Although she had agreed to the experiment, Yu Ning remained skeptical.

Ling Wangjin released her hands, then took them again, guiding her palms to cup his face. “Please, give me a little trust.”

Yu Ning looked down. From this angle, his eyelashes were so thick they looked like a line drawn across his lids, and when he tilted his head up, his eyes seemed to hold a hook, reflecting the light.

Yu Ning turned her head away, slightly avoiding his gaze, and gave a half-hearted, “Mm.”

Ling Wangjin rubbed his cheek against her palm and did not press further. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

Yu Ning let out a sigh of relief. “I want to eat your cooking.”

“Alright.” He let go and stood up. “I’m going to take a shower first.”

In the time that followed, Yu Ning prepared to think things through properly on her own.

Ling Wangjin walked a few steps away, then turned back.

“I bought the cloud bath bomb you mentioned. Want to join me?”

Yu Ning remembered the rainbow bubbles she had seen online when a bath bomb was dropped into a tub, then looked at his crisp, well-fitted shirt.

“…You wait for me to get ready.”

As it turned out, what with taking a shower and bickering while making dinner, it wasn’t until she was in bed that Yu Ning suddenly remembered she had meant to think things through.

She pondered for a while, but a strong wave of drowsiness hit her. Her eyelids struggled, but she couldn’t resist, and she slowly drifted into a dream.

She regained consciousness amidst the sound of typing on a keyboard. However, the sounds felt as if they were muffled by a layer of something; they weren’t loud, but they traveled directly into her mind.

Yu Ning realized belatedly that she was dreaming.

She hadn’t had a dream in a while, so she immediately perked up.

It must be said that these dreams were completely different from the ones she used to have. Not only could she retain her ability to think within the dream, but she could also observe her surroundings, and she wouldn’t forget them upon waking.

Yu Ning used to find it strange, but this time, she didn’t know if it was due to those few things Ling Wangjin had said, but she couldn’t help but ponder the source of these dreams and whether they were real or fake.

Unable to make sense of it, she simply pushed the thought aside and began to observe the dream.

In the dream, Ling Wangjin was typing. Yu Ning peered closely at the computer screen.

It was an email interface, and he was writing an email.

In the recipient field, it was a corporate email address, and among the long string of characters, Yu Ning saw the pinyin for Lao San’s name.

Yu Ning recalled that Lao San had mentioned he had sent her an email.

In the past, her dreams had always been about things that might happen in the future; this was the first time she had dreamt of something that had already occurred.

Yu Ning looked at the body of the email.

He had already typed out a few lines.

[Ms. Qin Wen, hello. I am Ningning’s boyfriend.]

It’s written quite formally, like an official document between businesses, Yu Ning thought.

[I apologize for the intrusion. To avoid any misunderstandings, I found your corporate email address on your company’s official website. I hope this does not interfere with your work, but I have been very troubled by issues regarding Ningning lately and would like to seek your advice. Please forgive me.]

Yu Ning quickly scanned through several paragraphs of pleasantries. As Ling Wangjin reached this point, his typing speed gradually slowed, as if he were deep in thought.

[Ningning hasn’t been in a good mood lately. I have asked her for the reason, but she is unwilling to elaborate. Judging by her tone, I suspect it might be related to you. I am unsure what happened to cause you to distance yourself from her.]

The typing stopped there again. Yu Ning looked down at his fingers on the keyboard.

Then, she saw a piece of paper placed to one side of the keyboard.

Only half of the paper entered this first-person field of vision.

Yu Ning tried her best to look.

There was writing on the paper. She saw Qin Wen’s name, followed by a few words.

Hotel, bruised self-esteem, distancing…

There was a checkmark after these words, but a cross had been drawn after the checkmark.

The fingers on the keyboard moved again, and new text appeared in the email.

[Is it because of me? I have reflected carefully on the time you came to Echeng. It seems I did not host you well. I had intended to treat you to another meal outside of the hotel. Next time you come to Echeng, please let me know in advance. I heard you are quite fond of salmon; would you have any interest in Omakase?]

Seeing the word Omakase, Yu Ning felt something was off.

She hadn’t eaten Omakase; mostly because she wasn’t interested in raw food, but she had seen related videos online. In short, it could be summed up in one word: expensive.

Even though the wording in the email was extremely polite and courteous.

Eerily, she felt a trace of malice coming from the email.

Yu Ning had some understanding of what kind of personality Lao San had.

Even when Ling Wangjin had subtly offered to pull strings for her, she hadn’t agreed immediately. Furthermore, judging by the content of the email that Lao San had mentioned during their WeChat calls, it seemed Ling Wangjin also understood her personality.

So, what was the meaning of him writing this in the dream?

Yu Ning felt a bit angry, and she remembered that Lao San had said she would forward Ling Wangjin’s email to her. Earlier, because she had asked for the email right in front of him, she felt it would hurt his feelings, and coupled with the fact that Lao San didn’t sound like she was hiding anything, Yu Ning hadn’t insisted on her forwarding it.

It seems there are some things I really do need to see, Yu Ning thought.

She continued to read on.

Ling Wangjin did not continue typing; he sent the email directly.

At this point, Yu Ning realized that the events in the dream were different from reality.

Before she could think through the differences, she suddenly felt her limbs becoming heavy. She had felt light, as if floating in the sky, but now she was sinking.

Yu Ning realized she was about to wake up.

Not long after, Yu Ning opened her eyes.

A streak of pale yellow sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains. Along with the purring of her cat, she lay in bed, blinking slowly a few times before pushing herself up to a sitting position.

She sat on the bed, continuing the thoughts from her dream, but her mind was blank. She turned her head to look beside her; it was empty.

Ling Wangjin had long since gone to work.

In the past, when he was at his most clingy, he would have wanted to move his computer home to work remotely, but it was Yu Ning who had felt she couldn’t take it and chased him back to the office.

Although he wasn’t there, a Pikachu-shaped sticker had been left on the bedside table.

Only one line of text was written on the sticker—Don’t order takeout tonight; you’ve been eating a lot of it lately. Wait for me to come home and cook!

Yu Ning paused, pulled her charging phone from the bedside table, and opened WeChat.

Lao San had forwarded the email quite quickly and had even called her.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Yu Ning: “Nothing much, I just wanted to see it.”

She clicked open the email.

The initial two paragraphs of pleasantries were about the same…

Yu Ning quickly scanned through them. “San-zai, what do you think after seeing this email?”

San-zai: “It’s so cheesy. And that bit about him being ‘deliberately clingy’—it made me feel so awkward.”

[Is it because of me? I admit that I was once jealous of your relationship. During the days you visited, she didn’t come home, and I was burning with jealousy, thinking I had to do something to prevent you two from being so close. That’s why I might have been deliberately clingy when I treated you to dinner.]

[I didn’t expect that it would truly cause you two to drift apart… Seeing Ningning’s sad expression, I thought to myself, what is the point of all this fighting?]

Seeing this, Yu Ning froze.

It was different from the dream.

Then, she saw the final sentence, the same one she had heard from Lao San’s mouth.

[I know that you, Lao San, are very talented and do not want to take the back door, wanting to rely on your own ability to make a name for yourself. However, Ningning likes you very much. Although I felt some jealousy in my heart, I also hope Ningning can get what she wishes. Would it be possible to invite you to come to Echeng to work?]

Lao San: “I’m telling you, are you a little bit distrustful of him?”

Seeing this, Yu Ning wavered.