The car stopped right outside the hotel’s revolving door.
Zong Chi immediately placed the camellias he was holding into the trunk.
Fast forward to early winter, the wind already carried the chill of the deep cold.
He Dongli slightly tucked in her chin and watched as Zong Chi worked.
He wore a single-layer jacket.
After closing the trunk, he walked from the left side to the driver’s seat.
Through the car, he looked at He Dongli with slight confusion, seeing that she still hadn’t gotten in.
“What’s wrong?”
He Dongli took a step forward and opened the front passenger door.
She sat inside the car, turning her head to pull the seatbelt.
Someone sat down just a moment later.
He hadn’t brought anything with him, nor did he ask where she lived, only borrowing her phone to navigate.
Besides, it was clear he hadn’t driven in a long time—accustomed to manual gear shifts, he looked unsure of where to start.
He Dongli regretted impulsively agreeing to his request.
“No, I think I’ll just take a taxi.”
Zong Chi smoothly shifted gears and settled in, his hand resting on the gear lever.
Puzzled, he asked, “What, in a hurry to get back to the hospital?”
He Dongli didn’t let him confuse her with vague words.
She gave a friendly reminder, “Has your driver’s license expired? If you don’t drive often, better not to.”
“I don’t drive often doesn’t mean I can’t drive. What, you’re stricter than the traffic department now?”
Zong Chi shot back abruptly.
He Dongli was momentarily speechless.
He followed that barb with another, “I renewed mine five years ago, the year we broke up. It’s still valid. Want to see it?”
Hearing that, He Dongli turned her head and looked out the right window, wanting to correct him but giving up on his stubbornness.
Taking advantage of the moment while replying to a message from a colleague on duty, they both fell silent, each keeping to their own thoughts.
The car started away from the hotel, but the direction was completely opposite to where they intended.
He Dongli looked up, seeing him head south, and spoke up to stop him.
“Where are you going?”
“No idea.”
“You just stare at your phone and don’t give directions. What do you expect me to do?”
“Zong Chi, I’ve been standing all day. I don’t have time to stroll around a garden with you. Seriously—”
“I borrowed your phone for navigation the moment I got in, didn’t I?”
Zong Chi gripped the steering wheel with one hand, arguing with her, then rolled down the window.
Seeing the “U-turn allowed” sign on the median, he immediately turned left and headed back.
The car turned around.
Zong Chi tapped the central console, signaling her to put the phone on the holder.
He Dongli had no choice but to obey.
After all, he hadn’t returned here in years, and even if she gave him directions, he had no memory of the way.
The car heater was on full blast.
Throughout the drive, the female voice of the GPS repeatedly chimed in, interspersed with WeChat notifications popping up on He Dongli’s phone, stacking unread in the background.
Zong Chi reminded her to check them, but she replied it was fine—urgent matters would come as calls anyway.
As the car slowly advanced, Zong Chi nonchalantly asked, “What did that Yue person want from you?”
“Nothing.”
He Dongli was vague, only saying she had refused.
“If it’s not my business, I won’t take it on. If it is, I won’t shirk it either.”
Zong Chi snorted coldly but agreed.
“You also haven’t been close enough with Liang Jianxing.”
He Dongli glanced at him.
Zong Chi looked straight ahead and added, “If you were closer, you’d even take a taxi over there!”
“Medical disputes are tense enough as it is. If it can be settled by registering, don’t say a word outside. But I know you—studying medicine to cure disease, curing disease to solve problems, not to empathize. Empathy without ability is just misplaced emotion.”
He Dongli heard this but didn’t elaborate.
It was obvious someone had already known everything before she even went downstairs at the hotel.
“The camellias in the trunk—are they your reward for coming tonight?”
Zong Chi asked again.
He Dongli closed her eyes briefly.
There was nothing she couldn’t say.
“It was on the night I went on that blind date. I looked a few extra times at their garden balcony. He thought I really liked it.”
Zong Chi’s indifferent sarcasm, “Oh? If you don’t like it, why bother looking?”
He had said the same before.
He Dongli moved back to S City at thirteen with her mother for school.
Although her father had passed away, Yu Xiaohan and her sister-in-law remained on good terms.
Her cousin He Dongsheng came all the way from Nancheng during his college graduation trip to visit He Dongli, accompanied by Shen Mingchong.
He Dongsheng brought lots of food for He Dongli—some of it was spoiled by the time she got it, but she still tried some out of gratitude, lamenting how delicious it was despite that.
Shen Mingchong teased her for being silly.
They hadn’t seen each other for two years, and he complimented how much she had grown.
That time, He Dongli accompanied them to tour all around S City.
He Dongsheng and Shen Mingchong realized she wasn’t very familiar with the city.
Before they left, He Dongli saw them off, tearing up as she asked if He Dongsheng would study there.
He Dongsheng hugged her, seeing through her unhappiness.
“Are you getting picked on at the Xu Family? If things don’t work out, call your aunt, and we’ll take you back.”
He Dongli shook her head, saying she was fine, and that her life was better than theirs.
Not long after, He Dongsheng called her, telling her he didn’t do well on the college entrance exam and couldn’t go there.
Shen Mingchong did better and, if all went as expected, would be closer to her.
During the four years Shen Mingchong studied in A City, he often visited He Dongli, always bringing things for her from He Dongsheng.
He Dongli’s first iPhone was jointly bought by Shen Mingchong and He Dongsheng.
Shen Mingchong said, “He Dongsheng paid more, but he’s your official brother and richer than me. This is to celebrate your good grades, He Dongli. Your scores could crush the men in the He Family Ancestral Hall for decades.”
That phone’s final fate was to be smashed to bits by Zong Chi.
He didn’t know that the old phone his girlfriend had carried for years was a gift from Shen Mingchong.
When Zong Chi confronted He Dongli, asking what she was thinking, she was already tired of their endless quarrels.
She didn’t see timely damage control as coldness in Zong Chi’s eyes.
Clearly, they just weren’t suited for each other.
Zong Chi always made things difficult for her.
He asked, “Then who are you suited for? That Shen guy?”
He Dongli was too weary to respond to his nonsense.
That quarrel ended badly.
He flew off to Singapore immediately.
They barely spoke for nearly a month.
On his birthday, He Dongli called him—carefully timed—but it went to voicemail.
She sent him a message with a photo of a homemade orange cake.
That day, Shen Mingchong was on a business trip to Shanghai.
He had recently lost his father.
He Dongli learned this from He Dongsheng.
She was off half a day and Shen Mingchong called her.
They ate at a nearby Chinese restaurant.
Shen Mingchong mentioned he was getting engaged—a family arrangement.
They planned to hold it before his father passed, but his father’s condition deteriorated quickly.
Shen Mingchong drank heavily that day.
At first, He Dongli didn’t stop him because she understood the pain of losing a father. But then his unruly behavior became hard to handle.
He said he didn’t plan to send He Dongli an invitation.
She tried to say she had a few days off during the holidays.
Shen Mingchong shook his head, “No, it’s not that you’re busy. I just don’t want you to come. Because I’m afraid I’ll regret it.”
He Dongli sat embarrassed, unsure what to say.
Then Shen Mingchong asked, “He Dongli, your brother told me you and your boyfriend aren’t getting along well…”
He Dongli immediately stood, hastily denying it.
“Whether we get along is my business. I’m not anyone’s excuse for hesitation or indecision.”
She left the restaurant.
Shen Mingchong sobered up, caught up with her, and repeatedly apologized.
He Dongli was determined to leave, but Shen Mingchong suddenly broke down, “He Dongli, yes, I like you. I’ve known your brother for years, so I’ve known you for years too. Even your brother sees through it, but you don’t. You’re so beautiful and outstanding, yet you’re so far from me. I came here just for you, and I was about to muster the courage to confess, but you suddenly started dating someone else—someone so high-profile and well-backed.”
“I have no reason not to give up. But anyone with eyes can see you and that person are not right for each other, right? Even with the Xu Family’s backing, you’re still nowhere near on the same level. He Dongli, whether someone is happy alone is not something only they know.”
“Sorry, I lied to you. I wasn’t planning to get engaged to someone else because I don’t like her. I don’t want to force myself to date her when all I think about is…”
Before Shen Mingchong could finish, Zong Chi suddenly punched him hard.
As Zong Chi was about to throw another punch, He Dongli desperately stopped him, shouting his name, more out of reluctance than anger.
She couldn’t bear to see Shen Mingchong, who had grown up with her, hurt like this.