Lumi quickened her pace to enter the nightclub, afraid of being seen by Tu Ming. It wasn’t that she was really afraid of him, but she couldn’t help but feel that she would be scolded by him, or perhaps engage in some boring small talk.
Indeed, it was a narrow path for enemies to cross.
She hid behind her friends and entered the nightclub, mocking herself in her heart: Why am I acting like a stray dog! Her embarrassed appearance had already fallen into Tu Ming’s eyes. Tu Ming, having taught for two years, still had the responsible attitude towards his students deep down, always feeling that whether it was a subordinate or a student, he should be responsible for them.
Moreover, Lumi looked particularly guilty, so he stood up and walked inside.
The dance floor was dimly lit, with young girls twisting their bodies, wild and free; men either pressed close or surrounded the dancers, in any case, the distance was very close. Tu Ming’s eyes scanned the crowd one by one and finally found Lumi, who was about to let loose on the table.
Some women’s wildness is etched in their bones. During the day, even if Lumi casually wore a T-shirt, Tu Ming could imagine her as an uninhibited person.
He stood in front of the table, not dancing, his eyes flashing with a stern light. Lumi bent down to grab a drink, and her dress collar opened, revealing a large area of her body. Someone whistled. She seemed to be used to it and ignored the whistle.
Instead, she sat on the table and drank, the bottle just tilted up, and she saw the gloomy Tu Ming. Lumi fell into the fear of being caught in an arcade by a teacher when she was studying, for no reason.
“Get down.” Tu Ming’s voice wasn’t loud, but you could tell what he was saying by looking at his lips.
Lumi’s friends all stopped and tilted their heads to look at them, with the same silly expression as Lumi.
Lumi was afraid of teachers when she was studying, and this was the first time she was afraid of a boss after starting work. Her mind wanted to tell him that she was off work and he should get lost, but her body obediently jumped off the table. Tu Ming saw Lumi’s open collar and frowned, pointing outside: “Come out and talk.”
“Huh?” Lumi didn’t know what they had to talk about. She had taken leave, and this was her personal time.
Tu Ming didn’t want to waste words with her. His right hand grabbed the back of her dress collar, forcing Lumi to follow him out of the nightclub.
Lumi’s friends followed behind, their expressions quite excited. They all thought that Lumi, with her fiery temper, was about to beat this man up.
The group followed them outside the nightclub, but they didn’t see Lumi beating the man up.
They all found it novel, so they didn’t speak and followed behind, pondering what would happen next.
Tu Ming took Lumi out of the nightclub, let go of her, and saw that her collar was crooked. He used his index finger and thumb to straighten it for her, careful not to touch her skin. Then he said to her: “You lied about your leave?”
“What? What did I lie about?” Lumi didn’t understand where the accusation of lying came from and asked him back.
“You said your family member was sick and took leave, but you came here to dance? Explain to me why you lied about your leave.” Tu Ming disliked people lying and especially disliked people using their family as an excuse to gain sympathy.
“My dad is being discharged from the hospital tomorrow. I came here to celebrate. I didn’t lie about my leave.” Lumi explained seriously and turned to see her friends watching. She felt embarrassed and suddenly became irritated: “And my annual leave is my own; I can take it however I want!”
After saying that, she turned to go back inside and entered the dance floor. She just wanted to dance, regardless of whether he was her boss or a jerk today. If he tried to stop her, she would never let him off! Lumi thought this way in her heart and twisted her body on the dance floor, shaking off her unhappiness. But she felt a hand grabbing her collar. She turned around and shouted: “Who the hell is touching me!” She reached out to scratch the bastard’s face, but her wrist was grabbed. She looked up and saw Tu Ming, who was wearing a stern face, his lips tightly pursed, but his hand was firm, afraid of hurting Lumi. His voice was still calm: “Let’s go outside and talk, don’t make a scene.”
He grabbed her collar and took her out of the nightclub.
Lumi’s friends followed them out again. They all thought that this incident was more interesting than dancing and were curious to see how the situation would develop, their eyes gleaming with “just fight already.”
Lumi struggled a few times but found it futile. This guy looked refined, but he seemed to be trained in martial arts, she couldn’t beat him. She suddenly felt like a rooster about to be cooked, her momentum disappearing faster than it came.
“Go home now. Come to my office tomorrow and explain to me why you lied about your leave.” After Tu Ming finished speaking, he turned and left, then turned back after a few steps: “Your reason better be convincing.”
“You’re overstepping your bounds! Why should you care how I take my annual leave!”
Tu Ming acted as if he hadn’t heard and walked back into the nightclub to continue his boring socializing.
Lumi was furious with Tu Ming. Her friends asked her: “Are you going to dance? Let’s go! Next time he gets aggressive, just beat him up!”
“Dance my ass!” Her mood was ruined, and she turned to go home. Even when she got home, she still felt angry.
Tu Ming was too difficult to communicate with and looked at people with colored glasses. It was as if she had said one sentence in the elevator that made her seem like a bad person, narrow-minded and domineering.
She tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, and finally sat up abruptly, dialing Tu Ming directly.
It was quiet on Tu Ming’s end, his socializing should have ended. Lumi heard his gentle “Hello.”
“I didn’t lie about my leave!” Lumi didn’t even introduce herself, her tone was bad: “Let me tell you, tomorrow I’ll bring my dad’s hospital records to the company to prove myself, and you must apologize to me!”
…
“Apologize now!” Lumi didn’t realize her voice had risen, as if she had suffered a great grievance.
Tu Ming glanced at the designated driver, not knowing what to do for a moment. His ex-wife never made such a fuss, and rarely lost control of her emotions. They both believed that emotional breakdowns were unseemly. As two educated individuals, they wanted to be dignified, so during their years together, they never seemed to have a serious argument. Except for the days after Xing Yun proposed divorce.
“Speak up! Why are you wrongly accusing me? Does being the boss make you so great? Apologize to me now!”
Tu Ming finally spoke: “Calm down.”
“Is it that hard to apologize? You easily put labels on others, but asking you to apologize is like feeding you sh*t! Aren’t you the one who holds grudges? Don’t you love to give me a hard time? Let me tell you, I quit! And I’m going to report you for abusing your power!”
Lumi hung up the phone, and after yelling at Tu Ming, she felt better. She lay back in bed, closed her eyes, and suddenly remembered the offhand comment she made to Tu Ming about quitting. She opened her eyes again. She remembered her grandmother’s usual scolding: “You really are something, little Lumi. You really need to control that mouth of yours!”
Well.
Congratulations on welcoming the eve of unemployment through your unwavering efforts. Lumi mocked herself and turned over to sleep soundly.
The next morning, she opened her eyes, remembering that she might have to pack up and leave LM today, and immediately got up to do her makeup properly. Quitting didn’t matter; she had to leave beautifully!
She did a retro makeup look, found a French dress, put on high heels, and saw her reflection in the elevator on the way down. She looked like a queen about to ascend the throne, quite nice.
When she arrived at the hospital, Lu Guoqing was startled: “Do you need to be this formal to pick up your old man from the hospital?”
“Why not? Looking disheveled? That’s not your daughter’s style!” Lumi thought about confronting Tu Ming head-on, and her mood was actually a bit excited. After all, no one had ever made her suffer before. Her family loved her, except for her grandmother occasionally poking her forehead to teach her a lesson, that was also out of love; her friends always stood by her. Shang Zhi Tao, with her soft personality, could also jump up and fight if she heard anyone say a bad word about Lumi; the same went for her love life. Which ex-boyfriend didn’t give her some leeway?
How could she let a new boss bully her!
She sent Lu Guoqing home and drove to the company. With the medical record bag in hand, she knocked on Tu Ming’s office door and walked in gracefully. She took a few steps to his desk, placed the medical record bag in front of him, and looked at Tu Ming with a smile.
Those who knew Lumi well understood that when she smiled at someone like this, she was brewing a storm. The size of Lumi’s storm varied depending on the extent to which she wanted to fight with you, and today she was determined to have this fight with Tu Ming.
Tu Ming actually opened the medical record bag and took a look before putting the documents back. He leaned back in his swivel chair and looked at Lumi. The employee in front of him was holding her head high, full of arrogance, like a fighting co*ck ready to engage in battle with him.
But Lumi didn’t understand Tu Ming.
Tu Ming was a straightforward person who discussed matters objectively and never used his authority to pressure others. He felt that Lumi was wrong and told her directly, knowing that Lumi would be unhappy about it, but he didn’t expect such resentment.
“I’m sorry, I misunderstood you yesterday.” Tu Ming smiled at her, very sincerely: “But I want to express my thoughts; would you like to hear them?”
What? Weren’t we supposed to fight?
This feeling was like when you raise your gun ready to blow someone’s head off, but they wave at you and say, “Come on, let’s have a meal and be friends.” Lumi was now facing such a dilemma. Should she shoot him or have a meal with him? Her eyes flickered; she was wearing blue contact lenses today, looking like an innocent cat.
“Would you like to sit down?” Tu Ming stood up and pulled out a chair for her: “Please, take a seat.”
Damn it.
Lumi’s momentum was completely extinguished. She knew the code of the streets: never hit a smiling person. So she sat down and waited for Tu Ming to speak.
“In a situation like yesterday, anyone would have thought you were lying about your leave, because there was context, right?” Tu Ming asked her.
“What context?” Lumi asked him.
Tu Ming gestured for her to figure it out herself.
“Are you referring to what I said in the elevator?” Lumi asked.
Tu Ming nodded: “And?”
“I was late?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not enough, is it?” Lumi asked him.
“It is enough.” Tu Ming smiled again: “Isn’t that how people form biases?”
“That’s just you being narrow-minded.” Lumi muttered under her breath.
She had been like this since she was young. If you were tough with her, she would be tougher. If you were reasonable with her, she would be reasonable too. People who first met her often said she was reckless, but those who knew her for a long time would discover her sharp and perceptive heart.
Tu Ming heard her accuse him of being narrow-minded and smiled again: “I used to teach at a university, where I had to be responsible for my students. After leaving the school, I felt I should be responsible for my subordinates. In a situation like yesterday, combined with previous incidents, it was easy to think that you made up a lie about a family member being sick just to take a holiday.”
“Would I still be human if I did that? Is it really necessary?” Lumi started firing off like a machine gun: “You can ask around at LM; when have I, Lumi, ever lied about my leave? If I want a holiday, I’ll ask for it clearly. That’s too insulting.”
“Yes, so I apologize to you sincerely.”
… Lumi was speechless.
“So is the misunderstanding resolved?” Tu Ming asked her.
“It is.”
“Are you still quitting?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Alright. Then work hard. My principles remain the same. You have good abilities, and I hope you can also have a good attitude. We’ll slowly adapt.”
Before entering the office, Lumi never imagined Tu Ming to be this kind of person. He was quite conservative, had high expectations for his subordinates, yet was also quite open and could be flexible. Upon closer consideration, this boss didn’t seem too bad.
“Alright. I’ll be reasonable too. Since you’ve apologized, I won’t hold it against you. And thank you.” She was very generous, not at all petty.
“So how did you originally plan to hold it against me?” Tu Ming took off his glasses, wiped the lenses, and put them back on. Looking at Lumi again, he felt he understood her a bit better.
“I was going to throw my resignation letter on your desk and then go complain about you! I was also prepared to argue with you!”
“… Tu Ming thought about it. This approach was indeed something Lumi would do: “It’s not very rational, nor very civilized.”
“Civilization and rationality aren’t things you can eat. When you’re really arguing, who needs rationality!”
