Zhao Yutong jumped up from her chair with a "whoosh".
"How can you say you're targeting me personally? Ye Linchen, dare you say you're not targeting me?"
"Every single time! Every single time I want to do something, the three of you team up to oppose it!"
"You weren't even having a discussion; you had all planned this beforehand to isolate me! Isn't it because you think my academic performance isn't as good as yours and look down on me?"
She stared intently at Ye Linchen, and shouted out her deepest suspicions in the most hurtful way:
"Tell me the truth! Do you really think the clothing studio I chose is bad, or is it because I caught you doing something embarrassing at school this morning and made you lose face, so you're deliberately trying to make me unhappy and uncomfortable?"
"Zhao Yutong! Don't go too far!"
Li Hongying couldn't listen anymore, so she slammed her hand on the table and stood up.
"What nonsense are you spouting! We're working on a project! This isn't child's play! Everyone's goal is the good of the team, to write a better business report, and to secure the school's entrepreneurship grant! Who has time to argue with you about something so trivial!"
How do you know it's not about trying to prove yourself?
Zhao Yutong was blinded by anger and retorted without thinking.
Do you know what happened today?
She glanced at Li Hongying and Lin Xuemei, and sneered, "Do you know? Right at the cafeteria entrance! In front of so many students, Senior Ye's uncle was dragged away like a dead dog by the school security! The scene was...tsk tsk..."
As she spoke, she turned to Ye Linchen provocatively, hoping to see even the slightest bit of embarrassment, awkwardness, or even shame on his face.
However, she was disappointed.
Ye Linchen did not.
Ye Linchen remained sitting there quietly.
Her face was expressionless, her eyes were calm, and she just looked at her indifferently, as if she were looking at an unreasonable stranger.
Zhao Yutong's hurtful words were like a pebble thrown into the ocean, failing to even create a ripple.
On the contrary, Li Hongying and Lin Xuemei were both stunned when they heard that "their uncle was taken away by the security department".
They no longer cared about arguing with Zhao Yutong; all their attention instantly shifted to Ye Linchen.
"Xiao Chen, what happened?"
"Your uncle came to the school? Are you alright? Has everything been resolved?"
"He hasn't caused you any trouble, has he? Why haven't you mentioned it?"
"Xiao Chen, do you need our help?"
The two people flanked her from the left and right, asking questions incessantly, their voices filled with barely concealed worry.
Ye Linchen smiled and shook his head reassuringly at them.
"I'm fine, everything's been taken care of."
After speaking, she turned her gaze back to Zhao Yutong, who was standing there looking bewildered.
At that moment, Zhao Yutong read something in Ye Linchen's eyes that she had never seen before.
It wasn't anger, it wasn't sadness, but a calm, a calm that was completely undisturbed.
“Zhao Yutong,” Ye Linchen began, “I think you are now completely swayed by your personal emotions and have lost the objectivity and impartiality that a team member should have. You are no longer able to continue participating in today’s discussion.”
Her gaze shifted from Zhao Yutong's face to the notebook that was placed on the table.
"So, now, please leave."
"And from this moment on, all the work you are in charge of is temporarily suspended. We'll talk again once you've figured out what a team is and what work is."
Zhao Yutong was stunned.
She had imagined that Ye Linchen would have a big fight with her, or that he would be furious, but she never expected that Ye Linchen would actually choose to kick her out!
This disregard only fueled her anger.
"Okay...okay!"
Zhao Yutong grabbed her bag and haphazardly stuffed the notebook inside.
"Isn't this what you wanted? To make me leave? I don't care! Fine, I'll leave!"
After packing her things, Zhao Yutong turned and rushed towards the door.
She stopped at the door and yelled at the three of them, "Even if you beg me, I won't come back!"
After saying that, he slammed the door and left.
Lin Xuemei and Li Hongying were startled by the loud slam of the door and looked at each other in bewilderment.
After a moment, Li Hongying, having recovered her composure, asked Ye Linchen, "Xiao Chen, what... what do we do now?"
Ye Linchen's gaze fell on the door that had been slammed shut. He didn't speak, as if he was thinking about something.
After several seconds, she looked away and said, "Let's have a meeting first and sort out what we're doing."
She gathered the scattered documents on the table back together, as if nothing had happened, and said calmly, "Sit down quickly."
Lin Xuemei hesitated for a moment: "As for Zhao Yutong... should we leave it at that for now?"
"Leave her alone for now. Let her calm down." Ye Linchen nodded. "We can't keep letting her throw tantrums. This is a team, not a kindergarten, and we can't keep coaxing her. If she doesn't realize her problem, or if she realizes it but is unwilling to change, then we'll have to consider... having her leave the project team."
Ye Linchen spoke the words "withdraw from the project team" very softly, but they made Lin Xuemei and Li Hongying pause for a moment.
Although they also felt that Zhao Yutong had gone too far today, they hadn't expected it to be this serious.
But on second thought, Ye Linchen's words made perfect sense.
Ever since Ye Linchen gave Zhao Yutong a wake-up call, she has indeed worked much harder, like a different person. She spends every day in the library, and the things she makes are quite presentable.
Everyone has eyes to see her efforts and changes.
But what happened today was completely wrong.
Disagreements about which project to choose are perfectly normal within a team.
Let's discuss it together and express our opinions freely.
But Zhao Yutong's subsequent words, especially when she brought up Ye Linchen's uncle's matter to rub salt in her wounds, were no longer a discussion about work; they were pure malice, devoid of any classmate affection or empathy.
Thinking of this, the reluctance they felt subsided.
Li Hongying sighed and nodded: "You're right, she should think about it carefully."
Lin Xuemei chimed in, "Yes, she was too hurtful."
She wanted to say a few more words of concern for Ye Linchen, but Ye Linchen was already acting as if nothing had happened, and spread out the documents on the table.
She pointed to one of the reports and said, "Now that we've decided to choose 'Precision Software,' let's discuss the general direction of the report and then divide the work. Let's try to start writing it as soon as we get back today."
She picked up another thick stack of printed paper: "At the same time, our startup report can't be neglected; we need to keep moving forward."
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