Qiao Jing lightly arched her delicate eyebrows, then slowly began to speak.
She remembered that Zhan Qipei and Ni Yue had always been at odds, so this damned man suddenly saying he’d attend the birthday party seemed a bit forced.
If these two ran into each other there, it might turn out like before, with the scene resembling a battlefield.
Zhan Qipei’s face was stern, his thin lips pressed into a hard line devoid of curvature, he gruffly replied with two words.
Wherever his wife went, he would follow.
Qiao Jing cast a casual glance at Zhan Qipei, nodded, and said nothing more.
Just as she sat down at the dinner table, her cellphone rang again.
She thought it was Ni Yue calling back, but when she took out her phone, she found it was Yu Yangqi calling.
Qiao Jing tapped to answer.
"Second bro? Are you calling about Ni Yue’s birthday?"
Considering the timing, Ni Yue had just finished calling her, and then the second bro followed right after — he was probably going to talk about the same thing.
Moreover, since the second bro had been pursuing Ni Yue, with her birthday approaching, he was bound to call to check with her on the situation.
Before Yu Yangqi had a chance to speak, he heard Qiao Jing’s question and chuckled twice.
"As expected of big sis, you can’t be fooled by anything — oh no, I mean you can guess everything."
Seeing that Ni Yue’s birthday was the day after tomorrow, he had specially called his big sis to probe and see if he could prepare something.
"What do you want to ask?" Qiao Jing didn’t want to waste words with Yu Yangqi.
Yu Yangqi coughed then cleared his throat, his voice serious as he began to speak:
"Big sis, do you know if there’s any gift that Ni Yue wants? Or do you know how her birthday party will be? Is it the usual?"
He wanted to surprise Ni Yue at the birthday party, to take the chance to close the gap between them!
He couldn’t afford a repeat of last time when he got used!
He must win Ni Yue over!!
Qiao Jing furrowed her brows thoughtfully but couldn’t think of anything other than that handbag that Ni Yue might want.
"I don’t know about the gift; pick one yourself. As for the birthday party, Ni Yue has left it to me to organize, and I haven’t finalized the details. I only have a rough idea — it will probably be held in a park."
Upon hearing Qiao Jing’s words, Yu Yangqi’s eyes immediately lit up.
"A birthday party in the park? Big sis! Let me handle this birthday party for you; can I help you with it? Leave it to me, you can rest assured!!"
He had checked the weather forecast, and it was supposed to rain on the night of Ni Yue’s birthday. Originally, he thought the party would be in a hotel, so it wouldn’t be affected by the weather.
But since it was in a park this time, it would be even easier for him to create a few ’accidental’ surprises!
Qiao Jing hesitated for a while, somewhat distrustful of Yu Yangqi.
"But Ni Yue entrusted this to me; unless you talk to her and she agrees, then I’ll let you do it."
Although the second bro was pursuing Ni Yue, she wouldn’t readily agree to him on such a principled matter.
She had promised Ni Yue and had been entrusted by her to handle the matter explicitly, so she wouldn’t just hand it over to someone else on a whim.
Yu Yangqi sighed, his tone carrying a hint of pleading.
"Big sis, if I talk about it with her, she’d definitely tell me to scram. Can you help me talk to her?"
If he went to Ni Yue, he’d definitely fail, so he had to ask his big sis for help.
Qiao Jing knitted her brows, then pursed her lips.
"I can try to speak to her for you. If you have any ideas now, you can share them with me. If it’s feasible, I might let you handle a small part of the arrangements."
No sooner had she finished speaking than Yu Yangqi piped up.
"Boss, how about we go camping in the wilderness? I’ll take care of buying a few tents, and I can handle all the sleeping gear,"
he planned to take the opportunity to cause some trouble.
Qiao Jing felt a bit intrigued by the idea but also worried about entrusting this task to Yu Yangqi, doubting his ability to handle it well.
"That proposal works for me, but if you can’t handle it, I’ll take over,"
She was afraid that if the second-in-command wasn’t careful and bought the wrong items, it could ruin the birthday banquet.
She had to prevent such a situation from happening.
Hearing Qiao Jing’s words, Yu Yangqi felt inexplicably guilty and subconsciously touched his nose.
"Leave it to me, you can trust me, Boss. Anyway, gotta go, I’ll hang up now. I’ll buy those things myself, no need for you to worry,"
After saying this, he hurriedly hung up the phone, lest Qiao Jing detect something amiss.
Qiao Jing frowned deeply, a vague premonition of disaster beginning to form in her mind.
But she didn’t have time to think further because Zhan Qipei’s gaze had become even more fervent.
Qiao Jing put away her phone and looked up to meet Zhan Qipei’s eyes.
The two made eye contact for a few seconds, but eventually, Qiao Jing gave way.
"Alright, alright, I’ll take you, okay? But first, I have a condition, you must not argue with Ni Yue when the time comes."
She didn’t want Ni Yue’s birthday to be spoiled by a quarrel between her and Zhan Qipei.
Zhan Qipei nodded and immediately agreed.
Qiao Jing didn’t go to the research institute for work as usual; instead, she went to the brand store for the bag that Ni Yue wanted.
She walked straight into the store and spotted the bag in the center at a glance, and there was only one.
Qiao Jing slightly knitted her brows, unsure whether this was the bag Ni Yue wanted, so she approached the counter.
"Hello, is the worldwide limited edition bag that was released today still available?"
She was worried that someone else might have bought the bag, so she had come over as soon as the mall opened.
The sales associate had been smiling, but her expression became reserved upon hearing Qiao Jing’s question.
"Miss, I’m sorry, but the bag is gone."
Qiao Jing’s frown deepened as her gaze settled on the bag in the center of the store.
"Isn’t that the one in the center?"
Upon hearing Qiao Jing’s remark, the sales associate’s expression stiffened.
"Err... yes, but it’s gone. It’s not for sale anymore; there’s only one in the store."
Qiao Jing, reading the salesperson’s facial expression, arched an eyebrow, suspecting what might be going on.
"If the bag is still here, doesn’t that mean it hasn’t been sold yet? Moreover, this bag was only put on display after the store opened today, and I came right at opening time. Are you sure it’s gone?"
When she arrived, the sales associate was turning on the lights, meaning she was the first customer of the day.
If the sales associate said the bag was no longer available, then someone must have reserved it in advance.
Yet, Qiao Jing had checked the official website and found that this globally limited edition bag could not be reserved in advance and belonged to whoever managed to purchase it first after it was put on sale.
At that moment, several elegantly dressed women arrived outside the store, and, upon seeing someone already inside, they sighed and left one by one.
This indicated that seeing someone inside, they assumed the bag was reserved for the first person to arrive at the store.
Therefore, the sales associate’s words suggested that someone had made an under-the-table reservation in violation of the policy.
While Qiao Jing was considering this, someone approached the entrance.
It was someone she knew.