Back at the hotel, Ling Qingyu finally managed to persuade soone not to go to work at all and to take a good rest for the entire day.
Astrid really couldn't withstand Ling Qingyu's relentless persuasion. Her curiosity grew, and her desire to work gradually dissipated. She had to admit that Ling Qingyu had thoroughly captured her attention.
Since Astrid had no urgent worries about her work—and given her role as a senior in the field with no pressing deadlines at the mont—she decided to spend the day with her best friend and reminisce about their past together.
In fact, now that she thought about it carefully, she sowhat regretted pushing her real friend away because of a man. Alas, Ling Qingyu had been right to persuade her to travel around the world and search for her own path.
To Ling Qingyu's delight, her closest classmate agreed to fly around the world with her. What Spirit Beauty and Clothing? What Spirit Electronics? What Spirit Heavy Industry HongQi?
Leave it all to her first confidante and closest sister, Secretary Zhao Xiurong, to handle. Oh no—she was the president now.
Zhao Xiurong: The promotion and salary increase don't match my workload!
Ignoring the possibility that her confidantes and closest subordinates might rebel, Ling Qingyu decided to accompany Astrid on a world tour.
No, she definitely wasn't simping over Astrid. She just wanted to relax once in a while—and conduct a global investigation.
Yes, it was a deep, purposeful research mission for her grand strategy in the coming future. It was never about beautiful won.
Miss System would definitely argue otherwise if she heard Ling Qingyu's self-assured reasoning.
The conversation gradually turned codic as both won reflected on what they had missed in the past. One had been obsessed with graduation and her deeper goal of earning wealth to make her mother proud and straighten her spine again.
The other had been head over heels for a man and nearly lost her only best friend. If not for Ling Qingyu's change, Astrid might still be lost in regret. And Ling Qingyu was sure that the predecessor version of herself wouldn't even have known how to reconnect with her best friend and resolve the estrangent.
But now, under Ling Qingyu's shaless offensive, Astrid's defensive walls quickly collapsed.
There was one thing that left Ling Qingyu feeling helpless—Astrid still rembered the phone and insisted on buying it.
Her best friend kept playing with it nonstop, even during their conversation. She repeatedly urged Ling Qingyu to sell the phone to her.
Of course, Ling Qingyu wasn't going to sell her own phone. Instead, she had to comfort Astrid by promising that she would gift her one very soon, while secretly sending a ssage to Athena to manufacture another then ship it over later.
Honestly, Ling Qingyu had never expected Astrid's attention to focus on the phone instead of her rather tyrannical behavior earlier. She had even prepared herself to answer Astrid's questions, but those never ca.
However, considering Astrid's background, Ling Qingyu realized her friend wasn't ordinary. She felt grateful for that—it saved her the trouble of explaining too much or making up lies if the questioning had continued.
anwhile, Astrid tapped the device several tis, exploring its functions. It behaved no differently from other phones except for its extre smoothness and speed. It was almost like a plain phone with unique design features—still adhering to engineering concepts rather than fashionable aesthetics.
At least its appearance looked stunningly pure and beautiful without excessive embellishnt.
Just then, the phone in Astrid's hand vibrated and slipped from her grip.
"Whoops! No!"
Clack. Clack.
The phone fell onto the flat floor surface, and Astrid froze—her hands still stretched out in a futile attempt to catch it.
Ling Qingyu almost burst out laughing as her usually serious friend suddenly turned the situation into a cody show.
The buzzing continued, the phone vibrating against the floor. Soone called. Astrid snapped out of her embarrassnt, bit her tongue, and turned to look at Ling Qingyu.
"I think I just broke your phone," Astrid said hesitantly, assuming the device's extre thinness and lightness ant it was fragile. "How much is it?"
"Do you think my phone is that fragile?" Ling Qingyu scoffed.
Since Tang Ziyi had brought over the special materials along with their complete properties, manufacturing them wasn't a problem—aside from large-scale production. Most conventional materials that required high tensile strength or stress resistance had been replaced by this new special tal.
A tal that could beco as soft as cloth, adaptable to different needs simply by altering the internal lattice structure.
"It's alright. Give it to . The phone won't break even if a truck crushes it," Ling Qingyu said when Astrid checked the phone thoroughly, ignoring the call.
"Are you serious?"
"I never lie, Astrid. You could even use it as a ballistic shield," Ling Qingyu said with a smile. "Now, who's calling right now?"
She already had a guess, and sure enough, the na was familiar. Athena controlled everything, so Ling Qingyu didn't need to input much to organize things.
While Ling Qingyu stared at the screen with a aningful gaze, Astrid focused on the tablet nearby, not bothered or intrigued by her expression at all.
"Can I take a look?" Astrid asked.
"Sure. It's the sa as other technology outside, just with more perks. But I don't know why you're so interested in it," Ling Qingyu shook her head. "Aren't you curious to know who's calling?"
She tapped the answer button and greeted the caller. "Hello, Kate. I'm happy that you were willing to call ."
anwhile, Astrid snickered at her pretentious best friend. She had noticed that Ling Qingyu tended to show a bit of narcissism and enjoyed being fawned over. As a best friend, how could she not disappoint such cravings and cure the disease?
On the other side, Kate had been speechless as she waited patiently while each beep passed without a response.
Just before the call disconnected, she heard a snap, so rustling, and faint banter—voices from Astrid and Ling Qingyu drifting through the line.
When Ling Qingyu's words finally reached her, Kate wished she could reach through the network and smack that face. Who said she was willing to call you?
On the surface, however, Kate greeted politely. "Hey, Ling. I'm glad you didn't hang up on there."
"Oh, my dear Kate. How could I bear to disappoint my beautiful classmate?" Ling Qingyu replied with exaggerated remorse. "I'm sorry. Astrid and I were rolling around playfully at the ti."
"I guess you were making a bet on sothing," Kate said through gritted teeth, implying the mont earlier when Ling Qingyu had confidently stated that Kate would call first.
"No, there's no bet, but we were indeed reminiscing about our university days," Ling Qingyu replied. "How was your important eting this morning? Did it go well?"
"It was going well… until an email created a terrible blunder." Kate sounded as if she were holding sothing back.
The more emotional Kate sounded, the more relaxed Ling Qingyu beca. She didn't rule out the possibility that Kate was pretending—acting vulnerable so that Ling Qingyu would feel satisfied and perhaps leave so room for negotiation.
Business and politics were always about acting and social skills. Everyone wore an extra layer of skin.
In any case, Kate might have believed she was retaliating for the unpleasantness and impoliteness from the morning. But Ling Qingyu didn't find her behavior particularly abhorrent.
No doubt, no one liked soone acting high and mighty. Still, Ling Qingyu's heart wasn't so small that it couldn't tolerate a bit of arrogance.
Believe it or not, the observer's effect existed. The phenonon was simple: when soone focused only on negative factors, that negativity tended to amplify in reality. The sa held true for positive perspectives as well.
"Oh? I'm curious. What email?" Ling Qingyu said lightly. "Surely, Kate, you didn't call because you need my help?"
She casually kicked the ball back to Kate.
Let's see how long you can keep your composure.
Yes, Ling Qingyu had said Kate's arrogance didn't bother her much—but that didn't an she couldn't enjoy helping from the sidelines a little.
Yep. Help.
Not teaching a lesson. 😉
Finally, no matter how Kate tried to maneuver the conversation—testing Ling Qingyu and attempting to make her reveal her intentions first—Ling Qingyu's replies remained calm, reasonable, and frustratingly neutral.
In the end, Kate lost patience and asked directly.
"Ling, did you send that email? What do you want?"
Seeing Kate finally relent, Ling Qingyu smiled and raised her brows at Astrid. The phone was on speaker mode, and Astrid clearly heard the helplessness mixed with anger in Kate's voice.
Astrid simply shrugged at Ling Qingyu, silently gesturing for her not to toy with their forr classmate—even if Kate wasn't particularly close to them.
"I think there's a misunderstanding here," Ling Qingyu said calmly. "It's not about what I want. It's about what you want.
"Trust , I have no intention of hurting you or doing whatever suspicious things you're imagining. I'm here to help."
"Oh? Now you admit you sent the email?" Kate laughed dryly. "And this is your idea of helping—pressing a dagger to my neck?"
"Does that even matter in our situation?" Ling Qingyu replied. "I simply don't want to attend a classmate's funeral this month because of so pride issues.
"If holding you hostage through information is the only way for us to communicate and shorten the distance between us, then I'm willing to do that, Kate."
"Besides, I'd also prefer to have this conversation face-to-face."
"When can we et?" Kate finally relented. "Though I still believe I'm not in as much danger as you claim."
"As soon as possible. The sooner we address your situation, the better."
There was a brief silence before Kate asked quietly,
"Who are you really, Ling?"
Ling Qingyu chuckled softly.
"You'll find out when we start working together, Kate. See you soon."
Ling Qingyu ended the call and chuckled under Astrid's pressing gaze.
"Do you want to co with to et Kate?" she asked.
"Nah, Qingyu. I don't like ddling with that woman. She's completely outside my definition of close friends," Astrid replied without hesitation.
"Oh, Astrid, I'm so happy you consider part of your inner circle."
"You?" Astrid snorted. "You're still in the probation period."
Ling Qingyu widened her eyes in exaggerated disbelief.
"Wow, Astrid. You really need to learn how to joke around."
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