Edge of A Burning Kiss - Chapter 32

The girl who had just been called out was whispering excitedly to the person next to her, “Ahhhh! What do you think President Qin meant by that? Was he praising me for saying he’s handsome, or for saying he and President Xia are a good match?”

“Come on, everyone in the industry knows President Xia and President Qin don’t get along! There’s no way he’d be interested in her!”

“You never know. What if they’re just a couple having a little lovers’ spat?”

The other person fell silent. “If that’s really the case, then this family would be making most of the money in the entertainment industry, wouldn’t they?”

“Tsk, those damn capitalists!”

Song Qianrou led Qin Yu to the door of Xia Jin’s office and knocked.

There was no response from inside.

Song Qianrou knocked again, but still, there was no sound.

Exchanging a glance with Qin Yu, Song Qianrou cleared her throat and called out, “President Xia, President Qin from Lelai is here!”

“……”

Silence.

Qin Yu spoke up, “Forget it. I’m not one for formalities, I’ll just go in.”

Song Qianrou thought for a moment. “Alright, then.”

She stepped aside to let Qin Yu enter.

As soon as he walked in, Qin Yu saw Xia Jin wearing headphones, staring intently at her computer while rhythmically clicking her mouse.

He initially thought about calling her name but decided against it. Instead, he walked around behind her to see what she was looking at.

To his surprise, it was a livestream of a girl group performance on a short-video app.

Xia Jin was enthusiastically tapping the “like” button in sync with the music.

Qin Yu sighed, pulled out his phone, searched for the same livestream, and generously sent a “Carnival” gift, the most expensive virtual present on the platform.

Then he left a comment: “Xia Jin, stop slacking off during work hours. Look behind you!”

Just a second ago, the chat had been flooded with comments like, “Big spender!!! 666!!!”

But in the next moment, they all turned into: “HAHAHA who got caught watching videos at work by their boss?”

“What kind of boss sends a Carnival just to call you out?! The world of the rich is beyond me!”

Xia Jin, of course, saw the comment too. She was about to screenshot it and send it to Song Qianrou, thinking it was a funny coincidence that someone shared her name.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure standing behind her. She nearly jumped out of her office chair in fright.

“Holy! You little thief, prepare to die!”

Xia Jin raised her mouse, ready to hurl it at Qin Yu, but he caught her wrist and teased,

“President Xia, your work responsibilities are truly… diverse.”

Xia Jin shot him an annoyed glare. “Don’t you have anything better to do? Sending a Carnival in someone’s livestream? That’s 3,000 yuan! Do you know how many cups of ‘Sweet Honey’ I could buy with that? 750!”

“Sweet Honey?”

Clearly, the wealthy young master Qin Yu had no idea what “Sweet Honey” was.

“You love me~ I love you~ Mixue Ice City, sweet honey~” Xia Jin sang on the spot. “Mixue’s lemonade! Three yuan a cup!”

Seeing Qin Yu’s blank expression, Xia Jin sighed in exasperation.

“I told you, you’ve been ruined by fancy restaurants. You’ve never even had budget meals or poor-people drinks, have you? I’ll treat you someday, don’t be shy!”

“Then thank you, President Xia, for your generosity!”

Xia Jin grinned as she changed into a pair of flats. “No need to thank me. I’ll just deduct the three yuan from Fanbao’s food budget!”

Qin Yu appeared cheerful on the surface, but behind the scenes, he had Chi Fan order a cup of lemonade for every employee working overtime at the company. He even made Chi Fan drink one himself and write a post-drink review.

Though Chi Fan found the task utterly baffling, he carried it out anyway.

The employees at Lelai were equally puzzled by this sweet gesture but happily drank the lemonade, praising it and even requesting the eight-yuan taro-grape drink next time.

After reading the feedback, Qin Yu pondered for a moment.

Before leaving, he quietly asked Song Qianrou about the number of employees working overtime at Stellar Cube that night and proceeded to order the same sweet taro-grape drinks for them.

The Stellar Cube employees immediately cheered, “Long live President Qin!” only for the Lelai staff to find out and angrily accuse Qin Yu of favoring outsiders.

In the end, Qin Yu had to promise a raise in overtime pay to placate everyone.

In the car, Xia Jin couldn’t stop laughing when she heard about the incident. Clearing her throat, she said with an air of mystery:

“Legend has it that the cold-blooded, ruthless President Qin, in a bid to win his employees’ favor, splurged on lemonade across the capital only to be met with betrayal and resentment.”

“Reborn in this life, President Qin feigns warmth, but deep down, he sneers as he slips laxatives into his employees’ cheap takeout meals, making them believe the food was dropped by the vendor and picked up off the ground. Eventually, he successfully sues every vendor, while secretly acquiring their businesses at rock-bottom prices, ultimately becoming the capital’s biggest cheap-takeout tycoon!”

With that, Xia Jin burst into laughter, collapsing onto the steering wheel.

“Ha? Ha? Ha? Ha?”

Qin Yu had no idea what she was talking about but laughed along anyway, each chuckle laced with confusion.

“So… what exactly is cheap takeout?”

Xia Jin tilted her head, still grinning. “Cheap takeout! It’s the cheapest category of food on delivery apps. Back when I was broke and too busy to cook, I’d order cheap takeout to survive!”

Qin Yu looked skeptical. “So… is it really food that fell on the ground?”

“Well… who knows? Maybe. Whenever I had stomach issues, I’d blame my own weak digestion only the strong deserve to be my stomach. Besides, for ten yuan a meal, what more do you expect? Finding a worm in it just means extra protein!”

Cheap takeout completely shattered the young master Qin’s worldview.

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Yu said guiltily, “Forget it. Let me treat you to dinner today.”

Only then did Xia Jin stop laughing, straightening up and fastening her seatbelt. “No need. Honestly, cheap takeout doesn’t bother me. As long as it fills my stomach, it’s fine.”

“Would you let Xia Ziling eat it?”

Xia Jin’s smile froze. There was no way she’d ever let Xia Ziling eat that.

Even during her hardest days as a struggling entrepreneur, she had never let Xia Ziling touch cheap takeout.

Back when Xia Ziling had just graduated high school, she took up tutoring gigs. Though the pay was meager, it at least covered meals.

Yet Xia Jin still insisted on transferring 1,500 yuan monthly into Xia Ziling’s account for living expenses.

“Even if you don’t use it, just save it,” Xia Jin had said. “Consider it preparation for your future.”

Xia Ziling had replied earnestly, “If I’d been born earlier, if you were still in high school now, would it be me giving you an allowance every month instead?”

Xia Jin had paused for a few seconds before answering, “Mm… yes.”

“Then I’ll just consider you younger than me. You don’t need to give me money, I can earn enough to support you too.”

“Get lost! Just focus on your studies. Medical school is already tough enough, working part-time on top of that would be exhausting!”

“But didn’t you also work part-time while studying back then? And you still managed to save up to give me an allowance?”

Xia Ziling was unexpectedly stubborn in some ways, just like Xia Jin. No matter what, he refused to take her money.

It wasn’t until Shen Du appeared that Xia Jin finally felt some financial relief.

“Why are you spacing out all of a sudden?” Qin Yu waved his hand in front of Xia Jin’s face a few times. “Did that cheap takeout mess you up?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Xia Jin laughed. “Our Ziling is still growing, he shouldn’t be eating that kind of junk!”

Qin Yu withdrew his hand and sat silently in the car for a long moment before finally speaking. “I’m sorry.”