That day was an ordinary one for Lingmei. Everyone was busy at their posts, occasionally exchanging a few quiet words, but most of the time typing away at their computers in silence.
Luan Nian was in a management meeting. Dony was talking about revising the new strategy yet again, but no one spoke up. Luan Nian didn't say anything either. He merely raised his head and glanced at Dony, a look that gave nothing away.
Tracy also looked up at Dony, then lowered her head and sent Luan Nian a message: "I put on makeup specially today."
"This does call for it." Luan Nian replied.
The meeting dragged on tediously, but uncharacteristically, Luan Nian didn't call it to a stop. He even leaned back in his chair, watching the various departments spar with each other.
After a while, Luan Nian saw the expression change on Tracy's face, someone who had seen every kind of storm. She cut Dony off: "Sorry, Dony, could you stop for a moment. Luke, could you step outside a moment."
Luan Nian followed Tracy out of the meeting room and saw that something was off at the workstations. People were whispering to each other, then suddenly fell silent when they noticed the two of them.
Luan Nian took Tracy's laptop and saw the email. The subject line read: "I am Flora Shang, and I am filing a formal complaint under my real name against Dony, head of the Planning Department, for long-term sexual harassment."
Blood rushed to Luan Nian's head. Something inside him felt like it was collapsing, and it hurt that much. His eyes went to Shang Zhitao's desk. She sat there perfectly straight, bearing the stares and whispers around her. So composed, so calm, her lips pressed slightly together, like a soldier about to go into a duel. Luan Nian would never forget that day, nor would he forget Shang Zhitao like that, a bravery and resolve he had never seen in her before.
"Read it, Luke." Tracy didn't notice that her own voice was trembling. She thought that if this had happened to her, she would spend countless nights haunted by nightmares, unable to sleep.
"The first time I formally met Dony was in his office, after I explained the budget management process to him. He suddenly asked if I had a boyfriend. I asked him if that was related to work. He said it wasn't, but that he was single. My instinct told me something was wrong. It happened too suddenly that first time, and I had no evidence."
"I bought a voice recorder and turned it on every time I was alone with Dony."
"The second time Dony harassed me was in the office pantry. My coworkers were all working; I was getting coffee. He came over, looked me up and down, and said: Flora, you look beautiful today. Want to get dinner together? I said, sorry, I have plans tonight. That time, even though something felt wrong, I still thought it was just normal workplace interaction."
"The third time was on a small road near the hotel we passed through in Dunhuang. He asked me to have dinner with him the next day, and I refused. That night, he suddenly sent me a half naked photo and told me: I've always believed a man should have self discipline. Flora, want to work out with me? I refused him and pointed out that the photo was too explicit, and suggested he not send anything like that again."
"From then on, I often received messages from him in the middle of the night. Sometimes it was an invitation to dinner, sometimes photos. Once, he sent me a photo of his genitals and asked if I wanted to try. I broke down that time and blocked him. But inside I was terrified. I didn't know how to face it, and I started having nightmares."
"But he didn't let me go. He messaged me on the company chat: Flora, you're being very unprofessional. If there's work, I won't be able to find you. If it's about that photo, I'm sorry, I had too much to drink, I'll be more careful."
"Dony harassed me again and again, each time worse than the last. Until the day in Chengdu, early in the morning, when I went to the restroom, and he pulled me into an empty stall."
"I didn't want to stay in Chengdu. I was terrified. From Chengdu to Beijing, a flight of one thousand five hundred twenty kilometers, I trembled the entire way."
"I also reached out to other women who had been harassed by Dony in the past. Their statements are attached below this email. I ask that the company please open a formal investigation."
From Chengdu to Beijing, one thousand five hundred twenty kilometers by air. She had trembled the whole way.
That night, Luan Nian heard Luke romping around downstairs. He closed his laptop, meaning to go down and take a look, but then Shang Zhitao walked into his room, took off her clothes, and burrowed into his arms. She was shaking the whole time, as though something had frightened her.
He asked what was wrong.
She said it was nothing.
Luan Nian closed Tracy's laptop, walked back to his own office, and locked the door. It felt like a fire had been lit inside his chest, burning and searing with pain.
It was quiet outside. After a while, Lumi heard Kitty say from her desk: "Guess the negotiations didn't work out, huh..."
It was just that one line, dripping with malice. Some coworkers nodded along: "Dony's always been polite to me."
Lumi glanced at Shang Zhitao, who sat there without saying a word. The malice of the crowd swept over her like a gale. She had known from the very start that people would say it couldn't be true, that it wouldn't have happened this way, that why would he pick her? That the terms must have fallen through. There would always be only a handful of people willing to believe the girl had simply been wronged for no reason at all.
Lumi stood up, walked into the aisle, then turned toward Kitty's desk, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and yanked it back hard. "I'm going to fucking kill you today! Don't think nobody knows about the shit you've done! You want me to spill everything I know about you?!"
Kitty struggled and fought back, forcing Lumi's face to tilt backward, but the hand gripping her hair refused to let go.
Lumi beat Kitty badly, and no one stepped in to stop her. Lingmei that day was shrouded in a strange atmosphere. Shang Zhitao's report had shattered the company's surface prosperity, laying bare the decay and rot underneath.
Suddenly, one girl spoke up: "I got messages from Dony too. I thought he liked me." Her voice was small and timid, but she had finally said it.
Luan Nian heard the commotion outside but didn't move. He was listening to the recordings attached to Shang Zhitao's email.
When Shang Zhitao had first started working, she spoke so quietly, and would blush the moment you so much as looked at her. She had a soft heart, always went out of her way to help others, and got along with people through her almost clumsy way of socializing. A girl like that had been dragged into a dark room and told: "You think you have the seniority to move to Planning?"
The moment her body hit the wall, there was a burst of static in the recording, and that noise cut across Luan Nian's chest like a blade.
A sharp pain.
He pulled off his headphones, not even realizing his eyes had gone wet. He stood up, walked out of his office, and went straight into Dony's office. He snatched the teacup off Dony's desk and smashed it against his head. Screams broke out outside. Dony got to his feet to fight back, but Luan Nian gave him no chance. He grabbed Dony's tie, wound it around his neck, pulled it tight, and said into his ear:
"You like bondage, don't you?"
"You like choking people, don't you?"
"You like drugging people, don't you?"
"Hm?"
"Do you like it?"
Luan Nian had no intention of letting go. He wanted to kill him. As a teenager he'd liked guns, liked fighting, and had always wanted to kill the disgusting people he came across. None of them had ever been as disgusting as the man in front of him now.
Finally two people rushed in and pulled Luan Nian off him. Tracy stood in front of him and said: "The police are here."
He let go of the tie. It had left a red mark across his palm, but his eyes were redder still, like some beast bent on murder and arson. He walked out of the office. Everyone was watching him, but he said nothing, only looked once at Shang Zhitao through the silent crowd.
His heart felt like it was going to hurt him to death.
It really did.
Such a good girl, tormented for so long by that maggot of a man, plagued by nightmares, yet forcing a smile every single day. He'd shoved her against the wall and choked her by the throat, and even the recorder had picked up static from the impact.
How frightened she must have been. From Chengdu to Beijing, one thousand five hundred twenty kilometers by air, trembling the entire way.
Luan Nian hated himself for being too slow to act, and he blamed Shang Zhitao for handling it all on her own.
Dony walked out of the office clutching his throat and looked at Luan Nian: "Did you set this up?"
"What I actually want is to kill you."
The look on Luan Nian's face was terrifying. When he was truly angry, the killing intent wasn't obvious on the surface. It sat in a thin layer at the bottom of his eyes, and he would give you one indifferent glance, not even bothering to look a second time.
Tracy stood in the middle of the corridor, exchanged a look with Luan Nian, then turned to face everyone, her expression sincere, and seemingly a little sorrowful: "At Lingmei China, the ratio of male to female employees is forty five to fifty five. Our female staff have been a driving force behind the rapid growth of our domestic business. I didn't foresee what happened today, and Flora's email in particular has left me deeply pained." For the first time, she wept in front of everyone: "As a woman myself, I'm truly sorry that Flora had to go through this. Truly."
Shang Zhitao still sat there without moving. Lumi sat down beside her and took her cold hand.
Tracy wiped away her tears and steadied herself: "Dony was hired by Lingmei headquarters, and the background check wasn't handled through Lingmei China. This was a hiring failure on the group's part. Early this morning, we got a call from the police asking us to cooperate with their investigation into a case of a woman being raped. That's what led to the scene you all just witnessed."
"I also learned from the police that this isn't the only case Dony is suspected of. Six women have filed reports together. But since I don't know much more than that right now, this is as much as I can share."
"As head of Human Resources for Lingmei China, I will be launching an internal investigation into Dony starting today. Any of our female colleagues are welcome to come talk to me. I would also ask everyone to show respect to every woman who has come forward. If you weren't caught up in this, it's only because you happened to be a little luckier."
"Thank you."
Tracy bowed to everyone, then walked over to Shang Zhitao and patted her on the shoulder. Such a good girl. Tracy had liked her from the very first sentence she'd spoken in her interview.
"Flora, I've listened to the recordings you provided. There's one thing I feel I need to tell you in person. Dony said your record wasn't strong enough to qualify for a transfer to Planning. I disagree. In your more than two years at Lingmei, you earned two A plus performance ratings, led the supplier management project and the marketing department efficiency project, and achieved remarkable results. Your ability is outstanding, and everyone can see it. Planning will soon be opening an internal transfer headcount, and I'd welcome you to apply."
Shang Zhitao nodded, but she felt exhausted. She hadn't said a word or done any work all day, yet her body felt completely drained. She said to Tracy: "Can I take today off?"
"Of course."
Shang Zhitao gathered her things and went downstairs. She didn't want to stay in the office. When she passed by Luan Nian, she forced back the urge to throw herself into his arms and cry her heart out, an unprecedented sense of grievance and vulnerability rising in her. The eyes of everyone had stripped her bare. She'd known she would be doubted and had braced herself for it, but the moment she heard that line, "guess the negotiations didn't work out," every one of her defenses had collapsed at once.
Lumi walked her downstairs, where Sun Yu and Sun Yuanzhu were waiting for her. Luan Nian stood by the window and watched Shang Zhitao walk up to them. Sun Yuanzhu took her backpack from her and patted her on the head. Then they left.
Luan Nian had asked Shang Zhitao countless times: "Has Dony ever harassed you?"
She had said: "No."
It had never once occurred to her to tell him about Dony. Whenever she ran into trouble, she had never felt that he was someone she could turn to for help. She would rather be afraid and anxious on her own, enduring one dark, fearful night after another, than think to ask him for help.
He stood by the window, watching them walk away, and suddenly understood that Shang Zhitao had never been who he thought she was. She had never truly relied on him. She was clear headed and independent, and had always kept him at a distance from her trust. Just as he himself had told her, right at the very beginning:
We're just bed partners, we don't owe each other anything.
If either of us finds someone new, we can end it anytime.
Let's part on good terms, whenever that day comes.
Shang Zhitao had done exactly that, in every way.
Luan Nian sat back down at his desk, and suddenly everything felt meaningless. He opened his laptop and wrote a resignation letter:
I am not willing to take the blame for the company's poor hiring decisions. Dony's appointment was never approved by me, and even his background check was flawed.
I don't know exactly whose interests Dony represents, but this hiring failure has fully demonstrated the company's lack of trust in me.
Effective today, I am resigning from all my positions at Lingmei.
That's all.
Luan Nian closed his laptop and walked out of the office building.