Chapter 29 The personal driver, in broad daylight, seemed to be flirting. ...
While fourteen or fifteen-year-old Li Baidong was still struggling between the labels of "teenager" and "kid," Xing Lan, a freshman at Ningbo University, had already met a tall, handsome, and stylish adult man at the university, and they had a close relationship.
The man was very tall, with a head of arrogant red hair, and was about the same age as Xing Lan. His well-defined hands were always wrapped around Xing Lan's waist, as if it were a silent boast and announcement.
Although Xing Lan's expression was indifferent, she did not show the slightest resistance, as if she was used to his closeness.
Both of them wore earrings in their left ears, one red and one blue, clearly a matching pair.
The dazzling light of the gemstone earrings shone brightly in the afternoon sun, like a sharp dagger that cut through Li Baidong's fragile throat, leaving him standing there dumbfounded, staring blankly at Xing Lan and the man beside him, his fists clenched tightly, countless words swirling in his mind, yet not a single word uttered from his lips.
His heart shattered like a broken glass bottle, each fragment reflecting Xing Lanqing's handsome and delicate face.
Xing Lan was kidnapped.
Xing Lan was kidnapped.
Xing Lan doesn't want him anymore.
Perhaps sensing the complex gazes, the man beside Xing Lan turned his head, looking puzzled.
"Baby, why do I feel like someone has been watching us the whole time?"
Xing Lan casually asked, "Is there?"
The two stopped and looked in unison at the entrance of the beverage shop.
The place was deserted, with only the light fabric curtain swaying gently in the wind.
Xing Lan paused, frowned, and slapped away her boyfriend's hand from her waist, her tone cold: "I told you, don't hug me in public."
After saying that, he didn't look at his boyfriend's slightly unhappy expression and turned to walk into the store.
-
During the days when the car was sent to the repair shop, Xing Lan was picked up and dropped off by Li Baidong on his motorcycle. This young and handsome college student became his personal driver.
Li Baidong has a peculiar habit: he likes to name everything in his house. His motorcycle also has a special name: "Black Handsome" (黑大帅) and "Little Handsome" (小帅).
When Xing Lan first heard him affectionately call his motorcycle that, she was stunned for half a second, looked at Li Baidong, and hesitated to speak.
However, Li Baidong is very confident in his naming skills and enthusiastically expressed that he would save some money in a few years to buy a new white car, which he named "Handsome Guy".
After spending a long time with Black Giant, Xing Lan gradually got used to its speed. She was no longer as at a loss as she was the first time she rode a motorcycle. Instead, she would habitually hug Li Baidong's waist from behind and sometimes even turn her head to admire the scenery along the way.
Li Baidong has a great body proportion, with broad shoulders and a slim waist. His abdominal muscles under his clothes are firm, smooth, and clearly defined.
To be honest, it feels nice to the touch.
Xing Lan didn't mean to touch Li Baidong's muscles; it's just that when encountering bumpy roads, she would unconsciously grip them tightly.
Whenever this happens, Li Baidong will chuckle softly and say in a husky, lazy voice, "Brother, you're making me so itchy."
His deliberately raised tone made the sentence sound rather strange, like flirting in broad daylight. Xing Lan's ears turned red. He tried to slowly loosen his arms around Li Baidong's waist, but the other person noticed immediately and grabbed his hands back down.
Every time they parted at the company gate, Li Baidong seemed reluctant to let go, holding his hand tightly, his narrow eyes lowered, his head drooping, and his expression very disappointed.
Xing Lan didn't understand his reluctance to leave. After all, the two of them would see each other again that night, and he wasn't going to stay overnight at the company.
Li Baidong grabbed his wrist, placed his hand next to his cheek, looked up, and said reluctantly, "Brother, I really don't want to leave you. If you could just stay home with me instead of going to work or seeing anyone else, that would be great."
Xing Lan silently withdrew her hand from his palm, patted his shoulder expressionlessly, and said, "Stop overthinking. Go back to class and don't be late."
“Brother…” Li Baidong pitifully opened his arms, still wanting to ask Xing Lan for a hug, but Xing Lan had already turned around and walked towards the entrance of the office building without looking back.
Li Baidong pursed his lips, stood there, looking dejected and unhappy.
He silently watched Xing Lan for a long time, until time was really running out, then he put his helmet back on, got on his motorcycle, and sped off to school.
Xing Lan stepped into the company elevator on time as usual, but the lonely and sad look in Li Baidong's eyes just now kept lingering in her mind.
These past few days, Li Baidong has been excessively clingy.
Like a stray dog that had been wandering for a long time, picking up trash on the cold streets for ages, it was finally taken in and fed by a kind-hearted owner. Like a parched land receiving rain, it wagged its tail frantically every day to show its affection, and even followed its owner to the toilet to keep watch, afraid that it would be abandoned again if it wasn't careful.
All of this made Xing Lan a little worried. When the two of them broke up in the future, would Li Baidong be very upset? Would he have a complete mental and physical breakdown?
How should he comfort him then, or should he simply harden his heart and ignore him, coldly withdrawing from the relationship?
No matter which option is chosen, it seems too cruel to a naive twenty-year-old boy.
Xing Lan suddenly regretted his impulsive decision to be with Li Baidong. He should have been more rational then and made amends in some other way. To make up for that foolish night, Xing Lan was willing to do anything for Li Baidong and agree to all his reasonable and legal requests.
If Li Baidong continues to fall deeper into this hasty first love, things could get very ugly between them. At that point, everything would be out of Xing Lan's control, potentially leading to a chaotic and unmanageable mess.
Before he could pull himself out of his jumbled thoughts, the elevator doors suddenly opened.
Upon entering the office, I saw that the group of people who should have been working diligently at their desks were now gathered around a computer, chattering amongst themselves.
Xing Lan frowned and walked closer, just about to tell them to go back to their work, when she saw a familiar face in the video playing on the computer.
The young woman holding up her ID card in the video is Lu Yan, the female intern who attended the drinking party with him earlier.
She was still wearing her usual brown sweatshirt, which had a youthful, student-like feel. Her small, oval face was very fair, but her eyes no longer showed the timidity and panic she used to have; instead, they held a more determined look.
"My name is Lu Yan. I want to file a formal complaint against Liu Heyang, the president of Heyang Group, for repeatedly sexually harassing me in the workplace by abusing his position. He even sent people to follow me and stake out my residence on multiple occasions..."
“I told my superiors about it, but the company did nothing. Instead, they advised me to be patient and threatened me not to make a fuss.”
The crowd gathered in front of the computers, discussing animatedly.
"What's going on? When did Lu Yan sue President Liu? And even sue our company?"
After watching the video, Deng Hao slapped the table and said casually, "I'm not saying this to be mean, but isn't she a bit too self-important? Mr. Liu is rich and powerful; he can have any pretty girl he wants. Why does he have to force himself on her?"
"In the end, does she have any evidence? Don't think that just because she has an ID card, she can spread rumors."
Another male colleague crossed his arms and chimed in, "Brother Hao is right. She seems to be in pretty good shape. She's dressed so neatly, and her hair isn't messy. She doesn't look like she's been sexually harassed at all. Could it be that she's trying to climb the social ladder but is unhappy with the money offered?"
Zhao Yue, who works in the same office, once pursued Lu Yan, but she never gave him a clear response, which made him feel embarrassed among his colleagues. From initially pursuing her one-sidedly, he eventually developed a deep resentment towards Lu Yan.
He looked at Lu Yan in the video, as if he knew her very well, and shook his head and mocked, "It's not surprising that someone like her could do these things."
“I felt sorry for her because she was young and thin, and I was worried that she wouldn’t adapt well to the company. So I ordered her milk tea for several days. But as we all know, she didn’t appreciate it at all.”
"Looking back now, of course she wouldn't have been interested in what I had; she had much higher standards..."
Before he could finish his sarcastic remark, he was suddenly interrupted by a clear, cold voice.
"If you know you're not good enough, don't blame other girls for having high standards."
Xing Lan had somehow appeared behind the crowd, her expression indifferent, her gaze fixed on everyone.
“You are neither Lu Yan nor the police. If you don’t know the truth, don’t jump to conclusions.”
"Be careful what you say doesn't become a boomerang and end up hurting yourself."
Several girls in the office who were usually close to Lu Yan nodded in agreement: "That's right, that's right. Don't you know your own worth? Stop judging others like that."
“What girl would use her reputation to slander someone else? Anyway, I support Lu Yan. What’s wrong with her justly defending her rights? The bad guys should be punished as they deserve.”
"Alright, everyone go back to work." Xing Lan chased away the onlookers, walked over and turned off the video that was playing on a loop on her computer. "This has nothing to do with you. Leave it to the company to handle."
-
Back in her office, Xing Lan took a moment to send Lu Yan a text message.
L: [If you need any help, please let me know.]
He only found out then that ever since that drinking party, President Liu had been harassing Lu Yan even more relentlessly, and had even gone to her rented apartment near the company late at night.
All of this was suppressed by General Manager Liao, who shamelessly threatened her with her chance to become a full-time employee so that she wouldn't tell anyone else. Therefore, apart from him, no one else in the entire company knew about it.
If Lu Yan hadn't been driven to the brink of collapse and reported the incident, it might have been kept secret by the higher-ups forever, until the next victim appeared.
A few minutes later, Xing Lan received a phone call.
On the other end of the phone was Lu Yan's trembling, tearful voice.
"Chief of Criminal Investigation..."
"Did you see that video? I'm sorry, I didn't want to bring up the company, but I really have no other choice..."
"I can guarantee that everything I've said is true..."
Because Xing Lan had helped her at a drinking party before, Lu Yan still trusted him a lot despite her disappointment with the company.
“I know,” Xing Lan said calmly. “Don’t worry about the company. I’m contacting you in my personal capacity. If you encounter any problems while pursuing your rights, feel free to tell me anytime, and I’ll do my best to help—have you found a lawyer yet?”
“After the video was posted, many female lawyers contacted me and said they were willing to help me.” Lu Yan’s voice was still trembling noticeably. “But they all told me that for a case like mine, without enough evidence, it would be very difficult to win… and it would probably just be a waste of effort in the end.”
"He smashed my phone before, and all the chat history where he harassed me is gone."
“Now many people online are saying that I tried to marry a rich man but failed, and now I’m turning around and biting him. I really don’t know what to do…” Lu Yan cried so hard that she could barely breathe, her voice becoming more and more urgent, until it sounded like she couldn’t breathe at all.
"Calm down first, don't rush," Xing Lan comforted her. "The opinions online are only one side of the story. Since you've decided to publicly report this, you must be brave and not let their gossip affect you."
He thought for a moment and gave Lu Yan a number. "This is my psychologist's phone number. If you feel you can't handle it, you can talk to him. He's very patient."
"Thank you, thank you Director Xing..." Lu Yan choked up, "I don't know how to thank you enough..."
"It's nothing." Xing Lan's tone was calm and simple. "Then you should rest well. I won't bother you anymore."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yan curled up on the living room sofa, hugging her knees, her whole body trembling, and her face extremely pale.
Soon after, the laptop on the table beeped with an email notification.
Someone sent her an anonymous email.
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Author's Note: The next chapter will be released the day after tomorrow.
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