"It hurts..." Bai Sheng'er's coffee cup fell to the ground, and the broken glass, whether intentionally or unintentionally, cut through the palm of her hand. Beneath her fair skin, fresh red blood oozed out, mixing with the gray coffee stains, creating an eerie color.
"I've already apologized to you, why are you still..."
Bai Sheng'er blinked, tears rolling down her beautiful cheeks.
Shen Heyu's back also hurt badly, but it wasn't visible under her clothes, so the burn couldn't be seen. Her eyes reddened with the effort to hold back tears as she stared at Bai Sheng'er, wanting to speak. At this moment, a large group of people came walking from the other end of the hallway.
The man leading the group was tall and slender, clad in a well-tailored handmade suit, with meticulously combed hair. His handsome face showed a clear shadow of concern upon spotting Bai Sheng'er lying on the ground.
Pei Yansi strode forward, tossing the meeting documents he was holding to his secretary, and lifted Bai Sheng'er from the ground to check the burn on her leg.
Bai Sheng'er's skirt had ridden up to reveal her lower leg, where the area wrapped in gauze was stained with coffee, and it seemed as though blood was seeping out as if the wound had reopened.
Pei Yansi's voice was soft, unable to hide his concern, "How bad is it?"
Bai Sheng'er's body went limp, and seeing that he had picked her up, she burrowed deeper into his embrace. Her pale arms wrapped around his neck, almost clinging her entire being to him, "It wasn't intentional, I misspoke, but I clearly apologized to Director Shen already..."
Pei Yansi looked up at the woman standing to the side upon hearing this.
Shen Heyu, enduring the pain, stood there with downcast eyes, watching the scene unfold with a cold indifference on her beautiful face.
Not even a hint of apathy showed.
She was just calm and still, like a soulless puppet, giving no clue to her thoughts.
Only she knew that a hole had been gouged in her heart.
Where it bled profusely.
Pei Yansi's eyes were cold and grim as he said sternly, "Director Shen sure has a lot of facades, and an even crueler approach."
Shen Heyu replied calmly, "What kind of tactics am I using?"
Her unflustered demeanor only made Pei Yansi more disgusted. When he spoke again, his tone could hardly conceal his anger, "What exactly did she do to you? You've been going after her with such severity time and again."
"I'm warning you for the last time, if you continue to behave recklessly, don't even think about staying at this company."
Shen Heyu pressed her lips together, silent.
She knew the underlying meaning in his words. Ever since they got married, she had just been a tool by his side.
He could do whatever he wanted. Coming here to be the Director was merely to handle affairs for him, an unpaid job. If she made a mistake, he could fire her from this place, and then she wouldn't be able to find any other way to make a living elsewhere.
Because he wouldn't allow it.
Shen Heyu said, "Do you just believe her side of the story? Did you see with your own eyes what I did? She bumped into me herself, and then fell over. What does that have to do with me?"
Bai Sheng'er sobbed daintily, "I misspoke and angered Director Shen. I wanted to apologize to her, but she wouldn't listen. In my haste, I accidentally bumped into her, and then when she turned around, she knocked me to the ground..."
Hearing her words, Shen Heyu refrained from speaking further. She just looked at Pei Yansi, waiting to see his decision.
Pei Yansi just sneered, a cruel coldness in his voice, "According to you, she fell over by herself. Not everyone is as crazy as you, hurting others and then also hurting oneself."
Shen Heyu felt a chill in her heart.
Her body ached, but her heart ached even more, and she could not be bothered to explain anymore. After all, this man had never trusted her.
She spoke slowly, "Whatever President Pei says goes, I suppose."
Pei Yansi felt a surge of fury within, her calm and steady demeanor was truly infuriating, like punching into cotton.
He had wanted to tear the cotton to shreds, but found that cotton couldn't be torn apart.
It was a futile effort.
The crowd of onlookers grew larger, some marveling at Shen Heyu's composure, while others whispered suspicions about the relationship between Pei Yansi and Bai Sheng'er.
Seeing this, Bai Sheng'er curled up into Pei Yansi's embrace even more, trembling and carefully shedding tears, appearing extremely frail and pitiful, "President Pei, it hurts everywhere on my body..."
Pei Yansi suppressed the rage in his heart, touched her face, and said softly, "There, there, I'll take you to the hospital."
He picked up Bai Sheng'er horizontally and, with a princess carry, weaved through the crowd to exit.
The assistant, seeing this, hurried forward and said, "President Pei, but this emergency meeting..."
With a single icy word from Pei Yansi, the assistant immediately froze in place and dared not step forward any longer.
Shen Heyu watched his tall figure walking away, and due to the princess carry, she could see Bai Sheng'er's small legs swinging in the air.
Bai Sheng'er turned her head, peeking out the top half of her face from Pei Yansi's shoulder, looking over in Shen Heyu's direction, her eyes flashing with a glint of sly triumph.
Only when Pei Yansi looked at her did she resume that pitiable expression.
But that look of hers was like a knife, harshly stabbing into Shen Heyu's heart.
And the knife was handed to her by Pei Yansi himself.
Shen Heyu closed her eyes; her back was still hurting, and she planned to go to the hospital to get it treated.
When she returned to her department, her colleagues who had witnessed the scene followed her. Some of them expressed indignation on her behalf.
"Director Shen, are you just going to let this go? We all saw it was her who ran into you and then fell down."
"Right, Director Shen, your back must have been scalded as well. Why don't we accompany you to the hospital?"
"Bai Sheng'er may look young and vibrant, but why is her heart as wicked as an ancient sorceress! And such manipulative schemes! These foolish tactics, can't President Pei see through them?"
Shen Heyu maintained a clear and detached attitude from the beginning to the end. She said, "Don't discuss President Pei in private... and certainly don't talk about the person he holds closest to his heart."
Otherwise, you'll end up just like me, in an unsightly demise.
Her colleagues then fell silent.
A newcomer, also an intern and still hot-blooded and dissatisfied with the injustice, said, "But it was her fault, right? Can't we check the surveillance footage? Director Shen, you could go explain!"
Shen Heyu smiled faintly, gathered her things, and prepared to go to the hospital.
As she left, she said, "There's no need. Many things don't change with an explanation, and the truth is even less useful. It all depends on whether the other person believes you. If they don't believe, no matter how you argue, they won't be convinced."
Her words were profound, leaving the department office in utter silence.
Shen Heyu packed up her things and left, suppressing the dense pain deep in her heart.
She knew explanations were useless, especially to Pei Yan, who had never believed her explanations about that incident all these years.
From beginning to end, he would never believe her.