“Knock. Knock. Knock.”
“Come in.” Ji Yan composed herself when she saw Li Wenjing appear from the door.
She then forced a smile and called, “Wenjing.”
Upon noticing that Ji Yan seemed to be in a neutral mood, Li Wenjing walked in and said, “Ji Yan, you must think about how to prevent the lies from spreading. Otherwise, it will have a bad impact on you.”
“You do not think what she said is true?” Staring at Li Wenjing’s face filled with puzzlement but full of trust, Ji Yan felt a sense of warmth rise in her heart.
Ji Yan then replied, “I’m indeed married, but there’s more behind the story. I can’t tell you too much.” Despite the fact that Li Wenjing was her best friend, she did not wish to talk about her family using her as a tool to gain glory or that the Shang family looked down on her.
Li Wenjing nodded. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I trust you.”
The two then smiled at each other and began to talk about work instead.
Ji Yan had thought that what Ji Gui had done was only a tiny disturbance, but apparently, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
In just one day, Ji Yan’s story spread throughout the entire office, and there were even different versions of it. Basically, everyone was saying that Ji Yan’s private life was chaotic, and she was a mistress who stole her sister’s fiance and so on.
When Ji Yan received a phone call from her manager, she walked out of the office and glanced at the staff members in the design department with a poker face. At the same time, Liu Yun hid in the corner and lowered her head while pretending to pour herself a glass of water, her actions filled with a guilty conscience.
Li Wenjing shot Ji Yan a worried look, but the latter only nodded and walked toward the manager’s office.
Along the way, many of Ji Yan’s colleagues turned to look at her intentionally. She ignored them and knocked at the office door calmly with her chin held high.
“Come in.” The manager’s stern voice came from inside.
Ji Yan sat down opposite the manager and calmly waited for him to speak. As expected, he began questioning her. The manager knew that Ji Yan was somewhat related to Shang Jinshen, but he did not expect things to be so complicated.
In fact, based on Ji Yan and Shang Jinshen’s relationship, the manager could just sit by and do nothing. However, the rumors had spread too fast. Thus, he had to ask Ji Yan to give an explanation to avoid chaos in the company.
Ji Yan mocked the manager with a half-smile. “It seems like the company cares more about gossiping than their performance.”
The manager looked embarrassed after hearing that. Of course, he understood the meaning behind Ji Yan’s words. He wouldn’t want to waste his time dealing with this matter if he could make the staff members shut up. His expression changed as he said to Ji Yan, “This matter is not that serious. You only have to come forward and clarify it to everyone.”
“I thought you could at least distinguish what’s right and wrong. This is just a rumor, and people will eventually forget about it.
Or perhaps, you should find out who’s deliberately spreading the gossip in the company,” Ji Yan reminded him intentionally.
With that, the manager’s facial expression turned dark. He could not help but feel frustrated, as Ji Yan was unwilling to do what he said. However, Ji Yan had won first place for the company, and she was now the company’s biggest asset, so he did not dare to provoke her. Instead, he changed the topic.
“Our company will organize a celebration party for you tomorrow night. Please be prepared for it.”
“Celebration?” Ji Yan curled her lips and did not seem really interested in it. But since the company had organized it for her, she could not refuse it.
She suddenly felt a sense of hatred toward her company. They would only appreciate her when she was valuable to them. She believed that the company would immediately kick her out if otherwise.
Ji Yan disliked working for such a commercial company, as she could not focus on designing. Thus, she considered leaving the company when the time was right.
That evening, Ji Yan asked Li Wenjing to go shopping together after work. She refused to stay in the company any longer because of the rumors. She did not want to go back to the Shang family either, so she could only ask Li Wenjing to accompany her.
Meanwhile, Shao Kai was extremely disappointed. He had just gotten together with Li Wenjing, but it turned out that she paid more attention to her friend than her lover.
“Li Ying, everyone in the company now looks down on Ji Yan. So what if she won first place? With her impure background, she’s only a laughingstock,” Liu Yun said sarcastically while squatting down in front of Li Ying’s stall and kept talking bad about Ji Yan.
“If only you could return to the company. You must be able to beat Ji Yan, and you might be the one to win the award this time.”
Li Ying seemed envious yet satisfied after hearing that. She had lost the qualification to become a designer after being banned, but Ji Yan remained successful. Thus, she thought it was unfair. However, she did not expect that Ji Yan was actually this kind of woman. She knew that Ji Yan was not an innocent woman, after all.
At this moment, Li Wenjing’s face was red with anger. If it were not for Ji Yan holding her back, she would have rushed forward to Li Ying. She did not expect to meet the woman while hanging around in the night market. She had wondered how the news could spread so quickly. Right then, it seemed that Liu Yun must have done something behind the scenes.
Ji Yan felt speechless. It seemed that many people were talking bad about her behind her back, and apparently, Liu Yun was on Li Ying’s side. However, she never thought that Li Ying would open up a stall in the night market.
Ji Yan walked over with her bag on her shoulder and stood behind Liu Yun. Li Ying’s facial expression turned stiff when she noticed Ji Yan. Obviously, she did not expect to see Ji Yan there.
“Li Ying, don’t you think Ji Yan deserves it? Haha!” Liu Yun laughed in satisfaction.
“What do I deserve?” Ji Yan’s cold voice rang behind Liu Yun, causing the latter to jump in shock. When Liu Yun turned around and saw Ji Yan behind her, she almost fell to the ground.
“Liu Yun, you’re still as big-mouthed as ever,” Li Wenjing sneered rudely. She did not know Li Ying, but she obviously did not seem like a good person.
“Ji Yan! Li Wenjing…” Liu Yun was about to ask them why they were there. Being caught talking bad behind someone’s back was a completely different matter. No matter how much she disliked Ji Yan, the latter was her superior, after all.
Ji Yan did not bother talking to the woman. She looked at Li Ying and glanced at her stall. “I didn’t expect you to open up a stall here. It seems like your business is doing good.”
Li Ying was selling some gadgets and decorations at her stall. Ji Yan did not expect that Li Ying would end up like this.
Li Ying looked at Ji Yan with resentment, then stood up without bothering to hide her hatred. “Ji Yan, if it weren’t for you, I would never end up like this! Hmph, I thought you were an innocent woman.”
“It turns out that you have gained support from a big family. No wonder you could ban me from the circle. I admit defeat this time, but I’ll return the favor in double to you in the future once I have the chance.”
Hearing this, Ji Yan frowned slightly. Ban?
“I don’t have such power to ban you.” She thought Li Ying must have provoked someone else.
Li Ying snorted coldly and said, “Ji Yan, you’re really good at pretending. If it weren’t for the Shang family helping you, how could I be banned? I couldn’t even get a job in a small company.” At that time, she was desperate. After hiring someone to investigate the matter, she found out that it was Shang Corp. that banned her. Li Ying had been frightened at that time, and she had not understood how she had offended Shang Corp.
Shang Corp.? A thought suddenly came to Ji Yan’s mind. Could it be Shang Jinshen? But why did he ban Li Ying? Ji Yan refused to believe that Shang Jinshen had done this for her.
However, based on Li Ying’s hateful attitude, Ji Yan thought that Li Ying had not done anything to provoke Shang Jinshen before, other than the time when she caused her to be admitted into the hospital.