Shang Zhitao set her drink on another table by the window. The moonlight was bright and clear, and inside the glass, the heart-shaped garnish glittered. Luke, having eaten his fill of meat, trotted out and sat down beside her to watch the moon together.
Her drink was different from everyone else's. A girl at the next table kept glancing at it and said to her friend, "I want to try that cocktail too. I've never seen it before, but it looks delicious."
She asked Shang Zhitao what the drink was called.
"It's called Brave Heart." Shang Zhitao knew nothing about cocktails and assumed it was just an ordinary girly drink, the kind sold everywhere. It tasted sweet and gentle, with only a mild kick. Luan Nian had mixed it to match her personality.
"Is it the owner's special mix?" the girl asked again.
"Huh?" Shang Zhitao clearly had no idea what an owner's special was.
The girl raised her hand and said to Luan Nian, "I'd like to order one of those too."
"Sorry, we're out." Luan Nian carried over a glass of water and sat down next to Shang Zhitao, giving the girl a smile.
"Is that drink the owner's special?"
Luan Nian glanced at the delicate, crystal-clear heart floating in the glass and nodded. "It is."
"I knew it." The girl turned back to her friend. "I've never seen it at any other bar."
"What's an owner's special?" Shang Zhitao asked Luan Nian quietly.
"It just means the owner mixed something up on a whim." Luan Nian leaned back on the sofa to watch the moon. By then the only light left in the bar was a small square candle at the next table, and the manager had put on some soft music. Everyone had gone quiet, sinking into their seats to watch the moon.
In the dark, Shang Zhitao took hold of Luan Nian's hand and rested her head on his shoulder. He stretched his arm across the back of the sofa so she could lean into him more comfortably.
Luke followed her example, jumping up beside Luan Nian and pawing at his arm: I want in too.
"No." Luan Nian scolded him quietly.
Undeterred, Luke kept pawing at him. Luan Nian huffed and moved his arm aside. Luke lay down on the sofa with his head resting on his leg.
Shang Zhitao thought she had never asked for much. A night like this, once in a while, was enough to heal every hurt she carried, though she supposed she had never really suffered anything so deep. She was just an ordinary girl who had grown up healthy and unremarkable.
She took Luan Nian's hand and pressed light kisses on the back of it, again and again. The words "I love you" rose to her lips more than once, but she never let them out.
By the time they came down the mountain it was already past midnight. Shang Zhitao took out her phone and found messages of comfort from her coworkers one after another, and she replied to each of them. One was from Lumi. "The more I think about it the angrier I get. Some people don't deserve to be protected. When we submit the evidence, we should include the footage of her sneaking into his room in the middle of the night!"
Shang Zhitao quickly replied, "Don't. It's not necessary. Let it go."
"Too late. I already sent an anonymous email." Lumi had thought it over for nearly the whole night. Kitty was the vindictive type. If they didn't take her down today, she'd be back tomorrow. Hadn't she caused enough trouble over the years, openly and behind their backs? Including that disgusting thing she'd said earlier that day. What kind of person even said something like that?
"... you move fast."
"Hahahahaha, feeling good today. Are you okay? I called Sun Yu and she said you'd gone out with a friend."
Shang Zhitao glanced at Luan Nian, who was looking at his own phone, and replied, "I'm fine."
"That stubborn mule of yours today, so satisfying. God, he was so damn cool. He left right after you did, and the stock price crashed."
"Huh? Crashed because of the scandal?"
"Screw the scandal. It's because the guy at the helm said he's done, jumped ship, walked out. Luke won this round beautifully."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Luke resigned."
Luan Nian had resigned? He hadn't said a single word about it all night. Shang Zhitao stole a glance at him. He was frowning, looking unhappy.
Shang Zhitao shot Luke a look, pointed a finger at Luan Nian, and gave it a little flick. "Get him!"
Luke was quick. He shot straight over to Luan Nian and rubbed his head against his chest. Luan Nian put down his phone and squeezed the dog's face. "Get off."
No!
Man and dog started wrestling. Shang Zhitao laughed watching from the side, so Luan Nian jumped off the bed, scooped her up, and tossed her onto it, dragging her into the chaos. They kept it up for a long while, until they were worn out. Luke sprawled on the floor while the two of them lay on the bed catching their breath.
Shang Zhitao turned onto her side to look at Luan Nian and couldn't help laughing again.
She had never been the type to carry heavy worries. Whatever devastating sadness and fragility she'd felt earlier that day had vanished completely by now. She even found herself thinking how lucky she was, to have such a gentle bed partner, a coworker as good as Lumi, and friends as good as Sun Yuanzhu and Sun Yu.
When people asked how she had gotten information about the woman at the center of Dony's earlier scandal, Shang Zhitao never said a word. It was Sun Yuanzhu who had used his hacking skills to dig up everything on Dony, turning over every stone.
Shang Zhitao knew that not everyone was as lucky as she was, and she was especially grateful for it.
At Lingmei, people only knew that Dony had broken the law. They had no idea why the six of them had suddenly gone to the police together, or how Dony's life back in the country had been dug up. Only Luan Nian and Tracy knew that he had paid a great deal of money to convince the one woman who had solid evidence but had refused to speak up to finally come forward.
Luan Nian handled it all so lightly, cleaning up after himself and walking away without leaving a trace.
He cupped his hand over Shang Zhitao's face and pushed her back onto the bed. "Be serious."
"Okay." Shang Zhitao took the chance to kiss his palm. Luan Nian pulled his hand back and looked at her in the bright moonlight. He rested his fingertips against her neck, the same neck that Dony's filthy hands had once gripped.
Luan Nian pressed his lips to her neck, kissing her gently, slowly dissolving the fear that had lingered in her since that night.
Shang Zhitao loved this rare tenderness in him, and she wasn't about to ruin the mood by asking why he had quit his job. She felt she didn't need to ask. This time she was certain that Luan Nian's fight and his resignation had nothing to do with some power struggle at the top. It was simply because he cared about her too much to let it go.
Knowing that Luan Nian felt for her this deeply moved her more than she could say.
Only after it was all over did Shang Zhitao say, "How am I supposed to go to work tomorrow morning?"
Luan Nian checked the time. It was three in the morning. "Take the day off."
"I can't." Shang Zhitao could barely keep her eyes open. "I can't take the day off. Tracy wants to talk to me."
"Just sleep. I'll drive you."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Once Shang Zhitao fell asleep, Luan Nian picked up his phone and went back to replying to Tracy. "When I say I quit, I quit. The stock price has nothing to do with me. I cashed out my shares long ago. I'll just write off the rest, a few hundred thousand shares or whatever."
"I know you're not short on money." Tracy, it turned out, was still awake. Today's mess had left her frazzled, and even someone with such regular sleep habits was wide awake now. "I am, though. I just got divorced, you know that. I need to buy a new place. With the stock crashing like this, what am I supposed to buy it with?"
"I'll lend it to you."
"You can lend it to me. Can you lend it to everyone else too?"
"Then everyone's on their own!"
"... The people from headquarters are already on the plane. They want to meet with you the day after tomorrow."
"I won't see them."
"You have a non-compete clause. And company policy requires at least six months' notice before resignation."
"Company policy says I decide who works under me on my own turf. So why are those old fossils sending people over? Policy is worthless."
"Fine, fine. Can you come in for a talk tomorrow?"
"No."
Luan Nian turned off his phone and went to sleep.
In the morning, he heard movement beside him. He opened his eyes to find Shang Zhitao tiptoeing around, getting dressed. "Sneaking around like a thief?"
"You're awake? I need to go to work."
"Didn't I say I'd drive you?" Luan Nian got up and started dressing. Shang Zhitao said, "No need, I'll just take a taxi. Luke can stay here."
"Are you out of your mind? Where are you going to find a taxi at this hour?"
"Oh."
Luan Nian showered quickly, got dressed, and went downstairs to make breakfast. Shang Zhitao liked toast and milk, so he fried her two eggs as well and sprinkled some osmanthus into her milk. "Come eat before you go."
Shang Zhitao was already used to Luan Nian's breakfasts by now. She thanked him, took a sip of milk, and stole a glance at him.
"Say whatever it is you're thinking."
"You quit?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Because I have money, and when I want to quit, I quit." Luan Nian watched Shang Zhitao down her milk in one gulp and poured her another cup. Once she'd drunk it, she said, "Must be nice being rich. Not like me, I don't have the nerve to just quit."
"If you don't want to work there anymore, you could always quit and come wait tables at my bar," Luan Nian teased.
Shang Zhitao actually considered it seriously and asked, "If the bar keeps hiring managers and waiters as good-looking as this, I guess I could live with a smaller paycheck." Swayed by a pretty face.
Luan Nian snorted. So much for that breakfast, might as well have fed it to the dog. He drove Shang Zhitao and Luke out, pulled over on the street near her office, and said to her offhandedly, "I'll pick you up tonight."
"Okay." Shang Zhitao hopped out of the car and ran toward the building.
At the entrance, though, she stopped. She wasn't ready to face her coworkers' sympathetic looks. A colleague passed by and called out kindly, "Morning, Flora. Not going in?"
"I am." Shang Zhitao rode the elevator up with them and walked to her desk, surprised to find that Lumi was already there.
"Why are you here so early?" Shang Zhitao asked her.
"I'm here to shut a few loudmouths up." Lumi leaned against the desk, all swagger, looking every bit the tough big sister ready to throw down for Shang Zhitao again today.
Shang Zhitao's eyes went red. "You know I love you, right?"
Lumi let out a whistle. "Ready to give yourself to me, huh?"
The two of them chatted for a while before Shang Zhitao opened her computer and inbox, where countless messages of support from coworkers were waiting. They had replied on top of her original email:
"Flora, hang in there."
"Flora, I sit on the fourth floor. Tomorrow you'll see me wearing a girl-power baseball shirt. That'll be me."
"Flora, thank you. I went through the same thing once, and I stayed silent about it. Thank you for showing me a girl can be this brave."
There were so many emails. Shang Zhitao read them one by one and realized how good it felt to be understood. At the time, she had only thought she should stand up for herself, without ever considering what effect it might have on others. It wasn't until that moment that she finally felt it had all been worth it.
The next time she met her coworkers' eyes, she no longer felt out of place, only warmth. In the workplace, truly only a small handful of people were cruel. Most were just ordinary, kind people like her.
Including Tracy.
For all that she managed human resources for such a large company, Tracy was just an ordinary person too, someone who felt genuinely upset over what had happened to Shang Zhitao. She had a coffee machine in her office and made Shang Zhitao a mocha herself. "Have something sweet today. Beat back the bad mood."
"Thank you."
"Did you sleep well last night?" Tracy asked her.
Shang Zhitao thought of Luan Nian's gentle kisses and the warmth of his arms, and nodded. "Very well."
"I'm glad you're not having nightmares anymore." Tracy patted the back of her hand, then said, "This conversation isn't on behalf of the company anymore, since the matter has already been handed over to the judicial authorities. The police would like you to help provide evidence. Are you willing?"
"I'm willing."
"Dony has some connections behind him. None of us know how far this case will actually go. But I want to say clearly that Luke and I are determined to see him locked up." Tracy told her about Dony's background because she wanted her to know the truth, in case there was retaliation down the line. The girl needed to be prepared.
Shang Zhitao nodded. "I know. I'm not afraid. I'll cooperate with the investigation." She thought that since she had already come this far, she couldn't forget why she had started. Her original goal had been to see the guilty punished, and she wasn't going to give up now.
Tracy looked at her and smiled. "Flora, the first time I met you, I had a feeling you might turn out to be a remarkable girl. No real reason for it, just instinct."
"Thank you. Thank you for showing me so much favor." Shang Zhitao wasn't actually foolish. As she settled into the job, she came to see how strict Lingmei's hiring standards were, and she remembered how, early on, Luan Nian had kept asking what her relationship with Tracy was. She had gradually come to understand that she had met a good person, someone willing to give her a chance. It was fate's own favor toward her.
Not everyone got a chance like this.
"So hiring you despite everyone's objections turned out to be a great call on my part." Everyone's objections, as if there had been any objections at all, when it had only ever been Luan Nian's own opinion. "Anyway, the marketing department's new head will be starting soon. As for planning, if the board can just settle things with Luke..." Tracy gave a wry smile. "Luke resigned, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
"If the board can talk him into staying, he'll take over the planning department too. They'll be opening up 30 percent of headcount there for internal transfer. You should give it a try."
"Can I really?"
"I think so. But the final hiring decision will be up to the planning department."
"Thank you."
"Good luck."
Shang Zhitao left Tracy's office turning over the idea that Luke might take over planning. She actually liked working with Luan Nian. He was strict, but she genuinely learned a lot from him.
After thinking it over, she sent Luan Nian a message. "I want to transfer into planning through the internal hiring process."
Luan Nian was out with Luke sunning himself in a park at the time. He saw the message and replied, "Good luck."
"Will you approve me?"
"First, I've already resigned. Second, there's a three-person review panel for the internal hiring, no single person decides alone." What Luan Nian meant was that there would be no shortcuts. If she had the ability, she'd get the position. If not, she could stay in marketing.
Shang Zhitao understood exactly what he meant.
She hadn't expected him to help her anyway. She simply wanted to work alongside him.
"So will you come back and be my boss, then?"
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