"h.e.l.lo…" Xia Zhen is still lying in bed, so her voice is tinged with sleep.

Pei Cheng An, who has been busy for a while, smiled unconsciously, presumably because his guess was confirmed or otherwise; Xia Zhen was indeed still sleeping. "It's time to get up or you'll be late for work."

Pei Cheng An's work starts at 08h00 whereas Xia Zhen's starts at 09h0. Different times. And since Pei Cheng An couldn't send Xia Zhen off to work, he returned to the inst.i.tute the night before.

"What time is it?" She didn't want to get up because she didn't get enough sleep.

"8:12."

"I can still sleep for a while longer. I'm hanging up." It is okay for her to sleep for another ten minutes. It's gonna be a fight for time when she wakes up later, but, breakfast time can be spent doing other things but right now, nothing's more important than sleep.

"Don't oversleep." "Pei Cheng An felt a little helpless. He had always had a time-conscious att.i.tude, he likes to be early, and he doesn't like to rush. He's discovered that Xia Zhen is not a very time-conscious person, but he doesn't hate it, probably because she hadn't slept enough because of him.

As a result of going back to sleep, for that extra 10 minutes, Xia Zhen really overslept, fortunately for her though, she was not late for work.

Xia Zhen works in a small company with few rules and regulations, and less stress, with the exception being the time when there is more business. She has little ambition for her career, she just wants to do a simple and easy job, and still have enough time and energy to spare and play. According to Xue Chen, she is a rice worm (1). In Xiao Lu's words though, she's been happy since she was a kid (she grew up in a happy home). There's no need to pursue anything else.

Xia Zhen felt that they both were right, But she was a little disagreeable in her heart, reason being, she really wanted to pursue something, she just had no clue as to what that something is, that's all.

Xiao Lu once asked her to pursue a happy marriage and to raise a child who can become a pillar of the country, thus becoming a winner in life. She was convinced otherwise by Xia Zhen though and the subject was never raised again.

Xia Zhen said to Xiao Lu: "try it yourself."

This group of friends was all too happy with their lives and they were very much unwilling to enter the union of marriage too early. They all liked to be free and at ease. Even though Zhou Le and Wei Feng had girlfriends, they often tell them that they are still single.

Xia Zhen finally drew up a life plan, which was similar to what Xiao Lu had said, except that marriage was at the prime age of thirty, as for kids, she could not imagine herself with a big belly (she could not imagine herself being pregnant). 

Breaking down her plan goes like this: marriage at thirty, which means she needs to start a relations.h.i.+p when she's twenty- eight years old. Right at this moment though, she's only twenty-five years, and that brings her to the blind dates, they obviously need to end "in failure" until she's twenty-eight. Her plan is basically perfect and flawless.

"Xia Zhen, what did you do last night? The black circles under your eyes are huge, they make me want to take the boss's black bamboo down and give it to you." A colleague of Xia Zhen called Xiao Li said as she stared at Xia Zhen's eyes when she got in at work.

TL's NOTES:

[#1- my apologies guys, I do not know what a rice worm is

#2- black bamboo is used to treat black circles under the eyes but I do not know if this is legit.]