Mo Yirou returned to her seat. They both sat far apart in the empty meeting room.
“Congratulations”, Shen Qieyi spoke.
Mo Yirou nodded her head.
Shen Qieyi felt uneasy with her reposed demeanor and suspected she might be cooking up an evil plan.
But she does not want to cause a scene with her. Furthermore, Mo Yirou was selected by unanimous vote after the interview. She had no right to veto everyone’s decision.
“How intriguing was the remuneration of this job that made you willing to stoop yourself to apply to be my colleague.”
“Nevertheless, you’ve qualified yourself here. So I look forward to seeing you perform. With morally righteous practice, that is.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Hearing her reply, Shen Qieyi didn’t comment further and had her leave the room.
At noon, Shen Qieyi took a short break after conducting training for the new batch of doctors. It was an exhausting day.
What pleased her the most was that she could get off work on time at the end of her shift.
Shen Qieyi was exhausted and spoke weakly when Bai Jingyan called.
“What’s wrong with you? You sounded weary when you talked. Didn’t my hospital provide you lunch?”
Bai Jingyan was frustrated and complained about her attitude.
“Do you have anything else to say? If there’s nothing, I’ll hang up now”, said Shen Qieyi as she prepared herself to head home.
“Why can’t I just call to chat with you? You heartless woman!”
She was speechless.
Bai Jingyan was worried she would hang up the phone after a momentary silence.
“Hey, how about I treat you a nice meal?”.
Shen Qieyi mindlessly shook her head to decline him, only to realize her silliness that he couldn’t see her. So she told him no.
“Nevermind then, I know you’re exhausted. Go home and have a good rest. We’ll go another day.”
Shen Qieyi couldn’t help but sneer at him. “Sure! But I’m swarmed with work right lately. After everything settled down, I promise to buy you a good meal.”
“That’s more like it.”
Shen Qieyi hung up and went home after cleaning her glass.
On the way home, she was stuck in the stagnant traffic. She massaged her head for a while and then played her favorite songs.
Shen Qieyi forced herself to maintain her focus in the slow-moving traffic, fearing she might get into a car accident.
Shen Qieyi could hear angry drivers swearing in the traffic jam. She occasionally heard irritated drivers swearing and cursing from her partially rolled-down window.
However, Shen Qieyi wasn’t bothered by those noises.
The traffic was inching slowly by the minutes. Shen Qieyi calmly cruised with the pace of the traffic while maintaining the distance of her vehicle from the car in front.
As fate had it, the unfortunate happened in the next minute. A car in the lane next to hers made a sudden swerve to take the space in front of her car. Shen Qieyi, who had always been a law-abiding driver on the road, was naturally panicked by the sudden, unexpected occurrence and steered hard to the opposite side to dodge that car.
However, as she steered into the three-way intersection, she was about to come head-on with another car driving in her direction. She was fortunate that the opposite driver was skilled enough to avoid her by turning to the right and hitting hard on the brake.
Both cars screeched with an ear-piercing sound as they twirled themselves to a stop.
Shen Qieyi’s face turned pale. Her foot on the brake paddle was still trembling without control, and her hands pressed hard on her mouth. A moment later, she swung open the car door to get out.
She hurriedly checked on their car. The driver’s side mirror was snapped off. Countless marks were scratched on the door, some heavier than others. Then she turned her eyes to briefly glimpsed the one who did it. Shen Qieyi felt helpless about what to do next.
She then heard a familiar female voice echoing in the air from the passenger side of their car.
“What’s wrong with you? Your heedlessness in driving could kill us !”
The driver was pressing a phone to his ears. “Don’t worry, Grandpa. It’s just a minor car accident. We will be there soon.”
The enraged woman clicked her tall heels toward Shen Qieyi, demanding an explanation and compensation.
Shen Qieyi glanced at the car and looked up at the woman.
Both of them were stunned for a moment.
Gu Linlang was shocked to see that it was her and nervously darted a look in the driver’s direction. Shen Qieyi also followed her line of sight but couldn’t make out the face of the driver.
Gu Linlang’s initial anger was stuck inside her, unable to be voiced. She recognized Shen Qieyi immediately but was surprised to see the changes in her. She was instantly threatened by how gorgeous and attractive Shen Qieyi had become.
Seeing Gu Linlang’s reaction, Shen Qieyi could already guess who the driver was. Her impulse to turn around and run away was triggered.
Both love rivals from the past had no intention of exchanging pleasantries when they met.
Gu Linlang feels threatened after seeing the changes in Shen Qieyi. Her instinct alarmed her to get Shen Qieyi out of Fu Yao’s sight.
” I’ll just let this pass because it is you,” said Gu Linlang, acting generous without giving her so much of a look.
“No, I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you. I’ll pay for the damage,” said Shen Qieyi as she held her arms together, wanting to keep her momentum intact.
Just as Gu Linlang was about to refute, she heard the car door was opened behind her.
Fu Yao hung up after putting his Granpa at ease with his situation. He got out of the car after seeing Gu Linlang’s back to see what was going on.
“What’s going on?”
Fu Yao’s voice held both of them in trance.
Shen Qieyi stood facing him with her back to the bright sun. She watched as he roughly glanced at the damage on the car and then cast her a brief look. He then told Gu Linlang, “Nothing serious. Let’s leave.”
Shen Qieyi was somehow disappointed with Fu Yao’s ignorance.
Gu Linlang skimmed at Shen Qieyi with a satisfied smirk.
Shen Qieyi’s embarrassment made her want to leave. But Gu Linlang, on the other hand, was eager to provoke her.
Gu Linlang intimately pulled Fu Yao forward closer to Shen Qieyi. She acted to be surprised and questioned, “Fu Yao, how could you not remember her? This is Shen Qieyi.”
Fu Yao was stunned for a moment by her statement and slowly took another look at the woman facing him.
Fu Yao squinted his eyes to minimize the sunlight glare so he could get a better look at her symmetrical oval-shaped face with acute facial features. Her slim figure was adorned in a crisp, short office skirt, showing her attractive long legs.
The only thing that remained unchanged was her lustrous eyes staring back at him.
Shen Qieyi wasn’t expecting Fu Yao to act so indifferently to her even after recognizing her.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself to confront him calmly in this tragic situation, she couldn’t stop feeling flustered and disturbed on the inside.
Fu Yao wanted to greet her, but he was unsure. He wasn’t sure how should he call her now, or what to say.
Shen Qieyi lowered her eyes to hide her emotion. She stared at the exquisitely designed second button of his suit. She refused to be the one to initiate the conversation as well.
Both of them were entranced in the stillness.
Fu Yao saw an undeniable change in both her demeanor and physical appearance. The chubby girl he knew no longer existed. As if time had done her a favor, she was transformed into the attractive and graceful woman standing before him
Fu Yao was stunned in disbelief. He wondered what she had gone through in the last six months to make her so driven to transform herself. Her transfiguration was beyond imagination that he failed to recognize her at first glance like he used to.