Gazing at the Rainbow

Chapter 36: Think About It

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Lin Yao pressed the answer button out of curiosity.

The person on the other end of the phone spoke very softly, “Is this Xiao Lin? I’m Shan Qing.”

Lin Yao met Shan Qing during her time at Tianfeng Company. She was one of the few colleagues that had treated her nicely.

Lin Yao said politely, “Hello, Sister Shan, I haven’t contacted you for a long time.”

“Yeah, we haven’t been in touch for a long time.” Shan Qing was a northerner who spoke with a slight accent. She asked tentatively, “Have you gotten off work? Is it convenient to chat?”

From her words, Shan Qing probably had something to discuss with her, so Lin Yao cut into the topic. “I’ve already gotten off work, does Sister Shan have something to say to me?”

Shan Qing could hear the detached sense of aloofness in Lin Yao’s tone. She said, a little tentatively, “Well, it’s nothing serious. I just wanted to ask, how have you been recently?”

Lin Yao couldn’t help thinking of what Liu Yingjie said to her when she encountered him at the bus station some time ago, “After you left, the vice president hired three people to take over your work, but the three of them can’t handle your job even working overtime every day…”

Coupled with the fact that Shan Qing was acting weird, she couldn’t help but think, boldly, perhaps the vice president finally realized that she was actually talented, and wanted to invite her back, so he sent out Shan Qing to test the waters?

Haha, that would be funny… But that would be impossible!

On one hand, it was impossible for the vice president to invite her back, on the other hand, she had no intention of returning to Tianfeng Company.

After letting her imagination run wild for a while, Lin Yao felt much better, so she replied with a smile, “I’m fine now.” Much better than when she was in Tianfeng Company.

“That’s good to hear.” Shan Qing also smiled, and then asked, “Right, have you found a boyfriend yet?”

Lin Yao’s face fell. She didn’t expect Shan Qing to ask that.

Speaking of that, Shan Qing wasn’t particularly gossipy when she was in Tianfeng Company, so Lin Yao couldn’t understand why she was suddenly asking about boyfriends.

Was it impossible that, even two months after she was fired, there were still people there who were gossiping about her love life?

Lin Yao pursed her lips and replied indifferently and distantly, “I plan to find a boyfriend after a while.”

Shan Qing sighed and said nonchalantly, “You really are an honest child. Xiao Qin and Zhou Meilin have moved in together, but you still can’t let him go?”

“No, of course not!” Lin Yao didn’t want to be considered with the likes of them at all and hurriedly said, “They have nothing to do with me. I just want to focus on my work at the moment.”

Unbeknownst to her, the more ardently she denied it, the more others thought she really couldn’t let go of Qin Wenyuan.

Thinking of what she had endured, Shan Qing sighed pitifully, “We all know how you feel about Xiao Qin, it’s a pity…”

Shan Qing certainly didn’t appear to believe Lin Yao’s claim about wanting to focus on her work and thought she was simply embarrassed to admit her feelings. If Lin Yao really didn’t mind Qin Wenyuan and Zhou Meilin, things wouldn’t have gotten to the point where she got fired.

Lin Yao suddenly felt tongue-tied.

On the other end of the phone, Shan Qing still arduously tried to persuade her, “Finding a boyfriend won’t affect your work. Look at Xiao Qin and Zhou Meilin, ahem, I mean, aren’t Xiao Shen and her boyfriend an example?”

Truthfully, Shan Qing was quite right. Lin Yao had also realized that having a boyfriend didn’t affect work, but rather not having a boyfriend had negative effects.

But everyone else always found success in both their careers and love life, while her life was always a hot mess.

Lin Yao had no interest in continuing to chat. “They have their own lives, while I have my own. Besides, I’m very busy now, so I don’t have time to consider that.”

Lin Yao wanted to hang up the phone, but Shan Qing kept talking.

“You’ve been there for a month or two, so shouldn’t your work have stabilized by now? I think it’s time for you to think about lifelong events. I know a boy with great qualifications and a high income. He has a high ranking managerial position, young and ambitious, can I introduce you to him?”

What?

Lin Yao was a little dumbfounded. If she remembered correctly, Shan Qing just said, “We all know how you feel about Xiao Qin?” But now she’s saying “I know a great boy?”

Lin Yao finally reacted. It turns out that Shan Qing didn’t call her simply to stay in touch, but rather to introduce her to a guy!

But, if Shan Qing thought about introducing her when she met a young man with great qualifications, didn’t that mean that she saw her as qualified as well?

Lin Yao was touched, yet still refused her. “Thank you, Sister, but no thanks. I’m only 21 this year, and I’m not in a hurry to find someone to settle down with.”

“Why are you putting things like that?” Shan Qing asked in a somewhat exasperated tone. “It’s not like I’m asking you to marry him right away, but just to meet each other, get to know each other, try to communicate with each other if you can, and if you can’t you don’t have to contact him again. Just think about it.”

That made sense.

Moreover, the phrase “think about it” itself was a kind of euphemistic rejection. She felt that she should learn to be more euphemistic.

So, she mimicked Shan Qing’s wording and said, “Okay, then I’ll think about it.”

******

On her way home, Lin Yao sat on the bus and contemplated the matter.

It was true that she fell for Qin Wenyuan at first, but she stayed with Qin Wenyuan at that time mainly to get rid of other people’s harassment and to move out of East City as soon as possible.

There was barely any chemistry between them, and Qin Wenyuan had Zhou Meilin in mind from the very beginning.

Before Lin Yao joined Tianfeng Company, Zhou Meilin had already been a figure in Qin Wenyuan’s life, as a friend and confidant.

If Lin Yao hadn’t appeared, Zhou Meilin might have used gentler tactics to approach him, step by step, and seduce him.

Lin Yao’s appearance made Zhou Meilin feel threatened. She had no choice but to step up her game faster to bring the handsome man home with her.

From another perspective, perhaps Qin Wenyuan had been attracted to Zhou Meilin since the beginning, but he didn’t want to take the initiative to pursue Zhou Meilin, so by making Lin Yao his “cohabitation girlfriend” to test Zhou Meilin, he forced Zhou Meilin to take the initiative.

In the end, they both achieved their goals, but Lin Yao got caught in the crossfire and became a laughing stock.

Perhaps the allure of a woman didn’t depend on her appearance, especially for handsome men on the level of Qin Wenyuan. Whether one was beautiful or ugly didn’t matter at all! Besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

In the eyes of Qin Wenyuan, Zhou Meilin was an enchantress oozing with charm, and Lin Yao was a nobody.

Lin Yao and Qin Wenyuan were wrong from the beginning, so their tragic ending was inevitable.

In the eyes of her supervisors, Lin Yao finding a boyfriend in the company within a few months of leaving the campus, and taking the initiative to “cohabitate” with her alleged boyfriend, probably made her appear promiscuous.

Initially, these were simply her personal affairs, since, after all, the company didn’t explicitly prohibit office romance, so the supervisors could only turn a blind eye.

But Lin Yao let her emotions get the better of her at work and was caught. When the vice president criticized her, she had no intention of owning up to her mistakes, so at that point, she was deemed a lost cause.

In the end, things got to the point where she got fired.

Thinking about it now, Lin Yao didn’t find it that difficult to understand her colleagues’ attitudes towards her.

Female colleagues generally spurned Lin Yao, because before Lin Yao joined Tianfeng Company, young men like Liu Yingjie, Xiao Cheng, and Dayong followed the other female colleagues around. After Lin Yao came, they all started following Lin Yao around.

Male colleagues initially tried their best to win over Lin Yao, but Lin Yao ignored them completely and started living with Qin Wenyuan. If they really fell in love, everything would’ve been fine, but Qin Wenyuan ended up leaving her for Zhou Meilin, who was infamous for being unattractive.

Of course, this unexpected turn of events was amusing, and most of them were merely onlookers looking to be entertained.

Only Shan Qing and Liu Yingjie were more concerned about Lin Yao, and constantly warned her about Zhou Meilin several times, but she didn’t take them seriously at all.

Therefore, no matter who’s perspective one looked at it from, Lin Yao getting sacked was inevitable.

Experiencing such an ordeal one time was more than enough, she didn’t want to repeat the same mistake.