43: We've already broken up!

As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Qiaoqiao's face instantly darkened, and her beautiful eyebrows knitted tightly together.

"She cheated?"

"Holy crap!"

She couldn't even help herself and blurted out a curse.

"Back in school, I don't know how many girls secretly liked you, thinking you were devoted and reliable!"

"I didn't expect Wu Ruolan to beat them all to it!"

"And the result? The result is she fucking cheated?!"

Lin Chao looked up in surprise and looked at her: "Really?"

"People actually liked me?"

Yan Qiaoqiao rolled her eyes at him, her gaze as if looking at an ungrateful idiot.

"Why would I lie to you?"

"Back then, in our class alone, several girls discussed in private how to pursue you!"

Hearing this and seeing Yan Qiaoqiao standing up for him, Lin Chao suddenly laughed.

He leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice, speaking with a playful tone.

"Among them... it wouldn't happen to include you too, right?"

The air seemed to freeze for a second.

The anger on Yan Qiaoqiao's face vanished without a trace instantly.

She raised her eyes, her bright and clear gaze staring straight at Lin Chao.

In her eyes, the playfulness was gone, replaced by an indescribable seriousness.

"Then... what if I say yes?"

Lin Chao was pinned to the spot again, his heart skipping a beat.

His brain buzzed once more, going completely blank.

Just as this awkward yet ambiguous atmosphere was about to spread.

"Pfft—"

Yan Qiaoqiao suddenly burst out laughing.

She laughed so hard she trembled, her eyes curving into two beautiful crescents.

"Look at that silly look on your face!" She pointed at Lin Chao, laughing uncontrollably, "I was just joking!"

Lin Chao finally snapped out of it, a flush of heat burning from the base of his neck to the tips of his ears.

He breathed a long sigh of relief and followed with a dry laugh.

"I was going to say," he scratched his head with some embarrassment, "you were our school's campus belle back then; the line of people pursuing you could stretch from the South Gate to the North Gate."

"How could you possibly like an ordinary person like me?"

Yan Qiaoqiao just smiled and didn't respond.

She lowered her head, seemingly organizing documents, but her long eyelashes hid the flash of loneliness in her eyes.

She silently said in her heart: Why wouldn't it be possible?

When she was in college, she really did like him.

She liked the sweat dripping in the sunlight when he played basketball, and she liked the gentle and devoted gaze he had when looking at Wu Ruolan.

But at that time, he was already someone else's boyfriend.

So she could only bury this innocent crush deep in the bottom of her heart.

Who would have thought?

Who would have thought that more than a year after graduation, he would actually break up with Wu Ruolan.

And she, by such a coincidence or twist of fate, entered the same company as him and even became his subordinate.

The corners of Yan Qiaoqiao's mouth involuntarily curled upward.

Perhaps this was an opportunity given to her by the heavens in the dark.

Seeing her remain silent, Lin Chao thought he had taken the joke too far, so he cleared his throat and resumed his posture as a supervisor.

"Alright, first get familiar with the work environment."

He pointed at the computer screen: "If there's anything you don't understand, ask me anytime."

After saying that, as if remembering something, he added with a smile.

"By the way, I'll treat you to lunch today as a welcome meal."

Yan Qiaoqiao immediately looked up, the smile on her face becoming bright and radiant again, as if the moment of loss just now had never occurred.

"Okay!"

Her voice was crisp and cheerful.

"Then it's a deal. You're not allowed to go back on it, Lord Supervisor!"

Near noon, the sound of keyboard clicking in the office gradually thinned out.

Lin Chao raised his hand to check his watch; it was exactly eleven-thirty.

He left his office and walked straight to Yan Qiaoqiao's workstation.

"It's time, let's go eat."

Yan Qiaoqiao was startled at first, then a large smile blossomed on her face, and she blinked in surprise.

"Ah? Supervisor, are you really treating me to lunch?"

Lin Chao was amused by her look and shrugged helplessly.

"Didn't we agree? Could it be fake?"

"Let's go, what do you want to eat? There are quite a few good restaurants nearby."

Yan Qiaoqiao immediately stood up like a child who had received candy, her eyes curving as she tidied her desk while saying crisply.

"As the one being treated, how could I have the right to be picky!"

Her voice carried a hint of playful coquettishness.

"Whatever Supervisor Lin treats me to, I'll eat!"

The two walked out of the office building one after the other, eventually choosing a seemingly elegant home-style restaurant nearby.

They ordered a few signature dishes and chatted casually while eating; the atmosphere was much more relaxed than in the office.

From interesting stories in college to the trifles of work today, time flew by.

But just as the two were chatting happily, Yan Qiaoqiao's face suddenly turned pale.

She subconsciously knitted her brows, her right hand instinctively clutching her stomach, and a fine layer of cold sweat even broke out on her forehead.

Although the movement was subtle, it didn't escape Lin Chao's eyes.

He immediately put down his chopsticks and asked with concern.

"What's wrong? Uncomfortable?"

Yan Qiaoqiao forced a smile and shook her head.

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

She took a deep breath, seemingly trying to suppress the pain.

"It's an old problem, just a bit of a stomachache."

Lin Chao's gaze quickly swept over the dishes on the table.

A plate of boiled fish with rolling red oil; a plate of dry-fried pork intestines, crispy and fragrant; and a dish of cold wood ear mushrooms, sour and spicy.

His brow instantly furrowed.

For someone with a bad stomach, these dishes were practically a death warrant.

"Don't touch these dishes."

He extended his chopsticks and pointed at those dishes.

"This is too spicy, this is too oily, and that one is cold. Eating them will only increase the burden on your stomach."

Yan Qiaoqiao was in intense pain, but hearing this, she looked up in surprise.

"Eh? Lin Chao... you understand these things?"

Lin Chao explained casually.

"My grandfather and maternal grandfather are both TCM practitioners. I've been influenced since I was a child and learned a little bit."

Yan Qiaoqiao's eyes widened even further.

"Really?"

Her voice rose a few notches.

"Then you... why didn't you go to Medical school?"

This question seemed to trigger a switch.

The relaxed expression on Lin Chao's face froze instantly.

He hesitated for a moment, his gaze drifting out the window, seemingly falling into some past event he didn't want to remember.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke slowly, his voice somewhat heavy.

"When I was in high school... something happened at home."