Chapter 6
Tang Yiling took the call with foam still piled on top of her head.
Li Lan’s voice came through the line, cool and faintly distant. “I need a document urgently. Go get it, then bring it to my house.”
Tang Yiling gave a soft “ah” and pulled the phone away to glance at the time. “Now?”
“Mm.”
Her tone didn’t change at all.
Tang Yiling didn’t say anything else.
What could she do? She had just signed a contract to sell herself today, so of course she had to do a good job for the salary.
She hung up, rinsed off quickly, then pulled on her outer clothes.
“Xueqing, I’m heading out for a bit!”
Tang Yiling turned around just in time to meet Qian Xueqing’s complicated expression before she could hide it.
She hurried to explain, “No, no, it’s my boss.”
“The student I tutor has an exam tomorrow and wasn’t doing well, so she asked me to help calm her down.”
“I just saved the contact name randomly. I’ll change it right now.”
Tang Yiling felt deeply guilty about how easily the lies slipped out.
But that last sentence was true; she really had saved it randomly.
“Oh, I see!”
Qian Xueqing’s stiff expression relaxed. “So it really is ‘Mommy’!”
It would have been better if she hadn’t said that.
The moment Qian Xueqing finished, Tang Yiling’s face went red.
She practically fled the dorm room.
“I’m going first; we’ll talk when I get back.”
Tang Yiling ran out of the dorm and stopped at the corner of the corridor.
She had to change Li Lan’s note immediately; this was way too embarrassing.
Just then, the dorm door opened again.
Chang Yuruo came out, looking around anxiously for her.
Tang Yiling copied the way other people addressed her. “A-Ruo, looking for me?”
Chang Yuruo nodded and ran over. “Yiling, aren’t you used to living in the dorm?”
“I remember you said before that you liked living alone.”
“A friend of mine has an empty place. Do you want to move there?”
Living alone?
Tang Yiling shook her head. It was probably because the original owner, as the eldest miss of the Tang family, had given her roommates that impression.
She tugged lightly on Chang Yuruo’s arm. “Your friend is Gu Feng, right?”
“No need. I’m fine in the dorm. I really do have something to do today.”
After saying that, Tang Yiling said goodbye to Chang Yuruo and hurried downstairs.
She heard Chang Yuruo mutter in confusion under her breath, “Huh? How did you know it was Gu Feng?”
She had already said too much again.
It seemed acting was a job with a seriously high skill ceiling!
Li Lan had given her the contact number.
Before stepping into the subway, Tang Yiling called the person.
The other side was on the subway too.
They were probably worried she’d have to make the trip too far, so they planned to send the document to the company.
From the school to the company, it was only two stops.
Tang Yiling successfully met up with the equally out-of-breath staff member at the subway station; they had just seen each other in the office that morning.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Yan Zhenzhen.”
“This contract is needed tomorrow. It’s missing President Li’s signature, so we need to add that.”
The contract had already been stamped. Tang Yiling carefully put it away.
She also gave Yan Zhenzhen her name, then after a pause added, “I’m President Li’s assistant.”
The return subway still hadn’t arrived.
Yan Zhenzhen simply stood there and kept Tang Yiling company for a while.
“An assistant?”
Yan Zhenzhen sympathetically patted Tang Yiling’s shoulder. “Hang in there. I’ve been working since I graduated a year ago, and you’re already the fifth assistant I’ve seen.”
Tang Yiling’s peach-blossom eyes widened as she stared at Yan Zhenzhen in disbelief.
So Li Lan was like this?
The white moonlight female lead, and she was actually a serial flirt?
No wonder Li Lan had proposed the agreement so naturally and skillfully.
Yan Zhenzhen thought Tang Yiling was worried about the job and tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry; assistant work isn’t that hard. It’s just that President Li has very high standards.”
“And you’re still a student, right? Since President Li chose you, it must be because you’re very capable.”
That sounded perfectly normal.
But to Tang Yiling, there were still too many things to overthink.
High standards? What kind of standards?
My capability? How strong, exactly?
The station announcement said the subway would be arriving soon.
Tang Yiling clung to the last bit of hope. “Then does President Li often have assistants deliver documents to her like this at night?”
“Not really.”
Yan Zhenzhen shook her head. “If it isn’t urgent, President Li won’t contact employees after work.”
Tang Yiling nodded.
What else could she do? She’d already signed the contract, and she’d already taken the living allowance.
The subway pulled in.
The two of them waved goodbye.
On the way there, Tang Yiling roughly reviewed the plot to come.
In the novel, she jumped off a building in early summer.
From now until then, there were at most a little over eight months left.
In other words, even the worst possible outcome still had an expiration date.
As long as Tang Yiling got through this period, she’d count as having welcomed a new life.
Thinking that way, her steps toward Li Lan’s house finally felt a little lighter.
She hadn’t expected that when she opened the door, a strange face would be inside.
Tang Yiling said “sorry” twice in a row and backed into the hallway.
Only when laughter came from inside the room did she realize she had just opened the door with a key.
The door opened again, and Li Lan stepped aside to let her in.
The unfamiliar woman was still leaning against the cabinet by the door, smiling brightly at her.
“My friend, Xun Banxing.”
Li Lan’s introduction was brief. She turned to Xun Banxing. “Didn’t you still have things to do?”
“Where did you find this little kid? She’s pretty cute.”
Xun Banxing reached out toward Tang Yiling. “You’re the first outsider I’ve seen in Li Lan’s home.”
Tang Yiling quietly drew her hand back and, at the same time, put some distance between herself and Xun Banxing.
She asked, “You’ve never seen any other assistants?”
She deliberately stressed the word “assistant.”
She didn’t like Xun Banxing very much. What did she mean, calling her an outsider?
Xun Banxing’s hand lingered in the air for a moment before she withdrew it.
She didn’t seem to care; the smile never left her face. “An assistant?”
“Li Lan probably wouldn’t let employees come to her house, would she?”
Xun Banxing looked at Li Lan, then walked out of the room. “Once I’m done, I’ll send you a message.”
Li Lan nodded.
Then she sat back down on the sofa.
On the coffee table sat two wine glasses and the remaining half bottle of wine.
Li Lan poured herself another half glass and slowly took a sip.
Today she was wearing a dark, ink-toned robe.
The hem parted slightly, revealing a stretch of pale, straight leg.
Tang Yiling had stopped at the door, her gaze drawn there.
Li Lan felt it and turned to look at her.
Caught red-handed sneaking a look at her boss.
To prove her loyalty and enthusiasm for work, Tang Yiling set the document on the side cabinet, then trotted into the kitchen to grab some wet wipes.
She wiped down the coffee table until it was neat and clean, then washed Xun Banxing’s wine glass and put it back in the cupboard.
After that, she didn’t forget to take out another wet wipe and hand it to Li Lan.
Only then did Li Lan lower her head to look at Tang Yiling.
Tang Yiling wiped her palms first, then the backs of her hands, then each finger, all at an unhurried pace.
She watched as Li Lan tossed the wipe into the trash, then handed over the document and pen.
After Li Lan finished signing, Tang Yiling opened the scanning app on her phone and sent it to Yan Zhenzhen.
She didn’t have classes tomorrow.
That way, she could bring the contract to the company early.
Li Lan said nothing, simply watching Tang Yiling finish everything.
“You’re very thorough.” The words sounded like praise, but also like a question. “You don’t seem like a university student; you’re more like someone who’s already worked in an office.”
For a moment, Tang Yiling didn’t know what to say.
Li Lan had actually hit the nail on the head; she really was an office drone molded by work.
She put the contract away again and sat back down beside Li Lan. “It was all instructions from Yan Zhenzhen.”
Li Lan didn’t say anything else. She only gave a soft “mm.”
The ceiling light in the living room wasn’t on; only two wall lamps were lit.
Through the large windows, with their excellent light, the distant glow of countless homes could be seen.
Tang Yiling stood up. “Then I’ll head back to campus first.”
She had only gotten halfway through the sentence when Li Lan had already caught her wrist. “It’s late. Why don’t you stay here?”
The room fell into that strange silence again; neither of them moved.
One was sitting, the other standing, locked in a stalemate as they stared at each other.
Tang Yiling couldn’t help suspecting Li Lan’s real purpose tonight.
Was the document really urgent, or was that just an excuse to get her to come over?
This was where she had signed the agreement that morning.
In theory, even if Li Lan had simply told her to come over directly, she couldn’t refuse.
It was just that everything was happening too quickly.
Tang Yiling still hadn’t adjusted to her new identity.
About two minutes later, she sat down with a resigned air.
Li Lan lowered her eyes and picked up the wine glass with obvious satisfaction. “Want some?”
Tang Yiling shook her head.
She had barely ever drunk alcohol, and she had no desire to start now.
Li Lan didn’t ask again; she merely held the glass between her fingers and turned it lightly.
Every so often, she would take a sip, her thoughts impossible to read.
The two of them sat very close; their shoulders brushed.
Tang Yiling could smell the bitter orange body wash on Li Lan’s skin.
Li Lan finished one glass and poured another.
Her tolerance seemed pretty good; she didn’t look drunk at all.
She didn’t rush. Instead, she rested one arm on the back of the sofa behind Tang Yiling.
That arm was like a dark snake, coiled and waiting behind her.
Tang Yiling didn’t turn around, but she could clearly feel Li Lan inching closer little by little.
That feeling of being passively cornered wasn’t pleasant.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself a little, when Li Lan’s fingertips touched her earlobe, she still gave a small shiver.
Maybe because the robe was thin, Li Lan’s fingers carried a faint chill.
She brushed Tang Yiling’s earlobe almost absentmindedly, gradually increasing the pressure as if testing her.
It was a little itchy.
Tang Yiling shrank her neck, which only brought her closer to Li Lan.
It had been like this that night too.
Li Lan liked to pinch her earlobe, then rub her lips with her fingers after that.
Tang Yiling felt like a fluffy toy.
And Li Lan was treating that toy like her own comfort object.
If this kept going, Li Lan was probably going to exercise her sugar mama rights.
But the storage room that night had been pitch black, whereas the living room now was fully visible.
That made things a little awkward.
Tang Yiling still wasn’t quite mentally prepared to face it head-on.
Her gaze fell on the wine glass in front of her.
If she got drunk, would it make things easier?
Tang Yiling turned sideways and snatched the glass from Li Lan’s lips.
Without overthinking it, she tilted her head back and poured the entire glass of wine into her mouth.
Li Lan looked at her in surprise and didn’t move for a long time.
Sure enough, not long after that, Tang Yiling was lying on the sofa, dead asleep and completely out cold.