Chapter 34: Dislike for Fu Xingjian

That Evening
When Lin Ran returned to the hotel, she ran into Liang Meiqi, who had just finished showering. The latter quickly averted her gaze upon meeting Lin Ran’s eyes.

Lin Ran placed her bag down, then stood by the vanity mirror with her arms crossed, watching Liang Meiqi apply skincare products.

Liang Meiqi, calm and unbothered, ignored her. Eventually, Lin Ran gave up. She didn’t like going to bed angry, preferring to deal with issues that day.

“Meiqi, it’s not working hours. We can talk about personal matters. You clearly know I didn’t say anything to you earlier, so why lie?”

Lin Ran truly couldn’t understand why the other woman had suddenly developed such hostility toward her.

After finishing her face mask, Liang Meiqi turned to look at her. In the dim light of the hotel room, her pale face revealed two deep hollows, giving her an eerie appearance.

“Since it’s not working hours, I have the right to refuse to answer your question. You’re not my superior,” she said, before lying on the bed and scrolling through short videos. The bursts of laughter from the videos irritated Lin Ran.

If that’s the case, then there was nothing more to say. Don’t blame her for not considering their coworker relationship. Tomorrow, she would report everything to Zhou Xu in detail.

As Lin Ran entered the bathroom, Liang Meiqi triumphantly swung her legs.

Hmph, what right does Lin Ran have to challenge her? At Yutou, Mao Quanan would certainly back her up, and with Zhou Xu, she had already sent him an email before Lin Ran could, crying about the situation. Zhou Xu, being soft-hearted, would definitely believe her.

By then, Lin Ran would be left isolated and would probably pack up and leave. Liang Meiqi was eagerly looking forward to that moment!

The Next Day
Lin Ran went to work as usual, while Liang Meiqi was still pretending to “accidentally” run into Fu Xingjian at the café.

On the surface, everything seemed normal, but everyone in the project team could feel the tension between the two.

Finally, Zhou Xu appeared and called them in one by one to understand the situation. He first asked Liang Meiqi, then Lin Ran.

As soon as Lin Ran sat down, she frowned and asked, “What did she tell you? Was it necessary for her to cry?”

Zhou Xu shrugged helplessly and asked, “Yesterday, you talked to Xingjian. What did he say?”

Thinking back to yesterday, Lin Ran clenched her hands, then bitterly smiled and said, “He scolded me, saying I was playing petty tricks and that I overestimated the friendship between us.”

The hurtful words still felt fresh in her ears. Even after a whole night, she could still feel a pang of pain.

She had been good at licking her wounds in the past. After all these years, she thought she had healed, that she no longer tortured herself. But in front of Fu Xingjian, she realized she had reverted to the person she used to be.

She hated her past self, so she hated Fu Xingjian.

Zhou Xu could hear the sadness in her words and comforted her, “You’ve been through a lot. Fu Xingjian is always like that, merciless to everyone. I’ll talk to him later.”

As they left the meeting room, they ran into Mao Quanan .

Lin Ran raised an eyebrow, “Mr. Mao, I heard you went out today? Why are you back so early?”

She suspected someone had tipped him off and he came back on purpose.

Mao Quanan looked grim and didn’t even glance at Lin Ran as he directly reported to Zhou Xu, “Mr. Zhou, we chose Xinruan based on trust, but we’re very disappointed in their employees. When things went wrong, they just shifted the blame. They’re so unprofessional.”

Lin Ran, who was subtly being criticized, kept her cool to avoid further complaints about her lack of professionalism and silently returned to her seat.

As she passed Liang Meiqi, she caught a glimpse of her smug smile.

Lin Ran sighed softly. This was the workplace—relationships between people were fragile. One moment, you treat someone like a friend, and the next, they’ll stab you in the back for their own benefit.

Fortunately, she never had unrealistic expectations of her colleagues.