Chapter 69: Pomegranate Calyx

Before coming, Chu Susu had naturally greeted her colleagues.

So Rebecca wasn’t particularly surprised to see her and just smiled naturally. “Long time no see. How have you been lately?”

“Mm, everything’s fine.”

The two exchanged some casual small talk. Rebecca was as meticulously made-up and properly dressed as always, but Chu Susu could tell that the complexion hidden beneath her makeup wasn’t great.

Her dark circles were so heavy that concealer could barely cover them, and her eyes were puffy. This clearly wasn’t from just one or two nights of poor sleep—Rebecca obviously had something bothering her lately.

Chu Susu had a pretty good idea what it was. After all, Rebecca’s husband had shown up at the company last time. It was probably that the divorce proceedings were still dragging on.

There was this “divorce cooling-off period” now, so getting a unilateral divorce wasn’t that easy. She’d have to tangle with him for a while longer.

Chu Susu wondered if Rebecca’s husband had come to make a scene at the company again while she was away. If he had, it must have been quite the ugly spectacle…

And her premonition came true soon enough.

The moment she entered the office, her familiar colleagues started winking at her, beckoning her over to hear the gossip.

These two or three young guys and girls were all new to the workforce and didn’t know much about office taboos, so they spilled the tea without any filter.

“Susu, you have no idea,” they said mysteriously, chattering on. “So much happened while you were gone.”

The first thing, naturally, was about Rebecca. According to them, some strange man had barged into the building one day. No one knew who swiped him a card, but he actually took the elevator up to the office area.

The man came in yelling that he wanted to find Feng Lidong. He was quickly dragged away by security, but everyone was puzzled—who was Feng Lidong? They checked and realized it was Rebecca’s Chinese name.

Rebecca never showed her face the whole time, just stayed silent in her office without a peep. She didn’t even eat any lunch that day—clearly not wanting to see anyone.

This matched pretty much exactly what Chu Susu had imagined. After hearing it, she didn’t forget to warn the kids: “Don’t gossip about this stuff in the future. What if someone overhears and snitches to Rebecca?”

They stuck out their tongues. “Got it. We’re not idiots. We only told you privately after you got back. We didn’t chat about it in the group.”

“You just said… the first thing? So there’s a second thing?”

“Yeah, and the second thing is actually about Rebecca too.”

Jack, the guy who’d hired a hitman, had been fired by the company long ago. Normally, for employees like that, the company just packs up their stuff and mails it home—they’re not allowed back on the premises.

But Jack had been a project lead before and had important client data on hand, so the company had no choice but to let him come in one last time to hand it over to a colleague and pick up his things.

“You wouldn’t believe it—Jack was like a completely different person,” the colleagues described vividly. “He looked gaunt, with huge clumps of hair missing. Life in detention must’ve been rough.”

“And he had cops escorting him. The whole scene was straight-up horrifying.”

Chu Susu could pretty much picture it.

“But what does this have to do with Rebecca?”

“You don’t know.” The colleague lowered their voice. “Rebecca happened to poke her head out right then, and Jack went berserk, trying to charge at her. Good thing the cops held him back quick.”

“Charge at her? To attack her?”

“Maybe. Anyway, his expression was super vicious. Really scary.”

At that point, the colleague shivered. “He kept yelling something… ‘If it weren’t for you, how would I have ended up like this?'”

“Yeah, yeah, now that you mention it, I remember—Jack looked totally unhinged, like a wild beast, just roaring nonstop…”

“He’s probably taking it out on her, thinking that if Rebecca hadn’t favored Susu so much, he wouldn’t have snapped and had that evil thought…”

At that, the colleague quickly shut up, afraid of dredging up bad memories for Chu Susu.

Chu Susu herself wasn’t too bothered. After all, compared to what happened with Han Xuan, getting kidnapped didn’t seem like much anymore.

“It’s fine.” The colleagues patted her shoulder. “Jack’s probably getting jail time. You won’t see him again.”

To welcome Chu Susu back on her first day, they bought her some snacks and coffee.

“And this is for Rebecca. Can you bring it to her?”

After thanking them, Chu Susu grabbed the paper bag and knocked on Rebecca’s office door.

“Come in.”

Rebecca was sitting at her computer, rubbing her eyes with an inscrutable expression. She looked somewhat fatigued.

Chu Susu placed the snacks on her desk.

“You bought these?”

“No, it was Xiao Shen, Xiao Li, and the others.” Chu Susu didn’t take credit. She sat down across from Rebecca and then set down a planning proposal. “This is…”

They’d already discussed it roughly before she returned to work. Now, they dove into more details. Rebecca gave some revision suggestions and possible expansion ideas.

As she sipped her coffee, she suddenly said, “Susu, I might be transferred to the Peng City office soon.”

“Hm?”

Chu Susu frowned. This was genuinely surprising news.

The company had outposts everywhere with flexible assignments, but most people wanted to transfer to the Imperial Capital. It was the capital, after all—better business resources and higher pay.

Rebecca had only been here a few months, with solid results and no major screw-ups. Why was she leaving again?

“I’ll tell you first. Don’t mention it to the other colleagues yet.”

Rebecca seemed pretty nonchalant about it, no sign of displeasure.

Chu Susu immediately guessed it might be her own decision.

And her next words confirmed it:

“First, with the Jack incident, as his direct superior, I failed to keep tabs on my subordinate. Even if the company didn’t punish me, I don’t feel comfortable staying here in the Imperial Capital.”

“Second, my ex-husband keeps showing up and causing scenes. It hasn’t led to any serious consequences yet, but I bet the colleagues are already gossiping.”

“Finally, I’m not getting any younger. Sticking around here with the high-pressure work leaves no time for family.”

As she spoke, Rebecca gave a gentle smile. “My daughter’s five now. I don’t want to be too busy to watch her grow up.”

She looked down and pulled a photo from her drawer: Rebecca hugging her daughter, both beaming happily.

The little girl wore a red hat, her skin pale to the point of being unnatural, with a somewhat dazed expression.

It was the first time Chu Susu had heard she had a daughter, so she raised her brows in surprise. “What’s her name? She’s so pretty.”

“Zhilan,” Rebecca said. “Shore orchids and irises.”

“Nice name.”

Chu Susu sincerely complimented her daughter a couple times, then hesitated before asking, “But are you really not considering staying in the Imperial Capital? It’ll be hard to transfer back later.”

Rebecca smiled faintly. “Mm, I’ve made up my mind.”

Chu Susu could only show some regret on her face. She knew how tough it must be to reach Rebecca’s position, yet she was willing to “step back” for her daughter.

“Once you have kids, you’ll understand how I feel.” Rebecca sighed, then realized something and covered her mouth with a laugh. “Though… maybe you won’t have any in the future, Susu.”

The implication was clear, making Chu Susu blink.

She’d long sensed that Rebecca had figured it out. Even if she outright said she was a lesbian, it wouldn’t surprise her.

“Maybe.” Chu Susu returned the smile.

Rebecca clicked the mouse twice, pulled up a file, and turned the screen toward her. “Perfect timing since you’re here. One more thing.”

“There’s a summit out of town next week that requires travel. Normally it’s just for directors and above, but I suddenly want to bring you along. Interested?”

Chu Susu glanced at the materials. From the description alone, it was a great opportunity.

Rebecca continued, “I’ll be leaving in a couple months. You can shadow me in the meantime. Before the new director arrives, you can get a feel for the work and make things smoother later.”

It sounded like she was genuinely looking out for Chu Susu.

Of course, she wouldn’t turn it down. “Sure, no problem at all. Thanks for the recognition. The summit’s next Wednesday?”

“Mm. I’ll email you the details later. Prep in advance—I won’t overload you these next couple days.”

“Got it.”

At lunchtime, right after a meeting, someone quietly placed a small bento box on the table by the conference room door.

Inside was teriyaki chicken thigh rice, still warm to the touch. The teriyaki sauce gleamed temptingly, accompanied by vibrant greens.

Han Xuan hadn’t gone far yet when Chu Susu spotted her and called out to her.

“Want to eat together?” she asked with a smile.

Han Xuan was momentarily stunned, then nodded.

Thus, Chu Susu didn’t join her other colleagues. The two of them went into Chu Susu’s own office together and opened their lunchboxes.

The door was securely closed, so no one outside could hear their conversation.

Chu Susu took a bite of the chicken leg meat and felt it was so delicious that it cleansed her very soul. Pipi squatted eagerly at her feet, hoping for a morsel to be fed to it.

Unfortunately, human food had too many seasonings that a little dog’s stomach couldn’t handle, so Pipi could only go eat its dog food.

It let out an angry howl.

“After that day, you haven’t replied to my messages,” Chu Susu asked. “How were things after you went back? How’s your body feeling?”

Han Xuan nodded. “Mm, nothing happened after that night. Everything’s fine.”

She casually raised her hand, allowing Chu Susu to suddenly catch sight of the ring on the other’s finger.

It was made of silver, with a simple design that didn’t look very expensive, but for some reason, it seemed a bit familiar.

After a moment of daze, she suddenly recalled where she had seen it before.

That dream…