Chapter 171 - Charisma

Ellie bent down, bringing her face close to Chu Qianqian’s.

Seeing the admiration on Chu Qianqian’s face, Ellie knew the other woman was envious of her long legs. A mischievous smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and her gaze radiated such an unsettling charm that it instantly felt dangerous.

Leaning in even closer, Ellie caught her own reflection in Chu Qianqian’s eyes, and her mood improved significantly. Parting her lips slightly, she asked, “Am I dashing?”

Even though she knew Ellie loved to boast, Chu Qianqian nodded earnestly and replied, “Dashing!”

But before the curve of Ellie’s smile could grow, Chu Qianqian added, “Could you stand a bit farther from me? Your hair’s brushing against my face, and it’s tickling me.”

With that, Chu Qianqian reached out and gave Ellie a gentle push. Then, as if on cue, she hunched forward and sneezed right under Ellie’s indignant gaze. “Achoo!”

Caught off guard by the outcome, Ellie glared at Chu Qianqian, her annoyance evident. For what felt like the hundredth time, she had to swallow the bitter truth: her charm, which could captivate countless women, seemed utterly ineffective when it came to Chu Qianqian. It was like her powers just fizzled out around her.

“You admit I’m dashing, so why do you never pick up on it when I flirt with you? It’s like winking at a blind person.”

“Flirt? When have you ever flirted with me?” Chu Qianqian’s expression was one of genuine confusion. “I don’t recall that at all.”

Her innocent question landed on Ellie like a direct blow. So it really had been like trying to flirt with a blind person, after all.

Clenching her teeth, Ellie practically growled, “Plenty of times! For example, just now!”

“Just now?” Chu Qianqian’s eyes widened in surprise. She racked her brain, replaying Ellie’s little spin from earlier. After going over it a few times, the only thing she could identify might’ve been the moment Ellie’s eyes had shifted upward slightly. “Do you mean when you tilted your gaze up a little?”

“Exactly!” Ellie exhaled in relief, finally feeling that Chu Qianqian wasn’t completely hopeless. “How could you not notice such an obvious move? And it took you so long to even remember!”

Though the words carried a reprimand, Ellie’s expression bore the disappointment of a father watching an underperforming child. Her tone was filled with a sense of frustration that bordered on despair.

“The underperforming child humbly acknowledges her flaws.” Chu Qianqian flashed an ingratiating smile. “To be honest, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have realized it at all. I wasn’t paying much attention earlier.”

Noticing that Ellie’s expression was once again darkening, Chu Qianqian quickly tried to make amends. “The reason I wasn’t paying attention is that I was too busy looking at your legs.”

“Legs?” Ellie raised her eyebrows, feeling that Chu Qianqian might not be entirely hopeless after all-at least she had some aesthetic sense. Her long, straight, beautifully contoured legs had always been her pride and joy. They were, without a doubt, the second most beautiful part of her body. As for the first? In Ellie’s confident-bordering-on-narcissistic opinion, her face was unquestionably her most stunning feature.

“Yeah,” Chu Qianqian nodded, letting out a sigh. “Your legs are so long. The length of our torsos is about the same, but the real difference in height is entirely in the length of your legs. If only I were taller…”

This not-quite-a-compliment did not get the reception Chu Qianqian had hoped for. Instead of smiling, Ellie’s face turned colder as she sat rigidly on the sofa, her sharp gaze fixed unrelentingly on Chu Qianqian. She seemed to be waiting to see what else might come out of Chu Qianqian’s mouth.

Under Ellie’s intense stare, Chu Qianqian realized she had, once again, somehow triggered one of Ellie’s unspoken pet peeves. Internally, she groaned. Ellie really was like a temperamental little fairy, always difficult to please. To avoid further trouble, Chu Qianqian knew she needed to come up with something quickly to placate her; otherwise, it would be her who suffered for it.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Chu Qianqian’s head, and her eyes lit up with excitement. She had completely forgotten her main reason for coming to Ellie today! She patted her pocket, feeling for something, and let out a breath of relief when her fingers brushed against it.

Under Ellie’s curious gaze, Chu Qianqian pulled out a business card and handed it to her. “Here, this is the business card for the owner of Ge Yuan Styling. I got it from one of the staff when I went to the hair salon two days ago.”

“Ge Yuan Styling?”

Hearing the unfamiliarity in Ellie’s tone, Chu Qianqian’s opinion of her scatterbrained friend reached a new low. She rolled her eyes dramatically and said, “It’s the one in City B. The hair salon where, on your very first visit, you hit on the boss. I only went there because you recommended it to me!”

Ellie’s eyes widened at Chu Qianqian’s words, and then, as if a light bulb had just gone off in her head, she snapped her fingers. “Ohhh, that place! I’d almost forgotten about it if you hadn’t mentioned it.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when she caught the withering look of disdain in Chu Qianqian’s eyes. Feeling slightly self-conscious, Ellie quickly tried to defend herself. “It’s not my fault! I meet so many people every day. To avoid overloading my brain, I’ve trained it to periodically clear out unimportant individuals.”

“Oh? Unimportant individuals, you say?” Chu Qianqian dragged out her words, and her eyes narrowed, radiating even more contempt than before. “I think what you mean is you erase people you couldn’t successfully hit on.”

Chu Qianqian’s cutting remark hit Ellie like a bullseye, leaving her momentarily speechless. The accuracy of her words left Ellie scrambling for a rebuttal, but nothing came to mind. For a moment, the two of them simply stared at each other, the air between them thick with Ellie’s awkward silence and Chu Qianqian’s quiet amusement. Neither seemed to know what to say next.

After two minutes of silence, it was Chu Qianqian who broke the stalemate. She reached out to grab the business card in Ellie’s hand, but Ellie deftly dodged her.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you forget about Boss Wei? Then just hand the card back to me,” Ellie said.

“No~,” Ellie drawled coquettishly. A sly smirk played on her lips, her eyebrows arched, and her whole demeanor screamed mischief. Her tone was every bit as infuriating as her expression. “I was going to forget about him, but who asked you to bring him up again? Now I’ve remembered!”

“You-”

“After all, the man can’t stop thinking about me. Why would you want to be the villain who ruins someone else’s romance?” Ellie taunted, her voice full of mockery.

Chu Qianqian was thoroughly stunned by Ellie’s shamelessness. She momentarily abandoned all sense of decorum and sprang forward, lunging to snatch the card. But Ellie had anticipated her move. The moment Chu Qianqian stood up, Ellie raised the business card high above her head.

The height difference became glaringly obvious in that instant. No matter how much Chu Qianqian stood on tiptoe or jumped, she couldn’t reach the card that Ellie held triumphantly out of her grasp. Instead, Ellie watched Chu Qianqian’s increasingly exasperated attempts and laughed heartily.

“You, Ellie, you jerk!” Chu Qianqian exclaimed. Thanks to her impeccable upbringing, she had a sparse library of insults, so all she could do was repeat the word “jerk” over and over.

Ellie burst into laughter at Chu Qianqian’s feeble attempts to insult her. Her laughter was loud and unabashed, and every inch of her radiated a playful smugness that begged for retribution.

Chu Qianqian hesitated for a few seconds, remembering how Ellie had comforted her earlier. In the end, she decided against actually striking Ellie and sat back on the couch with a huff. She turned her head away, determined not to look at Ellie’s infuriatingly smug grin. “Just wait, Ellie. One day, someone will put you in your place. Let’s see how cocky you are then!”