Returning - Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Acting
The next day, Zhao Yu went to work as usual. Aside from her rather red eyes and slightly more pronounced dark circles, everything else appeared normal.
Fu Tao saw her state and felt somewhat guilty. Several times he seemed about to speak but ultimately said nothing. After the meeting, he hurriedly left the company again, rushing to personally meet a major client.
There was another meeting in the afternoon, but it was just routine work reports from the various marketing divisions. With Fu Tao absent, Zhao Yu, as his assistant, naturally had to fill in.
Halfway through the meeting, while Marketing President Hu Guowei was speaking, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open. A young woman, about seventeen or eighteen years old, stormed in aggressively.
Recognizing the intruder, Zhao Yu, who was closest to the door, quickly stood up to intercept her, lowering her voice. "Mengmeng, why are you here? President Fu isn't in the company right now. We're in the middle of a—"
Slap!
Before she could finish, a resounding slap landed on her face. Everyone was stunned by the scene for a moment, failing to react immediately.
Zhao Yu's hands, resting at the sides of her skirt, clenched tightly. Yet she still maintained a smile on her face and said calmly, "Mengmeng, this is the conference room. Let's go talk in your dad's office."
As she spoke, she reached out to guide the girl out of the conference room. But Fu Yumeng shook her off violently, shoving her quite a distance away.
Wearing high heels, Zhao Yu couldn't keep her balance at all from such a push. Stumbling, she fell awkwardly against the table behind her.
Fu Yumeng still wanted to make another move but was stopped by another Marketing Director, Chen Ke. "Mengmeng, this is a company, not a place for you to cause trouble. Get out right now."
Fu Yumeng glared viciously at Zhao Yu, who had already straightened up. "You shameless slut! If you dare seduce my dad again, believe me, I'll have someone sell you to a nightclub to be a whore!"
Chen Ke glanced at the pale-faced Zhao Yu, grabbed Fu Yumeng's arm, and forcefully led her out.
The conference room door closed again. Zhao Yu took two deep breaths, calmly returned to her seat, acted as if nothing had happened, listened to Hu Guowei finish his presentation, and then earnestly delivered her own work report.
By the time the meeting adjourned, Fu Yumeng was no longer in the company. But the incident had already spread rapidly. The crowd that loved to watch a spectacle had fresh gossip.
Zhao Yu still walked with her back straight, ignoring everything in front of others, seemingly indifferent to it all.
But when no one was looking, she quietly hid in the refuge floor on the thirtieth story. Sitting on the ground, curled up, she wept aloud, her body shaking.
When she had cried enough and lifted her head from her knees, a tissue was offered in front of her.
She looked up and saw Xue Zi'ang's expressionless face.
Startled and flustered, she froze for two seconds before scrambling to her feet, turning her back to him to wipe away her tears, and calling out in a low voice, "President Xue."
The refuge floor was covered in dust. Her professional attire was now grimy. Xue Zi'ang observed her disheveled state, sighed, and asked, "All you know is crying. Can crying solve the problem?"
Zhao Yu lowered her head, biting her lip, silent.
After a moment's hesitation, Xue Zi'ang suddenly grabbed her right hand, intending to push up her sleeve.
Zhao Yu panicked and struggled desperately, but Xue Zi'ang's grip was extremely tight. He said in a deep voice, "I already saw it earlier."
He was referring to the moment she fell against the conference table and braced herself forcefully with her right hand on its surface.
Zhao Yu instantly froze and stopped resisting.
Xue Zi'ang smoothly pushed up her cuff. His gaze fell on her fair arm, his eyes narrowing as anger surfaced.
Between her right wrist and elbow, there were several distinct scars, some deep, some shallow. Some had already scabbed over, while others were fresh—likely inflicted the previous night.
"Are you brain-dead? Self-harming every time you run into trouble?"
Zhao Yu continued to hang her head in silence, but large teardrops fell uncontrollably.
Xue Zi'ang released her hand and offered the tissue again.
Zhao Yu took it, wiped her tears dry, and said hoarsely, "Thank you, President Xue."
"What damn use is thanking me? If you have the guts to harm yourself, you might as well think about what you should do. Being bullied to this extent and not knowing how to fight back—you've lived all these years for nothing."
But Zhao Yu didn't register half of what Xue Zi'ang said.
In the afternoon, when Fu Tao returned to the company, she tendered her resignation.
Knowing his daughter had come to the company and caused such a scene, Fu Tao's guilt deepened. He kept apologizing to Zhao Yu but didn't dare say anything about persuading her to stay.
All the gossip and slander Zhao Yu currently endured stemmed from his impure intentions toward her. Since things had escalated to the point where she was determined to leave, he truly had no standing to say much.
With Fu Tao's consent, Zhao Yu began submitting her resignation application in the company system. Midway through the process, a deep voice suddenly came from behind her. "Getting scared away so easily—wouldn't that be playing right into certain people's hands?"
Zhao Yu smiled wryly. "It's just an ordinary job. Work is the same wherever you go. Resigning is no loss to me."
"Is that so? With a temperament like yours, do you really think switching companies will guarantee smooth sailing? What if something similar happens again? Just keep resigning and leaving, giving people a show to laugh at?"
Zhao Yu bit her lip and said nothing.
Xue Zi'ang asked, "Do you know who reported you?"
Zhao Yu shook her head.
"Ye Zi and Gu Yunfei."
Zhao Yu looked up at him in astonishment. But her shock wasn't about those two people—it was that he was actually willing to tell her this.
After all, Ye Zi was his secretary, and word had it their relationship was far from ordinary.
Xue Zi'ang leaned down, meeting her eyes directly. "If I were you, whatever others did to me, I'd pay it back tenfold."
Zhao Yu's eyelashes trembled. She stared at him blankly, her eyes red.
Xue Zi'ang straightened up and smiled. "I'll give you a chance for revenge. Do you want it?"
In the end, Zhao Yu's resignation application was not submitted. Shortly before closing time that evening, news spread through the department: HR had transferred her to a new position as Xue Zi'ang's Assistant.
As soon as the news broke, everyone was stunned.
Everyone knew Xue Zi'ang was the most difficult to serve. His assistants and secretaries had to be personally designated by him. Many female employees who had tried every means to get close to him had hit a wall. Who would have thought that Zhao Yu, who had just become the laughingstock after such a huge scandal, could turn the situation around in an instant and be directly assigned to Xue Zi'ang?
Back in her apartment after work, Zhao Yu received a call from Gu Yunfei.
"What exactly is your strategy? I thought you had me deliberately provoke Fu Yumeng just to play the victim in front of Fu Tao. How did you suddenly become Xue Zi'ang's Assistant?"
Zhao Yu smiled. "Don't you know he's an out-and-out playboy? I'm quite confident in my figure and looks."
Gu Yunfei laughed dryly on the other end, clearly not believing her words.
Zhao Yu didn't elaborate. The two of them weren't even friends—at best, it was an employer-employee relationship. There was no need for so much explanation.
Looking at the girl's profile on her computer screen, Zhao Yu curved her lips into a smile and raised her wine glass, finishing it in one gulp.
Being able to perfectly mimic another person's temperament and personality was also a skill.
She wanted to get close to Xue Zi'ang, to use him to climb higher. As for whether she was treated as a substitute or simply stirred his protective instincts, she didn't care.
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