I struggled to get up from the ground, glaring at Mi Cai, who wore a look of feigned surprise, and shouted, “Come here! Let me strangle you!”
“What’s wrong?” Mi Cai asked me innocently.
I laughed bitterly in anger, “You locked me in the house the whole day and still ask me what’s wrong? The more you pretend, the more despicable you seem to me!”
“You’re crazy,” Mi Cai said indifferently and started changing into her slippers.
I approached Mi Cai, but my legs felt weak, almost using up my last bit of strength to grab her and angrily asked, “Why did you lock the door today?”
“Don’t we usually lock the security door from the inside?”
“Don’t you know I was still at home?”
Mi Cai shook her head, saying, “I didn’t know. I thought you had already left.”
“Alright, even if you didn’t know I was home, why did you take the keys while I was sleeping?”
“Shouldn’t I take the keys of my own house?” Mi Cai coldly retorted.
I felt even more dizzy from anger, heavily patting my forehead while desperately trying to remain rational as I asked, “Fine, the keys are yours, you have the right to take them, but how do you explain stealing my phone’s battery?”
“Who stole your battery? Yesterday when I took the keys, I accidentally knocked your phone off the bed. The battery might have fallen under it. Since the room was dark and I couldn’t see clearly, I just put the back cover on.”
“Damn it! You really planned this out perfectly, leaving no loopholes. I can’t even find a reason to get mad at you!”
Mi Cai smiled at me and said, “To quote your words, it’s your bad luck to meet me. Think about how slim the chances were for us to meet in this vast sea of people. And then, what were the odds that after meeting, I would lock you inside the house?”
“So you admit it?”
Mi Cai replied coldly, “Even if I admit it, what can you do? Go report me to the police for unlawful confinement? You won’t dare to file a report, after all, you’re a man and I’m just a woman. Besides, aren’t you the landlord? How could a tenant possibly confine a landlord in the house? The police won’t even believe it!”
Mi Cai struck me hard with words, echoing my previous accusations against her, and I didn’t know how to fight back. After a while, I angrily said, “You… you’re just a female thug, a devil, a monster… does your despicable behavior match your pretty face?”
Unaffected by my anger, Mi Cai calmly replied, “You should keep those words for yourself. Without your actions, there wouldn’t be my reaction today.”
“But your reaction is too harsh! You locked me in the house the entire day, and I couldn’t make any calls. How does my company see this? This is much worse than being absent from work—I might even lose my job!” I said, my face flushed red.
Mi Cai stared at me silently for a long time, then calmly said, “Aren’t you hungry after talking so much?”
As soon as she finished speaking, my legs felt weak again. My stomach growled loudly, and I felt another wave of dizziness from anger. Instinctively, I put my hand on Mi Cai’s shoulder, swallowed my hunger, and struggled to say, “Help me downstairs to eat some noodles with soybean paste—the biggest bowl they have!”
…
At the noodle shop downstairs, I reinstalled my phone’s battery and anxiously turned it on. Immediately, dozens of text message alerts thundered out, all from Fang Yuan and Chen Jingming’s missed calls.
Frustrated, I threw the phone aside and glared angrily at Mi Cai, who sat calmly across from me.
Mi Cai stood up and said to me, “I’ve brought you here already. Eat slowly by yourself.”
“You sit back down! This matter isn’t over yet. You heard the text message alerts just now, all from my company! What should we do now?”
Finally, a trace of guilt appeared on Mi Cai’s face as she quietly said to me, “I always thought you didn’t have a serious job. I really didn’t expect…”
I was at a loss for words. Given my previous state, I indeed didn’t seem like someone with a serious job. I patiently said to Mi Cai, “Even if my job isn’t serious, it still requires organization and discipline! Haven’t you seen those beggars in the underground tunnels? They still gather every day to count their numbers and divide the areas where they beg!”
Mi Cai remained silent for a while before saying to me, “I admit I didn’t think this through properly. Tell me what I should do.”
After Mi Cai softened her attitude, I felt somewhat embarrassed myself. Actually, I had been too excessive before, and Mi Cai’s punishment was just a natural reaction after being bullied. As the CEO of a shopping mall, how could she possibly have no temper at all?
After thinking for a moment, I said, “I won’t make it difficult for you. Just call my boss and explain that I couldn’t come to work today. As long as I can keep my job, I won’t hold it against you for locking me in the house the entire day.”
“Why don’t you explain it yourself?”
“If he would believe me, why would I need you to explain?” I glared at Mi Cai.
“It seems you’ve been fooling around with your boss quite a bit… Give me the number.”
I was once again left speechless by Mi Cai’s words—because she had hit the nail on the head. I coughed to cover my embarrassment before giving her Chen Jingming’s phone number, and she immediately dialed it.
I was somewhat curious—if Chen Jingming knew that the person calling him was the CEO of Zhuo Mei, what would his reaction be? However, Mi Cai and Chen Jingming definitely wouldn’t discuss this matter, so I could only remain curious.
The call seemed to be answered, and Mi Cai spoke into the phone, “Hello, are you Manager Chen?”
“I’m Zhaoyang’s roommate. I need to explain something to you. When we left today, I accidentally locked Zhaoyang inside the house, and his phone had some issues, so he couldn’t contact the company immediately. I apologize for this.”
Although Mi Cai’s words were polite, her tone still carried an air of authority from being in a high position.
After a while, Mi Cai spoke again and handed the phone to me, saying, “Your manager wants to speak to you.”
I took the phone from Mi Cai and immediately said, “Manager, you just heard everything, right? Today’s absence from work was truly an accident!”
Chen Jingming’s voice carried both anger and helplessness as he asked, “Is that really true?”
“If I’m lying, may I be cursed as your grandson! For this matter, would I go out of my way to find someone to cover for me? I, Zhaoyang, have always taken responsibility for my actions.”
“Alright then, I’ll treat this as an accident. Tomorrow, come to the company early and communicate with Fang Yuan. This project must be completed efficiently.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll arrive at the company early tomorrow morning.”
…
After ending the call with Chen Jingming, I called Fang Yuan and explained the situation to him. Finally, I felt a sense of relief. At this moment, the noodles arrived, and without hesitation, I grabbed the bowl and devoured it hungrily, eating two large bowls in succession until I could eat no more.
Wiping the oil from my mouth with a napkin, I said to Mi Cai, whom I had forcibly kept there, “Earlier, you told our boss that we’re roommates, right?”
Mi Cai guessed my intention and immediately denied it, saying, “That was just situational necessity. Otherwise, how else could I explain this incident to your boss?”
“Oh… I see… So you can lie and fool people too!”
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