Chapter 29. The lobby on the first floor was bustling with people, and Li Li...
The lobby on the first floor was bustling with people. Li Li joined the queue for visitor registration and signed for a large bouquet of flowers at the front desk.
She ripped off the note, stuffed it into her pocket, and struggled to hold the bouquet. With her phone tilted to the side and tucked between her shoulder and shoulder, she made a call while squeezing into the elevator behind the crowd.
She said into the other end of the line, "Please stop sending things, Tan Yi. The front desk won't let flower delivery orders upstairs anymore, and even the ones I left in the office, the cleaning staff disposed of them the next day."
“Really?” Tan Yi said.
Li Li said indignantly, "I think the agreement is doomed to fail under Tan Su sooner or later. What kind of leader would be so twisted and bored as to create these useless rules?"
She triggered the keyword, and the other people in the elevator glanced at her audacious statement.
Li Li was completely unaware, only hearing Tan Yi say again, "Is that so?"
——
During the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, Li Li returned to Jixi with her family.
A little over a month ago, a highly respected elder in the family passed away. Wenxi returned from S City at the time and now she has made a special trip to the ancestral hall to offer incense and pay her respects.
Last year, Li Li was so frightened by the pig and sheep heads that were placed on the offering table that she absolutely refused to go there.
Grandma also said that the place was very gloomy, and since the kitten was a girl, she could leave it to her if she didn't want to go.
When Li Li returned home this time, she found a small, brownish-yellow mongrel dog. Her aunt, who looked after the house, had brought it from outside and was keeping it in the front yard. She said it guarded the house and ate some leftovers; it was very well-behaved.
Although Li Li's nickname is "Little Cat," the Li family hasn't actually kept any other pets in recent years. The only one, Corn, was bought by her and kept at Tan Yi's place; she could only pet it occasionally.
The weather in October was no longer so hot and humid. The air conditioning wasn't on inside, and the windows were open everywhere, letting in lush greenery.
She lay on the recliner, rocking back and forth, teasing the little dog on the ground with her slippers, watching its tail swirl behind it.
Tan Su then called her, saying that there was a banquet at the French client's place and they needed her to work overtime, with triple pay for holidays, and asked if she would go.
Li Li is now an unofficial staff member in the general manager's office. She had already obtained Tan Su's weekend schedule from Miao Zhi through a combination of intimidation and deception. Looking at his packed schedule of meetings and social engagements, he didn't even have time to play a game. She wasn't going to be Tan Su's errand boy.
Li Li rolled her eyes and said, "No way, who needs your pittance?"
Tan Su wasn't angry. He simply said, "Name your price?"
“I can’t go, Brother Tan Su,” she said absentmindedly, playing with her pink nails. “I’m out of town and can’t make it back.”
Tan Su seemed unconvinced and asked her, "Where?"
Li Li deliberately said, "On vacation, of course I should focus on spending time with my boyfriend."
Tan Su paused for a moment, then said, "You're very good, Li Li."
The call was immediately disconnected, and Li Li reluctantly tossed her phone aside.
She wanted to say: I'm definitely fine, do you need to tell me?
After Wenxi finished burning incense at the ancestral hall, she went back to her room and took a bath.
She lifted the curtain and came in, seeing Li Li swaying back and forth in the main room. Only then did she remember that she had been pulled away by Li Li earlier. She walked over and asked, "Little cat, have you bought the bag yet? I need to give it to her after the holiday."
It was only after Wenxi reminded her that Li Li suddenly remembered that there was still no follow-up on the matter of asking Fang Xuan to find her a bag.
Logically, a week or two should have passed by now.
She dialed Fang Xuan's number, but it rang several times without being answered. She casually browsed Fang Xuan's WeChat Moments and found that she had changed her previous active posts and hadn't made any noise for several days.
Li Li became suspicious and called the store. The person who came to pick her up was the little girl she had seen at Fang Xuan's store before.
She didn't recognize Li Li's voice and said in a very official tone that the store was currently closed and customers who needed assistance could leave their contact information.
She was very surprised. Fang Xuan's shop had only been open for less than half a year, and business had been good for the past few months. Why was she going to close down without any announcement?
She said, "I'll look for Fang Xuan."
A little over a minute later, the person on the other end of the phone changed. Fang Xuan asked, "Who is this?"
"Well," Li Li sat up straight in her chair and asked her, "has something happened at your shop?"
Fang Xuan didn't hide anything, saying, "I didn't check my phone just now. The shop is a mess right now, and I'm planning to sell it. I'm looking for a new owner soon."
Li Li asked her, puzzled, "Hasn't your business always been doing very well?"
Fang Xuan smiled bitterly and said that she had been swindled out of her money by a man and was now overwhelmed with problems, so she couldn't do anything anymore.
As soon as Li Li's radar went off, she quickly asked, "Were you scammed? How much did you lose? Was it the same person who called last time?"
There was no response on the other end of the phone. Li Li, anxious and frustrated, urged her, "Go call the police. Or tell me what happened, and I'll definitely help you get it back."
Fang Xuan said no again, "Don't ask anymore, just consider it a loss to avoid disaster."
She said, "By the way, there's still no news about the bag you asked me to find. Could I pay you back after the shop is sold?"
Li Li said I'm fine here and there's no rush.
She was still worried: "How big is your deficit? How much is it? I'll help you cover it first, and you can pay me back later when you've made it back."
Fang Xuan seemed to have lost her spirit all of a sudden. She said dejectedly, "Let's leave it at that for now. I can't owe you any more. The shop can't stay open. I'll go back and focus on finishing my master's degree first, and we'll talk about everything else later."
Li Li herself is a very energetic person, and she can't stand seeing the people around her depressed, especially Fang Xuan, who is very much like Tan Yi back then.
She was feeling bad.
Li Zhoudu was led by local leaders from Jixi to tour the surrounding schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and factories. When he returned, a little tail followed behind him.
Li Li leaned against the door frame, watching him wash his face from behind, muttering to herself that she really needed to borrow the family lawyer now.
Li Zhoudu already had a so-so impression of Fang Xuan, and when he heard that she was closing down her business, he didn't show any sympathy.
He said, "The person involved definitely knows better than you do."
“If she doesn’t want to call the police to investigate, then calling the police won’t do any good. Do you really think that stripping someone of their dignity completely is good for her? Li Li.”
Li Li fell silent.
Li Zhoudu looked at her in the mirror and asked suspiciously, "She doesn't owe you any money, does she?"
Li Li quickly turned her back and said ramblingly, "You know we've always paid cash for selling bags."
Li Zhoudu wiped his face clean with a towel: "It's hard to repay favors. Once money gets involved, many friendships are ruined. You should be careful too."
Sometimes she particularly disliked listening to Li Zhoudu's grand principles. In her mind, being petty and calculating with close friends and lovers was vulgar. Especially those who fought for power and profit were complete idiots.
What could be better than waking up to sunshine in the morning, having delicious meals three times a day, watching a movie with your favorite person in the evening, and sleeping soundly through the night?
Wenxi applauded her, saying that the kitten's idea was particularly good.
Li Zhoudu immediately interrupted, saying, "Then why does she need to use a credit card every month?"
Let's just live off the meager salary we get.
Lying on a mountain of gold and silver, yet wondering why others don't just lie back and enjoy their good lives? That's how a little cat's brain gets spoiled by being raised at home.
Li Li was so angry that she threw the peanuts in her hand at him. She really hated Li Zhoudu's mouth.
As Li Zhoudu dodged, the peanut fell to the ground and was happily snatched away by the little dog that was looking for it.
——
Previously, I thought that the new rule Tan Su introduced was to make things difficult for Tan Yi to give me gifts, but after the holidays, a wave of complaints swept through the company.
Even You Chang nervously approached her, saying that when she was working with Shi Han earlier, a client had given her two very expensive teas. That client seemed to be involved in an unfair competition investigation recently, and she wondered if it might implicate her.
Li Li wondered, "Are there really people so bored that they take this rule seriously?"
She realized that she had underestimated Tan Su; this rule was probably not something he made on a whim.
She couldn't figure out Tan Su's purpose either, so she thought she would try to find out for You Chang.
Li Li stood next to Miao Zhi's workstation and said, "I'd like to see any interesting gossip about your reporting platform."
Miao Zhi broke out in a cold sweat and said, "This... I'm afraid it's inconvenient."
“I don’t even know many people, what are you afraid of?” she said confidently.
Miao Zhi said, "This has a high level of confidentiality."
Li Li pulled over a stool and said, "Then I'll give you my employee number, and you can check if there's anything wrong with it. If there's nothing wrong, I'll leave."
She watched intently from the side, and Miao Zhi didn't even dare to open the webpage.
At this moment, Tan Su followed Chen Ya in from outside. He saw Miao Zhi enduring humiliation under Li Li's pressure and said to her, "Come in."
Li Li got up and followed Tan Su into the office.
Tan Su loosened his tie, took a sip of water from the table, and asked her, "What do you want with Miao Zhi this time?"
"Isn't this all because of your reporting platform?" Li Li said to him with a fierce look. "It's not a big deal, but it's made everyone panic."
Tan Su said nonchalantly, "It's really nothing serious, so there's no need for people to panic."
Li Li leaned against the table and threatened him, "What if someone takes revenge on you for personal reasons, or even fabricates something? This kind of environment of mutual attacks is not conducive to everyone working together and maintaining internal unity."
"You're quite good at arguing," Tan Su said with a smile.
He pulled a folder from his desk drawer and tossed her a list: "Yellow warning, orange notice, red serious action. Look at what you need now."
Li Li rummaged through the contents and actually found You Chang's name marked in yellow.
Li Li glanced at Tan Su and said, "I've helped you so much, shouldn't you repay me once?"
Tan Su raised his hand upwards, meaning "whatever."
She took a marker from Tan Su's desk and quickly crossed out You Chang's name and employee number.
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A note from the author:
Qinghuai next door wrote some copy today, hehe.
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