"Wen Yang, would you give up your job in Shenzhen for me?"
"You can break my heart, but you can't take my money! What do you say?"
But from that joke, Shen Qianyu really did break her heart, without taking a cent...
-- -- -- -- --
Wen Yang stood at the subway station exit, looking at the directions on her phone. The early spring breeze was still chilly, and she instinctively pulled her trench coat tighter around herself.
The map showed her destination was just five hundred meters ahead. She took a deep breath and walked toward the familiar place.
As she pushed open the cafe door, the wind chime rang out sweetly. Wen Yang looked around and quickly spotted him by the window. He was still as straight-backed as a pine, though a little thinner than she remembered.
She walked over and sat across from him.
"Long time no see." Shen Qianyu looked up. His eyes were still as dark as ink behind his glasses, but the warmth he'd once had was gone, replaced by a trace of distance.
Wen Yang felt her throat tighten. "Long time no see."
"I heard you're teaching nearby?"
"Yeah, I teach English."
Shen Qianyu nodded, his long fingers absentmindedly rubbing the rim of his coffee cup. "My cat... needs someone to look after it. Feed it every day and clean the litter box. It's an easy job. The pay is 500 yuan a day."
Wen Yang was stunned. That was an absurd amount to pay someone to look after a cat.
"Why me?" she asked, puzzled.
Shen Qianyu gazed out the window. "Because..." He paused. "Because you're the only person I know who'd be tempted by the money."
