. She just chuckled softly, and even from her voice, it was clear she was in a good mood.
Her laughter was as infectious as ever. Xiao Wang thought to himself, maybe that’s the one thing he truly can’t do.
“It’s getting late. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
After all the fuss, by the time Zhou Zhuofei arrived at the entrance of her residential complex, it was already past eleven. She couldn’t imagine when Xiao Wang would get home, so she didn’t dare to linger when getting out of the car.
As soon as the car stopped, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out.
“Xiao Mi, you should get some rest. You have work tomorrow!”
Xiao Wang looked at Zhou Zhuofei outside the car. She leaned down to speak to him, her hair tucked behind one ear. Her ears weren’t as flushed as before, but still small and exquisite, resting softly against her cheeks.
With her movement, her body naturally revealed the gentle curves of a woman, a stark contrast to her usual tightly wrapped professional attire...
He couldn’t look any longer.
Xiao Wang quickly averted his gaze. “Yeah, it’s late. I won’t keep you. Good night.”
“Alright, good night then.”
Zhou Zhuofei waved at him, watching the car drive away before turning to enter the complex.
Back at home, even though Zhou Zhuofei was utterly exhausted, she forced herself to stay awake long enough to remove her makeup and wash her face.
Things aren’t like they used to be—my skin isn’t as resilient anymore. If I don’t remove my makeup promptly, I’ll end up with breakouts the next day.
By the time I finished everything, I was exhausted, barely able to keep my eyes open. I collapsed onto the bed and almost fell asleep, letting the director jump up beside me and sniff around. Before long, he was asleep too.
It wasn’t until the next morning when I woke up and sat up that my first thought hit me—this is bad. So embarrassing.
And even worse, I’d embarrassed myself in front of Xiao Wang. That was utterly hopeless.
I let out a wail and flopped back down, pulling the blanket over my head, trying to avoid facing reality. But my phone alarm was already ringing off like a relentless chain of death calls, forcing me to get up and get ready.
While washing up, I kept reassuring myself: it’s okay. It was late last night, and the car was so dark—Xiao Wang probably didn’t see clearly.
At worst, I just won’t go to the rooftop these next couple of days and ask Zhan Zilang to help deliver the documents.
Yeah, that’s it. That’s the plan!
I went to the company and went through my work as usual. By afternoon, I handed over all the documents needing signatures to Zhan Zilang in one go.
He didn’t hesitate at all and said, “No problem, no problem, just leave it all to me!”
“Thanks a lot. I’m really a bit swamped today.”
“Isn’t this just one word from Sister Zhou?” Zhan Zilang chuckled as he took the documents. “By the way, you guys went to New World yesterday, right?”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t surprising he knew since Zhou Zhuofei had posted a status update yesterday.
“Hey, why didn’t you tell me? If I’d known, I would have come along.” Zhan Zilang looked genuinely regretful. “I still have quite a bit of money left on that card.”
“How could I just keep using your card all the time?”
“What does it matter? I don’t really like going there anyway, and besides, you guys…” He caught himself mid-sentence and quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, I haven’t really been using that card much. It’s better for you to use it than let it sit idle.”
“Well, I didn’t know. And if you’d come, we probably would’ve ended up sitting in the front again, so we wouldn’t have run into what happened later.”
The mention of “later” perked Zhan Zilang right up. “What? Something else happened? You didn’t run into someone else at New World, did you?”
“You’re thinking way too much! It’s nothing to do with us. We just saw some commotion—something involving Jiang Shen.”
I told him about the chance encounter with Jiang Shen since I hadn’t had the chance to talk it over with anyone yet. I even added a few extra details: “You have no idea, his gaze was really terrifying. Maybe it’s because I’m not used to it, but even when he spoke to me afterward, I felt really uneasy.”
This was different from gaming. When you’re behind a screen, you don’t feel the sinister and ruthless aura a character can give off in person.
Zhan Zilang reacted pretty casually. “Well, he is from the Jiang family, so I get it. And just to be clear, this isn’t me being biased or anything, but I don’t think most people would want to be private detectives.”
I was left speechless for a moment. Although Zhan Zilang’s comment was a bit of a generalization, Jiang Shen had once called himself Matthew Skard, a character known for some controversial actions.
“But Sister Zhou, I have to say, your life is pretty exciting.”
Zhou Zhuofei fell silent. That had to be the most sarcastic thing she’d heard all year. “Are you serious? How about this—we swap. You give me your mansion, and you move into my one-bedroom apartment. I’ll give you all the excitement in my life, deal?”
“That’s not what I meant. I was saying your life is exciting—you always seem to run into interesting situations.”
Zhan Zilang truly envied Zhou Zhuofei’s current state: attending small classes, playing games, and occasionally getting caught up in some little drama.
Suddenly, he got a spark of inspiration and shouted, “Exactly! It’s like you’re the main character in an urban adventure novel!”
“Pfft…” Zhou Zhuofei admitted she laughed way too loudly, but honestly, Zhan Zilang’s comment was just too ridiculous.
“Young people…” she said with a serious tone, “I can only say you’re still too young and don’t understand the true nature of life yet.”
“No way! I’m serious! Just think about it—doesn’t your life feel full of excitement?”
“Don’t you see the problem?”
Curious, Zhan Zilang pressed, “What problem?”
“The excitement in my life is inseparable from your involvement,” Zhou Zhuofei replied firmly. “If you weren’t mixed up in it, where would all these things even come from?”
