For most of the rest of the day, Chen Yuru tried calling her daughter twice, and each time, the response sounded perfectly normal.
She had promised Yu Xiaxing not to push too hard, so for the time being, she could only leave things as they were.
Apart from the mother and daughter, Yu Xiaxing had one other renewal to handle: renewing the contract with a laboratory that helped students broaden their horizons.
That afternoon, she contacted the person in charge of the laboratory to find out what they wanted. Only then could she figure out how best to make things difficult for them.
Chen Yuru stayed alone in Yu Xiaxing’s office.
She sat there scrolling through her phone, but after a dozen minutes, she could no longer sit still.
She got up and walked to the window to look down at the school field.
In all her years of working, she had practically never had so much free time.
Even on weekends, she was used to checking her emails, handling a few documents, or mentally going over the schedule for the following week.
Now that she had been told to rest for several days, she felt unbearably uncomfortable.
She paced around the office twice before her gaze landed on Yu Xiaxing’s desk.
There were quite a few documents that had yet to be dealt with.
She hesitated for two seconds, then sat down.
Another half a day passed.
Toward evening, someone knocked on the office door.
Lu Yanzhao pushed it open. “Director Yu, regarding the investigation into Breaking Cocoon…”
Before he could finish, he saw Chen Yuru sitting behind the desk and looked slightly surprised.
Chen Yuru raised her head. “Board Director Yu went to deal with another contract renewal. She’s not here this afternoon.”
Lu Yanzhao felt a little uneasy.
Why had she gone to handle it alone? Why hadn’t she assigned her special assistant anything to do?
Chen Yuru tapped the documents on the desk.
“I sorted the documents on Director Yu’s desk. The two on the left need her signature and confirmation. I’ve reviewed them, and there don’t seem to be any problems.”
“The one on the right is the contract for the school’s logistical procurement. I noticed that one of the payment clauses isn’t clearly worded and could easily lead to disputes. I suggest having the legal department revise it before signing.”
“Also, your school’s supplier evaluation system is somewhat outdated. I took the liberty of putting together a simple optimization framework. You can use it for reference.”
“I didn’t touch any of the school’s internal documents. I only handled some external business materials. That’s my area of expertise.”
Lu Yanzhao took the documents from her. Normally, Yu Xiaxing left these trivial matters to him.
Now, seeing how a seasoned manager broke down risks and classified users, he became increasingly aware of his own shortcomings.
A sudden uneasiness took hold of him.
If he wasn’t capable enough, he could be replaced at any time. Then he would have no way to become the most effective weapon at her side.
Perhaps he should go for an MBA in his spare time. He had to keep growing if he wanted to continue assisting Yu Xiaxing.
He accepted the documents. “Thank you for the guidance.”
Chen Yuru shook her head and was just about to speak when Yu Xiaxing returned.
She had come back to clock out and pick up her bag.
She glanced at Chen Yuru. “How about I set up a bed for you in my office?”
Chen Yuru thought about it, then decided against it. She would go stay at a hotel instead.
She got up and was about to leave when her phone suddenly rang.
She looked at the caller ID and answered. “Lanlan, what’s wrong?”
Jiang Tinglan’s voice came from the other end, choked with sobs. She kept stammering, “I’m sorry,” over and over.
Chen Yuru’s brows drew tighter and tighter.
It was clearly not a good time to question her over the phone, so she hurriedly said, “I know. Mommy wasn’t actually away on a business trip. I’m in Pucheng. I’m coming home right now.”
After she hung up, Yu Xiaxing couldn’t help saying, “You just admitted everything outright? Didn’t you say you were going to play the green-tea-girl act and let her struggle for a few days on her own? It’s only been one day, and you’ve already gone back to your old self?”
Chen Yuru stopped in her tracks.
After a few seconds of silence, she turned around and looked seriously at Yu Xiaxing.
“That’s right. Acting like a green-tea girl can indeed bring a person great benefits. I’ve experienced that myself over the past two days.”
“But now that my daughter has been bullied, my head is filled with worry and anger. I suddenly realized that the reason people can act like green-tea girls is simply because they don’t love the other person that much.”
“A green-tea girl doesn’t truly put herself in the other person’s shoes or act for their sake. She only wants to obtain their affection and the benefits that come with it, without taking on even the slightest responsibility.”
“But I can’t do that. She’s my daughter. When I see her taking a wrong turn, I get anxious. When I see someone deceiving her, I get angry. And now that she’s crying like this, my heart is breaking…”
“I can’t control all those negative emotions born from love, because they naturally exist alongside love.”
“Director Yu, I still want to thank you. Thank you for making me realize that I shouldn’t take the negative emotions brought on by love out on my daughter.”
“I’ll change the way I communicate with her from now on, but I still can’t make my fundamental goal the same as a green-tea girl’s—to think that as long as she loves me, it doesn’t matter whether she’s doing well or not.”
“I want her to be well. Whether she loves me or not doesn’t matter.”
After saying that, she didn’t wait for Yu Xiaxing to respond. She turned around and hurried out of the office.
The room fell silent.
Yu Xiaxing stood where she was, watching the direction in which Chen Yuru had disappeared, and remained silent for a long time.
She didn’t know why she suddenly thought of Yu Zhining—of all the negative emotions she had felt toward him over some trivial matter back then, and how she was still making sarcastic remarks about it even now.
Perhaps that, too, was because love and negative emotions existed side by side.
Perhaps she had simply cared too much about their bond as brother and sister.
Yu Xiaxing came back to herself, turned around, and asked Lu Yanzhao, “You came looking for me at this hour because you had something to discuss, right?”
Lu Yanzhao gave a slight nod. “The legal department found some account information connected to Breaking Cocoon.”
Yu Xiaxing took a look. The information was quite detailed.
“Have the head of the legal department contact Ms. Chen. She should be able to help.”
Lu Yanzhao said, “Understood. I’ll arrange it immediately.”
—
By the time Chen Yuru rushed home, Jiang Tinglan’s eyes were already swollen from crying.
Jiang Tinglan’s father stood beside her, completely at a loss.
When he saw Chen Yuru enter, he instinctively tried to say, “Don’t blame Lanlan…”
Chen Yuru ignored him and walked straight over to Jiang Tinglan.
“How much money did you lose?”
Jiang Tinglan trembled. She had already prepared herself to be scolded.
“Th-three… thirty thousand…”
Chen Yuru was indeed angry, but not at her daughter. She was angry at the people who had conned her.
She had now learned a new way of communicating from Yu Xiaxing.
When a child was at their most frightened and full of self-blame, the first thing to do was not scold them.
The first thing to do was stand up for them.
Chen Yuru softened her voice. “Lanlan, tell Mommy first. How did they trick you? Did they say they could help you rebuild yourself and teach you how to live independently?”
Jiang Tinglan shook her head and handed over her phone. “They did say that, but I turned them down…”
Chen Yuru took the phone and carefully read through the chat history between her daughter and the other party.
Breaking Cocoon: “…introduce you to a mentor who can help you rebuild yourself.”
Jiang Tinglan: “No, thank you. I think my mom really is changing the way she talks to me. She loves me. I don’t want to cut ties with her anymore, and I don’t want to take your classes. I want to reconcile with my mom.”
So her daughter had refused them.
So how was she conned out of those thirty thousand yuan?
Chen Yuru continued reading.
