Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 16

Zhang Sitan realized that if Qi An drank any more, she would become completely incoherent and a part of the surrounding chaos, so she decisively grabbed the person and left.

All the way, Qi An followed Sitan obediently, but once they arrived home, she began to show her true colors.

As soon as Zhang Sitan dropped her onto the bed, she stubbornly crawled off and headed towards Zhang Sitan’s room.

“Go to sleep now.” Zhang Sitan thought she was up to mischief and pulled her back by the collar towards the door.

“I haven’t washed up yet.” Qi An stopped where she was, looking pitiful.

Zhang Sitan sighed and reluctantly let her go to the bathroom.

Taking advantage of this break, Zhang Sitan also went to remove her makeup.

The cleansing balm melted in her palm. Outside, the night sky was like a mass of black fog. The lights on most floors had already been extinguished; at this hour, people were submerged in sleep. The black fog congealed into an enduring force. In contrast, the indoor light appeared blurred and vibrant.

“Si Tan Jie”

The little figure, having finished washing up, followed the sound and clung to Zhang Sitan’s side: “Are you going to kick me out?”

“!” Zhang Sitan looked down at the little figure who was about to press against her. Her face was abnormally flushed, her body leaned forward, and her eyes were moist, looking like she was about to collapse onto Zhang Sitan at any moment.

“I didn’t say I was going to kick you out, why do you ask that?”

“Then you put me in a small dark room and make me sleep alone!” Qi An cried out pitifully, adopting an attitude that tonight required begging and rolling around to get her way.

Zhang Sitan looked at her speechlessly, seeing her brows slightly furrowed, pouting, and staring at Zhang Sitan, the moistness in her eyes like a clear pool.

Suddenly, she felt a wave of tenderness again.

“If you sleep with the light on in your room, it won’t be dark,” Zhang Sitan coaxed her.

“No!” Qi An shrieked. Having drunk alcohol, she seemed to have unleashed her nature and was very unrestrained.

“I want to sleep here.”

Qi An muttered to herself, pulling the duvet from Zhang Sitan’s bed and intending to get into it.

The thin space-quilt was lifted by Qi An. Qi An lay back on the bed, patted it, and commanded: “You come over too.”

Zhang Sitan was caught between tears and laughter, knowing Qi An was drunk.

“If you want to sleep here, bring your own pillow and quilt over.”

She had expected Qi An to throw another tantrum, but upon hearing this, Qi An immediately jumped off the bed, went to her room, and brought her pillow and quilt back.

If she said no to her sleeping here, there seemed to be no reason. Although Qi An liked women, as for herself, herself…

Zhang Sitan didn’t know if she liked men or women, because she had never liked anyone.

Forget it, considering she passed her probation today, she would allow her to share the bed with her for one night.

Zhang Sitan finally convinced herself and prepared to go to the bathroom to wash up.

“Where are you going?” Seeing her move, Qi An looked at her suspiciously.

“Wash face.”

“Oh.”

“Then you have to come back, okay?” Qi An worriedly reminded her.

Zhang Sitan secretly found it amusing. She quickly brushed her teeth, washed her face, applied face cream, turned off the living room lights, and slipped back in.

Qi An only occupied half of the bed, curled up on one side with the quilt she had brought, already feeling sleepy.

Zhang Sitan quietly walked to the bedside and turned off the light.

“Turn on the light” A whimpering sound.

Zhang Sitan was startled and quickly turned the light back on. She saw Qi An’s eyes were still closed, wondering if this was sleep talk.

After hesitating for a moment, she moved her hand away from the switch, walked to the bedside, took off her shoes, lifted the quilt, and got in.

Because she had been drinking, Qi An was very hot. Zhang Sitan could feel the heat through the quilt and moved outward a little.

Just as she moved to the edge of the bed, Qi An turned sideways and opened her large eyes: “Why are you so far away from me?”

Zhang Sitan was speechless, but obediently moved forward a little.

Seeing the little figure still pouting, she moved forward and snuggled a bit closer.

Perhaps it was Qi An’s reproachful tone, so unlike her usual self, perhaps it was that Zhang Sitan herself had also sipped a few colorful cocktails, or perhaps it was the scorching temperature beside her.

Zhang Sitan lay flat, feeling a bit unsettled.

There was the sound of fabric rustling near her ear. Zhang Sitan turned her head to look and saw Qi An inching closer to her.

A small hand reached out from under the quilt and touched Zhang Sitan’s arm.

The scorching temperature made Zhang Sitan involuntarily flinch.

“Hehehe Sitan-jie, your arm is so cool.”

Zhang Sitan, who had initially wanted to push her away, saw Qi An’s indifferent smile, looking completely like a drunkard. She suddenly felt a surge of anger and spoke a little harshly.

“Aren’t you a lesbian? Won’t you react if you get so close to me?”

After saying it, Zhang Sitan was surprised by her own sharpness. She looked at Qi An beside her.

Qi An sheepishly withdrew her hand, looking aggrievedly at Zhang Sitan with a continued pout, but remained silent. She then turned over, facing away from Zhang Sitan.

Did she get angry?

Zhang Sitan pulled the quilt over and awkwardly said: “Here, you can touch.”

Qi An didn’t turn around, staying silent with her back to Zhang Sitan.

It’s over, she seems genuinely angry. Zhang Sitan worriedly lifted her head and peeked at her.

After the previous fuss, Qi An had sobered up. She realized she was sleeping in the same bed as Zhang Sitan and had just taken advantage of being drunk to grope Sitan-jie.

It was terrifying, alcohol was terrifying.

Qi An was worried and dared not respond to Zhang Sitan’s summons. Zhang Sitan also muttered to herself, reflecting on whether her words just now were too harsh.

Alas, a child wanted to touch, so let her touch. She was hot and wanted to touch something cool to lower her temperature, what was the big deal?

She wasn’t overthinking it, so why was she? Who was the lesbian anyway?

! Could she be a lesbian herself?

As she was thinking these random thoughts, Zhang Sitan felt the atmosphere beside her change.

It was a bit hurried, and also a bit… cautious.

She’s sobered up, Zhang Sitan deduced.

She couldn’t help but smile suggestively, thinking that Qi An hadn’t changed into her pajamas, and recalling what she had said earlier about wearing a bra to sleep causing breast cancer.

“Do you want to take your bra off?”

The night was too quiet. Suddenly speaking, Zhang Sitan felt her voice was much hoarser.

Qi An heard Zhang Sitan’s voice but didn’t react. An awkward silence filled the space between them.

“Take… take it off,” Qi An finally spoke, sounding indeed more sober.

In the darkness, Qi An sat up, peeled off her clothes one by one, and then put her T-shirt back on alone.

Zhang Sitan watched the dark silhouette beside her while lying down. As the clothes were lifted over the head with both arms raised, her chest…

Zhang Sitan quickly turned her head, feeling her heart suddenly skip a beat, a very violent jolt. Maybe her other organs hadn’t had time to react, and her whole body flinched.

“Si… Sitan-jie, you take yours off too.”

“…Mhm.”

Zhang Sitan found the conversation inexplicably strange but couldn’t pinpoint why.

She turned to her side, took off her clothes in an extremely awkward position, grabbed the pajamas thrown on the quilt with one hand, quickly put them on, and then turned her body back.

Okay, she knew what was strange. Although she had no sexual experience, she knew this felt like pre-sex preparation. Ahh!

“Are you sober now?”

“Mhm.”

Another silence. Neither of them mentioned going back to their respective rooms, forcing themselves to lie there awkwardly, letting the heat burn from their necks to their earlobes.

This was not the first time they had slept in the same bed. But this time, it was distinctly intimate, making Qi An unable to resist having some other thoughts.

Just now, Zhang Sitan asked if she would react. She hadn’t felt it before, but now that she was calm, she felt a little itchy.

The first time they slept together, Zhang Sitan fell asleep first, and Qi An didn’t harbor any malicious thoughts.

The second time was because of Qi Zhiguo’s matter; she was full of disappointment and had no intention of having malicious thoughts.

Moreover, at that time, there was only one bed in the apartment, so it didn’t feel particularly intimate. Now, with two rooms and two beds, they insisted on squeezing together.

…Qi An shrank her head, burrowing deeper into the quilt, deliberately lightening her breathing to try and suppress the heat.

In the morning, both of them broke their routines and woke up late. Even Zhang Sitan, whose biological clock was always punctual, woke up groggily, glanced at the time on her phone, and was startled.

The two jumped out of bed, hastily got ready, and rushed to the subway station.

During the morning rush hour, the subway was packed with people. Zhang Sitan and Qi An were pressed face-to-face. The cold air blowing from above was sometimes strong, sometimes weak, pricking their faces.

“Sitan-jie, why don’t we buy a car?”

Zhang Sitan had only applied a tinted moisturizer before leaving. She had planned to touch up her makeup on the way, but now her hands were completely occupied, only able to hang down by her sides, obediently next to the seams of her pants.

She looked at Qi An. Her slightly frizzy short hair was sticking out in various directions, and her eyes were still heavy with sleep, looking like she hadn’t slept well.

“No money.”

A few faint words. Qi An widened her eyes: “Sitan-jie, what’s your salary? You shouldn’t be unable to afford a car.”

“Rent, utility bills, social obligations…” Zhang Sitan listed them one by one.

Qi An was silent for a moment: “Then I’ll buy one.”

“You buy one?” Zhang Sitan raised an eyebrow. “Just applying for the license plate lottery will be enough trouble for you.”

“Director Zhang’s car is a Lexus CT, about 500,000 yuan. The brand of car you buy can’t be better than his, and the price can’t be more expensive.”

“There’s also the limit on driving days. Are you going to buy two cars to alternate? In our unit, frequently changing cars will draw attention from superiors.”

Zhang Sitan spoke a lot. Qi An’s brain malfunctioned for a moment and slowly sputtered out: “500,000… what car can be less than 500,000…”

“Don’t bring your capitalist identity into this, okay?” Zhang Sitan looked at Qi An speechlessly, wondering why she hadn’t shed her college student perspective even after working for a month.

“Even if you have the money to buy a million-yuan car, you can’t buy it, understand? What do you think the audit department, with nothing better to do, likes to investigate?”

“Investigate what?”

“Investigate who can go to the sewing machine factory [prison].”

Upon arriving at the office, Zhang Sitan proceeded as usual to organize the day’s work.

Qi An sat opposite her, devoutly pinning her badge onto her clothes.

Zhang Sitan looked over the computer screen, a slight smile on her lips.

The salary had been issued the day before, and the office was filled with a joyous atmosphere. Even Li Hao had a filter on his mouth and didn’t mock people too much.

Scrolling through her Moments, she saw an update from Qi An.

The caption was “Happy” and the pictures were a mix: a close-up of her exclusive badge, the colorful photos taken at the bar yesterday, and a picture of her and Zhang Sitan’s arms side by side with a circular stamp.

She clicked through them one by one, saved the picture of their arms together, liked Qi An’s Moment, and continued scrolling.

Qi An’s profile picture was still black. Zhang Sitan glanced at it and didn’t linger.

A message from Qi An then came in. Zhang Sitan clicked back and opened the chat.

It was a transfer notification for 200,000 yuan, along with the note “Rent.”

Zhang Sitan sighed, knowing her “no money” comment on the subway had made Qi An overthink again. She clicked “Refund,” replied “Don’t,” and turned her phone face down on the desk.

Before she could type a few words on the computer, her phone vibrated again. Qi An was a step ahead of her. She picked up Zhang Sitan’s phone from the desk and clicked “Receive.”

Zhang Sitan’s screen lock was 1234, which Qi An had always known. It was from a time in Qingdao when she couldn’t answer the phone herself and had proactively told Qi An the password so she could help her answer.

Now, it gave her an opportunity. She actually transferred money again and opened the phone to click “Receive.”

Fortunately, Zhang Sitan never turned on the sound for notifications when she was out, so there was no “WeChat received 200,000 yuan” sound that would easily attract unwanted attention.

This girl was getting more and more audacious. Li Hua was sitting right next to them. Zhang Sitan dared not make too much noise and could only let her take her phone.

When the phone was returned, Zhang Sitan glared at her, and Qi An returned (ingratiating) smile.

Qi An definitely wouldn’t accept the money if she transferred it back. Zhang Sitan was too lazy to argue, pondering how to give the money to Qi Shenli while also doing her a favor.

In the afternoon, Director Zhang called Zhang Sitan into his private office.

After closing the door, Director Zhang asked: “The finance department said you have an extra 200,000 yuan in your account without a transfer declaration.”

Zhang Sitan was stunned for a moment, realizing she had forgotten about this. She was usually sensitive about this. Colleagues even noted “meal” in the remarks when splitting the bill. Qi An had transferred the money out of spite earlier, and after receiving it, she forgot to explain the source of such a large sum to finance.

She explained that Qi An was living with her, and this was payment for rent.

Director Zhang looked at Zhang Sitan meaningfully “You’ve been working so hard all these years, it’s time you had a companion.”

What did “have a companion” mean? What kind of companion? Companion for what? Companion where…?

Ah! Director Zhang, don’t talk nonsense.

“You apply for an electronic transfer certificate and submit it to finance. For the explanation, just write…” Director Zhang pondered for a moment, “just write ‘voluntary gift from a family member.’ Bringing up rent and things will only complicate it further…”

“Okay, thank you, Director Zhang.” Zhang Sitan knew Director Zhang was looking out for her and sincerely thanked him.

“Invite Qi An to dinner tonight as well.”

“Alright.”