You Sound Sleepy

Normally, Lin Mian would get flustered, her heart thumping, her face burning, but now…

“I’m not eating.” Lin Mian shook her head, her face filled with repentance. “You can chat with your friends. There’s no need to pay me any mind.” Her expression firm, she whispered, “Just… just treat me like I don’t exist. I promise I won’t listen. I really won’t.”

“…” Que Qingyan saw her lips on the rim of the glass cup.

Since the start of the dinner, she had not moved her chopsticks. However, she already drank 3 glasses of coconut milk, her red lips covered in milk froth. Her voice was very low.

Uneasy and awkward, she was a little cute.

“Does miss drink?” The waiter carried another bottle of wine. Qi Jin, with a smile, inserted himself into the conversation, asking the waiter to pour a glass for Lin Mian. “Try the alcohol here. Its alcohol content isn’t high, so you definitely won’t get drunk.”
Lin Mian pushed the wine glass away, thanking him before firmly stating, “Thank you, but… I don’t drink.”

She was unwilling to test her drinking limits. If she had gotten drunk with Que Qingyan sitting next to her, she would probably, no definitely be unable to control herself.

Qi Jin didn’t really care if she drank or not. He just wanted to tease Lin Mian. Just as he was about to speak, he was called out.
“Qi Jin.”

Que Qingyan was the one who had called him out.

“Ok, ok, I’ll shut up. I’ll shut up.” 

Qi Jin sheepishly sat back down. Unable to settle down, Qi Jin didn’t shut up. Jokingly, he asked Lin Mian, “ When your teacher teaches class, isn’t it like pure bliss for the students? Fortunately, I didn’t attend his classes. If I were a little girl, he would’ve captured my heart in a second.”

A burst of laughter echoed throughout the table. They eagerly waited for Lin Mian’s response.

Lin Mian’s heart thumped from those words, and her fingers curled around her glass. Subconsciously, she glanced at Que Qingyan. The words he said in the afternoon replayed themselves in her mind.

Que Qingyan didn’t exactly like Lin Mian hitting on him in public and certainly didn’t like other people prying into his love life. Not to mention if the object of attention was one of his students.

When Qi Jin brashly spoke, he realized that he had made a mistake. He was a little direct. His heart sank. Just as he was about to open his mouth to clarify, someone responded, the person’s words indicated that they took Qi Jin’s words literally. 

“Little miss, there’s nothing wrong with liking Que Qingyan. He’s incredible.”

The speaker was a man sitting in the corner. He placed his wine glass down and smiled. “I bet you didn’t know that your teacher fought a huge case in the first half of the year. It’s being cited as one of the legendary classics by the law community. As a professor, he teaches students, writes papers, and busily prepares for lessons, yet he still has time to work on such a big case…”

The man looked around. As if he was asking for the other people’s opinions, he said with a hint of bitterness, ”Isn’t he incredible?”

Still dazed, Lin Mian thought the man was only making a passing boast about Que Qingyan. However, the faces of several people present changed.

Qi Jin swore quietly. He then hurriedly tried to conclude the matter. “Let’s stop there. That case has been closed for quite a while now. There’s no need to mention it.”

A lawyer, the man who spoke specialized in economic litigation cases. Coincidentally, Que Qingyan at that time was the secondary lawyer in the same law firm. Occasionally, they would do economic litigation cases together. 

Half a year ago, an ownership dispute case was taken over by this law firm, and the original main attorney was this man. However, the client immediately replaced him, mysteriously changing the lawyer to Que Qingyan. The client had even mentioned Que Qingyan’s name specifically as the lawyer who should be changed to the main attorney.

The case involved hundreds of millions of dollars and the payments to the winning lawyer were astronomical. He thought he had lost out big time. Not usually coming to the law firm, Que Qingyan was unaware that this man still held a grudge against him because of that. This man, to this day, continued to resent Que Qingyan for snagging his client.

However, he and the others didn’t know Que Qingyan was actually the young master of the Que family, which had an extremely close relationship with the boss of the client company. Qi Jin, understanding the full inside story, couldn’t help but wonder, Maybe the client only wanted Que Qingyan from the beginning.
People coming there to send favors to Que Qingyan. What’s that gotta do with you?

Lin Main was entirely unaware of this whole situation. Currently, she was struggling to find the right words to respond to the other party’s sentences. The man spoke again.

“Little miss, your teacher is so incredible. I’m afraid it’s a little bit hard to pursue such incredible people, right? You are also in a student-teacher relationship…. Isn’t the age difference too big?”

The man smirked, his breath carrying the scent of alcohol. “You can’t even drink alcohol. You’ve just entered college, right? The heart can be fickle at such a young age.”

On the side, Qi Jin’s face turned livid.

That man didn’t dare speak directly to Que Qingyan, so he instead turned his spear over to his student, making insinuations. His mouth had no filter and not a single one of his sentences was proper. 

He was wasted!

Lin Mian understood the implicit meaning behind the man’s words

He was mocking her “young” age, simple-mindedness, and blurry relationship with her “teacher”. 

Never being targeted like this before, Lin Mian bit her lip and silently brooded. Her eyes made eye contact with the man who just talked.

It wasn’t like she didn’t have a temper, especially when mocked by someone face-to-face.

Lin Mian closed her eyes, her fingers, which clenched the glass cup, turning slightly pale. She opened her eyes. Her eyes were red. She was struggling desperately to control herself. She was losing it.

She took a breath of deep air. “I have a crush on Que.”

Then, a sudden cool voice came from beside her.

“You don’t have the right to pry into someone else’s private affairs. I brought her along. If you have a problem with it, take it with me.”

Lin Mian, still facing the man, heard Que Qingyan’s clear voice, which carried an imposing frigidness. It was sharply directed at the man.  “In the case half a year ago,  a certain lawyer violated his confidentiality agreement. I’m sure you know the lawyer’s code of conduct and understand the regulations the association imposes. I am also sure you know the consequences of such a violation.”

Qi Jin looked at Que Qingyan. Que Qingyan raised his pupils and stared at the drunk man, his slender fingers swirling his wine glass. His face was dark, almost identical to when he was in the courtroom.

“I have more than enough energy to take care of this. I don’t mind holding the other party accountable.”

As soon as his voice fell, the man’s face turned ghastly pale, his expression almost instantly sobered up.

No one dared to speak. A while passed.  After dawdling for a bit, the man stood up, his back upright. “Professor Que, I – I was just rambling, talking nonsense really. My mind doesn’t even clearly remember what I said.”

The man looked at Lin Mian and apologized. “I’m sorry miss. I’m so sorry. Please don’t take what I just said back then to heart. My – my – I was just speaking nonsense. I sincerely apologize.”

Lin Mian turned her face to Que Qingyan, glancing at him; their eyes met for a moment.

Her eyes scarlet, her lips pursed, Lin Mian felt aggrieved, trying to resist bursting into tears in front of everyone. She quickly turned back, breaking eye contact, and then awkwardly rubbed the corner of her eyes with her wrists. 

With everyone’s gaze directed at her, Lin Mian, with a face of determination, stood up and picked up the glass of wine that Qi Jin poured for her. She downed the entire glass of wine in a single breath.

With a loud bang, the glass cup was slammed onto the table. The tablecloth shook.

The people present were shocked.

Lin Mian didn’t bother staying and immediately left the room.

The people present exchanged glances. Qi Jin, shocked at what transpired, glanced at Que Qingyan’s expression and laughed. “The little miss almost lost her temper, ah.”

Que Qingyan had already stood up. He said coolly, “I know what her temper is like.”

Qi Jin was about to hurriedly add some sentences to correct his little remark before Que Qingyan continued. “I only like it when she loses her temper in front of me.”

This sentence didn’t make sense.

“Woah, wait, wait, Que Qingyan!”

Qi Jin was unable to block Que Qingyan from departing. Or more accurately, he didn’t dare. With a beleaguered look, he focused his attention back on the dinner table. 

The people present gradually came back to their senses. A person asked, “Qi Jin, what just happened?”

Qi Jin stared at the person. “How the hell would I know?”

He wished he knew.

TL Note: “I only like it when she loses her temper in front of me.” Oh…