Chapter 31
When I was little, I heard the fairy tale of the crystal shoe, and back then I was always curious why the shoe in the prince's hand never changed. The fairy had created it, just like all the other clothes on Cinderella, and yet they all turned back into rags—why didn't that shoe return to normal?
Now I know—the power of environment is immense!
If Cinderella had never left the palace, maybe her clothes would never have changed, and there wouldn't have been this whole thing about searching the entire kingdom for a girl who could fit into the crystal shoe.
Like now, if I hadn't seen that light, if I'd just kept walking through the residential area, I'd still be strutting around proud like a rooster that just beat an eagle. But now? Now I've become a deflated basketball.
I almost crept through the door like a thief, tiptoeing upstairs like a mouse—damn it, why am I always comparing myself to mice today?
Carefully pushing open the bedroom door, carefully closing it, turning on the light, tossing my bag onto the bed—after all that, I finally let out a slow breath. But just as I was about to change clothes, I saw Shang Guan. Shang Guan sitting on the bed. Shang Guan suddenly appearing. Shang Guan jumping up like a resurrected corpse...
Okay, forgive my rambling. The correct version is this: Shang Guan had been there all along, but because he was lying down, I didn't notice him when I first came in. It wasn't until I tossed my bag onto him that he sat up like a resurrected corpse—literally a corpse rising! He shot up so fast it almost scared me to death.
But even though he's now "alive," I don't feel even a shred of joy. Looking at the silent Shang Guan, I forced the corner of my mouth to twitch and dryly laughed: "So, uh, haven't gone to sleep yet?"
The moment I said it, I wanted to slap myself. What kind of response was that? Doesn't it just highlight how late I'm returning?
Shang Guan looked at me, his eyes as charming as Yang Yun's but with something more—something seemed to be flickering in those dark eyes.
But I had no interest in investigating that right now. I mustered all my courage, genuinely afraid that under this kind of pressure, I'd confess everything before he even asked. Sometimes I think I'm such a wimp. Even though I'm the one freeloading by staying at Shang Guan's place, there's no slave contract, no agreed-upon curfew. Why can't I come home late? Why do I even have to lie about going to dinner with Yang Yun?
What? You're saying Shang Guan didn't actually forbid me from coming home late or from eating with Yang Yun?
That's... true, I guess. But my intuition tells me that if I came home too late or directly told him I was going out with Yang Yun, I would definitely suffer big time!
I used every ounce of strength to resist Shang Guan's pressure, and just when I was about to break, he finally spoke.
"Have you eaten?"
I nodded frantically.
"Then go to sleep early." With that, he stood up and walked past me. It wasn't until he'd closed the door behind him that I collapsed to the floor, utterly drained.
God, I'm never going out with Yang Yun again. Even if he threatens me with that thing, I won't do it. Even if he really spills the beans, so what? I've done plenty of embarrassing things anyway—one more won't kill me. Being laughed at is way better than being scared to death by Shang Guan.
Over the following days, I felt like I'd gone back to the period before college entrance exams. To make that proposal as perfect as possible, I skipped lunch. As for breakfast and dinner—could I possibly get away with anything under Shang Guan's watchful eyes?
Looking at my deepening dark circles, I was amazed at my own dedication. But what choice did I have? Yang Xin had raised so many demands, and I had to try to incorporate them all while considering the opinions of my teammates.
Good thing she hadn't made any new requests lately; otherwise, I wouldn't have finished even if I didn't sleep. And thankfully, the colleagues in the office finally let me off the hook at the last moment, no longer piling documents on my desk like they'd been doing recently. Otherwise, I wouldn't be heading to Sichuan—I should be checking into a hospital.
But regardless, I finally submitted the proposal on the last day the manager allowed. I couldn't guarantee it would be better than the other team's, but at least it showed we'd given our all. The manager surely couldn't threaten to fire me again after seeing this.