Gao Sijin wasn’t interested in blind dates, but his coworkers were all such “good Samaritans” that he ended up going out to eat with a strange girl somewhere almost every other month.

And every time, the whole thing played out in a strangely similar way.

Once they got to the restaurant, Gao Sijin and the girl would pull out their phones in perfect sync, casually scrolling as they ate food that wasn’t really to either of their tastes.

After the meal, they’d say goodbye—and become strangers from then on.

Thinking about it, girls who were that straightforward and easygoing weren’t so bad.

Some girls went even further, bringing their moms along on the blind date for a mother-daughter double act.

What was the process supposed to be, exactly?

All in all, it was a lot like shopping for vegetables at the market: your hairline was too high, your nostrils were too big, your lips were a little too thick, you didn’t earn enough, you hadn’t graduated from a top-tier university—didn’t matter who you were. Once you entered the blind-date arena, you were a fish on the chopping board. They could handle you however they liked, because that made it easier to bargain.

Housewives were seasoned veterans at this sort of thing. Whenever Gao Sijin, alone and adrift in Bincheng, got inexplicably devalued until he was worth less than nothing, he’d make a quick getaway.

He hated being spoken to as if he were a criminal under interrogation.

Sometimes he felt like they could solve a whole string of cold cases if they joined the criminal investigation squad.

In Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Andrei once advised Pierre: “Never, never marry, my friend.”

Gao Sijin believed marriage was a grave. Whether or not there was love before the wedding, marriage would make you lose things you could never get back—and the most important of them was your freedom.

This time, the destination was a French restaurant.

From Gao Sijin’s past experience, girls who chose French restaurants were all big on ambition and short on ability, looking down their noses at everyone.

Like when someone asked how much a twenty-five-year-old guy should have in savings, and a woman whose looks wouldn’t tempt anyone to take her even for free immediately replied, “At least 800,000 yuan.”

But once the arrow was loosed, there was no taking it back. To keep Director Zhang from making his life difficult at work later, Gao Sijin had to grit his teeth and go through with it—then wrap things up fast and head home to write.

“You’ve got this, young man.”

The driver, who’d deliberately taken the long way around, gave Gao Sijin a thumbs-up.

As usual, Gao Sijin paid the fare with a smile on his face and a string of curses in his heart.

Almost all the cars parked outside the restaurant were luxury models, and the building’s European-style architecture was enough to make your legs go weak.

Gao Sijin didn’t have a penny to his name, but he could pay in installments. No matter how broke he was, he still had credit on Huabei.

In this day and age, who wasn’t a leek waiting to be harvested by capital?

Who did they think they were looking down on?

Just as Gao Sijin was about to ask Director Zhang to send him the woman’s WeChat, a cool, pleasant voice came from behind him. The moment he heard it, he pictured a formidable career woman who could command any room.

“You’re Gao Sijin, right?”

Gao Sijin turned around and saw her.

The woman standing behind Gao Sijin had eyes as sharp as knives, as if a single glance could scare off evil spirits. She wore an expensive-looking women’s trench coat over an almost perfect hourglass figure, and carried herself with a bold, dashing air.

Most impressive of all, in the middle of winter, with temperatures at eighteen below zero, her long, shapely legs were still wrapped in patterned Balenciaga black tights. She was tall, too; in her black boots, she nearly matched Gao Sijin’s height of 178 centimeters.

She was practically a queen…

“Why do your eyes look like a dead fish’s?”

“That’s Supreme King Haki…”

“Hahaha, you’ve watched One Piece too?”

Hearing Gao Sijin mutter to himself, the woman covered her lips and chuckled. In that moment, her sharp eyes softened into spring water.

She was a striking beauty with sharp features, and every move she made was like that of a queen marching onto the battlefield.

If this were a novel, Gao Sijin would definitely cast her as the heroine or the second female lead.

But unfortunately, this wasn’t a novel. It was real life, and Gao Sijin couldn’t be the male lead. He could only be part of the background.

“You look exactly like your photo. You’ve got this silly air about you from head to toe. Hey, are you still half asleep?”

She strolled toward Gao Sijin, and the sheer difference between them made him feel so small he wanted to run away.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Yu Qingxue. I’m your blind date today, and I’m an international student at the University of Tokyo.”

“You’re the one Director Zhang introduced?” Gao Sijin swallowed and asked, sounding a little alarmed.

Yu Qingxue nodded with a smile, then took Gao Sijin’s hand as naturally as could be. A chill seemed to wrap around him at once.

“I bet you really want to run away right now, don’t you? We’re about to have dinner at a French restaurant, after all, and I hear it’s pretty expensive. If you can’t afford it, big sis will treat you.”

“Wait a second. How old are you to be calling yourself big sis?”

“I’m twenty.”

“Miss Yu, I’m older than you.”

“I’m not talking about physical age,” Yu Qingxue said with a flirtatious wink. “I mean mental age. I’m older than you there. You’re already in big sis’s grasp, so just behave and go on this blind date with me.”

And so Gao Sijin was dragged into the French restaurant like a lamb led by a domineering, wolfish woman.

He didn’t believe in things this good happening in real life. A gorgeous woman like her probably had men lining up for blocks to date her. Why would she have a meal with a nobody like him?

Something was definitely fishy.

Just as the famous line from Stefan Zweig’s The Queen Who Lost Her Head went: “She was still too young to know that all the gifts fate bestows come with a price, hidden in the shadows.”

Gao Sijin worried that, without even realizing it, he might end up missing some body part afterward.

“By the way, Miss Yu, I just remembered—I think I forgot to feed Xiaobai its dog food.”

“Now’s not the time to say something so unromantic. You should be asking whether I like green peppers.”

“So, do you like green peppers?”

“I don’t like green peppers. But if you tell me you like them, I’ll change my answer and say I do.”

“You don’t have to hold my hand. We’ve only just met. Men and women shouldn’t be touching like this.”

“Of course I do. It’s a necessary measure to stop you from running away. Besides, I’m a woman and I don’t mind, so why should you?”

Yu Qingxue wasn’t using much strength, but Gao Sijin felt there was no way he could break free from her slender, delicate hand by force.

She seemed to have had some training.

When they reached the restaurant entrance, Yu Qingxue tossed the doorman a line in a foreign language Gao Sijin couldn’t understand.

“Bonjour.”

Could this woman get any cooler?

Gao Sijin felt like he’d become nothing more than her accessory, with no say in anything at all.

“What do you think?”

“I think this might be the luckiest—and worst—blind date of my life.”