Suo Ran was halfway through checking the documents on his desk when his phone began to ring. He glanced at the screen, recognized the name, and seriously considered ignoring it.The phone vibrated against the desk again, nudging a pen toward the edge. Suo Ran caught it just before it fell, let out a quiet sigh, and answered. "What is it?" "What is it?" his friend repeated, sounding personally insulted. "Is that how you greet an old friend now?" "I answered your call, didn't I?" "After making me listen to that ridiculous ringtone for almost a minute." "You could have hung up." "And miss the chance to remind you what a terrible friend you are? Never."
Suo Ran rubbed his forehead and set the pen down. He should have known better. "If you're calling just to complain, I'm hanging up." "Wait! Don't you dare." There was a rustle on the other end, followed by the scrape of a chair. "I've barely started." "That was what I was afraid of." His friend ignored the remark. "Do you have any idea how long it's been since you last showed your face? Months, Suo Ran. We invite you to dinner, and you're busy. We arrange a gathering, and suddenly you have urgent work. Last week, I asked you to join us for drinks. What did you say?" Suo Ran pulled a document closer and skimmed the first few lines. "I don't remember." "You said you had work." "Then I probably had work." "At eight in the evening?" "Work doesn't have a fixed schedule." "And the week before that?" "More work." "And before that?"
Suo Ran lowered the document and stared at his phone. "Are you planning to give me a complete report of my calendar?" "If I have to!"His friend sounded entirely serious. "Honestly, I was starting to think you'd moved to another city without telling anyone. I'm not even sure our friends remember what you look like anymore." A small smile tugged at Suo Ran's mouth. He pushed the document aside and reached for his tea, only to find the cup empty. "You're being dramatic." "Because someone has to make sure you haven't turned into a ghost." "I'm touched by your concern." "You should be. It's the most attention you've received from anyone outside your office in months."
Suo Ran laughed and He picked up the empty cup, considered it for a moment, then set it back down. "Perhaps I prefer the company of people who don't ask unnecessary questions." "Oh, really?" His friend's voice immediately took on a teasing edge."Is that why you never tell us about your personal life?No dates,no relationships , not even a scandal worth gossiping about. Are you secretly seeing someone, or have you finally decided that documents are more attractive than people?"
Suo Ran plugged in his phone and returned to his chair. "I don't expect you to believe anything. It would be a waste of my time." "There he is. The cold-hearted Suo Ran I know and love." His friend chuckled. "Tell me, at least. Is there someone?" Suo Ran glanced toward the office door, then leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. "Someone who regrets picking up this call." "That sounds like a yes." "It sounds like you need a hobby." "I have one, as I've already explained." "Then perhaps you should devote more time to it and less to my personal life." "Impossible. Your personal life is far more entertaining than mine."
Suo Ran shook his head and smiled."That's because you have too much free time." "And you have too little. If you ever did bring someone home, we'd have to meet them. We need to make sure they understand what they're getting into." Suo Ran raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly would you tell them?" "That you're difficult, stubborn, work too much, and have the romantic instincts of a brick." Suo Ran gave a short laugh and rubbed his thumb along the edge of the phone. "You're speaking from experience?" "Unfortunately, yes. I've been trying to get you to spend one evening with us for months. If that's not a doomed romance, I don't know what is." "You should write a book about it. I'm sure no one would buy it." "I'd dedicate it to you." "Then I'd sue you for defamation." "Good. At least that would get you to meet me in person."
Suo Ran shook his head, unable to stop himself from smiling now.He set the phone on speaker and began gathering the scattered documents into a neat pile. "Now that you've finished discussing my tragic love life, can I get back to work?" "You haven't even heard the important part yet!" Suo Ran paused with a document halfway into its folder. "There's an important part?" "Of course there is. Do you think I'd waste my precious time calling you just to discuss your nonexistent love life?" "I assumed that was the main reason." "Keep talking like that and I'll find someone to set you up on a blind date."
Suo Ran's hands stopped moving. He slowly placed the folder on the desk and picked up the phone again. "Don't you dare." His friend burst out laughing. "There! That got your attention." "I'm serious." "So am I. I know at least three people who'd be delighted to meet you." Suo Ran narrowed his eyes at the screen. "I know at least three ways to block your number." "You wouldn't." "Try me." "Fine, fine. I'll save the matchmaking for another day." His friend cleared his throat, though Suo Ran could still hear the amusement in his voice. "Now, where was I? Oh, right. You're coming to my next gathering, whether you like it or not."
Suo Ran leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. "And what makes you think I'll agree to that?" "Because I'm not giving you another chance to use work as an excuse." "What if I have something important to do?" "Then reschedule it." "What if I don't want to?" "Then I'll come to your office, sit outside your door, and tell everyone who walks past that you're avoiding your friends because you're afraid of having a social life." Suo Ran stared at the phone for a moment before letting out a slow sigh.
His friend paused, and when he spoke again, the teasing softened slightly. "Come on, Suo Ran. Everyone's been asking about you. We haven't all sat together in ages. Just show up for once. You don't have to stay the entire night." Suo Ran looked down at the documents on his desk.He let out a slow breath. "I'll see if I can make it." "No. That's what you said last time, and then you vanished." "I'm not promising something I might not be able to do." "Then promise you'll try properly." Suo Ran rubbed his thumb along the edge of the folder. "Fine. I'll come."
There was a brief silence on the other end. "Wait. Did you just agree?" "Don't make me change my mind." "No, no, I heard you." "I'll tell everyone you're coming. And dress properly this time. Last time, you looked like you'd been dragged out of a meeting." "I was coming from a meeting." "Exactly my point. It's a birthday gathering, not a business conference." "I'll keep that in mind." "And don't arrive late." "You're asking a lot." "I'm asking for the bare minimum from a man who treats socializing like a criminal sentence."
Suo Ran laughed. "Are we finished?" "For now. I'll send you the details. And Suo Ran?" "What?" "I'm glad you're coming." The simple sincerity caught him off guard. His smile softened as he looked at the papers on his desk. "I said I'd come, didn't I?" "Yes, but I want to hear you say it again in case you change your mind in the next five minutes." "Goodbye." "See you Saturday.And remember, dress properly!"
Suo Ran ended the call before his friend could add another condition. He set the phone beside his documents and stared at the screen for a moment, already regretting his decision. "It's a birthday party, not a royal banquet," he muttered before returning to his work. He managed to concentrate for another twenty minutes before finally closing the last file. By then, the light outside his office window had begun to fade, and the only sound in the room was the quiet hum of the air conditioner. Suo Ran stretched his shoulders, gathered the documents into a neat pile, and reached for his coat.
Meanwhile at office,Qin Yue opened the older personnel database. The interface looked different from the newer system, with outdated menus and several fields that no longer seemed to function. He entered the employee's name and waited for the results to load. "Found something?" Han Yi asked without looking up from the report. "Maybe." Qin Yue leaned closer to the screen. "His name is here, but the information is incomplete. There's a department listed, an employment date, and almost nothing else." Han Yi put the report aside and moved to Qin Yue's desk. "Let me see."
Qin Yue shifted his chair to give him room. Han Yi studied the entry, paying particular attention to the department and employment dates. The information was brief, but it confirmed that the employee had worked at the university years earlier. "Is there a record of his transfer or resignation?" Han Yi asked. "Not in this database." Qin Yue clicked through the available sections, but each one either contained incomplete information or led to an unavailable page. "It's as if someone kept the basic entry but left the rest behind." "Or the records weren't transferred when the system changed." Qin Yue glanced at him. "You always have an explanation that makes things less suspicious." "Suspicion isn't evidence." "I know. I just prefer my mysteries with fewer missing pages."
Han Yi ignored the remark and pointed at the employment date. "When did the newer database begin recording personnel information?" Qin Yue checked the system notes. "The transition happened several years later. The older entries were supposed to be transferred, but some archived records weren't included." "Can you tell whether his file was among them?" "Not from here. The archive linked to his entry isn't available through my account." Han Yi straightened and returned to the desk, taking the university report with him. He compared the employment date with the information in the report, then marked the relevant year in his notebook. The employee's connection to the university was confirmed, but his responsibilities remained unclear. More importantly, the available records offered no explanation for his access to the medical database. "Save the entry and the system notes," Han Yi said. "Don't try to force access to the archive."
Qin Yue saved a copy of the page. "Already done. I'll see what we can establish from the records we have before deciding what to check next." Han Yi closed his notebook, though his attention remained on the dates he'd written down. The employee had been at the university long before his name appeared in the medical access logs. That alone didn't prove the older position was connected to the missing information, but it gave them a clearer place to start. "Let's establish exactly what his department handled," Han Yi said. "If his position had nothing to do with medical records, we need to know why his account could reach them." Qin Yue nodded and began searching the department's archived descriptions.
Qin Yue opened a document containing the department's old responsibilities and scrolled through several pages of administrative descriptions. Most of it concerned routine university operations, staff assignments, and record management. Nothing immediately stood out. "Whoever wrote this clearly believed that using fifty words where five would do was a professional skill," Qin Yue muttered. Han Yi glanced at the screen. "Keep looking." "I am looking. I'm also suffering."
After another minute, Qin Yue stopped scrolling and moved back up the page. "Wait. This section mentions access permissions." Han Yi came around to his side again. "What does it say?" "Certain staff could be granted temporary access to restricted databases for administrative purposes." Qin Yue read the following lines, then frowned. "But it doesn't list which databases were included. That information was kept in a separate authorization record." "Can you find that record?" "I'm trying."
He searched the available documents by department and date, narrowing the results to the period when the employee had been working at the university. Several entries appeared, but most concerned ordinary personnel changes. Qin Yue opened them one by one, checking the names and dates before moving to the next. Han Yi returned to the printed report and followed the same period on paper. "Nothing so far," Qin Yue said. "There are authorization records, but none of them includes his name." "Does that mean he never received access?" "No. It means I haven't found a record showing that he did."
Qin Yue leaned back slightly. "If the authorization was temporary, it might have been recorded somewhere else. Or the record might not have survived the system transfer." Han Yi considered that, then closed the report. "Keep the possibilities separate. We can't treat a missing record as proof that someone removed it deliberately." "Right. Missing information is just missing information until we find out why it's missing."
Qin Yue returned to the search results, this time checking the dates against the employee's recorded period of employment. One entry caught his attention, but when he opened it, the page displayed only a reference number and a note indicating that the original document was stored elsewhere. He turned the screen toward Han Yi. "This is the first entry I've found that might be worth following." Han Yi examined the reference number. "What does the note say about the original?" "Only that it was retained in the university's central archive. No document title, no description, and no direct link." "Can you identify the archive location?" "Not through this system. I'd need the original index."
Han Yi wrote down the reference number. It wasn't enough to tell them what the document contained, but it was a specific record rather than another unexplained gap. "Save everything connected to this entry," he said. "We'll need to establish what the reference points to before requesting anything." Qin Yue saved the page alongside the personnel record and the access logs. "At least we have somewhere to start."Han Yi returned to his desk and placed the new note inside the folder.
Late in the evening, Suo Ran arrived home, set his keys aside, and changed into a dark T-shirt and comfortable trousers. After putting his work clothes away, he glanced into Jun Wei's room and found the boy sitting on his bed, watching a cartoon on his tablet. "Have you finished your homework?" Suo Ran asked. "Almost." Jun Wei replied. "How much is almost?" "Just one question." Suo Ran gave him a doubtful look. "Finish it before dinner. I'll check it later." "Okay, Gege!" Suo Ran shook his head and headed to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, looking through the ingredients before taking out some vegetables and meat. "What should I make tonight?" he muttered, trying to decide on a simple stir-fry.
After washing everything, he rolled up his sleeves and began chopping. The familiar rhythm helped clear his mind, and soon the kitchen filled with the sound of the knife against the cutting board and the soft hiss of oil heating in the pan. His phone vibrated on the counter. Suo Ran glanced at it but kept chopping.The phone vibrated again, and he finally put down the knife and wiped his hands on a kitchen towel. "What now?" he muttered as he checked the screen. Friend: I've sent you the party details. Saturday, seven o'clock. Don't be late...
Suo Ran opened the message and found the party details, followed by another message from his friend. Friend: Saturday, seven o'clock. Don't be late. If you make me wait another hour like last time, I'm telling everyone you got lost on your way out of your own house. Suo Ran let out a short laugh and typed a reply with one hand. Suo Ran: I was only twenty minutes late. Friend: Forty-five. Suo Ran: Your memory is getting worse. Friend: And your sense of time is getting worse. We're both suffering.
Suo Ran shook his head and locked the screen. "I should have blocked him years ago." He put phone into his pocket and turned back to the stove, stirring the food before it could stick to the bottom of the pan. Just then, a voice came from the kitchen entrance. "Who are you planning to block?" The unexpected question made him turn. Lian Ziho stood at the entrance with a small paper bag in one hand, watching him with an amused expression. He had apparently arrived while Suo Ran was occupied with his phone.Suo Ran glanced at him, then at the bag. "You know, most people announce themselves before entering someone else's house."
Lian Ziho raised his eyebrows and pointed toward the door. "I knocked." "I didn't hear you." "I noticed." He stepped into the kitchen and placed the bag on the counter, peering briefly at the food cooking on the stove. "You were having a very serious conversation with your phone. I didn't want to interrupt." "It was an argument." "With your phone?" "With an idiot who happens to own one." Lian Ziho laughed and pushed the bag toward him. "Then I suppose this is a good time to offer you something sweet."
Suo Ran wiped his hands on a kitchen towel before opening the bag. Inside was a small box of pastries from a shop he liked. His expression softened before he could stop it, and he carefully lifted the box out to check its contents. "You went all the way there?" "I happened to pass by." Suo Ran looked up at him. "It's in the opposite direction from your office." Lian Ziho paused for half a second before reaching over to straighten the paper bag. "Then I happened to take a very unusual route." Suo Ran studied him, clearly unconvinced, but decided not to question it. He closed the box and moved it away from the stove so it wouldn't get splashed. "You could have just said you wanted to bring me something." "And ruin my perfectly reasonable excuse?"
Lian Ziho pulled out a chair and sat down. "I have a reputation to maintain." Suo Ran shook his head and turned back to the stove, hiding the small smile that had appeared on his face. "Wash your hands. Dinner will be ready soon." Lian Ziho stood up immediately, but instead of heading straight to the sink, he leaned over to look into the pot. Suo Ran noticed and quickly moved the spoon out of his reach. "Don't touch it." "I was only looking." "Your hand was moving toward the spoon." "Perhaps I wanted to help." "You can help by washing your hands." Lian Ziho gave him an exaggerated sigh and finally walked to the sink. "Yes, Master." Suo Ran slowly turned his head. "Don't call me that."
Lian Ziho turned on the tap, his shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. "Of course, Master." "Lian Ziho." "All right, all right." He washed his hands and reached for the towel, still smiling. "You really are in a terrible mood today." "I'm cooking. That requires concentration." Suo Ran turned the heat down and tasted the sauce, adding a little seasoning before stirring it again. "If you keep distracting me, dinner will be ruined." Lian Ziho dried his hands and came to stand beside him, keeping a safe distance from the stove this time. "Then I'll stop talking." Suo Ran glanced at him suspiciously. "You?" "I can be quiet when necessary."
Lian Ziho pressed his lips together and nodded solemnly, as though making a serious promise. He managed to stay silent for several seconds before pointing at the plates stacked near the counter. Suo Ran followed his gaze and sighed. "You can set the table." Lian Ziho immediately picked up the plates. "See? You do need me here." "I need someone to carry plates. Don't make it sound special." "Of course." Lian Ziho walked toward the dining table, his smile growing. "I'll try not to let the honor go to my head."
Suo Ran returned to the pan, adding the vegetables and stirring them through the sauce. The smell filled the kitchen, and he leaned closer to check whether the vegetables had softened enough before lowering the heat. "So, who was the unfortunate person you were threatening to block?" Lian Ziho asked after a moment. He had finished setting the table and was now leaning against the counter, watching Suo Ran cook as if he had nothing more important to do. Suo Ran glanced at him over his shoulder. "My friend." "The one who invited you to the party?" "You heard that too?" Suo Ran turned back to the pan and gave the vegetables another stir. "You seem to have heard quite a lot for someone who claims he doesn't like interrupting people."
Lian Ziho reached for a glass of water and took a sip. "I heard enough to discover that you're attending a social gathering this weekend. I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly." Suo Ran picked up the spoon and pointed it at him. "Is everyone going to react like that?" "Probably." Lian Ziho set down his glass, his lips curving into a smile. "Should I congratulate you?" "On what?" "Your first voluntary appearance in public this year." Suo Ran stared at him for a second before grabbing the dish towel beside the stove and flicking it in his direction. Lian Ziho caught it against his chest, laughing as he unfolded the towel and draped it over his shoulder. "Careful. You'll ruin your dinner before you've even served it." "Keep talking, and you'll be eating it alone."
Suo Ran turned back to the pan and began checking the food again, though the corners of his mouth threatened to lift. "That sounds fine. I have excellent company." Lian Ziho pulled out a chair and sat down, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Though I admit, the company would be better if it stopped threatening to starve me." "You haven't been invited to dinner. You just showed up with pastries." "And yet you gave me a plate." Lian Ziho glanced toward the table, then back at him. "Your actions tell a very different story from your words."
Suo Ran gave him a look before turning off the heat. "Your confidence is remarkable." He carried the pan to the counter and began dividing the food between two plates, carefully scraping the last of the sauce over the vegetables. "I've had years of practice." Lian Ziho replied. He stood up and moved beside him, reaching for the rice cooker. "Here, let me do that." Suo Ran shifted slightly to give him room, then watched as Lian Ziho scooped rice into the bowls with surprising care. "You know how to be useful after all." "I'm touched by your praise." Lian Ziho handed him one bowl. "I'll remember this moment forever." "Please don't. I don't want to hear about it every time you visit."
Lian Ziho chuckled and carried the bowls to the table, setting them down before arranging the chopsticks neatly beside each plate. Suo Ran followed with the food, placing the dishes in the middle. As he sat down, Lian Ziho reached for the serving spoon, but Suo Ran moved the plate closer to himself first. Lian Ziho paused, looking at him with mild disbelief. "You're not going to serve me?" "You have hands." "I brought pastries." "And I've already thanked you." "You looked happy for two seconds. I think I deserve more compensation."
Suo Ran picked up his chopsticks and calmly placed a piece of vegetable onto Lian Ziho's plate. "There. Compensation." Lian Ziho looked down at the food, then back at him. "How generous. I feel truly valued." Suo Ran finally laughed, shaking his head as he began eating.