TNSFC – Chapter 25

This was a tactic Que Yining had thought of during dinner. Although a small, disharmonious interlude had dispelled the sweet ambiguity in the atmosphere, the ultimate goal was still achieved.

Que Yining looked at her reflection in the restroom mirror, noticing the color slowly returning to her face, and patted her cheeks.

That scene suddenly reappeared clearly in her mind: the river water, appearing cold and dark under the moonlight, and black hair spreading like seaweed.

Que Yining stared intently at her reflection. For a moment, the woman in the mirror seemed unfamiliar, and another fragment flashed rapidly through her mind.

‘She’ was walking down the road when a sudden pain struck the back of her head.

Someone was whispering, but Que Yining couldn’t hear clearly.

Que Yining pressed her temples, trying desperately to make out the sound, but it was like an electric current interfered with by a magnetic field, turning into incomprehensible words.

The sound of high heels approached the restroom door, from far to near, instantly pulling Que Yining out of the environment her brain had created.

Gu Shanxue: “Here, I also brought a cushion foundation. Need to touch up your makeup?”

Gu Shanxue handed over the lipstick and gently shook the item in her other hand.

Que Yining chuckled and thanked her, “Thank you, Miss Gu is so thoughtful.”

Gu Shanxue didn’t reply, merely standing aside and quietly watching Que Yining’s movements.

Que Yining touched up her makeup using the small mirror on the cushion compact. Her reflection was still familiar; everything that had just happened felt like an illusion, but Que Yining knew it wasn’t.

She seemed to be gradually uncovering the truth, but this truth only seemed to be triggered when she came into contact with Fu Wenjing, and each trigger was accompanied by physical and emotional abnormalities.

Although the mystery was like a tangled ball of yarn, and Que Yining couldn’t figure out the crux of it for now, she first assumed a scenario.

The original owner had been reborn; otherwise, she wouldn’t have memories of the ‘future’. It was highly probable she had died at Fu Wenjing’s hands, knocked unconscious and drowned in the river, or murdered and her body dumped in the river. But for some reason, a problem occurred, leading to their soul exchange.

Although this didn’t quite make sense, because the logical connections involved supernatural factors, Que Yining allowed herself to imagine it boldly.

After all, she had transmigrated into a book; what else was impossible?

Que Yining’s hand paused while applying makeup, and she narrowed her eyes.

Right, she had transmigrated into a book. How could the soul of a character from a book come to the present world and exchange with hers? What served as the medium? Was the world in the book, in some sense, also real?

Thinking further, this might be a philosophical question, delving into the nature of reality, which was outside Que Yining’s area of knowledge.

She immediately reined in her thoughts and twisted open the lipstick.

The lipstick Gu Shanxue brought wasn’t a true red; it leaned more towards an orange tone. In Que Yining’s impression, she had never seen Gu Shanxue wear very heavily colored lipstick.

Gu Shanxue’s makeup was always on the lighter side. At first glance, it didn’t give an impression of striking, vivid beauty like a profusion of flowers, but rather left a faint trace in one’s heart. More memorable than her appearance was her icy, aloof temperament.

Que Yining: “Miss Gu, this lipstick is so moisturizing, and the color is beautiful too.”

Que Yining first applied a thin layer to see the effect and was somewhat surprised by its moisturizing quality after applying it to her upper lip.

To be precise, it should be a lacquer solid lip gloss. One layer wasn’t enough to cover Que Yining’s skin tone and lip color, so she applied it twice more and pressed her lips together.

With the true red lipstick tone gone and her face somewhat pale, Que Yining’s intense, vibrant beauty softened, revealing a hint of sweetness and gentleness instead.

Gu Shanxue found herself unconsciously watching her. As Que Yining moved, she naturally paid extra attention to her lips and noticed their beautiful shape.

Que Yining twisted the lipstick back down, closed the cap, and placed it in front of Gu Shanxue, saying, “Thank you, Miss Gu. Here, it’s yours.”

Que Yining returned it quickly, afraid Gu Shanxue would just tell her to keep it, which would ruin her little plan. Although she wasn’t sure if Gu Shanxue would continue to use it after taking it back—perhaps Gu Shanxue would set it aside or discard it—but what if?

After Gu Shanxue took her things back, she still asked uncertainly, “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?”

Que Yining shook her head. “Really, no need. I just suddenly felt a bit unwell, but I’m fine now.”

“But Miss Gu being so worried about me,” Que Yining’s eyes curved into a smile, “makes me very happy.”

Gu Shanxue’s expression remained calm. “Among friends, this is as it should be.”

Que Yining smiled and agreed, “Mm.”

“Oh, right,” Que Yining suddenly remembered something, not wanting to miss any opportunity to improve their relationship. “There’s a charity auction gala the day after tomorrow. Will you be going?”

Que Yining brought this up not only to see if there was a chance to meet Gu Shanxue but also because Fu Wenjing would be there. She could see him again then, and perhaps get more clues.

Of course, Que Yining could find other ways to see Fu Wenjing, but she was unwilling. She wouldn’t go out of her way to see Fu Wenjing unless it was something extremely urgent.

After all, the original owner’s past “glorious deeds” were there for all to see. If she said she had no feelings for Fu Wenjing anymore but then specifically sought him out, it would inevitably arouse suspicion—like being in a melon patch and under a plum tree. Que Yining wasn’t the type to be hypocritical.

Gu Shanxue hadn’t paid attention to the charity auction. She pressed the elevator button, walked in with Que Yining, and after a moment of thought, said, “Probably not. Are you going?”

Que Yining answered bluntly, “If you don’t go, I won’t go either.”

Hearing this, Gu Shanxue said, “Then I won’t go.”

Que Yining: “Then do you have any plans for the night after tomorrow? If not, we could go to a hot spring together.”

Gu Shanxue: “I might have something. I’ll have to check my specific schedule.”

Que Yining: “Okay, it’s fine if you have something. We can always make plans another time. Work is important, but relaxation is too. Soaking in a hot spring is perfect in winter.”

Gu Shanxue: “Alright, I’ll be going then.”

They had reached the ground floor, and Gu Shanxue had her own things to attend to.

Hearing this, Que Yining’s lips curved slightly. She waved and said, “Mm, see you next time.”

Que Yining’s tactics always came one after another, always giving others choices and then making her own choices based on theirs.

It was only when Gu Shanxue was sitting in her car that she suddenly realized she had somehow agreed to another hot spring trip.

She pressed the space between her eyebrows, her thoughts a little chaotic.

She had clearly told herself before not to be curious, to keep it superficial, and not to get too close. Yet, she always found herself unknowingly entangled with the other person, and strangely, she didn’t find it unpleasant.

Perhaps the smile on Que Yining’s face when she heard her agree was too captivating. Gu Shanxue took a deep breath and sorted out the messy thoughts in her mind.

Gu Shanxue’s assistant sent her the schedule for later. There would be a meeting shortly. Gu Shanxue neatened her appearance, noticed her lipstick had faded a bit during the meal, and took out her lipstick to touch it up.

As the lipstick touched her lips, Gu Shanxue’s hand paused.

For such personal items, if someone else had used them, Gu Shanxue usually wouldn’t use them again.

But, unusually, Gu Shanxue didn’t feel much aversion. Remembering how Que Yining had lightly applied it, she still coated her lips with a layer of light red.

Just as Que Yining had praised, this solid lip gloss was indeed very moisturizing, with a soft and smooth feel.

Gu Shanxue closed the lipstick, banished Que Yining’s face from her mind, and started the car.

When she arrived at her company, she saw a new message on her phone.

【Miss Que】: Miss Gu, I’ve already arranged for housekeeping to clean up, so you don’t need to find someone.

Gu Shanxue hadn’t even remembered this matter for a moment. She sent a thank-you message to Que Yining and walked into Gu Corporation.

After arranging for housekeeping, Que Yining took a taxi to the driving school.

Gu Shanxue was very busy, and so was she.

The next afternoon, Zhang Shiyu called Que Yining, saying she had already talked to someone. The person was willing to be signed by them but needed to see who the boss was.

Zhang Shiyu: “And he has one condition. Someone else changed jobs with him back then, and he hopes to bring that person into the studio as well.”

Que Yining: “That’s easy. Have them come to the office at five. I need to personally assess their abilities. If they’re qualified, of course, it’s no problem.”

Zhang Shiyu: “Okay, I’ll notify them right away.”

At 4:55 PM, in front of the office building, someone looked up at the skyscraper with a hesitant expression.

Lin Jingyu: “Huai Ge, is this reliable?”

The usually slovenly programmer, who typically wore shirts and shorts, had specially put on an awkward suit today. He kept tugging at his tie, looking at the man beside him.

Xie Yanhuai sighed deeply. “I don’t know either. I hope it’s reliable. The person I talked to said her boss could offer a lot of autonomy and wouldn’t make us create rubbish. But this boss seems to be just a rich second-generation kid. What if she’s just playing around and leaves halfway through?”

Lin Jingyu: “Huh? Then shouldn’t we look elsewhere?”

Xie Yanhuai: “We’re already here. Let’s check it out first.”

Finding a job was easy for them, of course, but Xie Yanhuai had his own aspirations. He wanted to create another good game. It would be great if he could find a like-minded boss; if not, he could only find a job first, save some money, and then make games.

Xie Yanhuai didn’t actually have high expectations. He walked into the office building with Lin Jingyu and went straight to the tenth floor.

The office was clean, very large, and also quite empty.

Zhang Shiyu: “You’re here. Follow me, the boss is waiting for you in the office.”

Zhang Shiyu led them to the door, stood there without entering, knocked, and after receiving a response, opened the door and gestured for Xie Yanhuai and the other man to enter.

Xie Yanhuai walked in, and when he saw the beautiful woman sitting in the office, his heart sank.

This boss looked like a rich young lady who was just here to play around; she didn’t look like she understood game development.

Xie Yanhuai discreetly tugged his buddy’s sleeve twice. This was their little secret signal: one tug meant it was okay, two tugs meant forget it.

Que Yining lifted her chin slightly. “Sit.”

Xie Yanhuai sat down and began the conversation with no expectations whatsoever.

Ten minutes later, Lin Jingyu watched Xie Yanhuai, who was now gesturing excitedly as he enthusiastically discussed the future with the boss, and thought to himself that men were indeed fickle.