041 New Colleague
The new week didn’t bring much of a new atmosphere. Qin Ren, a corporate slave who had worked on a freelance job until two in the morning last night, woke up early and continued his transition into a housewife.
First, he boiled ginger Coke for Luo Yao, then he dealt with the cat hair at home, brought in the dry clothes from the utility balcony, and finally, threw some old clothes into the laundry basket.
“Huh? What’s this…”
The clothes in the laundry basket had been accumulating since Saturday. As Qin Ren was throwing one of Luo Yao’s dresses in, he noticed a pearlescent pink sheen in the basket that hadn’t been there before.
Qin Ren reached in. His hand touched something cool and soft. He pulled out a piece of smooth, moon-white silk.
The silk was neatly cut into a diamond shape. Besides the fine stitching around the edges, the front was embroidered with colored thread. It depicted a carp leaping high out of the water with a beautiful arc. The depiction of the water surface was particularly exquisite. From a distance, it looked like water ripples, but up close, it looked like dragon scales, shimmering and very vivid.
“Fish leaping over the dragon gate?”
Although Qin Ren was amazed by the Mona Lisa-like, both real and illusory embroidery technique, he also quickly realized that this was probably a dudou, something ancient girls used, which he had seen on TV.
As for its owner, it could only be classmate Yu Yourong.
Qin Ren had overlooked this issue before. Yu Yourong, after all, was different from a Spirit Beast. She was of the demon race, who, like humans, understood the construction of spiritual civilization. Before changing into Earth’s underwear, she must have been wearing her own personal undergarments inside her school uniform.
“So small? Can it even cover anything…”
The silk cloth was no bigger than two palms. Qin Ren murmured and squeezed it. A faint, slightly familiar fragrance wafted to his nose. He rummaged through the laundry basket again and found a pair of loose, short pants of the same material.
Qin Ren had never washed silk before. Anyway, he felt that it couldn’t be hand-washed like Luo Yao’s cotton panties. After thinking about it, he simply put them in a separate mesh laundry bag he had bought before, to prevent such a fragile fabric from being twisted and damaged with other clothes, and then threw them into the washing machine along with the other clothes.
Beep—
High water level, gentle wash mode. The washing machine began to fill with water.
“Yourong, I’ve started the washing machine. Remember to hang the clothes up when it’s done.”
“Got it, Ge.”
Qin Ren called out to Yu Yourong on the balcony, went out, put on his headphones, opened QQ Music, adjusted the volume to a level where he could just hear car horns, and then rode his bike to the company, starting a new week of torture.
————————
IFS Center, first-floor lobby.
Qin Ren came in early today. There weren’t many people at the company building, except for a slender, familiar back.
Still the same casually tied, slightly messy topknot.
Still the same neat business suit.
Still the same long, slender legs wrapped in black pantyhose.
Yun Wanhe stood in front of the elevator doors, holding her phone in both hands, watching some video. She held it very close, her delicate fingers cupped around the screen, as if to prevent others from peeking.
Qin Ren tiptoed over and saw the fine, cute fuzz on the back of her neck. A playful thought came to him. He raised the bottle of milk he had just bought from the refrigerated cabinet and slowly brought it closer.
“Ah!”
Yun Wanhe was startled by the cold. Her neck shrank, and she let out a cry of surprise. She hugged her phone and turned around abruptly, her beautiful eyes wide with alarm.
“Little Qin!”
“Aye!”
Qin Ren grinned.
“What are you watching, Sister Yun? So sneaky?”
“You’re the sneaky one.”
Qin Ren accused her first. Yun Wanhe put her phone in her pocket while rubbing her neck and glaring at him.
“Drinking iced milk in the morning. You’ll get diarrhea.”
Was this a retaliatory curse?
“I don’t think so,” Qin Ren pursed his lips.
“You definitely will. Just you wait.”
“How do you know? Have you had it before, Sister Yun?”
“I…”
How can he say such things to his female superior!
Yun Wanhe’s ears and face were hot, but it was definitely not shyness. She was just angered by this increasingly audacious subordinate.
“Little Qin, no wonder you can’t find a girlfriend now.”
“If I can’t find one, I won’t.”
Faced with the “ruthless mockery,” Qin Ren smiled calmly.
“Sister Yun, don’t you think this is a good thing?”
?
A good thing?
He… what does he mean…
Some things in life always come very suddenly. Yun Wanhe suddenly couldn’t figure out the meaning behind the smile on Qin Ren’s lips. Although her heart was pounding a little faster, she tried to keep her expression natural and looked straight at the elevator doors in front of her.
“How is it a good thing? Are you a celibate?”
“No, no, no. What I mean is, me not having a girlfriend is a good thing for you, Sister Yun.”
“What… what does it have to do with me?” Yun Wanhe’s heart beat even faster. If there wasn’t a little deer hidden inside, there was at least a little squirrel or a little rabbit.
Actually, it wasn’t her fault that her thoughts were particularly scattered today. It was mainly because last night, her best friend had recommended a Japanese drama to her called Love Bravely Even with a Younger Man, which was about a female superior in her late twenties and a young new employee… a normal workplace story. She was still watching it on her phone just now. The overly realistic sense of immersion had made it so that she still hadn’t quite come out of it.
“Of course it has something to do with you.”
Qin Ren took a sip of milk.
“Think about it, Sister Yun. If I were in a relationship, I’d be busy being all lovey-dovey with my little girlfriend in the honeymoon phase. I’d definitely be distracted at work. Then, when you’re secretly working overtime alone, I might really be too lazy to care about you.”
“Heh, I don’t need you to care in the first place.”
Yun Wanhe successfully came out of the Japanese drama, and then sneered with a blank expression.
Girlfriend is girlfriend, what’s with the ‘little girlfriend’…
Is being young so great?
Can’t you be lovey-dovey when you’re a bit older? Can’t you be in a honeymoon phase?
The internet says that men are boys until they die. Yun Wanhe finally understood. It meant that men like young girls, like the young ones, until they die!
“Tsk, look at you. What do you mean you don’t need me to care?”
Seeing Sister Yun still talking back, Qin Ren spoke earnestly.
“You were scolded by the bald guy last time. Don’t you know you were wrong yet, Sister Yun? Let me tell you, about this overtime…”
“I’m not listening.”
“No, just listen to me first…”
“Shut up! If you say another word, I’ll dock your bonus!”
“?”
Qin Ren was stunned. Why did she suddenly seem so angry…
Ding—
At this moment, the elevator arrived. Yun Wanhe entered the elevator, her face cold and silent. Then, she pressed the close button right in front of Qin Ren.
“Hey, hey!”
Qin Ren was still dazed and didn’t react in time. It was too late when he pressed the up button. In the end, he had to take the next one. When he got to the office, he found that Yun Wanhe was not at her workstation.
“Hey, hey, Brother Wang.”
Qin Ren stopped the company’s IT guy, who was wandering near Department V.
“Have you seen Sister Yun?”
“Sister Yun.”
Brother Wang rubbed his shiny bald head.
“It seems like she was called over by HR just now.”
“Oh…”
Qin Ren realized. He remembered Zhou Chi had told him last week that the department was getting a new colleague. It was probably today.
About fifteen minutes later, the other colleagues arrived one after another. Yun Wanhe also came over with a stack of documents.
“Sister Yun, Sister Yun.”
Qin Ren went over.
“Is the newcomer here?”
“None of your business. Are you the department head or am I?”
“…”
Yun Wanhe still seemed to be inexplicably angry with Qin Ren. A woman’s mood was as unpredictable as the weather. Qin Ren could only laugh it off.
“So, Sister Yun, what’s the new colleague’s name?”
“Surname Xiao, given name Nüyou.”
“…”
Qin Ren believed that the surname “Xiao” existed in the world, but he absolutely did not believe that anyone would be named “Xiao Nüyou.”
But he was also puzzled. He didn’t know what was wrong with what he had said downstairs just now. He thought it over word by word and couldn’t find anything that had offended Yun Wanhe.
“Brother Ren, Brother Ren! Look!”
“Look at what?”
As Qin Ren was thinking, the yawning Zhou Chi opposite him suddenly hit his head with a blueprint. Qin Ren turned to look and saw a girl in a black long-sleeved formal shirt and long pants.
A small face, delicate features, light makeup, a smooth ponytail tied low on the back of her head…
A playful glint shone in the girl’s bright eyes. When she smiled, she looked like a little fox, revealing two cute little canine teeth that looked incredibly familiar to Qin Ren.
“Let me introduce everyone…”
Yun Wanhe stood up at this moment and called over everyone in Department V.
“…This is our new colleague, a fresh graduate, Cheng Siyu. Everyone, please welcome her.”
Clap, clap, clap…
The applause around him, along with Yun Wanhe’s words, sounded a bit blurry to Qin Ren. He was dumbfounded. He watched as this incredibly familiar face nodded to all the seniors, and finally, only when it was his turn, she walked over and held out a slender, fair little hand.
“Hello, Engineer Qin. I just heard the HR sister praising you. Please take care of me in the future~”
“…”
Seeing her extend her hand, Yun Wanhe’s willow-like brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. Qin Ren, on the other hand, had mixed feelings. He shook her hand in a daze. Zhou Chi, Sister Juan, Sister Sun, and the others around them immediately started to hoot with a long “Oh—”.
“What’s the situation, little sister? You’re quite enthusiastic towards our Brother Ren!”
“Cheng Siyu, right? Let me tell you, HR was right. Our Brother Ren is indeed outstanding…”
“Little sister, which school are you from?”
“Hey, hey, let me mention, our Brother Ren is single right now…”
…
The arrival of the new colleague made everyone’s mood a little excited for a while, and they immediately started to chatter noisily.
This was very normal, but Yun Wanhe didn’t seem to be into it.
She looked down, looked at Cheng Siyu’s resume, then at her hand, which was enthusiastically shaking Qin Ren’s. Then she thought of Qin Ren’s “little girlfriend” from downstairs. A strange sense of annoyance and crisis gradually rose in her heart.
This little girl…
Why do I feel like she’s bad news…
Translator’s Notes
-
Dudou (肚兜): A traditional Chinese undergarment, similar to a bodice or halter top, that covers the chest and abdomen.
-
Xiao Nüyou (小女友): Literally means “little girlfriend.” Yun Wanhe is sarcastically naming the new colleague after the term Qin Ren used that annoyed her.
