Chapter 496: Extra: Ye Linyuan - Melting Kiss on a Snowy Night (Part 1)

「The last day before winter break.」

The air was a bit heavy. As Tang Ran and Qiao Lan reached the Melt Star Association building, they glanced up at the sky. "Oh, it’s snowing."

Qiao Lan nodded. "Let’s hurry. We shouldn’t keep the Chairman waiting."

Tang Ran was speechless. "Secretary-General Qiao, you really don’t have a romantic bone in your body, do you? This is the first snow of the year! Have you never heard the romantic legend of the first snow?!"

"All I know is that we have to give the Chairman our summary report today." Qiao Lan pushed open the door, her expression impassive.

Right as they walked in, they saw two people holding up a pair of couplets, debating whether they should be hung on the Chairman’s door.

"Of course we have to hang them! This is the Chairman’s first New Year with us, so we have to treat it as a big deal!"

"But all this red and gold is a bit tacky. It lowers the tone." One of them held up the character for ’fortune’ and gestured with it. "Who wrote this, anyway? It looks very..."

Seeing that he was about to say something disparaging, Tang Ran cleared her throat twice and cut in, "President Qin and Chairman Jiang wrote those after the dinner party last night."

The man whipped his head around and hastily finished his sentence, "—I was just about to say, this calligraphy is so free-spirited and elegant, so full of grace! It truly has a master’s touch!"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Lan nodded in satisfaction. After admiring the calligraphy again, she instructed, "Put them up in the most conspicuous spot."

The two men nodded hurriedly and scurried away.

Tang Ran glanced at the crooked, sloppy characters and was left speechless.

Qin Shu had gotten drunk last night and written them on a whim. The paper was even stamped with rings from the bottom of a wine glass. She hadn’t even finished the character radicals—Jiang Qingli had to fill them in later.

Most people would probably see it as careless scribbling. But Qiao Lan had been Qin Shu’s staunchest supporter since childhood and was now Jiang Qingli’s iron-clad fan. When she saw this, she viewed it as a divine revelation, wishing she could frame it for daily admiration.

Speaking of which, Qiao Lan treated Jiang Qingli exceptionally well these days. She supported her with utmost dedication and showed her concern in every way possible. She’d even worn perfume for today’s meeting with Jiang Qingli.

It was hard to imagine that these two had been somewhat adversarial when they first met...

’Could it really be like that forum post said?’ Tang Ran wondered. ’Does Jiang Qingli actually have the kind of personality that makes everyone fall for her?’

Inside the elevator, Tang Ran took out her terminal to reply to a message.

After replying to her Beast Husband, she noticed notifications constantly popping up from a group chat named "Jiang Qingli Fan Club - Royal Academy Branch (1)."

Kabuqili: [I just saw *him* go into the Melt Star Association! [Angry]]

Winter Love Li: [Can that old bastard Ye Linyuan stop using his position to get close to our Li?! For real. He should think about it—if it weren’t for God Li, would he have been allowed back as a professor with his record of skipping class all the time? And he’s still here taking advantage!]

Cheese 0520: [Even if he’s her Beast Husband, he needs to keep some distance! Last time he took advantage of the situation and kissed God Li, and someone snapped a photo! He even looked at the camera—it was definitely on purpose! He should know better at his age!]

77li: [For real! Damn it, he kissed her so hard he made my wife’s face turn red! Shameless! If it were me, I’d never treat my wife like that!]

Logistics Manager: [@77li Excuse me, referring to her as ’wife’ is forbidden in this group.]

[77li] has been removed from the group chat.

025il: [That really was too much. If the group admin hadn’t dealt with it promptly, who knows what rumors those anti-fans and alphas from the Student Council would have spread.]

Kabuqili: [It’s fine. The student council’s former secretary-general is a Li Fan, too.]

Tutu Li: [He’s another restless scumbag.]

Winter Love Li: [Exactly. Yuan Shiyao is even more shameless. During the last event, his eyes were practically glued to God Li. When he handed her the microphone, he deliberately paused for so long just to touch her hand, right? If he’s got an itch in his pants, he can go deal with it himself instead of trying to seduce a decent female here!]

Kabuqili: [I can’t believe this. *He’s* been in there for over ten minutes and still hasn’t come out! What is he planning to do?!]

Xue Litan: [Can’t the Melt Star Association do something about these unauthorized people? It’s the last day of the break, and my wife is working diligently, but security only stops us, her true fans! Can we get some feedback on this? @Branch Logistics @Branch President]

Tang Ran’s mouth twitched.

The group was full of Jiang Qingli’s solo stans, a large majority of them male, and they all despised her Beast Husband.

Tang Ran hadn’t paid much attention to the group after joining, but now that she was looking closely, she was surprised to see several S-class males she recognized.

These guys were the cream of the crop at the Royal Academy. Who would’ve thought that in secret, they were just a bunch of delusional fanboys for Jiang Qingli...

’But,’ she thought, ’all this hate is probably just because they’re bitter it wasn’t one of them who won her over.’

If they had a chance to be the other man, like Yuan Shiyao, they’d probably be ecstatic.

However, that wasn’t what shocked Tang Ran the most.

It was this:

As the group frantically @’d the fan club president to come and manage the situation, Qiao Lan’s terminal vibrated!

Tang Ran was speechless.

’No way, girl. You too?!’

Qiao Lan, however, was perfectly composed as she calmly replied to the message.

Tang Ran said, "...Holy crap, you’re incredible. You’re the Secretary-General of our Melt Star Association by day, and the Chairman’s fan club president by night. You’re working two jobs, huh?"

Qiao Lan said, "It’s confidential."

Tang Ran patted her chest. "I can keep it a secret, but you have to tell me who else is in on it."

Qiao Lan didn’t hide it from her friend. "The vice president is Gu Nian, and the logistics manager is Yuan Shiyao."

Tang Ran remarked, "Yuan Shiyao must have thick skin. So many people in the group are flaming him, yet he can just take it."

Then again, if she put herself in Yuan Shiyao’s shoes, watching a bunch of people spout sour grapes, she figured he’d probably just flash a smug, victorious smile. After all, he was one of the few who could actually call her ’wife’ in private.

The two women walked to the door and knocked.

Qiao Lan said, "Chairman."

"Please, come in," Jiang Qingli’s voice came from inside.

They entered and handed her the year-end summary.

Jiang Qingli sat behind her desk. She took the folder and set it aside. "You could have just emailed this, you know. You didn’t have to make a special trip with a hard copy. It’s quite cold out."

Tang Ran waved her hand dismissively. "Nah, we’re all females. A little wind won’t kill us!"

Jiang Qingli laughed. "I know you’re hardy, but you should still dress warmly."

Her concern made Tang Ran feel a bit sheepish. She rubbed the back of her neck and smiled, but she froze when their eyes met.

Perhaps it was because of all the juicy gossip from the group chat, but Tang Ran couldn’t help but feel... that Jiang Qingli’s face had a faint dusting of powder on it. Her lipstick was slightly smudged, yet her lips seemed even redder and more vibrant...

Qiao Lan adjusted her glasses. "Chairman, we won’t disturb you any further, then."

Her gaze fell on the door to the break room, where it lingered for a couple of seconds.

"Why don’t you stay for a bit?" Jiang Qingli clapped her hands together. "The other day, Ye... someone gave me some specialty tea from the Third District. I can give you some to take home."

With that, she went to a storage cabinet and retrieved two packages of tea for them.

The two women took the tea and left.

Jiang Qingli closed the door.

She had just breathed a sigh of relief when a shadow loomed over her from behind, trapping her between the door and a pair of strong arms.

Jiang Qingli turned and shot an annoyed glare at Ye Linyuan. "They almost found out! Behave yourself. I don’t want to get ambushed by paparazzi again."

Jiang Qingli felt a wave of frustration as she recalled the last time the paparazzi had ambushed them.

That time, Ye Linyuan had wanted to kill the photographer, and she’d had to kiss him twice just to distract him. If she hadn’t, that paparazzo would be dead.

Who would have thought the photographer would still dare to snap the picture?

In the end, the paparazzo was fined a month’s salary, but now everyone knew that Professor Ye Linyuan had kissed her in her office...

Ye Linyuan grunted in agreement, then suddenly said, "It’s snowing."

Jiang Qingli glanced out the window.

Pure white snowflakes drifted down from the sky, and watching them fall made time itself seem to slow and swell.

Then, as if remembering something, Jiang Qingli wrapped her arms around Ye Linyuan’s neck, leaned in, and kissed him. "In that case, today’s an exception."

"Happy birthday."