TYRPSM Chapter28

Over the next few days, Nie Yunshen gave Shu An the cold shoulder. Even on New Year’s Day, when Shu An sent a short video to wish him a happy New Year, he barely acknowledged it and only replied with a cold and detached, “Oh.”

Though he did watch that thirty-second video dozens of times.

Shu An sat leaning against a sofa by the large floor-to-ceiling window of his Tokyo hotel with a gentle smile playing on his lips as he took a moment out of his busy schedule to browse Nie Yunshen’s social media updates from the seven or eight days of the Spring Festival. Aside from sunlight and waves, most of the posts featured silhouettes of two elderly people with hands held together or two sets of footprints walking side by side on the beach. Set against a resplendent tropical sunset, an elderly gentleman standing tall clasped the hand of the elderly lady at his side, while the sun dipping upon the sea traced their silhouettes in a radiant, soft glow.

He gave the photo a like, then opened their chat interface and asked Nie Yunshen, “Was the trip smooth? Are you home yet?”

Then a voice message came back quickly. Nie Yunshen’s lazy voice drifted through the phone, sounding utterly exhausted.

“Just drop Emperor Father and Empress Mother off at their door. I’m in the car back to Fenghua Li… fuck, I’m so tired. The holiday is over in the blink of an eye, ahhhhh…”

Shu An: “Poor thing. Go back, take a bath, and get to sleep early.”

Nie Yunshen sent him a crying chibi animal emoji, and Shu An replied with a matching hug emoji of two little creatures clinging to each other in the snow. A question from Nie Yunshen then popped up on the screen.

Nie Yunshen: When are you coming back?

Shu An: Hard to say. I’ve hit a rather troublesome bottleneck. I’ll try to make it back before the Lantern Festival to spend the rest of the year with you.

Nie Yunshen: Sure… wait, isn’t that a bit ambiguous ?

Shu An smiled. Twilight was deepening outside the window, and the city lights began to spread from the ground to the sky like scattered stars. At the edge of the deep blue horizon stood the brilliant, glowing Tokyo Tower. He brought the phone close to his lips and spoke into the microphone: “There’s no ambiguity. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

The exhausted Nie Yunshen, sitting in the passenger seat of a taxi, felt a wave of warmth and tingling sensation wash over him. After a moment, with an uncontrollable smile, he tapped out a default system emoji.

He sent back a little yellow kissing face, blowing a kiss across mountains, seas, and rivers to that incredibly cheesy “big baby” of his.

On the first day back to work after the Lunar New Year, the vast majority of Bank F’s employees returned on time. Although Nie Yunshen was still officially single, his popularity and recent promotion meant he was well-prepared for the “perils” of the first day back. He had readied hundreds of red envelopes yet even those couldn’t hold back the pack of “hungry wolves” among his subordinates. They came in wave after wave to give him New Year greetings; some crafty ones even showed up two or three times, like Du Cheng, who snuck in and swiped two envelopes.

The second time Du Cheng appeared, Nie Yunshen was quick enough to grab him by the back of his collar before grinding his teeth menacingly. “Director Du, is it really appropriate for a big-shot head of the Business Department like you to fish in troubled waters like this?”

According to Southern customs, only married people were expected to hand out New Year red envelopes to those who were single. While there was no issue with Nie Yunshen giving envelopes to his subordinates, Du Cheng was essentially his peer. It was one thing to tolerate him taking one but coming back for a second was crossing the line!

Du Cheng turned around with a loud laugh, first stuffing the shiny red envelope into his chest pocket to signal his absolute refusal to return it. Then, with a cheeky grin, he leaned close. “You’re off the market now, shouldn’t you celebrate? You got promoted and haven’t even treated me to dinner yet, two red envelopes are barely anything. Do you want me to throw in a fresh, unexpected surprise for free?”

Nie Yunshen froze. Sure enough, he received a very surprising piece of news from Du Cheng.

Last year, the performance of Bank F’s entire South China region was outstanding. The special commendations submitted to the overseas headquarters had just been approved with a group of people being rewarded with a seven-day trip to Hokkaido. Both Nie Yunshen and Du Cheng were on the list. After a Spring Festival break that was equal parts tiring and relaxing, this entirely leisure-focused itinerary felt like an adrenaline boost, set for just a week later.

However, right up until he boarded the plane, Nie Yunshen didn’t tell Shu An he was going to Japan. He quietly studied the schedule himself and discovered he could easily clear two days for free time. After checking the Shinkansen schedules, he decided that a four-hour train ride was barely tolerable. He figured he would wait to see the group’s dynamic and his own mood; if he was feeling up for it, he might consider giving Shu An a surprise.

Sitting next to him was Du Cheng. The cabin broadcast had already begun announcing the closing of the doors, yet this guy was still sending voice messages to his girlfriend, trying to confirm if the limited-edition bag she wanted had a gold or silver chain. Seeing the flight attendants start their safety checks and unable to wait for a reply, Du Cheng let out a string of smacking kiss sounds and said mushily, “If you’re really torn, just buy both! I’m turning my phone off now, see ya, love you! Miss you!”

Nie Yunshen vigorously rubbed at the invisible goosebumps on his arms!