Contractual Cohabitation GL - Chapter 8

Returning to the 53rd floor, Vice General Manager Jing still greeted those she should greet and smiled when she should smile, showing no sign of disappointment. However, she hadn’t seen Qin Yan along the way, and her seat in front of the office was empty.

Jing Xiaonan thought for a moment and shrugged. Both in terms of ability and trustworthiness, Qin Yan was more than qualified to be a manager at Pengju. Jing Xiaonan rarely criticized her because she was always meticulous in her work. After the law firm opened, Gao Jiong had tried to promote her several times, but Qin Yan was determined to remain a secretary, leaving the two senior students helpless.

She wanted real authority, not empty titles. In this regard, Jing Xiaonan and Qin Yan were similar.

Unable to find Qin Yan, Jing Xiaonan turned to look for Gao Jiong. Although theoretically General Manager Gao had more freedom of movement than Qin Yan, as the General Manager of the law firm, her whereabouts were quite conspicuous. Therefore, Jing Xiaonan easily found A-Jiong in the General Manager’s lounge, gnawing on a chicken bone and looking exasperated, struggling with a jar lid.

Seeing her arrive, Gao Jiong slumped her shoulders and reached out her hand:

“Xiao Nan, the jar won’t open.”

Jing Xiaonan took the glass jar from her hand and, without surprise, saw the three characters for “Lao Gan Ma” (a brand of chili sauce). She shook her head, placing the jar on a nearby table, “With your stomach, you’d throw up bl00d after half a sip of wine, yet you still try to secretly mix Lao Gan Ma into your meal.”

“You actually knew.” Gao Jiong looked dejectedly at the bland dinner her secretary had bought, which was comparable to plain water. Seriously, it was as if she couldn’t even afford salt.

“Sigh, did you think no one cares about you?” Jing Xiaonan put a hand on Gao Jiong’s shoulder, looking at her earnestly: “Who do you think meticulously instructed your secretary to buy bland, stomach-nourishing porridge for your lunch every day? Who do you think works tirelessly to secretly collect and throw away all the chili sauce you hide in your office? Also, did you think those x-rated treasures hidden behind your bookshelf just went missing on their own?”

Upon hearing this, Gao Jiong’s eyes welled up; she never knew about these things. She also put a hand on Jing Xiaonan’s shoulder, “Good sister, did you do all of this?”

Jing Xiaonan looked at her with utmost sincerity in her eyes: “No, it was the cleaning lady, Aunt Chen, who did it.”

Gao Jiong’s fair face instantly turned dark.

“However, I asked Aunt Chen to bring me all your treasured alcohol. Don’t worry, sister, I didn’t let them go to waste, not a single drop.”

A-Jiong looked at her with cross-eyes, close to tears.

Jing Xiaonan ignored her teary, cross-eyed gaze, casually grabbed two jars of Lao Gan Ma from the table, and dropped a final sentence as she left the room:

“I’ve arranged dinner with Manager Li from Maple Leaf tomorrow night, at your favorite crayfish restaurant. I originally wanted to invite you, but considering there will definitely be all sorts of fine wine and heavy drinking at the banquet, you’d better not come. Be a good girl and approve documents in the office. I’ll take Qin Yan with me. Rest in peace!”

Gao Jiong pitifully watched the retreating figure disappear around the corner, her aggrieved lips trembling: Jing Xiaonan, are you explicitly taking revenge on me for my slip of the tongue earlier? Are you? Are you?

When Jing Xiaonan returned to her office, Qin Yan was already at her desk printing documents. Unlike the bun she wore in the meeting this afternoon, Qin Yan’s layered hair was simply tied back in a ponytail, making her look refreshed and capable.

Hearing Jing Xiaonan enter, she didn’t look up. Perhaps because the two had been partners for many years, a tacit understanding had developed; even in such a small detail, Jing Xiaonan could feel a slight difference in the atmosphere of the room compared to usual.

Stepping back a few paces, Jing Xiaonan pulled a swivel chair from outside and pushed it opposite Qin Yan. She closed the door, then casually swung a long leg over to straddle the chair, resting her hands on the backrest, looking exactly like a well-behaved puppy gazing at its owner.

“Xiao Yan,” Jing Xiaonan called her name, thinking that she was likely upset, at least in part, because of her own playfulness and neglect of duty. She didn’t blame Qin Yan; apart from family, it was hard to find someone who genuinely cared for her well-being.

So, when Qin Yan finally finished a segment of work and turned her head to look at her, Jing Xiaonan knew what she should say to ease the atmosphere, such as expressing her enthusiasm for work, acknowledging Qin Yan’s support for her, and summarizing her current feelings. Yes, exactly. Jing Xiaonan cleared her throat, but out popped this sentence:

“Xiao Yan, I’m hungry.”

Both of them were stunned after she spoke. Qin Yan clearly hadn’t expected to hear this. This person! Qin Yan put down her pen and held her forehead. Had this person been hanging out with Gao Jiong for too long?

Ignoring the comment, she thought of something else she wanted to ask.

“I just saw a blue Mercedes in your dedicated parking spot downstairs. You’re not going to tell me that’s a rented car that you drove all the way back from Sydney, are you?”

Jing Xiaonan said “Uh,” internally annoyed that she had forgotten about this.

Sydney Airport was temporarily closed due to a sudden typhoon. Since the meeting with Maple Leaf had already been scheduled, it wasn’t appropriate to suddenly adjust the time just for a Vice General Manager like herself. Jing Xiaonan didn’t even consider options like absence or remote video conferencing. She grit her teeth and drove for over twenty hours overnight, barely making it back just before the formal meeting began.

Qin Yan saw her rare moment of discomposure. Recalling the weather news she had deliberately checked that morning regarding Sydney, she confirmed her guess without needing an answer. Shaking her head, she only said, “I’ll arrange for someone to return the rented car.”

The brief moment of being speechless passed. Seeing that she didn’t say anything else, Jing Xiaonan said thank you, then confidently steered the conversation away:

“Tomorrow night, I’m planning to host a dinner for the people from Maple Leaf. Gao Jiong won’t be going. Xiao Yan, will you accompany me?”

Her slender, fair hand spun a silver-barreled fountain pen dazzlingly. Qin Yan’s expression remained mostly unchanged, but she asked thoughtfully, “Will that Miss Ye be going too?”

“I’m really not sure about that.”

“Mhm,” the clever movement of her fingers stopped, and the pen settled calmly in her palm. Qin Yan revealed a faint smile: “Then will you pick me up tomorrow?”

“You’re not coming to the company tomorrow?” Jing Xiaonan asked curiously. Qin Yan was definitely a woman with workaholic potential. As long as Jing Xiaonan was at the company, she had never seen Qin Yan not come in.

Qin Yan shook her head: “It’s not that I’m not coming, it’s you.”

She didn’t explain, but Jing Xiaonan understood what she meant. In other companies, the boss gave employees time off, but here, it was the opposite.

Curling her lips into a smile, this look of Jing Xiaonan appeared somewhat childish and cute. “Alright then, 5:30 PM?”

“Mhm.”

Without saying much more, Jing Xiaonan returned the swivel chair to its original position, took a batch of documents Qin Yan handed her, and walked back to her office. She felt today that Qin Yan was subtly different from usual, but couldn’t quite figure out why. Jing Xiaonan placed the thick stack of documents on the desk. This action surprisingly didn’t stir up a single speck of dust.

It should be known that very few people besides her entered this room. Qin Yan and Gao Jiong only visited when she was present. Because the room contained many of the company’s and clients’ confidential files, even Aunt Chen, the cleaning lady, didn’t have a key here.

Jing Xiaonan straightened up and looked around the environment she was so familiar with. Her seat faced the door and had its back to the floor-to-ceiling windows. To her left was a mahogany bookcase, and to her right was a wooden shelf displaying artworks. The office desk was also made of mahogany. In the Southern Hemisphere, unlike in China, north-facing houses were more popular with Chinese people. The spacious office was illuminated by the setting sun. The owner had been away for over two weeks, yet every corner remained spotless.

Exhaling a breath, Jing Xiaonan’s eyes fell on a plastic container by her hand. When opened, a fragrant aroma wafted out, greatly stimulating her already hungry appetite. Breaking apart the disposable chopsticks, Jing Xiaonan bared her teeth at the char siu in the lunch box. She liked the environment on this floor, not just because it was where her career took off, had Gao Jiong whom she could often torment, but also Qin Yan, who cared for her regardless of her cold face.

As for Ye Luochen… The name suddenly popped into her mind, making Jing Xiaonan pause her movement. The image that appeared before her was the woman in white, smiling sweetly in the flower field.

Jing Xiaonan smiled. Very naturally, she continued to pick up food and put it in her mouth. Hadn’t they met again? And they would continue to meet in the future. Perhaps there were some misunderstandings between them; she wasn’t anxious about that. However, she wondered if she would come to tomorrow’s dinner.

This thought lingered in Jing Xiaonan’s mind, either clearly or as background noise, for twenty-four hours, until the afternoon of the next day.

The fatigue from the day before last night lingered until the afternoon of the next day. Jing Xiaonan, having had her first full night’s sleep in over ten days, pushed aside the curtains and stretched contentedly. She casually checked her company and private phones, dealt with some trivial matters, and then put them on charge.

She hopped twice barefoot in the bedroom, made a basketball shooting gesture, and shook her arms. A good night’s sleep indeed made her feel energized. Jing Xiaonan nodded with satisfaction. After a brief thought, she went to the kitchen and took a bag of macaroni out of the refrigerator to thaw. She frequently attended dinner engagements with clients and had long realized that such banquets were not enough to fill her stomach. She was used to eating some fruits and vegetables before going. This ensured she wouldn’t drink on an empty stomach, and also prevented her from long-term nutritional deficiencies.

She walked through the house, opening all the curtains and windows, letting the warm late autumn sun illuminate every corner of the room. Jing Xiaonan went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and when she looked up, she saw herself in the mirror—no dark circles, good.

After eating brunch, packing her luggage, taking a shower, and changing into the clothes she had selected before bed last night, Jing Xiaonan checked her watch. It was just the right time to head to the company.