Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the day Xu Nianchu joined the company, a fine drizzle was falling inside the office.

She wore a white blouse and clutched a canvas tote, standing beside HR with reddened eyes as she looked at me.

“Director Lin, please take care of me from now on.”

She called me Director, but her gaze slid past me and landed on Zhou Yan in the glass-walled conference room.

Zhou Yan was on a video call with a client. At the sound of her voice, the pen in his hand paused for a split second.

I saw that stunned flicker in his eyes, the look of two people meeting again after a long separation.

After three years of marriage, I knew every tiny reaction of his far too well. He didn’t panic when a contract fell through. He didn’t panic when financing was delayed. Only when Xu Nianchu’s name appeared did he look as if someone had yanked him out of reality and back into some old dream from his youth.

HR said, “President Lin, this is the intern recommended by the group. We’ll have her rotate through your department first.”

I took the file.

Her résumé looked impressive, but her actual experience was as empty as a freshly washed plate. Prestigious university exchange, charity projects, entrepreneurship competitions-the page was lively enough, but when it came to practical, executable experience, there were only two lines.

I assigned her to the data team and had the supervisor arrange basic reports for her.

At three in the afternoon, the first spreadsheet she submitted had three formula errors, two client names written incorrectly, and was even missing an entire column of project codes.

I sent the file back with my comments marked.

Ten minutes later, Zhou Yan pushed open the door to my office.

Xu Nianchu stood behind him, tears clinging to her lashes.

“Jianwei,” Zhou Yan said, anger held tight in his voice. “It’s Nianchu’s first day. Did you really have to make an example of her like this?”

I looked up. “Did I invent those mistakes?”

Xu Nianchu said softly, “Zhou Yan, forget it. I was always stupid anyway. It’s normal for Director Lin not to like me. I’ll work hard.”

Her voice was very quiet, but my office door hadn’t been fully closed.

The sound of keyboards outside slowly came to a stop.

Zhou Yan’s expression darkened further. “You’re a director. Why are you picking a fight with an intern? She used to be in poor health. She hasn’t adjusted to the pace of work yet.”

I closed my laptop. “Xinglan’s clients won’t allow us to report incorrect data just because she’s in poor health.”

Xu Nianchu cried even harder.

Zhou Yan suddenly grabbed my wrist and slammed the marked-up file onto the desk.

“Lin Jianwei, don’t take yourself too seriously.”

I looked at his hand.

He was using force, his knuckles white. Three years ago, when he proposed, it had been this same hand that put the ring on my finger. He said that no matter what happened in the future, he would always stand on my side.

Now he stood in front of Xu Nianchu, like he was protecting some precious treasure he’d lost and finally recovered.

I slowly pulled my hand free.

“Zhou Yan, this is the company.”

He sneered. “You’re just an employee. You got lucky and became a director. What gives you the right to be so arrogant?”

The air seemed to rip open.

Before I could speak, his slap had already landed.

It wasn’t hard, but it was loud enough.

Someone outside the office sucked in a sharp breath.

Xu Nianchu covered her mouth. A flash of triumph crossed her eyes, then quickly turned into panic. “Zhou Yan, how could you hit her? This is all my fault…”

My face was turned to the side. On the tip of my tongue, I tasted blood.

Zhou Yan froze too.

I didn’t cry, and I didn’t make a scene. I simply picked up a wet wipe from my desk and dabbed at the corner of my mouth.

“Vice President Zhou,” I said, “from this moment on, don’t enter my office again.”

He thought it was just a harsh thing said during a marital argument.

But he didn’t know that as I spoke, the final confirmation from the group’s board office was already sitting on my phone.

Tomorrow morning at nine.

An all-staff notice for Xinglan Technology.

The company was being dissolved.