Beware Of The Best-Friend-Kiss Friendship Trap - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The Night is Short, Can’t Waste it on Work

A gentle kiss landed, like a flake of snow drifting down, silently melting on her brow.

Chu Weiyue was completely stunned, as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened, her face flushing all the way from her cheeks to her earlobes. Her legs felt weak, and she nearly collapsed to her knees.

W-W-What just happened?

Her mind went blank, unable to process outside signals, and she subconsciously asked, “Th-This… this is…”

Jiang Yiqiu smiled faintly: “You’re always worrying about keeping things balanced with Ruoxi. Now it’s settled.”

Ruoxi kissed her, and she kissed Chu Weiyue—it was even.

The reasoning sounded perfectly fair and logical at first listen.

Chu Weiyue didn’t speak, her mind still reeling.

It wasn’t until Jiang Yiqiu asked with a hint of doubt, “Mm? You don’t like it?”

The dazed person suddenly jolted awake, her expression foolish, and the corners of her mouth uncontrollably lifting: “Li… Like it.”

After saying that, she mechanically turned and left, clearly no longer in control of her body, stumbling with her arms and legs moving in unison, nearly bumping into the table.

Seeing her turn and leave without a word, Jiang Yiqiu called out, “Where are you going?”

The person was absent-minded, light and floaty as if she were flying, and looked momentarily lost when called back. She instinctively replied, “To get Qiuqiu some dinner.”

Jiang Yiqiu couldn’t help but curve her eyes into a smile: “We already ate.”

Chu Weiyue looked blank for several seconds before suddenly snapping back to reality: “Oh, right!”

“Then then then…” Her eyes fell on the dining table, and Chu Weiyue found a new task, “I’ll do the dishes!”

As she said this, she couldn’t help the corners of her mouth turning up and quickly tried to suppress it. It went up again, and she pressed it down. Up again.

She couldn’t suppress it at all.

Chu Weiyue giggled foolishly as she did the dishes, and giggled foolishly back to the bedroom. Even when she sat down to look at the balding-inducing lesson plans on the desk, her gaze was as gentle as if she were looking at a long-lost lover.

She was completely in a state of blissful bubbling happiness, as if soaking in warm water.

Jiang Yiqiu remained seated, smiling faintly. A moment later, she lightly stroked her lips, as if the warmth of the other person’s forehead still lingered.

The next few days, the two of them went to work as usual.

In a flash, it was Thursday. Jiang Yiqiu clocked in at the office as usual, and her assistant reported on her recent schedule.

“Huayu Middle School is planning a donation ceremony next Wednesday,” the assistant flipped through the schedule and reported to Jiang Yiqiu.

“The school wants to invite you to attend, both to show how much they value this partnership and to thank the company. What do you think…”

Jiang Yiqiu pondered for a moment and nodded: “That’s fine.”

She was going to attend personally this time? The assistant was very surprised.

She had expected Jiang Yiqiu to politely decline and send someone else from the company. After all, CEO Jiang was incredibly busy and couldn’t possibly attend every event, plus she was known for preferring to stay low-key and mostly behind the scenes.

CEO Jiang must have her reasons for this decision; as her assistant, she just needed to execute it.

On the other side, Chu Weiyue was equally busy. After grading homework, she started writing lesson plans, sitting at her desk until noon.

“Teacher Chu, ready for lunch?” Near lunchtime, Fang Yuan called out to Chu Weiyue, seeing her still diligently sitting at her desk.

Chu Weiyue was still looking at courseware and didn’t hear the two calls.

Fang Yuan walked up and lightly patted her shoulder: “Teacher Chu?”

Chu Weiyue shivered violently, nearly jumping up: “Huh? What is it?”

Fang Yuan laughed: “Let’s go eat first, then you can work afterwards.”

“Oh, okay.” Chu Weiyue realized, closed her laptop, stood up, and belatedly felt her stomach rumbling, “Let’s go, let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

She stood up and started walking out.

“Hey, you forgot your phone.” Fang Yuan called her back and picked up her phone for her. The screen was lit, still on the subject network interface.

Fang Yuan instinctively swiped back to the home screen and accidentally saw Chu Weiyue’s wallpaper.

The next second, Chu Weiyue arrived in front of her, took the phone: “Thanks.”

In a quick glance, Fang Yuan vaguely saw that Chu Weiyue’s wallpaper was a girl in a white dress.

It flashed by too quickly to see her face clearly. But just from that fleeting impression, Fang Yuan’s beauty-loving radar went off.

Even ignoring the face, the overall atmosphere was absolutely stunning.

Fang Yuan often used beautiful people, scenery, or cute animals as her profile picture or wallpaper, so her first thought was that it was a celebrity: “Who is that celebrity in your wallpaper? Can you share the photo with me? It flashed by too fast, I didn’t see her face clearly.”

Chu Weiyue: “She’s not a celebrity, she’s my best friend.”

After saying that, she quickly tucked the phone into her pocket, afraid it would be peeked at.

Fang Yuan found it amusing: “Why so defensive? You won’t even let me see the photo, you’re so worried about it.”

Chu Weiyue shook her head: “I told you, she’s shy and wants to keep a low profile.”

“So you never show anyone her photo?”

The person in the photo gave off the vibe of a great beauty without even needing to see the face.

With that kind of aura and atmosphere, she didn’t believe the face would be anything but attractive.

At the very least, it wouldn’t be ugly.

Don’t ask Fang Yuan how she knew; blame years of intuition as a beauty lover.

Fang Yuan thought of something else: “You use her photo as your wallpaper?”

“Then what does her…”

Chu Weiyue automatically figured out what she was going to ask: “Hers is me, of course.”

Fang Yuan’s expression was a little strange.

“What flower is in her arms? It’s white, just like her dress.”

“Camellia.” Chu Weiyue was happy to answer this kind of question.

“She likes camellias?”

“Yes,” Chu Weiyue replied, then added an explanation, “Camellias are very much like her in temperament.”

Then she showed that inexplicably shy expression from last time.

“…”

Fang Yuan’s “girlfriend, not just a best friend” theory surfaced again.

She was getting increasingly curious about Chu Weiyue’s best friend, wishing she could call the person over immediately to see what she looked like. At the same time, she was faintly worried that the person might disappoint her expectations.

After all, what lives in the imagination is often the most beautiful.

There were too many letdowns in real life.

The two chatted as they walked, “Can you show me which photo of yours she uses?”

That was fine. The photos she and Jiang Yiqiu had taken were all on her phone, easy to find.

She found the photo and held it up to Fang Yuan: “Here.”

Fang Yuan took one look, her eyes wide as saucers, and her speech a little stammered: “Th-Th-Th-This is you?”

Chu Weiyue was puzzled, wondering why she was so jumpy over two photos, but she nodded: “It’s me. There wasn’t much retouching, is it hard to recognize?”

“No, no, no, I just didn’t dare to recognize it right away.” Fang Yuan took the phone with one hand and subconsciously covered her mouth with the other, afraid of accidentally shouting out loud. She couldn’t resist zooming in on the photo, examining it carefully, “This is just…”

This was too cool and too handsome!

For the first time, Fang Yuan felt that the “beautiful and fierce” description she read in novels had been visualized.

The first time Fang Yuan met Chu Weiyue, she was stunned by her face—Damn, where did this cold, stunning beauty come from? She’s my colleague! A paradise for beauty lovers!

But as they spent more time together, that initial shock slowly faded. Especially since Chu Weiyue was always giggling and informal when interacting with her, that sense of boundary slowly broke down.

But now, looking at the photo of Chu Weiyue in a black suit on the screen, Fang Yuan felt her face involuntarily flush.

She looked up at Chu Weiyue again, feeling an indescribable mix of emotions.

So this is what Chu Weiyue looks like when she keeps her mouth shut.

Fang Yuan went through eight hundred micro-expressions in one second. Chu Weiyue couldn’t figure out what she was thinking: “What is it? Is the photo bad?”

Fang Yuan quickly shook her head: “No, no, no!”

Bad? It was too good! This photo, combined with the overall clothing and atmosphere, really captured one hundred… no, seventy or eighty percent of Chu Weiyue’s beauty.

Looking back at the puzzled Chu Weiyue, who didn’t know what she was so excited about, Fang Yuan patted her shoulder: “You should look in the mirror more often.”

Chu Weiyue: ?

Chu Weiyue originally didn’t think much of it—wasn’t it perfectly normal for best friends to use each other’s photos as wallpaper? But Fang Yuan’s subtle attitude made her waver.

She asked again: “What’s wrong with using her photo as wallpaper? Is it not allowed?”

This was, after all, someone else’s private matter. Using whatever photo or whoever’s photo as a wallpaper was a personal freedom, and Fang Yuan couldn’t criticize it: “Of… of course it’s fine.”

Chu Weiyue: “You wouldn’t use your best friend’s photo as wallpaper?”

Fang Yuan thought about it: “If I did, sure.”

But she would only use an embarrassing one.

Chu Weiyue clearly hadn’t thought of that layer, and she relaxed: “Exactly, it’s very normal then. You were so surprised just now, you scared me.”

Even though Fang Yuan said it was normal, Chu Weiyue still felt uneasy. Was it really abnormal for best friends to use each other’s wallpapers?

As an afterthought, Chu Weiyue began to scrutinize her own profile picture and WeChat name.

Her current WeChat name was one that Jiang Yiqiu had asked her to change two years ago, just before she left. They used to change their WeChat names together regularly, but this one had been used for two years and never changed.

She had asked Jiang Yiqiu if she wanted to change it, and Jiang Yiqiu said she liked the current name and wanted to use it for a while longer. Chu Weiyue naturally agreed. Since then, Jiang Yiqiu never brought up changing the name again, so they had been using it until now.

Normal or not normal? After much thought, Chu Weiyue decided to ask her good friend.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Sis, question for you.

Grape: Oh, a rare visitor. You finally remember you have a sister when you run into a problem?

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: That’s not fair, don’t I talk to you often?

Grape: How dare you say that, did you even look at the date of our last chat?

Grape: Ever since Qiuqiu came back, the frequency of you chatting with me has dropped drastically, it’s not even half of what it used to be, and you still have the nerve to say that!

Chu Weiyue felt a little guilty.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Qiuqiu is right here, so I just say some things to her face, and I don’t need to bother you.

Grape: Hehehe, you both work during the day, how can she be by your side all the time?

Grape: Excuses, all excuses.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Oh, I was wrong, I apologize to you.

Grape: Hehehe, an apology without changing.

Chu Weiyue knew she was in the wrong and couldn’t argue with her, so she promised to spend more time chatting with her in the future and brought the topic back on track.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Is it weird to use a best friend’s photo as a wallpaper?

Grape: Which kind are you referring to? Ugly photos are normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: …

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Of course, the good-looking photos, like the ones with me and Qiuqiu.

Grape: Oh, you mean you and Qiuqiu? Then it’s normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Huh?

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: So it’s normal for best friends to use good-looking photos as wallpaper?

Grape: Generally speaking, no, it’s not normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Then what about me and Qiuqiu?

Grape: Of course it’s normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Using a best friend’s photo as wallpaper?

Grape: Not normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Me and Qiuqiu using each other as wallpaper?

Grape: Normal.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: …

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Switch to a human operator.

Chu Weiyue was dizzy from her back-and-forth, changing answers.

Normal one moment, not normal the next. Pulling and dragging—are you acting out some extreme push-and-pull literature for me?

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Is it normal or not?

Grape: Hmm… it’s a long story, this question is hard to explain to you.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: I’m telling you, I thought there was no problem, but when I told my colleague, she seemed very surprised, and now I’m unsure. Is it abnormal?

Grape: Why bother thinking so much? Since you did it, it must be normal. After all, you said it before.

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: Said what?

Grape: That your feelings for Jiang Yiqiu are just best friend emotions~ absolutely no same-s3x romantic feelings at all~~~

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: …

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: That’s the truth!!!

Grape: If you’re so firm, why are you asking me?

The Sun Is My Play-Dough: I’m just checking with you, can’t you just give me a straightforward answer?

Grape: Got it, you’re looking for psychological comfort, right? I’ll indulge you.

Grape: One-sentence answer: It is very normal for you and Jiang Yiqiu, as good~ best~ friends~, to use each other’s good-looking photos as wallpaper.

Upon receiving the “normal” reply, Chu Weiyue was relieved.

She should have just said that earlier, instead of all this back-and-forth.

She didn’t understand why she had added so many tildes.

Maybe she wanted to use a baby voice to highlight her praise for their great friendship.

Anyway, as long as it was normal.

When she got home after work, right after dinner, a guest arrived.

“Sister Qiu, Teacher Chu, good evening.” The assistant greeted them politely with a smile.

The assistant had developed a good habit, very smoothly calling her “Sister Qiu” every time, and never getting it wrong anymore.

Chu Weiyue hadn’t seen the assistant since they parted ways after dinner at the airport, so she was a little surprised to see her: “Long time no see. Do you have work matters for Qiuqiu?”

The assistant maintained her smile: “Yes, long time no see, Teacher Chu.”

For some reason, Jiang Yiqiu didn’t express much when the assistant arrived. She gave a polite nod, her expression aloof: “To my room.”

The assistant was also cautious, not daring to speak loudly, she responded and immediately followed.

Chu Weiyue found her submissive appearance amusing: “What’s wrong? You’re not happy to come to a colleague’s house to discuss work?”

“…” The assistant was speechless, inwardly screaming who would be happy to work with their boss late at night and be cooped up with a low-pressure leader?!

The assistant replied to this question with a forced smile.

Jiang Yiqiu happened to hear that comment. She had already entered the room but came back out, a smile on her lips: “Not happy to come to a colleague’s house to discuss work?”

Jiang Yiqiu was smiling, but the assistant shivered violently.

Boss, please don’t be like that!

After entering the room and regaining her composure, the assistant realized something: when CEO Jiang had a fever last time, Chu Weiyue used her WeChat to chat with her, and she definitely didn’t check their chat history.

So, this person still doesn’t know CEO Jiang’s identity?

The assistant frowned, starting to doubt the rationality of her previous guess about their relationship.

If she were truly a kept mistress, she would certainly know her identity; she wouldn’t have this attitude.

Could it be…

The assistant was very good at using the latest feedback to adjust her understanding and perception of the outside world.

Why hasn’t she been told?

Could it be that CEO Jiang has genuinely fallen for her, is head over heels in love, and wants to keep a low profile and play the pure love card with her?

Analyzing the current situation, it was highly possible.

Recalling the attitudes of the boss and Chu Weiyue towards each other, it really couldn’t be explained by a simple “being kept.”

After all, being kept is a contractual relationship with a master-servant dynamic.

But judging by Chu Weiyue’s attitude towards the boss earlier, it looked more like the sweetness of a relationship.

Her mind automatically conjured up the melodramatic short drama plots she had watched about a wealthy young lady in disguise and a pure, innocent girl.

I didn’t know you were this kind of boss.

It proved that her understanding of her boss was less than 1% developed.

Jiang Yiqiu, of course, didn’t know that the assistant had changed the script for their melodramatic narrative from “Overbearing Sugar Daddy Loves Me” to “Pure Love Warrior’s Romance.” She merely frowned as she listened to the report on today’s work.

Logically, it was already rest time. Although the boss often worked late, she usually completed tasks by herself at home and wouldn’t drag others down with her.

Especially since moving in with Chu Weiyue, the workaholic’s efficiency had been upgraded to workaholic max, and she would never put off until night what could be completed during the day.

The assistant speculated that was because she wanted to spend time with her little lover.

Oh, right, the assistant very cautiously changed her terminology; it should be her little girlfriend.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, the night is short, can’t waste it on work.

Better to waste it on a beauty.

Hiss, she couldn’t say if it was on her or under her either.

Jiang Yiqiu generally didn’t make people work late, but general rules aside, there were always exceptions.

For example, tonight, a completed proposal suddenly had an issue, and a partner contacted them late at night. The assistant immediately reported it and was subsequently summoned by Jiang Yiqiu with a simple “be here now.”

When the boss gives an order, you don’t dare to disobey.

First, the assistant reported the problem, and then it was time for a video conference.

Seeing the boss open the online meeting room with a cold face, the assistant knew things were bad.

Although she was afraid of the boss’s chilling, frosty demeanor, in all fairness, the assistant could deeply empathize with Jiang Yiqiu.

Anyone who should be wrapped up in sweet romance with their girlfriend late at night but instead has to sit in front of a computer listening to a work report wouldn’t be in a very good mood.

The assistant had a deep understanding of Jiang Yiqiu’s bad mood.

But thinking about her own situation—working late and being the only person to experience the boss’s cold face up close—she wanted to cry.

Everyone knew that tonight’s work was seriously lacking and required major improvement, and they also understood that Jiang Yiqiu was in a terrible temper right now, so none of them dared to delay. The moment the meeting link was sent to the group, everyone had arrived within 3 minutes.

Jiang Yiqiu’s overly beautiful and now extraordinarily icy face appeared on the screen, and she began to discuss the improvement plan and follow-up measures for the project.

“Scrap the whole thing and start over. I hope what I receive next week is a qualified project plan, not an elementary school event proposal.”

The people on the other side of the screen didn’t dare to breathe, let alone the assistant who was experiencing the boss’s icy aura up close.

Although this matter had nothing directly to do with the assistant—she was just an intermediary who didn’t even get a cut—as a 24-hour personal special assistant, she was involved in almost everything Jiang Yiqiu worked on, and the boss’s anger was what she felt most closely.

Even though Jiang Yiqiu was only calmly stating the problems with the proposal, the atmosphere of unstated authority weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts. The words coming out of her mouth were not words but ice shards.

Everyone sensed that Jiang Yiqiu was on the verge of exploding, and knowing they were at fault, there was no escaping.

Two of the meeting participants who were desperate to save themselves secretly messaged the assistant.

Emergency! Sister Chen! Save us!

It’s over, it’s over. I feel like the boss will finish saying what needs to be said and then immediately tear us all a new one. What should we do? What should we do?

No need to “feel”—it was inevitable.

The assistant stood by, not daring to utter a sound, trying to make her breathing as light as possible, afraid of drawing attention.

Just when everyone was tense, anxious, and worried about being frozen to death, the assistant had a stroke of genius.

Jiang Yiqiu was looking down at the project proposal, her face expressionless. The assistant decided to take a risky move and quietly shuffled toward the door.

She was standing right next to Jiang Yiqiu, who naturally noticed her and merely looked up at her without speaking.

The assistant forced a smile and lowered her voice: “CEO Jiang, you must be thirsty? I’ll go get you some water.”

Fortunately, Jiang Yiqiu only glanced at her and did not reprimand her before looking away.

The assistant breathed a long sigh of relief, lightly opened the door, and slipped out. Instead of getting water as she said, she headed straight for the other room and knocked on Chu Weiyue’s door.

“Teacher Chu, are you free?”

Hearing an unfamiliar voice, Chu Weiyue, who was frazzled by the lesson plans, really wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard.

“Sister Qiu is looking for you.”

Chu Weiyue immediately got up and opened the door: “She’s looking for me? What for?”

The assistant maintained a polite smile: “She’s in her room. She didn’t tell me what exactly, just that she needed you. You should go see.”

Chu Weiyue suspected nothing, stood up, and left the room.

Jiang Yiqiu’s door was closed, and she could vaguely hear talking inside. Chu Weiyue stepped forward and knocked.

Just as Chu Weiyue walked over, the video conference inside the room was about to reach its climax—

The discussion on the improvement measures for the proposal was finally over. Jiang Yiqiu looked up from the proposal, her gaze cutting across the screen to everyone in the video conference.

The next second, Jiang Yiqiu’s cold, emotionless voice came through the microphone: “We’ve discussed the improvement plan. Finally, I want to talk about the problems with everyone present.”

Everyone instantly tensed up.

—It’s over.

Just then, a knock sounded.

Knock, knock, knock.

Jiang Yiqiu hated being interrupted during work time. Assuming it was the assistant, she frowned.

The people in the video conference also assumed the assistant had returned and their hearts leaped into their throats—

How dare you! Assistant Chen, just come in, a-a-a-a-ah, why are you knocking!

Now you won’t only fail to save us, but you’ll make things worse!

The person outside the door seemed completely oblivious, and there were three more knocks: “Knock, knock, knock.”

These “knock, knock, knocks” were like hammers on the hearts of everyone present, shattering them all to pieces.

Jiang Yiqiu paused, her voice slightly raised and chillingly cold: “Don’t bother knocking, just come in.”

Everyone’s hearts were frozen solid by Jiang Yiqiu’s voice and then shattered into pieces by the “knock, knock, knock” from the person outside.

The other video windows seemed to twitch a few times.

It’s really over!!!

The next moment, a clear female voice rang out: “Then I’m coming right in? I thought you were busy and it wasn’t convenient.”

This voice was lovely, clear, and resonant, reminiscent of jade chess pieces lightly tapping on a board.

Everyone subconsciously compared: The assistant’s voice isn’t this nice.

They all froze.

Wait, that’s not the assistant?

Then they realized: Hold on, the boss has another woman at her place late at night? We never heard she had any relatives or friends living with her.

Based on years of extensive gossip experience, almost everyone instantly caught the subtle hint—

Something is going on.

The experienced old hands, who had navigated the workplace for years, collectively lost control of their expressions.

They looked like they wanted to crawl out of the screen and rush to the scene for gossip. If Jiang Yiqiu caught them, they’d definitely be scolded.

Fortunately, Jiang Yiqiu wasn’t paying attention to them at the moment. She was equally stunned to hear a voice that wasn’t the assistant’s.

After a momentary daze, a flash of panic crossed her eyes, like the first crack in the ice on a frozen river in early spring.

The employees on the screen instantly caught it.

What is going on?

Clearly, Jiang Yiqiu’s attention had been completely captured by the owner of the voice outside the door. She even forgot that the video conference was still going, and not only was her video on, but her mic wasn’t muted.

Thus, everyone on the other side of the screen watched with wide eyes as CEO Jiang, who was always serious, aloof, and—just moments ago—on the verge of exploding in fury, switched in just one second from a thunderous, murderous look to a gentle, amiable, spring-like expression.

She even subconsciously smoothed the creases of her shirt hem.

She stood up, the frozen river completely thawed, melting into a spring of water, her voice softening by one hundred and eighty degrees: “The door’s not locked, come straight in.”

After saying that, she walked over to open the door herself.

Everyone’s expressions went blank for a second, gasps rose and fell, punctuated by someone’s muffled cry after knocking over a coffee cup.

??!!!

Holy crap, what’s happening?

Chu Weiyue stood outside the door and, after hearing the sharp voice inside, instinctively turned her head to look at the assistant who had called her over.

The assistant was standing in the living room, clinging to the corner of the wall with only her face peeking out, seemingly afraid to get too close to the room.

But the exposed part of her face was full of gratitude, so moved she was nearly in tears, looking at her like she was an angel descending from heaven, shrouded in holy light, saving people from the fire. The assistant gave her a thumbs-up and whispered: Savior! Go in quickly!

Why is she so grateful? What did I do?

Before she could ask, the room door opened from the inside, and Jiang Yiqiu appeared. The beauty, whose smile was like a spring breeze, affectionately took her hand: “Why are you here?”

Chu Weiyue was slightly stunned. The stern voice from inside a moment ago had scared her, but now seeing the person in front of her, the familiar gentleness was there, with no hint of anger.

She suspected she had hallucinated and wasn’t sure anymore. She hesitated and asked, “You… you’re not angry, are you? Did I interrupt you? Just now…”

Jiang Yiqiu smiled and continued: “That was my boss just now. She got angry during the meeting, and her voice was a little loud. Did I scare you?”

“It was your boss.” Chu Weiyue suddenly understood. She thought so; how could Jiang Yiqiu have such a frightening tone?

She was so gentle.

At the same time, perhaps it was an illusion, but Chu Weiyue seemed to hear faint gasps from inside the room.

Inside a certain small company group chat:

I never knew, CEO Jiang actually majored in Sichuan Opera face-changing in college.