Chapter 15
Seeing that Li Fangqing was crying uncontrollably, Yu Lei, who had caused trouble, hid in the toilet under the pretext of peeing, leaving Zhao Guoliang in the living room to persuade Li Fangqing.
Tang Ruxin squatted against the wall by the bedroom door, shaking her head as she listened. She wasn't good at comforting people, but Yu Lei wasn't just bad at comforting people; he was also good at adding fuel to the fire. Li Fangqing couldn't get any more information out of her state, so Tang Ruxin pulled out her phone to check her messages.
To improve her focus, she kept her phone on silent mode for messages and vibrate mode for incoming calls. She already had several missed calls, most from unfamiliar numbers. One was from Song Mu, and when she didn't answer, he sent another message.
"Mr. Tang, if you don't go back to the hospital, the doctor will call the police."
Tang Ruxin glanced at the crack in the door. That might set a record for the fastest police response. She leaned against the wall to stand up. There was no movement at the bathroom door. In the living room, Zhao Guoliang was still whispering consolations to Li Fangqing. It would probably be too late to wait for the police to leave before leaving. Tang Ruxin wasn't so shameless as to eavesdrop for so long and then show up without a care.
She went to the bedroom window and looked down.
The second floor wasn't high. If she clambered down by hanging onto the window sill, her feet would only be a little over a meter from the ground. Theoretically, it was possible. The worst that could happen was a tumble. And since it was dark and windy, she didn't have to worry about being seen. So Tang Ruxin climbed onto the window sill, stepped onto the first-floor window railing, and carefully jumped down.
As she expected, she fell, and as she expected, she wasn't seriously injured. Tang Ruxin supported her sore butt and limped towards the gate of the community. After she walked a distance, she took out her phone and called Song Mu.
"Two things. Contact the hospital and tell them I'll be there right away. Also, retrieve the personnel files and find all employees with the last name 'Dong' or those with the character 'Dong' in their names. First, compile a basic list of their information." Tang Ruxin paused, then said something every leader would say. "Please give me some time. Give it to me tomorrow morning."
Song Mu on the other end of the phone silently swallowed a mouthful of blood and said something that every cow and horse in the world would say.
"Okay, got it."
After hanging up the phone, Song Mu finally realized that the last name Dong was fine, but the name with "dong" in it, was it "dong" or "dong"? Forget it, there was no need to choose between qualified cattle and horses, just list them all.
Song Mu curled up in his warm bed and opened his laptop.
For work convenience, he had already installed remote control software on his office computer. Even from home, he could access the company's intranet human resources system, search for keywords, and export data in just three to five minutes. Of course, the company never allowed remote work because of the confidentiality of its process files. He installed it secretly, uninstalling it before each security office inspection and reinstalling it afterward.
Tang Ruxin reminded him of what she said: "Since we've already done something, we need to maximize the cost-effectiveness." So Song Mu scheduled the email for 4:00 AM. Anyone who saw this would praise his professionalism.
Tang Ruxin naturally didn't expect that Song Mu had such a strong learning ability. She was still thinking about whether to send Song Mu to the company to transfer his file at this time and how many points to add to Song Mu's performance appraisal at the end of the month.
The next day, Tang Ruxin received Song Mu's email and glanced at the send time. She immediately smiled. She thought Song Mu was adorable, so innocent even when he was lying. The fact that the email was sent at exactly 4:00:00 in the morning was truly adorable.
Of the company's over 2,000 employees, only four had the surname Dong. However, there were many more with the "dong" sound in their names—seventy-eight. Tang Ruxin screened the list, eliminating those whose positions had no overlap with Liu Dong's. This still left forty-three. She then eliminated those whose shifts hadn't overlapped with Liu Dong's in the past six months. That left only eleven people.
Tang Ruxin asked Song Mu to retrieve the detailed files of these eleven people, as well as their work updates over the past six months and any interactions with the operations team. It was a significant workload, but considering Song Mu's strong work ethic and his cleverness, one day was more than enough.
After Song Mu received this work assignment, he vaguely felt that he might have offended Tang Ruxin in some way, but he couldn't remember where.
Retrieving the files wasn't difficult; the hard part was compiling the six-month work progress. The eleven individuals had several interactions with Liu Dong's operations team, including what their work involved, whether they personally delivered the repair orders or contacted them over the phone, and whether they signed the final work themselves.
After making hundreds of phone calls and working an all-nighter, Song Mu finally finished the summary report within the timeframe Tang Ruxin requested. After sending the information to Tang Ruxin, he rushed home to change clothes, then to the store to pick up the gift he had ordered in advance, and rushed to the hotel to confirm the menu and drinks before everyone else.
After finishing all this, Song Mu just sat down on the sofa in the private room when Tang Ruxin pushed the door open and came in. She had also arrived early.
"Mr. Tang." Song Mu stood up and greeted him, then was stunned for a moment.
He had never seen Tang Ruxin dressed like this before. She didn't normally wear skirts, let her hair down, or wear earrings. Of course, working in a refining enterprise with semi-militarized management, such attire wasn't permitted, but at those past social gatherings, Tang Ruxin had always maintained a dignified, elegant, and intellectual style.
She looked very different today, more… fair and innocent. Her hair was styled in coquettish waves, loosely covering her half-exposed collarbone. Beneath her down jacket was an ankle-length, one-shoulder dress that pinched her slender waist. A long scarf draped around her arm, making her appear frail and languid.
"You, today, um..." Song Mu didn't know what to say. He always felt that it was dangerous for her to walk at night in this outfit.
"Sitting up in shock while dying. Isn't that inappropriate?" Tang Ruxin smiled cunningly.
That was appropriate—Song Mu realized she was trying to improve the value for money. He couldn't deny that his leader was good-looking, and a little dressing up would make her look even better. Sometimes Song Mu would doubt himself, wondering if he would still be as dedicated if his leader was uglier.
Not long after, Yu Lei arrived, followed by Sun Chengze and his three companions from the Emergency Management Bureau. Yu Zhe called to say he would be late due to work, and asked them to leave first and not wait for him.
Sun Chengze took the main seat and pulled Ding Xinqiao to sit beside him, leaving the other seat vacant for Yu Zhe. Tang Ruxin sat further back, and on Ding Xinqiao's other side, the only other seat was Lin Shuangjiang.
Lin Shuangjiang still had a cold face, although it was not much different from usual, but Song Mu had never seen her usual look, so he thought that she was in a bad mood today. He couldn't help but be more careful when pouring wine, and specially prepared another cup of hot water for her. This action made Lin Shuangjiang look at him a few more times.
In fact, Lin Shuangjiang was indeed in a bad mood. She didn't like this kind of occasion. If Director Sun hadn't insisted on her joining, she would definitely not be sitting here today.
Song Mu sat closest to the door so that he could move around and add tea and pour wine.
Song Mu hadn't expected Yu Lei to come; he had invited him purely out of courtesy. Sun Chengze would undoubtedly invite Ding Xinqiao and Lin Shuangjiang, both members of the investigation team. If they mentioned the dinner later without Yu Lei and Chen Jingzhou, who were also members of the investigation team, it would inevitably be awkward.
When they first contacted by phone, as he expected, Yu Lei and Chen Jingzhou both declined, saying they didn't have time. However, yesterday morning, Yu Lei contacted him and said he would come. Song Mu didn't know why he suddenly changed his mind.
The cold dishes were served, Tang Ruxin stood up and picked up the wine. After a few polite words, before she could clink glasses, the door of the box was pushed open.
——The expected Yu Zhe, and the unexpected other person.
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