Chapter 39 : Long Time No See (1/2)

This really wasn’t done by Song Ye.

Things like manipulation can be done, but there’s no need to pull that kind of stunt at the annual party.

After all, stripping someone else of an award, even if Jiang Nanshu won, wouldn’t feel good about it.

He unbuttoned his suit jacket and lazily leaned back in his chair, one hand holding a wine glass.

Looking at the screen, he curved his lips slightly and typed with one hand.

S: In your heart, do I like you so much that I have no bottom line?

Jiang Nanshu: “……”

Isn’t that the case?

She could even tolerate being cheated on.

Just thinking about it made Jiang Nanshu angry again.

She furiously replied: I’m going to sleep.

S: Your New Year’s gift, I’ll send it over tomorrow.

Jiang Nanshu paused for a second, surprised there really was a gift.

She hesitated, still unsure how to respond, when another message popped up in the chat.

S: I wanted to give it to you last night after dinner, once they left.

Who knew that thing would happen later?

Now their relationship was awkward.

Song Ye knew Jiang Nanshu was mad, even intentionally giving him the cold shoulder.

But he didn’t know that the incident back then was a misunderstanding.

So he didn’t understand why she was so angry, only feeling…

Maybe now she was like everyone else; she didn’t like him anymore.

Maybe she had some feelings left, but not enough to want to be with him.

He even started to doubt if she ever liked him that much back then.

Song Ye hadn’t slept at all last night.

He was a little tired, but because his energy levels were generally high, it didn’t show on his face.

The chat box showed: “The other person is typing…”

He waited a while, but still didn’t receive a new message.

Was she really that torn up about it?

Song Ye sighed and replied: If you’re not feeling well, sleep early. Good night.

At this point, the performance on stage had ended, and the annual meeting was almost over.

The HR director came over with a wine glass and sat down next to Song Ye.

“Lu Xiaowei from your project team is being transferred to the distribution department.

Do you have a candidate in mind for the new operations team lead, or should we post a new hiring notice?”

Lu Xiaowei and Du Heng got their marriage certificate today, the last working day before the New Year holiday at the civil affairs bureau.

Thinking of the conversation he had with Jiang Nanshu last night, a bitter feeling surfaced in Song Ye’s heart.

He looked at the HR director.

“Do only one of them need to transfer departments?”

The HR director explained: “Our company has a nepotism avoidance policy with two scenarios.

First, if they’re already married and one is employed here, the other can’t apply for a job.

Second, if they’re unmarried and fall in love or get married during their employment, they can’t be on the same project team or department.

And since Lu Xiaowei is pregnant, the company certainly won’t fire her.”

If public opinion starts to ferment over something like this, it could get serious, and the company doesn’t need that kind of risk.

“We do need to hire for operations,” Song Ye casually took a sip of wine, “but I already have someone in mind for the team lead.”

“Jiang Nanshu?”

“Yeah.”

The HR director smiled.

“She’s suitable.

Her resume and experience are more impressive than anyone else’s.”

At this moment, Jiang Nanshu still didn’t know she had been promoted.

Looking at Song Ye’s message, she hesitated for a while, unsure how to refuse the gift.

Just then, Cheng Jiajia’s call came in.

Cheng Jiajia was also starting her New Year’s holiday tonight.

As soon as the call connected, she asked, “You caught a cold?”

“Yeah.”
Jiang Nanshu’s voice was even more nasal than in the afternoon.

“I was going to ask you to hang out tonight.”

Cheng Jiajia asked, “How’d you catch a cold all of a sudden? You were fine when we had hotpot last night.”

“Do you remember Chen Qingyue?”

“Of course. What about him? Did he show up?”

“No…”

No matter how Jiang Nanshu thought about it, she still felt the whole thing was ridiculous.

She took a deep breath and told Cheng Jiajia what had happened last night.

After listening, Cheng Jiajia was completely stunned.

She didn’t expect there to be such a messy follow-up to Chen Qingyue’s story, on par with the time Jiang Nanshu’s dad had an affair.

In disbelief, she said:

“So, Song Ye thought you were dating Chen Qingyue before you transferred schools, and then fell for him again at Yi Zhong, and even saw you two hugging twice?

He thought he was the third wheel, so he rejected you?”

Jiang Nanshu replied with a soft “mm” and fell silent.

“No wonder Lin Yao treated us so weirdly, it was because of this…”

Cheng Jiajia suddenly understood.

Then she frowned.

“But hugging doesn’t prove you’re a couple.

Why didn’t Song Ye ask more questions?

Just because of that, he said such cruel things to you and missed all these years.

Honestly, not slapping him was already being nice.”

Jiang Nanshu, frustrated:

“That’s why I don’t even want to explain now.

I’m both angry and aggrieved.”

“Then don’t explain.

You’ve suffered for years — it’s only fair he suffers a bit too.”

Cheng Jiajia paused.

“Although we can’t completely blame him…

But damn, that guy has way too much self-control.

You were practically stripping in front of him to get a reaction, and he still held back.”

Xiao Bei was snoring on the side of the bed.

Jiang Nanshu hugged the blanket and lay down, her head dizzy as she closed her eyes.

“Yeah…

Once you’re in bed, it’s straight to getting the marriage certificate.”

“…No.”

“He’s such a jerk.”

Her voice was a little nasal.

“Did you cry?”

Jiang Nanshu sniffled sadly and replied, “No, just feeling kind of miserable.”

“I’m heading back to my hometown with my parents tomorrow for two days.

I’ll come to see you when I’m back.”

After hanging up, Jiang Nanshu fell asleep in a daze.

She woke up in the middle of the night with a dry throat and parched mouth, feeling weak all over.

When she touched her forehead, it was burning hot.

She had a fever after all.

The next morning, the fever had gone down a bit, so she didn’t tell Jiang Yu.

When she checked her phone, she saw that Zhou Jiale had messaged her.

Zhou Jiale: The team lead and the lead developer got their marriage certificate.

Jiang Nanshu didn’t have Lu Xiaowei’s WeChat.

They usually just talked via Feishu, so she didn’t know Lu had posted the news in her Moments.

Zhou Jiale: I’m guessing she’s pregnant.

If she leaves the project team, I will support you getting promoted!

Jiang Nanshu opened the screenshot and saw that Lu Xiaowei and Du Heng had registered their marriage yesterday.

It reminded her of Song Ye’s comment two nights ago about going to register.

She was silent for a moment and replied to Zhou Jiale: Thanks!

If I get promoted, dinner’s on me.

Around noon, Lu Youchuan came home.

He even brought a package for Jiang Nanshu.

“I ran into the delivery guy outside and grabbed this.

It’s from Song Ye, what is it?”

“I don’t know either.”

Jiang Nanshu looked at the box, thinking it resembled a phone package.

She found scissors and opened them, sure enough, it was a phone.

Same model as the one from the prize draw last night, but the one Song Ye bought was 1TB, while the prize one was only 512GB.

“A phone, huh? The latest model.”

Lu Youchuan raised an eyebrow.

“Must be a couple’s phone.”

Jiang Nanshu didn’t respond either way.

Jiang Yu and Lu Mingkun were busy cooking New Year’s Eve dinner in the kitchen.

When Lu Mingkun heard Lu Youchuan’s voice, he came out and shouted, “Since you’re back, go put up the couplets. Everyone’s helping out.”

Lu Youchuan pointed at Jiang Nanshu.

“She’s just sitting here doing nothing, I’ll chat with her for a bit.”

Lu Mingkun scolded, “She’s sick, of course she’s resting.”

“You’re sick?”

Only then did Lu Youchuan notice that Jiang Nanshu didn’t look well.

“Just a cold, nothing serious.”

Jiang Nanshu forced herself to get up.

“You go put up the couplets, I’ll supervise.”

The siblings took the couplets to the doorway.

Jiang Nanshu’s phone rang in her pocket.

She pulled it out, glanced at the caller ID, hesitated for a few seconds, and then answered.

Song Ye’s voice was low and deep.

“Did you get the package?”

Jiang Nanshu replied with a “mm” and then added, “I already have a phone.”

“That one’s two years old, time for an upgrade.”

Song Ye’s New Year’s gift choice was very typical of an engineering-type guy.

At that moment, he had just reached the underground garage and opened the car door to get in.

“You can gift the one from the raffle to someone else.”

Jiang Nanshu was still angry with him, so accepting a gift from him felt awkward.

She looked down in silence.

Next to her, Lu Youchuan, who was eavesdropping, glanced at her and said,

“If a man gives you something, just take it, especially if he’s chasing you.

Let him give all he wants. Don’t feel pressured.”

“……”