The Double Eleven surprise that had been prepared for many days was forced to be canceled due to the absence of the male lead.

Cheng Lele thought she probably would never have another chance to go to the ghost house, so she gave away the stored-value card she had purchased with great reluctance to outstanding employees as a reward.

Just as she was adjusting her mood to prepare for the holiday customer flow, Cheng Lele received a warning disciplinary notice from Tongda Group, based on fabricated charges.

Tongda Group was not the company responsible for every brand franchise store as proclaimed in the email—otherwise at least half the people in the cinema chain would have been directly fired long ago. Sending out such an email was obviously targeting her specifically.

It was probably the narrow-minded and incompetent Huang Tiangou who had been waiting for an opportunity to deal with her. Now that he’d obtained what he considered a righteous excuse, he couldn’t wait to announce it to the world to disgust and humiliate her.

She temporarily set this matter aside and went outside the office to the floor to serve as mobile staff. Although there were no particularly strong Double Eleven films this year, it was still a holiday of sorts, and the customer flow was much denser than usual.

Although Xingchen Cinema’s situation was improving, Rome wasn’t built in a day—the box office revenue was still not ideal. After deducting half for revenue sharing and the considerable operating costs from the revenue received, very little remained. Seeing that the time to pay the cinema’s salaries was approaching, and not wanting to spend money from Chen An’s private account again, she no longer dared to use any cash.

A clever housewife cannot cook without rice. Without funds, she struggled at every step when negotiating cooperative promotions externally. Yet without cooperating with others, the customer flow would become stagnant water—it was almost falling into a vicious cycle.

She was working very hard, but she didn’t have a golden finger—there wouldn’t be a plot development where she single-handedly saved a collapsing building the moment she took action. Sometimes she felt lost and timid, but she had never given up her fighting spirit.

But today, she had seriously considered whether all of this was worth it. Because even by the middle of the night, Chen An had not stepped forward to refute the issues raised in the email.

Actually, all it would take was for him to come forward in his capacity as Tongda’s partner, as her superior, to explain and correct things, and this matter could be easily resolved.

But he had never done so.

At dawn when the sky was full of rosy clouds, Cheng Lele believed every word Quan Zirong had said.

Chen An had a girlfriend, was deliberately ignoring her, wanted to pay her back in kind.

She didn’t feel angry. If Chen An could emerge from the shadows of the past and have a girlfriend who could return his love abundantly, that was a good thing. Seven years ago, that was what she had hoped for; over those seven years, that was what she had imagined. If not for misunderstanding so much after their reunion, she wouldn’t have forced herself to implement the plan to repay him with brave love. Like squeezing toothpaste, inch by inch, making things difficult for herself—even if she ended up together with Chen An, she might not necessarily love him much more.

She felt happy for him and was also glad she hadn’t confessed, otherwise it would have been very embarrassing.

As for revenge, it really wasn’t necessary. She believed Chen An didn’t subjectively have such childish and malicious thoughts. It was just that because he had caused her a bit of pain, objectively speaking, it did seem like paying back in kind.

Since that was the case, let everything return to the original starting point.