If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The First Day

Outside the top floor of a G City hotel, skyscrapers stood tall, neon lights overflowing. Looking down, the traffic flowed endlessly, a bustling cityscape at night. However, the current occupant of the suite had no interest in appreciating the view.

Inside the room, only the rapid tapping of a keyboard could be heard.

“These two algorithms won't work. Running them for a long time will drag down the main system. They need to be rewritten,” the person sitting at the hotel desk said, fingers flying across the laptop keyboard, head slightly tilted, speaking into her headset.

She was dressed simply in a round-neck white T-shirt and grey sweatpants, with hotel slippers on her feet. Her hair was haphazardly tied up in a bun, and her face was fair and delicate. At first glance, she looked like an ordinary university student, with nothing to indicate her true identity.

The worn black computer bag casually thrown on the desk clashed with the luxurious and spacious study.

An hour later.

After finishing all her work, Cheng Liu finally leaned back heavily. She took off her headset and threw it on the desk, closing her eyes and pressing her temples firmly.

Staring at the computer all day had strained her eyes.

Just then, a buzzing vibration came from her backpack.

Cheng Liu opened her eyes and instinctively looked at her phone to the right of the computer, which was still off. Then she remembered she had another, personal phone.

Reaching for her backpack, Cheng Liu pulled out a white phone. As expected, there was an incoming call.

The caller ID: [Wang Haiyang]

Staring at the name for a few seconds, Cheng Liu finally dredged up the caller's identity from her mind full of program code.

—Her boyfriend of six months.

Cheng Liu swiped her thumb to the right to answer the call: “Hello.”

“Twenty-three days! If I don't contact you, you really won’t contact me?” A magnetic male voice questioned angrily from the other end.

Cheng Liu responded without hesitation, “I’ve just been too busy lately. I was just thinking about you.” Thinking about who he was, that is.

“You clearly forgot you even have a boyfriend!” He was very angry.

Cheng Liu felt a fleeting pang of guilt. She had indeed forgotten about his existence.

Six months ago, at a banquet, she had fallen in love with this boyfriend at first sight and had gone straight over to ask him if he wanted to date. Tall and beautiful, although dressed like she had wandered into the banquet by mistake, he had only hesitated for a day before agreeing.

However, after getting him, Cheng Liu didn't know why she suddenly lost the initial spark and quickly lost interest in him. Coupled with the fact that she had been traveling for work in the past few months, they hadn’t seen each other for about three months, and Cheng Liu had completely forgotten about him.

Cheng Liu struggled to recall scenes of them together, then changed the subject: “Have you eaten? I'll order you some takeout.”

She was all the way in G City, ordering takeout for her boyfriend in S City.

Cheng Liu thought she was being incredibly thoughtful.

She had learned this trick from business partners in her early days. Back then, to promote her AI system, Cheng Liu often dealt with various partners.

Subtly, she had picked up many interpersonal skills from those middle-aged men. For example, when pursuing someone, one must send gifts, and when appeasing someone, one must pay attention to details.

So, on the first day of pursuing her boyfriend, she had given him an expensive tie.

Sure enough, he had agreed to date her after a brief hesitation.

However, today, this thoughtful method of ordering takeout seemed to be less effective.

“It’s 11:30 pm now. I never eat late at night!” He sounded even angrier. “I need to maintain my figure.”

Cheng Liu vaguely recalled that he was a model, so she said, “Then go to bed early. I'll order myself some takeout. I’m hungry.”

The person on the other end: “…”

Cheng Liu put the call on speaker, switched to another app, and quickly ordered some takeout.

At this moment, the voice on the other end suddenly lowered: “Have our feelings faded?”

As Cheng Liu scrolled through the app, she thought absently: Were their feelings ever that deep to begin with?

Although they started dating six months ago, Cheng Liu had always been too busy. The number of times they’d been together could be counted on one hand.

“I still remember the night we first met,” the voice on the other end said wistfully. “Are you annoyed with me now?”

Cheng Liu stuffed her laptop into her backpack, got up and walked out of the study. Listening to the complaining voice on the phone, she couldn't help but recall the fleeting glance at the banquet.

Although their relationship hadn't been deep from the start, still…

Cheng Liu had to admit, her boyfriend had a good-looking face, especially his profile. So much so that she was reluctant to break up with him for now.

Besides…a few business partners had been gossiping about her love life recently, trying to introduce their sons or relatives to her.

Having a boyfriend as a shield was quite convenient.

Cheng Liu recalled the feeling of falling in love with her boyfriend at first sight at the banquet. Her interest piqued slightly, and she decided to maintain the relationship for a while longer.

“How could our feelings fade? I’m just too busy.” As Cheng Liu spoke, she tapped on her WeChat. “I’ve sent you a red envelope. Don’t overthink things. Go to bed early. I'll be back next month.”

“Why are you sending a red envelope…” The voice on the other end softened a little, then became slightly distant, presumably because he had picked up his phone to check WeChat.

Cheng Liu kept the call on speaker, looking down at her WeChat. Sure enough, the transfer was accepted a second later.

She saw the words “typing…” appear several times under his name, then he said somewhat unhappily, “What am I supposed to do with this little bit of money? My daily allowance is more than this.”

Cheng Liu frowned upon hearing this: “You’re still young. Save your money. You’ll need to buy a house in the future.”

“…With S City’s housing prices, I can’t afford it as a small-time model.”

Cheng Liu didn’t pick up on the hint in his words, instead saying profoundly, “Young people need to have dreams. Like me, I own a house in S City at a young age.”

“Not everyone is as capable as you.” There was a hint of gritted teeth in his voice.

“That’s true.” Cheng Liu offered kind advice. “But you still need to save money. Take on more gigs. Earn well while you’re young.”

The person on the other end’s face twisted slightly. ‘Gigs’ had a derogatory connotation of desperation, something used to describe those small-time, struggling models! She actually used that word to describe him!

“Okay, you go to bed early. My takeout is here.” Cheng Liu said goodnight and hung up, opening the door to get her food. She tended to forget everything around her when she worked and had only had a bottle of water all day.

After getting her takeout, Cheng Liu searched for return flights and sent a screenshot to her boyfriend.

The screenshot clearly showed her return time: April 1st, three days later.

Cheng Liu assumed he would notice and come to pick her up.

During the first three months of their relationship, she had also traveled for work a few times. After asking about her return time, he would take the initiative to pick her up.

However, Cheng Liu disliked being picked up. She felt he was intruding on her work domain, so she stopped telling him her return times.

This time, by informing him of her return time and implying her willingness to be picked up, Cheng Liu felt she was making a significant sacrifice to maintain their relationship.

However, after hanging up, the man on the other end threw his phone onto the sofa with a dark and unpleasant expression, not noticing the picture Cheng Liu sent later. Nine hundred and ninety-nine! That stingy woman, Cheng Liu, only sent a red envelope of 999. Did she think she was being romantic?

Who would have thought that the founder of Shenyin Technology couldn't even bear to send him, her boyfriend, 9,999? The man on the sofa thought carefully and suddenly realized that among all the gifts Cheng Liu had sent, only the tie was worth over a thousand. His face darkened instantly. How could there be such a stingy woman? Clearly a tech nouveau riche, her net worth had skyrocketed in recent years. Yet, in the six months they'd been dating, she had spent less than ten thousand on him!

The women who had pursued him before had all been generous.

However…Cheng Liu was indeed different from other women. She was the wealthiest person he had ever been with, and Shenyin Technology seemed to be expanding. Giving up on her would be a pity. The man’s mood calmed somewhat. He picked up his phone again. Cheng Liu’s message was hidden among the numerous unread messages on WeChat. He clicked open the picture she sent, glanced at it without paying much attention, then immediately switched to another chat, actively replying to a girl he had recently met.

He had to have a backup plan, and start by getting something from other women.

…

At noon on April 1st, Cheng Liu hurriedly packed her luggage from the hotel and rushed to the airport, boarding the flight back to S City.

Cheng Liu took out her eye mask from her backpack, put it on, and began to rest.

She had only slept at 3 am and had visited a business partner's R&D lab that morning. She needed to catch up on sleep.

“I’ll be at S City airport in two hours.”

Before the plane took off, Cheng Liu suddenly heard the person next to her speaking. It was a young woman's voice.

…She had forgotten to take out her earplugs as well, and her backpack was already stowed away. Cheng Liu hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she didn't move and didn’t bother asking the flight attendant for a pair. So, the voice next to her continued to drift over.

“You didn't come to my birthday party last time… I don’t want gifts.”

“I'll go straight home later. Aunt Yun has been wanting the lily-of-the-valley you're growing.”

“Can you come to the airport? We can go together.”

Cheng Liu listened to the entire phone call with her eyes closed. Fortunately, the other party didn’t make any more noise afterwards.

Once the plane reached a stable altitude, Cheng Liu felt for the button beside her, lay flat, and fell fast asleep.

She wasn’t woken up until the plane was about to land.

Cheng Liu drowsily pulled off her eye mask, straightened her seat, and rubbed her face, finally somewhat awake.

More than ten minutes later, the plane landed at S City Airport.

As she disembarked, Cheng Liu happened to see the young woman from the seat next to her. She was wearing sunglasses and a mask, with long, wavy hair cascading down her back. Clad in a black halter neck dress, her figure alone was dazzling.

The young woman suddenly took off her sunglasses and mask, smoothing her hair. The surrounding area became slightly agitated with whispers, and a name occasionally emerged from the murmurs.

Probably some celebrity.

Carrying her black computer bag and pulling her suitcase, this thought quickly crossed Cheng Liu’s mind.

However, Cheng Liu wasn't interested in celebrities. She followed the flow of people, striding outwards.

Cheng Liu's suitcase was small enough to carry on, so she didn’t need to collect baggage. The female celebrity, who did have checked luggage, gradually fell behind her.

But before she turned to exit, the phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated. It was a call from her company’s chief assistant.

Cheng Liu slowed down, pulling her suitcase with one hand: “What’s up?”

“There's a quarterly summary meeting at the company this afternoon. Do you want to attend?” The chief assistant asked. “But it might run a bit long. You might not make it to your date tonight.”

Date?

Oh, she had made a restaurant reservation yesterday, planning to take her boyfriend to dinner tonight to reconnect.

Cheng Liu immediately said, “Postpone the date…”

At this moment, she had reached the airport exit. Looking up, she suddenly saw her tall and handsome boyfriend in the crowd.

Despite the throngs of people at the airport exit, Cheng Liu spotted him at once.

He stood straight, his hair and skin tone a stark contrast of black and white. His features were aloof and cool, with a straight nose and red lips, like a painting in ink and wash, a blend of light and heavy colors.

Amidst the bustling crowd, he was surrounded by an indescribable air of hazy detachment.

Cheng Liu's heart, usually focused on work, suddenly began to race uncontrollably, just like the feeling of that first glance at the banquet six months ago.

Cheng Liu thought: After a few months apart, her boyfriend had become even more handsome. Standing in the crowd, he practically glowed.

Cheng Liu immediately began to reflect on why she hadn’t contacted him more. Actually…she could have made the time.

At this point, the chief assistant on the other end naturally continued, “Since the date is postponed, I’ll add your name to the meeting.”

Looking at her handsome boyfriend, Cheng Liu struggled to divide her attention: “No.”

The chief assistant was so surprised that she didn’t react for a moment: “What?”

“Postponing the date won’t work.” Cheng Liu quickly reversed her original decision. “You guys have the meeting. Just leave the summary report in my office.”

Without waiting for a response, Cheng Liu hung up the phone.

She didn’t understand.

How could she have found such a handsome boyfriend annoying?

It must have been the complicated work of the past few months clouding her judgment. But now, it should still be possible to mend things.

So, Cheng Liu dragged her suitcase, with a touch of guilt and a lot of longing, and strode towards her boyfriend.

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