The beautiful woman snorted coldly, scanning Su Mianmian up and down. Seeing that she was unfamiliar and didn't have a company badge, she asked, "Intern? Which company?" Su Mianmian frowned. "Huarui."
"Oh, so you work for me." The woman deliberately puffed out her chest. Su Mianmian noticed the badge on her chest: "Liu Shu, Deputy Manager of the Language Department." Su Mianmian's eyelashes trembled. A deputy manager of the language department—that meant she was her superior.
"So what if she's an intern? So what if she works for you? She should apologize. Look at her clothes, you've ruined them!" "Exactly, I've never seen someone like her before. She's unsteady on her feet and blames the floor for being slippery!"
"Oh, judging by her badge, she's a manager. No wonder she's a deputy. With that kind of character, she'll probably never get a permanent position." The people in the elevator were gossiping, and Liu Shu was immediately exasperated. "What's it to you? Mind your own business!" She glanced coldly at Su Mianmian's clothes—a plain white shirt with no logo or brand label. "So, all you're trying to do is extort money, aren't you?"
"Where did you buy this cheap stuff? How much did it cost? I'll buy you a new one." Su Mianmian hadn't expected Liu Shu to be so rude; she was in the wrong, yet Liu Shu was so unreasonable.
She had initially wanted to let it go, considering they worked for the same company, but seeing this, she was also angered. "No need for a new one. Just reimburse me for the cleaning fee later."
Just then, the elevator arrived at Hua Rui's floor. Liu Shu snorted, "What kind of lousy clothes are these? Worth dry cleaning? The dry cleaning fee could buy several new ones!" With that, she strode out of the elevator, head held high, in her heels.
Su Mianmian sighed and followed. She went to the restroom to roughly clean the shirt before reporting to the HR department. After receiving her internship badge from Huarui, Su Mianmian was led to the Language Department by a staff member.
The Language Department was large. Upon entering, she saw many men and women in formal attire. They sat in spacious cubicles, some typing on computers, others with phones tucked under their shoulders, reviewing documents and speaking foreign languages.
As Su Mianmian followed the HR staff, she imagined herself becoming one of them. "Manager He is on assignment abroad and won't be in the company for the next few days. I'll take you to the deputy manager first."
Hearing the words "deputy manager," Su Mianmian reflexively thought of the arrogant woman in the elevator earlier. Sure enough, as soon as the office door opened, she was confronted by Liu Shu's arrogant face.
"Deputy Manager Liu, this is your new intern. Please make arrangements for her." The HR staff member clearly didn't want to interact with her much and left after speaking. Su Mianmian stood there, stunned for a couple of seconds, before forcing a greeting.
"Hello, Deputy Manager Liu, my name is Su Mianmian, and I'm a new intern." Liu Shu was touching up her makeup in front of the mirror when she heard this. She snorted coldly without even looking up. "Go make me a cup of coffee. I spilled the one I bought this morning, and I haven't had a sip."
Su Mianmian pursed her lips, her voice stiff. "Deputy Manager Liu, the position I applied for is translator, not assistant."
Liu Shu clicked her tongue. "I asked you to make me a cup of coffee, and you've made so many demands. Don't you know that as a subordinate, not only is ability important, but execution is equally important?"
"Besides, I just looked at your resume. Although you won a few language competition awards during your school years, they weren't exactly prestigious." The implication was that a newbie with little ability had no right to argue with her.
Su Mianmian frowned. Those awards represented the school, and she ranked among the top. And she called them not prestigious? Knowing that Liu Shu was just settling a personal score, Su Mianmian swallowed her anger. "I'll make you some now."
After asking several colleagues, Su Mianmian finally found the break room. When she finished making coffee for Liu Shu and brought it in, Liu was on the phone. Su Mianmian couldn't understand it, but she could tell it was Japanese. The woman spoke in a fawning, obsequious manner, nodding and bowing repeatedly.
However, as soon as she hung up, she reverted to her arrogant self, took a sip of the coffee, and spat it out with a "Ptooey!" "What kind of rubbish is this? It's so bitter!"
Su Mianmian blinked innocently. "I'm sorry, Deputy Manager Liu, I saw you have such a great figure, and I assumed you always paid attention to your appearance, so I took the liberty of not putting sugar in it."
Liu Shu frowned. "After all that, I think you're doing this on purpose, getting revenge for getting your clothes dirty this morning?" Su Mianmian shook her head, her tone sincere. "Of course not. If Deputy Manager Liu finds it too bitter, I can make you another cup."
"Forget it! It's so unlucky so early in the morning!" Liu Shu said, standing up and pointing to the far corner of the cubicle. "You can sit at that desk." Su Mianmian said "Oh," and walked over without any resistance.
Liu Shu glared at her resentfully, went inside, and slammed the office door shut. Just as Su Mianmian sat down at her desk, a girl wearing round, silver-rimmed glasses moved closer to her. She glanced at Su Mianmian's internship badge. "Your name is Su Mianmian? Hello, my name is Xia Qing."
Su Mianmian nodded to Xia Qing. "Hello." Xia Qing lowered her voice. "Hey, how come you've offended that Liu vixen so soon after you arrived? I saw her making you make coffee and then giving you a 'cold palace' (a derogatory term for someone who puts you in a bad mood)." "Liu vixen? Cold palace?"
Xia Qing nodded. "Yeah, Liu Shu isn't very capable, she's always posing and preening, so we all call her Liu vixen behind her back."
"As for the cold palace, the place we're sitting in is eight feet away from the air conditioner vent. It's unbearably hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter. What else could it be but a cold palace?"
Su Mianmian smiled helplessly. "I didn't offend her. This morning in the elevator, she accidentally spilled coffee on me and didn't apologize. I just said..." "I told her to cover the cost of cleaning my clothes, and that's how it ended." "Then you're finished!"
Xia Qing clicked her tongue twice. "Liu the vixen has another major characteristic: she holds grudges and is petty. If you fall into her hands, you'll be in for a world of trouble later." Su Mianmian frowned. "What can I do? It wasn't me who provoked her this morning." "No solution.
Unless…" "Unless what?" "Unless you're very capable and Manager He personally mentors you, then Liu the vixen won't be able to control you."
"However, Manager He is known as the cold-faced devil. He has extremely high standards for his subordinates. Very few of us full-time employees meet his standards, and you, an intern…" Xia Qing shook her head. "It's difficult!"
The next day, Xia Qing's prediction was indeed proven true. Su Mianmian didn't get any real work done; she was constantly being bossed around by Liu Shu, being asked to photocopy documents and serve tea and water to clients. Finally, as the workday was about to end, Su Mianmian packed her things to leave. Suddenly, Liu Shu called her to her office. "Su Mianmian, you majored in French, right? Here are a few documents, could you translate them?"
Su Mianmian glanced at the huge stack of documents; she figured she'd finish around midnight. "Deputy Manager Liu, can I translate them tomorrow morning?" Liu Shu crossed her arms, leaned back lazily in her chair, and looked at Su Mianmian with a half-smile. "I need them tomorrow, what do you think?"
Su Mianmian, clutching the documents, slumped back to her seat. Xia Qing slid over in her chair. "These are all due today?" Su Mianmian nodded. "They said they need them first thing tomorrow morning."
Xia Qing pouted. "Blatant revenge, Mianmian. I haven't studied French, so I can't help you." Su Mianmian smiled, indicating that it was alright. She then sent Gu Yizhou a message: "Can't have Japanese food tonight, I have to work overtime."
Followed by a tearful emoji, she looked pitiful. Gu Yizhou was about to leave work to pick up Su Mianmian when he saw the message. His thick brows furrowed, and he immediately called Su Mianmian. "Why are you working overtime on your first day?"
Su Mianmian's voice was weak. "Well, a few documents are urgent." Gu Yizhou hesitated for a couple of seconds. "How long will it take? We can eat later."
Su Mianmian had no appetite at all. "I don't know how long it will take. Let's go another day. You don't need to pick me up. I'll go straight home after I finish."
After hanging up, Gu Yizhou rubbed his temples and called Gao Ze. "Arrange for the meeting with President He tonight." Gao Ze asked suspiciously, "President Gu, didn't you have an appointment with your wife for Japanese food tonight?"
Gu Yizhou opened the documents on the table. "I'm not going. My wife has to work overtime tonight." Overtime? Gao Ze inexplicably detected a hint of resentment in President Gu's tone.
That's right. He'd packed his schedule so tightly during the day, even having a quick lunch in the office, all to free up time for the evening. But then his wife stood him up at the last minute.
Thinking this, Gao Ze sighed. He'd originally planned to go to the gym after his early shift, but now it looked like he'd have to work overtime too.