Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 80

Chapter 80

On the first day back to work after New Year’s Day, Nuonuo noticed that something was off with Shan Ling.

The usually energetic young woman was unusually quiet today. While cleaning the windows, she kept gazing at the scenery outside and sighing deeply.

What’s wrong?

Nuonuo curiously moved closer to Shen Qingyi and asked in confusion: “Boss, what’s up with Xiao Ling? She’s sighed five or six times this morning. Is something on her mind?”

Shen Qingyi looked up at Shan Ling’s back, a slight frown on her face.

Shan Ling had tossed and turned all night, waking Shen Qingyi up several times. Shen Qingyi remembered the last time was 4 AM, after which she finally settled down a bit. They only woke up when the alarm rang at 8 AM.

Shan Ling’s spirits were low when she woke up. Shen Qingyi saw her almost falling asleep and dipping her head into her porridge bowl while eating. She tried to persuade her to take the day off, but Shan Ling stubbornly shook her head.

“She said she didn’t sleep well yesterday,” Shen Qingyi said, lowering her gaze: “As for anything else, she hasn’t told me.”

Nuonuo scanned back and forth between Shen Qingyi and Shan Ling, then nudged Shen Qingyi with her elbow and asked: “Boss, you didn’t force Xiao Ling into something that put her in a really difficult spot, did you?”

Shen Qingyi gave Nuonuo a sharp look and sternly said: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

Shan Ling finished cleaning the glass, looking utterly distraught as she walked behind the counter, letting out a long sigh.

At this, Shen Qingyi could no longer contain her curiosity and proactively asked: “Are you okay?”

Shan Ling looked at her colleagues, lowered her head, and said: “No, I’m not.”

Ten thousand virtue points! How could she be okay?

She was so worried she hadn’t slept all night.

Although she could gain a lot of virtue points by being near Shen Qingyi, Shan Ling would never think she had too much virtue. She had been full of hope for Fang Ran’s book, and now that it was suddenly gone, it felt like she had lost a huge sum of money.

That’s right, it was like losing a huge sum of money!

Shan Ling looked up at Shen Qingyi and Nuonuo and told them: “Don’t worry about me. I just… lost some money, that’s all.”

“Huh?” Nuonuo said in surprise: “You lost money? How much did you lose?”

Lost money?

Shen Qingyi looked at Shan Ling, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

She was with Shan Ling all day long. How could she not know she had lost money?

Furthermore, Shan Ling had no need to withdraw cash. Shen Qingyi’s card was used for all groceries and snacks. Could it be… telecommunication fraud?

Seeing Shan Ling nod, Nuonuo asked with concern: “How much money did you lose? Should we report it to the police?”

Shan Ling shook her head: “It wasn’t much money, but it still hurts to lose it.”

Ten thousand virtue points! Ten thousand…

Shan Ling sighed, then took a deep breath, and told the two people who were concerned about her: “It’s okay. Money can be earned back. It’s not a big problem!”

While Nuonuo admired Shan Ling’s attitude, she still told her: “Xiao Ling, don’t pretend to be tough. You can report it to the police if it’s over a thousand yuan. It’s better for you and everyone else.”

Shan Ling nodded and smiled: “Thank you. I know how to handle it.”

After Nuonuo went to the back kitchen to get busy, Shen Qingyi looked at her meaningfully and added: “You need to report it to the police even if it’s telecommunication fraud, understand?”

Shan Ling: “?”

What does this have to do with telecommunication fraud?

As the Spring Festival approached, Song Qinglan was incredibly busy. As her assistant, Fang Ran hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for a week.

New Year’s Day galas, Spring Festival galas, and brand annual meetings.

These things were driving Fang Ran crazy. Every year at this time, she was running on fumes, surviving only on coffee.

Before New Year’s Day, Song Qinglan finally broke down under the high pressure of having to attend galas every day and threw a huge tantrum in the office.

The employees were all demoralized, and the atmosphere in the studio was not good.

Fang Ran saw their state and knew they were tired, but isn’t that just the life of a worker? They had to work overtime under pressure to help the boss buy cars and houses.

Sighing internally, Fang Ran took the documents and pushed open Song Qinglan’s door, finding files scattered all over the office floor, including several gala invitations.

Is she… angry?

Fang Ran bent down to pick up the documents, walked to Song Qinglan’s desk, and gently said: “Are you tired?”

Song Qinglan looked back at her, then instantly softened. She slid her executive chair right up to Fang Ran, reached out and hugged her waist, burying her face against her stomach, and said with a muffled voice: “Work is so tiring. Why can’t I just live off other people?”

Fang Ran let out a dry laugh, stroked her soft, fluffy hair, and soothed her: “If you’re tired, don’t push yourself. I’ll go through everything and see what galas we can turn down, so you can have a good rest.”

“Really?” Song Qinglan looked up, her eyes crinkling into a smile as she looked at Fang Ran: “Ranran, you’re so good to me. I feel more and more like I can’t live without you.”

Fang Ran sighed internally again, smiling slightly. She turned her face away to avoid looking at her, her ear tips slightly flushed. She told her: “Get up. I’ll call someone to clean the office. Look at this mess. Anyone would think your office exploded.”

“It’s about the same as an explosion,” Song Qinglan let go, sat up straight, her face full of woe: “It’s like this every year. I used to worry when I got fewer invitations, and now I worry when I get too many.”

“You’re famous now, so naturally, many people will invite you,” Fang Ran walked to the desk, picked up the tablet, and looked at it: “We need to start being selective this year. We can’t attend every platform’s gala. We need to focus on high-spec ones. I’ll turn down the low-level ones for you.”

Fang Ran selected a few and told Song Qinglan: “If you have no problem with this, I’ll reply to their invitations. These are all major platforms. Besides expanding to new platforms, we also need to slowly reduce our involvement with the older ones. We can’t pull out abruptly, or it will damage your reputation. For now, we’ll keep these two jewelry gala collaborations that have lasted three years, and turn down the rest.”

As Fang Ran picked through the dozen or so galas, Song Qinglan rested her head on one hand, listening intently to her words.

Fang Ran glanced at her, tapping her head with a red invitation card: “Why are you looking at me?”

Song Qinglan wasn’t annoyed. She chuckled: “You look so beautiful when you’re working seriously. You’re making my heart flutter.”

Fang Ran’s heart skipped a beat. She cleared her throat and turned her face away, her ears slightly red. She told her: “Since you don’t have any issues, I’ll contact these few companies. I’ll have Brother Zhang send you home early today so you can rest well.”

Song Qinglan was delighted to hear she could rest and immediately stood up: “I’m going home now then. Contact me on WeChat if anything comes up. Bye~”

Watching Song Qinglan leave, leaving a mess of an office behind, Fang Ran finally couldn’t help but let out a long sigh.

After the brief interlude, Fang Ran started working.

Without Song Qinglan’s ‘pressure,’ the studio staff’s efficiency was relatively quick. They soon finalized the galas from New Year’s Day through the entire month leading up to the Spring Festival.

Because Song Qinglan’s recent movie and drama received better and better feedback, the number of galas requiring her to walk the red carpet also increased.

Filtering out the unqualified ones, Fang Ran and her colleagues confirmed three high-end media galas, five private galas, two jewelry galas, and one charity gala.

Interspersed in between were trivial tasks like photo shoots, costume fittings, and selecting gowns.

This was why Fang Ran had been working non-stop day and night, relying on coffee to survive.

In the two-story townhouse, only Fang Ran’s room was still lit. She finished the last sip of coffee, checked the time, and saw it was already 2 AM.

If I keep this up, I’ll die suddenly, right?

Fang Ran looked at the time with some concern, then looked at the work in front of her, and finally decided to go to sleep first.

After all, my life is important.

When Fang Ran came out after taking a shower, she heard the sound of the door opening. She paused, roughly guessed who it was, and walked out wrapped in her bathrobe.

Fang Ran currently lived in a room on the first floor. The townhouse had many rooms, and since she didn’t need all of them, the second floor was completely empty.

Stepping out of her room, Fang Ran saw a tall, slender figure standing at the entrance. The person was switching shoes and simultaneously flicking on the light.

The large living room’s crystal light suddenly flared, painfully assaulting Fang Ran’s eyes.

It was Song Qinglan. She took off her hat and black down jacket, casually tossed them onto the living room sofa, ran a hand through her hair, sat down, and sighed deeply.

Fang Ran glanced at the entrance, walked over, and asked: “Why did you come here?”

Song Qinglan grunted dismissively: “I had a little tail following me. I drove around several times to shake them off. When I saw I was quite close to here, I figured I’d come over and crash for the night.”

“A little tail?” Fang Ran asked: “Was it a reporter or a sasaeng fan?”

“I don’t know,” Song Qinglan shrugged: “Probably a sasaeng fan, but I can’t be sure. It was just a gut feeling.”

Sasaeng fans were very dangerous to celebrities. They intruded upon celebrities’ lives, and extreme cases would even harm the celebrity to gain their attention—a very pathological mindset.

Fang Ran, still shaken, walked to the entrance to check, then walked back and told Song Qinglan: “You can stay here then. I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

“Okay,” Song Qinglan didn’t mind. She leaned back on the sofa and said: “Am I sleeping with you tonight?”

Fang Ran paused upon hearing this. She had wanted to refuse, but then she thought: if they were ‘friends,’ wouldn’t it be completely normal for them to sleep in the same bed?

So, after a moment of thought, Fang Ran nodded and said: “Sure.”

Watching Fang Ran head to the kitchen to boil water, Song Qinglan called out again: “I also want to drink the oatmeal milk you make~”

Fang Ran replied from the kitchen: “Okay.”

Song Qinglan yawned. She was really sleepy, and since this villa was hers, Song Qinglan treated entering and leaving it as if it were her own residence.

She saw the light on in the downstairs bedroom and couldn’t help but sigh softly, lamenting: “Why are you still staying in the small room? There are so many big rooms here. You really don’t know how to enjoy yourself.”

Despite saying that, Song Qinglan walked in.

The room Fang Ran had chosen wasn’t actually small. It could fit a double bed, a desk, a cabinet, and a large floor-to-ceiling window that offered a view of the courtyard.

It was just a pity that Fang Ran was too busy and basically never had time to enjoy the courtyard view.

Fang Ran boiled the water, mixed in some ice water to cool it to a warm temperature, and, guessing that Song Qinglan had gone to the bedroom since she wasn’t in the living room, walked over.

“Drink some water first. I’ll make you oatmeal milk. Tomorrow, I’ll drive your car to take you to the stylist for your makeup trial.”

Fang Ran was holding the water when she saw Song Qinglan flipping through a book, and she instantly fell silent.

Because she saw that the book Song Qinglan was reading was The Longest Confession, and the page she had stopped on was the love letter hidden in the back pocket…!

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