She really thought President Lin was praising her.

She sat alone, thinking with calm deliberation. This whole mess had been caused by her alone, so she would not go to Lin Yichen.

Otherwise, she would have told him on the road just now.

“Do you know how important the Sapphire project is? If the project is gone, do you know how Yichen’s rivals will attack him? Do you understand any of that? Even after everything has blown up like this, he still kept you by his side. He took the blame for you, such a huge disgrace, and you still think this has nothing to do with him?”

Anna’s tone was sharp and aggressive. She truly could not understand it. Aside from being pretty, the woman before her seemed to have nothing at all to recommend her. Why on earth did Yichen like her? What was so good about her?

Anna believed she was no less beautiful, and in every other way she was superior. So why could Yichen never see her?

If this woman had truly been better than her in every way, she would have withdrawn willingly. But the truth was plain: this girl was good for nothing, too fragile to withstand the slightest blow.

Little Seven understood Anna’s meaning completely. She wanted nothing more than for her to leave TC, to leave Lin Yichen—

so that she herself could be with him.

Not long ago, she had been furious and determined to leave TC. But for some reason now, she no longer wanted to go.

And yet, if she stayed...

Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Anna said coldly, “If you still care about Yichen, then leave TC. Leave Yichen.”

Yichen had only just arrived at the villa when Fang Li’s call came in. In a low voice, he reported, “President Lin, the footage of the Sapphire being stolen from the research lab has been uploaded to our internal TC website.”

Fang Li had not known that Little Seven was the one who took the Sapphire, so when he saw the video online, he was stunned beyond belief. So it had been Miss Ye who stole it.

No wonder President Lin had ordered the Sapphire case dropped.

Yichen frowned. “When was it posted?”

“This morning. I was tied up with work all day and didn’t log onto the internal site. I only checked it after I got home to look over today’s project—”

“Is the video still there?”

“The moment I found it, I contacted Li Cheng’s people and had it deleted. But it was up all day, so I’m afraid everyone in the company has already...”

The call ended.

It seemed President Lin was truly angry this time.

The people in the research department had some nerve. They knew perfectly well that Miss Ye was different in President Lin’s eyes, and still they dared do something like this.

After hanging up, Yichen immediately called Li Cheng. Li Cheng had known this call would come sooner or later.

“President Lin.”

Yichen’s voice was cold and heavy. “Who gave you permission to release that footage?”

Li Cheng promptly dragged out a scapegoat. “President Lin, I had no knowledge of this at all. I only found out when Assistant Fang called me. It was Liu Zhen who posted the video. He said...”

He stopped there.

Yichen said nothing, waiting in furious silence for the rest.

“He said that as president of TC, it was improper for you to shield a thief like that, so he...”

Yichen hung up.

A smile curled at Li Cheng’s lips.

Liu Zhen?

He was just a minor employee in the research department, someone Yichen rarely came into contact with. But whenever he saw him there, he always looked honest and simple.

And an honest, simple man had done something so righteous and indignant...

Yichen narrowed his eyes and did not think further.

He called Little Seven. Her phone was off.

He had been angry today and had not seen her once in the company. But after work, he could not help following her, watching her.

When she was crossing the street, seeing her all alone, helpless like a child, his heart softened at once.

But she had not told him about any of this then.

Could it be that she still did not know?

No. If she did not know, then after work she would have gone home skipping cheerfully, not looking the way she had.

Suddenly he thought of that morning, when Yiyang had been pulling Xiyang along.

Could it be that Xiyang had asked Yiyang for help?

She would rather turn to Yiyang than to him.

Yichen truly had to restrain himself from going to drag her back that very moment.

Forget it. Tomorrow he would have to punish her a little.

As for Liu Zhen—an apparently honest man who still dared to do something like this.

Dismissing him would be too light a punishment.

But in the end, the whole thing still came down to Xiyang. Why had she stolen the Sapphire in the first place?

Call her foolish, and she would never admit it. A huge surveillance camera was right there overhead, and still she had stolen it so brazenly.

Yichen thought back to their school days. Xiyang had always been like this, forever doing things that gave him headaches.

And he had always had to clean up after her, one by one.

Truly, he both delighted in this side of her and was endlessly exasperated by it.

For the first time in her life, Little Seven slept badly through the night. By the time she arrived at TC the next morning, she was haggard and frazzled.

But the moment she reached the office area, her exhausted mind flared instantly into anger.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

A female colleague was rummaging through her desk—on top, underneath, inside the drawers—turning everything upside down.

When the woman saw Little Seven glaring at her, she gave a disdainful smile. “I dropped something, so I’m looking for it.”

“You call this looking?” Little Seven pointed at the desk, now in complete disorder. “You’re obviously rifling through my things on purpose. Besides, if you dropped something, why aren’t you looking somewhere else? Why search only here?”

This woman had never really paid her any attention before.

So was it because she thought the Sapphire had really been stolen by her, and had come deliberately to make trouble?

Little Seven’s instincts, it had to be said, were remarkably accurate.

“I’ve never lost anything before,” the colleague said arrogantly. “But ever since you came, things have started disappearing. And you do have a record, after all.”

“You...”

Little Seven thought of Joanna’s words and forced herself to calm down. “Fine. What did you lose? I’ll help you find it.”

“You’ll help me find it?” The woman sneered. “My work report. Though I suppose you’ve already taken it and used it for yourself.”

“Used it for myself?” Little Seven was baffled. “What is a work report? How can that even be useful to me?”

“...”

“Stop pretending to be stupid.” Seeing Little Seven’s innocent, childlike face only made the woman more jealous and more disgusted. “You dared steal the Sapphire. Stealing a mere report must be child’s play to you.”

“You—” Her words were too ugly, and Little Seven’s temper rose as well. “I’m telling you, I did not take whatever it is you’re talking about. You’re slandering me, so apologize right now.”

The colleague found that laughable. “Are you serious? You steal my things and still have the nerve to ask me to apologize?”

Little Seven said solemnly, “I’ll say it one more time. I did not take your things. You’re falsely accusing me. So you owe me an apology.”

She swore that if this woman kept pushing her, she would use her powers and slap her clear out of the planet.

The colleague only grew more contemptuous. She had observed carefully yesterday. For a while now, Little Seven had been running to the president’s office every chance she got.

And yesterday morning, the company’s internal network had been flooded with the stolen-Sapphire video.

Yet not once all day had she gone to President Lin’s office.

Clearly, President Lin had cast her aside. Otherwise he would have stepped in long ago.

Without President Lin, what was this delivery girl worth?

The more she thought, the more disdainful she became. “Slandering you? Wasn’t it you who stole the Sapphire? The footage of you stealing it has already spread all over the company website. The research department was kind enough to leave you some dignity and not post it elsewhere. Otherwise you wouldn’t even be able to walk out your door. If you ask me, you should go back to delivering your takeout, delivery girl.”

“So you look down on delivery workers?” Little Seven gave a cold smile. “If you’ve got any backbone, then stop eating the meals they bring you. Go eat dirt instead.”

“You really have no shame at all. You steal the Sapphire and still swagger around here. Do you really think you’re special? Why don’t you take a good look at what you are? President Lin was only amusing himself with a delivery girl like you—”

Enough. She had endured enough.

A ring of light flickered from the fingers hanging at her sides, but suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Her power vanished at once.

At the same time, the people in the office area called out in trembling voices, “President Lin.”

They had only been standing there to watch the excitement—surely they would not be implicated, would they?

The colleague who had been speaking was even more frightened.

But then she remembered that President Lin had ignored Ye Xiyang the entire previous day.

With that thought, some of the fear in her heart receded.

Little Seven turned her head.

Yichen was looking quietly at the colleague who had just spoken.

For some reason, though his face was calm, Little Seven had the distinct feeling that this expressionless president was far more terrifying than the one who openly showed anger.

As it happened, her alien intuition was very accurate.

A man who had spent years navigating the business world would never truly wear his emotions on his face. If he did, he would have been devoured long ago, leaving not even bones behind.

“What’s going on?” Yichen asked without expression.

Little Seven had just opened her mouth when Yichen spoke again. “You tell me, Tong Sijia.”

“I...” There was no missing report at all. She had simply disliked Little Seven and wanted an excuse to humiliate her.

But she could not refuse to answer, so she lied. “My work report is missing, so I checked her desk.”

Yichen remained expressionless. “There are security cameras here. Shall I have the footage brought up for you?”

“...”

One look at her face, and Yichen knew she had been deliberately provoking Xiyang. “You. Apologize.”

Tong Sijia was already guilty, and now she apologized at once. “I’m sorry, Miss Ye. This was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone through your things.”

Little Seven had never been the sort to press her advantage once she had the upper hand. Since the apology seemed sincere enough, she was ready to let it go.

But just as she was about to speak, President Lin spoke again.

“You have three minutes to pack your things and leave TC.”

Tong Sijia froze.

No matter how unwilling she was, she could not defend herself now.

She had never imagined President Lin cared so much about Ye Xiyang. Yesterday she had thought...

In the end, she had destroyed herself by her own hand.

Little Seven felt rather uneasy. Firing the woman seemed a little too harsh, didn’t it?

She tugged at the sleeve of the man beside her, her eyes telling him not to dismiss Tong Sijia and to choose some other punishment instead.

He ignored her completely.

Little Seven pouted and cast an apologetic look at Tong Sijia as she packed up her things.

Within three minutes, Tong Sijia had gathered everything and left TC in utter humiliation.

Then Yichen spoke again. “I was the one who lost the Sapphire. It has nothing to do with Ye Xiyang—”

Little Seven had just begun to speak when Yichen shot her a glance, and she immediately fell silent.

“From today on, no one is to cast suspicion on colleagues without cause, and no one is to look down on others. Understood?”

His voice was calm, but the authority in it allowed no challenge.

At once the employees answered in unison, “Understood.”

“Come to my office.”

With that, Yichen slid both hands into his pockets and walked toward his office.

Little Seven followed close behind him all the way in.

“Close the door.”

“Oh.”

Yichen glanced at her and said evenly, “You really do have a wonderful temper.”

“Huh? Do I?” Thinking he meant what had just happened, Little Seven gave an embarrassed little modest smile. She genuinely thought President Lin was praising her.

Yichen looked at her as though she were an idiot. “What a noble soul you are. Brave, kind, and ready to sacrifice yourself for righteousness.”

Little Seven blinked.

This time, she heard the deeper meaning.

Why did that sound so much like he was scolding her?