Chapter 374: Chapter 374

Song Qiao couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter, not intending to tease her any further, she straightforwardly said, "I went to pick out rings with your brother."

Lu An’an was stunned for a moment upon hearing Song Qiao and then blurted out with delayed surprise, "So, the news about you two getting married on the 15th of next month is true?"

Song Qiao paused, but then nodded her head.

Lu An’an immediately became joyous, then said to Song Qiao, "Remember to give me, your little sister-in-law, a big red envelope then."

Song Qiao, "..." An’an, talking about money hurts feelings.

"I need to go to the restroom first, I’ll talk to you in a bit." Song Qiao stood up immediately because she had eaten quite a bit and drank plenty of soup earlier at the restaurant, and now she really had to go.

Lu An’an wore a sly smile on her face, her intentions unclear, simply waved at Song Qiao, "Go on, go on."

Song Qiao always knew that Lu An’an wasn’t just intelligent, but also very shrewd and cunning. Whatever Lu An’an was scheming, as long as it wasn’t against her, it was fine.

Restrooms have always been a great place to hear gossip, and it was the same with the restrooms at their company.

Just as Song Qiao walked into a stall and shut the door, someone else entered the restroom, chatting as they walked, sounding very familiar, seemingly from the same office.

One of the women went into the stall next to hers, but the restroom wasn’t quiet, that woman spoke to her companion, "Lili, you have no idea, I saw Lu An’an having lunch with President Lin at noon. I don’t know if Lu An’an has hooked up with our President Lin..."

Song Qiao froze, momentarily speechless as she pondered the woman’s words, a glint flashing across her eyes.

Could it be that Lu An’an and Lin Musen are having an affair?

Did something unexpected happen during the month I took leave?

The woman at the washstand continued to put on makeup, scoffing coldly, chuckled and said, "Who knows, President Lin is always traveling on business trips. It’s rare he doesn’t eat with clients but instead dines with Lu An’an. She probably has her ways, luring President Lin..."

"Tsk tsk, true, maybe she’s good in bed. While President Lin is fickle, not many can be with him for long. It’s hard to say which number Lu An’an is."

"As you said, President Lin changes girlfriends quickly, maybe Lu An’an won’t benefit much staying beside President Lin and will be dumped soon?"

"That’s true, my friend used to be jealous of Lu An’an having lunch with President Lin, but thinking about it now, she probably won’t be envious anymore."

"Envious of what? She has her ways. If you had the skills too, maybe you could try getting into President Lin’s bed, and if you could bear his child, maybe you could become the Young Mistress of the Lin Family."

The woman then flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall, continuing, "That can’t happen, I fancy President Shen. I can’t pursue someone like the playboy President Lin."

Song Qiao in the restroom was both shocked and intrigued; she couldn’t believe that just stopping by to use the restroom would expose her to gossip about Lu An’an. This place really was ideal for overhearing conversations.

Women are inherently very gossipy. Although she herself wasn’t a fan of talking about others, she would occasionally ponder here and there, sometimes gossiping with Lu An’an. However, she never expected that now Lu An’an had become the main subject of gossip.

Thinking about the words of those two women, Song Qiao wanted to scoff at them. With Lu An’an’s background, it wasn’t her climbing up to Lin Musen, but rather Lin Musen climbing up to Lu An’an.

In An City, among all the wealthy ladies, probably no one had a more noble status and worth than Lu An’an.

Behind Lu An’an was the entire Lu Family, and from her last visit to meet Lu Jingchen’s parents, she recalled that Lu Jingchen’s mother seemed to like Lu An’an very much too.

Although Lu An’an wasn’t their biological child, the fact that there was a special bedroom just for Lu An’an in the house spoke volumes of her high status in the Lu Family.

Song Qiao was about to go out, but the women outside hadn’t left yet. As she was about to open the stall door, she heard the two women talking again, causing her to halt abruptly.

Because this time, these women were gossiping about her, Song Qiao.

"By the way, do you know, just as I was leaving work to go out for dinner, I saw Song Qiao."

"What’s wrong with seeing her? Don’t we see her every day at the office?"

"No, I mean when I was at the company entrance, I saw a luxury car waiting for her, and the driver even got out to open the door for her. That car was a Bentley Mulsanne, worth millions."

The woman who was about to continue applying makeup froze and looked directly at her companion, asking with a hint of disbelief, "A Bentley Mulsanne? And the driver got out to open the door for her?"

"Yes, it seemed like there was a man sitting in the back of the car, but the distance was too far, I couldn’t see clearly who was inside."

Upon hearing this, the woman scoffed immediately and spoke gloomily, "Let me tell you, there have always been rumors in the company that Song Qiao had become some company president’s mistress, that’s why she and the two newcomers under her got to work on the Huayi Media Group movie. I guess her skills in bed impressed the sponsor, so that’s why he’s helping her?"

"Isn’t she usually seen as very cold and lofty?"

"Who can’t pretend to be cold and lofty? If I had that ability, I would pretend too, just smile in front of the sponsors, who would bother with us anymore?"

"She shouldn’t be that kind of person though." The woman who spoke first sounded somewhat unconvinced, hesitantly adding, "Although she seems very distant usually, she’s actually quite nice."

Hearing this, the woman scoffed again, put her makeup back in her purse, and then said, "These are the most dangerous types of women. Haven’t you noticed? Everyone in the office is on her side, and didn’t Li Xin leave because of her too?"

Picking up her purse, she glanced at the still confused woman and continued to feign concern, "I’m telling you, you’d better be careful, or you’ll regret it when you’re next to be pushed out."

The sound of high heels echoed on the floor as they slowly walked away. After confirming the two women had left the restroom, Song Qiao came out from the stall, her expression calm as she walked to the sink to wash her hands. Only upon glancing at her reflection did she realize that her face looked frightfully somber.

In the office, she genuinely treated anyone well who didn’t oppose her, even sometimes voluntarily sharing her own experiences of training newcomers.

But she hadn’t expected to be spoken about so harshly by those people.

Looking at the ring on her ring finger, Song Qiao felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

Sponsor? Benefactor? Lover?

The things Song Qiao hated most in life were these.

Once she returned to the office, Song Qiao maintained a calm demeanor, though her face was colder than before.

If others say she pretends to be lofty, then she didn’t need to fake smiles at those hypocritical faces. Why not be aloof?

When Lu An’an saw Song Qiao return, she also noticed something was off and rolled her chair over, asking with concern, "Qiaoqiao, what’s wrong? Why do you seem off after just going to the restroom?"

Looking at Lu An’an in front of her, Song Qiao actually considered her the best person in the office; at times Lu An’an would even buy snacks and coffee for everyone as an afternoon treat. Yet those two women had spoken so poorly of Lu An’an. This text is hosted at NovєlFіre.net

Seeing Lu An’an now made Song Qiao feel somewhat sad.

After some thought, Song Qiao still felt it necessary to let Lu An’an know, since hiding things wouldn’t work forever and it might be even more painful for Lu An’an to accidentally overhear such talk in the restroom one day.

Song Qiao glanced around at the other people in the office, who all seemed normal, but who could really tell who was wearing a mask, maybe plotting a stab in the back someday?

"Let’s go to the pantry, I have something to tell you." This wasn’t a good place to talk, and if Lu An’an became too emotional later, it might be hard to calm down.

Lu An’an looked at Song Qiao, realizing she genuinely had something to say, and nodded, "Okay."

Song Qiao walked ahead to the pantry; since everyone had already gotten their drinks before work, the pantry was likely to be empty now. Besides, the pantry had a wide view, with the door directly opposite to the office, so if anyone came over, they could be seen immediately.

She picked up her own cup and Lu An’an’s, poured hot cocoa powder into them, and when Lu An’an entered, Song Qiao handed both cups to her with a cheeky smile, "I want hot cocoa. I can’t make it, you do it."

Song Qiao had never known that brewing a cup of hot cocoa required specific water temperature; this was something Lu An’an had taught her, as the hot cocoa brewed with controlled temperature was much tastier than just using boiling water.

Lu An’an paused but took the cups and said, "Qiaoqiao, what did you want to talk to me about?"