Hong Siyu's day began in a kitchen filled with the aroma of coffee.
Having worked for many years, a morning cup of coffee had beco her daily routine. No matter how tired she felt when she got up from bed, the familiar scent from the coffee maker always seed to invigorate her a little.
It was still early, the sky outside was sowhat gloomy, but the first rays of sunlight had already pierced through the clouds, casting a thin golden glow on the floor of her single apartnt. Humming a tune, Hong Siyu busied herself with breakfast preparations.
Heat the pan, turn off the stove, wipe the countertop.
Wash the cup, extract, make coffee.
After a deft sequence of actions, the small round table beside the stove was set with boiled eggs, vegetable porridge, and coffee—today's breakfast for Hong Siyu.
Eating leisurely, Hong Siyu then began to change her clothes. But when she was ready in her professional attire and stepped in front of the bathroom mirror, intending to apply makeup, her actions halted as her gaze t the reflection in the mirror.
In the mirror, that incredibly young girl, who looked like she could still be a high school student, was staring back at her.
No, that was her in high school.
With this thought, Hong Siyu's lips curled into a smile, almost bursting into triumphant laughter, had she not already laughed days before. Her adult sense of restraint stopped her from acting out, and she composed herself with a few coughs.
A few days ago, after her treatnt with Molu had ended, she was finally able to return to her normal life. And of course, the most important part of returning to normal was resuming work.
However, Hong Siyu's return to the Abnormal Strategy Bureau wasn't under her original identity, but with the subtle role of "Hong Siyu's niece." Her first assignnt upon rejoining was simple—secretary to the bureau chief.
It was thanks to the identity of "her own niece" and a directive from the state that other mbers of the bureau saw it rely as another parachuted position with no relation to Lin Yun. Otherwise, hiring a secretary who appeared underage would likely have earned Lin Yun strange looks from everyone in the bureau.
In fact, even now, many people were questioning the nature of the relationship between Lin Yun and his new secretary.
Of course, this was all irrelevant to Hong Siyu—no one could stop her now.
Arriving at the Abnormal Strategy Bureau early, Hong Siyu went alone to the yet vacant bureau chief's office, where she dusted the desk, organized files, poured water, watered the plants... she breezed through every task like a well-oiled machine.
By the ti she finished all the miscellaneous work, it was already eight in the morning. The previously quiet office building had started to fill with noise.
Lin Yun usually arrived at work around this ti, and in just a few days, Hong Siyu had already grasped his routine, timing it perfectly.
Standing by the window, she checked her reflection in the glass to make sure her hair wasn't disheveled and her clothes were still neat before taking her seat, her eyes bright as she fixed her gaze on the office door.
She was waiting for the door to open. The mont the person behind it stepped in, she would be the first to show off her efforts.
The clothes she wore today had been chosen during a shopping trip with Lin Yun; although her makeup was subtle, it complented her temperant perfectly; her hair looked natural but had been professionally straightened at a beauty salon the day before. She was aiming to create an absolutely captivating "literary office girl" image.
Every elent was carefully selected, every angle ticulously designed. With her mature aesthetic honed from years of work and a serious study of Lin Yun's tastes... coupled with the fact that on her morning walk, the rate at which passersby turned to look at her was nearly one hundred percent, she was incredibly confident in her appearance. This was her clarion call for the offensive.
Co on, senior.
She silently urged in her mind.
That fervent belief seed to penetrate the door, as if reaching the heavens, and before long, she saw the office door being pushed open.
A figure in a suit walked in.
"Good morning, senior."
Imdiately, she put on the smile she had practiced for so long, her hand clutching the files she had just sorted, extending her hand and posing her body just right, "Have you had breakfast? If you don't mind, maybe we could… huh?"
As she was talking, Hong Siyu suddenly noticed that the person walking in from the outside didn't seem quite right.
Though the person was wearing a suit, it was clear that it was a woman who had entered. She was tall and fair-skinned, with sunglasses on, and her striking orange hair, typically quite eye-catching, was now tied up into a bun at the back of her head, giving her a very spirited look.
A stranger? A guest? No... sothing felt familiar.
Gazing at this woman's appearance, Hong Siyu's mind raced, feverishly trying to match the woman with an identity from her mory. Unfortunately, before she could co up with an answer, the woman in front of her suddenly spoke:
——"95 points."
And what she said was nothing but a short string of digits.
"95 points?"
Her thinking montarily split into two parallel lines, Hong Siyu, whose brain was slightly overloaded, could only echo the other's words, "May I ask... what does this an?"
"Charm, seductiveness, or perhaps cuteness. In short, it's the score I'm giving your recent performance."
The woman with the orange hair propped her chin with one hand as she spoke to Hong Siyu.
Though she couldn't see the woman's eyes through her sunglasses, Hong Siyu could feel that the woman was sizing her up from head to toe. Not only that, but the woman's gaze lingered for a mont on a few places that Hong Siyu had dressed up noticeably, giving her the uncomfortable feeling of being completely seen through.
This made her feel sowhat uneasy, so she subconsciously hugged the files in front of her and took a step back.
However, the woman in front of her didn't seem to be willing to let her off so easily. As Hong Siyu took two steps back, the woman closely followed by moving two steps forward, "Do you know where the deduction points are?"
"Deduct… deduction points?" Hong Siyu stuttered her reply.
"The deduction is because the direction is wrong. Instead of an inviting, jovial and enthusiastic approach, a slightly shy, softly spoken request would elicit more guilt from the other person."
The woman stroked her chin. "But that's nitpicking. All in all, it was indeed very cute! I really like it! A lovely junior has made such preparations to welco , so it would be too rude of not to accept your request!"
With that, she finally created so distance between her and Hong Siyu, turned around in place, and pushed the half-open door to the side, "Co on, lead the way. I don't know where the cafeteria is."
However, when she took two steps toward the door, she realized that no one had followed her.
"Sothing wrong?"
The woman turned back, confused, "Is there sothing you haven't finished yet?"
"No... I just wanted to ask, who are you?"
Hong Siyu struggled to maintain a smile on her face, "Please don't make such jokes. If you have an appointnt with the director, you can wait over there..."
"Ah? Sister, you already called 'senior', and now you're asking who I am?"
The woman seed just as perplexed, "Though you've never called that before... What's going on?"
"Before? Never called you that?"
The woman's words seed to flip a switch, and Hong Siyu's thoughts connected like a current in an instant. She finally rembered why the woman's face was familiar and to whom the strange way of speaking belonged.
——"You... ah? Yuan Xiang?"
But rather than being pleasantly surprised, the emotion closer to how she felt upon recognizing the other person was alarm.
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