He Su cursed under his breath and rolled up his sleeves, ready to go over and hit her.
Little brat, launching a sneak attack right out in the open?
What kind of people were the Shen family? Not a single decent one among them!
"What are you looking at!" Shen Xingrou glared at him with a fierce, righteous fury. "Money-grubbing scum, no backbone!"
"..."
He Su was completely baffled. How had he offended this princess?
So, with a dark expression, he walked over, snatched the slingshot from her hand, and said coldly, "What I am is none of your damn business, got it?"
Shen Xingrou knew he was always up to shady, underhanded schemes. Every time she ran into him, he was plotting with Shen Tingfeng on how to frame Shen Xiaoxing.
She couldn't stand scum like him!
"Who do you think you're calling 'damn' in front of?" Shen Xingrou kicked him in the leg, brash and unreasonable. "Dare to offend me? You asking to die?!"
He Su had been holding in the anger from Shen Tingfeng's treatment and was itching for an outlet. He glared at her with murderous eyes.
She was a Shen too—birds of a feather flock together!
Shen Xingrou saw the killing intent in his gaze and felt a flicker of panic.
She'd always heard He Su was no good. First off, he helped Shen Tingfeng frame Shen Xiaoxing, and his personality was arrogant and reckless. Just look at that green hair—definitely not a good person.
"W-what are you doing?" Shen Xingrou backed away, scared by his look.
"I got hit for no reason, so I can't fight back?"
"...How dare you!" the girl shouted at him in desperation. "If you so much as touch me, my second brother won't let you off."
"Your second brother's waiting for me to do his dirty work. You think he'd ditch a capable helper like me for you?"
Shen Xingrou wasn't stupid. Her second brother's methods were filthy and vile. He'd always coveted their eldest brother's talent and wanted him gone. No one dared stand in his way to becoming the heir—not even her, his own sister, who wouldn't dare mess up his plans.
"You help my second brother go after the eldest—shameless and despicable!"
"I'm shameless and despicable? Then what kind of good person is your second brother?"
"You're both despicable!" Shen Xingrou's eyes burned with hatred. "Always using dirty tricks!"
He Su watched her retreating back, raised an eyebrow, and let out a low chuckle. Huh, so not all the Shens were bad—there was one with a sense of justice here.
But here he was, wholeheartedly helping Shen Xiaoxing, and getting cursed out from both sides. What a raw deal!
---
An Ruo had been listless at work for the past two days. Ever since Zhou Mingyue pestered Gu Chao for that meal, she hadn't shown up at the company the next day. No one knew what happened between them.
As a rich heiress, Zhou Mingyue was only here for Gu Chao. She never did any real work—Bai主管 kowtowed to her every need, and An Ruo ran errands for her. Whether she was here or not made no difference.
But with her gone, the Planning Department buzzed with gossip about her, even harsher than before. Most of it stemmed from dissatisfaction with her behavior, though some was jealousy over her wealthy background.
"An Ruo, take these documents to print. They need to be on my desk by this afternoon for tomorrow's meeting."
An Ruo looked at the mountain of papers, pursed her lips, and said calmly, "Sorry, printing documents isn't part of my job."
The woman hadn't expected her to refuse.
When Zhou Mingyue was around, they didn't dare hassle An Ruo or assign her other tasks. But now that the umbrella was gone, she'd grown bold!
Without Zhou Mingyue, she'd indeed become a target.
At lunchtime, the Planning Department staff all went to eat, leaving An Ruo alone to keep working on the tasks her boss had assigned.
主管 Ding walked over. "An Ruo, there's a new barbecue place downstairs. Want to check it out?"
An Ruo still had work to do. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry yet. You go ahead."
"Don't be such a buzzkill." The man suddenly grabbed her hand on the keyboard, chuckling lightly. "We're all colleagues—no need to be shy."
Sensing danger, An Ruo yanked her hand back. "I've got things to do. Thanks for the offer,主管 Ding."
She'd heard the staff gossip about主管 Ding before—how he had ulterior motives toward young, pretty girls, always trying to hit on them, even though he was married...
Now An Ruo believed the rumors were true.
"An Ruo, you're young. You've got a bright future ahead at this company. I only brought you to Planning because I saw your potential. This is a cushy gig—others would kill for it. You need to seize the opportunity." As he spoke, his wandering hand reached for her again, patting her meaningfully.
"主管 Ding, please show some respect." An Ruo pushed him off again, standing up to keep her distance. "I'm married."
"You're so young—how could you be married..."
An Ruo didn't dare stay with him any longer. Only the two of them were left in the Planning Department; if something happened, there'd be no one to save her.
She bolted, ignoring主管 Ding's calls from behind, and dashed out of the elevator, wandering aimlessly down the street.
Back at the elevator, just as the doors were about to close, a hand suddenly shot in, and a shadow loomed over.
A tall man in a black leather trench coat, exuding a cool, arrogant aura, with long, straight legs in马丁 boots, stepped inside one by one.
The oppressive presence made主管 Ding shrink back.
The elevator doors slid shut slowly, and the man turned around with a cold, grim face...
An Ruo patted her pocket and realized she'd left her phone behind in her rush.
She wandered aimlessly around the building. The restaurants nearby were all expensive. After hesitating, she settled for buying two steamed buns.