After breakfast, Li Ming indeed packed his back and went to his usual gym, working out for an hour. After this, he would still have more than enough time to go back home, slowly go through his notes from last week, make lunch, and then he’d use the rest of the day to start looking for jobs.

While at the gym, he only focused on his workout though, not wanting to think about anything else. Recently, he had the bad habit of doing something but thinking about something completely else.

He knew that this was something that had mostly been brought about by his breakup and everything that had changed in his life recently, but it wasn’t a good habit to have. When with friends, you should give them your whole attention. When at your job, we should focus on work. When learning something new, then why bother thinking about the old? So from now on, he would try to do better in that regard as well.

When he went back to change his clothes, he checked his phone as well, and immediately raised his brows. Apparently, Rui Lan had finally gotten up and seen his message. At the very least, he had several unread messages that had all come from him. Seeing that there were five, Li Ming had a bit of a bad premonition. He didn’t move from the spot next to his locker and immediately opened WeChat.

Rui Lan: [?]

The first message was nothing more than that, clearly wondering just why he wanted to know about the Weibo of Su Yan’s boyfriend. There was nothing sent for half an hour. Rui Lan had probably thought about the question himself for a bit and gotten worried because he hadn’t gotten a response so he wanted to clarify.

Rui Lan: [I do know but why are you asking?]

This time, there wasn’t as much of a pause before he sent the third message. In fact, it was only five minutes.

Rui Lan: [Is this because of your breakup with Mo Fang? I don’t want to pour salt into your wounds, but the two of them are still together. Don’t think about rekindling whatever you didn’t have with Su Yan.]

It only took two minutes for the fourth message to come.

Rui Lan: [Look, Ah Ming, I don’t mean to hurt you, but I really don’t think this is a good idea. Whatever you’re thinking about, please don’t do it. You’re just going to get hurt again.]

This time, there was once again a long break before the final message came through. This one radiated a bit of desperation.

Rui Lan: [Actually, if you want to date again, I heard through the grapevine that my cousin’s girlfriend has a brother whose best friend happens to be gay. I don’t know much about him but I could try to set something up. Just if you want to.]

This message had been sent only about three minutes ago and Li Ming couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Rui Lan had never tried to set him up before, but now, he apparently thought that he was desperate. It really was no wonder that he would give it a try now.

Before Rui Lan could worry even more, he hastily sent a message back with an explanation for his missing responses.

Li Ming: [I was at the gym and didn’t see your messages, sorry.]

Sending this one, he thought about what else to say. Anyway, he should deal with matters one by one.

Li Ming: [As for dating, I’m not looking to do that anytime soon so thank you for the offer but your cousin’s girlfriend’s brother’s best friend will have to go on a blind date with somebody else. And yes, that also means I have no interest in trying to get with Su Yan. I’m actually hoping he is still together with his boyfriend and they are happy.]

He hesitated for a moment but then send the message just as it was, not changing anything. Anyway, he should get this part out of the way first before he explained himself. Having done this, he got to the actual difficult part.

Li Ming: [I’m sorry for not explaining yesterday. Actually, are you free today? We could meet up and talk about everything. We haven’t seen each other in some time.]

He thought for a moment and then sent another message right after, feeling that this was a good opportunity.

Li Ming: [Actually, if you don’t have anything else on, you could come over to my place for lunch. You can also bring Cang Gui Ying. I’d love to have the two of you over. I still owe you my thanks for taking me in that night as well.]

Having done that, he slipped the phone back into his pocket, got his bag, and left the gym. Considering that Rui Lan might indeed come over if he didn’t have anything on, he immediately went home and checked what he still had at home to make lunch. Thankfully, he had brought a bit more yesterday for the dinner with Duan Zhi Hao in case he wanted to eat something else, so he was more than stocked up for a surprise visit.

At that time, Rui Lan had long seen his messages but hadn’t answered. As a matter of fact, he was free that day, and he had snatched a bit of food from Li Ming every now and then, so he trusted his cooking skills. To get a dedicated meal … that didn’t sound too bad. But, since he had also invited his girlfriend, he’d have to check with her first. Then, he could finally respond. Otherwise, they’d just be sending one message after the other, making things more difficult.