Confessing To An Annoying Boss

The atmosphere suddenly became strange and ambiguous. Qiao Ziman grew cautious, instinctively leaning towards the door, her hand slowly reaching for the seatbelt buckle. Chi Yin’s expression froze momentarily. She raised her hand, pointed to the corner of Qiao Ziman’s mouth, and sparingly uttered two words, “Drool.”

Qiao Ziman: “???”

Chi Yin sighed, then took out a tissue from her bag and handed it to Qiao Ziman, “Drool, wipe it off.”

Realizing the truth, Qiao Ziman’s face turned bright red with embarrassment. She wished she could find a hole to crawl into and quickly raised her arm to wipe the corner of her mouth awkwardly.

Chi Yin watched Qiao Ziman’s clumsy actions with surprise, her eyebrows knitting together briefly before she quietly withdrew the tissue.

“Sorry for the trouble.” Qiao Ziman smiled awkwardly, pushed open the car door, and hurriedly fled.

“Beautiful driver, the fare will be automatically settled through the app. Bye-bye.”

In a flash, Qiao Ziman darted into the TOC building. During the morning rush, there was usually a queue for the elevator.  Today, luck was on her side, and she caught an ascending elevator just in time. Qiao Ziman dashed forward and successfully squeezed into the crowded elevator.

The elevator doors were slowly closing when a familiar figure casually walked in.

Qiao Ziman enthusiastically waved at her, “Beautiful driver, what a coincidence!”

Chi Yin looked over at the sound.

Qiao Ziman grinned and kept waving, “Over here, over here, over here.”

Chi Yin started walking towards her.

Qiao Ziman smirked, “Hehe, you can catch the next one.”

The elevator doors closed completely, cutting off Chi Yin’s slightly exasperated expression and the rest of Qiao Ziman’s sentence. “It’s about to be overloaded.”

In the end, Qiao Ziman managed to clock in at the last second. With her perfect attendance intact, Qiao Ziman was in an excellent mood. She wandered over to a group of gossiping colleagues and asked, “The new manager hasn’t arrived yet?”

“Nope.”

“The management can’t be late on their first day, right?”

Qiao Ziman nodded, “Yeah, exactly, exactly.”

A colleague standing guard at the door gave a loud “ahem.”

The group quickly scattered like birds and beasts. Just as Qiao Ziman returned to her desk, she saw a familiar figure appear at the main entrance.

A radiant and stunning face, dressed impeccably with a tall and graceful figure.

Isn’t that the beautiful driver? What a coincidence.

A few department supervisors quickly rushed over to curry favor. Chi Yin promptly interrupted them, speaking in a businesslike tone, “I ran into some trouble on the way and was late. We’ll meet in five minutes.”

She emphasized the word “trouble” and gave Qiao Ziman a meaningful look.

Qiao Ziman: “…”

If she wasn’t mistaken, she had just shut the new manager out of the elevator.

What a mess.

She swore it wasn’t intentional. Surely, the new manager wouldn’t hold a grudge over something so minor. Still, Qiao Ziman couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy. She glanced up and secretly peeked at the new manager. Just then, Chi Yin and her entourage started walking in her direction, and their eyes met.

She’d been caught.

Feeling awkward, Qiao Ziman could only manage a friendly smile.

Chi Yin showed no expression as she walked past Qiao Ziman, coldly ignoring her as if she were invisible. This made Qiao Ziman feel even more uneasy.

Once Chi Yin entered the meeting room, the colleagues around Qiao Ziman finally breathed a sigh of relief. They began whispering to each other.

“The new manager is really good-looking.”

“She doesn’t look that old; I wonder if she has a partner.”

“Don’t even think about it. Look at her aura—she seems like someone you don’t want to mess with. Let’s all be careful, mind our words, and break it up.”

Qiao Ziman had no intention of joining the conversation; she slumped over her desk, feeling a bit down.

Xiao Jing brought her a cup of coffee, looking concerned, “Sister Qiao.”

“Are you feeling unwell? You seem out of it.”

Qiao Ziman slowly lifted her head, rubbed her stomach, and said gloomily, “I didn’t eat breakfast.”

Xiao Jing: “Sister Qiao, did you stay up too late last night? At least you weren’t late.”

Adding salt to the wound! Qiao Ziman felt even more frustrated.

Xiao Jing asked again, “How about I order some takeout for you?”

Suddenly, Qiao Ziman remembered something and smacked her forehead, “Do you have a Type-C charger?” She held up her phone, “It’s out of battery.”

“I’ll go find one for you,” Xiao Jing went to borrow one and brought it back.

Qiao Ziman plugged in her phone, and as soon as it powered on, several messages popped up. Most of the messages were from the Didi app.

Driver: [Hello, I’ve arrived.]

[Hello, where are you?]

[Why can’t I reach you on the phone?]

Five minutes later.

[Hello, I’ve canceled the order.]

[It’s such a waste of time dealing with someone like you first thing in the morning!]

Qiao Ziman stared at these messages, her mind going blank. Didn’t she already get in the car?

Qiao Ziman hesitated to type a reply, suddenly realizing that the driver seemed to be a man. She carefully double-checked the information. Suddenly, she realized she must have mistaken the license plate.

How ridiculous!

Buzz.

At that moment, a message popped up in the company’s WeChat group.

[Tagging all members.]

Qiao Ziman clicked on it.

[Executive: Let’s all warmly welcome President Chi Yin to our TOC family.]

Buzz.

[“Yin” has joined the group chat.]

Seeing that familiar profile picture and ID, Qiao Ziman’s mind buzzed in shock. Memories she thought were long forgotten flooded back, overwhelming her and leaving her breathless. No wonder she looked familiar. Isn’t this the same woman she met at the restaurant—the one who flirtatiously asked, “Wanna hang out?”

How ridiculous, how absurd, how utterly bizarre!

Sigh.