Chapter 3_2

Qu Xiaojuan was tossing her car keys, laughing as she said, "Oh, then I'll go first. Bye, Xiaoqiu, I'm off to get pinched at 77 Bar."

Fan Shengmei looked livid, and only when the sound of the elevator closing reached them did she sharply say, "Phony, who knows how many layers of sponge she's got stuffed in her bra."

By now, Qiu Yingying had figured it out and burst into laughter in her own room. She couldn't help it and didn't care about offending Fan Shengmei.

Just as Fan Shengmei gracefully stepped out of apartment 2202, Guan Ju'er stumbled back home with a weary face. Passing by Qiu Yingying's bedroom door and seeing her ambition to try on all her clothes, she couldn't help but yawn and say, resignedly, "They said we'd get to go home early for the weekend, but I still have two international video conferences to attend. Who knows what time I'll get to sleep. If you're going out to eat, be a dear and bring me back a box of braised pork."

"I'm dieting to lose weight tonight. You're earning vegetable money but stressing like you're dealing drugs. Why bother? Tell your boss the internet's dead as a dodo at your place."

"Believe it or not, my boss can come up with a hundred alternatives in a minute. If conditions are better, go to Starbucks; if worse, hit an internet café, or if you don't want to spend money, just hug your laptop and wander around the neighborhood to mooch Wi-Fi. I'm better off working my heart out. Whether it's a lot or a little, the boss should notice. And if he doesn't..." Guan Ju'er suddenly deflated, "If the internship ends with a poor evaluation, I'm out on my ear. Utterly hopeless."

"Guan Ju'er, let me give you some real talk as someone who graduated a year before you. You're using your energy all wrong. You should be like me, while you're young and your memory is good, get more certifications to back you up. Only solid qualifications will truly be yours. How are you going to write all this hard work on your resume? Do you plan to say you work sixteen hours a day? Don't let work pressure you so much you don't have time to think about your future."

Guan Ju'er looked completely perplexed and asked, "So what should I do?" But even as she spoke, she instinctively glanced at her watch. The moment she saw the time, she leaped up, "Ten more minutes, I need to get online five minutes early."

Qiu Yingying was exasperated but had her own pressing matters. She grabbed two sets of clothes and followed Guan Ju'er into her room, holding them up on either side and asking, "Help me choose which one to wear tomorrow. Which one flatters me more?"

While briskly taking out her laptop to plug it in and boot up, Guan Ju'er cast one eye towards Qiu Yingying and said, "Aren't you in accounting class all day tomorrow?"

Qiu Yingying replied bluntly, "The handsome white guy who's the head of our finance department is also going to attend the same class. I need to look gorgeous to catch his eye tomorrow."

"The navy one, the navy one looks more mature... Crap, they're online. I can't talk anymore Qiu Yingying."

Qiu Yingying knew better than to disturb Guan Ju'er's work, but she held up the navy blue dress, puzzled, and muttered to herself, "You need to be mature for work, but do you also need to mature to attract men?" Unable to decide on this critical issue of attire, she left it to Fan Shengmei, who she believed had been through thick and thin.

Fan Shengmei wasn't having a good time at 77 Bar, surrounded by girls so fresh you could pinch water out of them, and her date had disappeared into the crowd long ago. Meanwhile, anyone who tried to cozy up to her struck her as seedy with just one sweep of her experienced HR eye. She wandered into the restroom, a bit downcast, planning to touch up her makeup. Yet Qu Xiaojuan, like an unshakable spirit, followed her in and cornered her. Fan Shengmei immediately put on a radiant smile, which met Qu Xiaojuan's equally beaming face.

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"There's nothing interesting tonight," Qu Xiaojuan surprisingly initiated the conversation, "Everyone here is from the same circle, we all know each other, so there won't be any surprises."

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Fan Shengmei didn't understand what Qu Xiaojuan meant and could only give a vague response, "It's still quite lively. The special invited DJ is pretty good and really knows how to work up the atmosphere."

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Qu Xiaojuan meticulously touched up her eye makeup, not missing a beat as she spoke, "Oh, please. Today's occasion only acknowledges clothes, not people, and beautiful women are just there to be flirted with."

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"Eh, what about you, beautiful?"

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"Thank you very much for categorizing me as a beauty. However, tonight I am not just a woman, I'm here to meet people. Sister Fan, if you plan on going back, call me on my cell, I'll help you arrange it, so you won't have to leave too alone," Qu Xiaojuan grabbed Fan Shengmei's cell phone, dialed without waiting for a reply, and then hastily left after just one ring.

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Fan Shengmei's heart was filled with mixed feelings. Looking at the slender-faced, pale-skinned young beauties around her, she felt even more disheartened. Yet, she still lingered in the hallway indecisively, getting bumped into several times by people coming and going. Amidst the crowded multitude, she felt utterly unsupported and increasingly found the whole thing uninteresting, so she left on her own.

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Outside 77 Bar, where the night lights shone brightly, Fan Shengmei couldn't help but wrap her shawl tighter around herself. Tonight, she was profoundly shaken. Tonight, she clearly realized that this era no longer belonged to her. She turned into the nearby coffee shop and lit a cigarette. Tonight, Fan Shengmei dared to not look around.

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Although there was a book spread out on the table in front of Qiu Yingying, she hadn't turned a single page after staring at it for a long time; she was restless. She told herself that she was waiting for Fan Shengmei to come back. But as time passed and Fan Shengmei didn't return, she could only leave her outfit choices hanging on the bedroom door of Fan Shengmei. She carelessly forgot to take out her phone from the pocket of the clothes she had tried on.

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After her meeting concluded, Guan Ju'er felt her nerves wound tight from listening to accented English and complicated work arrangements from an international conference call—even though she didn't get to speak much herself, she was tense enough to lose all desire to sleep. Closing her laptop, a surge of energy still flowed restlessly in her chest, leaving her with no inclination to sleep. Yet, as Qiu Yingying was already asleep, she had no one to talk to and could only wander excitedly from the bedroom to the kitchen, back and forth, until she ultimately didn't have the courage to go out alone for a late-night snack. However, the more water she drank on an empty stomach, the hungrier she got.

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Guan Ju'er was elated when Fan Shengmei returned home early. She glided over quietly, eagerly sticking close to Fan Shengmei and offering to treat her to supper. Fan Shengmei was not in the mood, and while it wasn't appropriate to instruct Guan Ju'er that one should first read people's expressions before speaking or acting, she pretended not to hear and examined the clothes hanging at her door left and right. Just then, a text message notification came through on Qiu Yingying's phone in her pocket. Without thinking, she naturally took out the phone to check. "Manager Bai: Xiaoqiu, I'll pick you up on the way tomorrow, please text me your address." Only then did Fan Shengmei remember that it was Qiu Yingying's phone. She hurriedly said to Guan Ju'er, "Sorry, our phones look alike, I got confused. But this message is contradictory; how can he say he'll pick her up along the way if he doesn't even know the address? Are these days men so unthinking that they don't even bother to use their brains anymore?"

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Guan Ju'er, after seeing the text, couldn't help but laugh, covering her mouth. "According to Qiu Yingying, this Manager Bai is the handsome guy from their finance department, and tomorrow, they have a CPA course together. She doesn't know what to wear tomorrow to catch Manager Bai's attention. It seems they are quite taken with each other. If she had received this message earlier, Qiu Yingying definitely wouldn't have been able to sleep."

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Fan Shengmei read the message again, curling her lip. "Xiaoguan, let me teach you two principles of life. First of all, if the other party is sincere, an invitation via text message or phone call will definitely be sent at a proper time in advance, to give the girl the space to ponder and retain her dignity, and certainly not late at night; Secondly, if it were an unattractive Manager Bai sending such a message, wouldn't you naturally consider it sexual harassment? Please treat them equally, such messages from a handsome supervisor are likewise sexual harassment. No company permits office romances, and if violated, it's inevitably the female clerks on the bottom rung like Xiaoqiu who will be unfortunate. It's not something to be taken lightly, and male supervisors, in particular, should be aware of the consequences."

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"But if the two are truly in love, no matter what the future holds, they can think of a way to solve it."

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This book is first published by Xiaoxiang Academy and shall not be reproduced elsewhere!

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