“Xiao Lu, come here for a moment.”
The familiar yet irritating voice drifted over. Lu Wanning took a deep breath before she could keep the disgust on her face from showing too obviously. But she forgot to restrain her movements, so that when she stood up, the chair scraped out a sharp “screech” that seemed incomparably jarring in the quiet environment.
Her colleagues all kept their heads down and did not look at her.
Lu Wanning walked to the office door with a blank expression. A few days earlier, administration had specially pasted a brand-new nameplate on the door to welcome the person inside being promoted to manager.
“Manager Gao is looking for me?”
The person called Manager Gao looked up and said with a smile, “Sit. Let me go over yesterday’s materials with you.”
Lu Wanning placed her laptop between the two of them and lowered her head to type, using it to block his line of sight, but the next moment Manager Gao moved it aside: “Just listen to me.”
His hand casually tried to land on the back of hers, but Lu Wanning lightly withdrew it. She had to try very hard to restrain the urge to give him two punches. Even when he cast those ambiguous glances at her, she wanted to dig those eyes out.
Unfortunately, she could not.
A fifteen-year-old Lu Wanning would have slapped him across the face, but a twenty-three-year-old Lu Wanning had to pay rent.
The economy was bad right now. Many graduates from top universities had been laid off, and the streets were full of unemployed people. And this newly promoted manager had ten thousand ways to fire her, a newcomer.
After listening to Manager Gao finish his pointers, Lu Wanning tugged the corner of her mouth: “Understood. I’ll go back and revise it.” With that, she hugged her laptop and wanted to return to her workstation.
“Wait.” Manager Gao stopped her, his expression clearly dissatisfied, and tapped the table with his fingers. “There are serious problems with your recent work deliveries.”
Lu Wanning turned back: “What are you referring to?”
“Some things I’ve told you repeatedly, and you still make the same mistakes.”
Manager Gao casually flipped open the materials and pointed at a few places to nitpick: “These are all the most basic problems. If you can’t do them well, it’s obviously an attitude problem.”
No matter what, Lu Wanning had only been working a few months, while he was already a veteran who had been steeped in the workplace for years. Finding faults was far too easy for him.
She endured it and said in a low voice, “Sorry. I’ll pay attention to the places you mentioned.”
Seeing that her attitude was decent, Manager Gao’s expression finally improved a little, and he switched to another tone: “This job isn’t that easy to do. It’s normal for a young girl like you to find it tough. But as your manager, I will certainly take responsibility for the growth of every one of you.”
As he spoke, he smiled slightly, with an insinuating meaning: “Xiao Lu, you’re just too stubborn. Remember, listening more to your leaders is always right. If you keep making mistakes, your evaluation score won’t look good.”
The implication was that he was threatening her with her job.
Lu Wanning had already heard these words from Manager Gao several times. In the past, she naively thought that when facing workplace sexual harassment, she only needed to resist bravely and directly call the police with evidence. But only after actually working did she realize how difficult it was.
Because those people were not fools who would leave behind incriminating evidence.
At this age, who would be stupid enough to openly do something to you? They would only size you up with that disgusting gaze, try to touch you “accidentally,” and then hint to you, if you don’t behave, you’ll be in trouble.
Their actions cost them almost nothing, while you, as the victim, might have to pay a price at any moment whether you make a scene or swallow your pride, you’re bound to lose something. But it’s not fair.
Lu Wanning clenched her fists. She inexplicably thought of Manager Gong, the fierce-tempered finance manager next door. When they’d worked together before, the two of them had clashed more than once. But at this moment, she suddenly felt that even if Manager Gong’s temper were a thousand times worse, she’d still be better than General Manager Gao.
Because at least Manager Gong wouldn’t use something like this to threaten her.
Lu Wanning swallowed back all the curses she wanted to hurl, lowered her eyes, and stood before General Manager Gao, pretending not to understand his insinuation. “Mm, I’ll work hard.”
Seeing her continue to play dumb, General Manager Gao’s patience ran out completely. His face darkened. “What’s the use of just working hard?”
He suddenly stood up, moved closer to Lu Wanning, and casually closed the office door.
“You know the company’s top brass has been reshuffled recently, right? Those who made the wrong choices have all been let go.” General Manager Gao stopped, looking down at her from his height, keeping a bit of distance. “You, though you’re steady enough, but unfortunately too young, still too inexperienced…”
He set the documents on top of the laptop she was holding against her chest, but his hand didn’t pull away it moved upward, trying to touch her cheek.
Lu Wanning’s right hand clenched so tightly her nails nearly dug into her palm. The disgust in her heart was overwhelming. She forcefully raised her left hand and knocked his wrist away.
“General Manager Gao.” Her voice was cold and hard. “This is the office. Mind your reputation.”
“Reputation?” He scoffed dismissively. “What’s wrong with talking work?”
Lu Wanning remained silent, then uttered a few words in a low voice. “Don’t push me.”
The glass faintly reflected her delicate face, beautiful yet strained to its breaking point.
“Push you?” General Manager Gao laughed as if he’d heard the biggest joke, utterly contemptuous. His gaze wasn’t that of someone looking at a person, but at a speck of dust.
He seemed to say more arrogant things after that, but Lu Wanning wasn’t listening.
She was only telling herself inwardly: she needed money right now, she absolutely couldn’t lose this job. Endure it, and find a chance to avoid him.
Could she really endure it?
Then Lu Wanning saw General Manager Gao raise his thick, nauseating palm again. In a few more seconds, it would touch her hair. The taut string inside her snapped abruptly, the sound of its breaking echoing in her mind.
She repeated one last time, “Don’t touch me.”
It was still ignored.
Endure it, endure it… It sounded like such a simple thing.
But she truly couldn’t do it after all.
Before her mind could make a calm decision, the documents and laptop in Lu Wanning’s hands slammed into General Manager Gao’s face. The paper edges sliced across his cheek, several drops of blood staining the edges of the documents red, and a swollen lump quickly rose on the man’s forehead.
“Ah!” General Manager Gao hadn’t expected her to dare strike him. He cried out in pain and stumbled against the desk, knocking the glass ashtray on it to the floor, where it shattered.
What followed flashed before Lu Wanning’s eyes like a blur. Colleagues outside heard the commotion and came to check what had happened, only to see General Manager Gao bleeding from his forehead, and her clutching her laptop and documents.
The laptop casing and the paper pages were all stained with blood.
Exclamations erupted from all directions. Someone was reporting what had happened to their superiors, while others helped the fallen Manager Gao to his feet. He looked to be in decent spirits, clutching the wound on his forehead tightly as he pointed a trembling finger at Lu Wanning: “…Call the police! Call the police! Call the police for me!”
A colleague who was usually on good terms rushed over, her face filled with shock: “What happened?”
She then took a deep breath and, amid the chaos, whispered rapidly in a very low voice, “Wanning, you, how could you hit him on the head?! This is intentional harm have you thought about the consequences? What if you get arrested by the police?”
Seeing Lu Wanning standing frozen in place, unmoved, the colleague anxiously shook her arm.
“He was the one who tried to lay his hands on me first,” Lu Wanning finally said after a moment.
Her voice was not quiet, and everyone around heard it clearly. For a moment, the atmosphere froze once again.
In truth, everyone knew what kind of person Manager Gao was. Even before he was promoted to manager, he had a habit of verbally harassing other female colleagues. But he was highly favored by the leadership, and everyone, mindful of that connection, never openly clashed with him.
Now, this fact had been publicly called out by a new girl who had only been there for a few months.
Manager Gao let out a cold laugh: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A sinister look flashed in his eyes, confident and unafraid, “Everyone saw you injure someone in the office, and there are surveillance cameras too. We’ll see what really happened once the police get here.”
He was emboldened because he hadn’t actually touched her. Even if the police came, he had done nothing wrong, he was the victim.
Watching this farce unfold, the colleagues’ faces showed sympathy, reluctance, and some frowned in disapproval, as if they thought she shouldn’t have resorted to such an extreme way to solve the problem.
Lu Wanning felt those gazes like knives hurled at her, piercing her body, her lips trembling with pain.
She knew her job was completely ruined. Ending things in such an undignified manner, could she even find another job? How would she pay the rent? Her salary for this month hadn’t been paid yet could she even afford to eat by the end of the month?
Or maybe before that, she’d be taken away by the police. Would she be prosecuted? Would she have a criminal record?
She had been impulsive, but she was the victim here. No matter what she did, it seemed to be wrong. She was just trying to protect herself, why did it have to cost so much?
After a moment, Lu Wanning glanced at the colleague sister beside her who looked worried, and said softly, “Sister, thank you for taking care of me all this time.”
Then she raised her head, meeting the gazes of everyone else without fear, including Manager Gao whose head she had just bashed. A feeling of “what’s done is done” suddenly surged through her.
“Yes, I hurt someone. So what if I hit you?” Lu Wanning said coldly. “I’ve been putting up with you for a long time. I really want to chop off those wandering hands of yours and stuff them in your own mouth. You’re bald enough to use your head as a mirror, yet you still can’t curb your lecherous ways. I was being nice to you.”
With every word she spoke, the expressions on her colleagues’ faces grew more and more interesting.
“You…” The blood on Manager Gao’s head was still flowing, and his face turned green with rage. “You…”
At that moment, looking at that disgusting face, Lu Wanning came to a realization. Even if it happened a thousand times, ten thousand times, she would still end up clashing with him.
Because she was simply not the type to swallow her anger.
She would bear the consequences of her own actions whether she ended up homeless on the streets for failing to pay rent, or locked up in a cell, she would accept it all.
Suddenly, a flurry of hurried footsteps sounded from outside, accompanied by a voice thick with anger: “What’s going on with you all? We notified you long ago that today is the day the shareholder is coming to visit. She’s about to arrive any minute now, what on earth is this mess you’ve made?!”
Lu Wanning recognized the voice as Xu Zhen, a supervisor from the neighboring department.
“Director Xu Zhen!” The colleagues were equally at a loss. “This… this…”
The floor was littered with debris, shards, and blood. Xu Zhen rushed over in a hurry, and upon seeing the chaotic scene before her, nearly fainted from fury. She barked sharply:
“What are you all doing? President Han has already arrived! She absolutely cannot see this! You… call Xiao Liu and have him stall her. You, get President Gao to the hospital right now. And what are you all standing around for? Clean this up!”
That long-unheard word “Han” made Lu Wanning furrow her brows slightly. A subtle premonition suddenly flashed through her mind, but she quickly dismissed it with a sense of wishful thinking. There were plenty of people with the surname Han, it couldn’t be that much of a coincidence.
But the next moment, she knew she was wrong.
The click of high-heeled shoes against the ceramic tiles rang out crisp and clear. At the corner of the office area, a black silk shirt dress came into view, half-hidden.
The person in her memory had a very slender waist and loved wearing fitted clothes, cinching her belt tight to make her figure appear even more graceful. Whenever she did that, Lu Wanning would always be too embarrassed to look up at her, and then her cheeks would be cupped and lifted to meet her gaze, as she smiled charmingly: “It’s not like we’ve never touched before still shy after just a glance?”
And today’s shirt dress was also fastened with a belt.
Xu Zhen stood nervously at the front of the crowd, not daring to breathe, completely at a loss for how to explain this scene to the shareholder. Who could have imagined that something like this would happen on the very day the shareholder was visiting the company?
The high heels drew closer and closer, finally coming to a stop.
Xu Zhen forced a dry smile onto her face: “President Han, hello.” She struggled to find an excuse, but there was truly no good reason to explain it away. “I’m so sorry, there’s been a small hiccup…”
The beauty addressed by everyone as “President Han” was very young, appearing to be just over twenty years old, with bright eyes and white teeth. Her slightly wavy black hair hung down, almost blending seamlessly with her black dress.
Her eyes narrowed slightly like a cat’s, and she let out a very soft “Mm”: “Long time no see.”
Xu Zhen gave an awkward laugh: “Yes, it really has been a long time since I last saw you…”
But Lu Wanning felt as if she had fallen into an ice pit, because she clearly saw Han Yao’s gaze pass over the crowd and land on her.
Her first instinct was to turn her head away, nearly growling: “Why is President Gao still here? Get them to take President Gao away now, don’t let Han, the shareholder see this person!”
Her colleague widened their eyes, confused: “At a time like this, you’re not worried about yourself, you’re worried about…”
No, that wasn’t it. Lu Wanning’s face was deathly pale, her lips moving soundlessly.
She despised President Gao, hated him enough to lay hands on him, wanting to beat that piece of trash to a pulp.
But Han Yao might actually kill him.
She swore this was no joke.