“Don’t you think this has gone a bit too far this time?”
“How dare an intern bully someone like this!”
“If you ask me, people like her shouldn’t be allowed to stay in our company.”
“Exactly, just fire her already. She’s always causing trouble…”
Several people in professional attire stood by the breakroom doorway, chattering away.
As they spoke, their gazes swept past Xia Bai, who stood inside holding a coffee cup and looked like she was about to cry.
And then to Su Lingyu, who was sprawled on the floor with dark liquid staining her clothes – clearly having been splashed with coffee – looking rather disheveled.
Although their words condemned the perpetrator and expressed sympathy for the victim,
No one seemed inclined to step forward and help the girl on the floor up.
Su Lingyu remained half-lying on the ground, the pain from hitting her head making it difficult to focus on the voices around her.
Was it really necessary to scare her like this just because she was slacking off reading a novel in the breakroom?
Not only had they made her panic and bump into the door, but now they’d called colleagues over to watch?
Though she’d never gotten along with Sandy, Su Lingyu would remember this grudge!
“Xiaoyu, are you okay? Are you hurt badly? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
At that moment, a girl with smoke-gray chin-length hair crouched in front of her, sounding quite concerned.
Well, that is, if you ignored the exaggerated facial expressions she was making at her.
But…
“Who are you?”
Su Lingyu stared at the unfamiliar face.
She was quite pretty, but did their law firm have someone like this?
Why was she acting like they were close?
“Xiaoyu, what’s wrong? Did you hit your head?”
Thinking Su Lingyu had understood her earlier hint, the short-haired girl immediately played along, turning to loudly accuse the woman biting her lower lip and looking fragile behind them:
“Xia Bai, you’ve really gone too far today! Look, you’ve knocked Xiaoyu silly!”
Su Lingyu: “…”
You’re the one who’s been knocked silly!
Your whole family’s been knocked silly!
But, Xia Bai?
Why did that name sound so familiar?
“What does it matter if she’s knocked silly? I told you, I didn’t do it!”
Xia Bai tightened her grip on the empty coffee cup, tears immediately falling.
“She’s like this and you still deny it?”
“I really didn’t! She poured the coffee on herself! I clearly didn’t do anything…”
“Oh, maybe she really didn’t do it?”
“Yeah, she usually seems so gentle and delicate.”
“I don’t think she seems like the type to do something like this either.”
Seeing Xia Bai shrinking back with tears streaming down, the onlookers began changing their tune.
Feeling the situation turning against her, the short-haired girl raised her voice: “Even in this situation, you still want to deny it? Xia Bai, I’ve really underestimated you!”
“Really, really, it wasn’t me! I didn’t bully her!”
It’s always you guys bullying me normally, and now you’re turning the tables? Xia Bai felt utterly wronged, her tears falling even harder.
“You’re lying! Who would pour coffee on themselves…”
“Wait.”
Sensing something amiss, Su Lingyu interrupted the short-haired girl.
This Xia Bai looked so pitiful, quite heartbreaking…
That’s right, she remembered now!
Xia Bai!
Wasn’t the female lead in that fake heiress novel she just read in the breakroom called this exact name?!
“Su Lingyu, Qiao Feifei, what exactly are you trying to do?!”
The speechless Xia Bai stomped her foot, looking at them with tear-filled eyes: “The internship period isn’t even over yet, are you really determined to use these methods to drive me out of the company right now?”
“Who, who wants to drive you out of the company!”
Qiao Feifei, whose thoughts had been exposed, now sounded somewhat defensive.
“You’ve been targeting me repeatedly, isn’t it precisely because you want me gone?”
Xia Bai put down the empty coffee cup in her hand and casually wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve.
She knew she might not come from as privileged a background as them, but she had earned this internship through her own capabilities.
Even if the company had limited full-time positions and competition among interns was fierce, she absolutely wouldn’t allow herself to be schemed against and forced out of Kappa Technology for non-performance reasons!
“You’re talking nonsense! We’re discussing how you bullied Xiaoyu right now, don’t change the subject!”
Su Lingyu, still on the floor, couldn’t bother with Qiao Feifei’s transparent intentions and flawed arguments, nor the critical whispers from the surrounding colleagues.
Her attention was completely focused on Xia Bai calling out both their names.
Su Lingyu.
Qiao Feifei.
These were the two cannon fodder female supporting characters from that fake heiress novel.
When she first read the book and saw a supporting character with the same name as herself, she found it somewhat amusing.
But as she read further, she discovered numerous issues with the book – not only were there logical flaws in the plot, but the author often dumbed down the supporting characters to make the female lead look better, which made Su Lingyu, as a lawyer, want to criticize it heavily.
In fact, she had indeed left a negative review to vent her frustrations.
And now…
Su Lingyu’s gaze swept over Qiao Feifei, Xia Bai, and the colleagues gathered at the doorway, when she noticed a terrifying problem.
These people…
She didn’t recognize any of them.
Every face was unfamiliar.
And this breakroom wasn’t the shabby one from her law firm either.
So—
Damn it, could she be dreaming while asleep?
“Ouch, Xiaoyu, why did you pinch me?”
“Does it hurt?”
Su Lingyu looked at Qiao Feifei.
“What do you think? It hurts like hell! Why did you pinch so hard?”
Grimacing in pain, Qiao Feifei rubbed her pinched arm and glared at her.
“Sorry, I—”
Before Su Lingyu could finish her apology, she suddenly noticed from her peripheral vision her own figure reflected in the champagne-colored storage cabinet door.
Although the cabinet door wasn’t as clear as a mirror, that unfamiliar face still made her gasp sharply.
Shit!
Could she really have… transmigrated into the book?!
“Su Lingyu, what, what are you trying to do now?”
Seeing the other person staring intently at her legs, Xia Bai instinctively shrank back.
Su Lingyu withdrew her gaze without explaining the misunderstanding. Instead, she quickly composed herself and looked at this novel’s female lead.
To be fair, Xia Bai was quite beautiful – not in a striking way, but with a soft, innocent charm. She had fair skin, peach blossom eyes, a petite upturned nose, and elegant lips, giving off a vibe that grew more appealing the longer you looked at her.
The author had specifically described her eyes in the book – though she possessed beautiful peach blossom eyes, they remained exceptionally clear and bright.
After all, she was the author’s beloved daughter—her features were exquisite, and her figure… well, quite remarkable too.
Yet the way she looked at him held disgust, rejection, and seemingly, a trace of fear.