Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five: Bad Friends (1/2)
“You need to take off from work early again?”
When Xiao Yu saw He Xinjia’s handbag on the desk, he was astonished. It was He Xinjia’s third time taking off early from work that week, and it was only Thursday.
The design industry wasn’t extremely restrictive in this regard. As long as you could finish your designs, the work hours weren’t really enforced. But Xiao Yu, who had grown accustomed to SI’s typical nine to five workday, felt that this behavior of arriving late and leaving early wasn’t too good. At the very least, it was a bad influence.
As he was responsible for the design department now, He Xinjia was essentially asking him for approval to leave.
“Oh, right! I’ve been wanting to bring this up for a while now. Geez, there’s been so much going on recently…” He Xinjia suddenly became angry. “Sometimes I think Chairman Yan isn’t human. No matter the time, he always seems to be in the mood to flirt around with you. That’s fine and all, but when regular people pursue their romantic interests, usually their IQ drops to the negatives. But not him! He does it so casually.”
Xiao Yu: “…is that a compliment or insult?”
“Anyway, I’ve become extremely busy thanks to Chairman Yan. *Sigh*, there’s really no place here for a single dog like me.”
“Xiao Yu: “…S-sorry.”
He Xinjia hurriedly waved her hands. “It’s not your fault. You’re the most faultless out of all of us. Keep working hard! Right, here are the designs. I’ve finished them ahead of schedule.”
Xiao Yu accepted the flash drive and went back to looking at He Xinjia packing up her stuff, a complicated expression on his face.
“Hey, why are you still here?” He Xinjia had finished packing up her stuff. Doubtfully, she said, “Didn’t you say you needed to quickly return to Chairman Yan? Aren’t you going?”
“Yes, I need to go, but…” Xiao Yu hesitated. “Is everything okay at home? This is the third time this week that you’ve left early.”
He Xinjia’s eyes widened in surprise. “What? Chairman Yan didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Xiao Yu tilted his head, puzzled.
“Seriously, what is that guy thinking…” He Xinjia muttered to herself.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing much.”
Although she didn’t know why Yan Jin didn’t tell Xiao Yu anything about it, He Xinjia’s first thought was that she shouldn’t say too much in front of Xiao Yu, responding instead like Yan Jin’s other subordinates or best friends would have.
Xiao Yu hesitated for a moment before saying, “I feel like you can just directly take a day off. Come back after you’ve settled your personal matters. As long as your designs are high quality, it’s fine. For you, it’s not much of a problem.”
He Xinjia sized up Xiao Yu. In the end, she was unable to bear it any further and said, “I say, you should stay more aware of what’s going on.”
“What?”
“My family name is He. Don’t you see the issue?”
Xiao Yu was confused. “Is… is there an issue?”
“Haven’t you heard of the He Family that controls the entire entertainment industry?”
“If you’re talking about the entertainment company YH, then yes, that one I’ve heard of…”
He Xinjia nodded. “So don’t you find anything strange with someone from that all-powerful He family working at a small designer company?”
“Erm, yeah, a little.” Xiao Yu considered it for a few seconds, but then replied, still just as puzzled as before, “But I thought YH’s chairman’s daughters both had single-syllable given names.”
“Wow, you’re really obstinate. Do you not think that people have mistresses?” He Xinjia had no qualms about speaking about her own distasteful past. Moreover, this wasn’t even related to the point she was trying to make. “You still haven’t realized that I’m not the one producing these designs? I’m merely the intermediary.”
“What?! That’s a crime!” Xiao Yu was shocked.
“Lower your voice.”
He Xinjia looked around. Fortunately, it was lunchtime, so most people were eating in the cafeteria. The remaining people still in the office wore headphones to watch videos or listen to music. No one noticed them.
Xiao Yu had also realized his mistake and quickly covered his mouth before repeating, “That’s a crime. Hurry up and stop.”
“Have I really fallen to such a state?” He Xinjia rolled her eyes. “Of course the drawings were done by someone else. As long as I provide money, my overseas friend doesn’t really care about who gets the credit.”
“Is that safe? If that person ever goes back on their word, you’ll be doomed!”
After going through his experience with Lin Zhou, Xiao Yu began to bitterly abhor plagiarism. Originally, Xiao Yu could appreciate Nannan’s cheap imitations and even chat with him, but now he wanted nothing to do with plagiarism.
“Is there any need to be worried? Those people were contacted by Yan Jin. The Yan Family is well known for not leaking anything.”
He Xinjia lowered her voice and hastened closer.
She had even dropped the “Chairman” title that she had used as part of her deception.