Bai Tao had a slight case of OCD, so when she started something, she had to finish it thoroughly. That night, she spent five hours in the storage room, meticulously sorting and organizing everything.

The next morning, with a sore back and dark circles under her eyes, she met Yu Guo, who couldn’t help but tease her—

“You and Pei Shi had quite a wild night, huh? You must not have slept at all! What’s wrong with your back?” She laughed meaningfully. “Though you patched things up, you should still take it easy. So, are you two back to being lovey-dovey?”

“Lovey-dovey my ass!” Bai Tao was furious. What kind of steel-hearted straight man was Pei Shi? She had made it so obvious, yet he sent her to clean in the middle of the night?!

…

After Bai Tao recounted the events of the previous night, Yu Guo nearly fell out of her chair laughing. But when she finished, Yu Guo was puzzled. “Honestly, Pei Shi’s behavior is abnormal. Your wife says that to you, and you do nothing? Either he’s not capable, or he’s got something going on outside…”

Yu Guo’s casual analysis struck a nerve with Bai Tao.

After thinking it over calmly, Bai Tao realized that the idea of Pei Shi having an affair with the cleaning lady was absurd. The whistleblower’s detailed report couldn’t be completely baseless either.

Suppressing her turbulent emotions, Bai Tao bid farewell to Yu Guo and decided to continue working at Shi Lai Technology as Fiona. If it wasn’t the cleaning lady, it had to be someone else. By staying vigilant, she would surely uncover the mistress.

If Bai Tao’s emotions were mixed and chaotic yesterday, today she was completely rational and composed. If Pei Shi was truly cheating, she wouldn’t want him anymore.

However, despite diligently clocking in and working for several days, Bai Tao didn’t notice any inappropriate interactions between Pei Shi and any female employees.

When it came to work, Pei Shi turned into a complete workaholic. It seemed like the notion of romantic entanglements didn’t even exist for him. Not only did he ignore other women, but he also seemed to forget Bai Tao was even there “gathering material.”

Had she wrongly accused Pei Shi? Maybe the whistleblower was just causing trouble out of boredom. After all, it was natural for subordinates to dislike their boss, especially one as demanding and stern as Pei Shi. It wasn’t impossible that a disgruntled employee would fabricate a story about him having an affair to sabotage him.

But just as Bai Tao was about to drop her suspicions and exonerate Pei Shi, the HR department introduced a new employee.

She was a girl who appeared to be around Bai Tao’s age, with fair skin and delicate features, exuding a gentle and demure aura. She humbly greeted everyone in the open office area—

“My name is Zhu Li, but you can call me Julie. My expertise is in information network security. Please take care of me.”

Bai Tao hadn’t paid much attention to the new hire initially, but she was surprised by how warmly and familiarly the colleagues welcomed Julie.

“Don’t worry, Julie. We’re all a team now, no need for formalities. By the way, Xiao Li and I are planning to have hotpot tomorrow night. Wanna join us?”

“Finally, you’re here! Now we can officially invite you to play King of Glory with us, hahaha.”

…

Bai Tao looked at Sun Jing suspiciously and asked, “Isn’t this Julie a new hire? How come everyone seems to know her already?”

“She used to be a technical staff from a third-party partner company. About half a year ago, because of a project, her company sent her here to work on-site for several months, so everyone is quite familiar with her.”

Sun Jing glanced at Julie and couldn’t help but show a look of admiration. “Back then, everyone thought this girl was reliable. She worked diligently and was very dedicated to solving technical problems. The HR director even told me that he really wanted to recruit her, but unfortunately, our hiring policies hadn’t changed at the time. We had strict academic qualifications requirements. Luckily, President Pei recently realized that academic qualifications aren’t everything and reformed the hiring policy, which is how we finally managed to bring her in.”

Bai Tao had asked the question casually, but as soon as Sun Jing finished speaking, she became alert. “You said Julie’s academic qualifications are ordinary?”

Sun Jing rolled her eyes at Bai Tao. “She may not have outstanding qualifications, but she’s very capable!”

After saying this, Sun Jing left to attend to her work, but Bai Tao couldn’t calm down. Later, she went to the HR department and found out that Julie graduated from a third-tier university, which only heightened her sense of unease.

A connected insider with a low cultural level and insufficient education…

Bai Tao couldn’t match the female employees in Pei Shi’s company with this description, but this Julie, who did not graduate from a prestigious school and for whom Pei Shi personally lowered the hiring standards, definitely fit the profile of an insider!

If everything matched up, could this mistress be her?

Bai Tao, being a mature and composed woman, remained calm despite her burning anger—she had to catch them in the act!

It wasn’t about confronting the mistress, as she had no interest in lowering herself to such a level. What she cared about was—dividing the assets!

Only by having concrete evidence of Pei Shi’s infidelity could she gain the upper hand in the property division during the divorce. If Pei Shi dared to cheat, wouldn’t she strip him of his assets and then kick him out?

Love might be fleeting, but money is eternal. While marriage might have an expiration date, money does not—even currency issued decades ago still holds its value!

Julie had officially started her job, but Pei Shi was busy with meetings, and the two had no interaction. Bai Tao clocked in and out diligently for a few days, but perhaps they were careful not to be too obvious at work, so she found nothing. Bored, Bai Tao decided to observe the mistress instead.

And what she observed was surprising…

Julie was indeed quite good.

Sun Jing was right; Julie was enthusiastic, good-tempered, kind, and generous. If anyone in the team encountered work difficulties, she wouldn’t hesitate to stay late and help. Although Bai Tao couldn’t understand their technical discussions, watching Julie and her colleagues engrossed in their work, spouting professional jargon, she felt that Julie was both professional and hardworking.

Humble yet ambitious, tolerant yet independent, it was no wonder everyone in the company liked her so much.