The urge to see her (1)

It was 11:15 PM, fifteen minutes past the dormitory curfew.

Yin Xue was about to call Yue Qianling when she heard the faint sound of the door lock.

A few seconds later, Yue Qianling entered with the chilly night air.

“You actually came back?” Yin Xue sat on her bed, clicking her tongue, “I thought you wouldn’t come back tonight. How weak.”

Yue Qianling had just spent quite some time downstairs negotiating with the dormitory supervisor, using a lot of persuasive words. She didn’t have the energy to argue with Yin Xue.

She took off her coat and responded with a weak “Hmm,” then went to get fresh clothes for a shower.

“So, how was your day?” Yin Xue poked her head out and asked curiously, “What did you say about Christmas?”

The reason Yue Qianling asked Gu Xun that question when they got out of the car was because Yin Xue had suggested that idea.

Not bringing it up would have been fine, but now that she had mentioned it, Yue Qianling suddenly forgot that she had to go take a shower.

“Guess what he said? He said Christmas is Jesus’s birthday, not his! I’ve never been so speechless in my life!”

Yue Qianling took a deep breath and went on, “He’s been in college for four years, and even Nezha can handle social situations better. Why is he still so clueless?!”

Yin Xue: “…”

She had never felt so emotionally conflicted in her life.

She didn’t know if she should tell Yue Qianling that it was not that he didn’t understand the situation, he just didn’t want to understand her.

“It’s okay…” Yin Xue slowly lay back, staring at the ceiling. With an expressionless face, she said, “Stinky men are like this. You shouldn’t bother with them.”

Yue Qianling sat gloomily at her desk for a while. After some adjusting her mood, she remembered that she had missed Lin Xun’s voice call not too long ago.

She typed out a message slowly.

​【Glutinous Rice Twist】: What did you want when you called earlier?

Several minutes passed.

​【School Grass】: Do I need to have something to call you?

​【Glutinous Rice Twist】: Sigh

​【Glutinous Rice Twist】: I was just busy with something earlier.

​【School Grass】: Well, anyone could figure out what you’ve been up to, even with their toes.

​【School Grass】: It’s okay; I’m fine on my own.

​【Glutinous Rice Twist】: Don’t think too much. I was just in a hurry earlier.

​【Glutinous Rice Twist】: I didn’t mean to hang up on your call.

After a moment,

​【School Grass】: Okay.

Seeing his reply, Yue Qianling subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she suddenly returned to her senses, and a subtle feeling emerged in her heart.

Why did I explain myself to him?

Why did I try to coax him?

But because she was too tired, Yue Qianling didn’t dwell on these questions further. She took a quick shower and then went to sleep.

***

On Christmas Day, which happened to fall on a weekend, the campus was particularly lively.

Several male classmates from her class asked Yue Qianling out to play, but she wasn’t in the mood and preferred to stay in the dormitory to work on her final project.

Yin Xue, on the other hand, went out with her high school friends. Yue Qianling was left alone in the dorm, occasionally hearing other girls from neighboring rooms passing by excitedly. However, their excitement couldn’t infect her.

Sometimes, she even thought that what Gu Xun said might be right. What did Jesus’ birthday have to do with ordinary people? She couldn’t understand why those people were so happy.

And so, Christmas just passed uneventfully.

Due to Gu Xun’s attitude, Yue Qianling didn’t consider the possibility of making plans with him for New Year’s Day. Besides, as the winter break approached, the pressures of both academic and work responsibilities weighed heavily on her, leaving her with no time to think about anything else.

After all, on New Year’s Eve, the entire company was still working overtime.

Even the regular meetings were postponed until six or seven in the evening. Everyone was eager to start their holiday, absentmindedly fidgeting and preoccupied, their souls wandering elsewhere.

Even the leaders didn’t have the mind to delve into the details, and after roughly summarizing the work, they mentioned the results of the Christmas event.

The specific results had already been discussed in a meeting with the operations team, so the project lead only mentioned it in passing.

However, when he touched on this topic, Yin Qin’s shoulders stiffened suddenly, and her gaze flickered as she stared at the table.

Fortunately, the project lead didn’t say much, and the topic shifted to other things.

Yin Qin breathed a sigh of relief but remained anxious that Yue Qianling might try to take credit for the event. She discreetly glanced at her and saw that she was staring at the computer desktop, lost in thought.

Yin Qin finally relaxed a bit, but that faint sense of torment still clung to her, making it impossible for her to be truly calm.

Ever since the Christmas event began, she couldn’t even bring herself to look at the game’s official social media account.

Every comment from players felt like a whip lashing at her, making it difficult for her to eat or sleep peacefully.

She could have avoided all of this.

When she initially joined this project, she was drawn to the fact that this game had no sentimental value, didn’t require much brainpower, and, with some luck, could potentially earn her a substantial amount of money.

She usually could slack off, doing her work in a perfunctory manner, so why bother wasting so much energy when she could lead a more relaxed life?

But then, Yue Qianling appeared out of nowhere.

As an intern who hadn’t even graduated yet, she couldn’t understand the situation. However, she was full of energy. She always completed the tasks assigned by the lead artist on time, and even possessed a hint of talent. Her output was almost always approved on her first attempt.

It was fine if she focused on her own performance, but the project lead privately compared her to Yin Qin, which only increased the pressure on Yin Qin and made her resent her.

For instance, just now, as the meeting ended and they left the conference room, Yin Qin overheard the project lead muttering to the lead artist, saying that they didn’t know how to manage people, assigning tasks randomly, and almost causing trouble.

The lead artist felt wronged too, explaining that Yin Qin had volunteered. After working on the project for so long, who knew she would push herself too hard?

Although the two of them were whispering, their voices weren’t exactly hushed.

Yin Qin cast a glance at Yue Qianling’s back, wondering how much she had heard.

Actually, Yue Qianling hadn’t heard a word.

During the meeting, her friend Yin Xue had been messaging her constantly, asking when she would be off work. They had agreed to celebrate New Year’s Eve together in the city center.

As soon as the meeting ended, Yue Qianling had no interest in listening to what the leaders were whispering about. Instead, she hurried back to pack her things, eager to go to the New Year’s celebration.

There weren’t many people working late tonight, so the elevator was packed. Yue Qianling and her small group of three or four people squeezed in, the elevator was on the edge of reaching its weight limit.

Once the elevator doors closed, someone from the operations team next to her suddenly said to Yue Qianling, “You’re graduating in a few months, are you planning to stay in the company?”

Yue Qianling hesitated for a moment and replied, “I’m not sure.”

Internships weren’t something she could guarantee to continue just because she wanted to. Who knew what might go wrong along the way?

The person thought Yue Qianling was uncertain and continued, “Why hesitate? The boss likes you, so you’ll definitely have a promising future here. It’s better than starting from scratch at another company, right?”

Yin Qin, who already didn’t like Yue Qianling, felt irritated hearing someone else persuading Yue Qianling to stay after graduating. Nevertheless, she smiled and said, “You don’t know the specific situation. In any case, I think it’s right for Qianling to hesitate. After all, if the boss has a grudge against you, the road ahead won’t be easy.”

Yue Qianling simply glanced at her calmly without responding.

“Huh?” The person from the operations team had taken sick leave for a few days not long ago and was unaware of the office gossip. “What grudge?”

Yue Qianling didn’t want others to discuss her matters in public. She was about to say something when her colleague, Huang Jie, suddenly tugged at her sleeve and coughed twice.

Confused, Yue Qianling turned to look at her and noticed something in the corner of the elevator. So, she closed her mouth.

However, the others in the elevator hadn’t noticed Huang Jie’s movements, so the conversation about this topic continued.

“It’s just that Qianling had resigned before and then wanted to come back, which made the boss really angry,” one of the male team members from the project team said. He paused, trying to recall the exact words, then turned to Yin Qin and asked, “What did the boss say at that time?”

What exactly did the boss say?

Yin Qin hesitated.

That day, she had heard the boss say, “Don’t go back on your word,” and then instructed Chen Yin to reject Yue Qianling.

As for the words she had sent in the WeChat group, those were all added by herself.

However, her memory was good, and she recalled everything in a few seconds, repeating her own fabricated words verbatim.

It’s just that she didn’t notice that the atmosphere in the elevator was quietly changing as she spoke. The previously noisy environment inexplicably fell silent.

By the time she said the last word, the entire elevator had completely fallen into an eerie silence.

A pin-drop silence.

Yin Qin had just realized that something was wrong. When she turned around halfway, she heard an authoritative voice coming from the crowd.

“When did I say that?”

This sentence was like a heavy stone, making a loud “clang” sound and shattering the silence in the elevator.

Yin Qin’s face suddenly changed color, and she stiffly turned her neck a little more. That’s when she saw the boss standing in the corner of the elevator.

Their boss wasn’t very tall, dressed plainly and unassumingly. When standing in the crowd, the boss was very inconspicuous.

So Yin Qin had never imagined that their boss would be on this elevator.

Unfortunately, at this moment, everyone else in the elevator seemed to have gone mute, not making a sound, which magnified her embarrassment and helplessness dozens of times.

She stood there, mouth half-open, her mind a mess, and her cheeks alternating between pale and bright red.

After a long silence without uttering a word, the elevator stopped.

When the doors opened, the people in front didn’t move, and their boss in the back remained still.

The boss simply lifted her arm and pointed at Yin Qin.

“You, come to my office, let’s have a chat.”