Chapter 31: Favour

A few days after transferring into different teams, both Cen Ning and Liu Xin were once again reassigned to Hao Jie’s team.

When the incident happened under Xue Bing, everyone was curious and admired Cen Ning. However, she had been working by Hao Jie’s side, everyone was afraid of Hao Jie, so they didn’t dare to come and ask her anything.

And there was also a clear rift between Liu Xin and Cen Ning. Unless it was necessary for their work, they would never speak a word to each other.

For a few days, they had been at a truce until Hao Jie gave the two of them a task.

Liu Xin did not receive the email because of a bug in the mailbox, which caused Liu Xin to be confused when Hao Jie asked the two for information. Later, Liu Xin was severely criticized.

After this incident, Liu Xin and Cen Ning quarreled in the office.

“You knew there was a problem with my mailbox that day, and you knew I didn’t receive any emails from him, why didn’t you remind me?!” Liu Xin snapped, “Just because I snapped at you a few times before, you didn’t like me so much. Yeah, you just want me to be scolded!”

Cen Ning’s temperament made it difficult for her to quarrel with others in public, but she had long held grudges against Liu Xin. Now she couldn’t help but feel the anger rise in her heart when she heard Liu Xin push the responsibility and blame on her. “Even if I knew, so what? I said nothing, and you won’t find out for yourself what went missing that day?”

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Nkw Dkd: “Rv oyp schkswpzu vbl pyxl fsc, okzz usw ekl kq usw vlzz xl?”

“R byhl ds ewvu vs vlzz usw vbkp.”

&dcpr;“Gal usw pvkzz y nszzlytwl, usw!”

Uld Lkdt zssjle yv bla kdnalewzswpzu. “Mbld yal usw y nszzlytwl? Rq usw pvkzz valyv xl yp uswa nszzlytwl, usw oswzed’v byhl elzlvle yzz vbl rbsvsp R oyp alprsdpkczl qsa.”

Nkw Dkd rywple qsa y xsxldv, yde bla lmralppksd pweeldzu nbydtle. “Ebyv yal usw vyzjkdt ycswv?”&dcpr;

Uld Lkdt: “Pked’v usw elzlvl Yldt Vlkuyd’p rbsvsp?”

“Gb…” Flhlayz svbla nszzlytwlp sd vbl pkel bye blyae ycswv vbkp zsdt yts, yde zssjle yv Nkw Dkd kd pbsnj.

Nkw Dkd pweeldzu pbsole y ckv sq rydkn. “Ebyv? Zsw yal lhld rwpbkdt vbkp ynnwpyvksd sd xl! Ebyv lhkeldnl es usw byhl?!”

“Liu Xin, is it interesting?” Cen Ning closed her eyes, her face was terrifyingly pale because of the confrontation. “I don’t know how I offended you so much, to let you set me up like this.”

“I didn’t do it at all! Don’t give me that hat to wear.” Liu Xin looked at the colleague next to her. “I really didn’t. Why did she say that to me?” (TLN: Hat refers to the responsibility and blame in this situation.)

The colleagues on the side looked at each other. None of them said a word.

Liu Xin was flustered and embarrassed. She didn’t expect that several colleagues who usually had a good relationship with her would not speak up for her at such a critical moment.

“Cen Ning, don’t think you can do whatever you want because you have someone behind you!”

Cen Ning: “…”

A colleague: “Okay, alright, Liu Xin, just stop talking. We are all colleagues. Stop always targeting Cen Ning.”

Liu Xin: “Did you make a mistake? She is targeting me now!”

“Everyone, don’t be so angry.”

“That’s right, don’t say any more—”

“What are you all doing?” At this moment, Hao Jie came in from outside.

Everyone was quiet and hurried back to their jobs.

Hao Jie said with a stony face, “Liu Xin, come to my office.”

Liu Xin paused for a moment, looked at Cen Ning angrily, and followed Hao Jie away.

Later, no one knew what Hao Jie and Liu Xin discussed in the office. All they knew was that after Liu Xin came out, she sat in her seat without a word and cried. In the following week, Liu Xin began to hand over her work to others.

So everyone knew that Liu Xin was going to leave, or, in other words, was fired.

Cen Ning was stunned when she heard the news. She thought about the possibility of her arguing with Liu Xin, but she didn’t expect that Hao Jie would directly fire her.

In the past few days, Liu Xin was as out of spirits as a frosted eggplant. When she saw Cen Ning, her eyes were dull too.

On the day Liu Xin left, Hao Jie talked about this matter at a meeting.

Liu Xin’s resignation was his personal intention. Liu Xin has been working with him for nearly a year. She has made many mistakes in her work, and her camera quality has never met his requirements. Coupled with her temperament, Hao Jie absolutely did not want to keep her on the team anymore.

Cen Ning understood Hao Jie. She had been working under Hao Jie for a while now. She knew how Liu Xin was, but she didn’t expect Hao Jie to be so vigorous.

The Liu Xin incident passed so abruptly, and Cen Ning could only give up on the photo incident.

Being fired this time was the biggest punishment for Liu Xin.

However, she never thought that the company also began to spread some nasty rumors because of this incident. At first, Cen Ning didn’t care, until one time when she passed by the tea room, she accidentally overheard the conversations of several people from other departments.

“Did you know that Liu Xin under Mr. Hao Jie was fired because she offended someone?”

“Oh, are you talking about offending that little assistant named Cen Ning? I heard she was just a college student who didn’t graduate.”

“Don’t underestimate her. There are people behind her, and we have to listen to her.”

“Sigh, in today’s society, don’t mess with those who do not have a background. Liu Xin is so miserable, she even lost her job.”

“So exaggerated. She didn’t do anything, but her job was ruined? Little girls shouldn’t be so cruel.”

…

For a moment, Cen Ning’s head was dazed.

She didn’t understand why everyone suddenly pointed their sharpness at her. She hated Liu Xin, yes, but Liu Xin’s departure had nothing to do with her.

Clenching the cup in her hand, Cen Ning decided to not enter the tea room, and walked back to her seat.

When working in the afternoon, Cen Ning had to work with the other departments. Coincidentally, she met two of the people that were talking about her in the tea room. But the two of them treated her very well, and it could be said that they listened to everything she said carefully, as if they were afraid of making her unhappy.

In fact, not only these two colleagues, but Cen Ning felt that since Liu Xin was fired, the surrounding people have also become more cautious towards her…

In the evening, Cen Ning went home.

Aunt Chen boiled a big pot of soup tonight and asked her and Wei Pinfang to come over for dinner.

“Ningning, I think you’re still too thin. Come on, eat more meat.” Xu Wanying held out her chopsticks and put the meat in her bowl.

Cen Ning had her eyes lowered and was looking at her rice, but did not respond.

Xu Wanying: “Ningning?”

Wei Pinfang turned to look at her and patted the back of her hand holding the spoon. “What are you thinking about?”

Cen Ning suddenly returned to her senses. “Huh?”

Wei Pinfang said with dissatisfaction, “Pay attention when you eat. What are you dazed for?”

Yan Xingzhi, who was sitting opposite, also looked up at Cen Ning, only to see that her ears were slightly red, and her eyes looked a little flustered. He leaned back, picked up his glass, and took a sip of water.

Cen Ning: “I’m sorry… I just lost my mind.”

Xu Wanying smiled. “It’s okay, are you too tired from tutoring recently?”

Cen Ning was not very good at lying, so she looked down to hide the guilty conscience in her eyes. “It’s okay.”

Yan Guofeng: “Ningning, don’t go if you are tired, and rest at home for a few days during summer break.”

Cen Ning shook her head. “Grandpa, I’m fine, I’m not tired.”

Yan Guofeng: “Child, you are so stubborn.”

 …

After dinner, Cen Ning sat on the sofa in the living room. She was chatting with Yan Guofeng. Later, when Yan Guofeng returned to the room, she sat by herself. The matters in Tianying in the past two days have made her feel very entangled and complex, and some thoughts couldn’t come out of her mind.

Tired of thinking and she had a dry mouth, Cen Ning reached for the glass on the coffee table. As soon as she touched the wall of the cup, the back of her hand suddenly became hot.

Looking up, she saw a slender hand covering the back of her hand. The joints of that hand were strong, and the lines were particularly beautiful.

The owner of the hand was obviously reaching out to grab the cup, but he didn’t expect to collide with someone. After a pause, he said, “It’s mine.”

Cen Ning’s eyes shifted slightly. Only then did she realize that the water cup she had been drinking from was a little on the left, and the one in her hand was Yan Xingzhi’s.

“Ah… Okay.” Cen Ning let go of her hand suddenly, but the hand that was covering the back of her hand was still covering her own. It was warm. She could feel a thin callus on her fingertips, and the blood vessels on the back of her hand could be seen when the callus touched her skin shuddered inexplicably.

Cen Ning: “…”

After two or three seconds, he let go of her hand in a leisurely manner. He took the glass and glanced at her lightly. “Is there a problem at work?”

Cen Ning’s heart was beating wildly, and she hurriedly took a sip of water to suppress her shock, “Yes… but no.”

“Hm?”

Cen Ning calmed down and looked at him seriously. “I want to resign.”

Yan Xingzhi: “Resign?”

“Mhm.”

“Why?”

Cen Ning hesitated and said, “Everyone has misunderstood me. Before that, Liu Xin was fired by Mr. Hao Jie. The people in the company… they think it’s because of me.”

Yan Xingzhi frowned. “So they are giving you a hard time?”

Cen Ning shook her head. “They didn’t give me a hard time, instead they treated me very well, a little good, too good… not normal.”

Clenching the wall of the cup tightly, Cen Ning summoned a lot of courage and said, “Xingzhi Gege, everyone says that I have a backer and background, so I’m not easy to mess with.”

Yan Xingzhi raised his eyebrows slightly and said as a matter of fact. “They’re quite sensible.”

Cen Ning: “…”

Yan Xingzhi saw her like this. She looked like she was hesitating to say anything, and he reacted. “You don’t like it? Does this affect your work?”

Cen Ning replied with difficulty. “I don’t know how to stay there calmly with them like this… I don’t even know what I did wrong, and everyone won’t tell me.”

Yan Xingzhi slowly reacted. “So, you want to tell me that when I asked people to take care of you, it was unnecessary and it even hurt you?”

“No, no!” Cen Ning was abruptly frightened into a cold sweat by his words, “It’s not your problem, because we were all at peace in the beginning! It’s because Liu Xin was talking nonsense before that made everyone assume other things. “

After she finished speaking, she glanced at him cautiously. “I don’t blame you, I just wanted to tell you I want to resign…”

Yan Xingzhi did not speak.

Cen Ning looked at his frighteningly cold profile and stretched out her hand to pull on the hem of his clothes. “Gege… You won’t be angry, will you?”

Yan Xingzhi looked at her sideways, but he remained silent.

Cen Ning was about to panic. “Don’t be angry, I know appreciation… I’m really glad you helped me, really.”

The pitiful and frightened little face, with a pair of big doe eyes trembling slightly, was funny and cute.

“Okay.” Yan Xingzhi eased his expression. “I lacked some consideration in this matter.”

Cen Ning: “No…”

“If you want to resign, just resign. That kind of place is not suitable for you.”

Cen Ning: “I will definitely find some place better.”

Yan Xingzhi patted her head smoothly. “Don’t worry, take your time.”

“Mhm.”

She was still frowning, looking worried. Yan Xingzhi could not hold back, and he stretched out his hand and pinched her face that seemed to squeeze water. “Still hanging your face? When Grandpa sees it, he would think you were bullied or something.”

Cen Ning was pinched and became dazed that she raised her eyes and looked into his eyes, only to see that his expression was as usual. However, there was a small smile in his eyes, and there was a little light in the smile, as if all he had been her figure in his eyes.

Cen Ning: “…Oh.”

The corners of Yan Xingzhi’s mouth pursed slightly, and he let go: “Go sleep early.”

After speaking, he got up and went upstairs into his bedroom.

Downstairs, Cen Ning still sat on the sofa. She dazedly raised her hand and pressed her cheek.

“Cen Ning, where’s brother?” Yan Xingyao came in from outside.

Cen Ning: “Upstairs.”

“Oh.” Yan Xingyao turned around and was about to go upstairs, but after a few steps he turned around and asked, “Do you have a fever?”

Cen Ning: “Huh?”

“Your face is so red.”

Cen Ning was startled, and she quickly got up. “No, it’s just a little hot.”

Yan Xingyao watched Cen Ning hurry out of the living room and head towards the annex where she lived. He frowned. “Hot? Isn’t the air conditioner on?”