At ten o'clock in the morning, Su Yang showed up punctually outside the meeting room on the tenth floor of the Chen Group headquarters.
There were three others who were taking the second - round interview with her that morning. One of the girls had been right behind Su Yang during the first interview.
When they met again, both of them felt it was quite a coincidence.
After cheering each other on, the girl looked at the suit Su Yang was wearing and whispered, "You look much better today than you did during the first interview!"
The girl's compliment was pure, without a hint of jealousy or sourness in her sincere praise.
Su Yang tugged at her collar and responded in an equally soft voice, "I borrowed it."
The girl blinked, as if suddenly enlightened, "Is that even okay?"
"Sure it is." Su Yang nodded.
The girl let out a chuckle and generously reached out her hand, saying, "My name is Yu Shan. Let's add each other on WeChat. Even if we don't get the job, we can still be friends."
Su Yang was amused by her. While shaking hands with her, she took out her phone and said, "When you put it that way, I feel like we're just lambs waiting to be slaughtered in the Chen Group."
"I'd be more than willing to be slaughtered!" Yu Shan gently patted Su Yang on the shoulder. "It's the Chen Group! If I could work here, my mom would definitely burn incense for three days at home!"
The interview started soon, and Su Yang was the first one to be called.
There were three interviewers in the meeting room, two men and one woman, all with unfamiliar faces.
Su Yang noticed that when she sat down, the female executive's gaze lingered on her for a moment.
The questions in the second - round interview were quite flexible. The three interviewers took turns, chatting back and forth with Su Yang for nearly twenty minutes.
When Su Yang walked out of the meeting room, Yu Shan was just being called.
Su Yang gave her a "good luck" gesture and pointed to her phone to indicate they should stay in touch, then headed straight for the elevator.
When the elevator door opened, Su Yang was looking down, sending a message. She didn't notice there were people inside until she stepped into the elevator.
Su Yang whispered "Sorry," and when she looked up, she was shocked to see Xu Lize standing right in front of her, along with Lu Yanke, whom she had met once in the Japanese restaurant.
Su Yang instinctively wanted to back out, but the elevator door closed before she could.
The elevator slowly ascended. Su Yang felt it hard to breathe and just stood there, frozen and at a loss.
She thought she and Xu Lize must be tied by some kind of bad luck. Otherwise, why would they keep bumping into each other in the Chen Group?
"Hey, Third Sister - in - law?" Suddenly, Lu Yanke seemed to remember something and pointed at Su Yang's face in surprise. "You... What a coincidence! Why are you here too?"
Su Yang's face flushed red. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Xu Lize let out a soft laugh.
"Humph, what a coincidence."
Su Yang felt a tingling sensation on her scalp, recalling how she had "provoked" Xu Lize that morning, scaring the aunt in the kitchen so much that she accidentally dropped a matching soup bowl.
The more proud she had been then, the more embarrassed she felt now.
It turned out that when Xu Lize had said coldly that morning that "he'd give her a ride to the interview on his way," he was actually telling the truth!
Suddenly, the elevator "dinged" and stopped on the top floor.
Su Yang quickly stepped aside to make way.
The elevator door opened. Xu Lize took a step. Just as he was about to walk out of the elevator, he said expressionlessly to Su Yang, "I have a business dinner tonight. I won't be back for dinner."
Su Yang's "Okay" was drowned out by his fading footsteps...
In the corridor, Lu Yanke was still looking back curiously every few steps. It wasn't until the elevator door slowly closed that he trotted a few steps to catch up with Xu Lize.
"Third Brother, you just let her go like that?"
"What else should I do?" Xu Lize gave him a sidelong glance.
"Let's have lunch together at noon." Lu Yanke winked at Xu Lize with great interest.
Xu Lize ignored his teasing and threw the file bag in his hand into Lu Yanke's arms. "Memorize the project risks first before thinking about having lunch. It's not that easy to earn the boss's money."
Lu Yanke steadied the file bag and couldn't help but gasp. "Third Brother, you're so heartless! Before, you were waiting for the boss's approval for the project just like me. Now why do you look so detached?"
"Because now I'm the client, just like General Manager Chen."
Xu Lize patted Lu Yanke on the shoulder. Just before walking into the president's office, he still glanced in the direction of the elevator...
With a nervous heart, Su Yang walked out of the Chen Group building and quickly ran towards the subway station.
When she rushed to the hot - pot restaurant where she had made an appointment with her roommate Fang Shuqin, the latter was already there.
"Yangyang, over here!"
Fang Shuqin had chosen a corner table. When she saw Su Yang appear at the door, she shouted at her loudly.
Su Yang ran over following the voice. The first thing she did after sitting down was to take off her coat.
"Are you very hot?" Fang Shuqin didn't look closely at her clothes but glanced at the air - conditioning vent above. "Good thing I picked this great spot!"
"Let me take a look at the menu. Have you ordered yet?" Su Yang didn't say much. She smiled, took the menu and a pen, and naturally changed the subject.
They were regulars at this hot - pot restaurant and were very familiar with ordering food.
A few minutes later, the hot and spicy red - oil hot - pot base was served on the table. Su Yang went to the self - service freezer to get two cans of soda. She opened one and handed it to Fang Shuqin, then asked her, "Qinqin, have you seen that post on the campus forum..."
The red - oil hot - pot cooked quickly, and the steam and spiciness soon filled the air.
Fang Shuqin listened to Su Yang while cooking the meat. She cooked the beef for eight seconds and the mutton for eight seconds. She picked up a piece for herself and one for Su Yang.
By the time they finished the two plates of meat and started putting vegetables into the pot, Su Yang had just finished telling the whole story.
"Did the landlady misidentify the person?" Fang Shuqin turned down the heat a few notches and put down her chopsticks.
Su Yang shook her head. "I showed the landlady the group photo our dormitory took when we won the 'Outstanding Dormitory' award last month. If it was a misidentification, it would be too much of a coincidence."
As she said this, she opened her phone, found the video, and showed it to Fang Shuqin.
"The angles of the two videos are almost the same. I wanted the landlady to help me check the surveillance yesterday, but there were customers in the store, so I didn't want to bother her anymore. But the landlady was very kind. She said she'd help me when she was free and would let me know if she found anything."
Fang Shuqin frowned as she watched the video on Su Yang's phone. She looked up and asked, "How do you want me to help you?"
Su Yang said straightforwardly, "Qinqin, you don't need to help me with this. I'll solve it myself. I asked you to come today just to ask if you've heard Jingxuan mention me recently. I really don't believe that post was written by her. We were classmates and roommates for four years in college and never even had a fight. I can't figure out why she would write these things to frame me?"
Seeing Fang Shuqin's evasive look, Su Yang was taken aback but still continued, "Moreover, this incident is related to Teacher Feng's job application. This is completely rumor - mongering and slander. Qinqin, you took a law elective in your sophomore year. You should understand this better than me."
"Actually..." Fang Shuqin picked up her chopsticks and stirred the spinach tangled in the pot. She whispered, "Xiaoxuan... She doesn't live with me anymore."