You Must Marry Me! - Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Yan Yiyun stared at Qi Zhen, momentarily entranced.
Qi Zhen’s features were delicate like a painting, her gentle smile directed at her—so soft and warm, like sunlight filtering through spring foliage. It carried just the right amount of warmth and weightlessness.
She was waiting for Yan Yiyun’s answer.
Seeing that Yan Yiyun hadn’t responded for a long time, Qi Zhen finally asked, “Hm?”
Snapping back to reality, Yan Yiyun averted her gaze, feeling a bit flustered.
How strange. Joking around with Qi Zhen had never been a problem before, but now—being looked at like that—she actually felt a little shy?
Turning her head away, Yan Yiyun said awkwardly, “I don’t know!”
“Really—?”
Qi Zhen deliberately drew out her tone. The more awkward Yan Yiyun got, the more she wanted to keep watching her.
Normally, Yan Yiyun was always cheerful and outgoing, always grabbing Qi Zhen’s arm or striking up conversation without hesitation. But now, a simple question had her turning red in the face?
Qi Zhen looked at her with great interest, and under her gaze, Yan Yiyun’s face grew redder and redder.
Her complexion was naturally fair, and lately, she’d been eating well and feeling good, making her glow even more. She wore only a light layer of makeup, and now with her cheeks flushed, she looked like a blooming peach blossom—truly endearing.
Being stared at like that, Yan Yiyun couldn’t take it anymore.
She suddenly stood up and exclaimed, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know! Call me whatever you want!”
She shoved Qi Zhen’s lunch bag toward her and said, “Hurry up and go back to work!”
She didn’t even know what was going on. Her heart was pounding like crazy.
The way Qi Zhen had looked at her made her face heat up uncontrollably, her heart thudding as if it was about to jump out of her chest. She had no idea what to say.
Qi Zhen’s smile deepened, becoming even gentler and more sincere. She looked at Yan Yiyun and said slowly, “So I can really call you anything?”
Yan Yiyun was clearly embarrassed.
Usually, she’d want nothing more than for Qi Zhen to hang out with her all day. Yet now she was saying things like “go back to work”—clearly too flustered to even look at her.
With her head down, Yan Yiyun muttered, “Mm.”
She didn’t want to argue with Qi Zhen anymore! Whatever she wanted to call her, fine! She just wanted her to leave now!
Otherwise… she didn’t know what might happen.
Qi Zhen nodded and said with a smile, “Little crybaby, then I’ll head back to work.”
She picked up her lunch bag and strolled out of Yan Yiyun’s office.
Qi Zhen was in a great mood. Whenever she’d eaten or gone out with Yan Yiyun before, she always felt like she owed her something.
Yan Yiyun was enthusiastic, yes—but they weren’t kids anymore who could ignore everything. The two of them weren’t from the same world now. If they kept getting closer, sooner or later, she’d hold Yan Yiyun back. And then even this pure friendship they had would be lost. Thinking of that always made Qi Zhen feel uneasy.
But now, she realized—
Yan Yiyun was just an ordinary person too.
She had her timid moments, her shy moments, her hurt feelings. The gap between them wasn’t as wide as she thought.
At the very least, she could let herself get a little closer.
After leaving Yan Yiyun’s office, Yan Yiyun stared at the door in a daze. Before she could even react, Qi Zhen was gone—didn’t even give her a glance back.
What the heck?
Was it something she said? Did Qi Zhen get mad?
Wait a minute—probably not.
Yan Yiyun smacked her forehead as she remembered—
Qi Zhen had called her…
“Little crybaby.”
Qi Zhen actually called her “little crybaby”!
All her earlier frustration was suddenly gone. A rush of heat went straight to her head. What was Qi Zhen trying to do—tease her?
When had she ever acted like a crybaby!?
Yan Yiyun shot to her feet, ready to go confront her, but just then Yu Xiaotao came rushing in and grabbed her.
“Miss Yan, my little ancestor, where do you think you’re going? You absolutely can’t! There’s a meeting in ten minutes!”
Yu Xiaotao was nearly in tears. The meeting had been pushed to the afternoon, and since it was urgent, she scheduled it right after lunch. She had come rushing in, half expecting to walk in on Qi Zhen and Yan Yiyun glued together. But instead, she found Yan Yiyun storming out looking ready for a fight.
She had prepared a whole speech to convince the two of them to prioritize the bigger picture—but clearly it wasn’t needed. And now Yan Yiyun was already in firecracker mode again.
And really, who else in the company could get her this worked up?
Obviously, Qi Zhen.
Qi Zhen really was something. Every few days, she could manage to get their usually icy Miss Yan to lose her temper.
Yu Xiaotao shoved a folder into Yan Yiyun’s hands and gently coaxed her toward the meeting. This was an important one about the internal job competition—definitely not something to be taken lightly.
Yan Yiyun gulped down two big sips of lemon water to calm herself before heading upstairs to the conference room with Yu Xiaotao.
When they passed the design department, she deliberately glanced inside—only to see Qi Zhen look up and smile at her.
She shot a glare back at her.
Qi Zhen caught her look, pressed her lips together, and lowered her head. Then she sent Yan Yiyun a WeChat message.
Yan Yiyun kept up her icy facade the rest of the walk. Just that one look from her sent a chill through Xu Haiyang—did the design department somehow offend her?
Seeing no reaction from Qi Zhen, her aura grew even colder. Even Yu Xiaotao didn’t dare speak.
What in the world had happened between them today? Had they fought that badly? Was the meeting going to be a disaster?
In the elevator, Yu Xiaotao kept quiet. Usually, someone would take the opportunity to butter up Miss Yan—but not today. The silence was absolute.
Yan Yiyun was happy for the peace and quiet. Yu Xiaotao, on the other hand, was silently panicking.
She had always suspected there was something different about Qi Zhen and Yan Yiyun’s relationship. Whether childhood friends or star-crossed fate, the truth was, they had lunch together every day. No one else in the company had such a personal connection with Miss Yan—no one else could influence her mood like Qi Zhen could.
Besides, they’d known Qi Zhen for years. She had always been the company’s aloof goddess, respected for her abilities. When she first joined, men had lined up to confess to her—like moths to a flame. One by one, they all failed.
After the men gave up, some of the ladies in the office started to wonder—maybe Qi Zhen didn’t like men? Did they have a shot?
Nope. Still failed.
Eventually, everyone agreed on one thing: Qi Zhen didn’t like humans.
She never participated in their activities, and Yu Xiaotao could understand why.
Most of the socially active ones in the company had either been rejected by Qi Zhen or gossiped behind her back. Who would want to hang out with them?
As for the less social ones like her—they weren’t about to try and melt the ice queen either. So Qi Zhen just kept to herself… until Miss Yan showed up.
No matter what anyone else thought, Yu Xiaotao was sure—
Qi Zhen and Yan Yiyun’s relationship was not normal!
Even if they were just friends now, it wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Watching the elevator numbers tick upward, she sighed to herself: Sure enough, it takes one to match one—only an ice queen can handle another ice queen.
Once the elevator opened, she subtly fell back a couple of steps to avoid getting frozen by Yan Yiyun’s aura.
The afternoon meeting was about the internal job competition. Each department had submitted their open management roles, all with high qualifications required.
Yan Yiyun took it seriously. This internal promotion would bring a major shift to Xingyun Entertainment’s management structure. She had resolved to bring in competent people to pave the way for her future work.
Her leadership of this competition was a clear signal.
Her father had run the company for decades and was getting tired—his health was declining. It was time for him to step back and rest.
Yan Yiyun hadn’t planned to take over this early. But after unexpectedly joining the company and seeing its current state, she simply couldn’t sit still. The board was full of troublemakers, and if she didn’t act soon, she might not even get the chance to inherit it.
She had talked it over with her father, and they agreed to begin a gradual handover—starting with this promotion process.
During the meeting, her face was serious as she listened to department after department present their PPTs. There were a lot of roles to fill, and the interviews would probably take a full week.
It was going to be exhausting.
After three long hours, the official plan for the competition was finalized. Everything was ready—just waiting to launch.
Leaving the conference room, Yan Yiyun let out a long sigh. Once this group of people was reshuffled, her work would go a lot more smoothly.
Right now, every time she tried to push a new initiative, she ran into resistance. For example, she thought Xingyun’s current business model was too simple, with limited funding. She wanted to try new investments—but the board strongly opposed it. Even the execution teams were passive and uncooperative, resulting in subpar outcomes.
So she had decided to pause and focus on cleaning up the company culture first, before pushing forward again.
Now that her mood had lifted, her steps felt lighter. On the way back to her office, she peeked again into the design department.
Qi Zhen was at her desk. Her screen was protected by a privacy filter, so she couldn’t see anything. Qi Zhen didn’t look up, even when she heard her approaching.
Yan Yiyun’s anger flared up again. She stormed back to her office, pulled out her phone, ready to argue with Qi Zhen online—only to see a message quietly waiting for her, sent three hours ago.
Instantly, her mood improved.
She opened the message. Qi Zhen had sent a cute little bunny sticker—round and fluffy, munching on grass.
Then came a simple invitation:
“Dinner tonight? I made you mad earlier. Let me treat you to apologize ^_^”