Chapter 10

Sheng Huaixi’s tone was coy, her words carrying a faint smile and a barely perceptible tease that made it far too easy to misread her.

“Like a couple?” Jiang Chao frowned and scratched her cheek, then looked up at Sheng Huaixi and nodded hesitantly. “It does seem about the same.”

But Jiang Chao believed Sheng Huaixi wouldn’t read too much into it; at the very least, she wouldn’t mistake her for someone with ulterior motives.

She knew her own limits. Sheng Huaixi had definitely noticed how evasive she’d been lately. She’d gone to such lengths to avoid her; surely no one was narcissistic enough to think that meant she liked her, right?

Especially since Sheng Huaixi could read people so well. She must have already realized that Jiang Chao didn’t like her, which was why she’d relaxed.

Thinking that, Jiang Chao casually waved a hand as if to say they were just roommates who happened to be friends.

“It’s fine. You know I don’t have that kind of interest in you.”

The smile at the corner of Sheng Huaixi’s mouth faded a little; her gaze turned deep and unreadable.

Jiang Chao lowered her eyes, touched her chin, and hesitated, her thoughts drifting.

Sheng Huaixi’s words reminded her of something else: those unhinged pursuers of hers.

Now that Sheng Huaixi was injured, if someone decided to go to extremes against her, would she be able to handle it?

“Then I’ll just follow you around for a while,” Jiang Chao said, pointing to herself with a serious expression. “Until your injury heals, I’ll go to and from work with you.”

Sheng Huaixi narrowed her eyes slightly. “A bodyguard, or a suitor?”

“Does it have to be one or the other?” Jiang Chao thought about how quickly gossip spread in the company group chats, and then about the kind of spirited discussion either of those labels would spark. She shuddered and decisively settled on, “An employee from the Creative Department!”

“A temporary intern trying to get converted should be this attentive toward her boss,” Jiang Chao said solemnly, utterly convinced by her own reasoning.

The hesitation and uncertainty on her face were plain to see, as was the struggle in her decision-making. Sheng Huaixi took it all in.

With a slight curl of her lips, Sheng Huaixi first nodded in approval, then wound a strand of hair around her finger as if considering it and asked, “But my reputation is pretty bad. You know that, right?” Sheng Huaixi caught the way Jiang Chao’s eyes seemed to dodge guiltily and held them in place. “Especially since you’re still new.”

Jiang Chao froze, suddenly realizing she seemed to have overlooked something important.

“You’re saying that if I suddenly have a temporary intern who once saved me following behind me, people might think I took an interest in you because of that and am using my authority to pursue you?”

As Sheng Huaixi spoke, Jiang Chao couldn’t help thinking of the gossip headline she’d seen on the company intranet last time; it had been so blunt and absurd she couldn’t bear to look at it, and yet there had been quite a few replies.

The people at the center of it were her and Sheng Huaixi.

Jiang Chao had complained for a long time and still couldn’t get it taken down from the company intranet.

If they added the kind of scandal Sheng Huaixi was talking about now, Jiang Chao shuddered. Her mind raced, and a new idea suddenly sprang up.

“A personal assistant!”

Sheng Huaixi arched a brow. Her gaze swept slowly over Jiang Chao from head to toe, a dark glint flashing in her eyes. “You’re sure?”

Hearing Sheng Huaixi’s tone, Jiang Chao suddenly remembered something she’d heard before: a pursuer had hidden their identity and entered the Creative Department, insisting on becoming Sheng Huaixi’s personal assistant.

Afraid Sheng Huaixi would mistake her for the same kind of person trying to get close under false pretenses, Jiang Chao blurted out first, “Don’t worry, I don’t do office romances.”

Sheng Huaixi stared at her quietly, then clicked her tongue and gave a soft “Oh,” the ending rising slightly, as if puzzled.

Seeing her expression, Jiang Chao nodded again and repeated herself, even crossing her wrists in front of her chest to make a big X, looking utterly resolute.

Sheng Huaixi’s eyes were cool as she crossed her arms and stood straight in front of the stairs. “It’s such a blessing to have an employee so dedicated to her career in the company.”

“Starting work on Monday, you’ll read ten of my pieces from last year and write me a 5,000-word reflection.”

When she finished, Sheng Huaixi drew her trench coat closer and headed upstairs. Her back looked especially cold and distant; her figure was slender and beautiful.

All she left behind was Jiang Chao, standing there with a darkened face and a suddenly doubled workload.

“Sheng Huaixi!”

How could this woman turn on her so fast?

What had she done wrong this time, for no reason at all?

Jiang Chao looked up at the stairs, then around for slippers, but didn’t see any spare pair, so she quickly stepped onto the stairs and hurried after Sheng Huaixi to argue the matter.

At the very least, cutting that ridiculous 5,000 words down to 2,000 would be fine.

*

“Sheng Huaixi, I’m officially reporting you for abusing your power to settle a private grudge.”

Jiang Chao’s steps up the stairs happened to follow right behind Sheng Huaixi. She knocked symbolically on the door from behind her, then went in after her.

Hearing the so-called report Jiang Chao deliberately shoved right in her face, Sheng Huaixi openly answered with an “Mm,” then pointed to the trench coat draped over her own shoulder.

Looking at what Sheng Huaixi indicated, Jiang Chao naturally took off her own coat and hung it over her arm, then casually smoothed the wrinkles from the fabric on Sheng Huaixi’s shoulder.

Once they were inside, Sheng Huaixi used the smart home system to adjust the temperature; now the room was just right.

“Mm, I’ve accepted your real-name report. And then what?” Sheng Huaixi walked forward and sat down directly in front of the vanity mirror.

The moment she lifted her wrist, Jiang Chao carefully pinched it and pressed it back down, afraid that if she used even a little too much force, she’d break Sheng Huaixi’s wrist again.

“I’ll help you.” Jiang Chao took over unpinning Sheng Huaixi’s hair. Her fingertips moved lightly and deftly.

Back at home, when they attended banquets, Mom always liked to wear her hair in a bun. Jiang Chao had helped her do it a few times before, and now she was already very practiced.

“I think you should consider reducing that unreasonable punishment,” Jiang Chao said, keeping her eyes fixed on the strands of hair. “How about 3,000 words less?”

In the mirror, Sheng Huaixi watched the earnest face reflected back at her. She leaned back lazily, relaxed, and looked steadily at Jiang Chao as she undid and arranged her hair.

Her expression was serious; she didn’t look away for a second, and every movement of her hands was gentle to the extreme. In Jiang Chao’s hands, the hair became something obedient and pliant. Sheng Huaixi didn’t feel the slightest pain from being tugged.

A flicker of jealousy rose in Sheng Huaixi’s heart; she found herself jealous that the thing now held in Jiang Chao’s hands was her hair.

Being cared for so tenderly. Being watched so intently. Being cherished in those hands.

Sheng Huaixi looked at Jiang Chao’s focused expression in the mirror, ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, and asked, “Then do you want to do your job as a personal assistant properly later and clear your own name?”

“What job?” Jiang Chao was fully absorbed in tending the thick black hair in her hands. She didn’t look up at the mirror, so she naturally missed the slow curve of a smile at the corner of Sheng Huaixi’s lips.

Sheng Huaixi said innocently, “Help me bathe.”

“Oh, no problem, I’ll help you ju—wait!!”

Her reflexive agreement was still on her lips when Jiang Chao’s brain finally processed what she’d heard. Her hands froze instantly, and she jerked her head up to look at the mirror.

She could see her own face clearly, red all over!

Jiang Chao was completely at a loss; suspecting she’d heard wrong, she asked again in disbelief.

“I help you bathe? Wash your whole body? In one bathroom?”

TL Note:

"real-name report" (实名举报) is a complaint filed under one’s real name (versus an anonymous complaint), here used jokingly.