Chapter 55.1: Will You Switch Jobs with Me?
Chu Qianmiao asked Zhou Shuqi what
the hell he was talking about, telling him to speak quickly, or he'd hang up.
Zhou Shuqi hesitated for a long
time.
Chu Qianmiao wanted to dive into
her phone and hack him to death.
"Hang up!" Chu Qianmiao
said angrily, losing her patience.
Zhou Shuqi quickly muttered,
"Senior, wait a minute." After a moment of struggle, he said,
"Oh, forget it. I'll talk to you in person tomorrow when I get to the
office." After a pause, he said, "Senior, are you at the office tomorrow?"
Chu Qianmiao replied,
"Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Administration for Industry and Commerce
to help Lawyer Zhang check the business records, and then I'll come to the
office."
Zhou Shuqi said, "That's
perfect. I'm also going to help Sister Xiaodong deliver some documents to a
project tomorrow morning. She said she had something to do, so she asked me for
help. So, let's meet tomorrow at noon or this afternoon. See you then, it's a
date." After a pause, he emphasized, "Senior, I really do have
something to tell you."
Chu Qianmiao's patience was
completely exhausted after hearing Zhou Shuqi's solemn words. She hung up the
phone.
Putting away her phone, she
wondered if Zhou Shuqi was formally confessing his feelings to her with all
that hesitating.
She rubbed her forehead, feeling a
little tired. Lately, she didn't know what was going on, but peach blossoms
were everywhere around her. Someone had plucked her own, and then they kept
handing her branches.
She thought she'd have a formal
talk with Zhou Shuqi tomorrow, to put an end to his ever-present urge to insult
his seniors, and to tell him to behave himself and stop dwelling on young
ladies.
The next morning, Chu Qianmiao went
to the Administration for Industry and Commerce to help Zhang Teng check his
business records. On the way back to the law firm, Chu Qianmiao looked out the
bus window and saw that the leaves on both sides of the road had turned yellow.
The wind blew, and the yellow leaves swayed and fell. It was autumn again,
strange to say, even in the season of harvest, it always seemed a little bleak.
She remembered an artist named Dapeng who once sang a song called "Autumn
is the Season for Breakups." She thought autumn might signify a certain
kind of ending.
It was almost ten o'clock when she
returned to the law firm. Chu Qianmiao put her bag down at her workstation,
drank some water, and then went to find Zhang Teng with her business documents.
After knocking on the door and
entering, she was surprised to see Cheng Xiaodong there. Cheng Xiaodong was
sitting in a chair across from Zhang Teng's desk, apparently discussing
something.
Chu Qianmiao placed the documents
on Zhang Teng's desk and said, "Lawyer Zhang, here are the business
documents you requested." Then she turned and greeted Cheng Xiaodong.
When Cheng Xiaodong turned to
respond, Chu Qianmiao was slightly startled.
Cheng Xiaodong's eyes were red,
looking like she had either been up all night or had been crying.
She figured Cheng Xiaodong, such a
cool and sassy woman, wouldn't cry. She smiled and said, "Sister Xiaodong,
take care of yourself. Don't overwork yourself."
Cheng Xiaodong smiled and thanked
her, then stood up and told her, "Go ahead and talk to Attorney
Zhang."
Chu Qianmiao quickly said,
"No, Sister Xiaodong, I'm just delivering some information to Attorney
Zhang. Nothing else. You guys continue your conversation."
Cheng Xiaodong then uncrossed her
legs and sat back down.
As they sat together, Chu Qianmiao
glanced at her skirt, slightly surprised. She turned and left Zhang Teng's
office, closing the door behind her. All the offices and conference rooms in
the law firm were separated by glass walls. As she closed the door, she caught
a glimpse of Cheng Xiaodong's profile and Zhang Teng's full face. Their
expressions looked a little solemn.
Chu Qianmiao didn't dare look any
further, fearing to disturb them.
Back at her desk, she called Zhou
Shuqi to ask when he would arrive at the firm and if he wanted to have lunch
together so they could chat.
Zhou Shuqi immediately delivered a
jingle like an amateur comedian: "Okay, okay, I want steamed lamb, steamed
bear paws, steamed deer tail, and roasted duck."
Chu Qianmiao snapped, "Speak
human language!"
Zhou Shuqi: "Senior, I want to
eat some real kung fu!"
Chu Qianmiao told him she
understood and hung up.
Looking at the time, she saw there
was still over an hour until lunch. Before, working on the project, every day
was so busy and fulfilling that she often didn't even think about eating until
lunchtime. Now, she was so idle that she spent every minute watching and
counting the minutes until lunch.
After the project ends, she
realized she wasn't used to the relaxed lifestyle at the law firm. Before,
she'd been toiling away on the project all day, wishing every minute it would
be finished so she could rest. But now that the project was truly finished and
she could rest whenever she pleased, she felt empty and lost, unsure what to do
next.
She glanced down at her watch
again. It was ten-thirty. She later realized that this moment held
extraordinary significance, a dividing line in the lives of several people.
At ten-thirty, Chu Qianmiao checked
her watch and opened her notebook, deciding to research a case study.
At that moment, a middle-aged woman
walked directly into the law firm and then into Zhang Teng's office.
Chu Qianmiao assumed she was a
friend or client of Zhang Teng's. She watched her enter without paying much
attention.
But a minute after she entered, the
sounds of beatings and angry curses erupted from Zhang Teng's office.
The glass walls and doors couldn't
contain the sounds. Chu Qianmiao, along with the others in the office, heard a
woman's sharp, scolding voice emanating from Zhang Teng's office, accompanied
by the sounds of her fists or slaps striking at others.
"You shameless bitch! You
seduced someone else's husband and had an affair with a man who already had a
family and children. Who the hell do you think you are? You still have the
nerve to be a lawyer. Why don't you just go die? You've seduced someone else's
husband and you don't even go home to his wife or the children. Do you have no
conscience? You keep saying you're working on a project, are you really working
on a project? Go get a room and have s*x. You've done it so well that you both
have a child, right? Shameless! You're still planning to give birth! Are you
human? You deserve a miscarriage! This is karma, karma!"
Chu Qianmiao was stunned. Every
word of those words assaulted her. Shocked, she didn't know how to react. She
didn't know how true what Zhang Teng's wife said was.
Many colleagues gathered at the
door of Zhang Teng's office to watch. She hurried over to help disperse the
crowd. She shouted at them, "Disperse, disperse! Stop watching. There's
nothing to see."
But the more she shouted, the more
people gathered.
Chu Qianmiao was helpless. She
hoped no one's family would have any trouble. If they did, those who came to
watch would be even more upset, almost to the point of death.
Unable to reprimand them, she
simply looked inside the office. She saw Zhang Teng's wife slapping Cheng
Xiaodong. Cheng Xiaodong didn't even try to avoid the blow, allowing it to
continue. Several bloody scratches had formed on her face, making her look horrific.
Zhang Teng was inside, yelling at
his wife, "Are you crazy? What nonsense are you talking about? Go home and
tell us what's going on. Why are you embarrassing us here?" He then
shouted at Cheng Xiaodong, "Are you stupid? Why don't you just hide? Get
out first!"
Zhang Teng's wife stopped Cheng
Xiaodong and cried, "I'm talking nonsense. Do you think I'll post the
evidence on your company wall? Now you know how shameful it is! Why didn't you
feel ashamed when you checked into her room? You lied to me about working on a
project, sleeping with her, and then something went wrong, and then you
accompanied her for an abortion. How can you not feel ashamed? You feel ashamed
now, but it's too late."
Zhang Teng saw Chu Qianmiao outside
and shouted at her, "Call security."
Chu Qianmiao turned to squeeze out
to call security, but someone grabbed her wrist. "The front desk has
already called security. You don't have to go."
Chu Qianmiao saw that the person
grabbing her wrist was Qiao Zhixin. He, a partner, had the audacity to come and
watch another partner's fun. Chu Qianmiao thought, he was really gloating.
She broke free from Qiao Zhixin's
grip and pushed the office door, wanting to go in and help break up the fight.
After all, this was the company; it wouldn't be a good look if family matters
got dragged into it.
But she couldn't open the door.
Zhang Teng's wife must have locked it from the inside.
She knocked on the door, hoping
Zhang Teng would come and open it. But Zhang Teng was busy fending off his
wife's assault on him and Cheng Xiaodong.
Qiao Zhixin stood nearby, making
sarcastic remarks.
"Cheng Xiaodong is like this,
and you still have the nerve to talk about me? I knew their affair would be
exposed sooner or later. They're flirting all day, thinking it was all done
perfectly."
Chu Qianmiao glared at him, turning
to look at him. "Qiao Lu, please stop talking nonsense. It's just Zhang
Lu's wife talking now. Who knows what's going on? What if she's just being
overly sensitive?"
Qiao Zhixin sighed, leaning over
and whispering in her ear. Chu Qianmiao, fearing other colleagues might
overhear something untoward, suppressed his irritatingly affectionate words.
"Qianmiao, you're just too naive. How could I possibly say such nonsense?
You didn't see them getting carried away in the office, but I did."
Chu Qianmiao was stunned. She
turned to look at Qiao Zhixin. Although he smiled at her with a lewd smile, he
didn't seem to be lying.
Something flashed through her mind.
She had just entered the room to
deliver documents to Zhang Teng and was startled when she saw Cheng Xiaodong's
collar. Pinned to her collar was a brooch, the one Dong Lan had given Zhang
Teng.
She recalled the time in the
printing room when Qiao Zhixin had harassed her and Cheng Xiaodong had gone in
to defend her. Qiao Zhixin had sneered at Cheng Xiaodong and told her to mind
her own business.
Then he left.
She had told Cheng Xiaodong that
she had a lot of curse words she couldn't get out, and she was feeling
suffocated.
Cheng Xiaodong told her,
"Forget it. If you really start a fight with him, there will be a lot of
people watching, and the only people who will truly side with you might be me
and Zhang Lu. Zhang Lu will be in a difficult position then."
So, "Mind your own
business" was Qiao Zhixin's way of hinting to Cheng Xiaodong that she had
caught you and Zhang Teng having a fight.
"Zhang Lu will be in a
difficult position then" meant that if Zhang Teng stood up for her and
confronted Qiao Zhixin, Qiao Zhixin would reveal his relationship with Cheng
Xiaodong.
And that day, it was Zhang Teng who
said Cheng Xiaodong was sick from working on the project and asked her to come
back and help. Cheng Xiaodong's face was pale, and she was still wearing
long-sleeved clothes in the middle of summer. Although she was a grown woman,
she had considerable knowledge of gynecology. Looking back now, Cheng
Xiaodong's condition at the time certainly looked like she had just had an
abortion.
Chu Qianmiao's heart was pounding.
It seemed that the truth of the matter pointed to what Zhang Teng's wife had
said.
The security guard arrived, opened
the door, and carried Zhang Teng's wife away.
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