On Wednesday, Zhou Zhuofei had been busy from the moment she opened her eyes.
But working out in the field had its perks—like the freedom to come and go as she pleased, unlike the constraints of the office, where no one could tell whether she was actually working or just idling around.
By midday, following Ye Ru’s arrangements, she and a few colleagues had an early lunch and took over for the registration desk team.
But even at the registration area, there wasn’t much to do. Few attendees arrived during lunch, so they mostly sat around chatting to pass the time.
After a while, a group finally showed up to check in.
Everyone sprang into action. As Zhou Zhuofei helped a participant fill out their information, she suddenly overheard a voice that sounded eerily familiar.
How could someone sound so much like…?
She turned her head slightly and immediately spotted a face she knew all too well in the crowd. Though years had passed since she’d last seen him, her instincts didn’t lie. One glance was all it took to confirm she wasn’t mistaken.
What was he doing here? Was she really this unlucky?
Zhou Zhuofei cursed under her breath and quickly ducked her head, afraid he might notice her. Only after the group had moved on did she dare look up again.
She hurried over to the spot where he had signed in, casually chatting with her colleague while stealing glances at the registration sheet. Soon, she found what she was looking for.
[Wang Zicheng – Xinxing Technology]
“Sister Zhao, what’s Xinxing? I don’t think I’ve heard of them before.”
Her colleague explained, “They were acquired last year. This is their first time attending.”
“No wonder.”
Zhou Zhuofei kept up the small talk, but her mind was already miles away.
The thought of the afternoon conference starting soon—and her inevitable presence there—filled her with an inexplicable irritation.
Was there anything more annoying than running into an ex at work?
Her gaze fell back on Wang Zicheng’s signature, her eyes narrowing with such intensity it felt like she could burn holes through the paper.
If Xie Huai was the most detestable person she’d met in recent years, then Wang Zicheng was someone she could never forgive in this lifetime.
Once the chitchat ended, Zhou Zhuofei calmly returned to her seat and picked up her phone to text Du Yu.
[Worst luck. Ran into Wang Zicheng.]
Almost instantly, Du Yu replied with three question marks.
[Seriously?! That’s the worst! Didn’t he go back to his hometown?]
[How should I know? Just found out his company got acquired last year. Ugh, so annoying!]
[Don’t let it get to you! Ignore him—if you care, you lose!]
[My life already lost the moment I dated him.]
[Stop that! You’re the only graduate from our class who made it into Huanyu! You’re Huanyu’s future star!!! He’s just some irrelevant nobody.]
[If he’s at this summit, he’s hardly a nobody. At the very least, he’s manager-level.]
[Shut up! Why are you boosting his ego and crushing your own?]
[Sigh… this sucks.]
Du Yu spent a while trying to cheer her up before work called her away, leaving Zhou Zhuofei alone to face the harsh reality.
Honestly, she felt like this year had been nothing but bad luck.
She’d almost convinced herself she’d forgotten Wang Zicheng, that jerk—only for him to reappear in the flesh, looking like he was doing just fine.
Damn it, this world is just too unfair!
The story between her and Wang Zicheng dates back to their sophomore year.
Wang Zicheng was a year older, and the two met during an on-campus competition. They added each other as friends but didn’t interact much until Zhou Zhuofei asked him for help one day, which gradually brought them closer. Their chats became more frequent over time.
At first, Wang Zicheng asked her for anime recommendations. Back then, Zhou Zhuofei was extremely passionate about converting others into fellow enthusiasts, so she eagerly suggested shows and manga she loved.
He did watch some of them and would later share his thoughts with her.
What could be more gratifying than recommending something and getting genuine feedback? So Zhou Zhuofei responded with equal enthusiasm.
As they talked more, their conversations naturally shifted from anime to daily life. Wang Zicheng would tell her which elective courses were easy to pass or which cafeteria stall served the best food.
For over a month, their interactions were limited to online chats—they rarely met in person.
The first turning point came on a chilly autumn night when Zhou Zhuofei’s club was rehearsing for an end-of-semester performance.
Wang Zicheng texted to ask what she was up to.
She casually complained about the cold weather and having to practice outdoors. To her surprise, he asked for her location and showed up with a hot drink.
At the time, Wang Zicheng claimed it was just a coincidence, and she didn’t think much of it. But when he kept coming over the next few days—along with some nudging from Du Yu—even the oblivious Zhou Zhuofei finally caught on.
Her impression of Wang Zicheng had always been good. He was decent-looking, dressed well, and carried himself with a certain charm.
So it was no surprise that she developed feelings for him. Before long, they officially became a couple that winter.
The early days of their relationship were sweet. Wang Zicheng would wait for her after class every day, they’d eat together, and Zhou Zhuofei would accompany him to basketball games. Back then, she thought life couldn’t get any better.
But as time passed, cracks began to show.
The first issue was their hobbies. Whenever a new anime season aired, Zhou Zhuofei would excitedly discuss it with Wang Zicheng. Yet she slowly realized he wasn’t as interested as she’d thought. He’d grow dismissive, sometimes even snapping, "Don’t you have anything else to do besides watching this stuff?"
This baffled Zhou Zhuofei. Wasn’t this who she’d always been?
From the moment they met in freshman year, she’d never hidden her obsession. Her profile pictures, social media posts—everything screamed "hardcore anime fan."
Hadn’t he known that all along? Why was it suddenly a problem now that they were dating?
She confronted him immediately, but Wang Zicheng had his own reasoning. He framed her passion as selfishness, insisting that relationships required compromise—that she should prioritize his interests more.
At the time, Zhou Zhuofei thought there was some logic to his words. Believing a little give-and-take was normal, she cut back on anime talk around him and tried engaging more in his hobbies instead.
The problems didn’t get resolved; instead, they multiplied. It seemed like Zhou Zhuofei had an endless list of flaws, and Wang Zicheng would point out new ones every few days.
For instance, she was too self-centered, too blunt with her words, and didn’t know how to read the room. Even her habit of picking up catchphrases from anime characters became an issue. The more he criticized, the more Zhou Zhuofei grew annoyed, and soon, arguments became routine.
Then one day, one of Wang Zicheng’s roommates quietly told her that he was flirting with another girl.
The roommate phrased it delicately and even played a recording to prove it, fearing she wouldn’t believe him.
In the recording, Wang Zicheng was bragging to someone about how he had methodically pursued Zhou Zhuofei.
Discussing anime was just a tactic to get close, he said, adding that girls obsessed with anime were loners with no social skills and no idea how to date. His tone made it sound like she wasn’t his girlfriend—just a trophy.
Throughout the conversation, he tore her apart, listing every flaw, before casually mentioning his new fling and his plan to dump Zhou Zhuofei once things got serious, ensuring a seamless transition.
The revelation hit Zhou Zhuofei like a truck. She thanked the roommate calmly, but back in her dorm, she cried for hours.
She didn’t tell anyone, quietly distancing herself from Wang Zicheng and avoiding all activities except classes.
Days later, Du Yu sensed something was wrong and barged into her dorm to get the truth.
First, Du Yu scolded her—Zhou Zhuofei then learned that her friends had noticed red flags but stayed silent to spare her feelings.
For days, Zhou Zhuofei had been torturing herself with one question: Was this her fault? Had she been too naive, too easy to manipulate, that she ended up with such a terrible person?
But no matter how much she agonized, she couldn’t find an answer—until Du Yu snapped her out of it.
“Why are you blaming yourself? He knew exactly who you were before he pursued you. Who gave him the right to change you? He’s just a scumbag, and wasting another second on him isn’t worth it.”
Finally, Zhou Zhuofei broke free from that spiral of self-doubt.
Du Yu dragged her out for a lavish meal, then helped her gather proof of Wang Zicheng’s cheating. Together, they stormed his class and made a scene, finally putting an end to it.
Afterward, whenever they crossed paths on campus, Wang Zicheng would slink away. By the time he graduated, he had vanished from Zhou Zhuofei’s life completely.
Years later, Zhou Zhuofei reflected on the incident calmly with Du Yu. She admitted she’d been too young back then, too easily swayed by Wang Zicheng’s manipulative tactics.
Love, she realized, was about two people growing together and accepting each other—not one-sided transformation. If she was an apple, she could never become a pear for anyone.
Wang Zicheng had ignored that entirely, brainwashing her with empty promises of compromise while giving nothing in return.
Not to mention, he even treated his own romantic relationships as gossip to share with others. Calling him an unqualified boyfriend would be an understatement—he was downright scum.
But what was done was done, and some of Wang Zicheng’s words had left a lasting impact on her. For a long time afterward, she refused to accept any advances from men. This only began to ease slightly after graduation, though she still struggled to let her guard down.
Even though she had analyzed the situation thoroughly, she couldn’t fully move on.
Now, seeing Wang Zicheng again, the first emotion Zhou Zhuofei felt wasn’t anger but embarrassment—because he represented a past she’d rather forget. Only afterward did irritation set in, simply because she didn’t want to see him.
But she wasn’t some domineering CEO who could afford to act on her whims. No matter how unhappy she was, she still had to go to work.
Before the meeting started, Zhou Zhuofei and a few colleagues were assigned to oversee the venue.
Reluctantly trailing at the back of the group, she slipped into the conference hall and immediately claimed a corner for herself, only moving when it was her turn to distribute materials.
Seating in the hall was arranged alphabetically by company name, so a quick glance at the layout told her where Xinxing’s representatives were seated—and, more importantly, allowed her to avoid that area entirely, leaving it to her coworkers.
Once her task was done, she retreated back to her corner.
Once the meeting began, no one was allowed to move around freely. Zhou Zhuofei stared at her phone, waiting for a reply from Du Yu.
But it seemed the other woman was swamped with work, as there was no response for a while.
Zhan Zilang took advantage of the moment to sneak over and whisper to her, though Zhou Zhuofei only half-heartedly responded.
Soon, he noticed her distraction and feigned indignation. "Sis Zhou, you’re too much! You’re not even listening to me!"
To his surprise, she didn’t bother denying it. "Sorry, you’re right. I wasn’t."
"...That blunt, huh?" Zhan Zilang grumbled dramatically. "Is my topic really that boring? You won’t even pretend to care?"
"It’s not that. I’m just caught up in my own thoughts and don’t have the bandwidth to listen right now."
"Oh." His tone softened immediately. "Alright, go ahead and think. I’ll talk to you later."
But "later" turned out to be much longer than he expected. Zhou Zhuofei barely spoke for the rest of the afternoon, and once the meeting ended, she finished her tasks and slipped away without a word.
One second, he’d seen her; the next, she was gone.
Zhan Zilang could only scratch his head in confusion, wondering what on earth had preoccupied her for so long.
She didn’t show up for dinner either. To avoid forced small talk with colleagues, she timed her arrival at the restaurant for the last half-hour, ate quickly, and retreated to her room.
By then, Du Yu had gotten off work and returned home, and the two of them talked for hours.
Since graduating, she’d never spent so much time revisiting her college days. Maybe because they’d discussed it so thoroughly, she slept fitfully that night, dreaming of her university life.
The dreams were a jumble of disjointed fragments—one moment, she was eating in the cafeteria with Du Yu; the next, she was arguing with Wang Zicheng.
She had been dreaming all night, and when she opened her eyes again, dawn had already broken. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall what those dreams had been about.
The only thing she remembered was dreaming of Wang Zicheng. The frustration of encountering someone she never wanted to see, even in her dreams, lingered long after she woke up. Even as she got out of bed and pushed up her sleeves, she could still see goosebumps rising on her arms.
Just two more days.
She repeated the words silently to herself. If she could just endure these two days, everything would be fine—soon enough, that man would be gone.
The second day of work was much like the first, shifting from large conferences to smaller meetings. Zhou Zhuofei was fortunate enough not to be assigned to any sessions attended by Xinxing, so her mood improved slightly.
On top of that, Du Yu had been cheering her on. Du Yu shared her belief that letting go didn’t mean forgetting the hatred.
So Du Yu’s advice was simple: keep her composure. As the saying goes, even if you lose the battle, don’t lose your dignity. With that in mind, Zhou Zhuofei made sure to put on a full face of makeup today.
If she did run into him, she’d roll her eyes hard and deliver her most sincere "blessings."
After the meeting ended, she went in to tidy up. A few attendees were still lingering in the room, so Zhou Zhuofei greeted them briefly before getting to work.
Halfway through, she noticed a young man dawdling, seemingly reluctant to leave. When she glanced up, she caught him deliberately avoiding her gaze, and in that moment, she understood.
Situations like this weren’t uncommon. Pretending not to notice, she quickened her pace, finishing up so she could leave.
Seeing her about to go, the man panicked and hurried over to stop her.
"Wait!"
Zhou Zhuofei paused, turning to face him with an expressionless stare. "Can I help you?"
Her icy demeanor made him falter. He stammered for a while, failing to get a single coherent word out. Taking his silence as confirmation that he had nothing important to say, she turned and walked away. Ye Ru had taught her long ago that in large professional settings, a little aloofness could save her from unnecessary trouble.
Zhou Zhuofei had only taken a few steps out of the room when the door of the meeting space diagonally across from her swung open. A group of attendees emerged, and one of them, spotting her Huanyu badge, approached to ask a question.
As she answered, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wang Zicheng stepping out of the room, laughing and chatting with his colleagues.
