Bi Sheng Lin never expected Mai Ding to come looking for Ji Meng. He straightened his clothes, put on an ingratiating smile, and even his voice seemed to change. “Manager Ji, you’re still working this late? You should get some rest too.” Ji Meng’s attitude was always neither particularly warm nor particularly cold. “Aren’t you still at the company yourself?”
“I have something to deal with. This employee from Public Relations has sticky fingers. He stole something from me, a USB drive. Have you seen it?” Bi Sheng Lin spoke with righteous indignation while carefully watching Ji Meng’s expression. As far as he knew, Ji Meng never took anyone’s side and only concerned herself with her own department. Ji Meng turned her gaze to Mai Ding. “Why exactly did you hand me something you stole?” Mai Ding froze. What An Zi Yan had given him might really have been stolen, just as Bi Sheng Lin said. Naturally, Mai Ding would never admit it and expose An Zi Yan. “I only happened to find a USB drive. I didn’t know Manager Bi was the owner.”
“I’m a manager. You think I’d falsely accuse you? Who do you think you are?” With Ji Meng present, Bi Sheng Lin kept his temper under control. But no matter what he said, Mai Ding stubbornly refused to admit anything. Bi Sheng Lin had no intention of wasting more time on him and turned to Ji Meng. “He gave the USB drive to you, didn’t he?” Ji Meng toyed with the tiny drive between her fingers. “You mean this?” The moment Bi Sheng Lin saw it, he relaxed and smiled broadly. “I assume Manager Ji will return it to me. It’s my personal property. I don’t know who put this kid up to it, but I’m sure Manager Ji has no interest in getting involved in this sort of thing.” His wording was deliberately vague, testing her. Rumors about An Zi Yan and Ji Meng had circulated at the company not long ago. Bi Sheng Lin did not believe them, and suspected An Zi Yan might even have planted the rumor himself to make people think Ji Meng was on his side, but Bi Sheng Lin still had to be cautious. Mai Ding also looked at Ji Meng pleadingly, hoping she would help.
Ji Meng ignored Mai Ding’s expression and set the USB drive on the desk. “Of course. I have no interest in keeping stolen property. It has nothing to do with me.” Bi Sheng Lin picked it up and slipped it into his bag, the smile in his eyes deepening. “Manager Ji has done me a huge favor. I’ll remember it. Would you like to have dinner together?”
“No, I still have work to do.”
Mai Ding refused to accept it. Forgetting his position in the company, he actually tried to rush forward and grab the USB drive back, but Ji Meng stopped him. “Don’t make trouble in my office.” Bi Sheng Lin gave Mai Ding a cold, triumphant look. “Then I won’t disturb Manager Ji any longer. I’ll be going.” He turned toward the elevator. The doors opened, and An Zi Yan stepped out. The two men passed each other without so much as a glance, as though nothing had ever happened between them.
An Zi Yan’s breathing was slightly faster than usual, almost too subtle to notice. He did not look at Ji Meng or ask about the USB drive. He only looked at Mai Ding. “Hey, you okay?” Mai Ding shook his head, looking as though he might cry. “Manager Bi took the USB drive. I wanted to help you, but the thing you trusted me with…”
“Enough. Don’t worry about something that unimportant.”
“How can it be unimportant? There had to be something important on that USB drive.”
“Nothing is that important.” Without warning, An Zi Yan leaned close to Mai Ding’s ear. “Except you.” The line was far too deliberate. He was comforting him. Mai Ding had ruined everything, yet An Zi Yan was comforting him regardless of place or time. His heart still jumped, but that did nothing to ease the guilt. Maybe when he realized Ji Meng would not help, he should have taken the USB drive and left. Mai Ding hooked his thumb against his middle finger. “But what if…”
“I only asked you to hand the USB drive to Ji Meng. You did that.”
“What good is that if Manager Bi took it back?” Mai Ding said miserably. Ji Meng’s eyes moved between Mai Ding and An Zi Yan. It did not take her long to guess the nature of their relationship. She crossed one leg over the other and tapped the desk lightly with the tip of her shoe. “This is Finance. Why don’t the two of you go back to Public Relations if you want to flirt?”
“We’re not…”
“Not my business.” Ji Meng raised a hand to cut him off. Fu Shu really did know how to keep his mouth shut. He had never revealed An Zi Yan’s private affairs, not even to her. A faint smile appeared at the corner of Ji Meng’s mouth. She admired that way of doing things. She herself would never reveal everything about Finance to Fu Shu just because they had feelings for each other. Still, An Zi Yan did not seem particularly interested in hiding anything from her.
An Zi Yan’s attitude was the complete opposite of Mai Ding’s. He ignored Ji Meng’s comment and caught Mai Ding by the wrist. “Keep the thing safe for me for now.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.”
“How are you so sure I’ll help you?”
An Zi Yan shrugged. With his back to Ji Meng, he kept walking without slowing down. “Because I’m better-looking than that old fox Cui, I guess.” Ji Meng gave a short laugh behind him and rested her chin on her slender fingers. She had always rated An Zi Yan rather highly. Now she realized she had still underestimated him.
Ji Meng turned back to her computer and moved the files she had copied from the USB drive into a more hidden location. In fact, the moment Mai Ding had handed her the drive and she placed both hands near the computer, she had quietly plugged it in and copied the contents while Bi Sheng Lin was distracted. She had fooled Mai Ding too, so he would not accidentally give anything away. Fortunately, his presence had kept much of Bi Sheng Lin’s attention occupied.
She did not think any further about An Zi Yan and Mai Ding. It truly was none of her business.
To Mai Ding, the conversation they had just had sounded like an alien language. What were they talking about? Hadn’t Ji Meng given the USB drive to Manager Bi? Even in the elevator, An Zi Yan still had not released his wrist. Mai Ding peeled his fingers away and pulled free. “What if someone sees? Things are already bad enough. Manager Ji seems to have figured us out. If she reports us, I’ll probably be the one transferred off to some remote outpost.”
“It doesn’t matter if she knows.”
“But just now…”
“Relax. She’s much smarter than you.” Could nobody simply explain it to him? Had Ji Meng somehow happened to have an identical USB drive in her drawer and swapped them? There was no way the coincidence could be that perfect. Mai Ding thought until his head hurt and finally gave up. He pouted unhappily. “Fine, fine. She’s smarter than me. Of course I can’t compare with her. She’s the Finance manager and an executive’s precious daughter. And who am I? A nobody at the company whose name people can barely remember.” An Zi Yan watched him sulk and the corner of his mouth curved upward. He caught Mai Ding’s wrist again. “Can’t help it. My judgment is terrible, and I still ended up taking a nameless little employee like you by the hand.”
“That doesn’t sound nice at all. Let go! I told you someone might see us!” Mai Ding struggled again, but An Zi Yan wore a teasing expression and refused to release him so easily. Mai Ding shook his wrist in every direction, muttering useless threats. As he went on, the smile he was trying to hide slowly spread across both his eyes and his mouth.