Chapter 97: I Want to Get Back Together With You

The crowd's expressions shifted slightly, and they all looked behind them in unison.

They saw Shen Huai holding a few takeout boxes, walking slowly toward them.

Hearing that Shen Huai had actually compared the contact information she had painstakingly written to a small card.

Ai Xiaomei's face instantly turned indignant: "……Shen Huai, what kind of eyes do you have? That was clearly a business card; how is it anything like a small card?"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Shen Huai feigned an innocent look, though his eyes held a hint of playfulness: "So that was a business card."

"Actually, I had intended to add you to chat, but when I flipped it over and saw the note, 'Charming Xiaomei,' you tell me, whose business card has that name written on it, right?"

Upon hearing this, everyone held back their laughter.

Ai Xiaomei's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Having her petty, underhanded scheme exposed in public made her feel so ashamed she wished she could disappear.

Liu Shishi gave Shen Huai a grateful look and leaned in quietly: "……Thank you."

"What are you thanking me for? Don't be so formal with me."

Shen Huai raised an eyebrow and winked at Liu Shishi.

The way the two were exchanging glances was seen entirely by Luo Xiaoya.

That smile, in Luo Xiaoya's eyes, was like sharp blades stabbing fiercely into her heart.

Her jealousy grew even more intense.

Her gaze darted back and forth between Shen Huai and Liu Shishi, and she nearly ground her back teeth to pieces.

On the dining table, the prepared food had already gone cold and congealed, but Luo Xiaoya had long since lost all appetite.

If, just a moment ago, she had still harbored doubts about Liu Shishi's status as an ex-girlfriend.

Now, Shen Huai's protectiveness undoubtedly confirmed Liu Shishi's identity.

Luo Xiaoya's eyes were incredibly dim, and a sour, overwhelming feeling surged up to her nose like a turbulent sea.

She could not let go, no matter what.

The person who once made her so obsessed, whom she loved to the point of being unable to extricate herself.

Was now protecting another girl right in front of her.

Shen Huai's gaze fell lightly onto Luo Xiaoya, his eyes full of deep meaning.

The next moment.

Luo Xiaoya stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor with a harsh sound.

The surrounding colleagues were all startled and looked toward her one after another.

"I... I suddenly have a stomachache, I'm going to the restroom." Luo Xiaoya squeezed these words out through her teeth, then fled the restaurant as if escaping. Watching Luo Xiaoya's retreating figure as she fled in a panic, a subtle arc curled at the corner of Shen Huai's mouth.

"……Team Leader Luo, wait for me, I'm going too."

Ai Xiaomei hurriedly stood up and chased after her in a panic, desperate to leave this place of social death.

The two who had previously been at daggers drawn, arguing incessantly over a man.

Had suddenly become grasshoppers on the same boat.

Who could have imagined that the final winner would be the innocent-looking Liu Shishi.

Watching the two Team Leaders flee in a panic, Liu Shishi looked worried: "You really made the Team Leader lose face this time; she must be very angry."

"Angry? Then let her be angry."

Shen Huai raised an eyebrow dismissively, his tone carrying a hint of disdain: "Anyway, I don't like her."

Shen Huai shifted his gaze away from Liu Shishi.

With a playful smile on his lips, he nonchalantly pulled out the chair next to Liu Shishi.

As if the heroic rescue just now was merely a trivial matter.

"……So, you heard it all……" Liu Shishi froze for a moment, then realized instantly, blushing as she lowered her head.

"Mm, I heard some of it."

Shen Huai sat in the chair, tidying up the takeout boxes: "I just didn't expect you to tell them so frankly about our past relationship."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Shishi's eyes suddenly filled with panic, and she hurriedly apologized to Shen Huai repeatedly.

"……I'm sorry, I'm sorry, doing this must have caused you a lot of trouble, right?"

"It's all my fault, I didn't consider things thoroughly…… What should I do? What do I do now?"

Liu Shishi looked anxious, apologizing while secretly glancing at Shen Huai's expression.

Shen Huai's movements paused for a second.

He hadn't expected that he had only said it casually, yet Liu Shishi would react so strongly. Watching Liu Shishi's panicked expression, like a startled little rabbit, Shen Huai sighed helplessly.

This girl, how is she still the same as before, not changed at all.

Whenever she encounters trouble, she hides in a deserted corner to cry.

Just because Ai Xiaomei held Liu Shishi's application for permanent employment, she felt as if she held her lifeline.

Someone who specifically picks on soft persimmons can only bully people like Liu Shishi.

"Alright, stop acting like an ostrich, burying your head all day long."

Shen Huai let out a soft breath and spoke solemnly: "I don't care at all what others say."

Hearing this.

Liu Shishi looked up, her palm-sized face full of unease: "But there is still Team Leader Luo; she doesn't seem to like you either, and she is the one who reviews contracts. If your Public Relations Department……"

Before Liu Shishi could finish, Shen Huai interrupted her: "I know her; even if she is angry, she won't make a joke of her work."

"Is that so? But what if……"

"There is no 'what if'."

Shen Huai tidied up the takeout boxes, turned his head to look at Liu Shishi, and his gaze became earnest: "Don't you think you always uncontrollably consider others, but never consider yourself?"

"... What?" Liu Shishi was stunned, unable to understand Shen Huai's meaning for a moment.

"I mean, look at your way of thinking; you are always habitually putting yourself in a low position, habitually catering to others, yet you forget that you are actually the person who needs to be loved."

Shen Huai's tone was calm, yet carried a touch of solemnity, "Harming your own body and trampling on your own dignity cannot trade for love; it can only trade for cheap sympathy and wanton mockery."

"I told you at the stairwell last time, you must first learn to love yourself before you can truly learn to love others."

In an instant.

Shen Huai's words were like a bolt of lightning.

They split open the fog that had always been in Liu Shishi's heart.

That's right.

Whether at school with roommates or at the company with colleagues, she was practically a sticky note in existence.

No matter what requests her colleagues had, she would agree to everything, big or small, out of a sense of obligation.

In the end, not only did no one respect her time, but they squeezed her even more unscrupulously.

"Shishi, could you please print this contract for me?"

"Shishi, can you go downstairs and pick up a document for me? Thanks."

"Shishi, go buy me a pack of tissues? I'll pay the errand fee."

Everyone treated her like a servant who could be summoned at will and dismissed at a wave, never once regarding her from the bottom of their hearts as a member of the New Media Department.

Liu Shishi had actually seen these truths clearly long ago.

But knowing it oneself and having it pointed out by someone else are completely different things.

Shen Huai pointed out Liu Shishi's state of mind in one sentence, completely tearing away the veil of shame she had tried to cover up.

"I..."

Liu Shishi opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Seeing this, Shen Huai knew this state could not be reversed overnight, so he changed to a relaxed tone and said: "This time today counts as the first counterattack I've helped you with."

"In the future, you must learn to follow your heart's desires; do whatever makes you happy."

"In short, just don't wrong yourself anymore, understand?"

Do whatever makes me happy?

Liu Shishi's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and a blush appeared on her cheeks involuntarily.

"What if the things I want to do don't get a response?" Liu Shishi asked, implying something.

"What is it that you want to do?"

Liu Shishi swallowed, took a deep breath, and her eyes were incomparably shy:

"I... I want to get back together with you."

"..."

The corners of Shen Huai's mouth twitched.

After all that talking, how did it turn into a love-struck brain?

I told you to persist in walking your own path, not to go further and further down the wrong road! (End of this chapter)