W-wait?!
Ellen Joe? That name was awfully familiar!
Wasn't that the one he had run into while shopping with Sister Nicole? That listless-looking shark Thiren!
So that confirmed two affection targets in Victoria Housekeeping. If nothing unexpected came up, the other two were very likely targets as well.
It seemed he would need to get in contact with this housekeeping company at some point. They probably offered home visit services, right?
He had Dennies now. And the Cunning Hares' place was well overdue for a proper cleaning. Talk about a pillow appearing right when you needed to lie down.
Ye Qingfeng glanced around the reception room and spotted a camera mounted in one corner of the wall. He held the business card between his fingers, focused his attention — and nothing changed. Then he shifted his hand in front of his body, using his own figure to block the camera's line of sight.
This time, the business card disappeared. Using the reward he had just drawn, he slipped it directly into the spatial backpack.
The Invisible Magic Hand. Ye Qingfeng hadn't expected this ability to turn out to be so quietly useful. He raised an eyebrow in quiet satisfaction, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Spatial backpack plus this ability — he felt like he could pass for a magician. The spatial backpack alone had been useful before, but combined with this new power, the difference was something like the gap between a stage trick and actual magic.
As for his other rewards, this wasn't the right place to check them. He stood up, stretched, and headed toward the door, pausing on the way to toss both his cup and the one Qingyi had left behind into the bin.
His stomach was growling. Time to find Zhu Yuan and get some food.
Meanwhile, Qingyi, who had fled some time earlier, was making her way back to the office with a face that was more than a little flushed. She ran the whole way without looking back, threw the office door open with a bang that made Zhu Yuan flinch, and by the time Zhu Yuan turned around in bewilderment —
(It's not too much for an android to blush a little, right?)
— she saw Qingyi hurriedly close the door behind her and then press her back against it, eyes full of confusion.
Zhu Yuan: ?
This was the first time she had ever seen Senior Qingyi look this rattled. She was very curious what had happened. Besides, hadn't she gone out with Qingfeng?
How had she ended up coming back alone?
"What's wrong, Senior Qingyi?" Zhu Yuan's eyes were wide with puzzlement. "Where's Qingfeng?"
Qingyi wasn't sure whether she should tell Zhu Yuan what had just happened. The good news was that Ye Qingfeng's target wasn't Zhu Yuan.
The bad news...
His actual target was her.
If Ye Qingfeng could hear Qingyi's inner monologue, he would only have one thing to say: Hehehe! Actually, I want all of them!
"Well..."
Qingyi hesitated, at a loss for how to begin. In the end, she could only manage a somewhat evasive, "It's nothing... Qingfeng should be back soon..."
She thought it over and decided it was better not to say anything to Zhu Yuan. As for how to handle any further advances from Ye Qingfeng, she didn't know yet either...
What she did know was that she would refuse. But she would do so properly, and thank him sincerely for his feelings.
Mostly because he was the first person in so many years to actually confess to her...
And knowing full well she was an android! Even if she really did say yes, what then? This kind of thing had no future.
Of course, another reason she hadn't refused outright on the spot was partly Ye Qingfeng's face. Even androids could appreciate a handsome one.
After all, which girl wouldn't?
And if it really came to nothing... she could always play matchmaker between Ye Qingfeng and Zhu Yuan.
She could tell that Zhu Yuan had quite a strong liking for him. But before anything else, she still needed to properly assess his character.
Seeing that Qingyi wasn't willing to say more, Zhu Yuan let it go and turned back to finishing the last of her work.
Qingyi quietly returned to her seat, poured herself a cup of tea, held it with both hands, and took a slow sip.
Phew —— Instantly much calmer.
For a little while after that, the office was filled only with the sound of Zhu Yuan's keyboard and the occasional soft sound of Qingyi drinking tea. The atmosphere settled into a quiet peace.
That peace broke the moment Ye Qingfeng pushed the door open.
"Zhu Yuan, how's it going?" Ye Qingfeng looked at her with a mild smile. "You can't work non-stop like this. Let's eat first, and you can finish the rest when we get back."
"Sorry, just a moment!" Zhu Yuan glanced back and immediately returned to her screen. After a morning of sustained effort, a faint thread of fatigue had crept into her voice. "Almost done."
She had been so buried in the work that she hadn't noticed her own hunger, but now that Ye Qingfeng had brought it up, she felt it acutely. And what she had said earlier about watching her weight was genuine, so she had deliberately eaten a little less that morning.
"Miss Qingyi, surely you agree that Zhu Yuan should eat first?"
Seeing Zhu Yuan show no sign of moving, Ye Qingfeng sighed lightly and turned his gaze to Qingyi, giving a subtle lift of his brows after speaking.
"That's right, Zhu Yuan — your health comes first!" Qingyi caught Ye Qingfeng's meaning immediately. Now was the time to present a united front. She went straight for her most effective card, invoking the one person Zhu Yuan couldn't talk her way around. "I seem to recall your mother specifically telling you to eat properly. I do happen to have her contact information, you know."
"?!"
Zhu Yuan hadn't expected Qingyi, of all people, to side with Ye Qingfeng. She fought down the hunger gnawing at her and stubbornly held her ground. "Just a moment! I really am almost done!"
Qingyi, who knew Zhu Yuan better than anyone, didn't believe it for a second. Even at full capacity, completing two full days' worth of work in one morning was already pushing the limits — and there had been an emergency dispatch interruption midway through on top of that.
Every time Zhu Yuan said "almost done," she meant the whole task. Which still meant roughly another half hour.
Qingyi didn't waste words. She took out her phone, pulled up the number, stood up, and held the screen in front of Zhu Yuan's face. "Zhu Yuan. Look here."
Zhu Yuan instinctively looked up and immediately saw her mother's name on the screen. She was about to keep stalling when she noticed a slender finger poised over it, hovering dangerously close.
"Mm?"
Qingyi's finger crept closer to the screen, her gaze fixed on Zhu Yuan with unmistakable threat.
"Come on, Zhu Yuan, I'm starving too." Ye Qingfeng reached over and tugged gently at her sleeve, cutting off any remaining avenue of retreat. "If your mother finds out, she'll call you herself and you'll still end up going to eat. You'd just be putting yourself through it twice."
"Alright, alright... Senior, please don't call!"
For Zhu Yuan, with her strong sense of follow-through and deep sense of responsibility, the plan had been to finish the morning's work, run through the rehearsal with Ye Qingfeng in the afternoon, attend the exercise the next morning, and then rest in the afternoon — which would connect neatly to the weekend, giving her the chance to visit her parents. But the first step of the plan had failed to go smoothly.
Still, the current situation left her no room to maneuver. Zhu Yuan got to her feet and led Ye Qingfeng out. Watching them go, Qingyi quietly tucked her phone away, settled back into her seat, and lifted her teacup again.
Just as Ye Qingfeng stepped through the door after Zhu Yuan, he turned around and raised a fist toward Qingyi.
The disdain in Qingyi's expression was completely undisguised, and she privately berated the childishness of it. But still, quite honestly, she raised her own fist and returned the gesture across the room.
After Ye Qingfeng pulled the door shut behind him, the corners of Qingyi's mouth slowly curved into a quiet smile.
[Ding! Qingyi affection +10%]
[Current affection: 25%]
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