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nThey decided on a Japanese restaurant for their lunch. While they were having their meal, Ning Meng blinked at Zhen Shanmei, leading the latter to cross her arms across her chest to cover it. “What are you trying to do? It’s pointless trying to flirt with me with your eyes. I’m only interested in men!”

nNing Meng rolled her eyes. “Have you and Qi Shan advanced to the next level?”

nZhen Shanmei was confused upon hearing this and let out a cough. Perhaps it was because she had prior experience of being in a relationship that she was quite open about it. “Are you talking about us kissing? Actually, we did kiss one night.”

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n“… And?”

nZhen Shanmei pursed her lips. “Then, Qi Shan told me to put on some lip balm. My lips were quite dry and there was even dead skin.”

n“…”

nZhen Shanmei held her chin. “We’ve not advanced beyond that yet. After all, we started as friends before getting into a relationship. We need to slowly nurture romantic feelings! What’s up? Why are you anxious for me?”

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n“Well, I’m not anxious for you. I just wanted you to help me ask about a certain person.”

n“Who?”

nNing Ke.”

n“? NINK? No Income No Kids? What’s up with that?”

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n“… Her name is Ning Ke.”

nRealizing her misunderstanding, Zhen Shanmei said, “Oh, oh, oh. That’s easy. I’ll ask him now.”

nShe took up her phone and sent Qi Sent a private voice note: “Hey, my dearest, what are you doing now?”

nQi Shan replied in an instant using a voice note as well: “Argh, I’m looking at a few staff removing their makeup.”

nNing Meng and Zhen Shanmei were bewildered.

nQi Shan sent another voice note over: “There were these few ladies from the Secretary Department. They went out for lunch and when they came back, the face recognition system could not identify them and would not let them into the company. Now tell me, I’ve not seen them put on makeup before, how was I supposed to know what’s the difference?”

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nAfter saying this, he sent over images of the ladies with and without their makeup on. Ning Meng looked at the pictures. It was obvious that their skin had roughened up, their eyes were significantly smaller, and their noses were flatter. They had also not reapplied any lipstick after finishing their meal.

nGiving it some thought, Zhen Shanmei then took a selfie and sent it to him. “Try and guess if I have put on any makeup?”

nShe had left home in a rush and since she was only meeting her girlfriend, she had only put on a bright red colored lipstick and nothing else. Still, the mindless Qi Shan answered, “Who are you out with? Why did you put on such thick makeup?”

nNing Meng and Zhen Shanmei were utterly shocked at his response. So, this straight-laced man only looks at the lips to assess if the woman had put on makeup or not?! Ning Meng noticed that Zhen Shanmei had been distracted by Qi Shan’s unusual conversation topic and quickly said, “Get to the point!”

nZhen Shanmei suddenly realized that she had digressed. “Oh, yeah.”

nThis time, she sent Qi Shan a message instead: I have a question for you. This is a secret between us, okay? Do you know who Ning Ke is?

nQi Shan stealthily replied with a voice note, trying hard to suppress his volume while doing so: “Of course I know her! I’m telling you, although I didn’t know Boss from way back when he was still in high school, I did my research on his life. I even saw a photo of Boss’s first love on his working table. I secretly went to dig into it and found out that she was his ex-girlfriend. I’m telling this to you only, but this Ning Ke has returned to the country. You absolutely cannot tell the Missus, you understand me? Otherwise, that stupid woman would get jealous and the Boss will kill me for sure!”

nSeeing that Ning Meng’s expression was unwavering, Zhen Shanmei got worked up and replied: “What nonsense are you talking about? There’s an “ex” in the word “ex-girlfriend”. Which means that this is all in the past!”

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nQi Shan answered: “I can’t be sure about that. Boss did have many loving and sweet memories over the years with this ex-girlfriend.”

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