A barbecue lunch was enjoyed by Yang Chen, An Xin, and Hui Lin. They relished every bite, and Yang Chen felt more at home grilling than he ever did in an office. He even mused about asking Lin Ruoxi to abandon Yu Lei International and join him in selling lamb skewers at a market stall—though he knew such a dream was unlikely to come true.
Lin Ruoxi, however, found the meal tasteless. She recalled a novel she had read, where the heroine, a Ph.D. holder, married an officer. Due to their significant cultural differences, the heroine often found her husband vulgar yet couldn't bring herself to leave him. By the novel's end, despite her feelings, she hadn't divorced him, leaving her puzzled about what made her endure such a 'lowbrow' man.
At the time, Lin Ruoxi thought the heroine was contradictory. How could someone find their partner so insufferable yet refuse to leave? Now, she understood—romantic relationships are more complex than they seem, even to oneself.
