Let her go

"Sister Feng, leaving early today?" Suddenly hearing a familiar yet annoyingly boisterous male voice by her side, Feng Xue felt her mouth twitch. But when she looked up from arranging her bag, her face was covered in a genial and cheerful smile. No sign of irritation could be seen.

"Yeah. Finished my work already." She paused a bit to stuff a bundle of documents she needed to review at home. "Thought I might as well go back."

"You are so leisurely. I'm jealous of you." This one was also a man, thin and reedy in appearance with an equally reedy voice. "I watched My forever spring's last episode and what to say– Feng Xi is really amazing. Her character is also uh- really meaningful. You have a good eye for selecting roles."

Staring at the mocking smile on the stick-thin man's face, Feng Xue felt speechless. These lines- would a sane person say something like this? Not to mention, he's a man! Isn't he embarrassed acting like some third-rate white lotus character in some third-rate love drama?

"Don't be like this ah! This is sister Feng's luck. She's talented and experienced– not to mention, she managed to get her hands on a gem like Feng Xi. It's her good fortune! "

A beauty wearing a pair of fashionable reading glasses drawled as she looked at Feng Xue from her seat at the workstation. Her face sported a cheerful smile, but the look in her eyes was totally insincere.

"Right, right. This type of luck and talent– afraid that we can't compare even if we compete for seven lifetimes."

Laughter followed this, the sound harshly grating in her ears and Feng Xue felt that she couldn't take it anymore. "You guys, y–"

'Rat-tat-tat.'

"Huh?"

"Little Xue– you going home now? Wanna go and grab a drink?"

It was Han Qi, and Feng Xue suddenly came to herself with a start. Seeing her senior's encouraging and firm look, she took a deep breath and once again turned toward the group of people in the room. "Everyone, thank you so much for your encouragement. I will make sure to work hard in the future to meet your expectations without fail."

She pretended not to hear the annoyed "tch" sound someone made and gathered up her belongings before walking towards the door. There were around ten people in the somewhat cramped office space at the moment; some with bright insincere smiles on their faces, some looking downright vindictive whereas the others looked indifferent.

Feng Xue shuddered a bit before hastening her steps and heaved a sigh of relief when she finally managed to get out. Sometimes, humans can be really weird and scary, and probably even they themselves not realizing this fact.

"You also have it rough, ha?"

"Don't mention it– they want to act like jealous concubines in a palace drama and have word wars, but I don't want to get dragged into that! Anyway brother Han, thanks for the rescue."

"Pfft." Han Qi laughed and the two continued walking in companionable silence as they went out of the lobby of the building. The weather was slowly turning less cold, and the smell of spring could be lightly felt in the air, even in a city as congested as the capital.

It was after quite some time that Han Qi spoke again. "Section E had always had the worst among the lot of assistant agents. Somehow, the company always put many of the people with the lowest results in the training period in this section. And they are lazy to boot. I think the management can handle that better."

"Right! They never do much work and I feel really sorry for artists under them."

"Wang Zhou putting you here– it's just to cut off your career path."

Feng Xue hummed in agreement. This probably was the real reason. That fat pig had a head full of bad ideas, not to mention his third-class behavior. Ah pei pei(1)!

"Don't worry too much about the response to the drama these days." Han Qi suddenly said out of the blue, just after the two of them sat outside a small street stall selling lamb skewers(2). The smell itself was drool-worthy, and nothing feels better than eating some grilled meat while drinking a cold beer.

"How can I not?" Feng Xue tore off a piece of lamb from the bamboo skewer and felt delighted. "This tastes really good ah!" For a moment, only chewing sounds could be heard from their table.

It was only after finishing three whole skewers and gulping down nearly half a can of beer that she started to talk again. "Little Xi– at times, I honestly don't know what her head is made of. Sometimes acts like a real brat, but at moments like this, she's behaving all adult-like."

"Isn't that good?"

"But, it pisses me off!"

"I think she is more mature and smarter than you give her credit to. Also, if she gets agitated over this little thing, how can she bear it when she has to face bigger criticisms in the future?"

"But-" before Feng Xue could voice her objections, Han Qi mercilessly cut her off. "You just want her to act spoiled with you!"

"Uh…"

Seeing the way his junior was acting all shifty-eyed, Han Qi shook his head in resignation. "Little Xi's acting this time is really good. The character has no depth, but she acted well. Also…" He paused for a moment and drank a sip of his beer before continuing.

"She is no child and you can't coddle her forever. It'll only be bad for her. No– more than bad, I think it's unfair to the child. Feng Xue… you need to learn to let her go."

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Glossary:

01) Pei - This is the sound used to indicate 'spitting' noise in Chinese, especially when you do it out of contempt. Also can have a meaning of bah!, pah!, etc. In other words, this is used to show contempt.

02) Lamb skewers - Similar to middle eastern style lamb kebabs. This is an iconic street snack in Nothern China and is quite popular among the people. Nowadays, people also call them 'old Beijing skewers', even though they originated in Xinjiang. These skewers are usually eaten right off the grill when they are smoking hot.