Chapter 91: A Guess About the Jade Pendant
"Are you sure this is okay?"
Looking at the things Sister Yu had prepared for her, Lin Muqing couldn’t help but feel something was off. She just couldn’t tell exactly what felt weird. Besides the gift box, there was also a really fancy bag, both clearly meant for wrapping a present.
"Of course it's okay."
Spreading her hands, Sister Yu replied as if it was only natural.
After she said that, all the maids in the break room agreed one after another. They all said it wasn’t a big deal.
"Look, there are so many little hearts on it, and it’s so pink..."
"Aww, come on, it’s not like I’m going to sniff you or something."
Before Lin Muqing could finish what she was saying, Sister Yu interrupted her and spoke with a slightly annoyed look on her face.
Seeing her expression, Lin Muqing didn’t dare to say anything else. After hesitating for a bit, she still ended up keeping the things. She still thought there was something wrong with it.
Something that pink… was it really suitable for someone like her, who was supposed to be a tough guy!?
She had no idea what her good bro would think when he received the gift.
After that was settled, Lin Muqing learned a bit more about makeup from Sister Yu, then had dinner after work and went home with her good buddy.
"Boss, what are you holding?"
While getting into the car with her good bro, Lin Muqing noticed that he was holding a bag, the kind they used for takeout at the cafe.
As she asked, she caught a light cookie scent and couldn’t help but smile. She had a feeling she knew what it was.
"Cookies from Sister Yu. They taste pretty good, want to try?"
As he spoke, Ye Ziming handed the bag to Lin Muqing with a smile.
Although Sister Yu hadn’t said it clearly, based on her hints, he had guessed that the cookies were actually made by Lin Muqing. Normally, he didn’t care much for desserts. Not that he disliked them, but he wouldn’t say he liked them either.
But once he thought that Lin Muqing had made them, he became curious. After tasting them, he actually thought they were pretty good and wanted to take some home and eat them slowly.
"Ohhh~ So it was that! I already had some earlier, and I thought they tasted pretty good too."
Hearing her good bro praise her baking skills, Lin Muqing felt really satisfied.
She stretched out both hands to gently push the bag back to him, politely turning down his offer. At the same time, she took the chance to give herself some credit.
"If they had just a little less sugar, they’d be even better."
Taking the bag back, Ye Ziming looked down at it, then glanced sideways at Lin Muqing and spoke as if talking to himself.
"Is that so?"
"Mhm."
"Ahem, alright then."
He acted like he didn’t really care, his eyes staring out the window like he was just casually answering. But in his heart, Lin Muqing had already made a mental note, she planned to improve the recipe next time.
She knew her good bro didn’t like overly sweet things, but she didn’t know exactly how sweet he did like them. So she needed to test it a bit. As for Lin Muqing herself, she loved sweet things. As long as it was sugary, her mood would instantly get better.
"Well then, boss, see you tomorrow!"
When they got back to the apartment complex, Lin Muqing waved to her good bro, then opened the car door and got out.
"Yeah."
Ye Ziming nodded to himself as he watched her leave, still thinking about something in his mind.
After watching closely today, she noticed something interesting. Whenever Lin Muqing wore boys' clothes and pretended to be a guy, she always had that jade pendant with her. But when she dressed as a girl, there was never anything around her neck. Clearly, the pendant wasn’t there.
This guess might sound a bit strange, but he felt pretty sure about it. So, he planned to find a chance to test it. This weekend seemed like a good opportunity. He believed that if she was going out with him, Lin Muqing probably wouldn’t wear the jade pendant.
“So, how are you going to keep pretending then?”
With a small smirk, Ye Ziming whispered to himself, his eyes glowing with curiosity.
Back at Lin Muqing’s house, she had just returned when she suddenly sneezed.
“Huh? What was that about?”
She rubbed her nose, confused. The sneeze came out of nowhere, with no warning at all. She wasn’t sick, and her nose didn’t feel itchy, so it really didn’t make sense.
Hmm… could it be that someone was thinking about her?
Thinking that, she grabbed the laundry fork to take in the clothes, then turned and headed toward the bathroom.
When she opened her phone to play some music for her shower, she suddenly saw a message on WeChat.
[Class Monitor: Are you there?]
[Lin Muqing: I’m here.]
She replied honestly. The Class Monitor asked a question, so she answered.
Then she noticed the little “typing…” message at the top of the chat. It would appear and then disappear again. From the look of it, Lin Muqing guessed that the other person was trying to type a long message, which made the indicator flicker like that.
But to her surprise, after waiting in the bathroom for a long time, the Class Monitor finally only sent a few words:
[Class Monitor: Are you free this weekend?]
“Uh… what?”
Lin Muqing stared at the message in a daze. She couldn’t figure out what the Class Monitor was trying to do.
[Lin Muqing: No.]
Unlike the Class Monitor, her reply was super short, just one word.
She had work on Friday, plans to hang out with her bro on Saturday, and work again on Sunday. Any free time she had would be used for homework or gaming. She was very busy, okay?
[Class Monitor: Is it because you’re working?]
A little while later, the Class Monitor sent another message.
[Lin Muqing: Not exactly, but I’ve already made plans with my bro.]
[Class Monitor: Then can Wang Wenxin and I join you two?]
[Lin Muqing: No.]
[Class Monitor: He doesn’t like it?]
[Lin Muqing: I don’t like it.]
Are you kidding? How could she bring two girls along? She was going to be wearing girl’s clothes that day! Even if she weren’t, she still thought taking girls out was too much trouble.
Compared to that, she much preferred going out alone with her buddy, it was more fun that way.
The chat continued, and Lin Muqing had no idea that her super blunt responses were dealing massive emotional damage to Zhang Xiaoling. By the end, Zhang Xiaoling couldn’t even find a way to keep the conversation going, because no matter what she said, Lin Muqing would quickly end the topic.
[Lin Muqing: I’m gonna shower now, let’s chat next time.]
Checking the time, Lin Muqing realized she’d been standing in the bathroom for quite a while, so she quickly sent a message and finally started showering. She actually thought the conversation was pretty nice. If it weren’t getting so late, she might’ve kept chatting.
What she didn’t know was that after closing WeChat, the Class Monitor quietly decided not to talk to Lin Muqing for a while.
It was just too hard.
And since she was a pretty logical person, Zhang Xiaoling figured that if it clearly wasn’t working, she wouldn’t force it.
So… forget it. Time to do homework and play games.