Chapter 174: Just a Tiny Taste

June 3rd.

Sunday.

Overcast turning to cloudy.

Temperature between 23 and 32 degrees.

She didn’t know if it was just psychological, but every time that time of the month came around, Jiang Ning always had a craving for cold things.

Like ice water and ice cream.

Even though she knew it wasn’t good for her body.

Still, whenever she saw others enjoying them, she’d get this illusion of a parched throat and dry mouth.

“Mingyu-jie~”

Jiang Ning pointed at the iced milk tea in Li Mingyu’s hand and swallowed hard.

“Um…”

“No way!”

Before she could even finish her sentence, Li Mingyu flatly shut her down.

But Jiang Ning didn’t give up.

“Mingyu-jie~ you bought it for me anyway…”

“Just let me take one sip…”

“No, just one little lick~”

“You can’t even smell it!” Li Mingyu grabbed the iced milk tea off the table and tossed it into the trash can.

“If I’d known your period started, I wouldn’t have bought it for you!”

“I wouldn’t even have brought you a hot one!”

“Girls have to take special care of their bodies during that time!”

Realizing she had no hope of touching anything cold under Li Mingyu’s watch, Jiang Ning flopped onto the sofa, utterly defeated.

“Mingyu-jie, tell me, why do we have to go through this every month?”

Hearing that, Li Mingyu let out a helpless chuckle.

She swiveled her chair to a comfortable position and lazily stretched.

“Who knows.”

Sigh…

Jiang Ning let out a long sigh.

Bro, hurry back and patch this hole.

Without you, I’m bleeding out here!

Just then—

Li Mingyu suddenly remembered something.

She looked up at the clock hanging in the office.

“Jiang Ning, what time did Liao Liao say that show was on?”

“Around ten, I think…”

“Wanna listen?”

“Let’s not… feels kind of weird…”

At that, Li Mingyu smirked and rolled her eyes at the girl sprawled on the sofa.

“Listening to yourself is weird?”

“Little Jiang Ning, you’re really a strange one.”

She sat up, reached over to the CD player, and pressed a button.

Immediately—

A soft electric buzz came out.

Then Li Mingyu tuned the frequency.

Next second, two female voices came from the speaker.

[Hello everyone, this is FM101.3, Music with Zero Delay, I’m your host Yueyue.]

[Today we’re honored to have a very special guest on our program.]

[She’s beautiful, has a sweet voice, and is multi-talented. Though she’s only existed for a few months, she’s already created several hit songs.]

[And each one has led the trend.]

[Now, let’s welcome the virtual idol from Top Entertainment—‘Jiang Jiang’!]

Then, a clear, melodic voice sounded on the radio.

[Hello listeners, I’m the virtual music creator Jiang Jiang. Nice to meet you all…]

Hearing that, Li Mingyu turned with a half-smile, but when she looked over at someone—

She saw that Jiang Ning had curled up on the sofa, arms wrapped around her head, ears covered.

Like a total ostrich.

Li Mingyu stifled a laugh.

Host: [Hello Jiang Jiang, welcome to our show. Honestly, I’ve interviewed many celebrities over the years, but a virtual idol… well, it’s truly an honor!]

Jiang Jiang: [Thank you, thank you. This is my first time at a radio station too…]

Host: [How does it feel?]

Jiang Jiang: [Pretty novel. You feel like a virtual person too.]

Host: [Hahaha…]

They chatted briefly.

Then the host said: [Let’s listen to the first title track from Jiang Jiang’s latest album.]

[“Green Light”]

The moment the English intro played, Li Mingyu blinked in surprise.

She thought Jiang Ning had done another slow ballad.

But then, two seconds later—

A stretched pitch drop, followed by intense drumbeats and a powerfully striking melody.

Li Mingyu’s eyes lit up.

Jiang Ning’s past five songs had all been great, but none of their melodies had hit her this hard before.

[Waiting for a bit of luck and a shock]

[What a wonderful encounter]

………

[You are unlike anything else—you are the Green Light]

[So uniquely you]

………

Moments later.

The song ended.

Li Mingyu turned off the CD player.

Then stood up and walked over to the little darling on the sofa.

Jiang Ning was still lying there, eyes closed, enjoying the music.

When she heard the soft click, she opened her eyes in confusion.

And—

Found herself face-to-face with Li Mingyu’s smoldering gaze.

Jiang Ning’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, her body tensed instinctively.

“W-what is it?”

Li Mingyu said nothing.

With a faint smile, she leaned closer, not caring at all about her low neckline.

Her eyes locked with Jiang Ning’s.

“Mingyu-jie…”

Just as Jiang Ning opened her mouth, that dazzling face suddenly zoomed in at lightning speed.

In an instant—

As the scent faded—

Jiang Ning touched her face.

A maple-red stain appeared on her fingertips.

She blinked in shock.

Then lifted her head.

Eyes fixed on that sultry, alluring mature woman.

Her brow arched sharply!

You little minx!

You’re going to pay for that!

Then—

For the next several minutes.

The whole office was filled with teasing laughter.

And a certain girl’s frantic, completely unladylike outbursts.

“Mingyu-jie! No tickling!”

Eventually.

After a fierce struggle, old man Jiang finally pinned down the mature vixen on the sofa.

Just as she was about to climb on top—

Suddenly.

The office door was knocked.

Knock knock knock!

At the sound—

Jiang Ning froze.

The hand she had on Li Mingyu’s waist also stopped instinctively.

“Who is it!”

The person outside hadn’t expected Jiang Ning to answer, paused.

“Miss Jiang, President Li, are you there?”

“She’s not—mmph.”

The girl was easily silenced with a hand over her mouth.

“Xiao Xia, what is it?”

“President Li, President Fang from Xinglan Plaza is here. Said he had a prior appointment with you.”

At that, Li Mingyu looked surprised.

Then seemed to remember something.

She called out toward the door:

“Take him to the meeting room first. Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

“Yes, President Li.”

By now, Jiang Ning had wriggled free from Li Mingyu’s grasp.

She retaliated with a pinch to the mature lady’s waist.

Which made her let out a soft gasp, brows raised—

And then she started to fight back.

…

After a while.

With her cheeks flushed, Li Mingyu brushed away Jiang Ning’s mischievous hand and huffed softly.

“Little Jiang Ning! You’ve turned naughty.”

“Have I?”

“You have!”

With that, Li Mingyu stood up from the sofa.

Straightened her disheveled clothes.

Pulled down the hem of her skirt that had ridden up to her hips.

Then gave the grinning girl a sultry glance.

“Little Jiang Ning, don’t play around with your big sister like that next time.”

“You hear me?”

“Hee hee hee,” Jiang Ning just raised an eyebrow and smiled at that.

Then she teased softly,
“President Li, still meeting clients on the weekend?”

“What else?” Li Mingyu reached out and tapped Jiang Ning on the cheek.
“You think every boss is like you,
throwing everything to the people below.
We’re the unfortunate ones, earning hard money.
Unlike someone…”

“Enough, Mingyu-jie, say any more and you’ll sound like a resentful wife~”
As she spoke, Jiang Ning seemed to remember something, furrowing her brows and asking doubtfully,

“Xinglan Plaza—was it about that blueprint from last time?
Didn’t we already send that over two or three months ago?”

To this,
Li Mingyu simply pursed her lips and pulled out a compact mirror from her bag.
While touching up her makeup, she said,

“Who knows.
Probably has something to do with the budget.
After all, the floor-to-ceiling decorative glass you included in that design took up half the material costs.”

“That’s not my fault…” Jiang Ning muttered under her breath.
She had only brought out something from ten years in the future, that’s all.
Was that wrong?

Hmm.
Nope.
(End of this chapter)