She was so foolish that she still refused to admit it, even with a huge surveillance camera hanging right above her, and yet she brazenly stole the thing anyway.

This is my business,” Xiaoqi said, her tone distant and a little stiff. “I will handle it myself. You do not need to worry.”

“I think you have misunderstood me,” Anna said with a soft laugh. “Why would I worry about your affairs? I am only concerned about Yichen. I am the girlfriend his family has acknowledged, so no matter what happens, he and I share the same honor and the same disgrace.”

“So if something happens to someone by his side, how could I possibly not care?”

Xiaoqi looked at the beautiful, elegant woman before her. Every word and gesture of hers exuded refinement, while she herself...

Xiaoqi asked, “Will you be together with him in the future?”

“Not in the future, and not just might,” Anna said with a somewhat haughty air. “We will be together now, certainly. What I said last time in the car, I imagine you still remember. I said then that Yichen’s father held me in high regard. That was not a joke, but the truth. I have met his parents long ago, and they already regard me as family. After all, my background and appearance are such a perfect match for Yichen. Would you not agree?”

Xiaoqi lowered her eyes and worried at her fingertips. In truth, she wanted to say: even if the two of you are well matched, Lin Yichen will not like you, because there has always been someone in his heart.

But that person was not her. She was only pretending, so what right did she have to say such a thing?

Seeing that she remained silent, Anna smiled coldly inwardly. “Perhaps Yichen is a little different toward you, but I do not mind him finding a tool to ease his loneliness.”

Her words stopped just short of the point. Some things, if said too bluntly, had the opposite effect.

Anna’s tone softened a little. “Actually, I came today mainly because of the sapphire. Since the person involved is you, I hope you will bear it alone and not drag Yichen down with you.”

The hand Xiaoqi had been twisting at her fingertips gradually clenched. “Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for what I did. I won’t implicate President Lin.”

“Then tell me, how exactly will you take responsibility for this?”

Xiaoqi looked up. “What do you mean?”

Anna said coldly, “If you continue to stay by Yichen’s side, it will be as if he has kept a thief next to him. How do you think the company will talk about that? I’m sure you’ve already heard enough of it today. If you do not leave, then sooner or later those gossiping voices will turn toward Yichen as well. By then, how will the company and outsiders look at him? I shouldn’t need to spell that out.”

Xiaoqi gave a scoff. “I’m not a thief. That sapphire originally was...”

“I’m not here to accuse you,” Anna cut her off. “I’m only here to remind you that Yichen is not like someone like you. You can make mistakes and be talked about, but he and I are under a magnifying glass at all times. Not only would our own mistakes be counted against us, even the people around us causing trouble would drag us down. Do you know how much impact stealing that sapphire has had on Yichen?”

“Even if I made a mistake, what does that have to do with President Lin? I would never drag him into this.”

When she learned that the sapphire affair had been exposed, her first instinct had indeed been to find Lin Yichen.

But then Assistant Fang told her that he did not want to see her.

She calmed herself and thought it through alone. This matter had been caused by her, so she would not go looking for Lin Yichen.

Otherwise, she should have told him on the road just now.

“Do you know how important this sapphire project is? Now that the project is gone, how will Yichen’s rivals attack him? Do you understand any of that? Even after everything, he still kept you by his side. He took on such a huge burden for you, and you still think this has nothing to do with him?”

Anna pressed harder, and it was obvious she was genuinely baffled. Apart from being a little prettier, this person had nothing going for her. Why on earth did Yichen like her? What was so good about her?

She thought she herself was no worse in looks, stronger than her in every way. So why could Yichen not see her?

If this person were truly superior to her in every respect, then she would withdraw on her own. But this one was plainly worthless, as fragile as paper.

Xiaoqi finally understood what she meant. It was nothing more than wanting her to leave TC and leave Lin Yichen.

So that Anna could be with him.

Not long ago, she had been furious and determined to leave TC. Yet now, for some reason, she did not want to leave anymore.

But if she did not leave...

Perhaps seeing her hesitation, Anna said coldly, “If you still care about Yichen, then please leave TC. Leave Yichen.”

...

Yichen had just arrived at the villa when Fang Li’s call came through. In a low voice, he reported, “President Lin, the video of the sapphire theft from the research room has been posted on TC’s internal website.”

Fang Li did not know that Xiaoqi had taken the sapphire, so when he saw the video online, he could hardly believe it. It turned out that the one who stole the sapphire was Miss Ye.

No wonder President Lin said the sapphire case was to be abandoned.

Yichen frowned. “When was it posted?”

“This morning. I’ve been busy with work all day and didn’t log into the internal site. I only checked the project records after I got home...”

“Is the video still there?”

“I found it and immediately had someone from Li Cheng’s side delete it, but it was up for a whole day. I’m afraid everyone in the company has already...”

The call ended.

Looks like President Lin really was angry this time.

The people in the research department were truly bold. They knew Miss Ye was different to President Lin, and still dared to do something like this.

After hanging up, Yichen dialed Li Cheng. Li Cheng had known this call would come sooner or later.

“President Lin.”

Yichen’s voice was cold and heavy. “Who allowed you to release that video?”

Li Cheng immediately produced a scapegoat. “President Lin, I was not aware of this. I only found out after Assistant Fang called me. The video was posted by Liu Zhen. He said...”

He paused.

Yichen said nothing, silently awaiting the rest.

“He said that as TC’s president, it was not right for you to shield a thief like that, so he just...”

Yichen hung up.

Li Cheng curled his lips in a smile.

Liu Zhen?

Liu Zhen was one of the small-time employees in the research department, so there had been little contact with him in the past. But whenever he had seen him in the research department, he had seemed like a plain, honest sort.

An honest man doing something so righteously indignant...

Yichen narrowed his eyes and did not think further.

He called Xiaoqi, but her phone was turned off.

Because he was angry, he had not seen her all day at the company. Yet when work ended, he could not help following her, watching her.

When she crossed the street alone, looking as helpless as a child, his heart softened at once.

But then she had not told him about this matter.

Could it be that she still did not know?

No. If she had not known, then after work today she would have bounced home cheerfully, not like that.

Suddenly he thought of Yiyang pulling Xiyang this morning.

Could Xiyang have asked Yiyang for help?

She would rather ask Yiyang than him.

Yichen truly could barely restrain the urge to drag her here right now.

Still, forget it. He would deal with her tomorrow.

As for Liu Zhen, to do something like this when he was just such an honest, plain fellow.

Firing him would be letting him off lightly.

In the end, this was all Xiyang’s fault. Why had she stolen the sapphire?

She called herself foolish and still would not admit it, when there was such a giant surveillance camera right there. And yet she had stolen it so brazenly.

When Yichen thought back to school days, Xiyang had always been like this, constantly getting herself into troubles that gave him a headache.

He had to clean up after her one by one.

It was truly both a delight to have such an Xiyang and a headache to have such an Xiyang.

...

For the first time in her life, Xiaoqi had slept badly through the night, so that when she went to TC the next morning, she was again strained with nerves.

When she reached the office area, her already frazzled mind immediately flared with anger.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

A female colleague was under and over Xiaoqi’s desk, rummaging through it in a mess.

When the woman saw Xiaoqi glaring at her, she smiled dismissively. “I dropped something, so I’m looking for it.”

“Looking for it? Is that what you call looking?” Xiaoqi pointed at the desk, which had been turned upside down. “You’re clearly just digging through my things on purpose. Besides, if you dropped something, why not look somewhere else? Why are you searching at my desk?”

This person usually seemed to ignore her.

Damn it—did she really think the sapphire had been stolen by her, and was now deliberately picking a fight?

It had to be said, Xiaoqi’s intuition was remarkably sharp.

“I’ve never lost anything before,” the colleague said arrogantly. “But ever since you came, my things keep going missing. You’ve got a record, after all.”

“You—”

Thinking of Joanna’s words, Xiaoqi steadied herself and said, “Fine. What did you lose? I’ll help you look.”

“You help me look?” the colleague sneered. “My performance report—have you already taken it for your own use?”

“Taken it for my own use?” Xiaoqi asked in confusion. “What performance report are you talking about? Can that be taken for use?”

“...”

“Don’t play dumb,” said the colleague, looking at Xiaoqi’s innocent, guileless face with jealousy and disgust. “You even dared steal the sapphire. For you, stealing a mere performance report is nothing.”

“You...” Her words were far too unpleasant, and Xiaoqi’s temper rose as well. “I’m telling you, I didn’t take whatever thing you’re talking about. You’re slandering me, so apologize to me right now.”

The colleague laughed in disbelief. “Have you lost your mind? You stole my things, and you still have the nerve to ask me to apologize to you?”

Xiaoqi said solemnly, “I’ll say this one more time: I did not take your things. You are slandering me, so you must apologize to me.”

She swore, if this person would not let it go, she would absolutely use her powers to slap her right out of the earth.

The colleague was utterly disdainful. Yesterday she had observed closely. For a while, Xiaoqi had been running to the president’s office from time to time.

Yesterday morning, the company’s internal network had begun spreading the video of the sapphire theft.

Yet she had not gone to President Lin’s office all day.

Clearly, President Lin had also abandoned her. Otherwise, he would have stepped forward long ago.

What was a food-delivery girl without President Lin?

The colleague’s contempt deepened. “I’m slandering you? Wasn’t it you who stole the sapphire? The video of you stealing it has already spread all over our company website. The research department even spared you some face by not posting it to other sites, otherwise you wouldn’t even be able to leave your house. I think you’d better go deliver your food, delivery girl.”