Chapter 14: Sister Yu’s Suggestion
After leaving the classroom, Lin Muqing vaguely heard some strange noises behind her. It sounded like a group of people talking noisily.
After all, rejecting invitations from two class beauties in front of everyone. That was extremely rare, maybe even unheard of.
Okay, that might sound a bit exaggerated, but it was basically true. Once again, Lin Muqing’s “steel straight guy” energy had been confirmed. And this time, the story was likely to spread all over school.
After getting rejected, Wang Wenxin turned to her deskmate, Zhang Xiaoling, and gave a helpless shrug. Her eyes silently said, ‘I tried. There’s nothing else I could do.’
“Sigh~”
Zhang Xiaoling let out a long breath. Her feelings were complicated. Relieved on one hand, but also a little disappointed.
Still, she wasn’t really surprised. After all, this was Lin Muqing. She’d tried to ask him out all summer break and failed every time. Thinking about it now, it kind of made sense.
Maybe because she kept getting rejected, she started to feel that strange urge.
You always want what you can’t have, and Zhang Xiaoling really wanted to succeed, just once.
“Just now she said she was going to work. Do you know where she works?”
Back in her seat, Wang Wenxin thought back to what Lin Muqing said earlier and asked curiously.
“Ah? Hmm… no idea.”
Zhang Xiaoling sat up straight and thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“….”
“….”
They looked into each other’s eyes, and all of a sudden, both of them became very curious.
Where does Lin Muqing work? What kind of job is it?
A plan slowly started to form. Wang Wenxin felt like this might be a breakthrough. Maybe they could learn more about Muqing’s job… and use that to get closer to her.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Muqing had gotten into her buddy’s car, and was now being driven back to her own apartment complex.
“Wait for me, boss!”
Leaving behind that one sentence, Lin Muqing quickly got out of the car and ran upstairs.
When she reappeared at the ground floor a few minutes later, she had totally changed. Now wearing a T-shirt and track pants, with long hair instead of short, no Adam’s apple, and a clearly visible chest.
Most importantly, the jade pendant hanging from her neck was now gone.
“Ahem, let’s go.” She climbed back into the car, closed the door, and carefully lowered her voice as she spoke to Ye Ziming.
After taking off the pendant, her voice also changed. Now it was clearly a girl’s voice, soft and sweet, impossible to pass off as a boy’s voice.
She thought to herself, ‘I probably shouldn’t catch a ride with him again… This transformation is way too obvious. If I keep doing this, he’ll definitely find out my biggest secret. Yep—better ride my bike next time.’
“Uncle Liu, let’s go to the café.”
Ye Ziming stared at Lin Muqing for a long moment before snapping out of it. He forced himself to look away and calmly gave instructions to the driver.
“Ah… understood.”
Heaven knows how shocked Uncle Liu was.
A young guy went upstairs… and a young girl came back down. No matter how you looked at it, they were clearly different people!
But his young master didn’t even act surprised. He just let her get in the car, like it was nothing.
Uncle Liu really wanted to say something, maybe even complain. But remembering his position, he swallowed his thoughts.
He was just a butler and part-time driver. He didn’t know anything else, and he didn’t need to know.
But still…
Should he tell the young master’s parents about this?
That… might be a problem.
Not long after, Uncle Liu skillfully drove the car and successfully dropped the two of them off at the back entrance of the cafe. Then he went to find a place to park.
There was a local market nearby, and aside from driving Ye Ziming around, Uncle Liu also helped take care of his young master, like cooking for him, for example.
Once they entered the café, Lin Muqing headed straight for the break room like she’d done it a hundred times, while Ye Ziming went to the office to start work.
Without her best buddy nearby, Lin Muqing relaxed a lot. She didn’t have to pretend to be anything she wasn’t.
She could walk with her back straight, no problem. Because here, everyone believed she was a girl, not a boy.
When she opened the break room door, a few maids were gathered around the long table, chatting and laughing. They looked like they were having a great time.
“Good afternoon, big sisters~”
She greeted them cheerfully. In the cafe, she called all the staff “big sisters” since they were all older than her, in many ways.
“Good afternoon, Muqing~”
Hearing her voice, the maids turned and smiled brightly at her.
“Emmm…”
But something about their looks felt… strange.
Lin Muqing suddenly got a bad feeling. After a brief pause, and under the pressure of their stares, she headed into the changing room.
After a while, Lin Muqing came out in her maid outfit, ready for work. But as soon as she stepped out, the maids immediately surrounded her.
Each one had a mysterious smile on her face as they looked her up and down.
“W-What are you doing?!” Startled, she nearly yelped.
Eyes wide, eyebrows raised, Lin Muqing instinctively took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest, visibly uneasy.
“Nothing much~ We just want to make you even cuter!” One of the maids chuckled and gently pulled her to a chair.
Before Lin Muqing could even react, the maids were already busy working on her appearance.
They added cute cat ear headband, fancy little hair clips, ribbons, a bell on her chest, white stockings on her right leg, and a giant bow tied at her back
In just a few minutes, Lin Muqing had been transformed into the ultimate catgirl. Overflowing with adorable energy. If she let out even a single “meow,” it’d be enough to make hearts melt on the spot.
“Wow~ So cute!!”
“As expected of Xiao Muqing, amazing!”
“I knew this kind of style would look great on her!”
“She’s totally gonna charm the new manager now!”
Snap, snap.
The sounds of phone cameras joined the praise.
Although… there was something odd mixed in with those comments.
Still, none of this felt too strange. In fact, it all made sense… in its own weird way.
“?!”
The break room was filled with happy cheers and excitement.
Lin Muqing, on the other hand, had no idea what was happening. She blinked in confusion at all of them, looking adorably lost.
Lin Muqing: Can I get a mirror, please?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the café, Sister Yu was standing next to the office desk, giving a report to their manager, Ye Ziming.
But after finishing her work report, Sister Yu didn’t leave right away. Instead, she shared a suggestion she had been thinking about.
“Secretary… and character traits too, hmm~” Ye Ziming nodded as he muttered softly under his breath.
After listening to her idea, he began considering whether it was possible to implement.
Sister Yu had suggested that each maid could have a unique character theme or trait—
For example: the sweet and soft little sister, the cold and quiet type, and so on.
Coincidentally, every maid in the cafe already had a distinct vibe, So there wouldn’t be any conflicts. It was definitely something worth trying.
She also brought up another idea, to assign a personal secretary to help the manager with daily tasks.