Things at the office hadn’t been going well these past few days, leaving Cang Xuehe feeling rather irritable. Even coming out for afternoon tea with Zhao Yi hadn’t done much to lift the mood.
“What’s the matter with you?” Zhao Yi teased. “Things not going smoothly with your little girlfriend?”
“Cough!” Cang Xuehe nearly choked on a mouthful of tea. Her face flushed as she coughed and sputtered, “What are you talking about! What ‘little girlfriend’!”
Despite her protest, Xiao Youyi’s face involuntarily surfaced in her mind. She felt that the woman had been acting strange lately, constantly doing odd things and then acting as if nothing had happened afterward, leaving Cang Xuehe completely baffled.
“You haven’t contacted me in two days. Weren’t you busy being all lovey-dovey with your little girlfriend?”
“No!” Cang Xuehe countered. “I’ve been busy to death these past two days running around everywhere with real estate agents.”
“No way,” Zhao Yi said with surprise. “You still haven’t found an office?”
“Exactly!” At the mention of the office, Cang Xuehe’s temper flared. “Either this one isn’t good or that one isn’t right. There just isn’t anything suitable.”
Zhao Yi was silent for a moment before saying, “I think a friend of mine has an office building for rent. It’s a small, two-story detached building about a hundred meters from the subway entrance. Are you interested?”
Cang Xuehe slapped her thigh. “I am extremely interested!”
“Alright, I’ll send you her contact info.”
With the problem that had been plaguing her finally resolved, Cang Xuehe felt a wave of relief. Seeing this, Zhao Yi wasted no time diving into the gossip she was most interested in.
“Look, I’ve solved your office problem for you. Isn’t it time you let me gossip about your little girlfriend?”
“Let me correct you—she’s not my girlfriend, she’s my assistant.” Cang Xuehe didn’t want a situation where the two might meet one day and Zhao Yi would point at Xiao Youyi and say “girlfriend.” That would be a total “social death” scenario. She had to explain it clearly first.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Zhao Yi replied dismissively. “So, how are things going between you and your assistant?”
“Nothing special. We’re just waiting for the company to be officially established. She’s been following me around looking at offices lately.”
“Ho! Love growing over time!”
“…” Cang Xuehe fell silent. “Speaking of which, she really has been a bit weird these past few days…”
“Tell me about it.”
“A few days ago, she wore a super short camisole dress and said she wanted to massage my shoulders.” Cang Xuehe couldn’t help but cover her face. “The next day, she suddenly acted all spoiled and said she wanted to watch a horror movie, only to end up whimpering in my arms saying she was scared—but I honestly don’t think she was scared at all… Then the third day… the fourth day…”
“…And today, when I was heading out, she looked all ‘reluctant to see me go’ and asked me to bring her back a taro paste boba milk tea. But she said she didn’t want the taro paste and didn’t want the milk tea—she just wanted the ‘boba’ (kissing sounds/kisses)…”
Zhao Yi’s expression shifted from curious gossip to utter boredom. If she had a cigarette, she would likely be holding it now, striking the classic “weary smoker” meme pose.
“Can you stop showing off? I swear, if I knew I’d be force-fed this much ‘dog food’ (public displays of affection), I never would have asked!” As a diamond-tier “single dog,” Zhao Yi felt a deep sense of grief.
“What do you mean dog food!” Cang Xuehe was speechless. The point was that every time Xiao Youyi finished flirting with her, she acted like nothing had happened. It made Cang Xuehe feel like a fool with her heart racing and face flushing. She couldn’t understand what Xiao Youyi was trying to do.
“…” After listening, Zhao Yi sank into deep thought. “Oh, you’re saying that after she hits on you, she has no reaction at all?”
Cang Xuehe frowned. “Exactly! I can’t figure out what she’s playing at.”
“Sigh.” Zhao Yi shook her head in disappointment. “There’s a reason you’re still single.”
“???”
Zhao, the self-proclaimed “Master of Romantic Theory,” analyzed: “I’m telling you, this is called ‘playing hard to get.’ She’s charming the life out of you so that you’ll take the initiative to chase her. That way, she holds all the power! He-er, you’ve met your match!”
“Huh?” Cang Xuehe was stunned. “You mean… she likes me?”
“If she didn’t like you, how else do you explain everything she’s done!”
“But…” Cang Xuehe’s face turned bright red. “I’m not even sure if I like her… and she hasn’t explicitly said she likes me…”
“Come, let me teach you a trick,” Zhao Yi said mysteriously. “Take that ‘kabedon’ (wall-slam) trope that was viral a while ago. If you ‘kabedon’ her and her heart races and she blushes, it means she likes you. If she doesn’t blush but your heart races… then it means you like her.”
“Besides, her hints are so obvious. How could she not like you!”
“What?”
“The taro boba milk tea! She literally wants you to kiss (‘boba’) her! You blockhead!”
“Then… do I still need to buy the milk tea on the way back…?”
Cang Xuehe fell into a daze of contemplation until she found herself standing empty-handed at her front door. She had no choice now.
Steeling her nerves, she pushed the door open and poked her head inside.
Xiao Youyi was holding a vase, preparing to arrange some freshly bought flowers. When she saw Cang Xuehe, she simply gave a faint, “You’re back,” showing none of the enthusiasm she had when Cang Xuehe left.
Cang Xuehe shuffled toward her step by step. “I bought the milk tea you wanted.”
Xiao Youyi instinctively looked at her empty hands and asked in confusion, “Where is it?”
Cang Xuehe gritted her teeth, took a large stride forward to stand right in front of Xiao Youyi, and pouted her lips, attempting to kiss (“boba”) her.
Xiao Youyi was startled and took a sharp step back.
“What are you doing!?”
Hey! Was that ‘large step back’ really necessary?!
Faced with a kiss attempt from someone of the same sex for the first time, Si Yao was so startled she nearly dropped the vase. The look of horror on her face was unmistakable.
The atmosphere fell into a heavy silence.
Cang Xuehe took a deep breath and said, “Didn’t you say you wanted taro boba milk tea—no taro, no milk tea, just the boba (kisses)?”
It took Si Yao a good long while to process this. So that was what it meant!
That damn system had screwed her over again! It claimed those were “modern green tea girl” oily pick-up lines, and that as a straight woman, Cang Xuehe would definitely despise such greasy words.
“Um…” An awkward yet polite smile managed to surface on Si Yao’s face. “I was just saying that casually. Don’t take it to heart.”
“Oh…” Cang Xuehe didn’t make another move. She stood by the table, lost in thought, her mind drifting to god-knows-where.
Si Yao didn’t pay it much mind and went back to arranging the flower buds. The unique fragrance of the Casablanca lilies slowly wafted through the air with her movements, blending with other floral scents. It made Si Yao feel incredibly relaxed, and she quickly forgot the little interlude that had just occurred.
As dinner time approached, Si Yao habitually asked, “President Cang, what would you like for dinner?”
“Oh, whatever,” Cang Xuehe replied absentmindedly.
Si Yao went to prepare the meal. By the time she brought the food out, Cang Xuehe was already seated at the table, still in a daze.
“Is something on your mind?” Seeing Cang Xuehe pick at her rice without her soul seemingly returning to her body, Si Yao couldn’t help but ask.
“Ah? Oh.” Cang Xuehe snapped out of it. “It’s nothing, I’m just thinking about a problem.”
“Alright then.” Si Yao didn’t press further; she wasn’t particularly interested.
After they finished eating, Si Yao gathered the dishes and took them to the kitchen to wash. She didn’t notice a figure quietly following her.
She was putting the dried dishes into the sterilization cabinet when she heard Cang Xuehe call her name: “Youyi.”
“Hmm?” Just as Si Yao turned around, there was a blur before her eyes. Cang Xuehe was suddenly standing right in front of her, both hands bracing against the countertop behind her, trapping her between the counter and Cang Xuehe’s body.
“???” Finding someone suddenly so close felt bizarre. Si Yao’s expression didn’t change much, but she thought to herself: Is this move… a wall-slam (kabedon)?
However… Si Yao lowered her gaze to look at Cang Xuehe, who was slightly shorter than her. It seemed that when the person performing the wall-slam didn’t have the height advantage, it didn’t quite produce the heart-racing, face-flushing effect seen in TV dramas.
The two remained deadlocked, staring into each other’s eyes for a long time.
Si Yao finally asked, “Do you need something?”
“…No.” Cang Xuehe took in every detail of the other woman’s expression. Forget blushing or a racing heart—Si Yao hadn’t even batted an eyelash. There wasn’t the slightest hint of being moved!
So it really was just a straight girl’s routine! Cang Xuehe beat her metaphorical chest in frustration. A straight girl flirting with a lesbian deserves to be struck by lightning! She vowed never to believe another one of Xiao Youyi’s actions again.
She took a step back to leave, her eyebrows drooping in dejection. “I’m going to take a shower first.”
“Xuehe,” Xiao Youyi suddenly called her name.
“Huh?” Cang Xuehe turned around. The next second, she felt a force pull her back two steps, pinning her against the cold wall behind her.