A Woman Who Hates Women (GL) - Chapter 3

Lu Qing walked over and stood in front of Li Jia. “Team Leader Li, you’re laughing a bit too loudly.”

Oops, someone noticed…

Sitting on the booth sofa, Li Jia put down her glass, tilted her head back to look at Lu Qing, and smiled insincerely as she apologized, “Oh, really? Sorry about that then.”

Lu Qing definitely saw the hostility and provocation in Li Jia’s eyes. She sat down anyway. The booth was semicircular, and she sat opposite Li Jia. Calmly, she called the waiter over and ordered a drink, showing no intention of leaving.

Li Jia stopped smiling and looked at Lu Qing’s face, noticing the sapphire earring that glittered on her earlobe.

That’s a face that’s annoyingly beautiful in this dim light.

Lu Qing herself had a cool air about her, like ice cubes swirling in a mint liquor.

Li Jia wasn’t planning to quit her job anytime soon. Since they would have to work together in the future, there was no reason to fall out with her boss.

But she’s really making me curious.

Could it be that my new boss is actually like me?

No… she just said she hates women…

After thinking for a moment, Li Jia asked curiously, “Director Lu, do you know what kind of place this is?”

Lu Qing didn’t answer immediately. She took the drink the waiter brought, took a small sip, and then said, “Yes, I know. It’s a bar.”

Didn’t she see that it’s full of women when she came in?

The ‘No Men Allowed’ sign at the door should be pretty big.

Li Jia smiled and was about to correct her when Lu Qing continued, “I know it’s a lesbian bar.”

Lu Qing switched the glass to her other hand. The clear ice cubes turned inside. Leaning back against the sofa with her legs crossed, she looked up at Li Jia and said slowly, “I also know you like women.”

“Your car is still parked in the restaurant parking lot outside. You’re probably still around here, and this is the only bar nearby.”

“So, don’t overthink it. I came in here just to find you.”

Right, Lu Qing always acts like an ice sculpture. Forget girlfriends, it’s like she doesn’t even have any worldly desires…

Probably a bit drunk, Li Jia’s brain wasn’t working fast. She looked at Lu Qing and said slowly, “Director Lu came to find me? I seem to remember already congratulating you.”

Ah, my sexual orientation isn’t a secret at the company. It’s not surprising that Lu Qing knows. But to come find me specifically… what’s that about?

Lu Qing clearly understood where Li Jia’s hostility came from. She explained directly, “The headquarters decided on the director position a long time ago. Director Lu was notified about this early on too.”

“So, I never had a chance from the start.”

Li Jia straightened up and sat up straight.

She was a little surprised that Lu Qing would talk to her about this directly.

And Director Lu knew this all along but still spread the word that she and Xiao Wang were competing…

After thinking for a while, Li Jia understood and laughed, “No wonder. That kid Wang Hai had more advantages than me, but he still decisively quit at this point.”

So he heard the news early on. He ran fast.

“Old Lu isn’t fair,” Li Jia finished the rest of the strong liquor in her glass in one gulp, groaned, and instantly slumped back into the booth like a rag doll.

“Director Lu, thank you for coming all the way to explain and not keeping me in the dark,” Li Jia’s voice was a bit muffled.

Huh?!

Did Lu Qing just smile?

The corner of the other person’s mouth seemed to twitch upwards. Li Jia, who had been half-closing her eyes, looked up to see clearly, but Lu Qing had already returned to her usual icy expression.

Looks like it was just my imagination.

“You’re welcome,” Lu Qing said calmly, taking a small sip of her drink. “I just don’t want this to affect our work in the future.”

“Of course, that’s not the only reason I came here. There’s also…”

Lu Qing stood up, holding her glass, and sat down next to Li Jia.

She’s talking, why is she sitting over here?

And isn’t this a bit too close?!

“What else?”

The sweet scent of perfume filled Li Jia’s nose. Her muscles tensed, and she immediately sat up straight, widening the space between them. There was now enough room for another person to sit in between.

“…Also, you’ve been following up on the South City project, right?” Lu Qing asked casually, sitting beside her.

“Yes.” So she wants to talk about work. That’s normal… No, wait!

“Director,” Li Jia looked at Lu Qing warily and seriously, “Isn’t it after work hours right now?”

Lu Qing asked calmly, “Can’t we talk about work after hours?”

“Of course not!”

Li Jia said righteously, “After work is my private time! Talking about work after hours infringes on my personal freedom! I have the right to refuse!”

Li Jia gritted her teeth. With this little salary, they still want to enslave me after work!

“Alright then,” Lu Qing didn’t dwell on the issue.

Li Jia, who was ready to strongly object, was taken aback.

Huh?! She agreed so easily?! Although she didn’t need Lu Qing’s permission.

“Do you want another drink? My treat,” Lu Qing asked, pointing to Li Jia’s empty glass.

Could this be a trap? Li Jia hesitated for a moment, then followed her heart and chose to continue drinking. “Yes!”

Lu Qing finished her drink, called the waiter over, and ordered another bottle of wine and a fruit platter. After ordering, she seemed to remember something and said to Li Jia, “But tomorrow after work, I’ll need you to bring the project plan to my office.”

She still assigned me work. Li Jia felt relieved instead.

The drinks and fruit were brought over quickly. Lu Qing pushed one of the glasses towards Li Jia and took a fruit skewer to pick up a piece of orange.

“This wine?” Li Jia picked up the glass, smelled it, and then saw the remaining bottle on the table.

When ordering, Lu Qing had only pointed at the menu, so Li Jia didn’t know what kind of wine she had ordered.

It was Louis XIII!

Li Jia carefully picked up the glass and took a small sip.

This lingering fragrance, it really is the taste of money… She certainly wouldn’t spend money on such expensive wine herself.

She ordered a whole bottle?

She seemed to remember Da Hua saying this bottle cost fifty or sixty thousand, or something like that? Almost her three months’ salary.

Li Jia drank while secretly glancing at Lu Qing, once again realizing that this person was rich.

Neither of them spoke, just sitting quietly and drinking.

The atmosphere became a bit strange.

The wine had a strong aftereffect. Maybe because she was getting tipsy, Li Jia suddenly started to care about what Lu Qing meant by “hating women.”

Her eyelids felt heavy, and Li Jia felt her face getting hot. Knowing she was a bit drunk, she changed her posture, propped her chin up with one hand, and turned to look at Lu Qing.

From their first meeting until now, Li Jia still admitted to herself that this face really fit her aesthetic. But unfortunately, it was Lu Qing’s face. If she separated them, it would be… a beautiful face, a hateful person.

Such an intense gaze was impossible to ignore.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Maybe because it was too hot, Lu Qing took off her white suit jacket, revealing a silky smooth silk shirt underneath. The edge of her suit pants outlined a beautiful waistline.

Lu Qing’s face was also a bit red. She had drunk quite a bit too.

If I’m drunk, it probably wouldn’t be too bad to accidentally say something offensive, right?

Li Jia closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them. Taking advantage of her drunkenness, she asked, “Director Lu, are you prejudiced against homosexuals?”

“Prejudiced?”

Lu Qing’s gaze moved from the half-melted ice cubes in her glass, turned, and met Li Jia’s direct stare. Lu Qing calmly asked back, “Why do you think I’m prejudiced against homosexuals?”

Doesn’t she want to admit it?

Li Jia frowned. “You just said you hate women.”

“Oh, that…” Lu Qing lowered her eyes, her slender white fingers stirring the remaining ice cubes in her glass.

The ice cubes clinked against the glass. Li Jia’s attention was instantly drawn to it. In a daze, Lu Qing’s cold voice sounded in her ear.

“I just don’t want to get too involved with people where there’s no possibility. If someone has a crush on me, I have to find a reason to reject her, don’t I?”

Ah, right. As a straight woman, it’s probably best for Lu Qing not to give people false hope.

“So you don’t object to homosexuals then,” Li Jia said, using a lot of effort to move her eyes away from Lu Qing’s fingers playing with the ice cubes.

Her fingers are really beautiful, what a pity…

“I just don’t object to love,” Lu Qing replied.

Hearing this, Li Jia looked up. The light from the bar’s spotlights shone down on Lu Qing’s head. Li Jia saw her slightly trembling eyelashes and the light sparkling in her eyes.

The tiny specks of light in Lu Qing’s eyes are like scattered sugar under the sunlight.

Li Jia couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.

This face is still so beautiful under such harsh lighting. That’s really something…

What did Lu Qing just say? She doesn’t object to love?

What does that mean?

Li Jia was so drunk she could barely sit up straight. She shook her dizzy head, a confused expression on her face, and asked, “What do you mean by not objecting to love…?”

“I believe that gender is not a prerequisite for love. Anyone has the right to love someone, and this isn’t changed by sexual orientation.”

Lu Qing leaned over and steadied Li Jia. She held Li Jia’s shoulders, looked into her eyes, and said slowly, “If one day I fall in love with someone, then I will fall in love with a specific person, loving everything about that person. Whether it’s their appearance, personality, or their strengths and weaknesses, all of it is part of what I love. And these things…”

“…have nothing to do with gender.”

It felt like being lectured. Listening to Lu Qing speak, Li Jia’s already hazy eyes watched her red lips move in front of her. Suddenly, she realized how close they were.

The warmth from Lu Qing’s hand was passing through the thin fabric to Li Jia’s shoulder.

“Y-you’re right,” Li Jia said, becoming a bit more sober. She stuttered slightly and pushed at Lu Qing’s hand on her shoulder, wanting to break free.

She pushed once, but it didn’t move.

Why isn’t she letting go?

Doesn’t this person dislike physical contact with others?

Li Jia looked at Lu Qing in confusion. “Director Lu?”

“Team Leader Li, you seem to be drunk,” Lu Qing stood up, suddenly using Li Jia’s title at work. The hand on Li Jia’s shoulder still didn’t let go.

“Is that so?” Li Jia knew she was probably drunk, but she didn’t really want to admit it, especially in front of Lu Qing.

She lowered her head, raised her hand to touch her hot face with the back of her hand, and then pushed Lu Qing’s hand again, murmuring, “No need to help me…”

“Really no need for help?”

Li Jia, her eyes half-closed, heard Lu Qing’s words and nodded slowly.

So Lu Qing let go, watching the other person slowly slump down like a rag doll, collapsing into the booth, closing her eyes, and falling completely unconscious.

Does she really have no sense of caution at all?

Lu Qing looked down at Li Jia, who had curled up in the booth, an unreadable emotion flashing in her eyes. She stood there looking at Li Jia for a long time, not knowing what she was thinking.

After a while, Lu Qing leaned down and said to the completely drunk person, “Senior…”