Julia Clark couldn’t have imagined that just a few days ago, Ryan Carter was still desperately messaging and calling her, yet now he was facing her with such a calm demeanor. Just three days ago, Julia Clark had even heard people say that Ryan Carter was crying at a dinner table, shouting that he wanted to call her. But now, though it was the same person, his aura was completely different. The Ryan Carter before her, although there seemed to be something in his eyes, was exceptionally calm when facing her, as if looking at a stranger, and could even greet her as if she were an old friend.

It seemed that, in his heart, he had truly let her go.

This thought suddenly made Julia Clark feel a bit uncomfortable, as if a toy that belonged to her had suddenly become someone else’s. She lifted her head a bit arrogantly, looked at Ryan Carter, and said proudly, “Yes, I’m going to Beijing with Grace and the others to try our luck. What about you? I heard you’re going home to be a temp worker?”

She knew full well that Ryan Carter had told others he wouldn’t follow his family’s arrangements, but she still asked, clearly trying to expose Ryan Carter’s shortcomings.

Ryan Carter smiled. Back then, it was precisely because he didn’t want to be looked down upon by this woman that he refused his parents’ arrangements and insisted on going to Beijing. After drifting for several years and returning home battered and bruised, he found that everything had changed, and he had ended up as a down-and-out writer.

Looking at it now, he was just a passerby in this girl’s life. With his family background and future prospects not looking bright, he was never her first choice. This was clear from the fact that she eventually married a man said to be the deputy mayor’s son. A phoenix longing to perch high would never truly stay for a grass chicken like him.

Returning to the present from 2016, that era of knowledge explosion and rapid inflation of information and even currency, Ryan Carter was only twenty-one and just graduated, but his mind was fifteen years ahead of this time. His thinking and judgment far surpassed these inexperienced students before him. Julia Clark’s little schemes seemed like showing off in front of a master to Ryan Carter.

So, Julia Clark’s attempt to embarrass Ryan Carter was clearly doomed to fail.

Reaching out to stop Eric Bennett from speaking, Ryan Carter gave Julia Clark a faint smile. “I don’t have such big ambitions. Since my family arranged a job, I think it’s better for me to listen to my parents.” As he spoke, he winked affectionately at the fuming Grace beside him. Clearly, he was still grateful to such a straightforward woman who spoke her mind. He understood that Grace’s words just now were meant to encourage him to fight for Julia Clark again, but she didn’t know that Julia Clark no longer had a place for Ryan Carter in her heart.

Seeing the smile Ryan Carter gave her, Grace was a bit puzzled, but she still saw a trace of calm and relief in it. A strange feeling suddenly welled up in her heart, a kind of indescribable flutter. She understood that the man before her had completely let go of Julia Clark.

“Boss, let’s go.”

Eric Bennett and Daniel Bolton flanked Ryan Carter on either side and, without giving him a chance to refuse, headed toward the dorm. They weren’t fools—everyone in town knew about the mess between their boss and Julia Clark. Although they didn’t understand why their boss could hold his own so manfully in front of Julia Clark, for a girl who longed for big city life, it was best for the guys to keep their distance.

……

“Boss, what did you say? You’re going to be a temp worker?”

Sitting on the dorm bed, Eric Bennett stared in disbelief at the calm-faced Ryan Carter across from him, his mouth agape. Just last night, their boss was arguing fiercely with his parents on the phone, threatening to run away from home, and now he was saying he’d follow his family’s arrangement and take some temp job at the township government office. It really made Ryan Carter’s roommates feel like they’d seen a ghost.

Reaching out to feel Ryan Carter’s forehead, Daniel Bolton exchanged a glance with Eric Bennett and whispered, “No fever… so why is he talking nonsense?”

Then he reached up to touch his own head and added, “Could it be that I’m the one with a fever?”

“Get lost!” Ryan Carter kicked him, half annoyed and half amused, and said firmly to everyone, “I’m serious. I thought it over last night. My parents are right—even if I go out and struggle for a few years, who knows what will happen? But if I work as a temp at the township government for two years, I might be able to become a full civil servant. Old Seven, this means we might end up as half-colleagues.”

Eric Bennett rolled his eyes and shook his head, saying, “Come on, I’m at the prosecutor’s office, you’re at the township government, and we’re not even in the same city. Sure, it’s only a hundred kilometers apart, but there’s no way we’ll be working together.”

With a chuckle, Ryan Carter touched his nose with his index finger and winked, “We’re all serving the people, just in different positions.”

Everyone smiled.