For the average office worker, a weekend either involves overtime or it doesn't. Zheng Yu'an, while ambitious in his career, wasn't such a workaholic that he'd completely sacrifice his free time.
After drinking for two consecutive days, Zheng Yu'an felt like a cured meat pulled from a wine vat. He failed to sleep in on Saturday morning, only because Madam Zhou had specially made soup and brought it all the way to him.
"I knew you'd had too much to drink." Zhou Chuntao, 60, was energetic and stylishly dressed. Zheng Yu'an eyed the small scarf wrapped around her head and couldn't help asking, "Where's Dad?"
Zhou Chuntao helped him ladle the soup out and set it aside to cool, smiling as she said, "He went to buy movie tickets. We're going to see a film later."
Zheng Yu'an said, "You can book tickets online now."
Zhou Chuntao couldn't stand it and said, "That's called a sense of occasion. What do you kids know?"
The 30-year-old "kid" could only silently drink his soup. Zhou Chuntao looked around, didn't find any chores to do, and started giving him unsolicited advice: "Aren't you lonely living alone? Why don't you get a cat?"
Zheng Yu'an laughed, "I thought you were going to say get a wife."
Zhou Chuntao retorted, "Am I that kind of person? Your getting married is none of my business. If I forced you to marry and she ends up cheating on you and you get divorced, you'll blame me."
"..." Zheng Yu'an nearly choked on his soup. He grabbed a napkin and said helplessly, "Why does it have to be someone cheating on me?"
Zhou Chuntao said smugly, "You're my son. Don't I know what you're like?"
His mother was eager to go to the cinema, so Zheng Yu'an could only finish the soup alone in solitude. He broke into a sweat and decided to take a shower, throwing the few changes of clothes he had into the washing machine.
He'd bought this property in the park relatively early, when the house prices weren't unaffordable. His family had paid the down payment, and Zheng Yu'an had taken out a loan of over a million yuan. He spent more than half a year gradually renovating it before moving in.
It was a bit of a waste for a bachelor to live in a 100-plus-square-metre, three-bedroom apartment with a living room and dining room, so Zheng Yu'an simply converted one of the small rooms into a study. To prevent Zhou Chuntao from worrying that his place would turn into a pigsty, Zheng Yu'an hired a cleaning service to come once a week specifically to clean.
While organizing WE GO's materials, Zheng Yu'an remembered that he had to play basketball tomorrow.
This counts as overtime, right? Zheng Yu'an vaguely thought. The numbers and contracts in his mind seemed to become arranged dominoes. With a gentle push, they all fell, piecing together Yan Shuwang's facial features, clear brows and eyes, even the shape of his lips were perfect.
Zheng Yu'an's fingers tingled, as if a strand of Yan Shuwang's hair had fallen there when he was lighting a cigarette.
He sighed and, snapping back to reality, felt it was absurd. Jiao Tang happened to send a message on WeChat, giving the address of the gymnasium on Wusong Road.
"Don't forget, Little Zheng," Jiao Tang sent a very cute cat emoji, "We're all waiting for you~"
There was a hint of affectation in a man using a tilde. In comparison, Zheng Yu'an's reply was much simpler.
Jiao Tang's enthusiasm wasn't affected: "What position do you play, Little Zheng?"
Zheng Yu'an: "I can play anything."
Jiao Tang: "You're so tall, small forward, right?"
Zheng Yu'an: "Sure."
Jiao Tang sent a face-palming emoji: "Little Zheng is so handsome~"
Zheng Yu'an: "..."
Speaking of businessmen, Jiao Tang was certainly a good conversationalist, and not the clueless kind. Jiao Tang was good at finding topics and discussing content without being annoying.
"Shuwang also plays forward." This time, Jiao Tang sent a voice message. The way he called Yan Shuwang's name seemed a little too intimate. "You two have to coordinate during warm-up tomorrow."
Zheng Yu'an replied with a smile, "I'll definitely try not to hold CFO Yan back."
That's what he said, but when he actually got to the court the next day, Zheng Yu'an realized he'd been too naive.
Yan Shuwang's team looked very professional, from the clothing to the running shoes, everyone was in professional sportswear. In comparison, Zheng Yu'an was too casual. They were playing 3-on-3, and the two forwards would definitely be separated. Zheng Yu'an went from playing basketball with clients to playing basketball against clients. Although it was only a few words' difference, it became subtle.
Qin Hanguan knew that he had an event. During warm-up off the court, Zheng Yu'an casually told him the latest developments on the phone. The bank manager was very self-serving: "Isn't this great? You don't know how to please Yan Shuwang yet? It's a rare opportunity."
Zheng Yu'an thought he wasn't very bright: "He wouldn't know what you understand? You think the boss will be happy if I deliberately throw the game and feed him the ball?"
Qin Hanguan thought about it and it made sense, then cursed "Damn it."
Being an opponent was really troublesome.
Zheng Yu'an thought, if he threw the game too obviously, the boss would think he looked down on him; if he didn't throw the game and won, no one would be happy about losing the game. It was like the saying: difficult to please either way, disliked by everyone.
Yan Shuwang sat on the sidelines, chewing on a rubber band, slowly tying up his hair using his fingers as a comb. Zheng Yu'an couldn't help but look over and noticed that he had swept his hair up high, revealing the cool nape of his neck.
Yan Shuwang wrapped the hair tie around his ponytail, lifted his eyelids, and his eyes met Zheng Yu'an's.
Zheng Yu'an smiled and asked, "CFO Yan, how many years have you been playing basketball?"
Yan Shuwang's gaze was still fixed on his face, and he said lightly, "I was on the university basketball team."
Zheng Yu'an looked surprised: "That's impressive."
Yan Shuwang didn't say anything, but it was obvious that he was in a good mood, clearly enjoying the compliment, which Zheng Yu'an hadn't expected.
So he followed up, continuing, "I hope CFO Yan will be merciful later and not play too hard."
Yan Shuwang turned his face to the side. He seemed to really consider it for a moment, looking at Zheng Yu'an seriously and saying, "Okay."
Author's note: CFO Yan's inner thoughts: "He praised me for being awesome! He praised me for being awesome! He praised me for being awesome! He praised me for being awesome! I'm awesome! He praised me for being awesome!"