“It was quite a scene that day,” Lu Mi said while picking at her nails as she spoke to Shang Zhitao. “The elderly folks in the hutong were frightened. Someone called my mom saying, ‘Come quick! There might be a murder at your place!

Lu Mi was talking about the incident at her family’s rental house, which involved Zang Yao.

“Then what happened?”

“Then I drove my mom over there! That idiot guy was drunk and hit that fairy of a woman, but she wasn’t one to be messed with. She stabbed the guy’s hand with a knife—she’s a fierce one. By the time I arrived, that idiot was scared stiff, sitting in the corner crying! That fairy was pointing a knife at him, saying, ‘You motherfucker, shut up!'” Lu Mi imitated Zang Yao, then gave a thumbs up. “Badass. First time I’ve seen a woman tougher than me.”

Shang Zhitao wasn’t concerned about how fierce Zang Yao was—she was concerned about how badly she was hurt. “Was it serious? The beating.”

“Her arm was bruised. Maybe when that guy was hitting her, he couldn’t bring himself to hit such a beautiful face.”

“And then?”

“She left. Later, I found out that the fairy has a home in America and plenty of money. She moves around every few days, experiencing how ordinary people live!”

“Oh.”

Having received flowers from Luan Nian, Zang Yao left. Did Luan Nian not try to keep her from leaving? Did he know she had a boyfriend? Did he know her boyfriend had hit her? Shang Zhitao had a belly full of questions but nowhere to ask them. How could someone hit a person? What kind of person does that?

“Men who hit women are disgusting,” Shang Zhitao said.

“Should castrate the bastard.” Lu Mi was quite angry too, then asked Shang Zhitao, “Do you think Luke knows she was beaten?”

Shang Zhitao shook her head.

“Let’s go downstairs for coffee.” Lu Mi pulled Shang Zhitao along, and the two went to the elevator. Just as the elevator door was closing, a hand blocked it, and a gentle male voice said, “Just a moment. Thank you.”

It was the first time Shang Zhitao and Lu Mi formally met Dony. They were often on business trips and rarely in the office. Dony smiled slightly. “It’s Lu Mi and Flora?”

Lu Mi exchanged a glance with Shang Zhitao, then said, “Hello, Dony.”

Nothing more was said.

Shang Zhitao stood straight, looking directly ahead—a posture quite different from others. As they descended in the elevator, she happened to catch a glimpse of Dony’s eyes on her through the elevator mirror. It was just a fleeting moment, but it made her uncomfortable. All three were headed to the coffee shop. When Dony was ordering coffee, he turned back and asked them, “What would you ladies like? My treat.”

“Two lattes, thank you,” Lu Mi answered for Shang Zhitao.

Dony nodded, ordered two lattes, and handed one to each of them.

Lu Mi didn’t want to go back upstairs with Dony, so she said to Shang Zhitao, “Keep me company while I smoke one.”

“Sure.”

The two women smiled at Dony and left the coffee shop, walking to the smoking area outside the building. There was no one in the smoking area at the moment. Lu Mi lit a lady’s cigarette and said to Shang Zhitao, “Why does this Dony seem so petty?”

“How is he petty? This morning I heard Kitty praise him: ‘Handsome, gentle, wealthy—a maiden’s dream.'”

“Psh! That maiden must be blind. A maiden’s dream is my stubborn donkey.”

Shang Zhitao laughed at her joke. “If Luke knew you fantasized about him every day, wouldn’t he kill you?”

Lu Mi grinned and pointed her cigarette upward toward the building. “Have you noticed those bastards are starting to pick sides?”

“What sides?” Shang Zhitao was oblivious and hadn’t observed any of this.

“They say Dony was sent by the board to replace Luke. The board is dissatisfied with Luke because he’s difficult to manage.”

Shang Zhitao remembered the bottle of water called “One Heart” that Luan Nian had, and asked Lu Mi, “Who do you favor?”

“I don’t take sides. I’m just a small fry—I just do my job.” She stubbed out her cigarette. “But I support Luke. Although my opinion doesn’t count for much, I find Luke more agreeable than Dony.”

“Just because he’s more agreeable?”

“Yes. I support whoever the boss lady finds agreeable.”

Shang Zhitao giggled at her remark. Just then, Luan Nian, having just finished a business discussion, passed by them. “Skipping work?”

Lu Mi twisted her mouth, and the two followed Luan Nian into the elevator, not daring to make a sound. They might talk fiercely about him behind his back, but in front of him, they were as timid as little chicks.

Luan Nian watched the master and apprentice through the elevator mirror: one like a female hooligan, the other like an obedient student, standing there looking comical. He clicked his tongue and exited the elevator.

Lu Mi clutched her chest and said to Shang Zhitao, “That was fucking scary.”

Shang Zhitao thought to herself, You think this is scary? Try turning off the lights and see.

They returned to their workstations and continued processing budget approvals for various departments. Two budget items from the Planning Department didn’t match—the actual amount exceeded the pre-approved amount by 300,000. So she asked Kitty, “For these two budget items, I need to check the details. They also need special approval.”

Kitty replied, “Dony has already approved them.”

“Special approvals need to go to Luke.”

“Is the process that long?” Kitty said.

“Is this your first time approving a budget? Didn’t you attend the training?” Lu Mi jumped in. “I suggest you quickly go through the approval process. If it’s not completed by this Friday, it will be rejected, sister.”

Having taken Kitty down a notch, Lu Mi was in a good mood and privately said to Shang Zhitao, “Be tougher on her in the future. She picks on those she thinks are easy targets, thinking you’re easy to bully!”

“I’m sending her the process flowchart now.”

“She knows full well, she’s just deliberately making things difficult for you. It’s not the first time.” Lu Mi worked with Shang Zhitao on managing budgets. Normally, she wouldn’t get involved, but she was exceptionally good at dealing with troublemakers. As the two were talking, Shang Zhitao saw Kitty stand up from her workstation and go to Dony’s office.

Lu Mi twisted her mouth. “Big sister’s gone to tattle.”

Of course, Kitty would tattle. She was competitive and had never liked Shang Zhitao. In her mind, Shang Zhitao wasn’t qualified to work with them, but not only had she stayed, she had been promoted two years in a row, just like Kitty. Their position levels were low, so normally departmental approval would suffice. Last year, Alex approved Shang Zhitao’s promotion, and Kitty thought she was lucky. She expected Luke to block her this year, but Luke approved it too. Everyone in the company knew that Luke disliked Shang Zhitao, so why did he approve of her? Kitty couldn’t understand. What puzzled her most was that Shang Zhitao was now managing two core responsibilities—suppliers and budgets—and was even recruiting outsourced help.

She told Dony about the budget discrepancy and approval process. While it appeared she was just reporting work issues, she added at the end, “Other departments sometimes exceed their budgets too, but they don’t need approval from Luke.” The implication was that Shang Zhitao was targeting him.

After listening to her, Dony nodded. “I understand. Please ask Flora to come to my office. Thank you.” Dony appeared extremely gentle, but everyone knew it was just a facade. The board wouldn’t send someone who was merely gentle.

When Shang Zhitao heard that Dony wanted to speak with her, she wasn’t afraid. She took her laptop and knocked on his office door. His office was one room away from Luan Nian’s and about a third smaller, but still spacious and bright.

“Flora, please sit.” Dony stood up and poured a glass of water for Shang Zhitao. He observed her sitting properly in the chair, like an obedient female student—a clean, neat woman. “Kitty just told me about the budget approval issue. I’m new here and not familiar with this process yet. Could you please explain it to me, Flora?”

“Of course.” Shang Zhitao opened her laptop, found the process flowchart she had created, and enlarged it. Dony pointed to the chair beside her. “May I sit here? It seems more convenient for viewing.”

“Yes, Dony.” Shang Zhitao moved her chair outward a bit, maintaining distance from the other chair. In the workplace, sitting too close to the boss would lead to rumors the next day.

“Ling Meili’s budget management has three core elements: amount, approval time limit, and application scenario—that is, project level. Different budget amounts and application scenarios have different approval process time limits and scopes.” Shang Zhitao then found the Planning Department’s budget forms and explained them one by one to Dony.

Dony understood the process flowchart at a glance, but he didn’t interrupt Shang Zhitao. She had a pleasant, clean scent about her. When she spoke, she was gentle yet concise, without any superfluous words. Her mentor must be quite impressive.

Dony listened attentively, occasionally asking a few questions that Shang Zhitao answered carefully. Dony now understood that there had indeed been issues with strict budget reviews in the past—Kitty hadn’t lied. But now that Shang Zhitao was in charge, she was diligently doing her job, not deliberately making things difficult for the Planning Department. As for why Kitty seemed hostile, that was probably due to their past grievances. It had nothing to do with Dony; he hadn’t returned to China to deal with such trivial matters.

“Good. Thank you, Flora. I understand now. We’ll follow the normal process for those two budget items, and I’ll urge Luke to approve them.”

“Thank you for your understanding.” Shang Zhitao put away her laptop and stood up. “I won’t take up any more of your time.”

Dony smiled and stood up to see Shang Zhitao out, then suddenly asked, “Does Flora have a boyfriend?”

Shang Zhitao thought she had misheard and turned to look at him. He smiled. “You didn’t mishear. I was indeed asking if you have a boyfriend.”

“Is this relevant to work?”

“It’s not very relevant to work. I was just asking casually. You don’t have to answer.”

Dony discovered that Shang Zhitao was also someone with edges. The obedient subordinate who had just explained the budget to him was now bristling. Interesting.

“Then I’m afraid I can’t answer. Sorry.”

But Dony smiled. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with answering. I’m single.”

Shang Zhitao remembered Lu Mi’s rule for judging people: anyone she didn’t like was a bastard. Though simple and crude, it was quite effective. For instance, she thought Dony was a jerk, and he truly was, privately asking a female employee from another department if she had a boyfriend. She returned to her workstation, thought for a moment, looked at her phone, and then opened a shopping website.

She finally understood why Dony’s glance in the elevator had made her uncomfortable. It was the gaze of a man looking through a woman’s clothes, a gaze that said: “This woman, I want to sleep with her anytime.” It was a form of contempt.

Go to hell.

That rebellious bone in Shang Zhitao’s mind suddenly grew, and in her heart, she cursed using Lu Mi’s manner of speaking.