Shen Huaixue looked up at him. Lin Jianqing walked over but didn’t sit too close.
Shen Huaixue noticed but didn’t say anything.
Her gaze swept over him and finally landed on his backpack.
“Quite a haul today?”
Lin Jianqing’s heart skipped a beat. What was she talking about?
But the next second, his heart sank. He suddenly thought of the cake and the drinks, but… he didn’t think Shen Huaixue would know about those things. Yet looking at her expression, it seemed like she really did.
Just from the change in Lin Jianqing’s expression, Shen Huaixue could probably guess what he was thinking.
However, her favorite thing was to watch Lin Jianqing’s expression shift endlessly. She just lazily leaned back in her seat, like a languid black cat. And for Lin Jianqing…
It was like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, not in a hurry to bite through it. First, it nudges it a couple of times and watches it roll around.
“What haul?”
Lin Jianqing pretended not to understand. Shen Huaixue smiled.
“Just now when I passed the studio, I saw someone handing out cake. Seemed like a new product from downstairs. I forget what it’s called.”
Lin Jianqing: “…Really, it’s this…”
If it really was this, wasn’t Shen Huaixue a bit too free?
Was she always this idle?
But with Shen Huaixue’s way of thinking, it wasn’t impossible that she’d actually do something like this in the future.
“Senior Xu Tang was the one giving out the cake to everyone. It wasn’t just for me.”
Lin Jianqing explained. Shen Huaixue nodded lightly.
“Oh, right, it was Senior.”
She said those two words very softly, as if she were just repeating them casually. And of course, Shen Huaixue knew it was Xu Tang who distributed it, because before buying it, she had even sent a piece to Shen Huaixue.
Shen Huaixue finally found something she could use to tease him. The next second, she asked slowly:
“Student Lin, are you this popular at school and at the company?”
Lin Jianqing glanced at her.
“Just normal social interaction.”
“Normal enough for Senior to give you a small cake?”
“She gave one to everyone.”
“Then did you take it?”
Shen Huaixue’s smile deepened. As soon as Lin Jianqing saw that expression, he knew she was at it again.
This woman was really troublesome. She liked to throw out questions and then watch how you explain.
If you explained too much, she’d say you were guilty. If you explained too little, she’d say you were tacitly admitting it.
If you didn’t explain at all, she’d look at you with that beautiful but infuriating face.
The main point was that no matter which way you went, it was still her turn.
“It’s just a cake,” Lin Jianqing said.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t. Why are you in such a hurry to explain?”
Shen Huaixue leaned back on the sofa, her tone lazy.
“I just didn’t expect you to get such treatment.”
Lin Jianqing paused. He suddenly had a strong premonition.
Whatever he said next, Shen Huaixue would probably say something that would make his blood pressure spike.
“What treatment?”
He asked anyway, and regretted it immediately.
Shen Huaixue’s eyes curved.
“The treatment of being fed. I bet at school you’ve been fed plenty by pretty seniors or lively juniors, right? After all, Xu Tang never bought so many things to share with everyone before.”
“Can you be normal? And I only accepted one piece of cake.”
He was increasingly convinced that Shen Huaixue’s brain worked in a strange way. On the surface, she was cold and indifferent, as if nothing mattered.
But she could be ridiculously fixated on such trivial matters.
Just a small cake. Normal people would eat it and move on. He initially thought Shen Huaixue might joke about it if she found out, but he never expected her to take it this far.
It was outrageous. This was no longer just a quirky way of thinking.
Lin Jianqing even suspected that Shen Huaixue might have damaged her brain when she awakened her special ability.
“So, was it good?”
Shen Huaixue suddenly asked. Lin Jianqing paused.
“I haven’t eaten it yet.”
Shen Huaixue raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Didn’t eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Lin Jianqing was silent for a moment. He couldn’t exactly say that the moment he saw the cake, he vaguely sensed Shen Huaixue might use it to mess with him.
That would sound like he had already been conditioned by her to have a reflex.
“No time.”
Shen Huaixue looked at him, as if she saw through it, or as if she couldn’t be bothered to call him out.
She pointed at the coffee table.
“Perfect timing.”
Lin Jianqing looked down. On the coffee table was a sealed cup of milk tea and a box of pastries.
The packaging was exquisite, and it looked expensive.
Lin Jianqing suddenly had a bad feeling.
“What’s this?”
“It’s definitely better than that small cake.”
Shen Huaixue’s tone was natural.
“And by the way, it’s better than the drink in your backpack’s side pocket.”
Lin Jianqing froze. He instinctively thought of his backpack.
There was indeed a drink from Junior Song Yao in the side pocket. But… he hadn’t seen Shen Huaixue when he entered the company. How did she know?
A chill ran down Lin Jianqing’s spine, and his expression changed. Shen Huaixue naturally noticed.
“Oh~ Is that drink from someone else too? Let me guess, a junior or a senior this time?”
Shen Huaixue asked. Lin Jianqing was too tired to even explain this time.
“Junior thanked me for helping her revise a painting.”
“Junior? So I was right, a lively junior… But come to think of it, Student Lin, you’re also the School Heartthrob at Lin University, so it’s not strange for people to pursue you.”
“Honestly, I’m a bit envious. I don’t go to school very often, otherwise I might have been Lin University’s School Beauty too.”
Shen Huaixue leaned in with a smile on her face, her words dripping with mockery.
She just thought this topic was fun and it was a convenient way to tease Lin Jianqing. But when she thought about how Lin Jianqing really was the School Heartthrob and was often pursued by others, she felt a bit irritated.
Lin Jianqing didn’t respond.
She was still troublesome, still had a sharp tongue, and still had a mind so weird you’d want to call the cops, but most of the time, she was just teasing him, or rather, ‘flirting’ with him?
She seemed to enjoy watching him get stuck, annoyed, and unable to really lose his temper.
It was just that she was doing it on purpose, and it was slightly irritating.
Shen Huaixue pushed the milk tea toward him.
“Drink. Treat this place as a rest stop.”
This woman’s guarantees were always half-baked. The other half was saved for when she went off the rails.
Lin Jianqing remembered that the contract clearly stated that neither party could interfere in the other’s life, but… at this point, he wasn’t sure if Shen Huaixue had crossed that line.
In the end, Lin Jianqing still picked up the milk tea.
Only because he was a bit thirsty, and besides, he wasn’t really in a position to refuse here.
And… it wasn’t like it would hurt to drink it.
Drinking milk tea at least gave him some sugar. After racking up countless excuses, Lin Jianqing inserted the straw and took a sip.
The taste was surprisingly good—not too sweet, with a light, non-greasy milk flavor.
Shen Huaixue watched him.
“Good?”
Lin Jianqing paused for two seconds.
“Not bad.”
“Just not bad?”
“Yeah.”
“Better than Junior’s bottle?”
“I haven’t drunk it yet.”
Shen Huaixue seemed satisfied.
It was a subtle satisfaction, but Lin Jianqing saw it anyway.
For a moment, he didn’t even know how to express his exasperation. A bottle of unopened drink—what was there to be competitive about?
Shen Huaixue pushed the pastry box over too.
“Have the cake as well.”
Lin Jianqing looked at the box.
“I’m not hungry right now.”
“Then take out the one Xu Tang gave you. Let me see.”
Lin Jianqing: “What do you want to see it for?”
“To compare.”
“What’s there to compare?”
“To see what made you accept it.”
Lin Jianqing closed his eyes. He now suspected that Shen Huaixue might be jealous.
After a few days together, he felt this woman’s possessiveness was quite high.
But it was still in a half-joking, half-teasing state.
“Are you… jealous?”
Lin Jianqing asked. Shen Huaixue leaned back on the sofa, her tone lazy.
“Oh? You’ve gotten bolder. You think I’d be jealous?”
Hearing this, Shen Huaixue’s expression froze for a moment, but she quickly turned serious.
“I just think Student Lin has good connections, and I worry you might get involved with the wrong sort of people.” Shen Huaixue excused herself like this, but honestly, she wasn’t sure what was wrong with her.
“No need to worry about that. People at school should all know my situation. They probably just feel sorry for me.” Lin Jianqing finished speaking, his expression turning a bit indifferent.
As for Shen Huaixue, she completely lost the desire to keep joking. She just turned around and sat back down on the chair.
“Take your things and go.”
Hearing that Shen Huaixue was willing to let him leave, Lin Jianqing didn’t pay attention to her change in expression. He turned and walked away, still holding the small pastries she had forced on him.
Lin Jianqing glanced down at the pastries in his hand and muttered to himself:
‘What’s wrong with this woman…’
The elevator doors closed completely.
Upstairs, the smile on Shen Huaixue’s face slowly faded.
The living room fell silent again. The half-truth, half-false teasing still lingered in the air.
None of it really mattered—at least, that’s what Shen Huaixue told herself.
Right now, she was pondering what exactly had caused her intense emotional fluctuations earlier. She had originally treated Lin Jianqing purely as her stand-in…
But now…
Was it because of his parents?
Shen Huaixue thought so. She did feel guilty toward Lin Jianqing. But…
When Lin Jianqing’s ears turned red from her teasing, he was even more attractive than those clothes themselves.
Thinking this, Shen Huaixue tapped her fingers lightly against the cup.
Then her movements suddenly stopped. She realized what she had just been thinking.
Sometimes, her mind was full of Lin Jianqing’s somewhat cynical, easy-to-bully profile.
When did it start? This change—she had never noticed it…
She didn’t like this change.
She had made it clear long ago that she didn’t like men.
To her, most men were boring, troublesome, cheap, and would show a fawning expression as soon as you gave them a little benefit.
But Lin Jianqing was different.
He was also troublesome, even very troublesome.
Shen Huaixue lowered her eyes, staring at the spot where Lin Jianqing had stood. Today, she had only planned to tease him about the cake.
But when she saw him actually accept the pastries she gave him, her mood had definitely improved.
Was it just because she had won over a piece of cake?
This realization slowly gave rise to a deeper pleasure in some dark corner of Shen Huaixue’s heart.
Thinking this, Shen Huaixue suddenly let out a light laugh.
The laughter was faint, but a little cold.
She knew that this thought in her heart was abnormal, but she had never been a normal person. She was just a bit surprised that she could develop such a level of interest in a man. Even if she wanted to correct it now… no, she could correct it.
Shen Huaixue’s special ability was a mental one. In terms of mental control and memory, she had enough power to correct her current thoughts.
That was also why she could see through Lin Jianqing’s thoughts at a glance and change his emotions at will.
But… even though she could do it, Shen Huaixue still hesitated at this moment.
‘Guilt… yes, guilt!’
Thinking of Lin Jianqing’s past predicaments, Shen Huaixue finally attributed everything to that.
Really… she had found a good excuse for herself.