Online Love, Based on the Real Object - Chapter 23

After the weekend, Qi Ning returned to work and immediately noticed a brown paper gift bag on her desk with the words “souvenir” printed on it. Inside were some pastries.

She wondered who had left it there. Just then, Ding Heguang came in to deliver some documents, so she casually asked, “Who brought this?”

“It’s from General Manager You. Everyone in the department got one.”

Qi Ning nodded, thinking she should go thank You Man later.

After organizing the documents Ding Heguang had brought, she went next door for a meeting with You Man to report on last month’s work progress.

You Man’s attitude was so normal that Qi Ning almost forgot about the little incident in the parking lot after work last Friday.

When the meeting ended, Qi Ning didn’t leave right away. Noticing an extra bag on the desk, she smiled politely and asked, “Did you go on a trip over the weekend, General Manager You?”

“Yeah, just visited some nearby cities and checked out a few popular spots. Walked so much my feet hurt,” You Man replied, then asked, “How was your weekend?”

“Oh? It was good.”

You Man smiled, stood up, and handed her the extra bag from the desk. “I have one more of these. No point letting it sit here—you can give it to someone else.”

Qi Ning was surprised. Meeting You Man’s sincere gaze, she thought the woman was actually quite nice and didn’t refuse. “Well, since I’m taking your gift, how about I treat you to a casual meal?”

“Hmm…” You Man thought for a moment, then grinned. “Sure.”

She agreed readily, and they quickly settled on dinner the following evening. Since Qi Ning had no plans, she accepted.

The souvenirs You Man had bought were handmade and wouldn’t last long. After work, Qi Ning decided to take hers to Chu Yunjing as thanks for hosting her over the weekend.

Chu Yunjing’s office building was in the same business district but quite far away. With rush hour traffic, it took Qi Ning half an hour to drive there.

After signing in at the lobby, she took the elevator to the 17th floor. As the doors opened, the company’s logo came into view.

The main door was closed, and though the lights were on, the reception desk was empty—everyone had already left for the day.

Qi Ning entered the passcode to open the door. Since she’d given Chu Yunjing a heads-up, she headed straight for her office.

The hallway was deserted, the overhead lights and office lamps turned off. Only the dim glow from the windows at either end illuminated the space.

When she reached the office at the end, Qi Ning knocked twice. Hearing no response, she pushed the door open.

The room was empty and dark, but the small conference room inside was lit, its blinds open. From her angle, Qi Ning could see several people sitting inside, clearly in a meeting.

She flicked on the office lights, and the sudden brightness drew the attention of those inside—including Chu Yunjing.

From a distance, their eyes met, and Qi Ning waved.

After a while, the conference room door opened, and Chu Yunjing stepped out, followed by the others. They exchanged brief greetings before leaving.

Seeing the exhaustion on Chu Yunjing’s face, Qi Ning poured her a cup of tea and asked with concern, “Rough meeting?”

“Not really.” Chu Yunjing leaned back on the sofa, massaging her temples with her index finger. “The office lease is about to expire. I’m considering whether to renew or relocate. Just now when discussing this, the team couldn’t agree.”

Qi Ning took a sip of tea. “What are your concerns?”

Chu Yunjing straightened up to look at her. Childhood friends indeed—she always got straight to the point.

“The company keeps growing. I want to move to a standalone office building—it would make operations easier.” She paused. “But there aren’t any available rentals nearby. Other good options either have outrageous agency fees or are too remote, making commutes difficult for everyone.”

Finding a new home was troublesome enough—hunting for office space mid-year made it even harder to secure suitable options.

“I’ll keep an eye out for you,” Qi Ning offered, recalling some office building design projects from her past work, though prospects seemed slim.

Chu Yunjing suddenly changed topics. “How’s your apartment hunt going?”

Qi Ning shook her head. “Rents are generally too high.”

“…Then just move in with me,” Chu Yunjing said. “The guest room just needs tidying up and a dressing table—it’ll be ready to live in.”

Originally, staying at Chu Yunjing’s place had been an offhand remark. But with less than a month left on her lease and no suitable alternatives, Qi Ning couldn’t be bothered to keep searching.

They agreed she’d move in after the National Day holiday when her contract expired.

After chatting awhile, Chu Yunjing noticed the gift bag on the table. “What’s this for?”

“Oh, this.” Qi Ning pulled the bag closer. “My boss gave out extras—she gave me two and told me to share. You can have it.”

Chu Yunjing’s gaze turned knowing. “A man?”

“…” Qi Ning rolled her eyes. “A woman!”

Chu Yunjing made an acknowledging sound but didn’t tease further, taking the bag to the storage cabinet by the tea station.

She opened the cabinet door one-handed. Inside were various items—tea leaves, coffee beans, bread—and now a new addition. She placed Qi Ning’s gift bag inside, lining it up beside another. As she withdrew her hand, she paused, then adjusted one bag so they sat neatly together.

Only then did she notice both bags bore the same logo, though in different colors. The coincidence surprised her briefly before she shut the cabinet door.

“Let’s go grab dinner.”

They ate a simple meal at a local restaurant before heading home separately.

Qi Ning’s first priority upon returning was a shower.

Freshly washed, she towel-dried her hair and grabbed her phone from the table, curling into the sofa.

After staying out late yesterday and working all day, only now did she finally have downtime.

She checked WeChat, replied to a few messages, then opened [ZuiRe].

Almost purposefully, she navigated straight to Yun Yu’s chat log to check if she was online.

She’d logged in earlier too—Yun Yu hadn’t been active then.

But now, in the evening, she was online.

Seemed Yun Yu was also busy with work during the day, just like her.

Qi Ning opened the chat window, fingers typing a line in the message box.

She’d intended a normal greeting—asking if she’d eaten dinner—but staring at the words, she reconsidered and deleted them.

After pondering for a moment, her fingers moved as she typed a line of text.

70: Yun Yu Yun Yu, I’m Wu Shan~

Just as she was about to hit send, she hesitated.

Would Yun Yu dislike her joking around with a nickname like this…?

But a stiff greeting seemed too ordinary, no different from anyone else. She wanted to stand out a little.

After wavering for a long time, Qi Ning instead opened Baidu and searched for a “All the other kids have gone home” phone call meme, saving it to her phone.

Then she opened a photo-editing app, removed the original text, and added her own line.

Once satisfied, she sent the custom meme.

From confirming Yun Yu was online to sending the meme, she had dawdled for nearly half an hour…

70: Yun Yu Yun Yu, I’m Wu Shan, are you there?.jpg

The originally dry and stiff text now looked quite cute with the meme. Even if it was slightly offensive, maybe its cuteness would soften the blow?

Qi Ning waited a while, but Yun Yu hadn’t replied yet. She got up to pour herself a glass of orange juice, thinking she’d watch a couple of TV episodes if there was still no reply by the time she got back.

[Zui Re] The worst chat experience is when message notifications are completely random—sometimes a pop-up appears, sometimes it doesn’t. Most of the time, you have to rely on the unread red dot on the app icon to check for new messages.

By the time she returned to the couch, Yun Yu had already replied.

Qi Ning quickly set down her orange juice and opened the chat window to check the response.

Yun Yu: So adorable~

Seeing Yun Yu’s praise, Qi Ning felt a warm glow in her heart, her lips curling into a faint smile. She couldn’t help but want to take credit.

70: I made it myself! [Meow]

Yun Yu: So impressive [head pat]

Qi Ning couldn’t help but cover her face. Maybe it was because they were communicating online, but even though they’d only exchanged a few messages, just seeing Yun Yu’s words and emojis made her likeability skyrocket.

Her intuition told her Yun Yu was just as gentle in real life as she seemed online—soft-spoken, always smiling, generous with praise, reminiscent of the sweet protagonist from that yuri novel she’d read before.

Qi Ning took the initiative to explain why she hadn’t messaged her the past couple of days.

70: I was out having fun these past two days~ so I didn’t reply ovo

Yun Yu: Did you have a good time?

70: Yes! What are you up to~ (￣▽￣～)~

Yun Yu: Chatting with you~

Qi Ning’s lips curved into a smile. She knew the other person was probably just being polite, but she still felt genuinely pleased.

She smoothly continued the conversation with Yun Yu.

She learned that Yun Yu was also in Chonghai City and, coincidentally, worked in the same business district—meaning they lived very close to each other.

She also discovered they were around the same age and both single. After all, people in relationships probably wouldn’t be using dating apps.

Regarding personal details, they’d only touched on age so far. Deeper topics like full names or specific jobs hadn’t come up. Since Yun Yu didn’t ask, Qi Ning decided to hold off too, figuring they could learn more about each other gradually.

They chatted about many other things, carrying on nonstop in [Zui Re] until Qi Ning grew drowsy and wanted to sleep.

She was a little reluctant to end the conversation—this app was so inconvenient for chatting.

But Yun Yu didn’t seem inclined to suggest moving platforms.

After some thought, Qi Ning decided to take the initiative herself!

70: Should we add each other on WeChat?

Having WeChat made chatting much more convenient. Even if she couldn’t check her phone at work, keeping WeChat online was always an option. She could always steal a moment to chat when busy.

This was what Qi Ning thought.

It was actually her first time proactively asking someone on a dating app for their contact information.

She figured she must have developed a bit of a crush on Yun Yu.

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