CH 12.2

Chen Ying is also not happy—the little girl is petty. Really unhappy.

Both of them have nothing to say, each doing their own thing. At 9:45, the doorbell rings. Feng Xin comes with the vegetables she bought, as well as the things Chen Ying asked for last night.

Chen Ying leads her to the study and gives her an envelope containing one thousand yuan to buy vegetables, fruits and daily necessities for Mi Xi. He’ll give more after she uses it up. 

Feng Xin is also very experienced, so she takes out the receipt she had prepared in advance, writes down the amount, signs her name, and hands it to Chen Ying. “I will pay the bill of shopping expenses every half a month.”

Chen Ying agrees. He looks through the drawer, finds Secretary Lu Ya’s business card, and hands it to Feng Xin. “This is my secretary. If you have any problems and you can’t find me, you can go to her. Also, I will send her the bills and invoices.”

Feng Xin nods in agreement. She roughly talks about the arrangements for the next few days. Chen Ying is satisfied. The two have a clear talk, then come out to find Mi Xi. 

Mi Xi is standing in the living room, a little uneasy. The long, straight, black hair makes her face small, and her eyes are big. She stands upright, revealing a little stubbornness.

“Mi Xi, I’m going to work.” Chen Ying makes the first overture.

Mixi nods.

“Feng Xin will come to accompany you every day starting today—except for weekends. If you need or want to do anything, just tell her.” 

“Weekends?” Mi Xi can’t understand again.

Chen Ying turns to Feng Xin, “Teach her to read the calendar and clock. Then explain what ‘weekend’ is.” His expression is saying ‘don’t mind it, she came from a mountain village far away’. “Thank you for your hard work.” Chen Ying says this very sincerely.

Feng Xin nods and approaches Mi Xi with a smile. “Hello, Mi Xi, we met before. My name is Feng Xin. You can call me Sister Feng.” 

As soon as they hear these words, Mi Xi and Chen Ying both startle and look at each other. 

Feng Xin is thirty-two, a few years older than Chen Ying. Mi Xi also thinks that Feng Xin looks older than Chen Ying. Chen Ying is an uncle, but Feng Xin is an older sister—is this generation alright?

Chen Ying coughs lightly, “Mi Xi, sometimes ‘sister’ and ‘brother’ are polite names. Just call her ‘Sister Feng’, it doesn’t matter.”

Mi Xi thinks for a while, then bends down to salute, “Hello, Sister Feng.”

Feng Xin smiles and says, “We agreed to shake hands, didn’t we?” 

She stretches out her hand, and Mi Xi glances at Chen Ying for confirmation by force of habit. Chen Ying really feels a bit of a headache. He already told her about the salute, why can’t she remember it? 

Chen Ying nods. “Yes, it’s a handshake here.”

“Do men also shake hands?” Mi Xi frowns.

“You don’t have to touch men, do whatever you want.” Chen Ying feels impatient. It’s not easy to teach a child, but it’s even more difficult to teach a stubborn child who has already been taught otherwise. “If you have anything you want to know, you can ask Sister Feng. She will teach you.”

“Okay,” Mi Xi says, her tone grave. “Just from yesterday, I accumulated a lot of things I don’t know, and I want to ask for advice. “

Chen Ying is now very glad that he was too cunning and decisively hired a housekeeper, otherwise he will definitely die at the hands of Mi Xi—he’ll be asked questions to death! 

“Okay, then you two talk; I’ll go to work first. Call me if you need me for anything.” 

Chen Ying runs out of the house as if fleeing. It isn’t until he gets in the car and out on the road that he feels that he has returned to his normal self.

Leaving the curious baby Mixi, he enters the company and he is a good guy again: this is Chen Ying’s evaluation of his current situation.

When Chen Ying arrives at the office, he checks the time before going upstairs. He feels that there is still enough time for a cigarette, so he smokes one downstairs before taking the elevator up. It’s 10:58 when he steps into the office doors. He looks at his watch, feeling satisfied, knowing that he is not late, and goes in whistling.

Lu Ya is well-trained and is ready to report. When she sees him coming, she follows him into the office and reports about matters. Chen Ying tells her about him hiring a household service. Lu Ya writes it down one by one. 

After all that, she reports to him about Liu Meifen’s resignation, and places the resignation letter on his desk. “Director Fu said that Liu Meifen was responsible for Yongkai’s case, so he didn’t dare to approve the resignation, so he handed it over.” 

“He didn’t dare to take responsibility until the contract is signed, and he didn’t dare to approve the employee’s resignation. Does he feel hot when he gets his salary?” Chen Ying sneers. 

Lu Ya wisely does not comment. 

Chen Ying throws Liu Meifen’s resignation letter aside. “Is she still here? Let her come over, we’ll have a chat.”

Lu Ya obeys and goes out. 

After a while, someone knocks on the door and it was Liu Meifen who came in.

“Mr. Chen.”

“Sit down.” Chen Ying says by way of greeting while reading the email.

Liu Meifen is a little nervous and sits down.

“You resigned because Yongkai’s contract was not signed?”

Liu Meifen purses her lips and says after a while, “I have been following up with this case. In the end, I know the company must be dissatisfied.” 

“You mean to take the blame and resign. Is it because of your own fault that the contract cannot be signed?” Chen Ying turns his eyes away from the computer and looks at Liu Meifen. “What exactly is your fault?” 

Liu Meifen purses her lips and does not speak.

“This level of contract is under the charge of Fu Tang. Although you are the point person, to put it bluntly, your position is not high enough to take responsibility. So, why are you so anxious? Why do you believe that you are at fault? What wrong did you do?”

The expression on Liu Meifen’s face is very ugly. “Mr. Chen, in any case, I don’t want to work on it anymore. I will hand over the matter at hand.”

“I was drinking with Wang Bing last night.” Chen Ying didn’t answer her, but said this instead. 

Liu Meifen is taken aback for a moment and looks up in surprise.

“You know that if you drink too much, you can say anything. He didn’t insist that he won’t sign a contract with us, but he also wanted to find a way to get out of an embarrassing situation.”1

Liu Meifen grits her teeth, feeling very embarrassed.

“But I tore up the contract, put it in his glass, and cursed at him.” Chen Ying says, his voice calm. “If the contract is not won in the end, it is my responsibility and has nothing to do with you.” 

Liu Meifen is too surprised, her eyes wide.

“Liu Meifen, it’s your right to refuse sexual harassment in the workplace. You haven’t made any mistakes. There’s nothing wrong with refusing threats from Wang Bing—that pig. You did the right thing.” 

Liu Meifen’s eyes turn red.

“But why didn’t you tell the company?”

“I was worried….” Liu Meifen pauses, “I’m worried that the company would blame me for not being able to do things, but I’m not here to sell my body.” Thinking of the pressure during this period, her eyes get wet. Wang Bing’s harassing calls and threats, as well as the company’s accusations and interrogation, she felt that she couldn’t bear it anymore. “I’d rather not do this job.”

Chen Ying nods and asks her, “Liu Meifen, how many years have you worked here?”

“Five years.”

“How many times have you been harassed in five years?”

“Just this time.”

“So, you were just unlucky enough to meet that pig Wang Bing. Not all men in the workplace are like this. You rejected him and protected yourself—which was right. But you concealed this and didn’t allow the company to take the correct measures in a timely manner. This is your fault.” 

He picks up Liu Meifen’s resignation letter. “If you report to the company and the company forces you to sell yourself, then you should resign decisively. Instead of doing this so-called blame resignation just for exercising your legitimate rights and defending your dignity like this.” 

He hands the resignation letter to Liu Meifen. “Take it back. I don’t accept your resignation.” 

Liu Meifen is stunned and takes the letter. She bites her lip, her voice is very small, saying, “Thank you, Mr. Chen.”

“Does Fu Tang know?”

“I didn’t say anything specifically, but when we talked with Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang was sometimes not very polite, and Mr. Fu just let it happen.” 

“He didn’t dare to offend the client, and so you think he represents the attitude of the company?”

“I was overthinking.” Liu Meifen takes a deep breath.

“You really think too much.” Chen Ying says with a serious tone.

Liu Meifen quickly raises her head and sees him. He sits there tall and straight—a gentleman.

________________

FOOTNOTE:

1Chen Ying literally says something like ‘find the bottom of the stairs’, the ‘steps’ being the embarrassing situation.