Chapter 26: Fulfilling the Wager

Yu Youchu’s eyes shimmered with moisture. The feeling of having her casual requests taken so seriously by someone else, she thought, was perhaps a first in her life.

On the other end, Pei Jiayin continued to send messages.

【By the way, I bought you some Cantonese-style mooncakes and will bring them back the day after tomorrow. I’m not sure if you like them, and I also got some lychees.】

Yu Youchu found herself smiling as she read.

With so many things in Guangdong, he chose specifically to bring back mooncakes meant for the Mid-Autumn Festival; in some ways, this big shot was actually quite cute.

【I accept your kind intention of a welcome gift, but it’s no fun if I go alone, so let’s forget it.】

【There’s no need to bring the lychees either. Fruit doesn't keep well, what if it spoils? Mooncakes are fine; they signify reunion, after all.】

"You have reached your destination."

The car navigation system reminded Yu Youchu to get off. She hurriedly closed her phone and headed home.

For the rest of the time, Yu Youchu had no chance to check her phone.

The sunset photo Pei Jiayin had sent felt like a direct hit to her heart, sparking a flood of inspiration. Facing the copy she had previously felt stuck on, she experienced for the first time the feeling of writing without pause.

When Yu Youchu finally sent the newly edited proposal to Cui Jing, she could no longer support her exhausted body.

Pei Jiayin seemed to have sent her another message, but she had absolutely no energy left. She curled up with her laptop and drifted into a deep sleep.

When she woke up the next morning, her phone, which had stubbornly played her alarm until it died, finally ran out of its last bit of power.

Yu Youchu hurried off to work.

"How unlucky, running into you the moment I arrive." Wan Ninghe rolled her eyes.

"But I’ll be able to send you packing soon enough, so this is the last bit of bad luck."

She had applied a full face of makeup today, specifically to welcome the moment after nine o’clock when Yu Youchu would slink away from Huasheng in defeat.

"Funny, I feel exactly the same way about my own luck."

This jinx—she was impossible to shake off.

Yu Youchu hadn't slept enough to begin with, and after waking up sore from sleeping hunched over her desk, she was like a lit fuse; nobody better provoke her.

She returned to her desk to charge her phone, but before she could even turn it on, Cui Jing summoned her for a meeting.

Yu Youchu had no choice but to drag her broken body to the conference room.

"These are the finalized plans for each fragrance; it is worth noting the brilliant performance of Yu Youchu."

Cui Jing scrolled through the PPT at an unhurried pace. Yu Youchu’s name appeared prominently under the copy for the second fragrance.

"Her proposal is excellent. Another supervisor and I approved it with almost no revisions. Yu Youchu, the 'Sunset' theme is wonderful. Keep up the good work."

Yu Youchu scratched her head in embarrassment.

The other two proposals were just filler she had forced out; only this last one was something she had written with genuine effort. If they didn't pick this, what would they pick?

The same statement left the people in the room with vastly different expressions.

Wan Ninghe sat at her place with a deathly pale face, looking utterly incredulous. Her bright red lipstick only made her look more like a vengeful ghost.

No! This is impossible!

There is no way Yu Youchu could have submitted the file!

It must be Cui Jing! Yes, it must be that Cui Jing wrote it and covered for Yu Youchu's shortcomings, and they teamed up to sabotage her! That must be it!

Wan Ninghe used her long hair to shield her face, blocking the prying eyes of those around her.

Almost everyone present had been there yesterday and had witnessed the entire bet between her and Yu Youchu. For a moment, there were both sneers and pity.

Wan Ninghe’s hands were clenched so tightly that her fingernails nearly dug into her skin.

That bitch, Yu Youchu!

It’s all her fault!

The meeting concluded quickly. Everything would likely be over by tomorrow, and work would be much easier after that.

Wan Ninghe hid in the restroom. As much as she felt hatred, she was now preoccupied with how to wiggle out of the bet.

Are you kidding? Huasheng is currently at the peak of its popularity; who knows how many people would break their necks just to get in? Let her leave Huasheng because of a bet? Keep dreaming!

Wan Ninghe composed her expression and left the restroom.

Before she even reached her desk, she found Yu Youchu waiting there, calm and collected.

She pivoted on her heel, intending to leave immediately.

Must not get caught!

Wan Ninghe tried her best to make herself invisible, but to her surprise, she turned and bumped straight into a man.

"Oh, sorry, Wan Ninghe! I bumped into you by accident, are you okay?"

The person Wan Ninghe had bumped into was Mu Chuan. He deliberately raised his voice, and nearly everyone around heard him.

"I... I'm fine."

Wan Ninghe signaled to him frantically and sidestepped, hoping to flee the scene quickly.

Unexpectedly, Mu Chuan flashed his two fangs in a grin: "Wan Ninghe, is something wrong with your eyes? Do you need to go to the hospital to get them checked out? Should you ask Sister Jing for some time off?"

By now, Yu Youchu had walked over at a leisurely pace, and the crowd parted to clear a path for her.

"Yo, isn't this Wan Ninghe? Still haven't packed your things to leave? Don't tell me you're hoping to mooch one last staff lunch and eat one last meal from the cafeteria?"

Yu Youchu’s smile was just as wickedly sharp as Mu Chuan’s.

"Yu... Yu Youchu."

Cold sweat broke out on Wan Ninghe’s forehead.

"Have you lost the ability to speak? Everyone around here saw how glib your tongue was just yesterday."

"Today, you’re not getting away."

Yu Youchu placed her hand on Wan Ninghe’s shoulder.

Wan Ninghe felt her shoulder suddenly buckle under a weight of a thousand pounds.

"Yu Youchu, we’ve been colleagues, and we’re interns from the same batch. Don't you understand the principle of leaving a way out for others?"

Wan Ninghe spoke with a tremor, her voice thin from her guilty conscience.

"To leave a way out, the person you’re dealing with at least has to be a normal human being," Yu Youchu glanced at her, then shook her head: "With someone like you, keeping you around would just be a modern-day reenactment of the farmer and the snake, you understand?"

"But... but don't you think you're being too cruel?"

Tears filled Wan Ninghe’s eyes, and she began to sob with heaving shoulders.

She was naturally attractive, a standard 'cool sister' type, and this display of vulnerability from her cold exterior touched the soft hearts of many in the room.

Immediately, someone chimed in to persuade her: "Actually, there's no need to push someone to this extent... and jobs are so hard to find right now..."

"Leaving Huasheng for no reason like this is basically the same as having a criminal record."

However, some who supported Yu Youchu also began to refute the soft-hearted ones.

"I remember Yu Youchu only asked Wan Ninghe to apologize at the time. Why aren't you mentioning that the truly vicious one is Wan Ninghe?"

"Exactly! And it was clearly Wan Ninghe who started the provocation; is the other person just supposed to be a sitting duck? You can't just bully people like that!"