After returning home, Shen NingXin placed the doll next to the conch shell.
The doll was in the shape of a human and wasn’t very big. It had a small javelin in its hand and fit perfectly on the conch shell.
There was a visual effect where it seemed to be charging into battle.
Ride the conch and throw the javelin!
Shen NingXin stared at it left and right for a while, the corners of her mouth rising and she soon laughed.
After the two came back from the amusement park, they went to the company and worked overtime for a little over an hour. When she got home, it was nearly 10. It was late now, so Shen NingXin didn’t waste any more time and soon brought a change of clothes and went into the shower.
Afterward, she comfortably got into her bed.
She then opened Weibo by habit and found that Qiu YiBai did indeed make a new post. It was quite long this time, where she needed to click on it to reveal everything.
The first line was—
“Today I went to the amusement park and rode the rumored Blue Moon Rollercoaster. The entire ride was only a teeny bit scary, but Shen NingXin was so terrified she almost cried.”
“. . . . . .”
Who did you say almost cried?!
Shen NingXin felt as though this person could only see other people’s problems and was blind to her own. She couldn’t help but shake her head and continued to scroll down.
“The carousel was pretty fun and the rotating teacups too, except it felt a little dizzying when it spun too much.”
“The milk tea tasted watery, so I don’t recommend, but the cake was pretty good.”
“The third claw machine from the left is broken, it swallowed two of my game coins, I must avoid it next time QAQ.”
“. . . . . .”
Each line was written with quite a bit of detail, as though she were making some strategic guide.
But it also felt like a diary written by a kindergartener, recording all the fun things she experienced throughout the day with an air of seriousness in her tone.
Shen NingXin smiled as she looked, and soon a line caught her attention—
“Shen NingXin seemed to really like that doll. Seeing how happy she was smiling, to be considerate to my subordinate, I could only gift it to her.”
“The other one was given to a little boy I didn’t know, so in the end, there wasn’t any left for me QAQ.”
Her tone was quite aggrieved.
But it was obviously you who insisted on giving it to me.
Shen NingXin thought like this and subconsciously glanced in the direction of the doll.
After a moment, she retracted her gaze, then opened her lips to mutter softly, “Besides, when did I ever . . .”
Before she could say the word “smile”, she was suddenly stunned.
Qiu YiBai attached quite a few photos to this post, and thinking that they were photos of the background, she didn’t click on them at first. But when she did, she came to realize that there were also photos of people.
The first few were all selfies of Qiu YiBai, the majority of them in tricky angles and the composition not well-thought-out. Her good looks were the only thing holding them up. The overall view wasn’t all that good.
The most beautiful photo was actually one Qiu YiBai secretly took.
However, the person in the photo was her.
The sky had darkened at that point, and she was walking forward with the doll in her arms. Upon hearing the shuttering sounds of Qiu YiBai’s camera, she couldn’t help but smile, thinking that Qiu YiBai seemed like a child, taking photos of everything.
She thought she was taking photos of the background, but the subject turned out to be her.
This person even specially added a filter for her, with cat ears on either side of her head and several whiskers on her cheeks.
“How childish,” Shen NingXin sighed out, then put her phone aside to get ready to sleep.
But soon after, she got up again and downloaded the photo.
Those apricot-shaped eyes of hers were also smiling as the corners of her mouth raised.
“To be honest . . . the shot looks pretty good.”
“. . . . . .”
—
Shen NingXin got up extra early the next morning.
There was still work to be finished from yesterday, so she decided to go in early to complete them. Afterward, she wanted to see if she could help Qiu YiBai with anything.
After a simple breakfast, Shen NingXin quickly finished cleaning everything and went downstairs.
She glanced at her phone and saw that it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet.
She must be the first person to arrive at the company today~
As she thought, she happily took out her bus card. When she looked up again, a very familiar car drove past.
When she glanced through the windows, she saw a face she couldn’t be more familiar with.
Qiu YiBai!
She was this early, too?
Shen NingXin couldn’t help but sigh, thinking that the number one place wouldn’t be hers anymore. She stopped hurrying and slowly walked to the bus stop.
When she glanced up, that car was silently driven back again at some point.
Afterward, a hand reached out from the car window, signaling a few times in the direction she stood in.
The person inside didn’t even reveal her face.
If she didn’t know any better, who’d know what this person wanted!
Shen NingXin didn’t know whether to cry or laugh and quickly responded to her signal, opening the car door and taking a seat. She then smiled and greeted, “Good morning, President Qiu.”
“En,” Qiu YiBai responded with a nod and didn’t say anything else as she started the car.
She was silent the entire time.
Was she unhappy?
Shen NingXin quickly noticed her strangeness and glanced at her several times from the corner of her eyes, wanting to see what it was because of this time.
Before she could figure it out, they already reached their destination.
It was quite dark in the garage. After the two got out of the car, they walked side by side. But after a couple of steps, Shen NingXin suddenly heard the sound of a “Thud” next to her.
The noise was loud and had an echo to it, reverberating in the large garage.
It gave Shen NingXin a fright. Thinking that perhaps something had exploded, she let out a scream and reflexively pulled Qiu YiBai back a few steps.
Just then, she discovered a transparent hot water bag1 with a strawberry design on it laying on the ground.
It probably just fell, considering that the water inside was still swaying back and forth.
“. . . . . .”
The atmosphere went silent for a few seconds.
A moment later, Qiu YiBai stepped forward and picked the hot water bag up, her ears red.
After wiping it with a napkin, she hesitated for a moment and finally decided to not put it back inside her clothes, but rather stuffed it into her briefcase.
She then very ferociously said, “Making a fuss about nothing!”
So you’re the one who dropped it.
Shen NingXin exhaled and very awkwardly apologized to Qiu YiBai. She then turned around and continued to walk forward with her.
She finally understood the reason now.
No wonder she was unhappy. It turned to be because she had period cramps.
She couldn’t help but sigh.
How pitiful our President Qiu was.
—
The whole morning was spent in busyness again.
She came early today and was quite efficient, too. Soon, she completed all the tasks at hand.
Just as she decided to go and help with some of Qiu YiBai’s work, she suddenly received a call from Zhao Jie.
The content was essentially the same as before, saying that she couldn’t come today and wanted her to help take care of some stuff.
Shen NingXin couldn’t refuse and sighed internally. She soon became busy with work again.
Her brain and hands hardly stopped working all morning.
It wasn’t until noon did she finally complete most of the tasks.
Once she looked up again, the office was almost empty.
At this time, everyone was walking toward the cafeteria for lunch, and the office was strangely quiet. The only sound came from Qiu YiBai.
She was on the phone, and listening to her voice, it seemed like she was calling a foreign customer. Shen NingXin widened her ears and listened for a moment, catching a few keywords.
Glass beads, machine, and black spots.
She quickly caught on. They were probably discussing how black spots were mixed into the glass beads.
Recently, there was a malfunction with the machine at the factory, where the filtering wasn’t done as thoroughly as before, often leaving black spots.
The factory leader didn’t care at first, and for the sake of efficiency, directly packed and exported everything abroad. Only after Qiu YiBai discovered the problem did he finally address the problem. Aside from repairing the machine, he also added a few more filtering procedures.
However, it was still a step too late. The customers who received the previously damaged goods were extremely dissatisfied and immediately filed a complaint to Qiu YiBai one after another.
These days, Qiu YiBai had been dealing with complaint calls.
It seemed like it was going to take a while today, too.
Shen NingXin glanced inward past the glass door, then finally turned around and decided to bring Qiu YiBai a lunch from the cafeteria.
There were a lot of people in the cafeteria, so it took a while before she finally returned to the office.
Those who went to eat still hadn’t returned yet, and the rest were either sleeping or on their phones. It was quiet all around.
Qiu YiBai’s voice was gone, too. She probably took care of the complaints by now.
Shen NingXin returned to her workstation quietly with the food in her hand. She opened the bag and carefully took out the lunch box before adding a pair of chopsticks.
After that, she stood up with the meal in her hands, ready to deliver it.
She looked up, and suddenly discovered Qiu YiBai silently supporting her face with her hands, her head buried deep, and her entire body motionless.
Did she fall asleep?
Shen NingXin was taken aback when saw this, and she stopped moving, thinking that she shouldn’t disturb her then.
Just as she was about to walk back, she suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly turned around again.
She’s never seen Qiu YiBai take a nap before.
Normally, during lunch break, she was either out for business or was working. She’s never rested before and had always eaten her meal in a hurry before quickly returning to work.
She’s never been like this . . .
A guess suddenly popped into her mind, and Shen NingXin paused, holding her breath as she gently moved forward a few steps.
Afterward, just as she expected, she saw tears on Qiu YiBai’s face.
She was crying.
Her tears rolled down in a pitter-patter, falling from the force of gravity. Even the files in front of her had wet spots. When she got closer, she discovered that her body wasn’t actually motionless but rather shaking slightly.
Was it because of the phone call just now? Or was it because she really didn’t feel well?
Or perhaps, it was both.
Seeing her like this, Shen NingXin suddenly felt pain somewhere in her heart.
Then for some reason, she recalled Qiu YiBai’s state when she cried after getting drunk.
At that time, in Qiu YiBai’s subconscious mind, she still wanted company, and thus used various reasons to make Shen NingXin stay, whether by crying or smiling in her drunkenness . . .
But right now, what should she do when Qiu Yi Bai’s this upset.
Shen NingXin was silent for a moment before she quickly walked out of the office with the meal in her hand. She then stood by the elevator and gave Qiu YiBai a call.
It took a long while before the other side answered. Her voice was a bit suppressed, purposely lowered to hide her crying tone. “Shen NingXin, what do you want . . .”
“President Qiu, have you ate yet?” She quickly smiled. “I saw that you were really busy earlier, so I bought you food on my own accord, and now I’m just walking back from the cafeteria.”
“You should tidy up a little, and let’s have lunch together in a bit.”
Using a hot water bag (“热水袋“) for period cramps is pretty common in China.
After returning home, Shen NingXin placed the doll next to the conch shell.
The doll was in the shape of a human and wasn’t very big. It had a small javelin in its hand and fit perfectly on the conch shell.
There was a visual effect where it seemed to be charging into battle.
Ride the conch and throw the javelin!
Shen NingXin stared at it left and right for a while, the corners of her mouth rising and she soon laughed.
After the two came back from the amusement park, they went to the company and worked overtime for a little over an hour. When she got home, it was nearly 10. It was late now, so Shen NingXin didn’t waste any more time and soon brought a change of clothes and went into the shower.
Afterward, she comfortably got into her bed.
She then opened Weibo by habit and found that Qiu YiBai did indeed make a new post. It was quite long this time, where she needed to click on it to reveal everything.
The first line was—
“Today I went to the amusement park and rode the rumored Blue Moon Rollercoaster. The entire ride was only a teeny bit scary, but Shen NingXin was so terrified she almost cried.”
“. . . . . .”
Who did you say almost cried?!
Shen NingXin felt as though this person could only see other people’s problems and was blind to her own. She couldn’t help but shake her head and continued to scroll down.
“The carousel was pretty fun and the rotating teacups too, except it felt a little dizzying when it spun too much.”
“The milk tea tasted watery, so I don’t recommend, but the cake was pretty good.”
“The third claw machine from the left is broken, it swallowed two of my game coins, I must avoid it next time QAQ.”
“. . . . . .”
Each line was written with quite a bit of detail, as though she were making some strategic guide.
But it also felt like a diary written by a kindergartener, recording all the fun things she experienced throughout the day with an air of seriousness in her tone.
Shen NingXin smiled as she looked, and soon a line caught her attention—
“Shen NingXin seemed to really like that doll. Seeing how happy she was smiling, to be considerate to my subordinate, I could only gift it to her.”
“The other one was given to a little boy I didn’t know, so in the end, there wasn’t any left for me QAQ.”
Her tone was quite aggrieved.
But it was obviously you who insisted on giving it to me.
Shen NingXin thought like this and subconsciously glanced in the direction of the doll.
After a moment, she retracted her gaze, then opened her lips to mutter softly, “Besides, when did I ever . . .”
Before she could say the word “smile”, she was suddenly stunned.
Qiu YiBai attached quite a few photos to this post, and thinking that they were photos of the background, she didn’t click on them at first. But when she did, she came to realize that there were also photos of people.
The first few were all selfies of Qiu YiBai, the majority of them in tricky angles and the composition not well-thought-out. Her good looks were the only thing holding them up. The overall view wasn’t all that good.
The most beautiful photo was actually one Qiu YiBai secretly took.
However, the person in the photo was her.
The sky had darkened at that point, and she was walking forward with the doll in her arms. Upon hearing the shuttering sounds of Qiu YiBai’s camera, she couldn’t help but smile, thinking that Qiu YiBai seemed like a child, taking photos of everything.
She thought she was taking photos of the background, but the subject turned out to be her.
This person even specially added a filter for her, with cat ears on either side of her head and several whiskers on her cheeks.
“How childish,” Shen NingXin sighed out, then put her phone aside to get ready to sleep.
But soon after, she got up again and downloaded the photo.
Those apricot-shaped eyes of hers were also smiling as the corners of her mouth raised.
“To be honest . . . the shot looks pretty good.”
“. . . . . .”
—
Shen NingXin got up extra early the next morning.
There was still work to be finished from yesterday, so she decided to go in early to complete them. Afterward, she wanted to see if she could help Qiu YiBai with anything.
After a simple breakfast, Shen NingXin quickly finished cleaning everything and went downstairs.
She glanced at her phone and saw that it wasn’t even seven o’clock yet.
She must be the first person to arrive at the company today~
As she thought, she happily took out her bus card. When she looked up again, a very familiar car drove past.
When she glanced through the windows, she saw a face she couldn’t be more familiar with.
Qiu YiBai!
She was this early, too?
Shen NingXin couldn’t help but sigh, thinking that the number one place wouldn’t be hers anymore. She stopped hurrying and slowly walked to the bus stop.
When she glanced up, that car was silently driven back again at some point.
Afterward, a hand reached out from the car window, signaling a few times in the direction she stood in.
The person inside didn’t even reveal her face.
If she didn’t know any better, who’d know what this person wanted!
Shen NingXin didn’t know whether to cry or laugh and quickly responded to her signal, opening the car door and taking a seat. She then smiled and greeted, “Good morning, President Qiu.”
“En,” Qiu YiBai responded with a nod and didn’t say anything else as she started the car.
She was silent the entire time.
Was she unhappy?
Shen NingXin quickly noticed her strangeness and glanced at her several times from the corner of her eyes, wanting to see what it was because of this time.
Before she could figure it out, they already reached their destination.
It was quite dark in the garage. After the two got out of the car, they walked side by side. But after a couple of steps, Shen NingXin suddenly heard the sound of a “Thud” next to her.
The noise was loud and had an echo to it, reverberating in the large garage.
It gave Shen NingXin a fright. Thinking that perhaps something had exploded, she let out a scream and reflexively pulled Qiu YiBai back a few steps.
Just then, she discovered a transparent hot water bag1 with a strawberry design on it laying on the ground.
It probably just fell, considering that the water inside was still swaying back and forth.
“. . . . . .”
The atmosphere went silent for a few seconds.
A moment later, Qiu YiBai stepped forward and picked the hot water bag up, her ears red.
After wiping it with a napkin, she hesitated for a moment and finally decided to not put it back inside her clothes, but rather stuffed it into her briefcase.
She then very ferociously said, “Making a fuss about nothing!”
So you’re the one who dropped it.
Shen NingXin exhaled and very awkwardly apologized to Qiu YiBai. She then turned around and continued to walk forward with her.
She finally understood the reason now.
No wonder she was unhappy. It turned to be because she had period cramps.
She couldn’t help but sigh.
How pitiful our President Qiu was.
—
The whole morning was spent in busyness again.
She came early today and was quite efficient, too. Soon, she completed all the tasks at hand.
Just as she decided to go and help with some of Qiu YiBai’s work, she suddenly received a call from Zhao Jie.
The content was essentially the same as before, saying that she couldn’t come today and wanted her to help take care of some stuff.
Shen NingXin couldn’t refuse and sighed internally. She soon became busy with work again.
Her brain and hands hardly stopped working all morning.
It wasn’t until noon did she finally complete most of the tasks.
Once she looked up again, the office was almost empty.
At this time, everyone was walking toward the cafeteria for lunch, and the office was strangely quiet. The only sound came from Qiu YiBai.
She was on the phone, and listening to her voice, it seemed like she was calling a foreign customer. Shen NingXin widened her ears and listened for a moment, catching a few keywords.
Glass beads, machine, and black spots.
She quickly caught on. They were probably discussing how black spots were mixed into the glass beads.
Recently, there was a malfunction with the machine at the factory, where the filtering wasn’t done as thoroughly as before, often leaving black spots.
The factory leader didn’t care at first, and for the sake of efficiency, directly packed and exported everything abroad. Only after Qiu YiBai discovered the problem did he finally address the problem. Aside from repairing the machine, he also added a few more filtering procedures.
However, it was still a step too late. The customers who received the previously damaged goods were extremely dissatisfied and immediately filed a complaint to Qiu YiBai one after another.
These days, Qiu YiBai had been dealing with complaint calls.
It seemed like it was going to take a while today, too.
Shen NingXin glanced inward past the glass door, then finally turned around and decided to bring Qiu YiBai a lunch from the cafeteria.
There were a lot of people in the cafeteria, so it took a while before she finally returned to the office.
Those who went to eat still hadn’t returned yet, and the rest were either sleeping or on their phones. It was quiet all around.
Qiu YiBai’s voice was gone, too. She probably took care of the complaints by now.
Shen NingXin returned to her workstation quietly with the food in her hand. She opened the bag and carefully took out the lunch box before adding a pair of chopsticks.
After that, she stood up with the meal in her hands, ready to deliver it.
She looked up, and suddenly discovered Qiu YiBai silently supporting her face with her hands, her head buried deep, and her entire body motionless.
Did she fall asleep?
Shen NingXin was taken aback when saw this, and she stopped moving, thinking that she shouldn’t disturb her then.
Just as she was about to walk back, she suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly turned around again.
She’s never seen Qiu YiBai take a nap before.
Normally, during lunch break, she was either out for business or was working. She’s never rested before and had always eaten her meal in a hurry before quickly returning to work.
She’s never been like this . . .
A guess suddenly popped into her mind, and Shen NingXin paused, holding her breath as she gently moved forward a few steps.
Afterward, just as she expected, she saw tears on Qiu YiBai’s face.
She was crying.
Her tears rolled down in a pitter-patter, falling from the force of gravity. Even the files in front of her had wet spots. When she got closer, she discovered that her body wasn’t actually motionless but rather shaking slightly.
Was it because of the phone call just now? Or was it because she really didn’t feel well?
Or perhaps, it was both.
Seeing her like this, Shen NingXin suddenly felt pain somewhere in her heart.
Then for some reason, she recalled Qiu YiBai’s state when she cried after getting drunk.
At that time, in Qiu YiBai’s subconscious mind, she still wanted company, and thus used various reasons to make Shen NingXin stay, whether by crying or smiling in her drunkenness . . .
But right now, what should she do when Qiu Yi Bai’s this upset.
Shen NingXin was silent for a moment before she quickly walked out of the office with the meal in her hand. She then stood by the elevator and gave Qiu YiBai a call.
It took a long while before the other side answered. Her voice was a bit suppressed, purposely lowered to hide her crying tone. “Shen NingXin, what do you want . . .”
“President Qiu, have you ate yet?” She quickly smiled. “I saw that you were really busy earlier, so I bought you food on my own accord, and now I’m just walking back from the cafeteria.”
“You should tidy up a little, and let’s have lunch together in a bit.”
Using a hot water bag (“热水袋“) for period cramps is pretty common in China.