Chapter 4

Over the next week, rumors filled the company. In the break room, the elevator, and the restroom, people were talking everywhere.

Some said I had tried to seduce Gu Huai’an, got caught by Lin Zhaozhao, and couldn’t face staying, so I quit.

Some said I stole company trade secrets, got called in by HR, and had no choice but to leave.

Others said I had picked up side jobs outside and got poached by a competitor.

People said all kinds of things.

I didn’t explain. Every day I came in and left on time, and I did whatever I was supposed to do.

I exported every message Gu Huai’an had sent me over these two years and filed them by category.

The work-related ones went into a separate folder. The private messages went into another.

The chat records where he told me to work until two in the morning.

The chat records where he told me to cancel my vacation and come back for a meeting.

The chat records where he said, “Once things stabilize on Zhaozhao’s end, I’ll break up with her.”

I also went through every project I had handled over the past two years and made a detailed list.

Not to get revenge right away.

I just had a vague feeling that these things I had exchanged for my youth and health shouldn’t, after I left, quietly rot on Gu’s Group’s servers without a sound.

They were my trump card, and they were my backup plan.

When did it start, who took the lead, who wrote the core plan, who provided the key data, and who negotiated the clients?

On Friday afternoon, HR called me in for a talk.

It was a woman in her forties named Liu. We usually got along okay.

“Shen Yan, are you really sure?” She closed the door and lowered her voice.

“I heard this is because of Mr. Gu, and that Lin Zhaozhao isn’t someone to mess with. Leaving is probably for the best.”

“Sister Liu, I know what I’m doing.”

She sighed and handed me a document.

“Shen Yan, I know you were wronged. But you’d better take a look at this agreement. Don’t do something rash.”

I took the agreement, flipped through two pages, and laughed.

“Three months’ pay as compensation and you want to buy me out for two years?” I looked at her, my tone calm, but every word was clear.

“And you’re adding a noncompete agreement to trap me in this industry?”

“He’s trying to buy my silence, my future, and every possibility I still have.”

“Sister Liu, I’m not signing.”

Sister Liu looked at me in a difficult position. “Shen Yan, if you don’t sign, Mr. Gu’s side...”

“Let him come talk to me himself.”

I got up and left.

After I returned to my desk, I shoved the agreement into the deepest part of the drawer and kept sorting through the files in front of me.

At eight that night, I was still at my desk organizing files when Gu Huai’an came.

He stood beside my desk, holding a cup of bubble tea, the brand I used to love.

“You’re still here?” He set the bubble tea on my desk.

“Need something?”

He pulled over the chair beside me and sat down, looking at me with a hesitant expression.

“Shen Yan, I know you’re angry. But you’d better sign the resignation agreement. It’s good for you and for the company.”

“How is it good for me?”

“Three months’ pay, plus noncompete compensation. Altogether it’s almost a hundred thousand.”

“You’ll need time to transition if you go look for another job. This money is enough for you to get by.”

I looked at him and suddenly felt like he was a complete stranger.

This man, I had once believed at least liked me.

Even if he didn’t want to go public, at least I thought I mattered to him.

But now I knew that in his eyes, my two years, my youth, and everything I had given

were not even worth the price of a bag he bought for Lin Zhaozhao.

“Gu Huai’an, do you still remember the night the Xingyao project launched last year?”

“I finished the last three pages of the plan in the emergency room hallway of the hospital.”

“You said just two words, ‘Thanks for your hard work,’ and then you went off to video call Lin Zhaozhao.”

I stared into his eyes. “Do you think that night was worth ten thousand dollars?”

His expression became a little unnatural.

“And when we won that big order from Dingsheng the year before, you drank two glasses with the client and pretended to be drunk and left.”

“I stayed and kept drinking with them until three in the morning, and in the end, I threw up blood in the bathroom.”

“Shen Yan...” He tried to interrupt me.

I didn’t stop.

“Put your conscience on the table and tell me honestly. How much of your position at the company is really held up by me?”

He was silent.

“I’m not signing.” I closed my laptop and stood up.

“If you think I’ve done something wrong, sue me. I’ll be waiting.”

I picked up my bag and left, leaving him alone at the desk.

When I walked out of the company building, I looked back at the office tower.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.