Chapter 36 I'm Going Back to Chu City
On Wednesday morning, Shen Mengqing knocked on Liang Jun's office door right on time.
"Enter."
Liang Jun put down his phone; the stock market interface was still on the screen. He watched as Shen Mengqing entered the room.
He crossed his arms and placed them on the table, leaned back in his chair, adopted the posture of a leader, and slowly asked, "What do you want to see me about?"
Shen Mengqing had printed out her resignation letter in advance. She handed it to Liang Jun and said, "I'm here to resign. I've also sent the electronic version of my resignation letter to your email."
Liang Jun raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to act so quickly. He took it and glanced at it; it was full of formulaic sentences, not worth reading in detail.
He casually tossed it aside and asked Shen Mengqing with a hint of mockery, "So eager? You don't even want the severance pay?"
Shen Mengqing smiled and said, "Brother Jun, does that mean you're admitting I'm on the layoff list?"
“You’re so smart, I don’t need to tell you, you probably already guessed it.” Liang Jun shrugged, then suddenly leaned forward to probe, “Have you found a new buyer?”
Shen Mengqing nodded slightly and said, "I've found it. You don't need to worry about it."
Liang Jun leaned back again, spread his hands, and said, "Let me guess, Yunji? A lot of people have been jumping ship to Yunji lately. If you ask me, it's better to stay at Yusheng and just get by. No matter how hard Yunji works, it's always been second best in the domestic industry. What kind of reputation can it possibly have?"
His tone was full of disdain, but Shen Mengqing showed no sign of anger and calmly said, "Brother Jun's insights are still so unique."
Liang Jun chuckled and said, "Oh, so arrogant. What, Yunji wants you to be the sales manager?"
"I'm not going to Yunji."
Shen Mengqing spoke patiently.
Liang Jun: "Where is that?"
Shen Mengqing: "Three times."
Liang Jun burst into laughter: "Santong? The Santong in Chucheng? You're going to that lousy place, Chucheng? Oh right, you're from Chucheng, right? That's good, you're going back to your hometown to help build it up."
After he finished laughing, he said earnestly, "However, I have to remind you, once you go there, don't say you're one of our sales people. If you don't achieve good sales results in Chu City, I'll feel ashamed."
Shen Mengqing said slowly, "You're overthinking it. In the past few years at Yusheng, I've dealt with partners and leaders at different levels. I believe this experience will be applicable everywhere."
"As for performance, you don't need to worry about that at all." Shen Mengqing straightened his clothes and stood up calmly. "I applied for the position of assistant to the chairman, so there won't be any performance indicators. You don't need to worry about not finding clients in Chucheng, nor about having your plans stolen by colleagues, or being forced to participate in cutthroat competition. Moreover, from what I understand, the sales department's target completion rate and staff turnover rate have been quite poor these past few months. I heard that the new chairman is about to take office, so you should worry about these things first."
Liang Jun's smile froze on his face. He abruptly stood up, glaring at her and saying, "Shen Mengqing, what do you mean by this?"
Shen Mengqing met his gaze, her red lips parted slightly, and she said coldly, "According to company regulations, the handover period for resignation is about half a month. I will complete all work handover within this half month. If Manager Liang has no other instructions, I will go out and get back to work."
After saying that, she slammed the door shut before Liang Jun could react.
Back at her workstation, Shen Mengqing was overjoyed and immediately messaged Jiang Yu to share her conversation with Liang Jun.
Now that she had submitted her resignation, she didn't waste any more time and brought up the resignation process. This process involved quite a few people and she estimated it would take two days to complete.
With the resignation issue resolved, only one last hurdle remains.
With nine hours until she was to meet Yu Xin, she stared blankly at the bright white computer screen, feeling lost and unsure how to begin the conversation.
I've known him for about six months now.
Even today, she still remembers the scene when they first met at the convenience store. Although they hadn't met many times in the past six months, for some reason, Shen Mengqing seems to remember most of the moments vividly.
After deciding to return to Chu City, she would sometimes think of Yu Xin and suddenly ask herself if she had known she would return to Chu City back then, would she still have taken that step towards Yu Xin?
The next second, a voice silently echoed in her mind, telling her that it would.
In any case, this relationship with him was destined to end, and her return to Chu City was just the perfect opportunity for it to end.
Since she started this relationship, let her be the one to end it.
Shen Mengqing imagined that Yu Xin, with his personality, probably wouldn't get angry and would just coldly say "okay".
Thankfully, their feelings for each other hadn't reached the point where they couldn't let go. All the past remained in Beicheng.
Every time she travels, she likes to buy some souvenirs to display at home. Over the years, she has been working in Beicheng and has never thought about leaving. Now that she is going back to Chucheng, she doesn't have time to buy any.
She thought she would treat this brief relationship as a souvenir she bought in the last moment in Beicheng.
...
7 PM.
Shen Mengqing declined Yu Xin's offer to pick her up from get off work and took a taxi to the agreed-upon coffee shop.
She sat down and waited for a few minutes, but Yu Xin still hadn't shown up. She picked up her phone, intending to send him a text message to ask about the situation, when she received a message from him saying that he would be arriving in about ten minutes and that she could order food first.
Thinking about what they were going to talk about later, Shen Mengqing lost her appetite and casually ordered a sparkling water, drinking it while waiting.
Fifteen minutes later, Yu Xin finally arrived.
Shen Mengqing caught sight of him entering the store at a glance, and she was taken aback when he sat down opposite her.
Yu Xin's hair was cut much shorter. Although it wasn't the buzz cut shown on his ID card, it was only a little longer than that hairstyle. It hung spiky on his head, and without the hair covering his forehead, his sharp gaze was clearly revealed, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay and was extremely intimidating.
Upon closer inspection, his eyes, with their slightly upturned corners, gleamed with a subtle sharpness under the light. His light brown pupils were captivating, and when his gaze fell upon Shen Mengqing, she shivered with coldness, her fingertips curling up.
Damn it, even at this point, she still couldn't resist his face.
Yu Xin took off his overcoat and draped it over the back of the chair, revealing the black suit he was wearing.
He rolled up his sleeves, and the watch on his wrist reflected a sliver of light.
Yu Xin placed his hand on the table and, seeing Shen Mengqing staring at him blankly, said, "What's wrong? Don't you recognize me?"
"No." Shen Mengqing took a sip of sparkling water, and the small bubbles made her choke.
Yu Xin handed her a piece of paper, which she took and wiped her mouth with, saying, "It's been so long since we last met, you've changed a lot."
"Is there?"
Yu Xin leaned back, crossed his arms, stared at her, and asked, "And you?"
Shen Mengqing: "Me?"
Yu Xin: "How have you been lately?"
That's a really good question.
Shen Mengqing put down her sparkling water and decided to talk things out step by step.
"I'm quite busy, and you probably are too," Shen Mengqing said with a slight twitch of her lips.
She seemed to be talking nonsense; they hadn't messaged each other for over a month, clearly both were very busy.
Yu Xin nodded slightly: "Mm."
"By the way, I saw your car downstairs at the company again last time, around the time I was leaving get off work," Shen Mengqing said.
As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Xin's expression changed.
Could it be that, just as Zhu Shaoming said, she knew his identity and wanted to meet him to confess her feelings?
Yu Xin unconsciously sat up straighter and stared intently at her next sentence.
Unexpectedly, after saying that, the atmosphere fell silent.
Was Shen Mengqing waiting for him to speak?
Yu Xin took a deep breath. Since his birth, he had never felt that anything was difficult for him, but the current situation really left him at a loss.
Just then, the waiter brought over the coffee he had ordered. Yu Xin raised his cup and took a small sip of the slightly bitter Americano.
"Do you remember when I said we'd talk when you got back to Beicheng?" he said, looking down.
Shen Mengqing nodded and said, "I remember."
“What I’m trying to say is,” Yu Xin’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his eyes deep, “I’m hiding something from you.”
"ah?"
Shen Mengqing blinked, not understanding what he was talking about. Wasn't she the one who shouldn't be hiding something?
Since Yu Xin had said so, Shen Mengqing seemed encouraged and, steeling her resolve, said, "Actually, I have one too."
Yu Xin: "..."
He said, taken aback, "Should I go first?"
Shen Mengqing sighed: "Let me speak first. Maybe after I finish, you'll find that what you've been hiding from me doesn't matter anymore."
She finished her sparkling water, let out a slow breath, and looked at Yu Xin, saying, "I'm going back to Chu City."
Yu Xin paused, his expression seemingly unchanged, but Shen Mengqing could sense that the atmosphere around them had frozen.
"What do you mean?" His tone turned cold.
“I’ve hit a bottleneck in my career these past few months. I’ve lost a lot of clients, my boss has been putting me down, and my relationships with my colleagues aren’t great either, so I’ve started to waver on the idea of changing jobs. Not only that, my mom had a minor surgery a while ago, and she didn’t even tell me, just because she was afraid it would affect me and that I wouldn’t be able to work with peace of mind in Beicheng.”
As Shen Mengqing spoke, she unconsciously frowned. She suddenly realized that she seemed to be using Yu Xin as an outlet for her emotions, so she immediately stopped and brought the topic back.
She said firmly, "Anyway, I've found a new job in Chucheng, and I'm going back. Do you understand?"
Yu Xin just stared straight at her, her eyes devoid of emotion, like a stagnant pool.
His reaction was within Shen Mengqing's expectations, but when their eyes met, Shen Mengqing still felt uneasy, her gaze shifting and evasive.
After a long silence, Yu Xin coldly said, "I don't understand."
Shen Mengqing licked her dry lips and said, "Is there anything you don't understand?"
Yu Xin's eyes showed restraint and repression. There were some things they had argued about before, and he didn't want to bring them up again. He only asked one question: "Why are you only telling me now?"
“This is my private matter.” Shen Mengqing didn’t understand what he meant. “Besides, even if I told you, nothing would change.”
Yu Xin laughed in anger, stretching out his long legs. That oppressive feeling returned. His short hair made him look tough and not someone to be trifled with.
"Shen Mengqing, have you made up your mind?"
Shen Mengqing said firmly:
“I’ve made up my mind. I’ve already submitted my resignation, and in a couple of days, once the procedures are complete, I’ll sign a contract with my new company. Yu Xin, as I said before, either of us can terminate this relationship at any time. There are no bindings. Let’s part amicably, okay?”
Yu Xin stared at her without saying a word, his gaze as heavy as if a thousand-pound hammer were hanging over her head.
Several guests came and went around them, and the two of them stubbornly stared at each other, neither willing to back down.
Time passed slowly, and Shen Mengqing didn't know how long they had been locked in a standoff. She only remembered that at the end, Yu Xin's lips moved, and she said something smugly:
Okay, best of luck.
After saying that, he reached out and ripped off his coat, then left without looking back.
-----------------------
Author's Note: For Aqing, things are currently proceeding according to plan.
Unless a better option emerges (
I advise Xinzi that happiness is something you have to fight for yourself [shy]
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