The next morning, Mai Ding unexpectedly ran into An Zi Yan at the entrance of the company. They woke up at different times and used different ways of getting to work, so arriving together felt almost like a beautiful, accidental encounter. They entered the elevator side by side without speaking, their relationship looking even worse than that of ordinary coworkers. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, Ji Meng arrived. Someone inside held the doors for her and everyone shifted aside to make room. Their attentiveness toward Ji Meng was not only because she managed the Finance Department. Mai Ding had only learned the other reason after seeing her the other day and casually mentioning her to Guo Ping. According to Guo Ping, Ji Meng was divorced and had no children. Naturally, anyone capable of managing Finance was no ordinary person. She was highly accomplished in her own right, and she was also the daughter of one of the company’s executives. That was why not only ordinary employees but even some managers from other departments competed to curry favor with her.
The moment Ji Meng stepped inside, she noticed An Zi Yan leaning against the elevator wall. Her expression did not change. She was a rational, mature woman, not some young girl who lost her head at the sight of a handsome man.
“It’s rare to run into you at this hour.” There was a trace of mockery in her tone, and with good reason. Ji Meng usually arrived at work punctually and had never once encountered An Zi Yan at this time. An Zi Yan ignored the sarcasm. “Have coffee with me after work.” His tone was completely ordinary. Everyone else in the elevator looked at him in surprise. Was he asking her on a date? Mai Ding stared only at Ji Meng’s reaction. I’m not jealous. Even if Ji Meng is different from those girls at school, I’m still not jealous.
Mai Ding knew perfectly well that An Zi Yan would never be brazen enough to cheat right in front of him, but emotion always enjoyed defeating reason. Even knowing nothing was going on between them, that irritating sourness still spread through his chest. Ji Meng only smiled briefly. Unlike the women under her, she did not look shy or excited by An Zi Yan’s invitation. “Are you talking to me?”
“Who else?”
“What a cold attitude for asking a woman out.” Ji Meng turned slightly sideways, pinched An Zi Yan’s suit lapel between her thumb and forefinger, and slowly slid them down the edge. “You could easily get rejected like that.” An Zi Yan watched the elevator numbers change. “I don’t think you like enthusiastic men.” Ji Meng’s hand stopped, and the amusement at the corners of her eyes deepened. When the elevator doors opened, her slender fingers patted An Zi Yan’s chest. Leaning close to his ear, she murmured, “I also don’t like men who want to drag me into muddy water.” The corner of An Zi Yan’s mouth lifted faintly. He said nothing and stepped out. Mai Ding followed him. As the elevator doors slowly closed, Ji Meng’s still-unenthusiastic voice drifted out. “Just send me the address and time. I’ll go there myself.”
They were going to have coffee alone. Mai Ding had no right to interfere or tag along. He knew it was about work, which only made him more annoyed by the jealousy inside himself. An Zi Yan caught sight of Mai Ding’s tightly furrowed little face from the corner of his eye and said unhurriedly, “Did I ever say I was the one having coffee with her?” Mai Ding looked up, eyes full of confusion. “Then who is?”
“Someone else, naturally.”
“How can you not go? I don’t mind!” Mai Ding said anxiously. “Don’t neglect work because of me. I’m only a tiny bit jealous, just a tiny bit. It’s like a girl getting her period. I can’t control it.”
“I only told you I’m not the one drinking coffee with her. I never said it was because of you.” An Zi Yan left him with that sentence and walked away. Mai Ding’s “period” disappeared too.
News of the little episode between An Zi Yan and Ji Meng that morning spread faster than a computer virus. Mai Ding had been sitting down for barely ten minutes when Fan Shao Jun, king of gossip, brought it up. He even began fantasizing about the glorious and beautiful future Public Relations could enjoy if it formed a marriage alliance with Finance. Mai Ding let the rumor grow more exaggerated by the minute. The more everyone believed nonsense like this, the less likely anyone was to notice his real relationship with An Zi Yan.
Judging by what Ji Meng had said, An Zi Yan seemed to be trying to pull her onto his side. But aside from An Zi Yan himself, who could possibly have enough ability to persuade Ji Meng?
At 7:50 that evening, Ji Meng arrived at the café ten minutes early. She was never late and did not like people who were. If An Zi Yan had not appeared by eight, she would leave. The café was quiet, with only two or three customers. Ji Meng watched the clock on the wall. At exactly eight, the door opened. The man who entered was not An Zi Yan, but Ji Meng knew immediately that he was the person she had come to meet. He was the man Mai Ding would have racked his brain trying to guess. His manner was refined and courteous, yet carried an untouchable air of authority. It was difficult not to think of a handsome European aristocrat from a film.
Ji Meng’s fingers moved as though caressing her coffee cup, her expression still neither warm nor cold. “I thought An Zi Yan was going to use his own good looks on me. I didn’t expect him to send another handsome man instead. Should I feel flattered?” Fu Shu sat across from her and smiled without revealing much. “I’m the one who should feel flattered, being called handsome by you.”
“Unfortunately,” she said, stirring her coffee, “I’m not interested in handsome men.” Ji Meng’s ex-husband had been very good-looking too. Perhaps for precisely that reason, he had never lacked women willing to approach him, and eventually Ji Meng’s husband had become the husband of quite a few other women as well. Ji Meng had therefore turned her husband into an ex-husband. She had become thoroughly disappointed in men, especially handsome ones.
“Of course I wouldn’t mind if you were interested in women.”
Ji Meng laughed. “The reason I agreed to come was to make one thing clear. I’m not taking anyone’s side. Keep whatever is happening in Public Relations away from Finance.”
“I think you’ve misunderstood. We only need you to do us a small favor.”
“Oh?” Ji Meng drew the sound out, waiting for Fu Shu to continue.
“Some old Public Relations files have gone missing. I suspect Manager Cui kept certain things himself because they were too private. But no matter what kind of case it was, if money was involved, it would have passed through Finance. We only need to trouble you to look through your department’s old records.”
“That isn’t a small favor.”
“For you, it’s hardly any effort.”
“Do you think I’m stupid? You want me to hand Finance records over to you? Even if An Zi Yan and I work for the same company, that doesn’t mean confidential material can be disclosed whenever he feels like it.”
“If I thought you were stupid, that would only prove I was the stupid one. Of course we don’t want all the records. We’re only asking you to review every document Manager Cui submitted a little more carefully. If anything looks unnatural, all we need is the name of the case. We’ll handle everything else ourselves.”
“After all that, you’re still trying to pull me onto An Zi Yan’s side.”
“Finance won’t be dragged into this.” There was something in Fu Shu’s tone that made people want to trust him. Ji Meng smiled again. “Why should I help you for nothing?”
“I already told you Finance and you personally won’t be dragged into it. And if we really discover that he did something questionable in the past, whether the payment passed through your hands or one of your subordinates’, Finance failed to notice and approved the funds anyway. You wouldn’t want people questioning your department’s competence over something like that, would you? And to thank you, we’ll make sure that part is covered properly too.”
Ji Meng said nothing. The two of them sat in silence for a full two minutes. Then Ji Meng picked up her bag and stood. As she passed behind Fu Shu, she said, “I’ll think about it.” She placed one hand on his shoulder and squeezed the rigid muscles lightly. “Tired?” Leaning closer to his ear, she added, “I think you should get some proper rest.” It was impossible to tell whether Ji Meng meant it as concern or mockery. Fu Shu, like An Zi Yan, had practically grown up under Grandpa’s eyes. From the age of twelve, he had spent nearly all his time following the old man. Now that Grandpa was gone, Fu Shu could only fill the sense of loss inside himself by working desperately. He hid it very well. So how had Ji Meng noticed? The warmth of her fingers still lingered on his shoulder.
“I don’t have enough time to rest. I have work and a child to take care of.” This was no longer business. Ji Meng turned away, hiding her expression from him. “That’s nice. I can’t have children.” She walked calmly out of the café as though she had mentioned something completely insignificant. She was independent enough that she needed no man to rely on. Fu Shu watched her get into her car and continued watching until she drove away.
Fu Shu took out his phone. He kept a large amount of work-related information on it. Before coming, he had already looked into Ji Meng’s background. Now he opened her information again and read through it once more.