Chapter 52
Alas, I have been wrongly implicated. I couldn’t help but pinch Kangkang’s cute little face and think that the reason why Elder Brother Gao always talked to me with a faint tone of anger was because of this little girl, “why didn’t you go to school today?”
Kangkang hugged my neck, smiled happily, and said, “My school is holding a sports event, and there is no class today, so I come here with mommy. Daddy, you haven’t come to see me for a long time.” Her big black eyes then looked at Yang Wei, who was about to slip away and said, “Stinky elder brother is also the same.”
“Kangkang, how many times have I told you that don’t call me elder brother in front of your daddy Chu? I am too old to be his son…”
“You deserve it!” Liusu gloated, stroked the little girl’s ponytail, and laughed, “Kangkang called you uncle at the beginning, but you did not like it and insisted that she change it. You can only blame yourself. Come, Kangkang, give auntie a big kiss as well…”
Kangkang was very cooperative and kissed Liusu on her cheek. While Liusu slightly turned her face, we accidentally had eye contact. Then the smiles on both of our faces instantly froze.
Obviously, she also remembered what happened last night. She quickly looked away and said to Song Jia, “Jiajia, are you buying food for Kangkang, or are you using her to buy yourself food?”
“This little girl is hungry too…” Song Jia’s mouth was stuffed, so the words she said were not very clear. Pretending to be afraid, she squatted down and hid behind Kangkang, “Big sister, someone is bullying me!”
“Auntie, don’t bully my little sister!” Kangkang raised her little face and said. She looked really like a big sister at this moment.
Seeing this scene, everyone could not help but laugh together. Song Jia, this playful girl was exactly like Liusu, they two were such two barrels of laughs.
Elder sister Liu’s relatives were not in Bei Tian city, so it was not convenient for her to take care of her child, so everyone would do their best help her a little. If there were some heavy works at her home, we would always offer our help.
For example, I did not have a girlfriend, and my weekends were normally pretty free, so whenever Elder sister Liu had a shift on weekends, I would offer to work her shift for her. And normally when Elder sister Liu was not working, she would sometimes bring Kangkang to the company.
Kangkang was a very well-behaved kid, so everyone in the company liked her, and she liked everyone in the company. She said that this was her second home, so she gave every one of us a unique identity.
I was her father, Liusu was aunt, Yang Wei was the Elder brother, Song Jia was little sister, Gao Dahai was grandpa, and there were other sisters, brothers, uncles and so on…
I don’t know whether it is because I have a little sister like Chu Yuan, I would always give people a feeling of a big brother, this is the reason why Kangkang likes me a lot, and the reason why she always ignores grandpa Gao Dahai, who always wants to please her. And it is because of this, elder brother Gao doesn’t like me…
Alas, she is such a femme fatale, she even has so much power when she is still young.
Song Jia looked at the time and stopped joking around, “It is almost time. Everyone, please fill the form. Don’t let Ms. Mo wait.”
“Jiajia, what exactly is this form for?” I still did not believe that Mo Fei would want to lay someone off without any warning, this was not her style. Hearing I asked this question, everyone shifted their attention to Song Jia.
But Song Jia, though was on good terms with us, was Mo Fei’s real confidant. With a sly smile, she asked me, “Can’t you take a guess?”
Take a guess? How?
After the form was sent to Mo Fei’s office, no one still had the mood to work. Including elder sister Liu, everyone was very anxious. Whenever people looked at each other, there was a flash of panic and guilt in their eyes.
On their own forms, they must have put down other people’s names, and others must have put down their names as well. This kind of feeling was not great. I could not help but blame Mo Fei in my mind. The atmosphere of the general operation team was always very good, it could be said that it was the most harmonious amongst all other teams. However, because of this paper, it now turned everyone against each other.
Having nothing to do, I watched Kangkang doing her homework obediently. I must admit that this little girl’s writing was much better than I was when I was in grade one.
Before long, Song Jia came out of Ms. Mo’s office and started to call everyone into Ms. Mo’s office one by one. It made the atmosphere even tenser.
The faces of those who came out of Ms. Mo’s office did not look great, but they did not tell other people what Ms. Mo had said in the office. And those, who have not entered Ms. Mo’s office also did not take the initiative to ask them. They just became more and more anxious. After all, who wanted to lose their job? These days, it was hard to find a job that had good benefits and a comfortable working environment.
The next one that came out was elder brother Wei. With a long face, he patted my shoulder, gave me a wry smile and sat back to his desk like a deflated balloon without saying a single word. It made the next person, Liusu, who wanted to get into the office, unable to control herself but swallow very hard.
Two minutes later, Song Jia came back with Liusu, “Chu Nan, it’s your turn!”
I didn’t know whether it was a coincidence or intentionally arranged by Mo Fei, I was the last person to be called. Passing by Liusu, I could not help but ask, “What did she ask you?”
“Nothing,” the expression on Liusu’s face was very strange, and she asked in confusion, “Nannan, do you know why she didn’t ask me anything? Is she trying to get rid of me?” her words made me feel uncomfortable. It made me feel like Mo Fei and I were a couple, and she had discovered that I was having an affair with Liusu.
“How do I know? I haven’t even been to her office yet.” I smiled, pretending to be relaxed. Actually, it was the atmosphere that made people nervous. I didn’t believe that Mo Fei would fire me. If she really wanted, she would have already fired me the day I slapped her mother.
“Mhm, be careful.”
I am not going to dig a landmine. Why do I need to be careful? Curious, I pushed open the office door.
“Chu Nan, please sit down,” said Mo Fei, whose cold face was indeed quite intimidating. As soon as she opened her mouth, I could feel the temperature in the office was instantly decreased. Pulling out the form I filled from a pile of paper, she frowned and said with a dissatisfactory tone, “What do you mean?”
I smiled and asked her the same question, “Ms. Mo, what do you mean?”
After all, Mo Fei was still a person, who kept the business matter and the personal matter clearly separated, “I am serious, I am asking you, have you really thought it through before you fill the form?”
“Yes.” I knew why Mo Fei asked me this question. Most likely, what she didn’t understand was my answer to the last question.
Sure enough, Mo Fei said quietly, “If the general operation team was dissolved, and all staff faced unemployment, but only one person could stay in the company, who would you choose? Why did you write Liu Xinlei?”
“Elder sister Liu is a widow. Not only does she have to take care of her daughter herself, but she also has to continue to support her elderly parents-in-law. This job is very important to her.”
Mo Fei definitely knew the story about elder sister Liu, and she definitely had asked other people before me the same question, so she was not surprised by my answer, “Is this the reason why you put her name on the second question as well?”
I nodded, then Mo Fei’s face suddenly dropped, “Then can you explain to me, the answer to the last question you wrote? If only one person needed to leave the company, who would it be? What did you write? Chu Nan? That is your name, isn’t it?”
I smiled, but calmly nodded and said, “yes.”
Mo Fei’s voice was cold and there were some mockery and disdain in her voice. “What is this? You don’t want to offend anyone? Or are you so used to being a nice guy that you’d rather hurt yourself than give someone else a chance? There are twelve people in the general operation team, and your answer is the only one that stands out. Do you know what it’s called? This is called…”
“Hypocrite?” I said it to her. Seeing her surprised face, I couldn’t help but smile, “Ms. Mo, you have overestimated me, I am not hypocritical, I am just selfish.”
“Oh?” Mo Fei seemed to be interested. “Why?”
Looking at Mo Fei’s curious face, I hesitated. I did not know if I should express my feeling towards her clearly. However, after Liusu’s sad face repeatedly appeared in my mind several times, I took a deep breath and decided to do it anyway. The only way to make my stubborn mind give her up was to get a direct answer from her. I needed her to tell me in front of me.
“Personally, I think there are two possibilities why you want us to fill this form. First, you deliberately created the illusion of layoffs for some purpose, to test us or to learn something about the individuals of the general operation team. After all, in the face of unemployment, people will be too nervous and lose the ability to think calmly.”
Mo Fei was very calm, there was no reaction in her eyes when she heard my first reason, so I continued, “If so, it can only prove that you are not a good leader. Because you have created a rift of suspicion between the normally united and harmonious general operation team. You gave the general operation team three difficult questions, which probably won’t matter today, but what happens when it’s over? Do you think it will be the same as before? Do you think everyone will simply just laugh it off? Although people would not say it out, everyone would want to know whether the friends around them have written their names, so people would inevitably want to cover up what they did, and to do that, they would have to lie and to deceive. Ms. Mo, is this what you want to happen?”
Mo Fei obviously didn’t think about what I said, and her face gradually showed a nervous expression. Seeing this, I knew that I was right, so I smiled and sighed, “A lot of things are like that, and once there is a rift, it’s hard to get it back… Just like friends, Feifei, is there any difference between testing a friend and cheating a friend? If there is no difference, then does it mean that you are cheating me by giving me the form?”
Hearing my last question, she could no longer keep calm, “Chu Nan, I didn’t mean that. It was my fault that I failed to think of those consequences…”