Chapter 34: What Happened!
“Ah! Li Baoer, get up. We are late!”
As loud as a pig may shout when being slaughtered, Xia Ning risks her life to wake up Li Baoer and then goes to wash up in a hurry.
Since she drank last night and feels dizzy today and she gets up too quickly, Xia Ning almost falls down to the floor after a few steps. She leans on the wall for a while and then stumbles to the was.h.i.+ng room.
“Li Baoer, get up now…” While brus.h.i.+ng her teeth, Xia Ning shouts. She is dizzy.
One minute later, Li Baoer rushes into the was.h.i.+ng room and brushes her teeth quickly.
“Are you OK? Why do you look so pale?” Li Baoer is shocked when she sees Xia Ning.
Xia Ning shakes her head and goes on with her was.h.i.+ng.
Five minutes later, they hail a taxi and go to work.
Sitting by Xia Ning, Li Baoer hesitates how to tell her what Xiao Tingting said. When they are going to arrive at the company, Li Bao’er says straightly, “Last night, Xiao Tingting called you and I answered the phone for you.”
Xia Ning is stunned and feels it unusual, “Hum. What did she say?”
“She said that President Li’s secretary will come today to talk with you. If you cannot get rid of it, you may be sued.”
“What?” Xia Ning’s eyes widen. She has not had the report about Li’s mother published. What does Li Dezheng sue her for?”
Li Baoer shrugs, “I don’t know what happened. Let’s put the matter aside for now. However, Xiao Tingting was really in a rage last night.”
Xia Ning is annoyed. It seems that Li Dezheng wants to make it as serious as possible.
Ten minutes later, the taxi stops at TIME building. Xia Ning goes upstairs and is immediately stopped by Ou Yixuan’s secretary.
“a.s.sistant Xia, Secretary Ruo is waiting for you. Please go to the meeting room.”
Xia Ning is shocked. So soon it is.
To her surprise, there are already lots of people waiting for her in the meeting room.
Xiao Tingting, Secretary Ruo, Ou Yixuan and some directors and editors from other departments, as if there is a battle array waiting for her to break.
However, the expression of Xiao Tingting and other people tells her that this is more like a court session.
“a.s.sistant Xia, President Li requests that you will announce a public apology and take the legal responsibility caused by the false report.” Secretary Ruo goes directly to the point.
Xia Ning is stunned. What false report?
As she sees Xia Ning being puzzled, Xiao Tingting puts a magazine in front of her, “On the first page. See it yourself.”
Xia Ning opens it and soon widens her eyes!
The former part of the report is about the exclusive interview. It is right. But at the latter part, someone added several pieces of information about some previous illegal events such as bribe about Li Dezheng to the conclusion, which are clear with exact dates and places.
“I did not write this.” Xia Ning points at the conclusion, “It is not written by me.”
“Not by you?” Xiao Tingting raises her brows, “I was in business trip yesterday and you were fully in charge of President Li’s exclusive interview. The report now comes out and you say you did not write it? Does it come out from nowhere?”
It does come out from nowhere!
Xia Ning looks into Xiao Tingting’s eyes, and suddenly understands who is conducting this meeting.
“Does Chief Editor Xiao forget? You gave me a half day leave yesterday and I have not finished the report yet.”
“I gave you a leave? You got angry and left yourself!” Xiao Tingting points at the draft, “I told you these cannot be published. You did not listen to me. When I came back from the business trip, you had made the decision yourself. Now, President Li is angry. What can we do, a.s.sistant Xia?”
“I did not do it. It is not written by me.” Xia Ning refutes and looks at all the present people, “I don’t know who sets me up. However, I have not done it. I don’t need to bear any responsibility.”
Xiao Tingting laughs coldly and looks at Ou Yixuan, “Director Ou, what’s your opinion?”
Ou Yixuan squints his eyes. Being silent for a while, he said, “That exclusive interview is really in your charge. So, you need to apologize to President Li first. We will talk about the next step. a.s.sistant Xia, you are suspended from your job for now.”
Xia Ning curls her lips and restively raises her head, “I did not do it. I won’t apologize for it. Suspension? I am telling you, Ou Yixuan, I quit.”
Saying this, Xia Ning turns back and wants to leave. At the time, a male staff comes to stop her.
Xia Ning is stunned. She turns and looks at people behind, “What do you want?”
Secretary Ruo responses, “President Li guessed a.s.sistant Xia would react like this. The Li’s Group has called the police. We will settle everything in the police office.”
Xia Ning’s face darkens, “All right. I didn’t do it anyway. Even though I will go to jail, I am not going to admit it.”
Ou Yixuan’s face changes. He goes to her and whispers, “Don’t be so restive. I will find out what happened. You just give an apology and I will take care of the rest things.”
“No need!” Xia Ning grits her teeth, “I won’t apologize unless I die!”
“Good. a.s.sistant Xia, we will meet in court.” Secretary Ruo says slowly.
“Wait!” Suddenly, Ou Yixuan shouts.
Secretary Ruo pauses, “Director Ou, what do you want to say?”
Being silent for quite a while, Ou Yixuan opens his mouth, “From this moment, Xia Ning is not an employee of TIME any longer. Whatever she does has nothing to do with TIME. TIME will not be responsible for anything related to the issue between your company and Xia Ning, except for our poor supervision.”
Hearing this, Xia Ning turns pale and feels the world rotating.
Ou Yixuan wants to get free from the responsibilities.
Xia Ning’s heart sinks to the bottom. She closes her eyes. For the first time in more than twenty years, she learns that the world is dark, “Good. It is good.”
Xia Ning is dizzy. She touches her forehead and her body staggers, nearly falling to the ground.
“Xia Ning!” Ou Yixuan hurriedly reaches out and wants to hold her.
Just at the moment, the door of the VIP Room is suddenly opened and a tall figure rushes in. Xia Ning is quickly and precisely held and hugged tightly.
The familiar smell runs around. Xia Ning leans on the strong chest and her heart calms down, being surrounded by a sense of safety.
A big hand covers her forehead. Xia Ning opens her eyes and meets the bright and intense eyes with anxiety.
“Rui…” She whispers. Her first reaction is to push him away but she is hugged more tightly by him, “Let me go. There are many people here…”
Yi Yunrui frowns. His face changes with rage. His flas.h.i.+ng eyes sweep all the people around and stop at Xiao Tingting, “Tingting, what happened?”
Everyone is shocked by Yi Yunrui’s overwhelming power. They seem to have enough reasons to argue for themselves, but cannot speak out a word now.
Xiao Tingting feels guilty and she dares not look at Yi Yunrui’s investigating eyes. She curls her lips and turns slightly her face aside, “Cousin Brother, Xia Ning made some trouble. Here is the secretary of President Li. We are helping her to handle it.”
“Nonsense!” Yi Yunrui shouts. His face is darker, “When did you lose your manners to call her by her name? Ning is your sister-in-law.”