Exaggerated

"Miss Li, thank you so much."

Tang Yao felt conflicted when she heard that. She was excited, but also felt... she couldn't say whether it was regret or something else. In any case, it was a subtle, slightly painful feeling.

Li Xue had said that Tang Yao was one of the few friends she had ever made.

For Tang Yao, it was the same. Perhaps Li Xue meant even more to her. After all, when she had first arrived in this world, she'd been dealt a truly disastrous hand.

Aside from Xun, back home, Li Xue was the second person who had helped her find her way out of it.

Though they weren't as close as she was with her younger sister... that was precisely why Tang Yao could learn things from Li Xue that she couldn't comfortably ask anyone else about, things she had to learn and get used to on her own.

At the same time, talking with her was, in a way, part of Tang Yao's process of learning how to get along with other women and how to maintain a sense of distance.

You could say that the troubles brought about by differences between the sexes... Tang Xun had helped her with the private parts, while Li Xue had helped her with everything else.

If Tang Yao were on her own, she'd actually be more than happy to hang around this big sister at the company.

After all, she couldn't get married anyway. She'd have a salary every month and get to eat for free every day...

But unfortunately, she wasn't on her own.

"...You look a little disappointed."

Li Xue studied Tang Yao's expression, then teased, "What? Were you hoping I'd say I wouldn't help you? Do you want to stay?"

"Honestly, a little."

Tang Yao sighed softly, then bent over and rested her upper body on the desk in front of her. She stretched out her fair arms and slumped there like a cat. "It sounds stupid, after all I've done to get here, but at the last moment, I really did start to think about backing out."

"If you really want to, I can change my mind."

Li Xue reached out and gently stroked Tang Yao's slender back, as if petting a cat. At the same time, she worked herself into character, putting on a serious expression over her beautiful, delicate face. "Or we could act out a passionate scene. For example, when we're about to leave later, I go first. Then, when I reach the door, you suddenly call out to me. I stop with my back to you. You rush after me, and then...

"You say you've changed your mind and aren't leaving. I turn around and call out, 'I don't want you to go!' Then we stare into each other's eyes, embrace, and the music swells.

"Finally, I happily take you home."

???

"Miss Li, you should watch fewer romance dramas."

Tang Yao slowly formed a question mark, then lifted her round, pert bottom off the chair and scooted away from Li Xue with a look of distaste. "And why would I go to your house?"

"Didn't you say you'd keep me company?"

Li Xue seemed amused by the scene she'd just imagined and couldn't help laughing. "Now that I've said it, I'm looking forward to acting it out. So, how about it? Want me to change my mind?"

"No."

Li Xue asked, half joking and half serious, "Why not? Wouldn't it be fun?"

"Because... I know why I'm thinking about backing out."

Tang Yao slowly sat up from the desk, then turned to look at Li Xue with a serious expression. "When you get right down to it, the reason I was hoping you'd say no wasn't just that I couldn't bear to leave you. More than that, I was feeling uneasy. I was afraid of failing, afraid of stepping outside my comfort zone.

"That's only human. I'm sure most people feel uneasy and think about backing out when they make a decision like this.

"But thinking about it is one thing. If I really backed out now, I'd lose all my nerve in an instant. I'd immediately come up with countless reasons to comfort myself, and after that... I might never have the courage to take this step again.

"So I'm not going to back out. Even if I fail in the end, even if I fall flat on my face, I still have to take this step.

"Miss Li, please help me get in touch with them."

"..."

Li Xue looked at the serious expression on the girl's face as she listened to her words. A trace of disappointment showed in her eyes, but she quickly concealed it.

She reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, then smiled lightly. "Looks like we'll have to save that passionate scene for another time."

"You should throw that awful script away."

Tang Yao complained, "Nothing that melodramatic would ever happen."

"You just said you couldn't bear to leave me!"

Li Xue shot Tang Yao a smoldering, coquettish glance, a little annoyed and a little pouty. It was devastatingly charming. "And now it's melodramatic? It would never happen?"

"I can't bear to leave you, but it can still be melodramatic."

Tang Yao scooted back beside her. "Do you really think something like that would happen in real life?"

"That kind of plot is very popular in shoujo manga. What if it did?"

"There's no 'what if.' Besides, I'm glad I didn't go to the shoujo manga Editorial Department. What a ridiculous plot."

"Then I'll think of a new one."

"Stop. You'd better not. I can't handle the plots in your shoujo manga. I'll think of one instead... Hmm, I successfully get an investment, make a fortune, and buy the Literary House with a grand flourish. Then I make a triumphant return like a Dragon King..."

"What's a Dragon King?"

"Don't worry about it. Don't interrupt me. Anyway, he's someone incredibly powerful. I make my triumphant return like a Dragon King, find you still struggling away at the shoujo manga Editorial Department, and solemnly invite you to join me. Then you nod and accept. Happy ending!"

"Isn't that melodramatic too?"

Li Xue complained in turn, then glanced at Tang Yao's profile and suddenly asked, "Also... why wait until then? Why not try inviting me now?"

"..."

Tang Yao paused, then said helplessly, "I don't dare."

Li Xue gently bumped Tang Yao's shoulder. "Afraid I'll turn you down?"

Tang Yao asked in return, "Would you?"

Li Xue glanced at the proposal in her hands and asked softly, "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"Never mind. I'd rather not hear it."

Tang Yao shook her head gently. "Whether you'd turn me down or not, I'm not going to invite you right now, because I'm not confident."

Li Xue was taken aback. "I thought you said you believed in this proposal..."

"It's not that I don't believe in the proposal,"

Tang Yao replied. "It's... how should I put it? I don't believe in myself. If I invited you and you got swept up in the moment and quit along with me, that would mean I'd have to take responsibility for you, for the rest of your life. You're so young, and you've already become a deputy editor-in-chief. You have a bright future ahead of you. If you took a risk with me, what if we failed? What if we got unlucky and hit that one-percent chance?

"Even if the chance of failure were tiny, I wouldn't want to gamble with your life.

"Even if there were only a one-percent chance of failure, I wouldn't want you to take that risk."

"..."

Li Xue heard this, her rosy lips parting slightly to reveal a glimpse of her pearly white teeth. She looked a little dazed... as if she hadn't expected Tang Yao to say that.

She kept that adorable, startled expression for a long while before finally coming to her senses. "It's really not that serious..."

"No."

Tang Yao shook her head gently. "I don't think it's exaggerated at all."

Then.

She looked away from Li Xue and faced forward again. After taking a light breath, she said solemnly, "This really matters to me... Anyway, until I'm in a position to do so, I absolutely won't gamble with your life."

"I see..."

Li Xue watched Tang Yao's profile as a faint blush slowly spread across her elegant face... She immediately turned away and suppressed the complicated thoughts deep inside her.

Does my life matter that much to her?

The way she put it... sounded so much like someone who couldn't afford to marry the woman he loved just yet, so he could only make a promise for the future.

This was the first time Li Xue had ever heard anyone say something like that to her.

It's strangely heartwarming.

Though it was probably just a misunderstanding.

Li Xue gave her head an almost imperceptible shake, then returned to her usual self and smiled. "Then I'll wait for you to succeed."

"Just wait."

Tang Yao turned to her again, her flawless, jade-like face lighting up with a smile. "Miss Li, I'll definitely come and take you away!"

"..."

Li Xue looked at Tang Yao's beautiful face, so close to her own, and heard what she said. She was momentarily stunned... then turned her gaze aside once more.

It must be a misunderstanding...

I've just been at the shoujo manga Editorial Department for too long.