Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Ling Yu waited outside the interview room for three full hours.

She was last in line. One by one, the applicants ahead of her emerged, but just as her turn finally arrived, the young assistant stationed at the entrance casually closed the registration book.

Addressing the remaining applicants in a businesslike manner, she announced, “That concludes today’s interviews. Please return home and wait for further notice. In three days, we’ll inform everyone of the results by text message…”

Fragments of light fell around Ling Yu as she slowly raised her head.

“Excuse me…”

She removed the lollipop stick from her mouth, her pitch-black eyes settling on the assistant.

With a smile that did not reach her eyes, she asked, “What about me?”

Ling Yu’s expression appeared calm. The corners of her naturally smiling lips curved upward, creating the illusion that she was pleasant and easy to reason with.

However, no amusement could be found in her eyes. Her peach-blossom eyes were half-narrowed, and her thick lashes concealed pupils as deep and lifeless as abandoned wells.

The assistant instinctively avoided her gaze. Then she looked Ling Yu over suspiciously.

“I’m sorry, Miss. Are you certain you were scheduled for an interview today?”

Ling Yu inclined her chin slightly and looked toward the registration book in the HR assistant’s hands.

“I registered my name at the reception desk with the others three hours ago. Oh, my name is Ling Yu.”

Upon hearing that name, the HR assistant showed sudden understanding.

She coughed awkwardly, as though she had already been informed about Ling Yu.

“So you’re Miss Ling.”

After adjusting her expression, she said, “You’ve been rejected.”

“…”

The air fell briefly silent.

Ling Yu paused for three seconds before revealing an ambiguous smile.

“Would you mind telling me why? If I remember correctly, I haven’t been interviewed yet.”

“I’m sorry, but the company’s employment procedures have determined the result. I’m unable to disclose anything further.”

The HR assistant’s answer was flawless.

She signaled to a male colleague nearby. A moment later, he returned with several security guards following behind him.

Their intentions were obvious.

If Ling Yu continued causing trouble, the security guards would “escort” her outside.

Ling Yu was so angry that she laughed.

“Gu Qing did this.”

It was a statement, not a question.

Although Kaihe Law Firm did not rank particularly highly within the national legal profession, it was one of the foremost firms in Yuncheng.

Its personnel management was highly standardized, and all hiring decisions strictly followed formal procedures.

Ling Yu had already passed both the written examination and the preliminary interview.

Today was the final interview, during which the HR director and the heads of the various departments would jointly select their candidates. It was the final stage of the hiring process.

No company’s management would reject an applicant at this point without even meeting her unless there was a particular reason.

The only possible explanation was Gu Qing…

Their grudge continued accumulating, layer after layer.

A surge of anger rose in Ling Yu’s chest, and the curve of her lips widened.

The HR assistant’s expression stiffened as she attempted to defend Gu Qing.

“Miss Ling, please don’t make unfounded accusations. Attorney Gu has countless important matters to manage and barely has enough time to discuss cases with major clients. She would never interfere in something as trivial as personnel changes—”

“That’s good.”

Ling Yu interrupted her unhurriedly.

She brushed aside the assistant’s blocking arm and strode toward the interview-room door.

The assistant cried out in alarm behind her.

Ling Yu brushed past her shoulder and whispered, “Baby, don’t scream.”

With that, she turned the handle and gracefully entered.

The instant the door closed, she remembered to lock it behind her.

Inside the interview room, the HR director and the heads of the various departments were lowering their heads and organizing their documents.

“Are the interviews over?”

Gu Qing entered the conference room through the employees’ passageway.

Everyone present visibly froze.

The HR director was the first to break the silence.

“I didn’t expect you to come down personally, Attorney Gu.”

She offered Gu Qing a seat, then walked to the water dispenser and poured her a cup of hot water.

The department heads simultaneously returned to their senses and hurriedly cleared a path.

They exchanged uncertain, astonished looks.

“The interviews have just concluded. We currently have seven prospective candidates,” Cai Dong said.

With his large belly leading the way, he handed Gu Qing the files of several outstanding applicants they had selected during the interviews.

Cai Dong was the deputy head of the business department and was responsible for handling the department’s administrative affairs.

However, the final authority over major decisions still belonged to Gu Qing.

Seeing her arrive, Cai Dong set aside the seniority he ordinarily flaunted before others.

Gu Qing’s talent was undeniable. Over the past year, she had personally rescued Kaihe Law Firm from the verge of bankruptcy and brought it back to prosperity.

For the sake of preserving his livelihood, Cai Dong tactfully bent forward and requested her instructions.

“Several of today’s applicants are exceptional law students pursuing combined master’s and doctoral degrees. They possess strong foundations and respond well under pressure, so we have temporarily retained their files. Naturally, the final hiring decisions still require Attorney Gu’s approval.”

His words were impeccable.

In truth, Cai Dong and the others had already decided which applicants they intended to hire.

Under ordinary circumstances, Gu Qing had no time to handle minor matters such as personnel changes.

She needed to communicate with clients. To the outside world, Gu Qing was the firm’s signature figure, and every major business owner sought her first.

Internally, she assigned cases and selected the personnel responsible for them. She also planned how the firm would respond to every difficult detail that might emerge in court.

By the time she finished addressing the firm’s countless decisions each day, Gu Qing had almost no free time remaining.

Frankly, this was the first time they had ever seen her personally visit an interview room.

The HR director placed the cup of hot water in Gu Qing’s hand and laughed diplomatically.

“Your timing is perfect, Attorney Gu. You can help us finalize the candidates. Director Li said that your decision is also his decision.”

Director Li’s full name was Li Jun, the owner of Kaihe Law Firm.

Several years earlier, poor management had nearly driven the firm into bankruptcy. He had been forced to return and take control of his family business, leaving him with increasingly little time to manage Kaihe.

Later, Gu Qing turned the situation around and placed Kaihe Law Firm back on the right track. Since Li Jun was overwhelmed by his family business, he had no choice but to delegate the firm’s major and minor decisions to Gu Qing.

When the department heads saw that Gu Qing remained silent, they began smilingly introducing the candidates their respective departments wished to hire.

Gu Qing raised her eyelids and casually flipped through the small stack of résumés in her hands.

Her gaze rapidly swept across the names.

A moment later, she calmly pressed the résumés onto the long table.

Speaking in her usual indifferent tone, she said unhurriedly, “Fine. Hire these people.”

Cai Dong: […]

The HR director: […]

Question marks practically covered everyone’s faces.

They looked as though they desperately wanted to ask, “Then why did you come here?”

Gu Qing calmly withdrew her gaze, seemingly unaware of how abrupt and unnecessary her sudden appearance in the interview room had been.

She turned away with her usual cold elegance—only to come face-to-face with Ling Yu as the latter barged inside.

A pair of rimless, gold-framed glasses rested on Ling Yu’s nose.

She was not nearsighted. Without glasses, her eyes appeared alluring and seductive. Once she put them on, however, they concealed some of the brilliance between her brows and eyes.

The cool white light overhead fell across her already fair skin. Her slender neck looked smooth and pale, while her foxlike eyes were steeped in soft light, lending her an additional air of refinement, courtesy, elegance, and gentleness.

Her lips curved as she approached gracefully.

A thin layer of powder covered her fair face, making her features appear gradually sharper, as though they had been polished with wax.

Anyone familiar with Ling Yu knew this was how she appeared when angry.

The angrier she became, the calmer and gentler her smile appeared.

Gu Qing instinctively sensed danger.

Her gaze shifted, and she expressionlessly moved one step aside.

A shadow suddenly descended beside her.

Under everyone’s eyes, Ling Yu slowly brushed past Gu Qing’s cool, sculpted body.

For the interview, Ling Yu had worn a simple coat with a partially open suit collar. Its plunging design half-concealed and half-revealed the soft swell of her breasts beneath a thin layer of fabric.

She moved extremely slowly. The softness before her chest swayed like rippling water as it slid past Gu Qing’s fitted blouse.

Standing against the light, Gu Qing’s pupils contracted into ink-black pinpoints for a single instant.

She pressed her lips together and pulled open the blouse button constricting her neck.

Her dark-blue eyes met Ling Yu’s provocative gaze. In the instant their eyes collided, Ling Yu could see undisguised sparks within Gu Qing’s crystal-clear pupils.

The two women abruptly entered a standoff.

The air filled with the scent of gunpowder.

Everyone present stared at them in bewilderment.

“Who is that?”

Cai Dong signaled with his eyes and tugged at the HR director’s elbow.

The HR director looked equally confused.

The other managers were even more baffled. They exchanged glances and saw identical shock and fear in one another’s eyes.

The last time Gu Qing had openly displayed such fury and radiated this much aggression was during the trial of the school-bullying case one year ago.

The defendant she had glared at then—the former heir to Tianhong Industries—had long since been reduced to ashes after receiving the death penalty in court.

“Ling! Yu!”

A sharp, frigid light covered Gu Qing’s blue eyes as she enunciated the name of this woman recklessly courting death.

Feeling the chill sweeping over her entire body, Ling Yu clicked her tongue. She raised a hand and adjusted the braid hanging over her shoulder.

Then she hummed with a smile and replied in the gentlest possible voice, “Attorney Gu! Oh, you’re here too.”

Gu Qing stared at her.

“Get out.”

Ling Yu smiled again.

She subtly shifted closer and lowered her voice so only the two of them could hear.

“Your body wasn’t nearly that indifferent, was it? Jiejie, your earlobes turned red just now. Hmm?”

Ling Yu’s soft fragrance, carrying a trace of milk candy, entered Gu Qing’s nose.

The space between Gu Qing’s brows twitched violently twice.

Just as she prepared to shove Ling Yu away, the other woman seemed to read her intentions and nimbly retreated to a safe distance.

Ling Yu leisurely opened her handbag and retrieved a recording pen.

After stopping three meters away from Gu Qing, she blinked.

“Attorney Gu, I came here for an interview. Do you think this might earn me an opportunity?”

She waved the recording pen in her hand—the one that had fallen from Gu Qing’s coat several days ago.

Ling Yu stared meaningfully at the ashen-faced Gu Qing, seemingly certain she would agree.

Her threat was brazen and fearless.

A moment later, she turned toward the interviewers, who were all staring at her, and smiled obediently.

“Good morning, respected interviewers. I’m Applicant Number One Hundred, Ling Yu. I’m interviewing for the position of archival intern.”

The moment Ling Yu finished speaking, the concealed door to the employees’ passageway opened with a creak.

A clear male voice filled with delighted surprise broke through the gunpowder-heavy atmosphere.

“Ling Yu!”

The man standing in the doorway wore a well-tailored floral suit. Backlit by the corridor, he appeared uncertain and called again.

“Yuyu, is that you?”

Upon hearing his voice, the previously arrogant Ling Yu abruptly stiffened.

At the same moment, the firm’s senior managers turned toward the entrance in astonishment. Then, almost simultaneously, they greeted the man with visible restraint.

“President Li.”

Ling Yu closed her eyes.

008 asked:

[Is he someone you know, Host? Don’t be so impolite. He appears to be the female lead’s boss, so you should treat him more respectfully.]

[…]

Ling Yu replied:

[If I close my eyes and faint on the spot right now, is it already too late?]