Chapter 25: Just an Employee

Weiwei was always smiling. Polite and easy to like, she was popular with just about everyone.
People say you pick up the habits of those around you. Working beside her put me in a good mood for no particular reason. Soon I found myself smiling at people too.
Several times, I watched her secretly, trying to work out where that charm came from. How did she never seem to get angry? How could she always greet everyone with a smile?
The others said I’d changed. I was much easier to get along with than when I’d first arrived.
Between Ji Feiyang’s sweets and Weiwei’s influence, my temper was gradually improving. I felt calmer.
One evening after work, Weiwei invited me to a bar to dance.
At the bar, she became a different person.
On the dance floor, she was dazzlingly seductive, her graceful body moving energetically to the music. Men couldn’t take their eyes off her.
Neither could I.
The moment she stepped off the floor, men swarmed over to chat her up.
She could drink, too. Glass after glass went down as easily as water, yet she handled her admirers without the slightest difficulty.
A true expert.
So a person could have two such different sides. Was this what people meant by a split personality?
“Yijun, come and dance.”
I’d never lacked courage, but singing and dancing had never appealed to me. Especially somewhere like this, where flirtation was everywhere and sex seemed to lurk beneath it.
I rarely came to places like this. When I did, I drank and watched other people dance.
Those sleazy men gave me goosebumps. Dancing with them was out of the question.
“Come on! What’s the point of coming here if you don’t dance?”
“Well…”
My face reddened.
“Go on!”
Weiwei pushed me forwards. After a few steps, I turned straight back.
“Don’t worry about me. Go and enjoy yourself. I… I can’t dance.”
“What?” she cried. “Seriously? You can’t?”
Luckily, the deafening music swallowed her voice. Otherwise, I would have wanted to crawl into a hole.
“I’ll teach you.”
“No, really, there’s no need.”
Full of enthusiasm, she pulled me into the dancing crowd.
It was so packed that brushing against the people around us was unavoidable. My arms and legs stiffened until I could barely move.
“Relax. It’s easy to learn.”
Weiwei moved as naturally as a fish in water.
I stood there like a wooden post.
Fortunately, my phone rang before I could remain rooted there much longer, spoiling the scene.
I hurried to the washroom to answer.
“Yijun, where are you?”
Ji Feiyang’s voice came through the phone.
I wasn’t used to hearing him call me Yijun without my surname. It felt unexpectedly lovely, softening something inside me.
“Out with Weiwei.”
“Do you know what time it is? Have either of you any sense of time? Where are you? I’ll come and get you.”
He sounded distinctly annoyed.
“No need. We’ll be back soon.”
After hanging up, I checked the time.
Twelve seventeen.
How had it got so late?
I dragged Weiwei out of the bar.
“I shouldn’t have brought you,” she complained. “We’re off tomorrow. How am I supposed to sleep if we go back this early? I don’t want to be a good little girl.”
“I’m not a good little girl either.”
“Yes, you are.”
That stopped me.
Nobody had ever called me that before.
Was it an insult or a compliment?
“Am I?”
“You can’t dance, you get embarrassed, and you won’t stay out all night. What else would you call it?”
“But I hit people.”
I raised a fist.
“True.” She nodded.
Exactly. How could Tang Yijun, who settled things with her fists, possibly be a good little girl?
Despite all the alcohol she’d drunk, Weiwei was still clear-headed.
“You should stay away from places like that,” I told her.
The words surprised even me. All my life, other people had been the ones telling me what I shouldn’t do.
“Why do you suddenly sound like someone’s auntie?”
I wondered too. Had spending so much time with Ji Feiyang made me bossy? Or did I simply have an instinct to protect beautiful things?
“You’re so pretty, and it’s such a rough place…”
Before I could finish, Weiwei was doubled over with laughter.
Once we were in a taxi, my phone rang again.
“We’re on our way. We’ll be there soon.”
After I hung up, Weiwei asked, “What’s going on between you and the general manager? I saw the name. Ji Feiyang—that’s him, isn’t it?”
“We’re friends,” I said after a moment.
“Friends? Really? Just friends?”
“Not exactly friends.”
“I knew it!”
“He’s my… my big brother’s friend. So he’s a bit like an older brother to me.”
“No wonder he’s so protective of you. You should make a move. Plenty of girls dream of marrying him.”
“Marrying him? You’re getting carried away. I’m not interested.”
“Don’t pretend. You might regret it when he marries someone else. Me, I know better than to think I stand a chance.”
She leaned into the gossip.
“Apparently, the chairwoman found someone for him three years ago. Do you know Miss Cao? He seemed quite happy with her too. But who knows? If it were settled, surely they’d have announced it. Why has nothing happened after three years?”
I remembered the Jingyi they’d mentioned.
Was her full name Cao Jingyi, then? Sun Wenyuan’s cousin?
What was she like?
Was she the graceful woman in white who’d danced with him, delicate as a white orchid? Or was she a shrew like Sun Wenyuan?
If he married her one day, would he treat me better—or Sun Wenyuan?
Did he know how Sun Wenyuan had tormented me?
Could they have arranged it beforehand? Had he given her permission?
He knew perfectly well that we hated each other. Why had he made me serve them? Had he wanted to help her get revenge?
The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Beneath the anger, anxiety grew.
“What’s wrong? Do you really have feelings for him?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Look at you. Your mind’s miles away. Didn’t I just say that if it were settled, it wouldn’t have dragged on for three years? Perhaps something happened. They might have broken up already.”
I hurriedly pulled myself out of those miserable, frightening thoughts.
“You’re reading too much into it,” I said, trying to sound composed. “I’m not discussing this anymore. The more I explain, the worse you’ll make it sound.”
Ji Feiyang was waiting at the hotel entrance when we returned. The lights fell across his serious face.
Weiwei took the hint and quickly disappeared.
“Go and get some sleep.”
Instead of lecturing me, he simply gave the instruction and turned to leave.
“Were you waiting for me? Did you come out here in the cold just to wait for me?”
My voice was quiet, but every word was clear. Under the lights, my breath rose in small white clouds.
He looked back.
“Yes.”
“Because you’d have to answer to my family if anything happened to me?”
He nodded.
His answer hurt.
Then the hurt turned to anger.
Everything he did for me was because of Big Brother and my sister. None of it had anything to do with me.
“Don’t bother next time. Nobody in the Tang family cares about me anymore. You needn’t go to all this trouble.”
“What’s got into you?”
“I’m an employee, and you’re the general manager. I’m not a child. From now on, just treat me as you would any other employee. That’s all I am.”
He looked at me in confusion.
I wanted to ask whether he’d allowed Sun Wenyuan to bully me that day.
In the end, I couldn’t.
If he said yes, how was I supposed to face him?
If he said no—if he hadn’t even known she’d bullied me—I would only humiliate myself by telling him.
After standing there for a moment, I turned and walked away.
Every step felt heavy.
Back in my room, I closed the door. Tears threatened again.
What was wrong with me?
Why couldn’t I control myself anymore?
Why did every little thing make me cry?