My Boss Always Wants to Join My Family - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Mint Leaves (5)

As for those two buttons of Zhou Ran’s, no matter how she thought about it, she was the one who had yanked them off. Listening to the women talk, Lu Yue felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of guilt.

In all fairness, having the collar open only exposed a tiny bit more of her neck; everything below was still tightly covered. But looking at the expressions of the group, one would think she had walked in naked.

Scoffing internally, Lu Yue nudged a bit closer, “surreptitiously” eavesdropping under the guise of casual presence.

“Hey, hey, just say it,” a young girl urged, looking very expectant. “What does it mean?”

The little assistant said, “In my opinion, President Zhou was definitely drugged at a banquet ten years ago and ran into a pure ‘white lotus’ waiter. The two of them were like dry tinder and a raging fire—once it started, it couldn’t be stopped!”

She gave a profound, mysterious smile and began making things up with conviction: “But just yesterday, a pair of identical twin sisters, world-renowned geniuses, came to our company to find President Zhou, kicking off a saga of past entanglements and grievances…”

Listening to this tale of “love and hate,” Lu Yue was utterly flabbergasted.

What kind of shocking plot was this? Seven years ago, Zhou Ran was still a student! Where would she encounter a waiter at a banquet, let alone produce a pair of genius twins?!

Lu Yue stood there dumbfounded, letting out a long sigh. She reflected that Zhou Ran was truly terrifying—she had actually driven a young girl to such a mental state.

But then again, although the plot was incredibly melodramatic, hearing the little assistant tell it actually made it quite captivating.

While Lu Yue was mentally roasting the story, she was also listening with great interest, her heart itching to know what happened next.

“After that, the twins were blocked at the company entrance. In their rage, they used their hacking skills to directly take down the company network—”

The little assistant was just getting into her stride, looking like she could write a million-word serial. However, the expressions of the sisters who had been so enthusiastic just a moment ago suddenly changed.

Everyone turned pale in an instant, staring behind her with terror, as if they had seen a ghost.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you guys?” the little assistant asked, confused. “Why the faces? Isn’t the plot exciting?”

One of the girls trembled and winked at her. The assistant didn’t get the hint and was still wondering what was going on when a person walked up behind her:

“…Excuse me.”

That voice was clear and cold, and it couldn’t have been more familiar. The mushroom-headed girl shuddered all over, her brain going blank, nearly collapsing to the floor.

Zhou Ran had appeared at some unknown moment. Holding a glass cup, she ignored the assistant with an indifferent expression and walked to the company’s coffee machine.

She picked up the coffee pot and, while pouring it into her cup, said calmly: “The routine meeting at 9:30—have the materials been printed?”

Little Mushroom trembled like a leaf drifting in the wind, her face looking like she was about to cry: “N-not yet…”

“A total of thirty-five double-sided copies, print two extra for backup,” Zhou Ran said. “If you use both printers, it will take at least fifteen minutes.”

The little assistant nodded like a bobblehead, her short hair fluttering up and down so fast it almost left afterimages.

The aroma of coffee filled the air. At first, it smelled a bit like melted caramel or dark chocolate, but after it drifted for a while, it left only a dry bitterness.

Lu Yue also loved coffee, but she didn’t like that bitter taste. Every time, she either added a big spoonful of chestnut caramel or three or four sugar cubes, and she always had to mix in some condensed milk.

Zhou Ran, on the other hand, didn’t even touch the sugar cubes laid out. She lifted her cup and took a few sips, her expression as flat as ever.

Watching her, Lu Yue felt as if a wave of bitterness had entered her own throat, rushing down hot. She instinctively pursed her lips, feeling a sudden urge to throw a sugar cube into that coffee.

Holding her cup, Zhou Ran suddenly paused. She turned her head slightly, a strand of ink-black hair sliding from her shoulder to rest against her neat white shirt.

Her eyes were clear and clean as she looked calmly toward Lu Yue, her voice still in that flat, level tone:

“The photo shoot starts at ten o’clock. The photographer is coming from Qibei New District and won’t arrive until around nine.”

She said softly: “You don’t need to come this early.”

This sentence was somewhat out of the blue. The little assistant didn’t understand it at all, and the other employees nearby looked at each other, completely baffled.

Lu Yue dazed for a moment before snapping to it. Her eyes widened slightly as she pointed a finger at herself: “Wait, are you talking to me?”

Zhou Ran looked at her and nodded.

With that one tiny movement, the surrounding employees all turned their heads in unison, their eyes shining as they stared at Lu Yue with intense focus, making her feel the pressure double.

“It… it’s better to be early,” Lu Yue gave a dry laugh. “The weather forecast said there will be heavy rain tonight. Early come, early go.”

Zhou Ran nodded slightly. Her silhouette was reflected in the coffee—small, faint, and fragile, disappearing with a slight tilt of the cup.

She said: “Alright. I won’t disturb you then.”

Seeing Zhou Ran turn to leave, Lu Yue really couldn’t help herself. She stood up abruptly and strode over: “Wait a second!”

Zhou Ran stopped as requested and looked at her in confusion. Lu Yue shot her a glare: “You plan on drinking that black, with nothing added?”

Zhou Ran said: “It’s just to stay awake.”

The implication was that she only needed the “caffeine” function; the sweetness or taste didn’t matter.

Lu Yue puffed out her cheeks. Suddenly, she leaned in from behind, halfway draping herself over Zhou Ran, trapping her within her arms before reaching out to grab the small tongs for the sugar cubes.

“This is way too bitter,” Lu Yue explained. “I’ll help you adjust it a bit; it’ll taste much better.”

Her speech wasn’t slow and her voice was light and bright, but to Zhou Ran, the sentence felt incredibly long—as if time had stalled and every word was being stretched out.

Outside the glass window, the wind rustled the leaves, sounding like a leaf being blown into her heart, drifting down, down, taking a long time to finally touch the ground.

The two were pressed very close. She leaned against the side of Zhou Ran’s face, her nose lightly brushing the earlobe. Her breathing was steady, bringing a bit of heat that ignited a spark.

It was too dense, too warm, too provocative.

A “buzzing” sound rang in Zhou Ran’s ears. She instinctively wanted to turn her head away but forgot that Lu Yue was right beside her, blocking her retreat.

Lu Yue’s attention was entirely on the small stack of sugar cubes, completely oblivious to the other’s odd behavior. She simply turned her body slightly and leaned her weight onto Zhou Ran’s shoulder.

Standing on her tiptoes, she fiddled with the sugar cubes using the tongs, her voice soft and her words serious: “How many pieces?”

“One piece has no flavor,” Lu Yue said with some distress. “Four pieces are a bit too sweet. If only there were syrup—I like caramel and chestnut flavors.”

She babbled on for a while, but Zhou Ran remained silent, heaven knows what she was thinking.

Lu Yue blinked and poked her in the waist with a finger, democratically asking for an opinion: “You going to say something?”

Zhou Ran’s head was lowered. Her lashes were thick and long, drooping quietly like crushed, fine sunlight.

She seemed to have only just snapped back to her senses. Her long fingers unconsciously tightened around the handle of the cup, and her voice sounded somewhat cold: “Anything is fine.”

That was a very perfunctory answer.

Lu Yue had originally wanted to show off her mixing skills, but seeing Zhou Ran looking so distracted made her feel an inexplicable block in her chest.

She pursed her lips and, taking advantage of Zhou Ran’s momentary distraction, dropped a full seven sugar cubes into the cup.

Lu Yue stirred it with a small spoon for a long time, but the cubes didn’t completely dissolve. They floated arrogantly on the surface; the coffee was so saturated it was about to precipitate crystals.

Does this look a bit too obvious? Lu Yue felt a sudden pang of guilt and whispered: “This… why don’t you take a sip?”

Her conscience was a bit uneasy, so she could only silently comfort herself by saying that after all, she was the one who had been slept with, and she was the one who had suffered the loss.

Just one prank sip on Zhou Ran. Just one.

Thinking this, Lu Yue rested her fingers on her shoulder and pushed her luck further by leaning forward, pressing against the side of Zhou Ran’s ear from behind.

Her breath touched the tip of the ear like the fine down of a feather, tickling the earlobe. Her lips were warm and soft as they pressed down on the thin, delicate cartilage.

The tip of the ear was no match for her, being pressed into a slight curve, and where it rested beneath her lips, it turned a faint, delicate red.

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