After Accidentally Sending a Text Message to My Cold Boss - Chapter 4

“It seems I still don’t know our President Yu well enough. I actually thought you wouldn’t be making it out.”

A woman’s teasing voice drifted over.

“Better get acquainted ahead of time.”

Jin Enna walked over and extended her hand toward Mai Suisui. Sandwiched between two fair, slender fingers was a brand-new business card. Her face wore a look that was half-smile, half-mockery. “It looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on. After all, so far, the two of us are the only confidants President Yu has.”

Mai Suisui didn’t decline. She took the card, glanced at it, and asked casually, “How did you know?”

“Heh, if you had chosen the other path, President Yu would have had me take you to Minister An.”

A look of realization dawned on Mai Suisui as she nodded. “Then I’ll have to trouble Secretary Jin to help me out.”

“I can certainly help you, but what’s the reward?”

It had to be said that the smiling way Jin Enna spoke at that moment immediately reminded Mai Suisui of an animal—a fox.

A cunning fox.

Under normal circumstances, Mai Suisui might have played along and exchanged witty banter with this secretary, but right now, she lacked the energy to maintain that superficial mask of hypocrisy and politeness.

There was no need to get close to people who weren’t necessary; those who were necessary would eventually be dealt with anyway. Right now, she just wanted to be alone to sort through her miserable mood after being forced to pick a side.

“Just as Shen Qingqing said—you really are cold toward people you aren’t familiar with.”

Jin Enna showed no signs of annoyance, merely shaking her head as if lamenting the fact.

“You and Qingqing are close?”

Mai Suisui, who had seemed ready to leave, stopped in her tracks upon hearing Jin Enna’s words. She turned her head and threw out the question.

“That’s right.” Jin Enna’s lips curled into another smile. Mai Suisui noticed that whenever this woman laughed, there was a sense of frankness to it; her mouth would widen to reveal a glimpse of white teeth, giving off an aura of poise and elegance.

“Why would a presidential secretary from the Secretary’s Office be close to a low-level employee who isn’t even middle management?”

Mai Suisui’s tone sounded surprised, tinged with an indescribable feeling.

“She’s my god-sister.”

As if she had long expected Mai Suisui to ask, Jin Enna dropped a sentence that would have stunned a crowd of people if said downstairs. She explained with a smile, “My family and hers have always been neighbors; we’ve known each other since we were kids.”

Mai Suisui’s expression became somewhat difficult to read.

“Childhood friends?”

“Not exactly.”

“Platonic sweethearts?”

“Is there a difference between those two terms?”

Jin Enna’s attitude was very candid. Her lack of concealment made it impossible to find any traces of ambiguity. “I watched Qingqing grow up. I’m the older sister, she’s the younger sister. You are Qingqing’s best friend, so naturally, I wanted to get to know you too.”

While Jin Enna’s words were clearly trying to convey a certain sentiment, Mai Suisui seemed to suddenly shift her attention elsewhere. She nodded thoughtfully but remained silent.

For some reason, as Jin Enna watched Mai Suisui’s reaction, she felt something wasn’t quite right. But after thinking it over, she didn’t believe she had said anything wrong.

“Anyway… this whole thing caught me quite off guard.”

Mai Suisui nodded to Jin Enna. The sharp-witted head secretary immediately sensed an almost imperceptible change in Mai Suisui’s attitude toward her.

It felt a bit closer, yet also contained some other strange emotion.

“I’ll keep the card. Let’s stay in touch… Sister Na.”

“Bye-bye then.”

Jin Enna didn’t know that after Mai Suisui turned the corner and was blocked from view by the wall, a meaningful smile spread across the corner of her mouth.

Neighbors?

Heh… You’ve hidden it quite well, Shen Qingqing.

“Pfft…”

“If you keep wandering around me with nothing to do, making those meaningless silly laughs, I don’t mind making you have a bad day first.”

Sitting behind her desk, Mai Suisui spoke without looking up from her work to the mischievous-looking Shen Qingqing.

“Hey, do you think my mouth is blessed? If you hadn’t bumped into her and then had that run-in in the elevator, she wouldn’t have such a deep impression of you.”

“If she didn’t have an impression of you, she naturally wouldn’t help a lowly employee.”

“Is it like an idol drama where the destiny between you two has arrived?”

With a brilliant smile, Shen Qingqing leaned her hands on the desk, daringly moving closer to Mai Suisui.

It was clear that the schadenfreude overflowing in the girl’s heart made her completely ignore the waves of danger faintly radiating from Mai Suisui.

“You think this is a good thing?” Mai Suisui still didn’t look up, flipping through the documents in her hand with an expressionless face.

“Of course it’s a good thing.”

Shen Qingqing pulled over a nearby chair and sat down, saying with a grin:

“It’s better than following Old An to South Korea, right? I even thought you had offended him before, which was why he was screwing you over so hard. Now that you have a place to land, you can finally relax.”

“Since you’re so happy, why don’t you take this ‘landing’ in my place?”

“Eh, definitely not.”

Shen Qingqing decisively raised both hands.

“A small fry like me isn’t even worth their time. It’s more suitable for someone as outstanding as you to wade into the muddy water.”

“It’s just some internal factional infighting. Besides, Old An is leaving soon. If you want to move up in ZS, you’re bound to encounter this sooner or later. If you succeed this time, it’s practically a ‘carp leaping over the dragon gate’ moment.”

Shen Qingqing said the first half of this carelessly, but the latter half carried a different weight, and her smile as she looked at Mai Suisui held a hint of provocative teasing.

“I heard the Chairman at headquarters is about to step down. ZS Trade is one of the subsidiaries under the ZS Group, so it’s impossible for a direct father-to-son succession plot to happen. Everyone up there is exerting all their strength now.”

“It’s also very likely that a ‘parachuted’ official will be sent down to that position,” Mai Suisui said calmly. “A bunch of fifty- and sixty-year-olds waiting for retirement, yet they still don’t know how to keep quiet.”

Shen Qingqing immediately burst into a giggle, pointing at the stoic Mai Suisui who continued to work. Curling her lip, she said, “I knew you had resentment in your heart! Not bad, it’s rare to see you truly get angry; today’s show was worth the watch.

But since you’re unwilling to get involved, why didn’t you just go for a ‘broken fish and torn net’ scorched-earth tactic with Old An?

He’s leaving soon anyway; he shouldn’t dare to make any big moves that would let the big shots at headquarters catch him in a mistake.”

Mai Suisui paused. “This job is the result of over a decade of hard work since my student days. I don’t have the capital for a ‘broken fish and torn net’ scenario.”

Shen Qingqing opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Mai Suisui closed a folder in her hand and finally looked up at Shen Qingqing, saying with a calm face: “And I don’t want to use my future to provoke a moody old man. This might be the last chance of his life, yet he still failed to become the CEO here or get a position at headquarters.”

“Without even thinking, I know Old An is in a state of fury right now. How would I dare provoke him?

“Or, are you planning to have your sister help me?”

“My sister?” Shen Qingqing was stunned.

Mai Suisui looked at her meaningfully and started the name: “Jin—”

“Ah, alright, alright! I know who it is!”

Shen Qingqing couldn’t stay happy anymore.

She sat in the chair, silently staring back at Mai Suisui who seemed to be waiting for an explanation. Then she clicked her tongue and said, “Fine, I admit, I was wrong to hide this from you. But try to understand me; once you tell the first person, the second person will know soon, and then all sorts of outrageous rumors will spread through the air like the flu virus.”

It was unclear if Shen Qingqing had experienced this before, but Mai Suisui noticed a look of lingering fear on her face as she spoke.

“Is it that you don’t trust me, don’t trust yourself, or don’t trust your big sister?” The corner of Mai Suisui’s mouth finally curled into a wisp of a smile.

“What do you mean ‘my big sister’? Why are you slandering someone’s reputation out of thin air?”

“You’d better stop talking. If you keep going, that love story in my head will be almost fully formed.

Or are you just being insincere? If I were to tell people about this, I bet the whole company would be filled with an air of merriment in less than a day.”

Mai Suisui’s words were clearly revenge for Shen Qingqing’s earlier smugness. Feeling her situation was unfavorable, Shen Qingqing immediately stood up, preparing to leave.

However, after a few steps, she turned back and sat down, putting on a serious expression and asking:

“Do you really plan to fight for Old An’s position? You have to know that if you succeed, it’s fine, but if you fail, it also means you are labeled as one of President Yu’s people.

And since you’ve sided with President Yu, the people Old An leaves behind can target you openly. At the very least, your life under Xu Wenliang, the new head of Group One, will be difficult.”

“Do you have a better way?” Mai Suisui asked back.

Shen Qingqing nodded in understanding and said, “Then keep it up. I believe our Suisui is the best!”

“Oh, right, almost forgot the last thing.”

After walking two more steps, Shen Qingqing suddenly stopped again. She looked at Mai Suisui, who was watching her with confusion from behind the desk, and asked, “So, since this President Yu could be parachuted in, whose person is she?”

Seeing Mai Suisui fall silent, Shen Qingqing waved her hand. “Forget it, don’t worry about that much for now. No matter who she is, the only one you can lean on is her.”

“Just like she said, do you really want to leave your home for South Korea and wait until you’re forty to have a hope of becoming a minister?”

“I’m off. Prepare well. I’m going to the internet cafe to play by myself. Mwah.”

Seeing a folder poised to fly toward her, a playfully mischievous Shen Qingqing quickly ducked her head and slipped away.

Mai Suisui tossed the folder back onto the desk and let out a soft laugh while shaking her head.

She took a deep breath. Her peripheral vision caught the fallen leaves swirling in the wind outside the window. She then leaned back against her office chair, staring somewhat blankly at the empty ceiling.

“Yu… Nian…”