She Said: A Passionate Kiss [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 8
After Qiang Huai logged into the beta software, she could clearly see her coordinates on the interface—exactly which building and which room she was in. The emergency alert button was conveniently placed, and a prompt explained that pressing it multiple times would trigger an alarm.
She returned to the chat interface.
Reply: “What?”
Gu Pingwan had been carefully choosing her words while typing. She thought for a long while.
“Just…”
“All the false information online.”
Qiang Huai chuckled. The typing indicator had been active the whole time—so she’d been struggling with how to phrase it.
“It’s nothing. Didn’t you say it’s all false anyway?”
“Hahaha”
“Chief Engineer Gu, you’re not busy right now?”
Gu Pingwan was waiting for testing data from her team, so she had a bit of free time. While skimming tech news, she had accidentally seen Qiang Huai trending in the entertainment section.
She didn’t quite understand how the industry worked. All she knew was that Qiang Huai was a good person—she had always been that way, from high school until now.
[Not busy.] Gu Pingwan replied.
Qiang Huai raised her eyebrows, checked the time, and glanced through the glass door at her busy colleagues. She sent a message:
“Have you had dinner yet?”
Normally, Qiang Huai’s company would have ended work by now, but due to the current situation, everyone was working overtime.
Qiang Huai opened a food delivery app and ordered high-end meals worth over a hundred thousand yuan. She took a screenshot and sent it to the admin, telling them to distribute it later.
When Gu Pingwan’s message came—”About to eat.”—Qiang Huai was already putting on her mask.
Her eyes sparkled.
“Ugh, I’m so sad~ Chief Engineer Gu, will you have dinner with me?”
She added a crying kitten sticker.
Gu Pingwan received the message just as she was leaving the office building. Her newly bought phone only had WeChat installed.
“Where are you now?” she asked. She figured a dinner wouldn’t take long anyway.
Qiang Huai tapped away on her phone while walking out:
“Next door to your office.”
Qin-jie saw Qiang Huai about to leave and called out, “Where are you going?”
“I’m, uh, going to eat.” Then she turned to everyone and said, “I’ve ordered food for everyone. Also sent a 180,000-yuan red packet in the group chat—thank you for your hard work!”
The whole top floor nearly exploded from the employees’ cheering.
“Boss is generous!”
“We’ll defend you against the rumors online!”
“Boss, we’ve got your back!”
“Boss, don’t worry. We’re here for you!”
It was as if the online storm hadn’t affected them at all. Some even looked forward to another overtime like this.
Qiang Huai: …You all are doing great, but I’m really not.
She was worried Gu Pingwan would think her company was a pyramid scheme.
Qin-jie walked over, her face dark, and dragged Qiang Huai back toward the office. “You’re not going anywhere right now.”
Qiang Huai gave in, “Just one hour. Can I please go? Just one hour?”
Qin-jie rolled her eyes. “Wow, first time seeing you beg, Qiang Huai. And all for a high school classmate?”
“Because she’s Gu Pingwan,” Qiang Huai said, tugging at Qin-jie’s sleeve like a spoiled child.
“Fine, fine,” Qin-jie sighed. “Then shouldn’t the boss give me some hazard pay?”
Qiang Huai gave her a “I knew you’d say that” look and pulled out her phone to send a red packet—
Then she saw a new message.
“Alright. Send me your location. I’ll bring the food to you.”
Gu Pingwan had considered Qiang Huai’s current situation—probably hard for her to go out—so she searched for a restaurant in the mall next to the office building. Since this was Jincheng’s CBD, the restaurants were all high-end.
Qiang Huai made a silly face at Qin-jie. “No red packet for you. Wanwan’s bringing dinner to the office.”
Though she said that, she still sent Qin-jie one anyway.
Then she sent Gu Pingwan her location and the floor number.
She stood by the floor-to-ceiling window and added:
“I want a salad from this place.”
“Have them scan this QR code.”
“This salad is only available in this set. Don’t order anything else—it’ll go to waste.”
Gu Pingwan was still struggling to pick a restaurant, so she brought the QR code to the designated place.
It was a top-tier French restaurant, exquisitely decorated. As soon as she walked in, the smell of money hit her. The place was full of well-dressed couples on dates—no workers in sight.
After scanning the QR code, Gu Pingwan got the bill.
Seeing the four-digit price tag, she hesitated. But since it was for Qiang Huai, she convinced herself she could afford it just this once.
But when she went to pay, the server said it had already been covered.
“Huh?” she was confused.
“Miss Qiang is our VIP. All her bills are prepaid,” the server explained.
Gu Pingwan felt a bit embarrassed. She had intended to buy something for Qiang Huai, but now it felt like she was freeloading. She carried the two elegant bags out of the restaurant and let out a long sigh.
Meanwhile, Qiang Huai got a notification that the food had been picked up and quickly messaged Gu Pingwan:
“Gu classmate, there’s a Luckin Coffee under our building. Could you bring me a coconut latte?”
Gu Pingwan arrived at “HuaiSheng Group.” She looked up—so this was the impressive building she’d seen before.
She ordered two coconut lattes from the café downstairs and, while waiting, opened Qiang Huai’s Moments feed.
Only the past three days were visible. Not much there.
“Gu classmate!” a voice called out.
Gu Pingwan looked up. Qiang Huai was running toward her with open arms.
There was no sunlight, no evening breeze in this office building—just a swaying skirt and flying hair. Yet, in that moment, Gu Pingwan felt transported back to that high school afternoon. Qiang Huai had walked out of the campus store, bathed in the sunset, and she’d been watching from under the basketball hoop. Qiang Huai ran toward her, arms wide, and hugged her.
Now, faced with the present-day Qiang Huai, Gu Pingwan instinctively opened her arms, as if trying to embrace their lost youth.
But Qiang Huai didn’t hug her—she grabbed the food bags instead.
Well, even back then, Qiang Huai had only hugged her because she lost a game of Truth or Dare and said, “Oops, sorry! I lost. It’s my punishment. Hehe~.”
…
“Thanks, Gu classmate,” Qiang Huai said, blinking her large eyes over her mask.
Gu Pingwan, with her arms still awkwardly mid-air, murmured, “Mm.”
“Why’d you come down?” she asked, trying to compose herself.
Qiang Huai, holding the food, replied, “If I didn’t, you’d say I was being a diva.”
Gu Pingwan smiled but didn’t answer.
“What? Just now—were you trying to hug me?” Qiang Huai leaned in, now shoulder to shoulder.
Gu Pingwan turned red from her neck to her ears.
“No, I just… my arms were tired. Stretching them out a bit.”
“Oh, true. It is heavy,” Qiang Huai said, lifting the bags and weighing them in her hands.
Gu Pingwan turned her face away.
The coffee was ready. She picked up both cups, and they rode the elevator up in silence.
By the tenth floor, Qiang Huai said, “Gu classmate, I’m kinda thirsty.”
“You want to drink it now?” Gu Pingwan asked, looking at the food in her hands.
Qiang Huai nodded, looking innocent.
Gu Pingwan picked out a straw. It was wrapped in plastic, and with both of them carrying things, neither could open it easily.
“Uh…” Qiang Huai hesitated. “Can you hold the straw up for me?”
Gu Pingwan, puzzled, raised the straw toward her.
Qiang Huai leaned in slightly and bit into the plastic with her mouth, trying to tear it open.
Gu Pingwan felt awkward—Qiang Huai’s breath brushed against her fingers, and her lips almost touched her skin. Looking down, she could even see a bit of exposed skin.
“Maybe… drink it later?” she suggested.
But Qiang Huai had already torn a small slit in the wrapper.
She smiled, eyes squinting playfully. Her current posture, slightly lower than Gu Pingwan’s, gave off a faint sense of forbidden intimacy.
“Okay,” she said, letting go of the straw.
A faint lipstick mark was left on the straw wrapper—and on Gu Pingwan’s fingers, too. Whether by touch or by accident, she wasn’t sure.
“Gu classmate, your face…” Qiang Huai said with a teasing smile.
“Huh?” Gu Pingwan asked.
“So red.”
She looked at her fingers, now marked by that pink smear, and felt itchy all over—as if she needed a chicken claw to scratch her heart.
The elevator doors opened.
Gu Pingwan followed Qiang Huai into the top floor. The office cubicles were still busy—no one noticed them yet. Qiang Huai wanted to hurry her into the private office unnoticed.
Just then, the admin received the delivery and shouted, “Thank you, Boss, for the fancy overtime meal!”
Voices erupted:
“Thanks, Boss!”
“Boss is the best!”
“I love HuaiSheng Group!”
“Born a HuaiSheng employee, die a—”
Qiang Huai: “…Okay, you all are enthusiastic, but please stop.”
She worried Gu Pingwan would think this was some kind of cult.
But Gu Pingwan just smiled, amused by her embarrassment.
Qiang Huai nodded—she got the message—and led her into the office. No need for the inner room now.
“Gu classmate, sit here.” She set the food on a round table.
Gu Pingwan nodded and placed the coffee beside the food.
Qiang Huai opened the containers—everything was beautifully presented, even served in porcelain dishes.
“Here, try this.” She handed over a serving of Parisian lobster.
Gu Pingwan obediently took it, picked up a fork. “Thanks.”
Qiang Huai raised her coffee and inserted the straw. “Thanks for the coffee, Gu classmate.”
That lipstick-stained straw would be etched in Gu Pingwan’s memory like DNA. Years later, she’d still think: Qiang Huai was not a serious person.
“Are you feeling better now?” she asked, seeing how happy Qiang Huai looked eating.
Qiang Huai nodded. “Of course.”
“Qiang Huai, actually… you’re a really good person.” Gu Pingwan lowered her head. “I’ve always thought so—since high school.”
“You know why I chose to study engineering?” she continued.
Qiang Huai put down her coffee. “Because you’ve always liked it?”
“That’s part of it. But the other reason is… because you encouraged me.”
“Oh?” Qiang Huai tilted her head, listening.
“Remember back in high school when we were picking majors? Our homeroom teacher didn’t want me to choose computer science. Said girls couldn’t do it—it’s a guy’s field.”
Qiang Huai remembered. That teacher was furious at the time—she even called Gu Pingwan’s mom several times to try and change her mind.
“She said girls couldn’t handle it. That we weren’t smart enough, or strong enough. That we’d never find a boyfriend.”
Gu Pingwan’s expression became a little distant.
“Bullshit,” Qiang Huai blurted out, then quickly covered her mouth when she realized she was in front of Gu Pingwan.
Gu Pingwan laughed. “And then, I heard you say…”