Chapter 6: The Era of Proud-and-Timid Is Long Buried
After they finished calming down their beloved Miss Branch Chief, it was nearly time to clock out.
Lu Zheng had been seated for a while already, legs crossed, watching the clock and waiting to leave exactly on time.
"You really aren’t going?"
Ye Qin made a final attempt.
"I heard the voice actors, director, and others will be attending, and they’ll be giving out little gifts too."
"Nope. All I want now is to go home and get some proper rest."
Unfortunately, none of that tempted him.
Lu Zheng was the kind who only cared about the content. As long as nothing excessive happened, he couldn’t care less about voice actors or directors.
As for the gifts, if any seemed interesting, he’d check later to see if they showed up secondhand. If not...
Lu Zheng cast a subtle glance at the two of them.
He was already used to being overworked anyway. A bit more wouldn’t make a difference.
The second hand on the clock finally ticked to the 12.
"Yesss!"
Lu Zheng jumped up cheerfully and hopped out the door.
"Clocking out on the dot."
Watching Lu Zheng vanish without a trace, Ye Qin sighed and turned toward Miss Qiu Yu, who was still blissfully immersed in the memory of that shoulder massage.
So much for self-control.
She pulled over a chair and sat next to her, patting the table to jolt her back to reality.
"Hard to believe you got rejected and still look this happy."
"It’s nothing, really~"
Miss Qiu Yu scratched her head, lowered her face, and laughed with a sheepish "Ehehe~".
After all, she rarely had chances to talk to Lu Zheng.
And even if she did manage to, she couldn’t control herself—her brain couldn’t keep her mouth in check, and it always ended with her collapsing onto the desk in self-loathing.
"I'm not complimenting you!"
Ye Qin stood up, looming over her.
"But Lu Zheng gave me a massage."
Qiu Yu puffed up her cheeks, fingers interlaced, thumbs spinning nervously—looking utterly content.
Seeing her helpless bestie like this, Ye Qin could already picture the scene if she’d left work early and left the two of them alone together.
They would each do their own thing, not exchange a single word, and every so often, Miss Qiu Yu would say something impulsive and fall into another round of self-hatred.
And even with all that, Miss Qiu Yu would still happily revel in the moment for the entire day.
If this continued, her fate would be sobbing into Ye Qin’s lap after receiving Lu Zheng’s wedding invitation.
She couldn’t just sit back anymore!
"Qiu Yu, seriously think about it. Can you really keep going on like this?"
Ye Qin grabbed Qiu Yu’s head and forced her to make eye contact.
"I think it’s pretty nice, actually..."
Qiu Yu reflexively averted her eyes.
"Totally wrong!"
Ye Qin crossed her arms into a big X in front of her chest.
"We’re not in the tsundere meta anymore! And you’re not even a regular tsundere—you’re ‘tsun-dead’! What’s trending now is direct confession! Bold moves! Bad girl energy! Do you have any idea how far you are from the meta?"
She needed to ignite Qiu Yu’s fighting spirit.
"Besides, you think things are the same as before? That you’ll just ‘slow burn’ your way to a happy ending?"
Qiu Yu didn’t respond, but her expression made it obvious she thought exactly that.
Ye Qin wagged her finger.
"You’ve got a terrifying rival now!"
"A terrifying rival?"
Qiu Yu was puzzled.
"Dr. Alien! Dr. Alien!" Ye Qin patted the table. "She turned herself into a girl with one of her inventions, remember?"
"Ugh~"
Qiu Yu clearly found Ye Qin’s logic ridiculous.
Dr. Alien used to be a guy—how could she possibly get into a relationship with Lu Zheng?
Besides, the most important thing—
"Lu Zheng would never go for someone like that. He’s a hero, after all."
Watching Qiu Yu beam with pride, Ye Qin knew it was time to pour cold water on her.
"So what if she used to be a guy? As long as her appearance and body are female, it’s fair game for romance!"
"No way..." Qiu Yu weakly protested.
But Ye Qin wasn’t about to let her off the hook.
"Love is just hormones at work! Given enough time, those hormones will nudge her toward men—or at least lower her resistance to dating one!"
Honestly, Ye Qin was half making it up based on things she’d read. Even she wasn’t entirely sure about what she was saying.
And she didn’t believe Dr. Alien would actually fall for Lu Zheng either.
But she had to plant a target in Qiu Yu’s heart—spark a sense of crisis and push her to take action.
Ye Qin was sick of hearing her bestie gush about tiny little sweet moments or spiral into misery over trivial things.
She had her own life to live too.
"Well..."
Seeing Qiu Yu start to waver, Ye Qin pushed harder. "If Dr. Alien does fall for Lu Zheng, you won’t stand a chance! We need to move first—turn the rice raw into cooked before romance even enters her mind!"
"'Cooked rice'...?"
I mean, establish a relationship.
Ye Qin gave her a tired look. Qiu Yu’s flushed face and finger-twiddling made it clear she was thinking of something else entirely.
Still, if that helped spark her little love flame, so be it. Let her stay lost in that daydream.
Ye Qin threw fuel on the fire: "She comes with the innate ‘bad girl’ meta trait. Add in direct confessions and bold pursuit, and what in the world could possibly stop her? What could possibly stop her?!"
After all of Ye Qin’s frantic fanning, Qiu Yu finally started to panic.
Ye Qin pressed her advantage: "And don’t forget—she’s a rare 'falls-from-the-sky' type! Everyone knows childhood friends get insta-wrecked by those. Just that one trait is enough to KO your whole childhood-friend status!"
"Then what should I do?"
Finally swayed, Qiu Yu turned to Ye Qin for guidance.
Ye Qin smirked. "First, you have to stop saying dumb stuff without thinking! You two grew up together—why does your mouth constantly pick fights with him?"
Qiu Yu looked awkward.
Her eyes wandered, pretending not to hear.
"Answer me."
Ye Qin pinched her cheeks and forced her to face forward.
Based on her knowledge of Qiu Yu, she had a feeling the reason would be hilariously innocent.
Sure enough, Qiu Yu gave up trying to dodge and said, "When we were little, didn’t everyone tease the person they liked? I just... never stopped."
"Are you a first-grade boy?"
Ye Qin facepalmed.
Qiu Yu looked away.
"Forget it. Let’s not dwell on that." Ye Qin sighed. "Start simple. Just say hello once a day."
Qiu Yu’s eyes lit up. She nodded vigorously.
Ye Qin raised an eyebrow. Something felt off.
No way a romance noob would be this motivated...
She thought for a moment—then realized.
"Lu Zheng always greets you first, doesn’t he?"
Ye Qin gave Qiu Yu a deadpan look and poked her forehead. "Starting tomorrow, you greet him first. And talk to him at least ten times a day. Think before you speak. Don’t go saying random stuff like before. Got it?"
"Can we... lower it to five?"
Qiu Yu tried to bargain.
"Not negotiable!"
Romance demon instructor Ye Qin firmly rejected the plea and committed to training this hopeless romantic mess with military rigor.
Whether this girl—whose romance stats were probably all G-rank—could succeed?
Ye Qin had her doubts.