He didn't know why he felt panicked, but in that instant, his heart felt shrouded in mist, utterly beyond his control.
So it turned out that even he was a Bai in an unfamiliar field. The aura of the King only worked in the entertainment circle. Perhaps if he entered a white-collar company, he wouldn't even measure up to his former assistant, would he?
"Hey, be careful!"
The loud noise frightened Xu Qingqiu into instinctively reaching out to steady it, but she quickly pulled back.
For a moment, the atmosphere between the two became subtle. The surrounding air quieted considerably, the loudest sound being the thumping of their own heartbeats, like distant thunder.
"Uh... just trying to..."
Chu Tian wanted to explain something, to break the awkward silence.
But as soon as he started to speak, a coarse voice and meaningless syllables tumbled out, and the expressions on both his and Xu Qingqiu's faces instantly darkened.
However, it was, after all, a different soul inhabiting the body. Chu Tian was the first to recover. Pretending as if nothing had happened, he gestured toward the printer nearby, fiddled with it a bit, and indicated that the machine didn't seem reliable—it was probably broken.
Seeing how quickly he regained his composure, Xu Qingqiu didn't know why her heart twinged, as if she had lost something, making her feel even more unnatural.
But the Queen was still the Queen, especially such a young one. She had experienced too much and quickly realized something was amiss, immediately shaking off the emotion.
After observing Chu Tian's attempts, for some reason, Xu Qingqiu felt an urge to laugh, while her eyes involuntarily showed a hint of helplessness and fondness.
She stepped forward and said, "Let me give it a try."
Chu Tian quickly moved aside. Go ahead and try it, he thought. You'll soon find out this thing is too difficult, or it's broken. It has nothing to do with me.
Who knew that after Xu Qingqiu pressed something and tinkered with it a couple of times, the printer started to work with a WHIRR AND CLICK.
No way! What did that mean?
Do even lousy printers judge people by their looks these days?
Why did it have no reaction at all when I fumbled with it for ages, but start working immediately when she touched it?
Was the problem with me, or was the printer just being temperamental?
Seeing his shocked face, as if he had witnessed something incredible, Xu Qingqiu couldn't help but find him rather cute and feel an urge to laugh.
Unwilling to see him remain in the dark, she explained, "You see this? There's an option here to select the paper tray. You kept choosing Tray 2, which is this bottom one. It's empty, so the printer obviously wouldn't work. You should have selected Tray 1."
As she spoke, she even pulled open the paper tray below to show him.
Hmm? Was that it?
Chu Tian watched her demonstration, and a herd of alpacas stampeded through his mind.
I'd struggled with such a simple little problem for so long?
It wasn't really his fault. First, this was another world, where the usage habits for many things differed from his own. This included differences in the human-machine interface of some devices.
Secondly, in his previous life, his assistant team alone numbered seven or eight people, including personal assistants, public relations assistants, fan liaisons, business assistants, and so on.
For tasks like printing, he usually didn't need to do it himself, so naturally, he wasn't very familiar with it.
Most importantly, the display screen was tiny. The prompt, written in English, was tucked away in a corner and wasn't obvious, so he hadn't noticed it at all.
Lately, Xu Qingqiu had been having a hard time and inevitably had to handle many things personally. As a result, she gradually learned things she didn't understand before.
The atmosphere grew heavy without them noticing. They just stood there, accompanied by the WHIRRING AND CLICKING of the printer, like a frozen scene in a painting or listening to a piece of music. The air seemed to solidify.
Xu Qingqiu didn't know what to say; it felt as if she had a thousand words to utter, yet also nothing at all.
Chu Tian was completely silent because he literally couldn't speak properly. Otherwise, he would have definitely cracked a witty joke or two to liven up the atmosphere. Unfortunately, with such a great mood, his uncooperative tongue was a real letdown; there was nothing he could do.
Perhaps realizing something, Chu Tian tilted his head to glance at the girl with her back to him, hesitated a moment, and then quietly slipped away.
I can't stand this anymore; my legs are going numb! We're all adults here; it's not like a teacher is punishing us by making us stand. It should be fine if I just leave, right? The boss wouldn't fire me over such a trivial thing, would she? Probably not. She seems like a magnanimous person, not so petty.
He was quite nonchalant about it. Xu Qingqiu, however, who was standing in front, had already heard the movement behind her. She listened as the person behind her moved further and further away, the sound of their footsteps growing fainter. She wanted to speak but held back, just listening as the sounds became more distant and softer.
For some reason, her heart felt empty, as if something was missing, so much so that she didn't even notice when the printer stopped working.
After a long moment, Xu Qingqiu came back to her senses. Seeing the printer that had long since stopped, she hurriedly bent down and frantically gathered the printed documents. She had taken only a few steps before she turned back to retrieve the original document she had initially placed inside, and only then did she leave.
As she was leaving, she subconsciously glanced over at Chu Tian's station. Seeing him intently staring at the computer, oblivious to her, she quickly averted her eyes, pretending as if nothing was amiss. Internally, however, she was already cursing up a storm.
Am I not as good-looking as a computer screen? What's so great about that computer? He's been staring at it for ages; hasn't he had enough yet?
Was the computer screen that captivating? Of course, it was!
Chu Tian's eyes were glued to the lengthy strings of text and accompanying pictures on the screen, his expression growing more and more excited, as if he had stumbled upon some age-inappropriate content.
So, what was actually on the screen? It was the Weibo page of a certain brand.
At the top of the search bar, the words "Latest Gossip" were glaringly present.
Below was a top news item with a trending tag.
[Qin Xiao Spends Night with Young Heartthrob, Fails to Return by Morning]
Below it were nine-square grid photos, and the comments section was swarming with all sorts of trolls and malicious commenters.
There were fans quarreling, onlookers reveling in the drama, sarcastic mockers, and even those secretly leaking half-truths.
Upon seeing a particularly juicy part, Chu Tian couldn't resist; his finger slipped, and he hit 'like.'
He 'liked' over a dozen posts. Only after he had devoured every last bit of the gossip did he reluctantly close the webpage. Then, out of habit, he opened his favorite game, planning to play a couple of rounds to unwind.
It seemed he'd forgotten something, though. If he'd paid a little more attention, he might have noticed that the Weibo account he was using just then looked suspiciously like Xu Qingqiu's.
After all, as an assistant, he was supposed to be responsible for some things, wasn't he?
As it happened, he was in charge of Xu Qingqiu's personal account.
Well, 'in charge' might be an overstatement. The account was merely entrusted to him. Except for tasks Sister Hua occasionally assigned, he hardly ever needed to use it.
This was because Xu Qingqiu disliked sharing her personal life and had almost nothing to post all year round, so she had handed the account over to him to manage.
To put it bluntly, it was just to give him something to do. Whether he actually did anything wasn't important; nominally, he had a task, and that was enough.
The previous owner of the body, whatever his other faults, understood the gravity of such matters. He never misused this account—or rather, he never used it at all—precisely to avoid any mishaps.
Who knew that Chu Tian, having just transmigrated, would have no such awareness? He hadn't reviewed that part of the original owner's memories and had no idea that the Weibo account logged in on this computer was Xu Qingqiu's.
Besides, the original owner rarely used it. Who would have thought they'd encounter a transmigrator like him, one who loved gossip so much that the first thing he did was go to Weibo to search for scandals?
If the original owner were still alive, he'd probably jump up and curse Chu Tian for being a lunatic, right?