Chapter 38 I Didn"t Mean to Do ThatThe tea room suddenly quieted down.
Everyone became silent with expressions of embarra.s.sment on their faces. They didn"t dare to look at Qin Shu, kept their heads low and pretended to be on their mobile phones or drink coffee.
It was normal to feel guilty when you were caught red-handed when gossiping about others behind their backs .
Qin Shu walked in, brewed a cup of coffee slowly and asked, “I heard you guys chatting pretty happily just now. How come you all became quiet after I came in?”
Little Su curled her lips in disdain.
Tang Anru stood up, walked to Qin Shu and said gently, “Qin Shu, don"t take it personal. Everyone is just concerned about you as we"re colleagues.”
“Really?” Qin Shu raised her eyebrows and took a sip of coffee, “Since you care about me, if you have any questions, you can ask me in person. Please don"t worry about me behind my back. I"m afraid your silent concern is too much for me.”
Everyone knew that she was being sarcastic. The faces of some colleagues who were gossiping turned extremely ugly, and the tea room became quieter at once.
However, Tang Anru kept her smile, held Qin Shu"s arms and said in a gentle voice, “You misunderstand. We really care about you. We are afraid that it is not safe for you to cohabit with others. After all, you are a girl and alone out there. It"s just that we do not dare to talk about this with you face to face.”
"That"s it. What a waste of
Our good intentions.” Little Su rolled her eyes.
Others spoke up hurriedly as well, “Yes, Qin Shu, we are all colleagues. We talk about it only because we care about you. If it were someone else, we wouldn"t give the slightest care about it.”
Qin Shu found it funny. She had to admire Tang Anru"s glib tongue to sugar-coat gossiping behind others" backs with such wonderful excuses. What a kind and innocent G.o.ddess she was!
“Thank you for caring.” Qin Shu curled her lips and smiled as her beautiful eyes sweeping over the faces of these people, “But I still have a reminder for you. Don"t talk behind others" backs about things that are not suitable to bring up in front of people, so as to avoid getting the bad reputation of gossip monger.”
Gossip monger?
Everyone"s faces stiffened, and even Tang Anru felt a little uncomfortable, “Qin Shu, this is too much…”
“According to Article No.86 of the Military Industrial Group"s Staff Regulations, no gossip is allowed among colleagues. Anyone who violates the rules will be fired.” Qin Shu interrupted Tang Anru by speaking with a smile, “You all know that this is the No.1 Military Industrial Group in our country. It involves all aspects of national defense and military. A loose tongue is the greatest taboo of all. We are just interns. Don"t be so loose-lipped; otherwise you may fail to get full employment in the end.”
The tea room was completely silent as everyone"s faces grew grave and seemed more or less worried.
Only Qin Shu opened her red lips and smiled, “By the way, I"m also caring about everyone. Don"t think that I"m threatening you.”
As soon as she left, someone complained, “Little Su, it"s all your fault. Why would you start the topic of Qin Shu? Don"t pull me down into the mud again in the future. I need the job in the Group.”
“Exactly. Who knows what"s her real motive!” Another person said discontentedly.
Everyone started leaving.Someone said to Tang Anru, “Thank you for smoothing things over just now. But be careful, don"t take everybody as a good person. Perhaps somebody is just using you as a weapon against Qin Shu.”
That person even glanced at Little Su while saying this.
Little Su became so enraged, “You… Anru, don"t believe them. I didn"t intend to use you.”
Tang Anru replied considerately with a gentle face, “Little Su, don"t worry. I know you won"t do harm to me.”
“It"s good that you know. You"re the only one who understands me.” Little Su said gratefully.
When others turned against her and accused her of stirring up trouble, only Tang Anru was willing to believe her. How gentle and kind Anru was.
After the lunch break, all the interns were summoned to the conference room for a meeting to report on the working progress of every group.
Of course, the most important internship a.s.sessment was also mentioned during the meeting.
The department head made it clear that the a.s.sessment would be held on next Wednesday, which would determine whether these interns could get full employment or not.
Everyone took it seriously. Upon returning to the office, they buried themselves in work and prepared materials. Some even consulted senior employees right away, hoping that they could obtain a permanent position in the Group.
The No.1 Military Industrial Group was an important military group in Country A, which involved cla.s.sified information of national defense and military in navy, army and air force. The interns had gone through rounds of selections, and clean backgrounds were guaranteed.
With such strict requirements come incredibly high wages and great benefits, which were much better that those provided by other enterprises.
This was one of the important reasons why all interns tried their best to get a job at the Group.
The interns schemed and plotted against one another. In the last second they were chatting happily in the tea room, and in the next they could attack each other openly because of personal interests. Tang Anru was the only one who had won the love and trust by everyone.
As for Qin Shu, she was known as an overly tough student in the National Defense University. Besides, her academic performance was also not so good as Tang Anru"s.
Therefore, no one really took her as an opponent. They were just jealous that she could win Lin Xian"s favor, wondering if she had seduced him somehow.
Qin Shu didn"t care about others" opinions. She abided by the rule that if people didn"t offend her, she wouldn"t offend them.
But if someone offended her, she would show no mercy!
When getting off work at nightfall, Qin Shu came out of the elevator and ran into Tang Anru who came out from another elevator.
“Qin Shu, can we talk?” Tang Anru stopped her and pleaded with a gentle and beautiful face, “Just a few minutes. I have something to talk with you.”
Qin Shu said indifferently, “I still have things to do. Let"s talk about it later.”
“It won"t take long.” Tang Anru won"t let go of her hand.
Qin Shu felt vexed and endured the irritation, “I think there"s nothing left to talk about between us. Let"s leave each other alone.”
Tang Anru refused and her eyes turned red, “There is really some misunderstanding between us. Can you give me some time? Qin Shu, I cherish our friendship since childhood. Although my parents died from the car accident, I have never blamed you. I only hope that we can cherish each other since we are lucky enough to survive.”
In that car accident, the Qins were the wrong party and they owed Tang Anru two lives.
Being the daughter of the Qins, Qin Shu could never ignore this. She owed Tang Anru for the rest of her life.
Therefore, she had to tolerate all of Tang Anru"s actions behind her back!
“Alright. Let"s go to the cafe across the street.” Qin Shu finally agreed.
Tang Anru was overjoyed and grabbed Qin Shu"s arm tightly, making her unable to get rid of her grasp. They looked like close sisters.
Only Qin Shu knew how ironic and helpless she felt.
Sitting in the cafe, Qin Shu"s arm was finally freed. She asked straightforwardly, “What do you want to talk with me?”
"Two cups of cappuccino.” Tang Anru smiled sweetly to the waiter. After the waiter left, she looked at Qin Shu with a gloomy expression, “Do you have to talk to me in this tone? Qin Shu, we used to be so close back then. How could things turn out to be like this? I feel so sad.”
It was the same nonsense again.
Impatience appeared on Qin Shu"s face and she said coldly, “If you just want to be nostalgic, then I"ll leave.”
“No. Don"t leave!” Tang Anru shook her head hastily, bit her pink lip and hesitated for a moment, “Actually, I want to explain to you what happened between Mingran and me.”
“Really?” Qin Shu sneered inside, “Alright. Shoot.”
She wanted to hear how Tang Anru would explain about hooking up with Qi Mingran behind her back.
But Qin Shu was wrong.
Tang Anru did not admit that she was the third one between Qin Shu and Qi Mingran. Instead, she said sadly, “Qin Shu, I feel so uncomfortable when things worked out like this for you. I know you still love Mingran, so you cannot accept the fact that I am with him. However, I really didn"t know you were in a relationship before since he never mentioned it to me. When I invited you to dinner, I thought that was the first time you met him. Qin Shu, I"m so sorry. If I had known that you loved Mingran so much, I wouldn"t have agreed to be with him.”
Tang Anru"s beautiful eyes become misty. Her delicate eyebrows knitted slightly on her gloomy face. Everyone would feel pity for her if they saw such a vulnerable and touching appearance.
However, Qin Shu wasn"t Qi Mingran. All she felt was a headache instead of pity.
She looked at Tang Anru calmly. Suddenly, she took out her phone and played a piece of recording, from whichTang Anru"s mild voice came out.
“Mr. Qi, I"ve thought about something for a long time, and I want to tell you about it. Otherwise, I"ll regret in the future. Do you know? I like you so much. My heart skipped a beat the first time I saw you. This has nothing to do with your family background. It"s your mature and elegant charisma that attracts me deeply. But I know that you are with Qin Shu now. I can"t destroy your relationship, so all I can do is to hide this love in my heart.”
Before the end of the recording, Tang Anru"s face turned completely grave and pale. She asked stiffly, “Where…where did you get this recording?”
Qin Shu put away her phone and said indifferently, "The day you threw yourself at Qi Mingran, I was in the resting room of his office.”
Tang Anru bit her pink lip tightly, sat there like a stone statue and was unable to speak a single word.
On that day"s afternoon, Qin Shu prepared a fancy lunch for Qi Mingran with all her heart. She wanted to surprise him, so she did not tell him that she was coming for a visit.
When she arrived at his office, the secretary said he was in a meeting, so Qin Shu waited for him in the resting room.
And she accidentally witnessed this scene.
At that time, Qin Shu was chatting with Su Xiaoya via WeChat. The moment she pressed on the “Hold to Talk” b.u.t.ton, she heard Tang Anru"s gentle confession and withheld her voice.
The waiter served the coffee and broke the tense atmosphere.
Tang Anru came back to herself. Her eyes were hazy, making her pitiful, “I"m sorry, I didn"t mean to ruin your relationship with Mingran. If things went well between you and him, I wouldn"t have the chance to steal him away from you.”
“Whatever.” Qin Shu didn"t want to listen to her nonsense anymore and interrupted her coldly, “I still have things to do. I will leave first.”
She just got up to leave when Tang Anru grabbed her eagerly, “Qin Shu, it was not like that. I didn"t mean to do that!”
Qin Shu finally lost her patience and swung her arm.
Bang!
She knocked over the coffee cup while swing her arm and heard Tang Anru screaming. Tang Anru covered her hand and fell onto the chair with tears rolling in her eyes.
“Anru!” Qi Mingran suddenly came in from the door and strode to Tang Anru. He hugged her tightly and asked, “What"s wrong with your hand? Are you scalded?”
“I"m fine…Oh, it hurts so much.” Tang Anru bit her underlip and looked up, only to find Qin Shu lefting the shop.