Chapter 1

A cup of milk tea got me suspended.

That afternoon, after handling Lin Na’s third client visit for her, my blood sugar crashed. I was so hungry my hands were shaking.

She put a straw into a cup of milk tea and slid it toward me with a smile.

“There’s an extra one. Drink it before you pass out at your desk.”

I had barely taken two sips when she photographed me and posted the picture in our department chat.

“You even help yourself to the company’s client hospitality budget? Su Nian, that’s embezzlement of company funds!”

The label on the cup said eighteen yuan.

My manager suspended me pending an investigation. All around the office, people looked down to hide their laughter. Not one of them said that Lin Na herself had given me the drink.

I didn’t argue. I quietly shut down my computer.

That evening, Lin Na messaged me as usual.

“Be here at eight tomorrow to receive my clients.”

I stared at the message for a long time.

For three years, her morning shifts, evening shifts, and weekends had taken precedence over my own life.

This time, I sent just two words.

“Not coming.”

By the time I came out of Manager Zhou’s office, I could no longer log into my project account.

A notice had been pinned in the department chat:

Su Nian is suspended for three days pending a review of client hospitality expenses. During this period, she must not contact clients or modify project documents.

Lin Na commented, “Fully support this.”

Xu Qing immediately followed.

“Personal matters and company business must be kept separate. Let this be a lesson to everyone.”

Ten minutes earlier, she had been standing right beside me. She had watched Lin Na press that cup into my hand.

As I cleared out my drawer, Xu Qing unplugged her charger from my desk.

“Better not leave anything that could cause a misunderstanding later.”

A few people laughed.

I kept my head down. Twice I tried to zip my bag shut, and twice I failed. My hands were still shaking. The sickly sweetness in my stomach rose in waves, lodging in my throat.

I earned 5,800 yuan a month. Rent came first, then the money I sent to my mother.

The manager said I would still be paid during the investigation. It did nothing to reassure me.

My employment contract was due for renewal next month, and that decision was still his.

Lin Na knew exactly what frightened me.

When she slammed the desk and shouted “embezzlement of company funds,” she made a point of glancing at the stack of contracts awaiting renewal.

Three years ago, when I first joined the company, I didn’t dare turn down senior coworkers.

She said she lived a long way away and asked me to cover one morning shift.

I took the bus in two hours early, cleaned the meeting room, and went through the equipment list with her clients.

Once became three times a week.

She had a dentist’s appointment, so I covered her evening shift. She needed time with her family, so I went to the warehouse to check stock on weekends.

When clients sent forms back, I corrected them for her, line by line.

When a supplier wouldn’t answer her calls, I called more than a dozen times until they finally sent a stamped delivery schedule.

There was no overtime pay. No time off in lieu, either.

At the monthly awards ceremony, Lin Na received the “Zero Delay in Client Responses” award.

I was the one who put her certificate in its frame.

Once, I finally brought up the overtime. She smiled and squeezed my shoulder.

“Do we really need to keep score? Since when did you get so fussy about who does what?”

Back then, I actually felt petty.

Until today, when she deliberately announced those eighteen yuan to the entire floor.

Before leaving, I completed the final handover the manager had requested.

I listed the client schedule, shared-folder links, and three outstanding items awaiting confirmation on a single page.

Lin Na complained that it was too long and scrawled her signature at the bottom.

“So you’ve learned to keep evidence.”

I said nothing. I photographed the handover record with both our signatures on it.

I didn’t delete a single document. I returned the keys to the administration department’s cabinet.

Lin Na caught up with me at the elevator, carrying an unopened bag of cookies.

“Take these. Don’t go around telling people we mistreated you.”

I put both hands in my coat pockets.

Her smile faded a little. Then she took out her phone and transferred eighteen yuan to me.

“I’m reimbursing you for the milk tea out of my own pocket. Happy now? Hengchuan’s people are coming at eight tomorrow. You know the client list, so receive them for me first.”

I looked at the note on the transfer.

“Milk tea compensation.”

As if accepting those eighteen yuan could erase everything that had happened today.

“The notice says I’m not allowed to contact clients.”

“Nobody’s asking you to negotiate a contract. Just open the door, pour some water, and wait for me. Do you have to make an issue out of every little thing?”

The elevator arrived.

I stepped inside. She followed half a step and blocked the doors with the cookies.

“Su Nian, don’t ruin our working relationship over one cup of milk tea.”

I gently pushed the bag back into her arms.

That evening, she sent the same request again.

After replying “Not coming,” I closed the chat and switched off my six a.m. alarm for the next day.

There was a whole list of alarms. Every label was a task Lin Na had given me.

I switched them off one by one.

When the screen went dark, the room was so quiet it felt unfamiliar.

The following afternoon, administration told me to come in and collect the written notice.

Xu Qing was waiting at reception with two steamed buns.

“You haven’t eaten all morning, have you? I saved these especially for you.”

In the past, every time she said that, I handed over the weekly report I’d done for her.

This time, I didn’t reach for them.

Her hand hung in the air for a moment. Then she changed tack.

“Yesterday, we just didn’t have time to react. Lin Na’s blunt. Don’t take it to heart. We all know you’re not that kind of person.”

“Then why didn’t you say so yesterday?”

She glanced through the glass doors.

“The manager was furious. Was I supposed to argue with the boss?”

The bag crackled in her grip.

“Just come back first. We can work something out. With you gone, she’s been dumping so much on me I can’t keep up.”

Only then did I understand.

She wasn’t waiting for me. She was waiting for someone to take work off her hands.

The elevator doors opened. Lin Na stepped out in heels.

“Xu Qing, why bother explaining? I reported a perfectly legitimate concern. Am I supposed to beg her forgiveness?”

She stuffed the buns back into Xu Qing’s handbag and turned to me.

“You said you weren’t coming last night and left the clients waiting outside this morning. Enjoy that, did you?”

I pointed to the notice administration had sent.

“My suspension began yesterday afternoon.”

“Who’s talking about that? I’m talking about your attitude!”

Her voice rose so sharply that the receptionist and two passing coworkers turned to look.

“I was kind enough to buy you cookies and reimburse your milk tea. I said one honest thing, and you abandoned the whole department. Was it worth it?”

I tapped my phone.

I still hadn’t accepted the eighteen-yuan transfer. It would soon be returned automatically.

“If you were telling the truth, why did you need to compensate me?”

Lin Na faltered.

“Being decent to a coworker is one thing. Company rules are another. Don’t confuse them!”

“What about covering your shifts?”

“You offered to help before. It’s not as if I held a knife to your throat!”

She said it with horrifying ease.

Once, one of her “urgent emergencies” had forced me to open my laptop downstairs at the hospital before I’d even read my mother’s test results.

She had sent six voice messages in a row, hurrying me along. The last one said:

“Su Nian, don’t be so selfish.”

And now every demand in those messages had become something I’d volunteered to do.

Before I could speak, Lin Na pulled a form from her folder.

“I’ve arranged an online meeting with the supplier at eight thirty tomorrow to check the delivery dates. You can join remotely. That doesn’t count as coming back to work. Surely you can do that?”

Her name was at the top.

Below it were forty-eight stores. The delivery dates for all three phases were blank.

“The original data is in the shared folder. The supplier’s contact details are in the handover record.”

“I know! I’m telling you to lead the meeting and fill in the blanks!”

She lowered her voice and held her phone out.

“Use my account. Turn your camera off and don’t say who you are. Nobody will know.”

I didn’t touch it.

Xu Qing tried to smooth things over.

“It’s only half an hour. Just get it done. Why make this so awkward?”

Manager Zhou heard the commotion and came to the door.

“Su Nian, keep your feelings out of work. Lin Na needs a hand. Help her.”

In the past, I would have nodded the moment he spoke.

This time, I laid the written notice flat on the reception counter.

“Then please put it in writing: my suspension is rescinded, my access is restored, I’m responsible for this meeting, and the work is recorded under my name.”

“Does it have to be so complicated?”

“If it doesn’t, Lin Na can use her own account and lead the meeting herself.”

Manager Zhou picked up the notice and stared at his own signature.

A few seconds later, he folded it and handed it back.

“The investigation isn’t finished. Go home and wait.”

Lin Na’s face darkened.

“Fine. Cling to that piece of paper, then. Keep out of my work from now on. I can handle everything myself!”

She snatched up the delivery schedule. Its corner scraped the back of my hand.

It stung a little. For once, I didn’t rush to apologize.

As I turned away, my phone vibrated.

The eighteen yuan had been returned to the sender.

I didn’t reopen her chat.

Lin Na’s first recorded late arrival was on the first morning of my suspension.

At 8:12, the receptionist posted a photograph in the work group.

Two Hengchuan employees stood outside the meeting room holding store plans. There was no client list on the table. The projector hadn’t been switched on.

“Team Leader Lin, the clients are here. Where are you?”

She didn’t reply for another six minutes.

“On my way.”

At 8:47, the receptionist sent another message.

“Team Leader Lin has arrived.”

I was eating breakfast at home, looking at the nine missed calls Lin Na had just made in succession.

She always used to say: