Published at 26th of March 2019 12:09 am

Chapter 36

I thought the incident in the pantry will be settled by leaving it unsettled. A few days later, Jiang Ya was transferred to the Marketing Department, which I did not expect. Vice President Lin was of the opinion that the Marketing Department needed a talented person like Jiang Ya who was an eloquent and fluent speaker.

Just like this, Jiang Ya went to work under the head of the Marketing Department, Mr. Li who she had spoken ill of before.

From this, I can feel deeply that Mr. Lin Yu Sen’s characteristics appeared not as gentle and harmless as he displayed.

However I did not expect that I was also transferred to another department a few days later.

I was summoned to go into Lin Yu Sen’s office and was at a loss looking at the great scene before my eyes ——President Zhang, Vice President Lin Yu Sen, and also my former manager in the Finance Department …… why did they call me to come here?

When President Zhang saw me coming in, he laughed heartily and said: “Little Nie, you’ve been in the Management Department for a long time already, so do you want to go back to the Finance Department?” He patted the shoulder of the manager of the Finance Department, “Old (a term of endearment) Wu came to protest, saying we still have not returned the person we borrowed.”

Manager Wu also seemed at a loss, but still said agreeably: “Yes, there is a shortage of staff in our Finance Department.”

What was going on?

I looked at Lin Yu Sen in puzzlement.

Lin Yu Sen smiled, “Originally, little Nie was seconded over here temporarily. Hence it is standard office procedure to transfer her back now. Of course ……”

Suddenly I felt a little annoyed so I interrupted him: “Don’t you think you should ask for my opinion first on this?”

All of a sudden, Lin Yu Sen smiled again. I was baffled by his actions. He looked at President Zhang: “President Zhang, I’ll talk to little Nie on this matter first. We must also respect the opinion of the staff.”

“Okay, I’ll let you youngster chat about it first.” President Zhang stood up and said meaningfully, “Well, I am already old, so I don’t really concern myself with the company’s business affairs and personnel matter.”

After saying that, he led the bewildered Manager Wu out of the office.

Lin Yu Sen got up and politely sent President Zhang away. Then he closed the door.

I asked: “What’s actually going on?”

“All of a sudden, President Zhang said to me today that he wants to transfer you back to the Finance Department. I thought it was your ……” He pondered for a moment before saying, “It turns out to be President Nie’s idea.”

I was taken aback: “You mean …… my dad?”

He nodded, “President Zhang implied that so it must be.”

“But my dad is not involved in the operation of this company?”

“Ya, I was careless.” He has a contemplative look. Then he said, “Xi Guang, I’ll treat you to a meal tonight.”

I was going to faint because I thought he was coming up with a brilliant idea. After thinking for such a long time, to my surprise, he wanted to treat me to a meal? I said with black lines (did not know how to respond to something completely out of line) across my face: “…… how did your brain circuit change to having a meal?”

“President Nie and I…… might have a little misunderstanding. I reckon he’ll come to look for you very soon, to ask you to stay away from me right away. I want to seize more opportunities …… ah, to use your words, to leave a more favorable impression.”

“…… How did you offend my father?”

Lin Yu Sen gave a wry smile and said frankly: “We had a difference of opinion in the cooperation plan with the Nie family when I was working in the head office. It can be said, I obstructed President Nie’s opportunity to earn money twice, which greatly offended him.”

I looked at him in surprise: “There is really animosity between our two families ……”

“It’s just business.”

“Therefore my father did not have a good impression on you?”

“Not bad.” After carefully pondering for a while, he said, “President Nie praised me before as a knife hidden in smiles (a Chinese idiom meaning friendly manners belying hypocritical intentions).”

I burst out laughing.

“Do you think I don’t understand idiom? Is that considered a praise?”

“As a surgeon, it is very normal to hold a scalpel. If I don’t smile, how can I make the patient feel reassured? If this is not praising my work ethic, then what is it?”

“Hey!”

Mr. Lin, what’s the limits to your thick skin?

“Actually, it is also good for you to go back to the Finance Department.” Lin Yu Sen looked as if he was relieved from a burden, “I feel a little embarrassed to make a move on my immediate subordinate. President Nie can be considered to have helped me out.”

It was obvious this conversation cannot be continued.

“…… Okay la, I am also going.” I left at lightning speed. When I was at the doorway, I turned around, “Vice President, it is best that everyone doesn’t discuss about their personal matters during working hours, just this once but no next time.”

Lin Yu Sen was rather accurate in his prediction, as my father went to Suzhou in person at the weekend to call in on me.

After I sat down, he began to ask: “What’s your relationship with Lin Yu Sen?”

His tone really cannot be considered good, sounded a bit like an interrogation. I was a little upset, so I did not reply for a period of time.

“Both of you are really together?” Father’s face looked unsightly and he can hardly wait for my reply before saying in spitting anger, “This won’t do, break up with him immediately. I’ll transfer you to another company right away.”

I was speechless and felt that he simply did not know what he was saying. It was true that I have not got together with Lin Yu Sen, but who like to be ordered like this. It was rare to see him so flustered and exasperated, so I decided to let him continue to misunderstand. He dragged on for so long yet still have not resolved his messy affairs. Hence this can be considered taking revenge for my mother and I.

“Dad, that’s my own business.”

“What do you mean by all this ‘your business, my business’? You are my daughter! My only daughter!”

“Oh, mother has full custody of me.”

His face went stiff. He heaved a sigh and displayed an attitude that he was talking in a reasonable manner to her, “I know you’re mad at me. I’ve been very busy lately so there is no time to deal with certain matters. However you are my daughter, will I do you any harm? You are still young so are unaware that the human heart is deceitful. There are many people eyeing your wealth …… ”

“His family is also very rich.”

“He has no right to inherit!”

Although he is my dad, I still could not help to look at him with disdain. “Dad, he used to be a famous surgeon. Currently, he is at least a company executive. So what that he has no right to inherit, as long as he has got enough money to spend. Lin Yu Sen is not an ambitious man.”

“Not an ambitious man.” Dad’s tone was exceptionally harsh, “No descendants of the Sheng family is not ambitious. Just that some are not capable and some aren’t blessed by fate with the opportunity.”

His tone became harsher, “Lin Yu Sen does not have such fate, but you have!”

“In the one year plus he was at Sheng Yuan head office, he put so many obstacles in our way. At such a young age, he was able to make me take a loss without it even being obvious. Xi Guang, how can you get the better of him? Even if he sold you off, you’d just count the money from his sale for him.”

Dad was getting increasingly excited when he said, “I’ve been in the business world for so many years, don’t tell me I’ll still judge a person wrongly? This person is naturally cold. He is like a knife hidden in smiles, ten of you also cannot rival half of him. Do you think he would willingly come to Suzhou? He retreated in order to wait for an opportunity to advance. I’ve also been negligent. I knew that he had left Sheng Yuan’s head office but I was not too concerned about his movements. Oh, that is incorrect!” Dad thought of something and said, “He deliberately misled me. Xi Guang, he has come for you!”

“Okay, okay.”

The main idea of what he was thinking was that Lin Yu Sen was interested in his money, not her.

I deliberately annoyed him, “If he is really interested in me because of your wealth, isn’t this reason even more long-lasting and indestructible than being interested in my appearance, character and possibly something else? Daddy, after all the money in your bank is forever and ever, a long time.”

Humph! Plus, I’m not going to have such a low opinion of myself. Is ‘Nie Cheng Yuan’s daughter’ the only good thing about me that’s worthy of being interested in? I really did not understand whether father was slandering Lin Yu Sen, or striking a blow against me.

However I was a little surprised, that subconsciously I actually have full trust in Lin Yu Sen?

Father looked resentfully at me for failing to meet his expectations. His lips moved several times without saying a word, but eventually he said: “Initially, I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want to hurt you.”

“He courted Nian Yuan before.”

I abruptly raised my head to look at him.

“Last year, oh, the year before last, about the same time as now, at your godmother’s dinner party which you also went. Then you threw a tantrum and left early. Do you still remember? At that time, he accompanied Sheng Xian Min to the dinner party. He left quite a good impression on Nian Yuan, so after the dinner party, she invited him to go to Wuxi to view and appreciate plum blossoms. Consequently, he had a car accident on his way to Wuxi.”

I listened numbly. My heart was both astonished and furious, even indignant. I simply did not know how to react.

“If Nian Yuan did not tell me about this, I wouldn’t know about it.” Dad looked at me with eyes filled with grief and anguish, “Xi Guang, you still don’t understand? He is interested in the benefits our family can bring him. Ma Nian Yuan is merely …… a junior who I am familiar with. He already swarmed around her like bees to honey. Let alone you, my own darling daughter.”

I fixed my attention on him. My father’s expression was not in the least fake.

The quiet atmosphere engulfed us.

A long time later, I stood up and slowly said three words —— “I don’t believe.”

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