Chapter
23.1: Talking About Ex-Boyfriends
Qin Qianyu asked the waiter for another pot of tea. While
waiting, he glanced around the table to see how everyone had eaten. Tang Yi and
Lu Zhong'er were asking each other how much their girlfriends gave them each
month, trying to figure out who was living the worst. Wang Sian was playing on
his phone, and it was hard to tell if he was rubbing the screen or the screen
was rubbing him. Chu Qianmiao and Zhang Teng picked up the topic of
reminiscence they had just been discussing and continued their conversation. He
saw that Zhang Teng and Chu Qianmiao were both talking excitedly. They were
currently discussing how cunning lawyer Cheng Xiaodong was, who had almost
found out all the gossip about everyone in their firm through a game of truth
or dare.
Everyone was having their own little quiet fun.
After the waiter brought in the tea, he lifted the teapot to
pour a cup for his leader and chat with him. Turning around, he was met with a
textbook expressionless face, despite the usual hustle and bustle.
Ren Yan, with his strikingly handsome features, perfectly
embodied the concept of an "expressionless face."
His blank face was devoid of any emotion, a single ripple.
As Qin Qianyu filled Ren Yan's cup, he thought: I used to
think Ren Yan's expression was most terrifying when he asked a rhetorical
question, but now he felt deeply that a blank expression was far more
frightening than a rhetorical question.
Because it was so unpredictable.
He put down the teapot, cautiously leaned over to Ren Yan,
and asked softly, "Boss, is it... that this meal took a while?"
"Is it delaying work, and that's why you're unhappy?"
Ren Yan glanced at him and hummed noncommittally.
Qin Qianyu quickly timed it and loudly asked, "Has
everyone finished eating? Afterwards, let's get going!"
Everyone stood up one after another. Zhang Teng, craving a
cigarette, ran out for a smoke and called Cheng Xiaodong to ask about the
project. When Chu Qianmiao emerged from the private room, she saw Qin Qianyu
standing in the hallway. He held two briefcases.
Seeing her approach, Qin Qianyu waved at her as if saved.
"Qianmiao, come here, come here!"
As Chu Qianmiao approached, without waiting to ask what was
going on, Qin Qianyu shoved the two bags into her arms. "Help me hold
them! I just had watermelon and tea, and I'm having diarrhea!" By the time
he'd said "diarrhea," he'd already darted several meters toward the
bathroom.
Zhang Teng used his phone to call a taxi back to the law
firm. When the car arrived, he called Chu Qianmiao, "Qianmiao, why haven't
you come out yet?"
Chu Qianmiao looked at the two briefcases in her arms. One
was clearly named Qin, and after a closer look, she recognized the other: Ren.
She was holding two bags, both with names and surnames: Qin
and Ren. She thought the Qin bags were fine—inconspicuous enough to leave at
the front desk without worry. But the Ren bags were incredibly delicate, with a
troublesome appearance. They wouldn't last more than a minute at the front desk
before someone would have ulterior motives and try to take them home. So, she
figured it wasn't that she didn't want to leave, but that the Ren bags were
holding her back, holding her back.
Chu Qianmiao told Zhang Teng, "Lawyer Zhang, I have
something to do and can't leave right now. Why don't you go back to the firm?
I'll leave later!"
Zhang Teng said yes and hung up.
After a while, Qin Qianyu returned from his run. He shook
the water off his hands as he approached. When he reached Chu Qianmiao, his
hands were still wet. He didn't dare use his wet paws to grab Ren’s briefcase,
so he only took his briefcase.
So Ren’s briefcase continued to hold Chu Qianmiao hostage,
preventing her from leaving.
"Where's President Ren?"
She and Qin Qianyu asked each other almost simultaneously.
"Huh? President Ren hasn't come back yet?" Qin
Qianyu twisted his neck, looking around in confusion. "I didn't see anyone
in the bathroom just now. He must have come out, but where did he go?"
He pulled out his phone, made a few calls, hung up, and told
Chu Qianmiao, "Hey! He actually went out to smoke! Come on, Qianmiao,
let's go out too!"
Chu Qianmiao followed him out of the hotel lobby. As they
passed through the revolving door, she casually asked, "Mr. Ren smokes
too? I've never seen him before."
Qin Qianyu looked distressed. "My boss must be under a
lot of pressure lately. He's quit smoking almost two years ago. He never smoked
during those two years, only smoking a couple of cigarettes during the hectic,
hectic hours before submitting materials!"
Chu Qianmiao: "..."
She felt that this wasn't quitting, it was just smoking
less.
As Chu Qianmiao and Qin Qianyu walked out to the parking
lot, they saw Ren Yan flicking the ash from a cigarette extinguisher on the
trash can.
He stood in Beijing under the clear, early autumn sky of
August, his figure elegant and tall. His white shirt tucked into his trousers,
his suit jacket draped over one arm, his other hand holding a cigarette. He
took a puff and flicked the ash away.
It was the first time Chu Qianmiao had seen a man perform
the act of smoking like a performance art.
Every time he put a cigarette in his mouth, a cloud of smoke
would puff out from his thin lips. That cloud was friendly, helping to
half-cover his eyes, thus masking the coldness and sharpness beneath them.
Qin Qianyu ran over first, forgetting to pick up the bag
he'd left with Chu Qianmiao.
Chu Qianmiao had no choice but to follow.
As they passed, Ren Yan stubbed out the remaining cigarette
in the extinguisher.
"Leader, why are you smoking here?" Qin Qianyu
asked with concern.
Chu Qianmiao emphasized the word "smoking." She
thought Qin Qianyu meant, "Leader, what's so frustrating that you're
smoking here?"
But...
"This is the vent. The smoke you exhale will be blown
back against the wind and choke you. Go over there!" Qin Qianyu pointed.
Chu Qianmiao: "..."
Oh. So, the emphasis on "you" is on
"here," so he should go "there" to smoke...
She was convinced. She noticed that when Qin Qianyu wasn't
talking about work, he was a bit of a naive person.
Ren Yan ignored Qin Qianyu's words and reached into his
pocket to hand him the car keys. "Let's go back to the office. You
drive."
Chu Qianmiao also quickly handed Ren's bag to Qin Qianyu.
"Brother Qin, here you go!"
Ren Yan and Qin Qianyu walked towards the car together,
ignoring Chu Qianmiao quite naturally.
Ren Yan got into the back seat and waited for Qin Qianyu to
start the car.
He looked out the window at Chu Qianmiao. She was still
standing where she had been. He tried to ignore her. But the early autumn
afternoon sun was blazing and scorching. She stood there, basking in the
sunlight, as if under a strong spotlight. She wore a white shirt and a narrow
one-piece skirt, her legs long and well-proportioned beneath it. Her straight
black hair fell on her shoulders, and she repeatedly tucked her perfectly even
hair behind her ears. He patted the back of the driver's seat and said to Qin
Qianyu, "Go ask her for directions."
Only then did Qin Qianyu realize that Chu Qianmiao was still
standing outside. She hadn't followed him. She stood there like a bewildered
elementary school student lost by her parents.
He slid the car over to Chu Qianmiao and asked,
"Qianmiao, how do you get there?"
Chu Qianmiao flashed a small, white smile. "I called a
taxi, but no one's accepted yet."
Who knew who found this place to eat? It was hard to get a
taxi, hard to call a taxi, and about as far from the subway as a pilgrimage.
Qin Qianyu turned around, his seatbelt straining against his
will, and asked Ren Yan, "Boss, what are the arrangements?"
Ren Yan was silent for two seconds. In those two seconds, he
admitted defeat.
"Let her get in the car and take her back to their law
firm first."
It didn't matter, he thought. Just consider this the last
time I lost control of my emotions.
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