Chapter 15

At Secretary Yang’s roar, the entire office trembled for a bit, not a single voice heard for a few moments; the first person to react was, surprisingly, Li Shuyun, who hurriedly pushed aside the people before her, and with rapid steps walked up before Secretary Yang, and said, “You must be the leader; I want to make a report about the problem of your company’s Jiang Xichu; she doesn’t care about familial feelings, and mistreats her own mother; this sort of severe issue, shouldn’t you attend to it?”

Li Shuyun’s words travelled to the secretaries’ office vibrating; young Secretary Zhou’s brows furrowed, and she hurried towards the door, turning the automated doors into a keycard opened door; once she finished switching it, she even let out a phrase of ridicule. “Truly outrageous!”

Among everyone there, the most unperturbed was, in fact, Jiang Xichu; she understood Li Shuyun the most, and knew that if she couldn’t create a result through her disturbance today, she wouldn’t leave; therefore, she returned to the office desk, and took out her phone, meaning to give Security Guard Zu a phone call, but before she could call, the sound of a disturbance came from outside once more. Chen Man’s cold voice snaked in: “What’s happening?”

Jiang Xichu stilled, the phone still placed against her ear, and her eyes widened, gazing at the other two secretaries. “Isn’t Chen Man inside?!”

Secretary Li thought a moment. “No, a moment ago Financial Affairs called her out; it seems like there was some matter of procuring something.”

Letting Li Shuyun and Chen Man be face to face was a scene that Jiang Xichu simply couldn’t dare imagine; she threw down her phone and headed out; at the same time, the conversation outside was underway. Li Shuyun doubtfully sized up Chen Man; looking at her appearance, she was probably also a leader, because after she appeared, everyone looked over, and gave her space. Li Shuyun asked her, “What person are you here?”

This phrase wasn’t asked politely, and Chen Man frowned involuntarily, but still replied, “I’m the general manager.”

General manager, ah; wasn’t the highest leader?

Li Shuyun’s gained spirit in an instant, and her voice became tearful as she came before Chen Man, wanting to grab her hand, but she was voided by Chen Man. “General Manager, you have to give me arbitration; that girl Jiang Xichu, on gaining some money, just didn’t want to give any to her own family; I’m her mother—because our family simply can’t make ends meet, I wanted to ask her to help out a bit, but in the end, she said she wouldn’t give me even a cent, and on top of that, she wouldn’t even recognise me as mother; tell me, this sort of person, this unconscientious, who doesn’t look after even her mother, how could she still be employed properly by someone else…”

Only then did Chen Man understand; the person before her was, in fact, Jiang Xichu’s step-mother; Chen Man’s expression turned even colder, and she interrupted the bitter complaints of the person before. “Hang on; I’ve worked together with Chen Man for many years, and I remember she doesn’t have a mother.”

Li Shuyun’s expression went rigid, and in a flash, changed her tune. “I’m her mother! Although I’m not her biological mother, I’m her stepmother. I even raised her for many years, ah, how can she just not recognise me by saying so?!”

Chen Man’s expression didn’t change, and she continued to look at Li Shuyun indifferently; her eyes were frigid, and, being looked at, Li Shuyun’s subconscious began to beat the return drum.

“Jiang Xichu was raised by herself; it seems to not have any relation with you.”

On hearing these words, Li Shuyun understood; this general manager clearly wanted to protect Jiang Xichu, and, moreover, had known Jiang Xichu for many years, and deceiving her was definitely not possible. In a moment, her own bitter words had all been revealed; Li Shuyun stuck her neck out, her appearance that of having nothing to lose and willing to go to any lengths in spite of any consequences, and she said, “These words of yours just aren’t too appropriate, are they; you aren’t our family, how could you know whether or not I raised Jiang Xichu? She was fed by me for that many years; you didn’t see it, so don’t talk nonsense!”

Chen Man cast a slightly loathing gaze at Li Shuyun, and turned her head to command the security guard, “Remember, Secretary Jiang is an orphan, an only daughter; aside from the people in our office, she doesn’t have any family; anyone who dares to come and pretend is a liar; quickly get rid of this liar for me. It’s good you’re here as well, Secretary Yang; go get in contact with the legal affairs department, and have a lawyer’s letter drafted for me; this lady is trespassing on private property, and disturbing others’ normal routine and work, and bringing a severely malicious influence on a person with a weak constitution. As far as this situation goes, there’s no way we can be tolerant.”

Secretary Yang stilled for a moment, and then afterwards, she rapidly responded, replying with a smile, “Alright, I’ll go deal with that right now!”

Li Shuyun was stupefied by what she heard; seeing that Secretary Yang was about to leave, she hurriedly pulled at her, and then gazed at Chen Man in shock. “Hang on, who’s trespassing on private property, who’s disturbing someone with a weak constitution? Isn’t this here an office! It’s not anyone’s home!”

Chen Man raised a brow. “This building is mine, and so it’s my private property; these past few days, I haven’t been sleeping well; the doctor told me I’ve developed anxiety; so, I’m someone with a weak constitution.” Having finished speaking, Chen Man, unable to bear it more, waved a hand, and said, “Get rid of her quickly.”

With the general manager issuing an order, the remaining people were fearless as well; not having dared to move Li Shuyun was precisely because they were afraid they themselves would be set up, but now, if there really was a set up, it would definitely be their general manager setting up this shrew.

…

Chen Man returned to the secretaries’ office with quick steps, and, afterwards, found that the door couldn’t be opened; behind the glass door, Jiang Xichu was standing there, and she hurriedly swiped the card and opened the door; seeing Jiang Xichu standing in front of her, Chen Man stilled slightly, and then, very quickly, her complexion returned to its previous indifferent, proper and blank state. Her gaze, ignoring everything else, turned to the side; it was just that, from time to time, it would return a bit, and then glance at Jiang Xichu.

Chen Man walked into the office, but the door hadn’t been closed, and she heard the sound of the secretaries’ collective cheering cry come through; young Secretary Zhou was the youngest, and her voice was also the highest, and it seemed as if it could shatter glass.

“Ah ah ah ah ah, Manager Chen is too cool!”

Among the cheering sound of the enthused girls there wasn’t Jiang Xichu; she rose above the emotions that brought the secretaries to jump up and down, and opened Chen Man’s office door, and then came in. Chen Man was still standing, and hadn’t walked over to the office desk; seeing the tread of Jiang Xichu’s graceful, measured steps, bringing along an incomparably joyful expression as she walked towards her, Chen Man couldn’t help but smile; standing in place, she raised her head, proudly looking at Jiang Xichu.

Accepting the hint, Jiang Xichu trotted over with a smile, and gently pressed a kiss to the petals of Chen Man’s lips, and then praised her without disguise, “How amazing! Truly cool!”

Chen Man had been praised to the point of barely being able to find North; Jiang Xichu’s praise for her was incredibly hard to come by, and Chen Man was pleased with herself for a good while, and only then thought to ask her, “The one who called you today was her, wasn’t it?”

Jiang Xichu nodded readily, and said, “That’s right, it was her looking for me to get money; I didn’t give it to her, so then she came looking for me.”

Chen Man remembered that, before, Jiang Xichu did give her money, so why wouldn’t she now? Thinking of this, she asked it as well, and Jiang Xichu looked at her in such a way as to express that she already knew the answer. “You say ‘why’; naturally, it’s because I gave all my money to you, ah.”

Chen Man’s cheeks flushed, and she gently shoved Jiang Xichu, and then turned to walk towards the office desk, and put a document on the table, and muttered to herself quietly, “You’ve even learnt how to blackmail.”

Jiang Xichu’s mood was good, and didn’t bother to bicker with her at all; her gaze dropped onto that document, and she asked, “Where did you go just now?”

“The engineering department came up with the quote; I verified it with the financial affairs, and feel that, more or less, it could be bought.”

Jiang Xichu blinked; she didn’t remember that there was anything that was meant to be bought in this period of time. “Buying what?”

Hearing this question, Chen Man secretively turned her head, and showed her the inner documents like showing off treasure. “Buying real estate; I’m preparing to buy the land over by Xisanhuan’s Qingfang Bridge.”

Qingfang Bridge…

Jiang Xichu thought of it; wasn’t that the plot of land that had an extremely high pollution index? Calculating the time, it was more or less this period; Chen Man said she herself wanted to buy that piece of land, and she’d originally also told this idea to Jiang Xichu in an overjoyed manner, but in the end, she’d had a bucket of cold water poured directly on her. Before, she’d asked why Chen Man wanted to buy that piece of land for sure, and also what she wanted to do with that land, but, living or dying, Chen Man wouldn’t say, and had angered Jiang Xichu immensely. This time, their relationship wasn’t the same, so maybe Chen Man would say?

Thinking of this method, Jiang Xichu asked probingly, “Why do you want to buy this piece of land?”

Chen Man glanced at her, and then laughed mischeviously. “It’s a secret.”

History was always surprisingly the same; originally, Chen Man had also replied with this phrase, and after, she’d been criticised by Jiang Xichu. Jiang Xichu admonished herself in her mind that she couldn’t get angry, couldn’t get angry, couldn’t criticise her, couldn’t criticise her, she had to be as warm as a spring breeze, had to be as warm as a spring breeze…

Chen Man smiled in Jiang Xichu’s direction. “Xichu, how do you feel? This price, isn’t it quite worth it?”

“Worth your great-headed ghost! You’re the type of genius whose head is full of the Yellow Sea and who will spend money buying this sort of land that isn’t even worth a dime! If this sort of land was used as a graveyard, the dead would be driven to climb out of their mounds by the fumes, crying and yelling as if brought back to life!”

Chen Man was silent: “...”

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