Chapter 52

Danger signal!

The moment the alarm bells started screaming, Wei Xiaolu’s ingrained habit of flattering people kicked in at once. She immediately plastered on a syrupy smile and walked over.

“Of course,” Wei Xiaolu said with emphatic conviction. “Sister, you’re my life role model, my workplace lighthouse, my one and only legend.”

As she spoke, she blinked at Shen Siyan, staring straight at her and trying her best to look sincerely, shamelessly admiring.

Shen Siyan listened quietly, amusement flickering in her expression, along with a trace of helplessness.

Perhaps because she was tired, or perhaps because she could see the tension hidden beneath Wei Xiaolu’s smile, Shen Siyan didn’t call her out. Instead, she said, “Actually, I could’ve skipped going today.”

Wei Xiaolu frowned. “Then why did you go?”

“I needed to confirm some things in person,” Shen Siyan said, lifting a brow. “Or rather, I needed to make Chen Dongqi understand some things.”

Wei Xiaolu’s brow twitched. “Was it still because of those rotten accounts he left behind?”

“He thought that by hiding in Zhaolan and taking the money with him, the debts he left behind would be wiped clean.” Shen Siyan said.

“So you went specifically to find him?”

“As a side trip,” Shen Siyan narrowed her eyes. “Aren’t you hungry, little sister? I’ll change to a backup phone; let’s talk while we eat.”

Wei Xiaolu rubbed her stomach.

“Okay.” She was a little hungry.

After Shen Siyan went back to her room to change phones, they took the broken one to the repair shop near the neighborhood entrance, then went next door for a bowl of Lanzhou noodles.

The taste wasn’t authentic at all; it was bland and flavorless. Wei Xiaolu cupped a hand over her mouth and whispered to Shen Siyan that this wasn’t anywhere near as good as what her dad made.

“Next time take me home and let me try Uncle’s noodles.”

Wei Xiaolu nearly choked on the noodles she was slurping. She looked up at Shen Siyan’s smiling eyes and quickly mumbled, “Ah, oh, okay... um, you still haven’t finished telling me. Did you meet President Chen today? What did he say?”

“I saw him before I left.”

While eating, Shen Siyan calmly recounted her plan.

Wei Xiaolu wasn’t sure if it was because she had already stepped outside that circle, but she felt Shen Siyan was speaking completely candidly, laying everything out in great detail, including the investigation into Chen Dongqi’s assets, the difficulty of collecting debts, the current situation, and why she had to pressure Chen Dongqi face-to-face.

“So... did it work?” Wei Xiaolu asked curiously.

“At the very least, he won’t be sleeping tonight,” Shen Siyan said with a light laugh, waving a hand in front of her face. “You’re so absorbed in it, little sister? Eat quickly; the noodles are going soggy.”

Wei Xiaolu was pulled back to herself by that wave.

After only a second of blankness, she immediately picked up the thread. “How could I not be absorbed? You’re just too amazing. You walked into the enemy camp alone and still managed, even in such a chaotic situation, to stay so clear-headed and make that old fox Chen worry himself sick with just a few words.”

Shen Siyan glanced at her, her expression unchanged.

It felt like she still hadn’t hit the right note, so after taking a couple more bites, Wei Xiaolu gathered momentum again. “What do you call that? That’s called controlling the situation from the center and winning from a thousand miles away. Sister, you’re a modern female general, the model of both brains and bravery.”

“Enough,” Shen Siyan finally couldn’t hold back and interrupted with a laugh. “Eat.”

Wei Xiaolu grinned and obediently lowered her head to eat.

The noodles tasted bland, but her heart was bubbling with delight; she’d smoothed things over again with that harmless, sweet mode of flattery.

Although Shen Siyan didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as before, at least it gave Wei Xiaolu a sense of control over the pace. Otherwise, she really was afraid she’d be too easily exposed under Shen Siyan’s teasing words, her clumsy sincerity laid bare.

After they finished eating and picked up the repaired phone from the repair shop, the screen was as good as new. Shen Siyan put the SIM card back in and powered it on again.

Wei Xiaolu suddenly thought of something. Just as Shen Siyan was about to open WeChat, she sprang up at once.

“Wait!”

Her fingertip paused on the screen. Shen Siyan looked up, puzzled. “What is it?”

“That, um...” Wei Xiaolu was practically regretting it to death as she spoke quickly. “You don’t need to look at my messages. They’re all just random nonsense, nothing worth seeing. You should handle the important stuff first; I, I’ll go buy you a bottle of water!”

As soon as she finished, she turned to run, but after only a couple of steps she couldn’t move anymore; Shen Siyan had caught the hood of her sweatshirt.

“So,” Shen Siyan said as she opened the chat window, “our little deer is quite the spammer.”

Wei Xiaolu trembled all over and wanted to die on the spot.

She really did like dumping her emotions on her friends by message, firing off a barrage of text all at once... what had she sent Shen Siyan that afternoon when she was so anxious and panicked? She vaguely remembered a few fragments: “How are you?”, “Is it still not over?”, “You have to stay safe,” and it seemed like she’d ended with “I’m coming to find you.”

She covered her face with both hands and peeked at Shen Siyan through her fingers. “That was me trying to summon someone who’d gone off the grid...”

Shen Siyan smiled, stood up, and walked toward the door. The hand that had been holding her hood shifted to the back of Wei Xiaolu’s head, where it gave a gentle rub.

“All right, then the summon worked,” Shen Siyan said.

They were walking very close together; that line sounded like a whisper spoken right by her ear.

The voice was soft and hazy as smoke, yet it set her whole head spinning.

Shen Siyan really knew exactly how to make someone itch with restlessness. She half-led Wei Xiaolu along for a long while, only letting go when they were almost downstairs. That night, after showering, she even said goodnight to her with a pet name, leaving Wei Xiaolu lying on her bed, thinking about it for a moment before burying her face in the pillow and rolling over several times.

So sweet... no, so annoying.

Maybe Shen Siyan was doing it on purpose too; maybe she knew Wei Xiaolu couldn’t withstand this kind of testing and would keep replaying it over and over. Just like Wei Xiaolu knew that ever since that day, Shen Siyan had been making up all kinds of excuses every noon to come back because she’d forgotten this or that, and wasn’t it just so the two of them could spend a little more time together?

Hmph. Wei Xiaolu had seen through it a long time ago; she was just giving Shen Siyan face and not exposing her.

Days slipped by in this sort of push and pull; sometimes intimate, sometimes leaving her at a loss.

By the following week, the thesis had been eighty percent finished. Wei Xiaolu was staring at her computer and scratching her head over the references when her phone suddenly buzzed.

[Shen Siyan: Chen Dongqi paid the remaining amount. The department’s having a dinner party tonight to celebrate. I’ll be back later]

Wei Xiaolu’s eyes lit up.

President Chen caved? It looked like Shen Siyan’s intimidation and pressure earlier had really worked.

She immediately replied: [Yay! Sister, drink less! Celebrate the successful recovery of the debt!]

This time she would boil the hangover soup in advance, so when Shen Siyan came back, there’d be hot soup ready right away.

If Shen Siyan could not drink at all, that would be even better.

But there was no need to think about it; the chances were basically zero. In her position, she was often forced by circumstances. So many people were toasting her; she had to show sincerity, and if she didn’t drink, it wouldn’t be convincing enough.

She, an intern, was actually more free. The higher you climbed, the more restrictions there were; the more constraints, the less comfortable you were.

“Haah.” Wei Xiaolu sighed and ran into the kitchen to simmer the soup.

It seemed to have started drizzling outside. After the soup was done, she closed the windows in every room, then sat in the living room and watched variety shows to the sound of rain.

Just before ten at night, there was finally noise at the door. Wei Xiaolu immediately threw down her tablet, sprang up from the sofa, and hurried over to Shen Siyan.

“You’re back,” Wei Xiaolu said, catching a faint scent of alcohol. It seemed she hadn’t drunk much today. “Did everything go smoothly?”

Shen Siyan came in carrying the coolness of the night and a body full of dampness.

“The celebration went smoothly,” she said, putting away her umbrella and hanging it at the entrance. “Everything’s settled on Chen Dongqi’s side. Today I took everyone through the accounts, and basically everything lines up now.”

“Wow,” Wei Xiaolu said, widening her eyes in exaggerated surprise. “There were so many wrong and missing entries, and they all got fixed?”

“Mm-hmm.” Shen Siyan smiled.

“I didn’t think it would happen this fast. I thought it would take at least two or three months.”

“Normally, it would,” Shen Siyan said. “I made preparations in advance too, and I caught the timing while they were in internal chaos. You could say... I played a bit of a psychological game.”

Wei Xiaolu gave her a thumbs-up. “Sister, you’re really amazing. Strategic, decisive; you’re basically the benchmark for business negotiations, our pillar of stability. Once you step in, there’s nothing you can’t handle!”

While talking, she busied herself running into the kitchen and bringing out the steaming hangover soup.

“Drink some soup to warm your stomach and help sober up.” Wei Xiaolu handed the bowl to Shen Siyan.

“Thanks.” Shen Siyan sat down by the dining table and took a slow sip.

She was drinking at an unhurried pace, clearly savoring it. Wei Xiaolu sat down across from her. “Sister really is farsighted. Back when President Chen hadn’t shown his hand yet, you already started preparing evidence. You’re so far-seeing, and your decisiveness is just too strong.”

Shen Siyan smiled but said nothing, continuing to drink her soup slowly.

“Really,” Wei Xiaolu went on, “if I were President Chen and got hit by your combo, I’d have been completely convinced long ago. I wouldn’t dare scheme again.”

It wasn’t clear whether Shen Siyan was too drunk to feel like talking or simply tired and unwilling to speak, but despite Wei Xiaolu’s relentless stream of praise, she didn’t answer once; she just quietly drank her hangover soup.

Until she finished the last mouthful.

“All this over-the-top praise,” Shen Siyan said, setting down the empty bowl, “I’ve already heard it all night at the company.”

She paused and looked over deeply.

Wei Xiaolu, who had only half-finished her rainbow-praise routine, froze instantly. The second half of her sentence got stuck in her throat like a noisy little bird with its neck pinched.

“We’re not coworkers anymore, baby. Be honest.” Shen Siyan said.

Even though Shen Siyan, the one who’d been drinking, was the one who should’ve been less clear-headed, at that moment the panic and shame surging up under her crisp, precise words made Wei Xiaolu, who hadn’t had a drop to drink, suddenly feel stupid and muddled instead.

She stared blankly and asked, “How do I be honest?”

“Tell the truth,” Shen Siyan said, lifting her chin. “None of that fake stuff.”

Wei Xiaolu thought about it, then refused to back down and shot back, “Then you have to tell me the truth too.”

“All right,” Shen Siyan said, nodding. She looked at her for a few seconds, then said, “I really like you.”

Her whole body went soft. Wei Xiaolu quickly looked away from the other side of the table; when she spoke, her voice was trembling. “Look at you, there you go again, aren’t you?”

Shen Siyan gave a low laugh, as if she had finally set down every bit of the energy she’d been using to steer the conversation. Then she told her softly, “No, little sister.”