Chapter 2
Maybe I had been crouching too long, or maybe a month of late nights had finally caught up with me.
The moment I stood, I pitched forward.
The scorching pavement burned my arm red. I tried to get up, but I had no strength at all.
A coworker passing by tried to help me, only to be stopped by someone else.
“Don’t get involved. If you help someone Mr. Lu hates, you’ll only bring trouble on yourself.”
“Exactly. She had plenty of energy during her promotion presentation. Why would she suddenly faint now? It’s probably a sympathy stunt for Mr. Lu.”
…
The voices gradually receded. In the end, a cleaning lady helped me sit up and pressed two vials of Huoxiang Zhengqi remedy into my hands.
“Xiao Cheng, drink these. Heatstroke is no joke.
“Didn’t everyone in your department go to a party? Why are you still at the office?”
Bitterness slid down my throat, and my foggy mind slowly cleared.
So Lu Siming had made an exception and let the marketing department leave early so everyone could go to a restaurant and celebrate Song Mian’s promotion.
No one had told me.
I had even thought he wanted to come home early and comfort me after I lost the promotion.
After thanking the cleaning lady, I braced myself against the wall and slowly returned to the office.
Sure enough, every light on the marketing floor was off.
The moment I reached my desk, I received a private message from my direct supervisor, Manager Wang.
[Xiao Ying, I’m sorry about what happened today.]
I didn’t know how to respond.
[Your proposal was genuinely excellent. The other managers thought so too.]
[Mr. Lu had veto power. I truly… I’m sorry.]
My heart clenched.
Lu Siming had vetoed me?
But when I went to his office to demand an explanation, he had told me that none of the other managers approved of me.
He had even told me to reflect on whether my competitiveness had offended them.
My mind went blank, filled with an almost laughable sense of absurdity.
My fingers turned white. My hands were nearly shaking as I typed:
[Manager Wang, are you saying I failed because Lu Siming vetoed me?]
A long time later, she replied: [Yes. The votes are all on record.]
The tears I had held back all day suddenly began to fall.
I raised a hand to wipe them away, but the more I wiped, the more came.
In five years at the company, I had never once benefited from my relationship with Lu Siming.
On the contrary, I handled more projects and worked more overtime than my peers, yet they had all been promoted one after another.
Only I remained where I had started, listening to people sneer in the break room: “So what if some people love showing off? After all these years, she’s still stuck at the bottom.”
I wanted a promotion. I wanted to prove myself.
So I traveled to negotiate with clients and stayed up all night writing proposals… Lu Siming knew all of that.
If the others had voted against me, I would have accepted it.
But why was he the one who vetoed me?
Why did he make me lose to a new employee who had barely been here a year?
I couldn’t accept it.
I called Lu Siming. He didn’t answer.
I called again. His phone was off.
The group chat suddenly flashed on my computer.
Everyone was cutting the cake.
Wearing a party hat, Song Mian clasped her hands and said, “My wish is for a boyfriend like Mr. Lu.”
Everyone held their breath, stunned by her boldness.
But Lu Siming didn’t get angry. He merely curved his lips. “Mischievous.”
Nausea surged into my throat.
His words echoed in my ears again and again, shifting from gentle to cold:
“Yingying, we have to keep our distance at the office. No one can know about us.”
“I don’t want people calling you a nepotism hire or accusing me of favoring my girlfriend.”
“Cheng Ying, stop making a scene.”
…
Slowly, I smiled.
Something inside my heart began to crack, and a cold fury welled up through the fracture.
More messages appeared. My coworkers had gone wild shipping them:
[Ice-cold CEO & sunny little sweetheart. A CEO romance come to life.]
[When she got out of the car, Mr. Lu even held a hand over the doorframe for Mianmian. The more I think about it, the sweeter it gets.]
[Good thing a certain delusional fangirl didn’t come. She would’ve dropped dead from jealousy.]
[Serves her right. She always tries to get close to Mr. Lu at company gatherings. Can’t she tell he’s constantly avoiding her?]
[I heard she brought in a lot of projects for Mr. Lu back then. He probably only tolerates her out of nostalgia.]
[Definitely. Otherwise, how could she work here for five years without even making manager?]
[She even staged a fake fall outside the office today. I recorded it. DM me if you want to see.]
[Me!]
[+1]
…
I didn’t want to see any more. I replied in the group: [Lu Siming is my boyfriend. If you don’t believe me, ask him yourselves.]
Then I left the chat and sent the resignation letter that had sat on my computer for far too long.
At my level, I only needed approval from my direct supervisor.
Manager Wang approved it instantly and congratulated me:
[Xiao Ying, I hear a lot of headhunters are trying to recruit you.]
[Your career is about to take off.]