One concern still lingered in Weiwei's mind after her conversation with Grandfather Feng: the story behind the supposed marriage arrangement between Qi and Ms. Wu.
Grandfather Feng had spoken of it as if it were a thing of the past. But he neither denied it nor clarified that the arrangement was now null and void.
The very fact that Qi had proposed to Weiwei and received his grandfather's blessing seemed to imply that both had moved on from the arrangement. Still, Weiwei wanted to know the details of what the arrangement was and when Grandfather Wu and Ms. Wu agreed to dissolve it.
Was that important? Weiwei couldn't quite decide.
Maybe I'm paranoid. Why do I even care about these details? Qi wants to marry me, that's all that matters. Grandfather Feng hadn't voiced a single objection from the moment he first heard about Qi's proposal. What else is there to say or do?
Still undecided, Weiwei hadn't asked Qi about the arrangement or what had happened with Ms. Wu since their last meeting at the restaurant.
Instead, Weiwei tried to focus on another priority: preparing Ruxuan and telling her about Qi. She knew she could wait no longer with Qi about to get back to the office.
Weiwei decided to spring the news during their next shopping / eating outing.
While Weiwei was getting ready to start her confession, Ruxuan preempted her with news of her own. Without beating around the bush, she confided into Weiwei that she started going out with Chengli.
Ruxuan seemed both excited and conflicted.
"Remember all our guesses about his car and his status?" she gushed. "You know what? We were right, his family's got money. He hasn't told me yet how much and where it comes from, but they must be pretty well-to-do. The boy doesn't need to work, that's for sure. It doesn't look like he needs to worry about money at all." She smiled. "He's been buying me pretty good presents," she wiggled her wrist to point out a new bracelet to Weiwei. "Do you know how much it cost?"
"No," chuckled Weiwei.
It turned out to be pretty easy to conquer Ruxuan. Or maybe it's just her first reaction. Only time would tell.
"And he didn't even blink," said Ruxuan, her eyes widening, filled with passion and excitement.
Weiwei found a good lead-in to her confession.
"So you're now dating a colleague,' she said, attempting to sound as neutral and non-judgmental as possible.
"I guess," shrugged Ruxuan. "Well, I haven't agreed to date him yet," she added, pointedly.
Weiwei smiled. "That's okay. I think Chengli's a good guy. I'd be more than happy to see you two date."
"Honestly?" Ruxuan looked up at Weiwei, her eyes hopeful and expectant.
"Absolutely," nodded Weiwei. "In fact, I've actually started dating a colleague myself."
Ruxuan's attention snapped to the last words Weiwei had said, and her jaw nearly dropped.
"You – what?"
"Well, a former colleague," Weiwei calmly corrected herself.
"You're dating?!" Ruxuan's eyes were sparkling. "When? Who? Why didn't you tell me?!"
This was the difficult part of the conversation that Weiwei had anticipated.
"I wanted to tell you, but there were reasons why it was very difficult to do," she said.
"Reasons?!" Ruxuan exclaimed. "You're so secretive, Weiwei! I told you about Chengli right away, didn't I? How could you hide this from me? Am I not your best friend?"
Almost word for word what I expected to hear, Ruxuan.
"Of course you are," she replied, smiling warmly. "But he just lost his job, and things were in limbo, so I really couldn't talk about it – please forgive me."
Ruxuan took a sip of latte, thinking.
"Wait a second," she said, suddenly alert again. "A colleague… and recently lost his job… He isn't from our department, is he?"
Weiwei shook her head. "No."
"Because the only man from our division who recently lost his job is Director Zhang."
Weiwei laughed. "No, not Director Zhang."
"Good," said Ruxuan. "Where does he work then?"
"In the Third Tower," said Weiwei looking into her cup.
"What? Come on, come on, tell me who he is, quickly!"
"I just want you to know that when we met, I didn't know who he was," Weiwei began. "We just met, really, by accident. So, please don't judge me."
Ruxuan was suddenly silent, stopped in her tracks.
Is she afraid to ask me now? What is she thinking about?
"All I want to say is that I never planned or wanted to date anyone of his status. If I had known who he was, I probably would have stayed away from him, to begin with. Do you believe me, Ruxuan?"
Ruxuan nodded, almost solemnly. "From what I've learned about you in the last little while, I'm sure that's true. So who is he?"
Weiwei tried to keep their gazes locked. "Vice President Feng."
She felt was a kaleidoscope of emotions running through Ruxuan: excitement, surprise, thrill, disbelief, concern. Ruxuan took a few moments before she responded.
She touched Weiwei's hand and said softly, almost pityingly: "Oh, Weiwei."