You Sound Sleepy

Translator: BipBop

The office was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The coffee maker made a soft ‘click’ before falling silent. Its light began blinking, indicating that the coffee was ready.

“…”

Que Qingyan’s deep gaze fell to Lin Mian’s blushing face. He had a fading, faint smile. 

He didn’t speak for a while. Lin Mian reckoned that her rash behavior had temporarily shocked him. She didn’t dare look at him. With her head lowered, she tried to double down, “I think…” You are really handsome.

Halfway through her words, she was suddenly cut off by the vibration of a phone.

His gaze slightly pausing, Que Qingyan answered the phone. While he was talking, his fingers curled and tapped the desk that was in front of Lin Mian, gesturing that she should sit down first, his expression unchanged.

Lin Mian, however, interpreted a meaning from his indifferent, handsome face.

”…” Sit down, I’ll settle accounts with you later.

He didn’t avoid her as he was making the call. He stood up, walked to the side of the coffee machine, grabbed a clean porcelain cup, and retrieved the coffee from the coffee maker.

The person on the other side of the call sounded panicky, their voice getting faster and faster. Que Qingyan, his face unchanged, calmly waited for the other person to finish. Finally, he said, “I’ve already looked over your case in the past two days. As the trial is in a month, while you’re on bail, I need to provide genuine information, including files, resources, and related contracts.”

Lin Mian was also obediently waiting for her own trial. An extra cup was in front of her. 

While Que Qingyan was talking on the phone, he casually poured coffee into the cup for her. He put down the white porcelain cup, his distinct slender fingers delicately hooking the cup’s handle. He turned the cup halfway, adjusting the cup’s handle so it directly faced her right hand. 

Lin Mian looked up at him, her eyes drooping.

The phone call was still going on. Que Qingyan’s voice was steady and carried a cold flavor. “As your litigation agent, I hope you can speak frankly to me.”

Speak frankly…

Lin Mian’s eyes flashed when she heard that. She silently drank her coffee.

Sudden – suddenly I feel very guilty…

After Que Qingyan and the other party formalized a meeting time, already finishing her cup of coffee, Lin Mian whispered, “Professor Que.”

He ended the call and jotted a few notes in a case file. “Want more coffee?”

“No need.”

Que Qingyan put aside his pen, and his black pupils focused on her across his large desk. “What did you say before that call? I couldn’t quite catch that.”

A famous manhua author once said, “Whether it’s manhua or real life, regardless of what you encounter, you must bravely and boldly face it. Those who do not dare to confront the facts will forever be cowards.”

Lin Mian, a famous manhua author: “Uh – no, it’s nothing.”

“…” Bai Jiayi moved her hand, applying lipstick, which made her lips a scarlet red. She slightly opened her mouth, surprised. “Then what?”

“Then, he told me I could go.”

“You actually told him to his face he was handsome?! That’s THE Que Qingyan, Mian Bao.” Bai Jiayi entered Lin Mian’s bedroom and knocked a couple of times on the closet. “Open the closest, Lin Mian. Seriously, every time you mess up you hide in the closet. Can you change that? I’m afraid that you’ll suffocate to death.”

Lin Mian’s muffled voice came from the shutter doors. “No.”

“It was only you two in the office. There’s no way he couldn’t hear your stupid comment.” Bai Jiayi leaned on the closest and analyzed it for her. “Since he asked what you said, he must have been pretending he didn’t hear you.”

“…I know.”

Although Que Qingyan didn’t outright reject her, he had actually made his stance clear.

He regarded her as an innocent little girl and was therefore unable to bluntly crush her heart. Instead, he turned her down in a very gentlemanly manner. 

But this won’t make me give up…

In her dim closet, Lin Mian gloomily hugged her knees. I like him even more now.

“Wow, what a brilliant rejection.” Bai Jiayi couldn’t but praise his skill.

She had said before that Que Qingyan and Lin Mian’s mental ages were just too far apart. Surviving in the law world for many years, he was unperturbed by the trivialities of life. Lin Mian’s childish advances were just child’s play in his eyes. It didn’t phase him one bit. 

But…

“You know, maybe your crude and simple way of chasing people might actually work one day?” Bai Jiayi comforted her while wiping a mirror and reapplying her lipstick. “Mian Bao, I need to visit my parent’s house later. I may not be back tonight.”

A soft rustling sound could be heard from the closet. The shutter doors slightly opened, creating a three-finger gap between the doors. It revealed Lin Mian’s watery puppy-dog eyes. 

“Why are you going out?”

Bai Jiayi rolled her eyes and explained. “Feast at Swan Goose Gate[1].”

Bai Jiayi couldn’t hide the fact that she was so pissed off by her husband that she stormed away from her honeymoon. The two families found out. As a result, the Shen family had to give face to the Bai family and their family elders picked up the young master Shen the next day. Tonight, the two families were going to discuss the matter at the Bai’s family house. The young master Shen was going to make amends with Bai Jiayi.

After Bai Jiayi left, Lin Mian, still in the closet, reflected on her life, which was full of twists and turns. Envisioning her hopeless future, she firmly decided that she should first just cook a bowl of noodles.

[1] Idiom that means a feast/celebratory event that’s actually a trap.