The fortune-teller gave Chu Ge a mysterious wink. "As for what you just asked, I won’t answer you yet. I’ll show you something first."

As he spoke, he got up and went into the house. Chu Ge listened to him bustling around inside for ages, bottles and jars clattering noisily.

After quite a while, the fortune-teller finally came out of the room holding something like a Crystal Ball. He walked up to Chu Ge. "Come, come, let me show you something."

Chu Ge walked over in confusion. "What’s this?"

"You know the Time-Space Mirror, right?" The fortune-teller gave Chu Ge a sly grin. "This thing works just like your Time-Space Mirror. It can sense the past and foresee the future."

"So you mean if I want to go back, I have to rely on this?"

The fortune-teller shook his head. "No, no, no, I never said that. I just want you to watch some images first. After you’re done, then you can decide what you want to know."

Chu Ge didn’t really understand, but he still forced himself to be patient and started watching.

He saw with his own eyes a scene appear on the surface of the Crystal Ball, both familiar and unfamiliar.

Familiar because he knew the people in it far too well; unfamiliar because he was very sure the place where it happened was not his city.

If he guessed right, this should be another timeline’s version of himself and Mu Bingtong.

Time flew and it was almost off work. Mu Bingtong had revised the proposal again and, with a nervous and uneasy heart, came to the president’s office.

"These are the sections I just revised. Take a look."

Chu Ge took the folder she handed over. "Sit."

Hearing him, Mu Bingtong started grumbling inwardly. There were only a few minutes left till quitting time, yet he was reading the file slowly and leisurely, even looking a bit absent-minded. Was he planning to look at it for a long time? It was pouring outside, and she had to catch the last bus home.

"Um, President, if there’s nothing else I’ll just head out first."

Ten minutes went by and Chu Ge still hadn’t said a word, as if she didn’t exist. Mu Bingtong sat there with her head down, playing with her fingers, and in her heart she’d already counted nine hundred and ninety-nine sheep several times over.

"There is something."

Just as Mu Bingtong was about to stand up, Chu Ge spat out the two words she least wanted to hear. Even though she’d already decided to give it another try, she really couldn’t afford to keep wasting time with him today.

"Huh?" Mu Bingtong sat back down again.

"You still haven’t told me where the inspiration for this proposal came from. If I remember right, you didn’t major in this in college."

When Chu Ge mentioned college, Mu Bingtong lifted her head to glance at him. Seeing him looking at her so serious and proper, she lowered her head again slightly.

"It’s...inspiration from how much I miss an old friend." At this moment, Mu Bingtong wasn’t sure what reaction Chu Ge would have if she told him that old friend was him.

"Old friend?" Chu Ge raised his brows and stared at her face. "That old friend is pretty lucky."

Seeing that Mu Bingtong still didn’t dare look up at him, he couldn’t help but chuckle silently. Missing an old friend—so many details in here were the little games the two of them had when they were together. How could he not know that this "old friend" was really himself?

He just wanted Mu Bingtong to say it out loud herself.

"It’s raining outside." Chu Ge said casually. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Mu Bingtong felt he’d finally gotten to the point and quickly chimed in, "Yeah, it’s raining outside. Then I’ll head back first. If there’s anything wrong with the proposal, I’ll come back and fix it tomorrow."

"You’re in a big hurry to leave?"

"N-not really..." Mu Bingtong answered guiltily. In truth she was already going crazy inside. Watching quitting time draw closer and closer, she wondered how long he was going to drag this out.

"I think this part is a bit off." Chu Ge looked at Mu Bingtong as he spoke.

As soon as he said that, Mu Bingtong sprang to her feet and leaned over the desk to look at where his finger was pointing. But Chu Ge seemed unwilling to show her; he drew the file back a little. Mu Bingtong didn’t notice his little maneuver and kept carefully looking for where the problem was.

Chu Ge lifted his eyes and smugly watched her come closer and closer, while she herself didn’t even realize it.

After staring for ages, Mu Bingtong still couldn’t figure out exactly where he meant. She looked up to ask, "Where..."

Halfway through the sentence, she realized the two of them were less than half a foot apart, and her whole body was practically sprawled across the desk. She hurriedly sat up straight, awkwardly touching her hair, then her nose.

"Um, so, where’s the problem?"

"I saw it wrong. No problem." Chu Ge watched his little trick succeed, the smile at the corner of his mouth reaching all the way to his eyes.

Mu Bingtong knew she’d just been played by Chu Ge. If it were before, she’d definitely have gone over and made him carry her on his back and spin in circles as punishment. But now, all she could do was stare and do nothing to him.

"That’s all. You can go out."

Mu Bingtong was like someone finally set free and practically flew out of Chu Ge’s office.

Chu Ge checked the time, a faint, unreadable smile curling his lips. He stood up, shut down the computer, grabbed his jacket, and walked out.

"Lin An, you can get off work. I’ll go back on my own." Chu Ge said to Lin An, who was waiting at the door.

"Okay."

Seeing that she was running out of time, Mu Bingtong didn’t even bother to straighten the messy desk. She grabbed her bag and rushed straight for the bus stop.

When she reached the building’s front entrance, she stopped in frustration. The rain was so heavy and the Wind so strong that even if she opened an umbrella it would get blown away. It was all his fault; it hadn’t been raining this hard earlier.

A red sports car pulled up smoothly right in front of her. Mu Bingtong was just about to curse when the window rolled down automatically. Chu Ge sat in the driver’s seat, turning sideways to look at her. "Get in."

Mu Bingtong hesitated for a moment, then still got into the passenger seat.

All the way, the only sounds were the rain pattering against the roof and the swish of the wipers. Chu Ge turned on the stereo, and a familiar melody broke the silence.

"This song..."

This was something she used to hum casually when she was bored, so how...

"I turned it into an instrumental."

Looking at Chu Ge’s profile, Mu Bingtong felt a stab of astonishment in her heart. Even though she’d been spending time with him lately and trying hard not to think about the past, the closer she got to him, the more she felt he had never changed—never, ever...

"Don’t forget we still have an agreement between us. Are you going to keep being this awkward with me?" Chu Ge glanced sideways at her.

Mu Bingtong let out an awkward laugh. "Well...actually it’s nothing. I’m just really curious—why did you suddenly come back to China?"

She had contacted all their classmates abroad; not one of them knew where he’d gone.

Chu Ge didn’t answer. Instead, the car slowly began to decelerate.

"Actually, that day, Nangong Ting came to see me."

Mu Bingtong clearly felt the car jolt for a second, then smooth out again.