—————-
On that day, the weather was great to a point where Su Le could not find an excuse to attend the reunion. She had a feeling that Lin Qi and Zhuang Wei, that cheating pair, would be appearing together there.
From the first time Su Le and Li Qi knew each other, Lin Qi had always liked to compete with her. This time, Lin Qi had stolen Zhuang Wei right from her hands, and by Lin Qi’s personality, it was certain that she would use the reunion as an excellent opportunity to show off. After all, back at A university, Zhuang Wei was rich and one of the most handsome guy in the department.
Su Le doesn’t know what she did to Lin Qi to see herself as Lin Qi’s rival, but Su Le never considered her as a rival since competing with someone constantly was too tiring and uninteresting. Unfortunately, Lin Qi did not think the way she did and happily competed with her still.
—————-
After receiving a call from the company’s HR informing her that her resignation has been approved, Su Le hurried to the company to collect her belongings and bid farewell to her colleagues who she got along well with.
The people in the office were not all that sensitive, so how would they not know what had happened. Their thoughts remained hidden behind the surface as they told Su Le to remain in touch with them before exchanging pleasantries.
Su Le was not foolish, it was well known that everyone was working just to feed themselves and no-one would offend someone else without a reason. After exchanging pleasantries with everyone, she carried her belongings to leave. After all, she would never want to step foot into this company again. She did not resign because she could not stand her superiors or win against them. Originally, she had only decided to resign because she had planned to join Zhuang Wei’s company. Unfortunately, Zhuang Wei cheating on her was not part of her plan.
That was why there was a saying, that men until the day he dies, no-one knows what exactly is in him. Even though that saying might be slightly excessive, it was not said without reason.
Carrying her things down an elevator, Su Le never thought she would see Lin Qi sitting in the cafe on the ground floor of the building with the colleague who stole her documents.
Su Le frowned, and very quickly understood what had happened. Her lips twitched and she turned away to hail a taxi, concealing the chill in her eyes.
—————-
Chen Yue had already left for work when Su Le returned to Chen Yue’s home. Su Le opened the refrigerator and it was empty. There wasn’t even a single slice of bread left. Su Le smirked. How could she forget. Chen Yue, that girl, never cooked. Back in university, out of the four people in the dorm, she was the only one who could cook a few dishes. It was a pity that she only knew stir-fry pak choi, and several other similar dishes. Anything that required more skill, she could not make it.
Thinking about all kinds of tasty home-cook meals, Su Le added another condition for searching a husband – he must be able to cook.
Switching on her laptop, Su Le found some jobs suitable for her on the internet. She chose two companies that met her requirements and sent them her CV before going to eat.
—————-
At an ordinary Chinese restaurant, Su Le’s expression changed after picking up the menu. Turns out, the saute pak choi had increased to 12 Yuan per portion. She suddenly felt, to carry on living in this world was really not easy.
Half-way through the meal, Chen Yue called her, informing her that the student reunion would be held at Tai Rui restaurant and Chen Yue would be going there directly after work. And as for Su Le, she had to go to the restaurant by herself.
Tai Rui restaurant, one of the most expensive places in A city. Su Le had been there twice for her company’s dinner parties. Even though the food was not the best, but the decoration and service were great. The restaurant’s greatest function was to let people flaunt their wealth.
Su Le felt pressured. She knew that at these reunions, making comparisons with one another was a major thing.
Once she finished her meal, she returned home and deleted her search history from the afternoon. She calmly changed her clothes and put on makeup, preparing herself for the reunion.
—————-
Su Le arrived at the meeting point on time and the people there seemed familiar but she could not recognise most of them. Everyone was dressed neatly and were dignified, showing how many of them were successful.
She greeted everyone whether she recognised them or not, and sat down on a sofa located at the side to drink tea. A classmate from university, Li Xuan Ran, sat down beside her. She kept looking at Su Le, seemingly as if she had wanted to say something but stopped.
Su Le took a sip at her tea. Watching Li Xuan Ran’s expression, she smiled and asked, “Xuan Ran, what’s the matter?”
Even though she wasn’t in the same dorm as Xuan Ran, their relationship wasn’t bad. For Li Xuan Ran to reveal such an expression with her blunt personality, it must be something difficult to say.
Li Xuan Ran looked at Su Le who was considered as one of the beauties in their department and softly said, “Is your relationship with Zhuang Wei ok? When you have the time, you should spend some with him.” Her workplace was not far away from Zhuang Wei father’s company and she had seen another woman in Zhuang Wei’s car a couple of times.
Su Le’s heart ached but she smiled forcefully. She had never thought that Zhuang Wei’s cheating was already known to others while she, the girlfriend, was kept in the dark. But looking at Li Xuan Ran, she decided it was a good time to reveal that he had been snatched away. Concealing her bitter feelings, Su Le placed her cup down, “He and I have already …”
Before she could finish, she saw Li Xuan Ran’s change in expression so she turned sideways, only to see Lin Qi leaning on Zhuang Wei’s arm as they walked towards her. As they walked, they acted intimate as if they were afraid that others do not know they were a couple.
“Isn’t that our department’s most handsome guy, Zhuang Wei?” Someone said when they recognised Zhuang Wei. “Wasn’t his girlfriend from the management department, Su Le, one of the department beauties? How come the person next to him has changed?!” Gazes instantly fell on Su Le, some with sympathy, some just curious, and some taking joy in her misfortune. But no matter whether they were looking at her in sympathy or at a joke, the atmosphere had become awkward.
Back then, when Zhuang Wei pursued Su Le, lots of people in the department knew. But now that the cinderella who became a princess had once again fell, there were many who looked at her as if she was a joke.
Zhuang Wei’s mind wandered as Lin Qi snuggled his arm. His sight landed on Su Le, but hearing what someone from among the crowd had said and seeing Su Le’s lowered head, his feelings became complex for a moment.
He liked Su Le. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have spent so much time pursuing her originally. But no man can accept just hugs and kisses from a girlfriend for two years and not willing to move on to the final stage. He is a man, not a saint and Su Le was being too self absorbed. Even he couldn’t tell if Su Le really love him. Just like now, she was sitting right there, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
Lin Qi, sensing that Zhuang Wei was not focusing on her, pulled on his sleeve and rested her head on his shoulder, smiling as she introduced him to a few of her classmates from university with a hint of pride.
“What’s so proud of being the mistress,” Li Xuan Ran frowned with hatred. Not wanting to see Lin Qi’s proud face, she placed a tangerine into Su Le’s hand. “How are you, recently?”
Su Le knew Li Xuan Ran wanted to divert her attention and not let those two affect her mood. She accepted the goodwill, “Can eat, can drink, what’s not good. I heard you joined a foreign-funded company, how are the benefits?”
“How good can it be. Those foreigners aren’t great to deal with. If finding a good job wasn’t difficult, who would be willing to work for them,” said Li Xuan Ran as she grind her teeth. “Not just that, they would even tell you how long you should use a signing pen for, there’s really a limit to how much one can put up with.
“That’s still better than my former place. The boss calls for every department’s manager to total up the paper usage every week,” Su Le patted on Li Xuan Ran’s shoulder. “In this world, us the employees eat less than cats, sleep later than dogs, and wake earlier than roosters. Have more spirit.”
Li Xuan Ran released a sigh and splitted the peeled tangerine in half from Su Le’s hand, “Need to be like senior Wei Chu, creating a company all by himself. Being your own boss would be great.”
Hearing someone else praise Wei Chu again, Su Le remained calm and said, “You can marry him and become the boss’ wife.”
Li Xuan Ran sighed deeply, “Su Le, you need to know, he is senior Wei Chu! Don’t say marry him, I would be honoured just to talk to him.”
Su Le expressionlessly stuffed her half of the tangerine into Li Xuan Ran’s mouth to show she did not have much thoughts on this legendary man. She often didn’t have much of an opinion of men who captures many women’s attention.
“Su Le, your mood seems very good today?” Lin Qi pulled Zhuang Wei beside her to sit down together and intentionally displayed the ring on her finger. The sparkle from the diamond ring was dazzling.
Taking a napkin to clean her hands, Su Le appeared unaffected from Lin Qi’s provocation and just frowned slightly, “Are you expecting me to be in a bad mood?”
“Why would I. We know each other for so many years. Of course I would wish for you to live better and better.” Lin Qi smiled widely as her gaze swept to the tangerine skin on the table in front of Su Le. “I heard eating too much tangerine will build up yang in your body, you should eat less of them.”
Li Xuan Ran, who sat beside Su Le, paused and looked at the fruit in her hands before speaking unhappily, “Lin Qi, haven’t seen you in a while. You’re becoming more and more like a mother.
Lin Qi’s expression stiffened slightly and she saw half a tangerine in Li Xuan Ran’s hand. Immediately, knew her previous sentence had offended Li Xuan Ran as well, so she pursed her lips and smiled, “That is only natural. I’m normally concerned about Wei so I have formed this habit.”
Su Le looked sideways at Zhuang Wei before standing up to leave. She couldn’t be bothered listening to Lin Qi’s childish taunts anymore, but Lin Qi grabbed her arm.
“Su Le, are you still blaming me for being together with Zhuang Wei?”
Su Le’s brows wrinkled. Does Lin Qi currently want to act like a pitiful female lead in those romance dramas?
This action of Lin Qi’s did not go unnoticed, and everyone around stared at the two of them. Seeing that Su Le was looking awkward, Zhuang Wei and could not help but warned, “Xiao Qi.”
After Zhuang Wei spoke, Lin Qi’s eyes dimmed but held onto Su Le’s arm and said, “Su Le, I like Zhuang Wei, haven’t you two already split up. Why are you still angry at me?”
Everyone was looking closely at Su Le.
Sat on one side, Li Xuan Ran was stunned as she watched what happened and felt rueful. In this world, there was really someone who was just that low. She really didn’t know how thick-skinned Lin Qi could be to be able to say something like that aloud.
“Su Le, you said you’ll meet me at the entrance. Why is it that I’m already here and you’re still over there.” A deep and pleasant voice of a male was heard. A hand suddenly grabbed Su Le’s arm and shook Lin Qi’s hand off smoothly without a trace.
