Chapter Ten: The Database Malfunctioned

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Angered by Liang Yuxiu, Wen Jianan worked overtime for two days straight.

She knew Liang Yuxiu had never thought much of her abilities, so she secretly swore that she would give this bid everything she had. If they ultimately won the project, she would do it brilliantly and give Liang Yuxiu a crushing slap in the face.

Over the following workdays, she stayed late nearly every night, following up with colleagues in the Planning and Marketing Departments, conducting research, and refining the bid proposal down to every figure and every word.

Xiao Jiang could not resist teasing her, saying she was practically becoming a member of the Planning Department.

Of course, Wen Jianan was usually the only one working late. She never forced colleagues from other departments or the people under her to stay with her.

But it was such a major project that, if they won it and saw it through, having it on one’s résumé would look good even if one eventually left the company. So some people chose to work overtime of their own accord.

Chen Ling, the leader of Team One in the Planning Department, had a good relationship with Wen Jianan. She had returned to the workforce just over a year ago and had a daughter at home. She, too, had stayed late with Wen Jianan for several days.

Chen Ling had spoken privately with Wen Jianan. She also hoped they could secure the project, because she was planning to divorce her husband this year. If she did not fight for her career, how would she support her daughter afterward?

Wen Jianan agreed wholeheartedly.

Fortunately, she had told her parents the previous weekend that she and Cheng He were giving things a try. Tan Fang had spoken about it far less this week, though from time to time she still asked, in a roundabout way, how things were going between Wen Jianan and Cheng He.

“Pretty well,” Wen Jianan always replied.

There was one thing she found strange, however. Cheng He really had been messaging her every day lately—not merely asking what she was doing or whether she had eaten or gone to bed, but sharing little things from his daily life and work.

Wen Jianan felt he was being very conscientious, and she could hardly ignore him.

On Friday afternoon, during the company’s afternoon-tea break, Wen Jianan was in the pantry with her colleagues, eating cake and drinking milk tea, when another delivery of fresh fruit arrived.

The colleagues erupted in an uproar.

“When did our company become so considerate of its employees?”

“Could it have been delivered to the wrong place?”

The deliveryman carefully checked the details. “No mistake. Fidu Company, sixteenth floor. Ms. Wen. Phone number ending in 6598.”

Everyone was even more astonished and turned to look at Wen Jianan.

Wen Jianan herself was surprised. Just then, Cheng He called.

“Sorry, I need to take this.” Wen Jianan hurried outside and only answered once she had reached the stairwell. She asked directly, “Cheng He, did you order fruit for me?”

“Cake and milk tea are rather rich, so I ordered some fruit. Share it with your colleagues and get some vitamins.”

His attitude was no longer as cold and hostile as it had been when they first met. Now he was so gentle that Wen Jianan could only stare in astonishment.

She had sent him a photograph of her afternoon tea merely to respond to the message he had sent at noon. She had not expected him to be so quick on the uptake—to order fruit and have it delivered immediately.

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“Thanks. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

After a few polite words, Wen Jianan hung up and went back outside. The deliveryman was still waiting.

“I’ll take it.”

Wen Jianan accepted the fruit. There were four enormous bowls of it. The Customer Relations and Planning Departments could not possibly finish it all, so they shared some with the other departments as well.

A colleague leaned over and began gossiping. “Team Leader Wen, something’s going on, isn’t it? Who sent it? That’s quite a haul—what a lavish gesture.”

“A friend.” Wen Jianan bit into an apple and gave the vaguest answer she could.

She clearly did not want to discuss it, and her colleagues tactfully asked no further questions. They merely speculated among themselves for a while about her romantic life.

Wen Jianan’s past relationship with Wei Ming had never been made public at the company. The veteran employees only knew that the two had attended different departments of the same university, and that Wei Ming seemed to have feelings for her. Wen Jianan, however, had no such intentions and even went out of her way to avoid giving the wrong impression.

So if the fruit had been sent by Wei Ming, she would not have accepted it so readily.

When Wei Ming returned, there was still fruit left on everyone’s desks. Curious, he asked about it, learned what had happened, then found Wen Jianan and chatted with her for a while before casually bringing it up.

“That fruit—could it have been sent by Director Cheng?”

Wen Jianan was somewhat surprised. Then she remembered running into Peng Fei at the Congee House the other day. He knew that Wei Ming had feelings for her, so he must have told him.

Wen Jianan did not deny it. “Is your mother feeling better?”

Wei Ming had spent the entire week at the hospital caring for his mother. After receiving a call from Peng Fei the previous night and hearing a few rumors, he had only returned to the office that day.

Wen Jianan’s evasiveness gave him his answer. His expression turned somber. “She’s doing well—much better now. When did you and Director Kun become so close? You never mentioned it before.”

Wen Jianan felt somewhat offended, but still gave him a brief reply. “Didn’t we mention it at the meeting? Our families have some history. I only found out when I went to Yancheng last time.”

Seeing that she was displeased, Wei Ming did not press further. He merely smiled. “That’s good.”

After he left, Wen Jianan no longer felt like eating the fruit. But thinking of how Tan Fang asked her every day about her progress with Cheng He, she simply took a photograph and posted it to her social-media feed, remembering to hide it from her colleagues at the company.

But she forgot the most important person of all.

Liang Yuxiu.

Tan Fang soon liked Wen Jianan’s post and commented with an approving emoji.

Wen Jianan replied with a smiling face.

With that out of the way, she could enjoy a peaceful weekend.

Wen Jianan did not work overtime that weekend. After two weeks of rushing, they had produced several versions of the bid proposal and had finally more or less completed it. There was still plenty of other work underway, and Wen Jianan was utterly exhausted.

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Once they reviewed it on Monday and made any necessary additions and improvements, they could submit it to Kunteng.

This time, the bidding would be conducted online. Tuesday was the deadline for submitting the tender documents, and an online bid-opening meeting would be held that day, which everyone could watch from beginning to end. If all went smoothly, the results would be announced by the following Friday.

Even thinking about it made Wen Jianan a little nervous.

On Saturday, Wen Jianan slept soundly. It was a rare pleasure not to be dragged out of bed by Tan Fang and sent off to another blind date, and she felt wonderfully at ease.

She spent the entire day at home, scrolling through her phone, playing little games, and reading.

It was a perfect day of rest—until it came to an abrupt end on Sunday afternoon.

Wen Jianan had just decided to take an afternoon nap before accompanying Tan Fang to buy groceries when Chen Ling called.

“Jianan, the company database has crashed. All our files are gone—including the bid proposal!”

Wen Jianan shot upright. “What? How could the database suddenly crash for no reason?”

“I don’t know. I’d just gotten my child to sleep and wanted to take another look at the bid documents, but I can’t log in no matter what I do.”

Chen Ling was beginning to panic as well.

Wen Jianan felt as though her head were about to split in two. She quickly forced herself to calm down, then reassured Chen Ling. “I’ll call General Manager Wei and Manager Zhang first to ask what’s going on.”

“Okay.”

Wen Jianan called Wei Ming and Manager Zhang separately. Their answers and reactions were identical: neither of them knew what had happened.

In the end, Wei Ming told Manager Zhang and Wen Jianan to go to the company and informed the firm responsible for their data systems. He asked them to send someone over to inspect and repair the problem.

When Wen Jianan arrived downstairs at the company, she happened to run into Chen Ling, who had arrived as well.

She had been worried and had come along to see what was happening.

Wen Jianan nodded. The two of them went upstairs together, and Wei Ming and Manager Zhang arrived moments later, one after the other.

For some reason, when Wen Jianan saw Wei Ming, she felt that he did not look worried in the slightest.

Manager Zhang, on the other hand, was still making his usual sarcastic remarks.

Wen Jianan was in no mood for it and ignored him.

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