On the other side, Xu Qingqiu, having waited half the day to no avail, could only reluctantly head ho.
It was not until everyone had gone far away that Chu Tian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the thought of her reaction upon seeing the video the next day made him want to laugh.
Xu Qingqiu had just arrived ho and was still collecting herself. She turned on the light and saw two figures staring straight at her, a study in contrasts: one large, one small; one tall, one short; one plump, one slim.
"AHHH! You scared to death! What are you two doing?"
"What are we doing? What are *we* doing? Xu Qingqiu! Where did you go so late at night without resting? Don’t you know you’re a celebrity? What if sothing had happened?!"
"Sister Hua, I wore a mask and glasses! See, I even wore a hat!"
"Are you dumb? Who wears sunglasses in the middle of the night? Do you think everyone else is an idiot?"
"Spill. Where did you go?"
"I didn’t go anywhere. I just took a stroll around the company."
"Just took a stroll around the company? Is there sothing in there you can’t stop thinking about? Sothing that requires you to go two nights in a row?"
"You go there for hours and only co back late at night! Do you even have any regard for as your agent?"
"Don’t think I don’t know what you’re secretly up to. Do you realize what a critical ti this is for you? Is it appropriate to be running out like this?"
"I’ve worked tirelessly to build your career, and you’re this reckless behind my back? Tell , what if you end up causing a life-altering scandal? What then? You tell , what then?"
Xu Qingqiu listened to Sister Hua’s long speech, utterly puzzled. The more she heard, the more confused she beca.
"Sister Hua, what are you talking about? What ’life-altering scandal’? What do you an, ’reckless’? I just went out for a walk."
"Still lying to ? Qingqiu, I know things between you two have been progressing quickly, but isn’t this a bit too fast? Where’s Chu Tian? Tell him to co back; I need to talk to him!"
"Hold on, what does this have to do with Chu Tian?"
"How could it not? What if you keep going to see him every night and get photographed? You spend hours together late at night! Tell , what if that leads to a life-altering scandal?"
Finally, Xu Qingqiu seed to understand Sister Hua’s implication, and her face turned bright red with embarrassnt.
"You’ve misunderstood! I really wasn’t with Chu Tian! I was just wandering around downstairs at the company, trying to catch Young..."
"You don’t believe ? Look, all these mosquito bites! I got them downstairs. I really wasn’t with Chu Tian!"
"Really?"
"Really..."
"Geez, you scared ! I thought you and Chu Tian had sneaked off late at night to get a room..."
"A room for what?"
"Nothing, never mind. As long as you’re okay. But really, if you want to find Young, just tell us. Don’t just sneak off like that. What if sothing happened? Don’t do it again, okay?"
"Anyway, it’s late. You should get so rest."
Li Chunhua, having said her piece, quickly retreated with Yiyi, whose eyes were gleaming, clearly having enjoyed the spectacle.
It was too embarrassing. She had been so confident, ready to catch them red-handed and issue a stern warning, only for it to be a complete misunderstanding.
The two of them hurried back to their respective rooms, leaving Xu Qingqiu standing there bewildered, her thoughts in turmoil.
「The next morning」
Xu Qingqiu, yawning and scratching, walked into the company at a leisurely pace.
As she entered, she specifically glanced up at the surveillance cara and saw its red light blinking, indicating it was working fine.
Once inside her office, she subconsciously glanced at the surveillance monitor, only to see a completely white screen.
What’s going on? Could it be broken again?
She hurriedly checked it using the thod soone had shown her the previous day. There seed to be no issues with the system itself, yet the screen remained white, showing nothing.
She tried rewinding the footage, but it remained white. Only when she forcefully dragged the progress bar far back did the normal footage from the previous night appear.
She realized sothing was amiss. The newly installed surveillance system couldn’t have broken down on its second day. There had to be a problem!
Frowning, she rapidly scrubbed through the footage. Around the ten o’clock mark from the previous night, she finally spotted sothing unusual.
What is this? Isn’t this the fat cat mascot costu from last night? How did it get here?
As she pondered this, the footage showed the large, fat cat mascot putting down the rose it held. It then turned, bowed to the surveillance cara, and began to dance.
This...
Is it mocking ? Is it Young? Or just a prank?
While she was lost in confusion, the mascot finished dancing. It then struggled to pull sothing out from its rear.
It was too small to see clearly. All she could make out was the mascot holding so unknown object towards the cara. Then, the entire screen went white.
It stayed like that until the end of the recording.
What was that thing? Why did the feed go blank as soon as it was pointed at the cara?
While she was still puzzled, soone knocked on the office door.
"Co in!"
"President Xu, this bouquet of flowers was found at the door this morning. There’s a card inside with your na on it."
Flowers? Roses? The fat cat mascot?
Xu Qingqiu imdiately thought of sothing.
"Bring it here, let see!"
She opened the card from the bouquet and, indeed, found a ssage written on it:
[Do not try to find . I will appear when the ti is right. Just rember, I an you no harm. We are friends, and I am here to help you—that’s enough. — Young]
So it was you...
Xu Qingqiu looked frustrated. She was annoyed at herself for not realizing that the fat cat mascot she’d brushed past was Young.
After her frustration faded, a bit of dejection set in. She hadn’t expected all her careful planning to be in vain, and even to be mocked for it.
Looking at the slightly wilted roses in her hand, Xu Qingqiu pondered for a long mont. In the end, she kept the card and casually tossed the bouquet out.
"EH? What’s this? Why throw away such nice flowers?"
Chu Tian had just seen so news online and was about to tell her when he happened to see her tossing out the flowers.
These were the flowers I carefully selected last night. Does she dislike them that much?
When Xu Qingqiu saw Chu Tian, she clearly panicked. She clumsily hid the card behind her back and stamred, pointing at the discarded flowers, "That... those flowers were delivered by mistake. I was just about to have soone throw them out!"
"Delivered by mistake? Shouldn’t you return them to the sender, then?"
"Um... I asked. The sender said they weren’t fresh anymore, so they didn’t want them back."
"Oh, really? That’s a pity. Such nice flowers. If you don’t want them, I’ll take them. They’ll look great decorating my desk."
Xu Qingqiu watched, dumbfounded, as Chu Tian picked up the bouquet.
What am I supposed to do now? The flowers are from Young, but I like Chu Tian more. I only threw them out because I was afraid he’d misunderstand.
But now Chu Tian wants the flowers... This is...
Frankly, Xu Qingqiu really couldn’t handle such a complicated situation. She couldn’t very well admit the flowers were from soone else, could she? Should she ask if he was jealous?
Seeing how he acted, that seed highly unlikely. Trying to provoke him like this probably wouldn’t work.
Chu Tian, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort, began arranging the flowers and said, "Right, I ca to tell you sothing. The production team of The Sound of Nature has released an announcent. You should take a look. Also, tell Sister Hua we can get started."
"Oh, okay... Wait, what did you say?"
"I said..."
"Never mind that part, I heard the rest! I’ll call Sister Hua right away!"
Finally grasping the important news, Xu Qingqiu quickly pushed aside her chaotic thoughts and refocused on work.
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