1. 38. When Someone Farts (Part 2)

In her mind, she had been the school flower from nursery until she graduated from high school. She was consistently praised as intelligent and beautiful. She expected to be recognized the same way at university and as the number one beauty on their campus.

She believed that everything changed when the latecomer Liu Leah entered the university.

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Chen Mei's reality revolved around what she believed, shaped, and reinforced by her parents and older people in her hometown.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, everyone celebrated her birth because heavy rainfall soaked the cracked grounds of their small town every time her birthday arrived. She was the only one in her generation, and in all generations, born on that particular day in that specific month when the rain started to fall.

Her name became synonymous with "lucky star" or "blessed."

She did nothing extraordinary or even ordinary, and she was not helpful at home or in the community. She simply bore the nicknames "the lucky star" and "the blessed child."

Like many spoiled children, she was not corrected if she did anything unreasonable. She grew up with a skewed worldview in which she was always right, and any wrongdoing was recognized but easily forgiven.

However, Chen Mei was emotionally dependent on others' praises, unlike other spoiled children. She did what she could to achieve high grades in school, maintain good manners during interactions, and present herself better than her peers.

Her only downside was that she considered other people beneath her. She believed that she deserved the best and that others did not.

If anything did not go according to her plans, she made it happen by hook or by crook. She had the tendency to make black, white, and white black as long as it benefited her. She became so skilled at acting and speaking that other children around her were afraid and simply went along with her whims.

It was also unknown if she indeed won the university scholarship fairly. Only the participants knew the truth, and they would never reveal it. Every adult and older adult in their small hometown believed Chen Mei's words.

The whole campus was buzzing in the first week of the second month of Chen Mei's university days. Students, professors, and even other personnel and visitors were talking about the new transfer student everywhere.

Even a blade of grass had heard the name of Liu Leah, both inside and outside the city, including abroad. You can imagine the excitement when they learned that Liu Leah was enrolled in one of the most prominent local public universities. Emphasis on the words "local" and "public."

Chen Mei's classmates and roommates could not believe a person of Liu Leah's caliber would attend their school. Stereotypes are powerful, as they are sometimes considered to be the truth. They thought that the only heiress and princess of the owner of a vast conglomerate would be homeschooled by the best and brightest or taking her classes halfway around the world where the highest amount of money can buy.

Chen Mei did not retain any friends during her university days. Even after finding part-time work, she was seldom invited to her co-workers' get-togethers. It never occurred to her that people distanced themselves because of her personality and her conduct around others.

Who knows how many unsatisfactory experiences she has had from her university days until now have been attributed to Liu Leah's existence? Only Chen Mei knows.

Chen Mei joined Wang Haoran's secretarial staff with the help of Aunt Hi, Wang Haoran's trusted housekeeper. It was not widely known, but Aunt Hi was Chen Mei's mother's second cousin.

Just like Li Mei, Chen Mei developed an abnormal obsession with Wang Haoran. Her eyes started following him around, and soon she started following Wang Haoran inside and outside the company building.

Chen Mei thought she was being discreet in how she followed Wang Haoran around, but she was wrong. In this regard, she was lucky because her behavior was not new; the security detail assigned to Wang Haoran by himself, in addition to Liu Leah's, ignored her as long as she did not hinder his day-to-day activities.

Almost all female employees idolized their president, Wang Hoaran, and the company's quality assurance department found that this behavior increased workplace positivity and productivity. So, while drooling over their president was not encouraged, it was not stopped by the quality assurance department either.

Ring— Ring—

In the present, Chen Mei's reminiscing about her past was disturbed by a call. She couldn't stop thinking about the past after Zhu Ai asked her why she went after Liu Leah.

She got up and walked towards the door, reaching into her pocket to answer her company-assigned phone.

"Miss Chen, where have you been? Your break has been over for ten minutes now."

Chen Mei took a deep breath and adjusted her mood. She checked the outside of the office through the closed window blinds. "Sir, I am sorry. I just got back from the toilet. It looks like I ate something this morning that upset my stomach. I have been going in and out of there since my break."

While replying to her supervisor's call, Chen Mei confirmed that the area outside Liu Leah's office was clear. She left immediately, making sure to lock the door behind her.

She walked back towards their department, her eyes watery and her appearance haggard. She rubbed her stomach with one hand and held the phone with the other. Her immediate supervisor was waiting for her next to her workstation, carrying a stack of files.

"Sir, I am near my desk and can see you. I will end the call now."

Beep.

Everyone in the department called the supervisor standing next to Chen Mei's desk, Sir Sun. His full name was Sun Fu. He was recently assigned to oversee the team Chen Mei was a part of after Liu Leah's hospitalization.

He noticed that, out of all the team members, Chen Mei had the least amount of work assigned and completed besides Li Mei, their president's mistress. Moreover, almost half of that work was done and handed over by her other team members. She even took longer breaks than the others.

Sun Fu couldn't figure out why the previously assigned supervisor, on maternity leave, let Chen Mei get away with this, so he unknowingly paid close attention to her.

He was currently looking at his phone with a bewildered expression. "The audacity of this— Let's calm down."

"Inhale"

"Exhale"

Sun Fu saw Chen Mei approaching from his side five minutes after their phone call ended.

Chen Mei strolled, slightly leaning forward with a hunched back. She was massaging her stomach while looking down. She stopped near her desk and looked up at Sun Fu, her skin a ghastly pale color.

"Tsk. If you're this good at acting, why don't you enter the entertainment industry?" Sun Fu thought, not believing her for a second.

Chen Mei's ability to quickly change her expression and quick-witted responses were Sun Fu's greatest nemesis. Reprimanding Chen Mei would make him look like he was abusing his authority while indulging her, which would go against his work ethic and principles.