I Revealed My True Identity After Confessing My Love - Chapter 24

Du Xiran had graduated years ago. She could skim through data, reports, and analyses at a glance, but looking at high school senior function problems left her completely bewildered.

Once you cross the hurdle of the college entrance exam (Gaokao), your IQ drops to rock bottom…

Du Xiran had fully recognized this reality. Thus, as a last ditch effort, she let the top student who had graduated over three years ago give it a try, though she didn’t necessarily think Ye Nanning could solve it either.

In this setting, she neither understood why Ye Nanning had come to a bar alone, nor why she was thinking of resigning. Perhaps solving a math problem would help her regain her rationality.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Mishuang lowered her voice. “I don’t know whether to praise you for being a dedicated boss or not.”

“Then you tell me, how should a boss act?” Du Xiran asked back.

Zhang Mishuang didn’t know either; she was a freelance illustrator. She didn’t have boss-subordinate relationships, only nightmare-inducing clients.

“But… anyway, I wouldn’t make a subordinate do math problems in a bar.” Zhang Mishuang silently patted the table, afraid of disturbing the beauty’s concentration. “A bar is a place to relax, and it’s the weekend. Is it really okay for you to stop her just to do homework?”

“Is that so…” Du Xiran began to reflect on whether she treated Ye Nanning too much like an employee. Making her do homework was that a bit much?

The two whispered for a while before simultaneously looking back at the one solving the problem. Du Xiran felt a pang of guilt: “Um, Xiao Ye…”

Ye Nanning looked up, confused.

“This problem…” Du Xiran wanted to say that if she didn’t want to do it, she didn’t have to. But mid-sentence, Ye Nanning replied: “I’ve solved it.”

Du Xiran and Zhang Mishuang were stunned: “Huh?”

Zhang Mishuang was amazed: “You solved it that fast? No, wait…how did you focus enough to solve it in such a noisy environment?”

“I don’t know if the answer is right.” Ye Nanning handed the paper to Du Xiran, who looked down at it.

Zhang Mishuang leaned in too, but she was immediately blinded by the various formulas and steps on the paper. She quickly covered her eyes: “Help! Why am I seeing these nightmare incantations years after graduation?”

Du Xiran, however, looked very seriously. Although she had forgotten the specific steps, she was a science student at heart. Following the logic of the solution, she quickly understood it and gave an appreciative look: “Not bad.”

Ye Nanning breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she occasionally helped Ye Tingyuan with his homework, and this happened to be a problem type they had recently used.

At least she didn’t embarrass herself.

Ye Nanning touched her face with both hands, feeling much more sober. She asked, “Do you want me to do the other problems?”

“Sure, why don’t you try the second and third to last ones too?” Du Xiran said expectantly.

Ye Nanning went back to the grind.

“I’m going to the restroom.” Drinking always led to frequent bathroom breaks, and Du Xiran was no exception. She got up and headed for the washroom.

Ye Nanning nodded. Just as she was focusing intensely on the problem, she suddenly heard someone ask: “Little beauty, what’s your name?”

The tip of the pen slipped, Ye Nanning almost poked a hole through the paper. She slowly looked up at the fashionably dressed woman across from her. She then remembered that this person seemed to be a very close friend of Du Xiran’s?

Thinking she hadn’t heard, Zhang Mishuang asked again: “What is your name?”

In response, the beauty lowered her head, scribbled quickly, and then held up the test paper. In a blank space, three characters were written.

Ye Nanning.

“?”

Zhang Mishuang didn’t understand the intent behind this but found it inexplicably cute and laughed. “How old are you?”

Ye Nanning looked down at the paper and realized other problems had been filled out by someone else. Looking at the owner’s name, it clearly wasn’t Du Xiran’s!

Help, she had actually scribbled her own name on someone else’s test paper! She hurriedly blacked out her name until it was completely invisible before stopping, satisfied.

At that moment, the woman asked again: “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one,” Ye Nanning replied. Then, she looked at the woman curiously and summoned great courage to ask, “Are you a good friend of President Du?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for almost twenty years,” Zhang Mishuang said nostalgically.

How enviable. Ye Nanning also wanted to know President Du for twenty years…no, a hundred years!

“My name is Zhang Mishuang,” the woman said warmly.

Ye Nanning nodded politely: “Hello.”

Zhang Mishuang raised an eyebrow. She didn’t have Du Xiran’s cautious intuition, if she was curious, she asked directly: “Why are you at a bar alone? Troubled? Or just out to have some fun?”

Ye Nanning picked up her glass and took a sip of wine, not answering immediately.

Zhang Mishuang was met with a cold shoulder, which was a fresh experience. Initially, seeing her in front of Du Xiran, she thought the girl was a submissive rabbit, but she turned out to be somewhat difficult to approach. She became even more curious: “You said earlier you wanted to resign. It couldn’t be because of Du Xiran, could it?”

Ye Nanning shook her head vigorously.

“That’s good then.” Zhang Mishuang drank on her own. “She has a bit of a temper sometimes, but she has a good heart. Being her intern, you should be able to learn a lot.”

Ye Nanning nodded, then shook her head.

“What are you trying to say?”

Ye Nanning said deeply: “President Du has a very good temper.”

Zhang Mishuang burst out laughing: “That’s because you aren’t familiar with her yet. Once you are, you’ll know she can be very difficult sometimes.”

A strange sensation arose in Ye Nanning’s heart. She felt a twinge of jealousy toward the woman in front of her, feeling as though she was showing off, showing off that she and Du Xiran were old friends and that she knew Du Xiran better than anyone else.

As Zhang Mishuang drank, she suddenly felt a very strong, direct gaze. She shifted her eyes from the wine to the quiet beauty, whose expression had changed. Her originally charming eyes seemed to be brewing a storm.

How to put it… she looked like a kitten whose territory had been encroached upon, showing a wary expression, ready to unsheathe her claws at any moment.

The two stared at each other for a moment. Zhang Mishuang was bewildered, while Ye Nanning was heartbroken.

The side effects of alcohol kicked in, amplifying her emotions. The more she looked at this woman, the more she felt she was trying to steal Du Xiran… Wait, Du Xiran wasn’t even hers to begin with.

If she and this woman both fell into a river, Du Xiran would definitely save this Zhang Mishuang person first, waah!

Thinking of this, a layer of mist filled her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Zhang Mishuang was startled. She quickly put down her glass and sat next to her to check. “Who bullied you? Tell big sister?”

When Du Xiran came out of the restroom, she saw Ye Nanning with her head down, shoulders trembling, while Zhang Mishuang sat in her original spot, handing Ye Nanning tissues and coaxing her.

“What happened?” Du Xiran quickened her pace toward them.

Hearing the voice, Ye Nanning looked up at her, a single tear rolling down from her eye.

“Whoa…” Zhang Mishuang couldn’t help but stare, thinking she had truly witnessed a “pitiful beauty” tonight.

Although Du Xiran didn’t show much on her face, her first instinct was to assign blame: “Zhang Mishuang, did you bully her?”

“How unfair!” Zhang Mishuang looked at her, speechless. “You always blame me. It’s clearly your fault.”

“How so?”

“I just mentioned to her that you have a bad temper, and she started crying. Tell me, are you usually so scary that you’ve given her psychological trauma?” Zhang Mishuang said.

The veins on Du Xiran’s forehead throbbed. She squeezed Zhang Mishuang to the other side and sat down next to Ye Nanning, asking, “Is it really what she said?”

Ye Nanning hurriedly shook her head. She reached for a tissue, but the box on the table was empty.

“Here.” Du Xiran took out a tissue from her own bag. Seeing her wiping her tears so haphazardly, with no regard for her image, Du Xiran held her restless hand and began wiping the tears for her.

“Wow, I’ve never seen you wipe my tears when I cry,” Zhang Mishuang remarked in surprise.

“The way you cry is too terrifying; I wouldn’t dare touch you.” Du Xiran spoke while her movements remained careful, focusing her attention on Ye Nanning. Even though she didn’t want to pry into private matters, seeing her cry like this, she couldn’t help but ask: “What exactly happened tonight? Is it because of the resignation? What is the reason you want to quit?”

Ye Nanning gradually stopped crying. she didn’t want to explain the reason for the resignation, and she certainly couldn’t explain why she had suddenly burst into tears just now.

But a moment later, seeing Du Xiran preparing to withdraw her hand, she quickly squeezed out two more tears and whispered with a sob, “There’s more.”

Du Xiran took another tissue and carefully wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes. “Are you really afraid of my temper? If you are, just say so, don’t just keep shaking your head.”

Ye Nanning said hoarsely: “I’m not afraid.”

It would be better if she were a bit harsher; that way, she would treat her like one of her own, venting all her emotions.

“Alright, I think you should stop asking. The girl clearly has something on her mind she can’t talk about,” Zhang Mishuang said.

Du Xiran: “Do you think I don’t know that? Was it you who was prying and asking her questions just now?”

Zhang Mishuang thought back and was suddenly stunned: “It seems I was…”

“You airhead,” Du Xiran said crossly.

“I’m sorry, I drank a bit much and didn’t notice the details. Little sister, this round is on me.” Zhang Mishuang called the bartender over, settled the tab, and then her phone rang. She stepped aside to answer, gave the name of the bar, and hung up with a smile. “Let’s stop drinking. My boyfriend is coming to pick us up in a bit. Since you’ve been drinking, we have to send you back. It’s not safe to leave a young girl here alone.”

“Mm.” Du Xiran changed to a new tissue to continue wiping Ye Nanning’s tears, only to find Ye Nanning staring blankly at Zhang Mishuang.

“What are you looking at?” Du Xiran asked.

Zhang Mishuang also looked over curiously, leaning her chin on her hands with a smile. “What’s wrong? Do you think I’m pretty? If you want to praise me, go ahead; I love compliments.”

“Boyfriend?” Ye Nanning asked slowly.

“Yeah, my boyfriend is coming to take us back. Where do you live?”

A string in Ye Nanning’s heart suddenly snapped. She wasn’t jealous at all anymore, she even thought the woman was quite cute. She said: “You are very beautiful.”

Zhang Mishuang giggled and looked at Du Xiran: “Your intern is really interesting. Is her reaction time always this long after drinking?”

“No, it’s always been quite long,” Du Xiran said without giving her any face.

Ye Nanning gave a sheepish smile.

Not long after, there was movement at the door. Zhang Mishuang, who had been watching that direction, waved her hand.

Ye Nanning looked back and saw a tall, thin man walking over. He wore glasses and had a clean, refined look, but compared to the fashionable Zhang Mishuang, his attire was simple and plain, the image of a reliable, “homebody” boyfriend.

“How much did you drink?” the man asked Zhang Mishuang directly as he approached.

“Not much, we just started when we ran into Ranran’s intern and chatted for a bit.” Zhang Mishuang was as well-behaved as a rabbit. “If you don’t believe me, ask Ranran.”

“Yeah, and she managed to make my intern cry in the process,” Du Xiran interjected.

Zhang Mishuang shot her a secret glare, Du Xiran glared back.

“Made the intern cry?” The man looked over curiously, only then noticing the beauty sitting on the other side. He asked Du Xiran, “You only have one intern, right? Is it the one named Ye Nanning?”

Du Xiran: “Yes, that’s her.”

Ye Nanning was stunned. She was certain she had never met this man before. Why did he know her name?

“No wonder, she’s so beautiful…” the man remarked.

Zhang Mishuang immediately pinched him: “Yes, not only beautiful but young and smart too.”

The man smiled and pulled her up, explaining: “What are you overthinking for? Did you forget? Du Xiran asked you to have me do something earlier.”

Zhang Mishuang blinked, thinking back. “Oh, right… she asked you to help find some threads on a forum to see who posted them. Said her intern might have been targeted by rumors or something…”

At this point, Zhang Mishuang’s eyes widened, and she stood straight, looking at Ye Nanning: “Oh! How could I forget? You only have one intern. So the one she was talking about was Ye Nanning all along.”

Ye Nanning gathered the gist of the story from their conversation. So, the senior who had attacked the forum was the man in front of her.

And the reason he did it was entirely because Du Xiran had asked him to!

“Yeah, that’s why I said since the girl is so beautiful, it’s no wonder someone maliciously spread rumors. It’s truly an undeserved misfortune. Alright, let’s talk more when we get back, it’s too noisy here.” After saying that, the man supported Zhang Mishuang as they headed out. “Du Xiran, bring the girl to the parking lot. I’ll give you both a lift.”

“Okay.” Du Xiran finished the last sip of her drink, wasting nothing. “Let’s go. You should head home early too. What were you doing coming here to drink alone?”

As soon as Ye Nanning stood up, her legs felt weak, and she almost slid back down.

Du Xiran quickly supported her, taking her arm as they walked out: “Can you actually handle your liquor or not?”

“I can.” Her weak legs were only because she had learned what Du Xiran had done for her. Her thoughts were racing, and she had lost her footing. “President Du, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I just can’t stand people spreading rumors… wait, why did I forget? We can report the poster for defamation,” Du Xiran said.

“Forget it, it’s a hassle.” Ye Nanning smiled. “But I suppose it’s a blessing in disguise.”

“What kind of blessing could come from this?”

Ye Nanning looked at her sideways: “At the very least, it made me realize one thing.”

“What?”

I like you. It’s no longer just a case of falling for your looks at first sight.

When they reached the door, Du Xiran suddenly asked: “Now that you’re done crying, do you still want to resign?”

Ye Nanning said firmly: “I’m not resigning.”

If I resign, where else would I find you?