Chapter 31 Secret
He Xiaolan asked Hua Hudie where there is a reliable place to recycle second-hand luxury goods, "Why are you selling off your property? What happened to you two?" "Nothing happened. You are both healthy and long-lived, so how could anything happen? It's just that I've been carrying this thing for several years. I want to sell it and buy a new one. It's a waste to keep it in the cupboard."
The thought of selling it for money was real, but buying a new one was fake. He Xiaolan's sixth sense told her that Wang Qingwei was definitely in trouble, something as serious as losing his job. Whether he was cheating and wanted to divorce her or had a terminal illness and wanted to find a quiet place to commit suicide, she had to prepare for it.
Even though I have seven or eight bags in my closet, I only own three. One is a Princess Diana bag I bought for my wedding. It's a bright red one, and I definitely wouldn't sell it for much. Another is a Never Full bag I bought when I was pregnant, hoping to be a fashionable mom after having children. I only carried my computer in it a few times, and after it got caught in the rain, I never carried it again. And the last one is a 19 bag, which I bought myself as a gift when I got promoted to director.
The word "luxury goods" is meant for the poor. Rich people call them daily necessities. You spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy them and feel proud. But if you keep them at home and don't use them, it's a waste of money. If you use them outside, you'll feel sad, and over time, they will become a worry.
After asking several stores, she finally sold it to the one with the highest valuation for over 50,000 yuan, which made He Xiaolan quite satisfied. Ever since word spread about the company's contract transfer, everyone had been in a low mood. The only good thing about this was that when He Xiaolan approached them, they all readily accepted the arrangement. "It's better to get paid than to work for nothing. I have several friends who haven't received their salaries for several months."
Jasmine was the most calm. Her family was well-off, and her parents said they would compensate her for any salary cuts, so her normal life was not affected.
For Ge Lin, this was like the sky falling. She still had to pay back, save, and maintain her and Zhang Haiming's lives. Even a dollar in her hand had to be carefully managed. And now, out of nowhere, 1,136.2 yuan was missing. The landlord had sent a message saying last quarter's rent was a week overdue. Ge Lin ran to the fire escape and called Zhang Haiming, "Remember to call the landlord for this quarter's rent."
"Why?" As expected, the favored person would attack with a knife, and the knife struck Ge Lin half awake.
"Why do I still have to pay? Our company has cut salaries and I have no money left."
"Oh, okay, how about this, you look for other cheaper houses. The current 4,000 yuan a month is too expensive. Find a cheaper one around 2,000 yuan. I don't want to share a house."
In their relationship, Zhang Haiming was the general. He only needed to give orders, and his swift and capable men would carry them out. However, even swift men have their work cut out for them. Moving was easy to say, but finding an apartment, looking at properties, hiring a moving company, and paying a deposit of three months' rent all added up. Ge Lin's part-time job might even have to end. Zhang Haiming had never considered her. Only now did Ge Lin realize that Zhang Haiming didn't love her, but only loved the fact that she had always loved him.
"I don't have time. Remember to pay the rent. I have to go back to work." They still didn't say goodbye. Perhaps it was the wrong location; ending a relationship in a fire escape seemed too casual. Was that so? Ge Lin was just still harboring a fantasy, a fantasy that he would suddenly fall in love with her.
Just as Ge Lin was about to leave, she noticed Jiang Wei walking up the fire escape. "Director Jiang?" Jiang Wei heard someone calling her, and the moment she looked up, a professional smile appeared on her face. However, she looked a little different today. Her usually neatly ironed clothes were a little disheveled.
"Ge Lin, what are you doing here?" Jiang Wei was fixing her hair, and her high heels made a wonderful echo on the stairs. Even the sound of a beautiful person's walking can make people linger on it.
"Director Jiang, I, I have something to do at home. I came to make a phone call and will be back soon."
"Wait for me, let's go together. What are you afraid of? I'm not the leader of your department."
Ge Lin didn't know if Jiang Wei heard what she said on the phone, and Jiang Wei didn't know if Ge Lin noticed her strangeness. Jiang Wei stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, tidied herself up, and walked into her office like a white swan.
Last night, Yang Fan suddenly showed up at her place looking for her. When Jiang Wei opened the door, she thought she'd fallen into a wine cellar; the smell of alcohol made her sick. He'd simply come to Jiang Wei's place because the girl he liked wasn't at the party, and the alcohol had fueled his excitement, prompting him to think of Jiang Wei. From the beginning, Jiang Wei knew she wouldn't be the only one. It was ridiculous. Now, even the title of "mistress" had to be contested.
Money is a good thing. It can easily buy a woman's marriage and another woman's moral bottom line in sex. Jiang Wei didn't want to pay attention to him, so the two of them slept in separate rooms that night. Before the alarm clock went off in the morning, Yang Fan wanted to show off his virility on Jiang Wei. But no matter how hard he tried, even after taking the medicine half an hour ago, he just couldn't get an erection.
This was the first time Jiang Wei had seen Yang Fan in such distress, and she almost felt like laughing. Even Yang Fan, a child of destiny, boasting a wealthy family and a smooth life, couldn't defy the laws of nature and would eventually decline. No matter how Jiang Wei fiddled with it, the thing lay in her fair hands like a three-day-dead rat.
Jiang Wei took a taxi to the company. At noon, she suddenly received a WeChat message from Yang Fan, asking her to go to the stairwell on the first floor of the company. Although Jiang Wei was a little reluctant, she had not found a better platform to move up, so she had to listen to Yang Fan obediently.
Yesterday, her mother called and said she had her eye on a small townhouse. Jiang Wei knew what she meant. Her mother had always known that Jiang Wei relied on men for her living, but she didn't think it was a flaw. Instead, she told Jiang Wei to treat them well. After all, in this society, whoever gave money was the boss. If you gave more, you were the ancestor.
The floor below the company hadn't been rented out in 21 years. Once, Jiang Wei pressed the wrong elevator button on the wrong floor, and the empty, abandoned office area still startled her. Yang Fan called her from the women's restroom, and Jiang Wei followed the sound.
Without saying a word, Yang Fan lifted up Jiang Wei's skirt and wanted to have sex with her. Jiang Wei resisted and tried to push him away, but Yang Fan grabbed her neck and said, "You are the one I found for hanging out with you. Why are you pretending to be innocent here?"
The gentleman who returned from studying in England had learned everything, including the pirates' plundering tactics. He no longer cared about his appearance, but just wanted to prove that he was still a man and could control a woman's excitement and dependence.
But the more anxious Yang Fan became, the worse it got. "Boss Yang, aren't you afraid of being caught like this?" Yang Fan suddenly stopped all his movements. He felt like he had gone mad. Everything that had been so easily within his reach—the wealth inherited from his ancestors, the achievements he had achieved without much effort, the woman's body, which had always been so easily available—had now become the most difficult thing to obtain.
"You go back. If someone comes to see me in the afternoon, just tell them you're on a business trip." At that moment, Jiang Wei felt a little sorry for Yang Fan.
He Xiaolan observed again and again from the tea room, and found that Yang Fan had not come. She finally waited until the end of the work day and hurried away. Qin Tiantian booked a table at Hyde Feast on Qingnian Road that night, and it was obvious that she had spent a lot of money.
When He Xiaolan got stuck in traffic, everyone had already arrived. At a glance, the one who looked the least familiar was definitely Jerry.
"Teacher Qin, are you willing to bring it out for us to see?"
"Director He, are you willing to leave work now?"
"You are really good at choosing the day, otherwise I wouldn't have come so early. If Yangli Daxian didn't come today, I would have run away at the appointed time."
He Xiaolan sat in the corner and secretly observed Qin Tiantian's husband. He was indeed good-looking, with a smooth figure, and was quite capable. He could chat with the two old men, Qian Helin and Wang Qingwei, and even captured Qian Helin's heart in an instant, because he majored in film when he was in school.
"This is my dream. You know, when I was in college, my father refused to let me take the art exam." Qian Helin held her husband's hand, repeating her dream with regret and envy.
Jiaofu and Qian Helin kept on complaining about the current bad film market, drinking one glass of wine after another. He Xiaolan was drunk and dazed when she heard Qin Tiantian calling "Zhang Haiming", which immediately woke her up.
"What did you call him just now?"
"Zhang Haiming, what's wrong? A Chinese person must have a Chinese name."
"Have you heard of his name?" The butterfly didn't want to miss any opportunity to gossip, so she came over when she smelled the scent of gossip.
"Yes, I've heard of him. My colleague's friend has the same name as him. I've heard my colleague mention him before and I thought he was the same person."
"What's your colleague's name? What if we actually know each other?" They'd already been drinking, and when something happened, they started asking questions. After working in HR for so long, you can often get the gist of things at a glance. Zhang Haiming kept rubbing his chopsticks. The food was almost gone, but he was still fussing about adding it to his bowl.
He Xiaolan stuttered, "My colleague is Ge Lin, Xiao Zhang, do you know her?"
Zhang Haiming didn't let out a breath as Ge Lin's name resonated in his ears. Last night, Ge Lin had slept beside him. He knew every inch of her very well, but now, this familiarity had become evidence of his guilt.
Seeing that Zhang Haiming didn't speak for a long time, Qin Tiantian teased him that he might have met his ex-girlfriend's boss. Fortunately, Zhang Haiming had been a scumbag for many years and his acting skills were still solid. He just said that Ge Lin was his classmate and they had no friendship anymore.
No one pressed the issue further. Even the closest people couldn't interfere with other people's personal feelings; everything had to be judged and digested by the people involved. He Xiaolan didn't dare stay any longer. She checked the time and quickly said she had to go to work the next day, so she quickly ended this "caught-the-adultery" drinking party.
Qian Helin insisted on dragging Wang Qingwei and his wife back to his house to spend the night. Firstly, the last subway train had already passed, and secondly, the designated driver was too damn expensive and there was no need to spend the money. When Wang Qingwei heard the second reason, he immediately agreed, and the two of them followed Hua Hudie and his wife back home.
"Xiaolan, your assistant is not really the ex-girlfriend of Teacher Qin's boyfriend, is she?" Hua Hudie leaned on He Xiaolan's shoulder and thought for a long time but felt that something was wrong.
"How would I know? I can't ask them if they have been together, right?"
He Xiaolan couldn't sleep at all. She kept thinking about Zhang Haiming in her head. She didn't point out directly that Zhang Haiming was two-timing because she wanted to save face for everyone. If he had noticed it himself, he would have left Qin Tiantian quickly to avoid making a mess later.
Qin Tiantian couldn't sleep either. She knew that He Xiaolan was not the kind of person who would casually mention colleagues at private gatherings. Although her brain might be slow to react and her words might be stammering due to drinking, she couldn't be stammering when she called Zhang Haiming. Zhang Haiming was beside her, breathing evenly, and looked like he was asleep.
"Zhang Haiming, Zhang Haiming"?
He just turned around and hugged Qin Tiantian tightly in his arms, pretending to be just woken up and saying, "What's wrong? Is there thunder outside? Or are you having a nightmare?"
"What is your relationship with Xiaolan's assistant?"
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