Reborn After Divorcing The Obsessive Genius Heiress - Chapter 5

By the time Qiu Wu returned to campus, it was nearly nine o’clock. The night was pitch-black, and the summer breeze was refreshingly cool. Most of the dining hall windows were closed, so she decided to grab a hearty meal at the mala tang stall near the school gate.

Though this bowl of mala tang was heavily processed, she still found it far tastier than the bland cakes at the Eternal Restaurant.

Sesame sauce is always the best.

As a gesture of gratitude, she snapped a photo and sent it to Luo Bai.

Luo Bai didn’t reply.

A nearby fruit shop was shouting about a clearance sale as closing time approached. Qiu Wu ducked inside and bought two large bags of seasonal fruit before catching the last campus bus back to her dorm.

Only one of her three roommates was there. A girl with a slightly tanned complexion was frowning as she read a book, startled by the sound of Qiu Wu opening the door.

The girl’s name was Wei Jia. Like Qiu Wu, she was from Luoxi, but she had only come to Luodong for university. She usually kept to herself in the dorm and classroom, maintaining a low profile.

Lin Ya had told Qiu Wu earlier that she would be working with her friends on job fair preparations until midnight. Their other roommate, Jiang Hong, owned an apartment nearby and rarely stayed in the dorm.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” Qiu Wu said with a smile, placing one of the fruit bags on Wei Jia’s desk. “The fruit store had a huge sale today, and I accidentally bought too much. Could you help me eat some? Please?”

Wei Jia glanced at her briefly before quickly looking away, pulling out her phone, and murmuring, “How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! It wasn’t expensive at all. I just got carried away with the sale. If you eat some, that’s more than enough help,” Qiu Wu replied, taking out a box of lychees from her own bag and placing it on Lin Ya’s desk. “She wouldn’t even help me eat any—just this one box.”

Wei Jia lowered her gaze and accepted the gesture. “Thank you…”

Luo Bai returned home at 6:30 PM, went for a 90-minute jog, showered, and then settled into her study at 8:30 PM to read research papers on smart machinery development. At 10:00 PM, she checked her phone for any urgent messages and planned her work schedule for the next day in her notes app.

As soon as she opened WeChat, the account labeled “Girlfriend” jumped to the top with a red notification dot.

[Qiu Wu: Photo.]

[Qiu Wu: Spicy hot pot—so delicious!]

The photo showed a large bowl filled with colorful meatballs and vegetables, steaming with fragrant heat—a dish Luo Bai had never seen before.

Luo Bai: The colors are very vibrant, but I’ve never tried it before, so I don’t know if it’s good.

Qiu Wu replied quickly with a voice message.

“Huh? What do you usually eat, then? You don’t just eat the food from Eternal Restaurant, do you?!”

Qiu Wu’s voice fluctuated wildly, brimming with emotions Luo Bai couldn’t comprehend.

Few people spoke to her this way, just as few sent her voice messages on WeChat.

She required precise and unambiguous communication, and spoken language was far more prone to misinterpretation than written text.

Luo Bai hesitated for two seconds before pressing the microphone button.

“The Research Institute is indeed supplied by Eternal Restaurant.”

Qiu Wu: …It’s okay. I’ll treat you to some next time. It’s really good, I promise.

[Luo Bai: Okay.]

[Qiu Wu: Just finished showering. Going to bed now. Good night.]

[Luo Bai: Good night.]

Closing the chat with Qiu Wu, she opened the group chat named “FutureTech Seven.”

A notification indicated she had been mentioned.

The group consisted of only eight members: the Chief Engineers from FutureTech’s seven Research Institutes and Chairman Luo Cheng.

Except for Luo Cheng, whose nickname was “00,” everyone else was identified by their respective Research Institute’s number.

[01: @07 What exactly did you do to Chairman Luo? He kept sneering coldly during the meeting today. I almost died of fright.]

[05: I know about that! Chairman Luo was furious when Miss Luo went and got married without permission.]

[03: Married? Don’t be ridiculous, sis! Is her partner a computer or a robot?]

[04: She’s a total babe! Here’s a photo: photo.jpg.]

She’d somehow gotten her hands on a picture of Qiu Wu. In the photo, the girl was sitting on a park bench, her eyes closed in peaceful repose. A small bird had landed on her hand, pecking at the breadcrumbs in her palm.

The group fell silent for a moment, then the message speed noticeably increased.

[03: Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! I’m done for! I’ve been working overtime so much I’m hallucinating.]

[01: She’s definitely a beautiful girl. @07, care to say something?]

[03: Come on, when has she ever paid us any attention? I bet she’s muted this group already.]

[00: Gossip is prohibited in work groups.]

[04: Isn’t this a vent group? When did it become a work group?]

[05: I know that too! Ever since that mole joined, @00.]

[01: Kick her out now.]

[00: Hey, hey…]

Luo Bai usually ignored the group’s idle chatter, but since this involved Qiu Wu, she felt compelled to clarify things.

[07: @01 I haven’t had any conflicts with Aunt. I have the right to decide my own marriage. @05 We’re not married; we’re currently in the dating phase. @04 Where did you get those photos?]

The group fell silent for three minutes before another message popped up.

[03: I must be hallucinating from working overtime. I’ll go make a cup of coffee.]

[01: @07 You still don’t realize that the fact you’re even having this conflict is the biggest conflict of all.]

[05: Wow, “dating phase”? Such an obscure term, especially coming from you.]

[04: @07 I scraped them from her friend’s public social media account. It’s public information; I don’t have a fetish for invading people’s privacy.]

[07: @01 I don’t understand. @04 Hmm.]

[00: Don’t you have anything else to say?]

[07: What should I say?]

[05: What does dating feel like? Have you held hands? Kissed? Done the deed?]

[01: @05 Please watch your language.]

[05: @01 Can you honestly swear you’re not curious?]

[07: @05 No, and I don’t feel anything.]

[03: It seems this isn’t a hallucination. This sounds more like what Chief Seven would say.]

[07: If there’s nothing else, I’m going to rest now.]

******

After sending the message, Luo Bai exited WeChat and opened her photo album.

The first photo was the one she had just saved from the group chat: a picture of Qiu Wu.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree branches, casting a golden-red glow on the girl’s long, flowing hair.

Luo Bai could clearly feel her heart rate quicken slightly. She could almost smell the sun-baked scent of Qiu Wu on her skin.

It was a similar sensation to when she had first seen Qiu Wu’s photo.

Completely novel.

By the time she snapped out of her reverie, it was already 10:35 PM, past her usual bedtime.

Luo Bai turned off her phone, but her thoughts didn’t immediately shift to sleep.

She had never experienced such feelings toward anyone or any photo before. Without any experimental data to draw on, she could only turn to others’ experiences for guidance.

She gathered and analyzed relevant information.

Ultimately, she arrived at the most common answer:

[High emotional intelligence: love at first sight.]

[Low emotional intelligence: lust.]

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