Chapter 71: Attacking the Heart

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated; know yourself but not your enemy, and you will win one and lose one; know neither yourself nor your enemy, and you will be defeated in every battle.

——

"The Art of War: Attack by Stratagem"

Gu Liyan felt that this time, he had failed to keep his cool.

He had not expected that he would have such a huge reaction over such a little girl.

After smoking a few cigarettes and letting the wind blow on him on the bridge for a while, his mood gradually calmed down.

And once he was calm, the thoughts of giving up or the feelings of regret from just a moment ago were now completely gone.

Someone he, Gu Liyan, had set his sights on, and he wanted to give up? Impossible!

Gu Liyan felt that he could not be impatient; since Zhou Xiaoru was so repulsed by him now, he would change his strategy in the future.

Since a direct attack wouldn't work, he would retreat to advance!

He was going on a business trip to W City for three days next week, so he had plenty of time.

On the other side, Zhou Xiaoru had been so conflicted that she stayed up until dawn, yet she still didn't go to find Gu Liyan.

A chicken visiting a weasel's house to see relatives...

Would she even have her life left to return? I'm afraid not even a chicken feather would be left in the end!

Regarding the matter of her wages, the others in the dormitory all gave a unified opinion.

Jiang Bufan and the others all believed that Zhou Xiaoru was overreacting a bit, and perhaps Gu Liyan just wanted her to soften her stance.

As long as she acted a bit weaker, the handsome Gu might just have a change of heart and pay her the wages.

Zhou Xiaoru herself also thought carefully about the scenes of meeting Gu Liyan recently.

It seemed like every time she looked for him, it was either to ask him for something, or to ask him for something.

And every time she saw him, she was like a hedgehog, regardless of anything else, she would just prick him fiercely!

She decided to accept the advice of Jiang Bufan and the others; she had to act weak and not be like a tough guy all day long.

That way, she wouldn't be able to get her wages!

If she couldn't reach an agreement this time, she would apply for labor arbitration!

Nowadays, labor laws protect poor people like her who can't get their wages back.

She wasn't afraid!

In the blink of an eye, a new week began again.

The closer they got to graduation, the busier everyone seemed to be.

Jiang Bufan had already found a tutoring job, helping a boy who was about to enter his third year of high school with his studies.

The daily pay was calculated by the hour, three hours every night at thirty yuan an hour; this income was very substantial.

This way, she also had time to take other courses and prepare for the postgraduate entrance exam in the second half of the year.

Xiao Lan was also shuttling back and forth between her internship company and school every day, busy beyond measure.

Yao Xiang, who didn't want to be idle, had also recently found a part-time job to earn some extra money, hoping to treat Zhou Xiaoru and the others to a big meal when they graduated.

And Zhou Xiaoru, who had been on a week's leave for the so-called purpose of going home to attend a funeral, after getting on the bus that she had to squeeze into every day...

Had a feeling as if a lifetime had passed!

Because she had taken the leave under the pretext of her grandmother passing away again.

For this reason, she specifically called her father yesterday and asked her old man to buy some spirit money to burn for her grandmother at her grave.

Her father was very strange at first, wondering why she would make such a request out of the blue.

Not to mention Zhou Xiaoru, even her father had never met his own mother.

Zhou Xiaoru's grandmother had passed away from illness when her father was very, very young.

Therefore, regarding Zhou Xiaoru's sudden suggestion to buy spirit money to go to the old grandmother's grave, Zhou Baba was somewhat stunned and also felt a bit creeped out.

He even thought something had happened to Zhou Xiaoru away from home.

And Zhou Xiaoru's explanation for this was that she had dreamed of her grandmother, who said she was short of money on the other side, and asked her, as her granddaughter, to burn some money for her.

As soon as Zhou Baba heard this, he believed it implicitly and almost got up in the middle of the night to buy spirit money to visit the grave.

Zhou Xiaoru was so afraid her father wouldn't believe her that she specifically chose to call him in the middle of the night.

It must be said, calling one's own father in the middle of the night to say that her grandmother had visited her in a dream...

That really takes the cake...

Zhou Xiaoru actually just wanted some peace of mind; she felt that although she had never met her grandmother, using such a reason to ask for leave was immoral.

Her grandmother hadn't done anything wrong, so why was she being exploited by that god-forsaken man?

She silently prayed in her heart, telling her grandmother not to blame her, and if she really wanted to blame someone, she should go find that guy Gu Liyan.

It was he who concocted such a lie, so it couldn't all be blamed on her.

She planned to wait until noon to ask Gu Liyan to meet on the rooftop of the Tengyuan Building for a showdown!

Today, she must get her wages!

After returning to the company, sure enough, colleagues in the Personnel Department, and even those from the Administrative Department next door, all came to express their condolences.

This made her feel very awkward for a time.

She couldn't act too relaxed and carefree, and still had to pretend to be dejected and sad...

This was truly a test of her acting skills!

Finally, after enduring the whole morning, a few minutes before lunch, Zhou Xiaoru hurriedly escaped from the Personnel Department office.

She was really afraid that she would have to accept condolences from her Supervisor, Mao Mao, in a moment.

However, things went against her wishes; Wen Guangmao was already waiting outside their office.

Seeing her come out, he called her directly into the Personnel Department Supervisor's office.

She had originally thought Wen Guangmao would also say something to comfort her, but he did not.

Wen Guangmao had called her over to give instructions regarding a business trip tomorrow.

He told her to gather outside the building at seven o'clock tomorrow morning and depart together with the other colleagues.

Mao Mao also said that her contract for permanent employment had been filed, and starting next month, she would be an official employee of Tengyuan.

And Zhou Xiaoru clearly sensed that this fellow Mao Mao, after telling her about the permanent employment, had a look of obvious ambiguity in his eyes behind his thick spectacle lenses.

Now, in the eyes of this Supervisor, her relationship with Gu Liyan was so deep that even if she jumped into the Atlantic Ocean, she could not wash it clean.

By the time she left the Supervisor's office, it was already past lunchtime.

She had originally wanted to ask Gu Liyan to the rooftop to talk, but at this moment, for some reason, seeing Mao Mao's face just now, she didn't want to go anymore.

After returning to the office, she unexpectedly saw another person inside.

And what was strange was that colleagues ABCD, who usually vanished the moment it was lunchtime, were all still there today.

And the person surrounded by this group was Du Feng, who had come carrying lunch boxes.

At this moment, everyone seemed to be chatting about something.

Seeing her enter, everyone hurriedly greeted her, speaking all at once...

"Xiaoru, you're back! Come quickly, come quickly, Du Feng has come to bring you lunch."

"Xiaoru, you're too mean, getting a boyfriend and not even telling us."

"That's right, that's right, you're not being a good friend at all; we're all in the same company, yet you kept it so secret."

Zhou Xiaoru looked dazed as she received the news coming from all directions.

Boyfriend... someone in the company...

She frowned and looked at the person sitting at her desk.

At this time, Du Feng was looking at her with a gentle smile in his eyes.

Seeing her return, he also stood up.

"Xiaoru, you're back. I've come to bring you lunch."

Zhou Xiaoru's expression was currently shifting as she glanced at the several lunch boxes on the table and the groups of people gathered around.

For the first time, she felt she could not quite approve of Du Feng's methods and behavior.

Although on Friday night, she had not denied the matter of being his girlfriend and had even admitted it in front of Gu Liyan.

But at the time, it was merely a delaying tactic in front of Gu Liyan!

She had not agreed to let him say they were boyfriend and girlfriend in the company, let alone in front of her colleagues in the department.

This had not been done with her consent; she was even extremely repulsed by it.

To save his face, Zhou Xiaoru did not lash out on the surface; she merely put on an act, shooing the other people in the office who were watching the spectacle to hurry up and go eat.

After everyone left with the same ambiguous looks as Wen Guangmao,

Zhou Xiaoru finally dropped the smile she had been deliberately maintaining.

She did think Du Feng was a decent person, but only as a friend; she was truly very unhappy with his current way of acting first and reporting later.

Du Feng had already sensed the change in her mood at the very first moment, and just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, he was interrupted by Zhou Xiaoru.

Zhou Xiaoru said bluntly, "Du Feng, don't come to bring me lunch anymore in the future."

She did not speak directly about the boyfriend matter, but she knew that with Du Feng's intelligence, the meaning of her saying this was self-evident.

Du Feng looked at the change in her expression and walked over, saying,

"What's wrong? Are you angry?"

He did not deny that there was an element of acting first and reporting later involved.

Zhou Xiaoru did not want to beat around the bush with him either, and looking him straight in the eye, she said,

"Du Feng! I don't like this way of doing things, and I am even extremely repulsed by it. I didn't expose you in front of others just now because I was considering your face. Please don't do this again in the future. I am very grateful for your righteous help before, but I have also said that I will solve my own problems. I respect you as a friend, but please respect me."

She had a vague feeling that Du Feng was not like Gu Liyan; although Gu Liyan would also scheme against her, he did not give one the feeling of being calculating and setting a trap for others to walk into, as Du Feng did.

She felt she was walking into a trap that Du Feng had designed for her.

Yet, after doing these things, he would always face her with a harmless and clear-conscienced look.

This forced her to re-examine this person.

But deep down, she did not want to think of Du Feng as someone who was scheming and deeply devious.

Everyone had their own schemes, but if one took those schemes and used them on people, that was a different matter entirely.

She would rather her feeling be wrong than believe Du Feng was that kind of person.

And after hearing this, the smile and tenderness on Du Feng's face gradually faded away.

After staring for a long while at the person in front of him, whose clear eyes were fixed on him, he dropped one sentence.

"I'm sorry."

Then he left the Personnel Department office...

Seeing him leave, Zhou Xiaoru could not help but feel remorseful, wondering if she had spoken too harshly just now.

At this moment, she was again thinking on Du Feng's behalf.

He hadn't done anything heinous; how could she use him when she needed him and then burn the bridge once she didn't?

She was truly a person even more despicable than Gu Liyan!

After thinking it over, she decided to send a message to Du Feng; no matter what, even between friends, there was no need to be so serious.

Only, Zhou Xiaoru did not yet know that her premonition was not entirely wrong.

Before long, she would discover the other side of Du Feng...