Chapter 47 Preaching

She had lowered her dignity and proactively come forward to beg Yu Youchu for forgiveness, yet Yu Youchu remained completely unmoved and indifferent.

This infuriated some of the male employees who had been drinking at the scene.

More importantly, Wan Ninghe's frail and helpless appearance thoroughly stirred the protective instincts of many present.

The man who had lacked the nerve earlier that afternoon to confront Yu Youchu directly now stood straight up and began to preach: "Look here, Yu Youchu, your brother over here simply can't stand watching this any longer. Don't harbor any grudge against me as your senior; just take this as a piece of advice."

Yu Youchu remained silent.

"I'm only saying this for your own good. Leaving a way out for others means leaving a way out for yourself—I seriously doubt you understand that principle."

"Just what kind of state has she, a perfectly fine intern, been driven to by you? Everyone witnessed it all quite clearly just recently. Little Wan didn't even dare to speak, terrified of saying the wrong thing."

"We're all colleagues here. From now on, let's drop all this talk about forgiving or not forgiving. Once a glass of wine goes down, big issues become small ones, and small issues disappear entirely."

The people around them began to chime in and stir up the crowd. Realizing the atmosphere had reached this point, Wan Ninghe lifted her glass once more and offered a toast with a fragile, submissive air.

Yu Youchu held her wine glass, her expression thoughtful.

Cui Jing looked thoroughly drunk, yet her eyes were startlingly bright, while even Mu Chuan remained completely placid, showing no intention of offering help.

Seeing that the two people who usually defended Yu Youchu the most had not uttered a single word, the crowd's arrogance swelled even further, practically itching to force the liquor down Yu Youchu's throat.

Amidst the intense gaze of everyone present, the corners of Yu Youchu's lips slowly curved upward.

"If you truly want me to forgive her, it's not entirely out of the question."

Seeing that Yu Youchu's attitude seemed to soften, the employee who had stood up to lecture her assumed an even more haughty expression, as if he had already placed himself in the role of an elder.

"That's more like it. Let bygones be bygones over a cup of wine."

"However, if malicious competition, the deletion of a colleague's files, and an attempted frame-up that nearly sabotaged a project can all be resolved with a simple apology, I can only say that my magnanimity must truly know no bounds."

The surrounding people clearly had no idea what Yu Youchu was talking about. This rapid-fire sequence of grave accusations caught Wan Ninghe completely off guard.

A wave of commotion rippled through the surroundings.

"Youchu, what are you talking about? The work... wasn't the work progress unaffected? Doesn't that prove your files weren't deleted?"

Since the lecturing big brother had committed to defending Wan Ninghe all the way, he had no intention of quitting midway: "Youchu, no matter how much you dislike Little Wan, you shouldn't make such baseless and vicious accusations."

Yu Youchu retorted coolly, "Then why, when we placed our bet that day, was she so certain from the very beginning that I would lose, and that my work progress would drag the team down?"

"This..." The older man hesitated for a moment.

Wan Ninghe immediately cut in: "That was because I was blinded by anger!"

Right! Yu Youchu definitely couldn't produce any evidence from that day... The surveillance footage had already been deleted, and she trusted the person who did it.

Wan Ninghe's confidence surged instantly: "Youchu, I merely asked for your forgiveness; I have no intention of sacrificing my dignity. I will never admit to such fabricated crimes!"

She spoke with a lofty air, her spine held perfectly straight, and some people even secretly applauded Wan Ninghe's attitude.

"I originally only wanted to get on good terms with you because we'll be colleagues in the future. Since you are so incapable of telling right from wrong, I have no desire to deal with someone like you."

"Exactly!" the lecturing older man said with an expression of profound disappointment. "Still, I advise you—since you're a newcomer, you shouldn't be too arrogant. Be careful not to offend others down the road."

Yu Youchu maintained her cold and detached expression.

"Yu Youchu, you'd better look out for yourself."

With that, Wan Ninghe turned around, cementing her image of unyielding pride.

Just as her performance reached its triumphant climax, a chilly, composed voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Hold on."

Yu Youchu blocked Wan Ninghe's path.

The good show had only just begun. Since you have provoked me time and time again, you might as well stay on stage. Let's finish acting out this entire scene today, otherwise I'll just end up offending people all over again in the future.

"Is there something else?"

Wan Ninghe was desperate to make her escape right now.

"You said we'd be colleagues in the future, but I don't think so at all."

Wan Ninghe frowned. What did Yu Youchu mean? Was she still stubbornly refusing to admit defeat even now?

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Yu Youchu tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her features, which previously only revealed rounded eyes and delicate contours without carrying much aggressiveness, suddenly turned sharp, and the aura surrounding her transformed in an instant.

Everyone around them was startled to see the previously cold and delicate girl suddenly look like a blade drawn from its scabbard.

"Yu Youchu, you..."

"Take a look at your phone and see what good deeds you've done."

Yu Youchu pulled out her phone, her fingers tapping swiftly across the screen twice before turning the display directly toward Wan Ninghe.

"Take a look at this. What is it?"

The moment she saw the image, the color drained completely from Wan Ninghe's face—because the person right in the center of the screen was none other than herself.

To make it even more dramatic, the outfit Wan Ninghe was wearing today was an exact match for what she had worn on that day.

Realization dawning, Wan Ninghe lunged forward with a dark, gloomy expression to snatch Yu Youchu's phone away.

"Shall we resolve this in private?"

To her surprise, Yu Youchu didn't dodge at all, allowing Wan Ninghe to snatch the phone right out of her hand.

A surge of joy rose in Wan Ninghe's heart, and she immediately deleted the surveillance footage from Yu Youchu's album.

Once she finished doing this, a heavy stone lifted from her chest, and she raised her head with a renewed smile.

Yet she never expected to be met with Yu Youchu's half-smiling face, whose mocking gaze seemed to strip her bare from head to toe.

Suddenly, she noticed that the expressions of the people around her had turned rather peculiar.

Before she could utter a word, the older man who had lectured Yu Youchu earlier spoke up first: "Wan Ninghe, you...? What are you doing? Stop deleting it; Yu Youchu already sent it to the WeChat group chat."

He flipped his own phone around, displaying the exact same image of Wan Ninghe at Yu Youchu's workstation.

And the timestamp in the bottom right corner of the video matched the exact day of the bet between Wan Ninghe and Yu Youchu.

"No! This isn't me!"

Wan Ninghe's refined face twisted into a ferocious scowl, instantly transforming her from a polished professional woman into a hysterical madwoman.

"But Yu Youchu already posted the company's surveillance video, and it even has Huasheng's watermark on it..."

Another team member nearby retorted.

"That's right, and the clothes you're wearing are an exact match."

Lowering her gaze, Yu Youchu examined a loose piece of dead skin on her finger. "What else do you have to say? Is the video photoshopped?"

"Well, I'm truly sorry. This was actually data recovered today by the employees of our partner company. Why don't you ask Sister Jing how it happened?"

At last, Yu Youchu smiled, a genuinely heartfelt smile.