Chapter 9 : A Very Beautiful Textbook style handover

After the handover, Chi Yuqin left, and everyone else left too.

Tang Zhen left with everyone, but Chi Yuqin’s words, ‘a very beautiful textbook-style handover,’ kept replaying in her mind.

So much so that after a morning of non-stop work, even when she finally had a moment to catch her breath during lunch in the cafeteria, Tang Zhen’s nerves still couldn’t relax.
It was like a stretched-out rubber band, pulled taut in her head.

“Hey, hey hey—”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“I should be the one asking you that. What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve lost your soul.”

Liu Sisi glanced at the chopsticks in Tang Zhen’s hand. “You’re still stirring. If you keep stirring, that rice is going to turn into porridge.”

Tang Zhen looked down and only then realized that the rice on her plate had been tortured beyond recognition by her.
She finally took a bite, but once she started chewing, it felt like it would never end.

“Do you know what you look like right now?”

“What?”

“Like a newborn baby, chewing a hundred times for every bite.”

Before Tang Zhen could react, Liu Sisi’s eyes suddenly went wide— “Director Chi!”

Tang Zhen’s shoulders immediately straightened, her panic visible to the naked eye.
It took her a good while to dare to sneak a peek back, looking like a thief afraid of being caught.

Liu Sisi couldn’t help but burst out laughing—

“Aren’t you silly~”

Even if Tang Zhen’s reaction was slow, she understood now.
This person was teasing her—

“Liu Sisi—”

“I only called out ‘Director Chi.’ I didn’t say she was here. You misunderstood on your own, don’t blame me.”

Tang Zhen admitted she was a bit sensitive right now, but she couldn’t stand being startled like this. “I’m begging you, please don’t mention her to me again.”

“Look at you, what a wimp. It’s just a men—”
Before she could finish, Liu Sisi’s head suddenly dropped, her face almost touching the plate.

“What are you doing now?”

“Chi Yuqin, Chi Yuqin!!!”

“You’re at it again. You just said you wouldn’t mention her.”

“No, it’s really her!”

“If I believe you again, I’m a dog.”

“I dare you to turn around and look.”

“I’ll look then.”

Tang Zhen turned her head.
One second she was fearless, the next, like Liu Sisi, she wished her face was pressed into the plate.

“It’s really her.”

“I told you, I wasn’t lying.”

Tang Zhen suddenly thought of something and actually turned her head to look again.

Liu Sisi slapped her. “Stop looking. Be careful, she might come over to you later. Hurry up and eat. We’ll leave after we’re done.”

Diagonally across from them, two people were sitting at a table.

“One of yours?”

Si Xiaolin chewed on a straw.
She hadn’t eaten much of her meal but had drunk her fill of soda.
She leaned back lazily, her eyes also glancing diagonally across.

Chi Yuqin had seen them when they were whispering to each other.
The cafeteria was large, but there were only a few tables in this area.
Unless you were blind, it was hard not to see them.

Chi Yuqin took a bite of a green bamboo shoot slice, her brow suddenly furrowing with a mix of helplessness and disappointment.
They were all graduates from prestigious universities, yet one after another, they were all so unimpressive.
Their faces were almost pressed into their plates.
If they were so afraid of being seen… why not just hide under the table?

Si Xiaolin, enjoying the drama, watched the two fleeing figures and grinned at Chi Yuqin across from her—

“Look how you’ve scared them. They didn’t even finish their food.”

Chi Yuqin couldn’t be bothered with her.

Si Xiaolin was a little younger than Chi Yuqin, and their families were old friends.
Among all these people, Si Xiaolin was probably the only one who wasn’t afraid of Chi Yuqin’s cold face.
Not only was she not afraid… she could even joke around with her like this.

Actually, besides her sour face, Chi Yuqin was really great in every other way.
Take the incident with Si Xiaolin’s father, for example.
So many people avoided Si Xiaolin, but only Chi Yuqin didn’t care at all.
She treated her just as she always had.
In her words— “What does your father’s business have to do with me? I’m not close with your father.”

During Si Xiaolin’s most difficult years, if it hadn’t been for Chi Yuqin’s support, she might not have made it through.

Before Si Xiaolin could make a few more jokes, Chi Yuqin’s phone rang.
As soon as she answered, only two words were spoken before she hung up.
It rang several more times, and then she blocked the number.

Si Xiaolin squeezed the soda bottle, feeling that the voice on the phone was very familiar.
She subconsciously asked—

“Who was that?”

“Cen Wei.”

“Her…”

“She’s having a fit.”

Chi Yuqin answered all of Si Xiaolin’s questions with those four words.

She glanced at her. “What did you come to see me for today?”

Si Xiaolin was being flippant, leaning forward and still joking around. “Can’t I come see you if there’s nothing? Can’t I miss you?”

Chi Yuqin put down her chopsticks and took a slow sip of water. “Chen Min isn’t talking to you again.”

“Bullshit! If anyone’s not talking, it’s me not talking to her!”

“Is that so? Then why are you so anxious?”

“Who’s anxious?!”

Chi Yuqin didn’t speak, just stared at her with those eyes that seemed to have hooks in them, making Si Xiaolin’s hair stand on end.

Before anything was even said, Si Xiaolin confessed on her own.

“Your queue is too hard to get into. I finally managed to get a spot, but then I have to queue again for a check-up. I’m saying, for such a big hospital, can’t you improve things?”

“You’re not feeling well?”

“Not me, it’s Chen Min’s aunt. I told you about it—”

Chi Yuqin crossed her arms over her chest, immediately distancing herself. “When did you tell me about this? Don’t try to act smart.”

“I’m telling you now.”
Si Xiaolin, afraid that Chi Yuqin would refuse, spoke like a machine gun, rattling off a string of words.
“You know how these relatives are. They think that because you work in Jingbei, the entire city of Jingbei is yours. They don’t care if it’s possible or not, they just call you up and ask you to do things. If you tell them it’s a bit difficult… they immediately start gossiping about you behind your back. It’s really helpless.”

“Even if it’s helpless, it’s Chen Min’s problem. What does it have to do with you? And… why do I remember you two were mortal enemies back in high school? Now she has a problem, and you’re this anxious?”

When it came to shutting people down with words, if Chi Yuqin was second, no one would dare to claim first.

Si Xiaolin was completely cornered by her.

Chi Yuqin knew a little about what was going on between Chen Min and Si Xiaolin.
They were high school classmates.
Back then, Chi Yuqin was already in college, while the two of them were still fighting to the death over a competition.
But somehow, in all their fighting, they ended up in the same bed.

Si Xiaolin saw Chi Yuqin’s deadpan expression and knew she wasn’t thinking anything good.
She said anxiously—

“I’ll tell you one more time, we were just taking a nap back then!”

Chi Yuqin nodded coolly, infuriatingly so. “So?”

Si Xiaolin was speechless—

“Are you even human? How old were we back then?! Our chests hadn’t even fully developed! How could it be possible?! You, you… if you can help, help. If you can’t, I’ll find someone else.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Chi Yuqin uncrossed her arms. “Chen Min isn’t a stranger to me. Why doesn’t she come herself?”

Si Xiaolin: “She’s busy.”

Chi Yuqin looked Si Xiaolin up and down. “Is it that she’s busy and can’t come… so she asked you to come, or did she not even mention it to you, and you just heard about it from somewhere and came running over?”

Si Xiaolin was caught and fell silent.

“That habit of yours of rushing into things really hasn’t changed at all.”

Since she had been seen through, Si Xiaolin didn’t bother to pretend anymore.
She said bluntly, “Are you going to help or not?”

“Check-ups are all done by appointment. There’s nothing I can do about that.”

“Then I’ll find someone else.”

“Even if you brought the mayor of Jingbei here today, there’s nothing that can be done.”

“Then—”

“But—”

Chi Yuqin took a big, dramatic breath.

Si Xiaolin was being pulled up and down by her—

“But what? Can you not keep me in suspense?”

“You can have her get the check-up done at the branch hospital… it’s faster there. After she’s done, have her bring the report to Renhua, and I’ll look at it for her.”

“Deal!”

“Who do you think that person is? Is she also from Renhua?”

As soon as Liu Sisi was out of the cafeteria, she immediately came back to life, pulling Tang Zhen to talk.

“Probably not.”

“I don’t think so either. Daring to eat at the same table as Chi Yuqin, and even laughing and talking… they must be crazy~”

Liu Sisi shook her head and shrugged, then said, “No, that meal just now was too stressful. I need to take a couple of digestive tablets to help with digestion.”

Tang Zhen wasn’t as quick to jump to conclusions as Liu Sisi.
The reason she said ‘probably not’ was because she had seen this person before, during that late-night snack yesterday… she was the one who had video-chatted with Chen Min.

So… she was very close with Chi Yuqin?

Tang Zhen sighed silently.
What kind of luck did she have?
She hadn’t even figured out Chi Yuqin, and she was already getting to know all the people around her.

Liu Sisi chewed on a digestive tablet. “Want some?”

Tang Zhen had barely eaten a few bites of that meal.
What did she need digestive help for?
She shook her head.

Seeing this, Liu Sisi threw the tablet into her drawer and then continued—

“Right, I haven’t asked you yet. What exactly are you so lost in thought about?”

“I… for the first time, I feel like the word ‘beautiful’ is a derogatory term…”

Sigh!

‘A very beautiful textbook-style handover. Where was it beautiful? The person who said it?’