“I don’t recall that an employee is eligible to negotiate terms with the boss,” Ye Moxuan said impatiently.
Shen Qi’s hand that was holding her bag tightened, and when she spoke, it sounded as if she was gritting her teeth. “Even if I work overtime, those documents aren’t something that can be finished in a short while, so can I take it back to work on them at night?” She had already made compromises on her side.
However, Ye Moxuan had no intentions in negotiating with her. “No.”
What could Shen Qi say? After thinking about it, she might just have to push the meeting with Han Xueyou to the next day. At the thought of this, she didn’t say anything and withdrew her stubborn stare from Ye Moxuan. Then, she walked to her desk without another word. So what if she had to work overtime? She didn’t need to beg anyone.
By the time Shen Qi returned to her desk and sat down, Xiao Su had already pushed Ye Moxuan away. After he left, Shen Qi took out her mobile phone to send a message to Han Xueyou, saying that she wouldn’t be able to make it later and that she would reschedule their appointment to another day.
Two minutes after the message was sent, Han Xueyou called her immediately.
“What’s the matter? I thought we agreed to meet tonight? Why did you reschedule?” Han Xueyou’s words sounded a little frantic with a hint of anxiety. She had finally made up her mind to tell Shen Qi the answer, fearing that after today, she could not help but tell the truth. However, she didn’t expect that Shen Qi couldn’t make it.
Hence, Han Xueyou panicked and wondered if Shen Qi had noticed something.
Shen Qi looked at the documents in front of her and felt a slight headache coming on. “I’m sorry, Xueyou. I don’t mean to bail on you, but I have something urgent today, so I can’t make it.”
Han Xueyou asked, “What about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow… We’ll see how it goes.”
“Why are you so busy?”
Shen Qi replied, “I have to stay and work overtime in the company.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a while. “Are you alone?”
Shen Qi looked around her surroundings and nodded. “Yes.”
“Alright then, I’ll accompany you and bring you dinner on the way. What do you want to eat?”
Hearing this, a warm feeling surged up inside Shen Qi’s heart. “I’m not picky, but won’t it delay your time if you come and accompany me?”
“Oh, come on! You know very well that our relationship is beyond this! You don’t have to be embarrassed. Wait for me. I will be there in an hour.”
After hanging up, Shen Qi looked at Xueyou’s profile picture on WeChat. My best friend, Han Xueyou. She treats me so well. How could she be the kind of person Yan had said? It is impossible that she would betray me. Not in this lifetime!
Shen Qi then put her phone away and focused on her work.
After working for what seemed like forever, the elevator suddenly opened with a chime. Then, Han Xueyou appeared in the corridor with two food containers and shouted, “Oh, this is so heavy! Qi, come help me.”
Only at this moment had Shen Qi realized that an hour had passed without her realizing it.
She quickly got up to greet Han Xueyou and took the bag from her hand.
When Han Xueyou followed her to the desk, she saw the pile of documents on it; there was no space to put the food containers at all.
“Oh my, what’s going on here? Why are there so many documents?”
Shen Qi’s face darkened, and she said softly, “It’s nothing. Let me just clean it up a little. Then, we’ll have a place to put these. Give me ten minutes.”
Han Xueyou watched Shen Qi as she rearranged the table. Then, she glanced in the direction of the office subconsciously and asked, “Is Young Master Ye working overtime too?”
“No.” Shen Qi shook her head. “I am probably the only person in this company working overtime.”
Han Xueyou widened her eyes. “What kind of culture is this? You are the only one working overtime in this entire company? Does the company’s business depend on you alone?”
“It has nothing to do with that. I just didn’t manage to finish the work myself.”
“Look at the amount of work you have to do! You won’t be able to finish it in three days!” Han Xue grumbled angrily. “Your company is too harsh on you to the point that it’s inhumane.”
Shen Qi had already rearranged everything and pulled out a chair for Han Xueyou to sit. Then, she opened the food container.
“You like the vegetarian food from this restaurant, right? I brought two containers and drove there for around 20 minutes to buy these.”
“Thank you so much, Xueyou!”
“Don’t worry about it. What are friends for?”
The two of them ate with chopsticks for a while before Han Xueyou suddenly asked, “You haven’t told me why the company let you work overtime here alone. What’s going on?”
Indeed, Shen Qi would never hide anything from Han Xueyou. As such, she told her the entire story.
After Han Xueyou finished listening, her expression changed slightly. “You’re saying that he got angry at you because of those photos, so he deliberately assigned all this work for you to do?”
Shen Qi smiled and said in a deep voice, “Who knows? Maybe it’s because he doesn’t like me.” With that, Shen Qi suddenly sighed again. “Xueyou, who do you think would frame me by taking those photos?”
Han Xueyou’s face turned pale, and her heart was beating frantically. She concealed the tension in her eyes and lowered her head as she simply replied, “How would I know?”
She was going to pick up a piece of vegetarian meat, but it was probably because she was too nervous, her chopsticks fell onto the ground.
Han Xueyou’s expression changed drastically, and just when she wanted to pick it up, she accidentally knocked a chair down.
Shen Qi asked, “Xueyou, what’s the matter with you? Why are you so nervous?”
When Han Xueyou lowered her head to pick up the chopsticks, she couldn’t help but close her eyes to readjust her mood. Don’t panic!
“It’s nothing.” Han Xueyou smiled awkwardly before getting up. But when she was about to eat with those chopsticks, Shen Qi frowned and took the chopsticks from her. “It’s not clean anymore, so don’t eat with that. Let me wash them for you.” With that, she took the chopsticks and got up to wash.
After she left, Han Xueyou clutched at her chest, and her face became as pale as a ghost; she didn’t expect that she would lose her composure in front of Shen Qi.
During the period of time when Shen Qi was gone, Han Xueyou had already recomposed herself.
“Qi, I didn’t have any lunch today, and I’ve just driven to a place that was rather far away, so I was hungry until my hands shook. Sorry for the trouble.”
Stunned, Shen Qi looked at her with a grateful and touched expression.
“Xueyou, you are so nice to me.”
Han Xueyou smiled. “Of course! You only have me as your best friend, and the same goes for me too. Of course I’ll treat you well!”
After the pair sat down, Han Xueyou didn’t have any mood to eat anymore. Instead, she asked in a deep voice, “Qi, according to what you’ve just mentioned, you and Young Master Ye are affected by these photos? Has the relationship between you guys always been this bad, or is it because of the photos?”
Shen Qi looked at the food in front of her silently. In fact, she didn’t know if there was a moment of tranquility in their relationship before this. It seemed that they had been getting along quite peacefully for a while after they were drugged and slept together.
But that peace felt like a humiliation to Shen Qi. For a man who had hated her so much in the beginning to suddenly change a lot after having a sexual relationship with her, she didn’t see anything good in it.
“It was probably the photos.” Hearing that, Han Xueyou’s eyes lit up.
It seemed that using those photos was a good way to drive a wedge between them.
