Chapter 338: The Guilty Party Files The Suit

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Thank you.” Ruan Danchen did not reject his offer as it was difficult to hail a taxi at this hour. Moreover, it was inappropriate to wait at the roadside for a taxi with her current appearance.

Mu Huaisheng gave her a nod before Cheng Zhengming led Ruan Danchen to the car.

Mu Huaisheng then apologized to his client. “Sorry, she"s a friend.”

“It"s okay, I can understand.” His client nodded. Both of them noticed Xu Haode returned to his room after coming out, and they figured Ruan Danchen got the short end of the stick from Xu Haode just now.

They understood what she just went through.

Chen Zhengming and Ruan Danchen met a woman on their way down the staircase leading out of Shengyue.

Shen Zhijing.

Ruan Danchen recognized her even though it had been seven years since she last saw Shen Zhijing.

Ruan Danchen knew Shen Zhijing worked as a general manager in a property company under the Shen family. Shen Zhijing turned thirty-one years old this year, currently unmarried and not engaged as well. She knew this when she last called Liu Ronghua.

The effect of dissolving an engagement by the Qi family remained after all these years. Shen Zhijing"s pregnancy was a fraud and she disappeared into thin air after the commotion, which brought a disastrous effect on her reputation. No family dared to let Shen Zhijing be their daughter-in-law.

The Qi family disallowed any form of contact with the Shen family after the incident. Even though the Qi family did not confront the Shen family directly, they refused all possible business cooperation with the Shen family. The Qi family would not invite the Shen family for any of their banquets, and if other families invited the Shen family for their respective banquet, the Qi family refused to attend no matter how reputed the organizer was.

Thus, none would offend the Qi family for the Shen family, and eventually none would invite the Shen family to any banquet that the Qi family would attend. The problem was that the Qi family was invited to nearly all the banquets. Thus, the consequence was that the Shen family was almost kicked out of this social circle.

However, there was no permanent friend or foe in the business field. Business would go on as usual despite the damaged reputation.

Now, Shen Zhijing was accompanied by a client whom Ruan Danchen recognized as the person in charge of the land bidding in Chengxi. She knew the person in charge as he once had a business discussion with Song Yu last time.

Shen Zhijing was stunned when she saw Ruan Danchen. She squinted and stared coldly at Ruan Danchen, never expecting to meet Ruan Danchen again in B City after seven years.

Shen Zhijing was expecting Ruan Danchen had already run off and hid in some deserted place.

Shen Zhijing s.h.i.+fted her gaze to Chen Zhengming. She was familiar with Mu Huaisheng and his a.s.sistant, Chen Zhengming since MU had quite a good reputation in B City.

Chen Zhengming nodded slightly and greeted, “Miss Shen.”

Shen Zhijing returned the nod and asked, “Came for business discussion?”

Chen Zhengming remained silent and gave a slight nod in response to her question. He was smart enough to avoid causing trouble to any matters related to Mu Huaisheng.

Shen Zhijing glanced at Ruan Danchen coldly and with her chin lifted high, she entered the restaurant.

Chen Zhengming fetched Ruan Danchen to Chengs.h.i.+ as she requested.

Anger and rage from the humiliation were burning intensely inside her, and she held her tears back when she reached Chengs.h.i.+.

She held her head down along the way and suddenly, a pack of tissues appeared before her eyes. Ruan Danchen thanked Chen Zhengming before accepting the tissue and wiped the tears off her cheek.

She muttered her grat.i.tude to Chen Zhengming again before getting out of the car.

Chen Zhengming called Mu Huaisheng stating that Ruan Danchen had reached her destination after she entered the office building.

Ruan Danchen rushed into the design department with reddened eyes. She even ignored Wu Min"s greeting when she hurried toward Yang Yunshu"s desk.

It was still lunch hour when Yang Yunshu surfed the internet to shop for new clothes. She lifted her head slowly when she noticed that someone was approaching her.

She smirked upon realizing that someone was Ruan Danchen. Ruan Danchen clenched her teeth and grabbed onto Yang Yunshu"s hair suddenly, yanking it backward.

“Ouch! Ruan Danchen, what are you doing?” A sudden gush of pain jolted through Yang Yunshu"s scalp as Ruan Danchen pulled her hair with all her might. “Ruan Danchen, are you out of your mind? Let me go!”

Yang Yunshu held onto her hair to protect her scalp and tried to release them from Ruan Danchen"s grip.

To be honest, Ruan Danchen did not have the strength of an ox and she could not have possibly pulled her away. When Yang Yunshu fell out of her seat, Ruan Danchen released her grip and connected her hand with Yang Yunshu"s cheek.

Ruan Danchen was exasperated at Yang Yunshu, so she did not hold her strength back and slapped Yang Yunshu with all her might. Her palm felt painful and itchy after the strike.

Yang Yunshu was unstable in her gait when Ruan Danchen yanked her out of her seat, and she wore high heels to work, so inevitably she stumbled and dropped to the ground after getting slapped on the face.

“Ruan Danchen, you want a fight? You got it now!” Yang Yunshu"s raw voice was brutal against Ruan Danchen"s ears. She looked like a psychopath who just came out of a mental hospital with her messy hair. Yang Yunshu got up from the floor and pounced at Ruan Danchen.

Yang Yunshu wanted to grab Ruan Danchen"s hair but her movement was far too slow. Ruan Danchen parried her arm and responded with another slap on Yang Yunshu"s face.

“Ruan Danchen, you lunatic!” Yang Yunshu was in wrath as her hair was pulled and she just got slapped twice.

The colleagues around them were unable to withstand the situation and broke up the fight between the duo.

“Stop fighting. Can you guys just calm down and have a peaceful discussion?” Senior Juan yelled in annoyance. All of them were colleagues but now they were wreaking havoc in the office. This was outrageous!

“Don"t tell me this, tell Ruan Danchen! She came here striking me without warnings. Maniac! Ruan Danchen, did I provoke you before? Can you be reasonable?” Yang Yunshu exclaimed as her face reddened with anger and veins popped out of her neck.

Ruan Danchen"s eyes glimmered with watery tears of rage as she was pulled backward by her colleagues. “You don"t know what you just did? Since I don"t have any projects now, you spread rumors about me having s.e.x with clients to get their projects. Do you really think I don"t know who started this rumor?”

Ruan Danchen stared at her colleagues. “Don"t you guys know? Even so, you guys helped spread it and talked behind my back.”

All her colleagues, including Senior Juan, felt embarra.s.sed and awkward.

“I tolerated your nonsense and avoided any form of arguments with you in the office. I"ve never done such disgraceful matters before so I can face you with a clear conscience. I did my job honestly with a low profile, and I won"t entrap others for my own benefits even if I don"t have much achievement. It was bad enough that this salacious gossip got pa.s.sed around with indecent efficiency in the company, but you have to spread it out to the community. You tried to bring harm to my reputation without doing yourself any good. Do you feel disgusted at your actions?”

“Which eyes of yours saw me creating rumors about you? You"re the one who tried to blame me at the current moment. Do you realize this is defamation if you don"t have any evidence to prove your statement? Do you think you"re being reasonable to harm me physically without any warning? You dared to perform such actions and you think it was unreasonable for us to comment on it?” Yang Yunshu refused to admit to Ruan Danchen"s complaint.

“What"s all this bickering about?” Manager Xu came out after being awakened from his sweet nap in his office.

Wu Min announced at this moment. “Director Zhao and Madam Zhao are here.”

Director Zhao and Madam Zhao arrived shortly after the announcement.

Madam Zhao"s stare was lethal and piercing on the fighting duo, then her gaze fixated on Yang Yunshu. “What happened?”

“Ruan Danchen was being unreasonable. She came here and hit me without saying anything,” Yang Yunshu covered her face and sobbed.

Madam Zhao frowned and pursed her lips in anger. She took a glance at Ruan Danchen and said, “Ruan Danchen, come to my office.”

Ruan Danchen remained silent, but the sight of Yang Yunshu burying her face between her hands in pain brought a cold smile on her face. She contained all her wrath and followed Director Zhao and Madam Zhao back to their office.

“Just now Manager Xu from Huanghua called us to file a complaint. He mentioned about you trying to get projects in an unscrupulous way, that you"re willing to let him do whatever he wants on you if he gives you the project?” Madam Zhao asked in disbelief and glared at Ruan Danchen.

Ruan Danchen"s eyes widened in response to the question as she did not expect Xu Haode to frame her on this. However, she understood his intention—the guilty party filed the suit. Since she mentioned on her intention to file a complaint on Xu Haode"s behavior before she left Shengyue, Xu Haode probably got scared of the consequences and wanted to launch a counterattack.

Ruan Danchen clenched her fists tightly. Regret washed over her as she realized her action was a little too impetuous and gave Xu Haode a chance to frame her in advance.

“I didn"t, Xu Haode"s lying! It was him who overheard from someone else saying that I"d sell my body off for work. He touched me during work and even told me that the project is mine in exchange for my body. Naturally, I refused him but I was being too impulsive at that time. I told him regarding my intention to complain about his behavior and gave him a chance to file a complaint against me in advance,” Ruan Danchen said angrily.

Madam Zhao pursed her lips and let out a heavy sigh. “Xu Haode had a good reputation and he had been cooperating with Chengs.h.i.+ for a long time. It was uneventful since then, but why all of a sudden this issue arises in your presence? Nonetheless, there are rumors spreading in the company regarding your unscrupulous act to gain projects since your cases are reducing.”

Ruan Danchen took a deep breath before replying in a flat tone. “Madam, are you accusing me? I can"t say that my designs were outstanding since I started working in Chengs.h.i.+, but at least I followed strictly on the rules and regulations of the company and didn"t use any dishonest methods to ask for projects. I"m well aware of the rumors spreading in the company and I know who was the culprit starting it. I was framed, and I hope Director Zhao and Madam Zhao could investigate further before deciding on the final judgment.”

Madam Zhao squinted and relaxed her pursing lips. “Judging from the situation just now, you meant Yang Yunshu, right? Ruan Danchen, you said Yang Yunshu framed you, and now you"re going to blame on Xu Haode too?”

“Are you implying that everything"s my fault?” Ruan Danchen tried desperately to stabilize her trembling voice.

“Naturally, we"d think this way since all the evidence points to you,” Madam Zhao answered calmly.

“Director Zhao, you understood the company"s situation, and you"re well aware of the reason why Yang Yunshu was transferred initially. Do you believe her moral quality?” Ruan Danchen asked in rage.

Director Zhao sighed before answering her question. “Xiao Ruan, Yang Yunshu isn"t a good person but she isn"t too bad either. On the other hand, it"s a fact that you"re lacking in cases and projects now.”

“Is this the reason why you think I"d have s.e.x with my clients in exchange for cases?” Ruan Danchen asked in disbelief. She did not know what was the most appropriate response for their a.s.sumptions amid her exasperation.

Ruan Danchen had sealed her emotions within a wall but brick by brick, her wall came tumbling down as tears started welling up in her eyes.

Madam Zhao took a glance at Director Zhao before s.h.i.+fting her cold gaze back to Ruan Danchen. “I don"t care what the truth is, but we have to deal with the complaint Xu Haode filed.”

“What do you mean?” a disheartened Ruan Danchen asked.

“How about this; I"m going to give you a few days of unpaid leaves and you"ll return to work afterward. This punishment is the least severe for you,” Director Zhao answered helplessly after pretending to give this some thought.

“I don"t care if you have suggested the exchange to Xu Haode or not, or if you performed such unscrupulous act before. My only advice was for you to introspect at home these few days. We"ll let the past stay in the past after you returned to work, but I hope that you"ll continue your job with absolute honesty. I don"t want to hear any rumors about you again,” Madam Zhao said coldly.

Director Zhao and Madam Zhao were playing good cop and bad cop with Ruan Danchen at that moment.

“You meant to say I actually did those disgraceful things before? When I said I didn"t do it, it means I didn"t do it at all. This was a disgrace to my reputation and I won"t sell my body for a mere project. You blamed me for everything but you didn"t deal with the real problem. You didn"t take any action when Yang Yunshu spread nonsense about me and made the whole company gloomy, and now you put all those on me?” Ruan Danchen questioned out of rage.

Director Zhao"s face paled with annoyance but he contained his rage as Ruan Danchen was Song Yu"s friend. “Xiao Ruan, we"ve decided on your punishment. If you"re genuinely innocent, then none of the rumors will actually spread. Yang Yunshu doesn"t have any power to let this gossip spread inside the company. You choose not to introspect yourself and insist on blaming others now that the rumors are flying thick in the company. Why did Yang Yunshu blame you and not others? Shouldn"t you introspect yourself?”

Director Zhao sighed before continuing, “You must understand that we have to deal with this matter officially since a client just filed a complaint against you directly. It doesn"t help that you don"t have much work to do, since your cases are so less. To be honest, this is unacceptable in any company, but I chose to turn a blind eye on this for a couple of months now and even let you stay in this company. I only gave you unpaid leaves in response to the complaint against you now. Xiao Ruan, please realize that I"m being kind to you now.”

“In any case, I hope you can behave and won"t let us down. We would"ve fired him if it was someone else,” said Madam Zhao.

“You want me to resign, right? Even if I want to resign, I"ll resign when the truth is revealed. I was framed, I can"t resign as a scapegoat! I"ll only resign when the time comes. I won"t occupy any s.p.a.ce inside the company and continue to be an enc.u.mbrance to the company,” Ruan Danchen ignored them and rushed out of the office after finis.h.i.+ng her sentence.

She returned to the design department and started packing her belongings.

Yang Yunshu went to the washroom just now to tidy up herself and made herself presentable in public. She applied foundation to try and cover the swelling on her cheek due to Ruan Danchen"s slaps. However, the swelling on her cheek appeared slightly asymmetrical on her face.

She walked over when she noticed Ruan Danchen was packing up her belongings. “Hey, what"s wrong, are you quitting your job?”

Ruan Danchen lifted her cold gaze to meet Yang Yunshu"s and said, “I won"t bow down easily to a vile person like you. My resignation will just greatly satisfy you, right? Why should I let you work with comfort while I suffer? You think I"m a nuisance and want me gone, right? I rather stay and suffer, at least you"ll continue to feel disgusted that way.”

Ruan Danchen finished packing up her belongings after finis.h.i.+ng her statement. She took her bag and walked past Yang Yunshu, ignoring her completely.

Ruan Danchen"s eyes started to burn once she exited the design department. She wiped her cheek and noticed small crystal beads resting on her palm.

She wiped the tears off her face and entered the elevator. Even though the elevator was empty, she tried to hold the tears that threatened to leave her eyes in case someone wanted to enter the elevator at any floor level.

She attempted to hide her grief but it was overcome by the wave of her emotions. The m.u.f.fled sobs wracked against her chest and she quickly covered her mouth. A lone tear traced down her cheek, and just like that, the floodgates opened.

Ruan Danchen stood at the front door of Chengs.h.i.+. She then headed toward the subway as she was in no mood to hail a taxi.