"Hold on." When I saw the five security guards shrinking the encirclement, treating me just like they treated that dog, I couldn't help but shout, "I am an employee of CES, you've already checked my ID just now, can you just dismiss me like this? Even though I am still on probation, I am protected by labor law. If anyone dares to lay a hand on me today, I'll sue until CES's reputation is in tatters."
"A new employee?" The man raised an eyebrow, looking disdainful.
"What's wrong, looking down on people, huh? And you even impersonate Vice President Lin of CES, when the real vice president is clearly Lin Zexiu, which onion do you think you are?"
I stared at him defiantly, and for the first time, I deeply felt that being attractive was not so important. If a person has a vile personality and arrogant behavior, then he is also detestable.
This person in front of me is the living, "bloody" teaching material!
"Fire her, Zexiu." He ignored me, his expression laced with a hint of disgust as if I were a yapping little dog in his eyes, although he was no different in mine. Then he casually threw the bloodstained handkerchief on the ground and left without looking back.
This person, who shows contempt for life, mistreats employees, and litters, is truly the dregs of the earth.
I almost leapt up to bite him, but the words "Zexiu" immediately turned me to stone. The only reason I didn't petrify completely was that I could still turn my body stiffly.
All of a sudden, the shadow of the man of my dreams crashed into my eyes, so close that all my blood rushed to my heart, leaving me breathless.
He stepped down from the yellow car, wearing an elegant gray suit and behaving with graceful manners, with a charming smile on his face, the breeze stirring his hair, looking better than he did on TV, so handsome it was devastating.
Compared with him, those five security guards looked like five toilets clad in black uniforms. Just as a beautiful flower needs green leaves to shine, and a beauty needs an ugly woman to stand out, isn't it the same for handsome men?
I was dumbfounded, and he walked straight over to me, looked at me with amusement, still smiling, took out a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket, and gently touched my forehead, "Doctor Yu?" he asked.
I nodded like I was hypnotized, still in a daze, until he signaled me to take the handkerchief. I realized that the vigorous exercise I had done that early summer morning, especially after knocking down such a tall man, was indeed a physical task. I wiped my sweat mechanically, not caring if my makeup would smudge, saying that if makeup could be ruined by this, I wouldn't need to spend tens of thousands on a whole set of bottles and jars next time.
While I was doing this, he kept watching me, his eyes steady, not wandering. When I thought he might find me pretty, he pointed awkwardly at my clothes.
I looked down and felt utterly hopeless.
How embarrassing! How could I be so disheveled in front of the man of my dreams? I had endured over an hour of torment from Mrs. Tu that morning just to look beautiful for him, but now, not only was I not beautiful, but all my roughness, violence, and aggressiveness were on full display. Even my Prada black sporty deep V-neck dress was all twisted due to excessive movement. Thankfully it wasn't too revealing, otherwise, I swear I would have dug a hole to bury myself and erected a monument at the entrance, inscribed with: to never emerge again.
I frantically straightened my clothes and hair, but my Stella Luna white strapped nude boots, or rather the remnants of them, now in four segments, were still lying not far away on the ground.
He gestured to the security guards to pick them up for me, then placed them in my hands, saying gently, "You head back first, come again tomorrow."
"Do you want to fire me?" I almost cried.
"No, you haven't done anything wrong. You just tackled the company's vice president to protect an animal," his eyes twinkled as if he found it amusing. "It was an accident. CES Company has its own system; we don't treat our employees arbitrarily."
"But you asked me to leave—" I stopped because I finally remembered the rest of his sentence, telling me to come back tomorrow.
"But that jerk of a man—I mean—vice president, he wanted you to fire me." I ventured, trying to gauge from his response the bastard vice president's status and his relationship with the man.
As I asked, I felt incredibly stupid. No matter who that man was, his demeanor clearly indicated a high status. I actually thought he was a security guard before.
Since he's an important person in the company, why would the intricacies and relations among these high-ranking officials be revealed in front of a low-level employee like me? Even if Lin Zexiu didn't fire me, he wouldn't humiliate that man in front of his subordinates. Now that I had asked such a question, he was even less likely to respond.
Sure enough, he just smiled, "I don't think you're in any mood for work today, and you shouldn't be without shoes, so it's best you go home to regroup. Come back tomorrow."
Without waiting for my response, he addressed the security guards, "This lady is an employee of our company, how can you call her a 'wild woman'? It seems the company's etiquette training has not been very successful. You did nothing wrong by letting her in, but I don't want the employee entrance to become a haven for stray animals. You guys have been neglectful and impolite today. Have your supervisor come see me later." His tone remained gentle, yet there was no denying the words—a dignity and privilege belonging to someone of superior rank.
He's so cool, and such a nice person, too! Throughout my life, I've always been the one protecting the weak and animals; this was the first time I felt the exhilaration of being protected. And it was by a man, the very man I admired.
By then, as it was close to starting time for work, numerous cars started arriving one after another. Nearly every passerby looked at us with surprised eyes, the intense curiosity palpable even through their car windows. I knew that as a newcomer, I finally had the credentials to be talked about—I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After Lin Zexiu spoke, he nodded slightly in my direction as a courtesy, then elegantly turned and walked toward an elevator on the far right.
I watched his retreating figure with infatuation, pretending to be proper and waved him goodbye just as the elevator doors were about to close. Then, turning back and seeing that I was physically occupying someone else's parking spot, I hurried to the fence to grab my bag and prepare to head home. As I passed by the security guards, I didn't forget to snort disdainfully, feeling somewhat smug and servile.
Having someone in the company who's got your back feels really good.
This was my first morning at work. From the nervousness upon entering the company's gates, the adrenaline of tackling a man and saving a dog, the chill of meeting my dream lover in reality, to now being protected and treated fairly, I'd been through a whirlwind of emotions. My wish had been forged into something incredibly strong—it was the first time I felt such firm resolve.
They say there are twenty thousand people on Earth who could be just right for you. I was sure that Lin Zexiu was exactly the type I've dreamed of all these years. Even though he might have twenty thousand choices, and I might be the last on the list, at least I had that one in twenty thousand chance.
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There will be three more updates today; please check back at noon. Also, I am continuing to ask for recommendation tickets; please support Liu Liu.