Why Aren’t You Cultivating Immortality? (GL) Chapter 3

After Xiao Xing took An Huaigu away, the office quieted down. Bai Moqing took a light sniff. The air still held the scent of President Xiao’s perfume, fresh and elegant. She glanced at An Huaigu’s seat, unable to stop her curiosity. Why had President Xiao come looking for Sister An?
The open book on her desk, black words on white paper, turned into a blurry gray shadow. Bai Moqing stared at the desktop without focus. Sister An called President Xiao Ah Xing. The relationship between those two… was not ordinary.
On the top floor of the tall building, the president’s office and meeting room had been unused ever since Xiao Xing left. Other than the cleaning auntie who went up every day to clean, no one would, or dared to, set foot on that floor.
Ding. The elevator doors opened. The cleaning auntie mopping the corridor lifted her head and saw people step out. She hurriedly shouted, “Hey, you two! Stop! You can’t just come up here!”
She planted a hand on her waist, full of force.
Xiao Xing turned back. The cleaning auntie, who had worked here for nearly ten years, saw her face and froze. “Pre… President Xiao…” Her force disappeared at once.
An Huaigu smiled and secretly waved at the cleaning auntie, signaling for her to keep cleaning. Xiao Xing withdrew her gaze and led An Huaigu into the office.
The office had been unused for many years, but nothing inside had moved in the slightest. Everything was still neat and orderly in its original place.
Xiao Xing sat on the sofa. An Huaigu moved over with a grin, but after receiving a look cold as winter snow, she quickly put away her smile, shifted her backside, and sat on the sofa diagonally opposite.
“How has the company been these last few months?” Xiao Xing leaned back and looked at An Huaigu with indifferent eyes, taking her phone from her pocket.
An Huaigu answered, “Same as always.” Thinking of something, she brushed her bangs aside, leaned forward, and lowered her voice. “But I heard that He the Fox is preparing to jump ship.”
The He the Fox she spoke of was He Honghu, manager of the Sales Market Promotion Department. He was sly and cunning like a fox. He was in charge of market research and analysis, and held all the data on regional product sales volume and prices.
Xiao Xing thought for a moment, quickly typed a few words on her phone, and sent them. Then she raised her eyes. “He isn’t a problem. Anything else?”
An Huaigu shook her head.
Suddenly, the air rippled faintly. Xiao Xing frowned, locked her phone screen, set it down, and asked, “Wasn’t your office always just you? Why did you hire another person?” She guided the topic to Bai Moqing.
Bai Moqing, hiding in the office and secretly spying on Xiao Xing and An Huaigu’s conversation, heard Xiao Xing suddenly ask about her. Her heart gave a thud. She could not tell whether she was nervous or afraid. For a moment, she even forgot to breathe.
“You mean Little Bai?” At the mention of Bai Moqing, An Huaigu smiled. “That little girl, I liked her the first time I saw her. Manager Li originally arranged for her to go to the president’s office, but I asked for her.”
Thinking of their three days together, she said, “She’s very quiet. Other than saying good morning to me every morning and telling me she’s leaving at the end of the day, she has never taken the initiative to say a single word to me.”
“Oh, right. She can’t even remember my surname. Today she actually called me Sister Feng, hahahaha…” Just thinking of it made An Huaigu find Bai Moqing adorable.
Hearing this, Bai Moqing let out a breath. She had only cast a confusion spell on the few people who interviewed her. If Xiao Xing truly wanted to investigate how she entered the company, Bai Moqing might have to confuse a few more people.
Xiao Xing scanned An Huaigu from head to toe. Thick foundation. Dense false eyelashes. Without leaving any face for her, she spoke the truth. “Probably because you’re old but still charming, so she instinctively called you Sister Feng.”
An Huaigu’s smile froze on her face. She rolled her eyes at Xiao Xing, turned her head, and glared. “If it weren’t for you, why would a fresh, flower-like twenty-four-year-old woman like me put on makeup to look forty-two?”
Twenty-four! Bai Moqing was so shocked her eyes widened. She had thought that even if An Huaigu was young, she had to be at least thirty-five. She examined An Huaigu’s face carefully. No matter how she looked, she could not see that An Huaigu was only twenty-four.
Xiao Xing felt no gratitude at all. She even wanted to mock An Huaigu. “You’re the one who thought an undercover watcher needed a disguise. Starting tomorrow, don’t wear this kind of makeup or these middle-aged woman’s clothes anymore.”
After thinking, she emphasized, “Wear a professional suit to work.”
Knock, knock. Two crisp knocks came from outside. Xiao Xing looked toward the door and said, “Come in.” Tang Yue pushed the door open.
Tang Yue was Xiao Xing’s assistant. She wore a black business suit all year round. Even in the coldest winter, she dared to wear black stockings with a suit skirt to work.
After returning to the company, Tang Yue had gone to the Administration Department according to Xiao Xing’s instructions and asked Manager Hong to notify each department manager that there would be a meeting in half an hour.
Standing at the door, Tang Yue said respectfully, “President Xiao, Administration is preparing the meeting room. The meeting will be held in the thirteenth-floor meeting room in half an hour.”
“Mm.” Xiao Xing nodded. She pointed her chin toward the room on the left. “From now on, the office next door is yours.” Then she let Tang Yue leave.
After the office door closed, Xiao Xing stood and said to An Huaigu, “Go tidy yourself up and wait for me in the meeting room.”
“I have to attend the meeting too?” An Huaigu looked unhappy. She only wanted to quietly be a pair of small eyes. If she appeared in front of everyone, wouldn’t that tell the whole company she was President Xiao’s person?
Xiao Xing hesitated, then changed her mind. “You don’t have to attend. But take the makeup off your face. It bothers me.”
She walked behind the desk and sat down. Seeing An Huaigu still had not left, she lifted her chin slightly and looked at her with an expression that clearly dismissed guests.
An Huaigu remembered Xiao Xing’s unusual behavior toward Bai Moqing. She ignored that look, walked to the desk, planted both hands on it, and said, “Ah Xing, tell me honestly. You haven’t had a boyfriend for all these years. Is it because you don’t like men?”
Xiao Xing tilted her head up at her. “Hm? What do you mean?”
“The first time you met my Little Bai, you wanted to shake her hand.” An Huaigu leaned closer. “I remember very clearly that you don’t like physical contact with people.”
“Your Little Bai?” Xiao Xing’s eyes instantly turned cold, and the temperature of her voice dropped by several degrees. She explained, “For all these years, your office has only had you. Now there is suddenly someone else. Of course I was curious.”
That was clearly trying to cover something up.
But An Huaigu did not think that way. She blinked lightly, her eyelashes trembling as she sent Xiao Xing a flirtatious look. “So what you’re saying is, you like me?”
The phrase shameless suited An Huaigu very well.
Xiao Xing frowned, not hiding the disgust in her eyes at all. “Go look in the mirror. I’m not blind.” Then she lowered her head, unlocked her phone with her fingerprint, and opened the documents stored inside to read.
Knowing Xiao Xing needed to prepare for the meeting in half an hour, An Huaigu twitched her brows. “I’m going to remove my makeup now. Just wait until I charm you to death!” She turned and left the office.
Bai Moqing withdrew her divine sense and lowered her head to read. When An Huaigu returned to the office and saw Bai Moqing seriously reading, not even lifting her head when she came back, and not asking why President Xiao had called her away, An Huaigu frowned and walked over.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Her slow footsteps were like a wolf slowly approaching a little rabbit. Bai Moqing could not help lifting her head. Meeting An Huaigu’s probing gaze, she asked, “Sister An, is something wrong?”
An Huaigu stopped in front of the desk and smiled. “Little Bai, President Xiao mentioned you just now.”
Bai Moqing, who had heard the entire conversation, had no choice but to look curious. “Really? What did she say about me?”
Looking at An Huaigu’s face, she could not help wondering whether An Huaigu would suddenly look decades younger after removing her makeup.
An Huaigu picked up the book Bai Moqing was reading. “She asked how you ended up doing this job.” She turned it over and looked at the cover. How to Improve Emotional Intelligence. Slightly speechless, she returned the book.
Outside the office, noisy voices sounded. It seemed a group of people had arrived on this floor. An Huaigu was about to go out and look when she suddenly remembered that President Xiao was holding a meeting, and the meeting room being used was the thirteenth-floor meeting room.
Bai Moqing asked, “Why is it so noisy outside?”
An Huaigu turned back. “A meeting.”
Thinking of Xiao Xing telling her to remove her makeup, An Huaigu looked at Bai Moqing. She was confident that her bare face would absolutely amaze her.
Unable to wait, she went back to her seat, took cleansing oil and cotton pads from her bag, glanced at Bai Moqing, then strode proudly toward the restroom.
Less than a minute after An Huaigu left, Xiao Xing appeared at their office doorway again.
Bai Moqing seemed to sense Xiao Xing. Every time Xiao Xing appeared, Bai Moqing happened to be looking toward the door. Seeing Xiao Xing, Bai Moqing immediately stood. “Sister An went to the restroom.”
“Mm.” Xiao Xing walked into the office and suddenly asked, “How many days have you been at the company?”
Bai Moqing answered, “Three days.” Her heart felt a little guilty.
“Three days.” Xiao Xing murmured it once, said nothing else, turned, and left for the meeting room.
Just as An Huaigu expected, when she finished removing her makeup and returned to the office, Bai Moqing stared at her with a stunned expression. It was as if An Huaigu had gone out for plastic surgery and come back. If her clothes had not been the same, Bai Moqing absolutely would not have recognized her.
“Sister… Sister An?” Bai Moqing tried calling her. She knew An Huaigu was only twenty-four, but she had not expected that without the middle-aged woman’s makeup, An Huaigu would look so young. Bai Moqing would believe it if someone said she was only twenty.
“Mm-hm.” An Huaigu hummed smugly. Like a proud swan, she stretched her neck and lifted her chin. “What? I take off my makeup and you don’t recognize me?”
Bai Moqing nodded blankly and sighed over the magic of makeup.
Other women used powder and rouge to look twenty. But An Huaigu revealed fair, smooth skin only after washing off her makeup. Even the fine lines at the corners of her eyes disappeared.
“Sister An, don’t wear that makeup anymore. You are very beautiful like this.”
An Huaigu was very satisfied and swept back her long hair. She pressed, “Am I breathtakingly beautiful? Beautiful enough to make your soul leave your body?”
Bai Moqing: “…”
She could tell now. An Huaigu liked women.
Seeing Bai Moqing standing there like a wooden chicken, An Huaigu’s teasing heart began to stir again. She curved her lips, stepped forward, and walked over with a slight twist of the waist, full of charm.
Bai Moqing’s heart gave a thud, and she quickly said, “I’m going to the restroom.” She fled the office as if escaping.
By the time she washed her face and returned, An Huaigu had gone back to normal. She leaned back in her chair and played on her phone without even lifting her eyelids.
Bai Moqing sat back down, looked up at An Huaigu, and after confirming she would not come over and tease her again, lowered her head and continued reading.
An Huaigu secretly glanced at Bai Moqing from the corner of her eye. What an easily frightened little deer.
Time passed minute by minute. More noisy sounds came from outside. Xiao Xing and the others had probably finished the meeting. Bai Moqing looked at the time in the lower right corner of her computer screen. Only ten minutes remained until the end of the workday. Her whole heart instantly grew happy.
After cultivating immortality, she had not felt this kind of joy in a very long time.
When it was time to leave work, she told An Huaigu, “I’m off work,” then quickly left the office, as if afraid An Huaigu might make some improper request.
When she returned home, the sky was already dark.
After showering, Bai Moqing sat cross-legged on the bed and raised her hand to touch the space between her brows. Without realizing it, she thought of Xiao Xing.
President Xiao, who was cold, detached, and carried an abstinent aura all over her, gave Bai Moqing a strange sense of familiarity and closeness. Why?
She closed her eyes and released her divine sense. She saw Xiao Xing sitting before a computer, focused on the dense data on the screen. Perhaps Xiao Xing had found some problem, because her brows drew together. Bai Moqing could not help sighing inwardly. President Xiao was truly dedicated.
Far away in her office, Xiao Xing sensed Bai Moqing spying on her. She frowned and secretly summoned the force of nature. A streak of lightning containing the laws of the Heavenly Dao flashed through the sky, scaring Bai Moqing so badly she withdrew her divine sense at once.
Bai Moqing panted in fear, clutching her chest in disbelief. I’m actually afraid of lightning? Could it be aftereffects from failing the last tribulation?
She quickly crawled under the covers and wrapped herself tightly in the small quilt.
Seeing her movement, Xiao Xing curved her lips and could not help laughing.
Her phone screen suddenly lit up. Xiao Xing turned her head toward it. When she saw the words on the screen, “Are you free tonight? I want to see you,” her smile vanished at once.