Her way of speaking to him had also formed a kind of conditioned reflex.
During those high school years, she only ever used that attitude with Yan Muzhou.
She had realized long ago that she was an "atypical" secret admirer.
An Yao had once read popular online novels about secret crushes, where the protagonist would usually act humble and ingratiating in front of the person they liked—certainly not the prickly, back-talking attitude she had, where she'd fire back a retort at every turn.
If she had to find a similar archetype, she was more like that annoying little boy in old-school teen idol dramas who would pull the pigtails of the girl he liked.
At the core, it was all about seeking attention—trying to make someone with a steady, unflappable temperament show some reaction, as a way of proving one's own specialness.
"Even adults can trip."
Yan Muzhou said with a pointed tone: "But people who sleep until the afternoon after a night of heavy drinking are even more likely to trip."
An Yao opened her mouth.
Before she could come up with a new retort, the door to the master bedroom inside was pushed open. Yan Xuexin had apparently been woken up by their voices, and she walked out rubbing her eyes with a sleepy expression.
"Brother? Why are you here."
An Yao wasn't planning to keep arguing with him either. She took the insulated bag and headed over to put it on the dining table.
Compared to her, Yan Xuexin was at her own home after all, so her entrance was even less put-together.
Her permed, wavy long hair hung down in a messy cascade, her cheeks still bearing pillow creases, her face unwashed—a thoroughly bleary-eyed sight.
Yan Muzhou said flatly: "Just passing by to check whether you two would be unconscious from drinking all day."
Yan Xuexin yawned and mumbled vaguely in explanation: "We didn't even get drunk at all. Xiao Fan definitely reported to you last night."
She ambled over to the fridge to grab some water, then continued: "Brother, you just have a habit of managing us. You really should find me a sister-in-law, so someone else can help share some of the firepower."
Yan Muzhou: "Since when is it your turn to pressure me about marriage."
"Why can't I?"
Yan Xuexin took a sip of water, speaking casually: "I mean, your personality isn't exactly the type girls go for, but your height and looks are still pretty decent. I have a lot of old classmates who are quite interested in you. Want me to set you up?"
Yan Muzhou knew she was joking, but he still couldn't help scolding her: "The more you talk, the more ridiculous it gets. How old are your classmates? Instead of worrying about my affairs, you'd do better to manage yourself properly."
Yan Xuexin just went along with it, smiling as she said: "My classmates are only four years younger than you. If it's true love, what does four years matter? Even on An Yao's side, six years younger is no problem at all."
An Yao was walking toward the sofa, planning to find her phone.
Hearing this, her brows furrowed, and her tone became unusually serious: "…Xuexin, don't say that."
It was only when Yan Xuexin heard her tone that she realized what had happened, and she quickly said: "Hey, I'm not talking about you two… I mean, even if you were introducing your classmates to him, the age gap wouldn't be inappropriate."
An Yao pressed her lips together. Combined with the context just now, she also realized this.
It meant introducing classmates.
Then had she just overreacted, making it seem like she was protesting too much?
Yan Xuexin was about to continue explaining when Yan Muzhou cut in: "Alright, just remember to eat."
He turned and opened the door.
Yan Xuexin picked up her phone to check the time, and as if suddenly remembering something, slapped her forehead. "Oh my god, it's past one already. I still have someone to meet."
"Hey, bro, wait a sec."
Yan Muzhou turned back slightly.
Yan Xuexin tied up her hair and spoke rapidly. "The kitchen faucet has been broken for ages. The property management contacted a repairman today, and he should arrive around two. But I need to head out—can you keep an eye on it for me?"
An Yao chimed in from the side, "How about I keep an eye on it? I don't have anything else to do today anyway."
Yan Xuexin said, "You're a guest—I can't have you helping out. Besides, the property staff all know my brother. With him here, they won't dare slack off."
Yan Muzhou raised his wrist to check the time. "Fine."
He had no other commitments until four o'clock today.
"Great, thank you so much."
Yan Xuexin smiled her thanks, and upon receiving his confirmation, hurried back into her room to get ready.
That left An Yao with nothing to do.
She had already washed up earlier, so she went back to the spare bedroom where she'd stayed the night to change back into her clothes, planning to say goodbye to Yan Xuexin before leaving.
But as she passed through the dining room, her stomach let out two untimely growls.
Yujiang Mansion was the most expensive and best-located upscale residential complex in the economic development zone. The soundproofing was excellent, and their building was set far back from the road, so even during the day it was extremely quiet—you could hardly hear any noise at all.
Which made the two growls from An Yao's stomach all the more conspicuous.
By then, Yan Muzhou was already seated on the sofa, scrolling through the news on his phone.
He didn't turn around, but said in a flat tone, "Eat something before you go. I had Xiao Fan buy enough for two."
An Yao hesitated for a moment, then went to the dining room. Otherwise, she'd be sitting there with her stomach growling from hunger while waiting for Yan Xuexin to finish getting ready, and not eating—that would make her look like she had a screw loose.
"Oh, thanks then. I thought you hadn't bought enough for two people."
She made up a random excuse to save face.
Yan Muzhou didn't respond, just sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, continuing to read the news.
It was just past noon, and the weather was fairly clear today. Thin sunlight spilled over him, as if softening the cold sharpness of his features.
The man was indeed quite handsome—the composed, aloof type, not the least bit frivolous or lazy.
And in terms of appearance, An Yao's current type should still be this kind.
An Yao opened the food container and found that one of them held red bean grilled mochi soup—a specialty from her hometown.
The rest were mostly light, mild dishes that suited her palate well.
When she'd first come to Beiyang at sixteen, she'd actually found the Yan family's cooking style hard to get used to.
Although the Yan family didn't eat much spice, their food was heavy on salt and sauce—nothing was cooked the way she liked, preserving the natural flavor of the ingredients.
On top of that, with a whole table of dishes at every meal, there was never a single dessert or sweet soup to be found, and she always felt like something was missing.
During her freshman year of high school, she'd caught the flu and was miserably sick. She'd craved red bean grilled mochi soup desperately.
The old residence was in a remote location, and the food delivery industry wasn't as developed back then, so she'd persuaded Yan Muzhou to learn how to make it by following online tutorials.
Perhaps because Yan Muzhou had been relatively free that day, and she was a pitiful invalid, he'd actually gone into the kitchen and made it for her, leaving the several chefs and servants in the kitchen barely able to hide their shock.
An Yao had long forgotten the taste of that red bean and rice cake soup, only remembering that it wasn't quite authentic. But ever since then, even through all her years of university in Nancheng, every time she saw this dish in a restaurant or cafeteria, she would think of Yan Muzhou.
Thinking back on this old memory, An Yao's gaze unconsciously drifted toward him as she ladled out the red bean soup.
Yan Muzhou happened to stand up, and their eyes met mid-air.
He glanced down and also noticed the red bean soup she was eating.
"Your taste hasn't changed since you were little."
Yan Muzhou said casually, then went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.
An Yao's hand holding the small spoon paused for a moment, and she replied in an equally offhand tone: "You still remember that."
Then she added a correction: "But high school doesn't really count as being little."
Yan Muzhou opened the fridge, took out a bottle of water, and said lightly: "It wasn't that long ago."
Besides, since he'd returned from studying abroad, he'd been swamped with matters left and right—in all these years, that had probably been the only time he'd cooked.
He'd looked up a recipe online and made red bean rice cake soup.
"Your memory's pretty good."
An Yao lowered her head and quietly continued eating.
The National Day holiday passed just like that, and the busy life of a working person came rushing back.
On the first day back at work, what awaited An Yao was an endless stream of trivial tasks.
She was grateful she'd taken on enough illustration commissions during the first five days of the National Day holiday; otherwise, with her current workload, she'd probably have to dip into her already meager personal savings just to pay rent.
When she'd chosen her internship, she'd considered the salary, but since she wasn't a regular employee and had no prior internship experience, it was at most a few thousand yuan a month.
Her internship salary alone couldn't even fully cover her rent and utilities.
Two weeks later, on a workday, she unexpectedly saw the other intern in the art department who'd gotten in through connections.
Also a girl, named Sheng Xintong. Unlike the busy style of the rest of the office, she was sitting at her desk leisurely scrolling through short videos.
Everyone probably knew about her connections too—for the entire morning, aside from printing a document, no one had assigned her any other work.
An Yao's desk wasn't far from hers, but she herself was so busy she barely had a moment to rest, and she hadn't exchanged a single word with this "real colleague."
After the lunch break, Sister Zhang from the neighboring group walked over and called out to An Yao. "Come out with me for a bit. All the interns in my group are out—help me with something."
This was the downside of being merged into the publicity department.
Besides the original regular employees of Oriental Tea House like Yara, An Yao now had several times more "bosses above her."
As long as she was free, anyone could assign her tasks.
Sister Zhang was busy too, giving her instructions as they walked: "I'll send you a contact on the messaging app in a bit—someone from the President's Office. Ask him for a contract, make three copies, and return the original after you're done."
Sister Zhang had learned from her mistakes. Having been left waiting for hours by the President's Office last time, she wasn't about to waste her own time on this round of business dealings.
An Yao: "Okay, when do you need it by?"
Sister Zhang: "Put it on my desk before three. I'm heading out to see a client now."
An Yao nodded.
At the corner of the corridor, Sister Zhang glanced back toward their art department and said in a low voice, "That Xiao Sheng in your group is really just occupying a position without doing anything. I hate interns like that the most. If they were in my group, I'd fight hard for an extra intern slot."
"It's been tough on you too, having to do so much work on your own."
An Yao replied diplomatically, "It's fine, I'll take it as training."
Sister Zhang didn't say anything more, just patted her shoulder to show sympathy.
Not long after, An Yao received a contact card pushed to her through the office software from Sister Zhang.
Their group had an independent internal communication and office system, and in the messaging software, permissions could be set by the user.
Someone like Xiao Zhou, whom Sister Zhang had pushed to her, could be messaged directly in the software without any prior verification process.
An Yao composed a short message, briefly introducing her purpose, and asked Xiao Zhou what specific time he could come upstairs to pick up the documents.
But she waited until 2:30, and aside from instructions from other art department colleagues telling her to do work, there were no other messages in the messaging software.
Xiao Zhou still hadn't replied.
Sister Zhang also sent a message asking, [How's it going, can you get it before 3? Once you have it, take it downstairs to Legal, they're pressing for it too.]
An Yao truthfully said that Xiao Zhou hadn't replied.
Sister Zhang sent a voice message, sounding very anxious: "Legal can't be delayed—they need to send it to the court. If it's late, who takes responsibility?"
An Yao stayed silent, waiting for Sister Zhang's follow-up instructions.
Sister Zhang seemed busy on her end too, saying hurriedly, "Alright, why don't you send a message to everyone in the President's Office who has chat permissions, or just go wait at the elevator entrance on the east side of Building A, and when you see someone going up to the 36th floor, follow them up and find the person directly."
"…"
An Yao was truly speechless. She opened the messaging software, found the President's Office, and made a token gesture of scrolling through it, then remembered the access card in her bag.
Anyway, Sister Zhang's suggestion was for her to go upstairs and find the person directly. It was less than half an hour until 3 o'clock, and the matter was indeed urgent, so she might as well just swipe her card and go up.
After weighing her options, An Yao went back to her workstation, found the card, and headed straight to the east elevator, pressing for the 36th floor.
The President's Office was no less busy than their floor downstairs—employees were either on phone calls, delegating work to others, or frowning intently at their computers, typing away.
No one had any time to pay attention to her.
The workstation of the Xiao Zhou she needed to find was also empty—he wasn't there at all.
An Yao searched around for quite a while before randomly catching a young employee passing by. She quickly explained who she was and asked where Xiao Zhou was.
"Xiao Zhou? He just went out with Assistant Song. He should be back soon."
The young male employee was also very busy, speaking rapidly: "Call him—his number should be in the system."
An Yao: "I called, it's busy."
Just as she finished speaking, the elevator door not far behind her opened again.
The young male employee called out, "Xiao Zhou, hurry up—someone from the Publicity Department is looking for you, seems urgent."
An Yao turned around. Xiao Zhou walked over quickly with an apologetic expression, unlocked his file cabinet, and rummaged through it.
"The contract with Chengyue, right? I'll get it for you right away. Sorry about that. We've been preparing for the Summit Forum lately, so busy that we haven't rested at all this whole month. I was just in a meeting downstairs with Assistant Song, and my phone was on Do Not Disturb. I only saw your message when I got into the elevator."
Amidst the chatter, Xiao Zhou quickly found the contract for An Yao. After confirming it was the right one, she handed it over and reminded her that it had to be returned by the end of the day, otherwise Sister Zhang would have to log a follow-up process in the system.
It was all for work. An Yao took the contract without saying much, nodded in agreement, and turned to head back downstairs to make copies.
At the elevator entrance, besides her, there were a few people from other departments, all there to run errands.
Only ten minutes remained before Sister Zhang's deadline.
As soon as the elevator arrived, An Yao was about to step in, but someone held her back. She paused and looked up.
Yan Muzhou was inside the elevator, flanked by two assistants.
In a work setting, Yan Muzhou wore his usual icy expression, devoid of emotion. Paired with a meticulously tailored suit, he looked very serious and proper, carrying the distinct authority of someone in a high position.
It seemed he was the one who had held her back, as the person leading the group greeted him with a "Good day, Mr. Yan."
They had probably seen him at the earlier meeting.
The others around her quickly caught on and followed suit with their greetings.
An Yao remained silent, and combined with her earlier attempt to enter the elevator before the big boss came out, it made her seem quite rude.
So, she moved her lips and stiffly added, "…Good day, Mr. Yan."
One assistant was holding the elevator door, and Yan Muzhou had already stepped out with his long strides.
Whether it was because An Yao's greeting came too late or because it was her first time using that form of address, Yan Muzhou paused in his steps and didn't continue walking.
He looked down at her and said calmly, "Come to my office with me. I happen to have something to discuss with you."
The others waiting for the elevator glanced at An Yao in unison, their looks tinged with surprise.
An Yao felt her scalp tingle under those gazes.
Despite the awkwardness, she remembered she had urgent work on hand.
Whatever Yan Muzhou wanted with her, it surely wasn't work-related, nor as urgent as what Sister Zhang had assigned.
So An Yao spoke up, saying, "Not right now. I still have work to do."
At that, the looks from those around her shifted from slight surprise to shock, returning to normal only after a couple of seconds.
Someone even took a deliberate glance at An Yao's name badge, where the word "Intern" stood out prominently.
Yan Muzhou's tone remained as usual. Before heading back to his office, he casually added, "Come up once you're done."