Chapter 32: Who’s Really Out?

The next day, Yao Jia had a day off. When she returned to work on the third day, Lin Qian greeted her with a serious expression. “The customer you dealt with during your night shift insists on filing a complaint against you.”

She advised Yao Jia, “Try calling him back and talk it over. Convince him to withdraw the complaint. Otherwise, your performance review this month will definitely be at the bottom.”

Yao Jia felt helpless. Despite her frustration, she didn’t even know what she had done wrong. But in the face of the existing system and unreasonable rules, who would care about right or wrong?

She had no choice but to try reaching out to the gruff-voiced man from the previous night. His phone was no longer turned off, but as expected, he showed her no mercy. He said he no longer wanted a refund; he just wanted to complain about her. He insisted on it because she had caused him to lose sleep, and he had to take several heart pills. Since he didn’t sleep well, he wouldn’t let her off easily.

Even Lin Qian had to step in, personally pleading on Yao Jia’s behalf. Yet, no matter how skilled Lin Qian was at emotional persuasion, the man remained unmoved and firm in his decision to file a complaint against Yao Jia.

Eventually, even Lin Qian was at a loss.

After hanging up, she comforted Yao Jia, “There are still two days until the review. Don’t lose hope; maybe something will change.”

Yao Jia smiled and thanked Lin Qian for her kindness.

But she knew that even Lin Qian probably didn’t believe there would be a change.

Yao Jia began to look at her desk. Since bringing personal items into the call center was not allowed, her desk was bare. Leaving would be easy; she could just stand up and go without any fuss.

She remembered the bet everyone made, wondering whether she or Meng Xingzhe would be the first to leave. She had even bet 200 yuan that Meng Xingzhe would be the one to go.

Now it seemed she was losing both the bet and her job. She would leave, and lose that 200 yuan too.

What should she do next?

Should she ask her father to secretly help resolve this crisis?

No, absolutely not. She had promised to rely on herself for three months. If she needed her father’s protection, what would be the point of continuing for the next two months?

Go home? To see her father’s mocking face and hear her mother’s disappointed sighs? To face their “I told you so” expressions?

Just the thought of it suffocated her.

But if she didn’t go home, where could she go?

She desperately wanted her parents’ approval. She had persisted for almost a month, showing a determination that was unlike her usual laid-back self.

She used to be so lazy and passive, never sticking with anything for more than a few days. Nothing had ever kept her engaged daily. Except for drawing, which she did the longest, but even then, she hadn’t picked up a brush since joining Kunyu.

Only this time, working as a customer service representative, she persisted. She went to work every day, clocked in, answered calls, held back her temper, and refrained from arguing with customers. She kept her emotions in check, never venting after hanging up. She diligently did the same thing every day, with effort and focus, something she had never done before.

But now, she couldn’t continue this job.

For the first time, she had worked so hard at something, and now she wasn’t allowed to do it anymore.

Yao Jia lowered her head, her eyes unfocused as she stared at her desk. Her vision inexplicably blurred.

She blinked hard, trying to clear the moisture. Except for when her grandfather passed away, she hadn’t cried since.

She wouldn’t allow herself to shed tears over something so trivial.

Nearby, Meng Xingzhe’s voice broke the silence.

“Giving up already? That’s not like you, little contrarian.”

Yao Jia sniffed, drawing in all the moisture from her eyes and nose. She wouldn’t give him the chance to mock her!

With less than two days left, she might as well reveal her true self and see how he could still mock her!

Yao Jia sniffed, lifted her head, and looked at Meng Xingzhe.

The moment their eyes met, two voices spoke simultaneously—

“Do you know who I am?!”

“Don’t you find it suspicious?”

Both voices fell silent, then spoke again at the same time:

“Suspicious?”

“What?”

Yao Jia said, “You first. What’s suspicious?”

Meng Xingzhe raised an eyebrow, “You first. What do you mean by ‘do you know who I am’?”

Yao Jia decided to hold back her revelation for now and listen to what Meng Xingzhe had to say.

“I meant, do you know who I am? I’m someone who wouldn’t back down even with a knife to my throat!” she retorted.

“…”

Meng Xingzhe raised an eyebrow, “Still got the spirit to banter, seems like you’re okay. Then I won’t say anything.”

Yao Jia: “…”

“Fine, keep it to yourself.”

Who could hold their breath longer?

As expected, Meng Xingzhe couldn’t hold out.

He leaned to the side, speaking with a mischievous tone, “Aren’t you even a little curious about what’s suspicious? Are you lacking curiosity or just heartless?”

Yao Jia replied, “Then go ahead, tell me what’s suspicious.”

She felt like she was playing the straight man in a comedy duo.

Meng Xingzhe leaned forward and asked, “Our customer service hotline is open 24/7. How many people know about this?”

Yao Jia thought for a moment and said, “Besides the company’s internal employees and their social circles, not many outsiders know.”

Meng Xingzhe asked again, “Would you call a customer service hotline in the middle of the night to inquire about returning an appliance?”

Yao Jia shook her head.

“Then have you considered why this person called in the middle of the night instead of earlier?”

Yao Jia paused, quickly thinking it over.

The early night shift had two people. The late night shift was just her.

A thought began to form, slowly taking shape in her mind.

If you call in the first half of the night, you might not know who will pick up. But if you call in the second half, without a doubt, it will be her who answers!

This was a targeted attack aimed directly at her, intended to result in a complaint against her.

So whether she provided good service or not, even if she agreed the previous night to let that old man return the main product while keeping the gift, he would surely find another reason to get angry and blame her, resulting in a complaint against her!

“Is someone deliberately trying to get me a complaint?” Yao Jia’s eyes widened as she glared at Meng Xingzhe.

“At least you’re not completely clueless,” Meng Xingzhe replied with disdain.

“Who is so determined to get me a complaint? Who wants me to fail my evaluation and leave?” Yao Jia stared at Meng Xingzhe. “Is it you?”

Meng Xingzhe nearly fell off his swivel chair.

“I was wrong, you are completely clueless! No, you have absolutely no brains at all, your head is empty! If it were me, would I be guiding you to suspect me? Are you crazy, or am I?”

“…” Yao Jia fell silent.

She had spoken without thinking, her mouth moving faster than her brain.

As break time arrived, Tian Huasheng rushed over like a rocket to comfort Yao Jia. “Jia, I heard someone is dead set on complaining about you. I always felt like someone is deliberately targeting you, choosing the times when you’re the only one on duty to strike. Who hates you so much that they’d want you gone?”

Yao Jia turned to look at Tian Huasheng, her mouth slightly open.

That guy really was sharp.

Beside them, Meng Xingzhe said, “See? Xiao Tiantian’s intelligence is miles ahead of yours. He figured it out without any hints.”

Yao Jia tried to look ashamed and humbly asked, “So, Teacher Meng, who do you think is so eager to see me gone?”

Tian Huasheng also chimed in, “Yeah, who is it?”

Meng Xingzhe chuckled, “You really have no idea who it could be?”

Yao Jia and Tian Huasheng simultaneously looked toward Tong Yumo on the other side of the hallway.

******

But Meng Xingzhe told Yao Jia and Tian Huasheng that they might be looking in the wrong direction this time.

He asked Yao Jia to pull up the caller’s purchase information from the previous night on the computer.

After glancing at the screen, Meng Xingzhe nodded knowingly.

“Just as I thought. Take a close look at the delivery address,” he told them.

Yao Jia and Tian Huasheng leaned in to look at the computer screen.

Tian Huasheng read the address aloud in his high-pitched voice: “——×× City, ×× District, Neighbor Alley Parcel Locker.”

Yao Jia and Tian Huasheng raised their heads, their large eyes filled with confusion.

“?” Meng Xingzhe looked incredulous. “You haven’t noticed any clues?” His look of surprise suggested that anyone who hadn’t figured it out was a complete fool.

“???” Yao Jia and Tian Huasheng honestly shook their heads.

Meng Xingzhe looked speechless, as if he had never encountered two people so dense, almost wanting to take back his earlier praise of Tian Huasheng.

He pointed at the screen.

Tian Huasheng exclaimed, “Wow, your fingers are so long! You should play the piano or the violin!”

“…” Yao Jia thought this kid must have majored in being a fangirl at university.

…But he wasn’t wrong. Meng Xingzhe’s fingers were indeed long, well-proportioned, and aesthetically pleasing…

That finger tapped impatiently on the screen. “Can you two pay attention to what I’m pointing at?”

Yao Jia saw he was pointing at the words “Neighbor Alley” in the address.

She turned to look at Meng Xingzhe.

Meng Xingzhe looked back at her.

“…?” So what? What’s with these words??

Meng Xingzhe was almost out of breath with frustration. “I’m really impressed with you two. Even with this much of a hint, you can’t make the connection? Are you as smart as elementary school kids?”

Elementary school-level Yao Jia couldn’t take it anymore: “Are you going to tell us or not? Forget it, if you won’t say, we won’t ask. Let it suffocate you!”

Meng Xingzhe took a deep breath, glaring at her fiercely, but seeing her stubbornly lift her chin, his heart skipped a beat, and his fierce glare softened.

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he spoke.

“Do you remember—Yao Jia, after you first argued with an unreasonable customer over the phone and got criticized in the Morning Meeting, what happened when you went to the break room?”

Yao Jia quickly recalled.

That day in the break room, Hao Lidan and Hou Wenwen had deliberately belittled her and praised Tong Yumo in front of Cao Chun.

So if it wasn’t Tong Yumo, then it must be—

“Is it Hao Lidan or Hou Wenwen behind this complaint call?”

They never liked her anyway, and doing this would both satisfy themselves and avenge their protégé, Tong Yumo.

Tian Huasheng immediately agreed, “I also think they’re very suspicious!”

Meng Xingzhe looked almost despairing.

“Your intelligence isn’t just a pit; it’s a black hole!” Meng Xingzhe felt like he needed oxygen. “Let me ask you, besides them, who else was present at the time?”

Yao Jia thought for a moment and then remembered, “There was also Min Qingxia!”

Yes, when she and Meng Xingzhe and Tian Huasheng entered the break room, Min Qingxia was chatting with Hao Lidan, Hou Wenwen, and Tong Yumo.

“Do we remember what Min Qingxia and the others were talking about when we went in?” Meng Xingzhe asked.

Tian Huasheng thought for a long time and shook his head.

Yao Jia tried hard to pull her memories back to that day. When they walked in, it seemed they were talking about food… like roast duck… they seemed to be planning a little feast… Min Qingxia seemed to be saying:

“Hey, the roast duck sold at the alley near our house is especially delicious. How about I pack one tomorrow, and we skip the cafeteria for lunch and have roast duck together?”

The alley near the house.

Yao Jia’s eyes suddenly lit up.

The troublemaker was Min Qingxia.

******

Once the key point was grasped, all the fog instantly cleared, and everything beneath it became crystal clear.

All along, Yao Jia thought her competitor for the last place elimination was Meng Xingzhe. She believed it was a life-and-death struggle between the two of them since they were the ones who had consecutively ranked last. With this mindset, she never considered another possibility—that the newcomer who was second to last also felt a crisis no less than theirs.

And that second-to-last colleague was Min Qingxia.

Looking back from the current complaint incident.

The time Yao Jia hung up the phone and cursed in the office area, Tong Yumo said her phone fell into a basin of water and broke. The next day, Yao Jia verified this with Hao Lidan and Hou Wenwen, and it was indeed the case.

So she didn’t know who recorded and reported her.

But now, the mystery became clear—Min Qingxia was just one workstation away from Tong Yumo, and her position was quite close to Yao Jia, just across an aisle and three workstations.

She could have recorded Yao Jia’s cursing clearly and directed suspicion towards Tong Yumo, Hao Lidan, and Hou Wenwen.

Everything connected seamlessly.

From the beginning, the second-to-last Min Qingxia, worried about being surpassed by the two who were last, had been playing tricks on Yao Jia.

Yao Jia was shocked at how such deep-seated scheming could grow in this small world.

She was so surprised that she couldn’t speak for a while.

It turned out that malice doesn’t only come from mutual dislike in daily interactions. She hadn’t even had much contact or conversation with Min Qingxia. It turned out that malice could simply stem from a ruthless desire to win in competition.

One thing puzzled Yao Jia: “Why did she target only me and not you? You’re also last!”

She asked Meng Xingzhe.

Meng Xingzhe raised an eyebrow, “Do I have any weaknesses for her to exploit? No. But you’re full of thorns, which means you’re full of weaknesses.”

Yao Jia fell silent.

“As they say, flies don’t land on seamless eggs,” Meng Xingzhe added.

“…” Yao Jia wanted to make Meng Xingzhe speechless. Completely speechless.

Tian Huasheng sighed for a while, then pointed out a key issue, “Now that we know the troublemaker is related to Min Qingxia, how do we prove it? Only by proving that this complaint was maliciously made by an insider can Jia clear her name!”

Yao Jia nodded.

Meng Xingzhe, with a look of calculated cunning, said to them, “Proving this can’t be done at the company. We’ll handle it when we get back to the dorm tonight.”

His tone was inexplicably reassuring. It was as if everything was under his control, and once they returned to the dorm, he would surely resolve all the issues.

At that moment, Yao Jia found Meng Xingzhe somewhat impressive, even a bit radiant.

******

That evening, back at the dorm, the three gathered in Meng Xingzhe’s room. Meng Xingzhe had soundproof strips on the door, making it more private than either Yao Jia’s or Tian Huasheng’s rooms.

Meng Xingzhe asked Yao Jia if her phone had a recording function. After receiving a positive response, he instructed Yao Jia to call the complainant’s number, then put it on speaker and start recording.

The call connected, and the familiar raspy voice came through the speaker.

“Hello?”

Meng Xingzhe nodded at Tian Huasheng, signaling him to respond.

“Hello? Hi there, Qingxia gave me your number!” Tian Huasheng’s voice, already high-pitched, was pinched even higher, sounding exactly like a young girl’s voice.

The person on the other end responded with a startled, raspy voice, “Oh, you’re Qingxia’s friend? What’s up?”

Tian Huasheng wasn’t sure of the person’s age or their relationship with Min Qingxia, so he avoided using any titles to prevent giving himself away. He simply said, “Could you call Qingxia for me? I can’t seem to reach her on her phone, maybe it’s a signal issue!”

The three held their breath, waiting for the raspy voice’s reply.

“Oh, you’re looking for Qingxia? Sure, she’s at home. I’ll call her for you.”

The three of them silently breathed a sigh of relief.

Then came a loud call, “Qingxia! Your friend is looking for you, the call came to my phone. Come and answer it!”

The three of them tensed up again, ready for what was to come.

Footsteps echoed from afar, gradually approaching, accompanied by a female voice asking, “Who is it, Grandpa? Why did they call you instead of me?”

As the voice faded, Min Qingxia’s voice came through the phone.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Tian Huasheng, fearing he might be exposed, pinched his voice even higher and held his nose to speak. He sounded entirely like a girl with a cold.

“Are you Min Qingxia?” asked the voice, resembling that of a little girl with a cold.

“Yes, I am Min Qingxia. What’s going on? Who are you? Why did you call my grandpa?”

Hearing her admit she was Min Qingxia and mention her connection to the raspy voice, Meng Xingzhe felt they had enough evidence. He signaled an OK to Tian Huasheng.

Tian Huasheng then asked, “Would you like to buy insurance?”

The next second, Min Qingxia rudely hung up the phone.

******

Yao Jia organized the recording and handed it to Lin Qian. She expected Lin Qian to be surprised that a colleague was sabotaging their own team. However, Lin Qian remained calm, as if she had seen such underhanded tactics in the workplace many times before and found nothing unusual about it.

She even said to Yao Jia, “I actually suspected someone was making malicious complaints against you, but I couldn’t find any evidence. You did well to clear your name from this false accusation.”

Lin Qian passed the recording to Cao Chun and Li Wangli, and Yao Jia’s malicious complaint was removed the day before the performance review.

The results of the review were surprising. Neither Yao Jia nor Meng Xingzhe were at the bottom; they both ranked in the middle, far from the elimination line, and were quite safe.

The last place in the performance review went to Min Qingxia, who packed her things and went home with a gloomy expression.

Yao Jia initially wanted to confront her about the sabotage and make it public. Lin Qian stopped her.

“Leave some room for others; it makes future encounters easier,” Lin Qian advised. “I’m not telling you to be a saint, but Min Qingxia has her own hardships. Her father passed away long ago, her mother has been ill and unable to work for years, and she also has to support her grandfather, who was injured early on and struggles to speak. She desperately needs a job and a salary to support her family.”

After a moment of silence, Yao Jia said, “I sympathize with her situation, but I can’t accept her actions. No one should harm others because of their own suffering!”

Lin Qian smiled wryly, “You’re right, but the world doesn’t run on principles; it runs on human relationships. She’s not inherently bad; she’s driven by circumstances. If you give her a chance, she’ll be grateful. If you insist on having the company note her actions on her resignation letter, it will make it very difficult for her to find another job. In that case, the malice in her heart might grow faster.”

Yao Jia thought that although she couldn’t fully accept Lin Qian’s words yet, she was willing to listen. She promised Lin Qian not to make the incident public and not to affect Min Qingxia’s chances of finding another job.

Yao Jia felt that in the month since joining Kunyu, she had grown and matured a bit. It was her first experience with such convoluted workplace politics. She shed some of her naivety and learned a bit about the ways of the world, but she still wanted to stay true to herself—the passionate, justice-driven, slightly rebellious self.

On the day the performance review results were announced, Yao Jia asked Meng Xingzhe at the adjacent desk, “Do you still stick to your principle of not helping others?”

“I do.”

“Then why did you help me this time?”

“I didn’t help you. I just couldn’t stand how clueless you were, with the clues right in front of you, yet you couldn’t figure anything out.”

Yao Jia laughed. This person was clearly changing, but his stubbornness was as hard as a dead duck’s beak.

The bets about “who would eliminate whom between Yao Jia and Meng Xingzhe” were about to be settled.

Tian Huasheng approached Yao Jia and Meng Xingzhe, holding the little notebook where he had recorded the bets.

Those who had placed bets gathered around Tian Huasheng, bombarding him with questions.

Did anyone win?

Probably not, right?

Because initially, people bet on either “Yao Jia eliminating Meng Xingzhe” or “Meng Xingzhe eliminating Yao Jia.”

Who would have thought that the one eliminated in the end was Min Qingxia?

Tian Huasheng flipped through the notebook, reaching what seemed to be an important page, then dramatically slapped it on the table, announcing, “Everyone lost, except Brother Meng! All the money goes to Brother Meng!”

The crowd erupted in surprise, and even Yao Jia widened her eyes in astonishment.

Everyone leaned in to see the notebook.

Yao Jia, being the closest, saw the words Tian Huasheng had written while muttering, “I’ll write Brother Meng’s bet in the notebook without showing you”:

[Brother Meng said: Neither Yao Jia nor I will be eliminated.]

Yao Jia’s heart skipped a beat.

No wonder when she had asked Tian Huasheng, “Do you think it was Meng Xingzhe who reported me with the recording?” Tian Huasheng had replied so decisively, “No! Absolutely not!”

She lifted her head and looked at Meng Xingzhe.

He still had that usual air of arrogance, a bit unruly yet undeniably handsome from every angle.

But there seemed to be something different about him.

What was it?

Suddenly, he glanced at her through the crowd.

— Translator’s Notes —

– flies don’t land on seamless eggs: A Chinese idiom meaning that flaws or problems only affect those who have vulnerabilities; a seamless egg has no cracks for flies to lay eggs in.

– as hard as a dead duck’s beak: A Chinese idiom comparing someone to a duck that remains stubborn (with a hard beak) even after death, emphasizing unyielding obstinacy.