Her logic had always been like this.
I am your best friend, so you have no right to hide anything from me. But if I hide something from you, it's because I have my reasons.
As a so-called "best friend," she didn't care at all about the other person's privacy.
Whenever something came up with Qiao Liuyue, she had to get involved—chat records, social media, phone albums.
She looked whenever she wanted, asked whenever she wanted, and never once felt she was being intrusive.
Qiao Liuyue looked at her.
She looked at the expression of exaggerated grievance on that heavily made-up face.
Then she spoke, her tone indifferent.
"Jiaojiao, you said we'd test this for a week, and the time is almost up."
She paused, her gaze calmly landing on Dong Jiaoyan's eyes.
"And I'm tired too. Either we end it early. Every time we chat, you're sitting right next to me staring. You might as well take a secondary account and do the test yourself—it'd be easier."
Hearing this, Dong Jiaoyan pouted.
As if she hadn't thought of using her own secondary account for the test?
But she already had to handle her boyfriend and occasionally flirt with Sui Feng. Juggling both sides kept her way too busy to bother with a secondary account test.
Handing the "chatting" over to Qiao Liuyue was both effortless and safe.
It was a win-win situation.
She reached out and tugged at Qiao Liuyue's sleeve, her voice softening.
With a practiced, almost instinctive whine, she said, "Liuyue, don't be like this... Help me out."
After a moment's thought, she added,
"How about this? You just talk to him on your own, no need for me to watch. See if you can dig up anything useful."
Dong Jiaoyan had done her calculations.
Maybe her own way of thinking was too rigid—going over the same old routines—so having Qiao Liuyue operate the secondary account never yielded anything solid.
A change of approach: let Qiao Liuyue improvise freely. Who knew, it might unexpectedly pay off.
Qiao Liuyue frowned, clearly reluctant.
"But..."
Seeing her about to refuse only made Dong Jiaoyan push harder.
It was a rebellious streak carved into her bones.
The more you said no, the more she had to make you say yes.
Her voice rose, her words coming faster.
"Oh, come on, Liuyue! We're best friends! Help me out, okay? My boyfriend's been so distant with his replies lately. I really think something's wrong."
Qiao Liuyue hesitated for a moment.
She lowered her eyes to her phone screen and fell silent for a few seconds.
Then, slowly, she nodded. "Alright."
She raised her head and added one more thing, her tone cautious.
"But... do I still need to report to you every day?"
Dong Jiaoyan waved her hand dismissively.
"Report? That sounds so stiff. Just tell me what you find out."
She acted generous, but her mind was already made up.
She could check the secondary account's WeChat records herself anytime. There was no need for Qiao Liuyue to "report" anything.
Besides, Qiao Liuyue was a goody-two-shoes—the kind who never played games or pulled tricks growing up. She wouldn't dream of stirring up trouble.
Leaving it to her couldn't go wrong.
Only then did Qiao Liuyue reluctantly agree.
"I'll give it a try."
Dong Jiaoyan beamed, the earlier gloom vanishing from her face as quickly as if she'd flipped a switch.
"Liuyue, you're the best!"
Qiao Liuyue looked at her beaming face and silently thought to herself.
Look at that—she's even thanking me.
---
The movie theater entrance buzzed with people coming and going.
Qiao Liuyue stood at the door, her arm linked with Dong Jiaoyan's.
Not far off, the assistant Sui Feng was already there, standing dutifully. He wore a sharp black suit with a gray tie, his hair neatly combed.
He looked like the standard, boardroom-ready white-collar professional.
Dong Jiaoyan leaned in a little and jokingly asked,
"Brother Suifeng, why do you always wear a black suit every time we meet?"
Assistant Sui Feng silently answered in his head: Work uniform.
But on his lips, he gave a polite smile and said in a warm tone, "I like this style."
Dong Jiaoyan chuckled in response, then glanced around, her eyes scanning the crowd.
She turned to Qiao Liuyue, a hint of confusion in her voice.
"Hey, when's your Neighbor Brother getting here? Should we give him a call?"
Just then, a tall man in the distance slowly approached.
He wore a casual black hoodie, the hood down, revealing a neatly cropped head of hair.
His face was still hidden behind a cool, stylish pair of sunglasses, which covered half his features, leaving only a sharp jawline and slightly pursed, thin lips.
Even with half his face obscured, his striking good looks were impossible to ignore.
There was an air of untamed pride about him.
Dong Jiaoyan's eyes lit up instantly.
She raised her hand and waved vigorously, her voice climbing two pitches higher as she called out in a syrupy-sweet voice,
"Brother—over here!"
The way she said "Brother" sounded so natural, so soft and playful—bordering on flirty.
Beside her, Qiao Liuyue felt goosebumps travel from her arm all the way to the back of her head.
Most annoyingly, Dong Jiaoyan didn't see anything wrong with what she'd done.
She turned to explain herself to Sui Feng and Qiao Liuyue,
"The theater's so crowded. If I hadn't called out, I was worried he wouldn't find us."
"Oh, by the way, Liuyue, you still haven't told me your Neighbor Brother's name. You see, I don't even have a name to call him by, so I had to settle for that in a pinch."
She covered her face, feigning shyness as she complained,
"Ugh, a few people turned to look at me just now... So embarrassing."
But the smile was obvious in her eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching upward uncontrollably.
Her words said "shame," but her expression said something else entirely.
As they spoke, Zheng Qingyuan had already reached them.
He removed his sunglasses, revealing a somewhat sour expression.
His mood was written all over his face—something anyone could see.
But Dong Jiaoyan didn't for a second think it had anything to do with her "Brother" shout across the crowd. She even asked with concern, trying to sound considerate,
"Neighbor Brother, was the traffic bad? Don't worry, we just got here too."
She was playing the role of the thoughtful girl while subtly fishing to see if he'd driven himself.
Zheng Qingyuan shook his head and said, "No traffic. I took the subway."
"Ah..." Dong Jiaoyan's "ah" slipped out involuntarily, with a trace of disappointment in her tone.
The subway?
So maybe her Neighbor Brother was just good-looking, but didn't have much money.
