Chapter 1 — Power Games and Illusions

Our company has a little girl who always thinks that the CEO is especially pampering her. That time, everyone went out to dinner, and a plate of mango pudding appeared on the table. She immediately took a photo and posted it on social networks, boasting: 【During the commercial reception, the CEO specially ordered mango pudding for himself~】 Later I found out, it was a free dessert given by the hotel. Another time, the CEO told her to go on a business trip and to save money, book a flight at midnight. As soon as she got off the airport, she took a photo in front of the large glass window and posted the caption: 【It's four o'clock in the morning, the begonia is not yet asleep, last time I casually said something, the president specially let me see the scenery at dawn!】 Her acts like this are countless. We all thought her mind was really broken... Until one day, we accidentally heard her calling and scolding her "backup boyfriend": "Booking a plane ticket at midnight, are you sick? Don't I need to sleep?!" 1 Our department has a new female colleague, 26 years old, named Truong Kieu. She has a sweet face, always smiles when she talks, and looks very approachable. When she first started working, Truong Kieu's behavior was quite normal, polite, obedient, everyone thought she was easy to cooperate with. But after the probationary period, her strange nature gradually revealed itself. First of all, she absolutely loves to act like a babe. That day, I asked Truong Kieu to make a simple form that had to be submitted within the same day. The company ends work at 6 p.m., but by the time I gave her the job, it was already 5:30 p.m. This means Truong Kieu is forced to work overtime to complete the job. In fact, anyone who gets assigned work at the end of their working hours will be unhappy. I also expected that Truong Kieu would be dissatisfied, but I didn't expect her to pout her lips and act coyly, holding my hand and shaking it back and forth, pleading in a cooing voice: "Sister Linh~ don't~ don't~ don't~~" Hearing a series of "don't~ don't~ don't~" in a soft tone, my whole body felt like it was electrocuted, numb to the scalp. I quickly snatched my hand from her hand: "The manager said he had to submit a report today." Truong Kieu puckered her lips so much that she could hang an oil bottle on them, her voice extremely coy: "Really~?" I nodded vigorously, then quickly ran away from her to avoid trouble. That night, after showering, I dried my hair and scrolled through my phone. Message from Thai Hoa: 【Did you give work to Truong Kieu?】 I paused a bit and immediately replied: 【No.】 Thai Hoa continued texting: 【She's complaining that you bullied her and threw all the work to her.】 I got angry immediately: 【How is that possible? Today the manager personally called her name to make a form, just told me to convey the message, I even explained it clearly to her!】 I'm just an ordinary employee who has only been in the company for a year, with the same position as Truong Kieu. Of course I have no right to order her to do anything. That report was temporarily assigned by the manager, who told me to pass it on to Truong Kieu. Thai Hoa texted again: 【Truong Kieu said you don't want to work, deliberately pushed all the work to her, making her have to work overtime.】 I was so angry that I put down the hair dryer hard, typing on the keyboard with both hands: 【Now From the beginning when I assigned the task, I made it clear that the manager told her to do it, and it had absolutely nothing to do with me!】 Thai Hoa replied: 【Maybe she thought you were just using the manager's name to force her, it must have been a misunderstanding.】 I snorted coldly. From that moment, I completely understood that Truong Kieu was not as simple as her sweet appearance. The only conclusion: In the future, stay away for good! The next day, the kind manager invited the whole room to drink milk tea. “Whatever you want to drink, just say so.” My colleagues are all observant and only order the cheapest type from Mat Tuyet Bang Thanh. As for Truong Kieu, she didn't call, smiling gently: "It's up to you~ Whatever you like~" The manager saw that she didn't have a request, so he didn't ask further. When the milk tea was brought to the room, we each took our own portion and happily drank... Only Truong Kieu did not touch it. She looked at the milk tea cup, pursed her lips coyly, then sighed heavily: "This milk tea... is a bit too sweet, I don't like drinking it~" A colleague curiously asked: "Eh, so why didn't you order the low-sugar version earlier?" Tuong Kieu immediately pouted, her eyes sparkling as if she was about to cry: "Because I don't dare bother the manager~ I'm afraid that if I ask too much, I'll be hated~" Her new colleagues in the company listened and felt sorry for her, thinking she was so gentle and pleasant. But I looked at it and just wanted to laugh: She "didn't dare bother" the manager? In essence, they want to please the manager by appearing obedient and reasonable. But that's not all — milk tea also leads to better drama. Truong Kieu did not drink milk tea immediately, but placed a milk tea cup with the image of "Tuyet Vuong" in a corner, took out her phone to take several virtual photos. We didn't pay much attention and continued to chat as usual. A moment later, Truong Kieu went into the bathroom, at which point Thai Hoa suddenly lowered her voice and whispered: "You guys... look at this!" She held her phone screen out in front of us. On Truong Kieu's WeChat Moments, she just posted an extremely sophisticated photo of "9 squares of milk tea", with the following caption: 【The manager specially ordered me a super cute cup of Snow Ice Honey~ Last time he said I was "like a child", now he actually treats me like a child... it's a bit embarrassing~】 "..." We stared at each other, then simultaneously picked up the milk tea cups on the table to look at. Each cup of milk tea has a big, strong image of Tuyet Vuong printed on it. Yet, when it came to Truong Kieu's mouth, it turned into a special privilege only for the manager's "only baby"?! Half a minute of silence, Thai Hoa spoke first: "Tell me, what is she planning to do?" A colleague analyzed: "Maybe he wanted to flatter the manager, that's why he posted like that." Others objected: "But... if you're flattering your boss, why does reading the caption seem like it's all self-bragging? It doesn't look like you're flattering at all." Another girl frowned: "The sentence 'Last time he called me like a child, now he really sees me as a child'... It doesn't sound like flattery in any way, but like... secretly showing off an intimate relationship." The group was silent. Thai Hoa muttered: "Why do I suddenly smell the scent of 'my little wife' somewhere..." A colleague immediately burst out laughing: "What little wife, little wife! First you have to marry someone before you can call her 'husband's little wife'! Is she? At most, she can only be called a buffalo and horse!" Another person came up with the idea: “Then call it ‘Kieu buffalo and horse’?” The whole group burst into laughter. Thai Hoa added: "No, I think it's more appropriate to call her 'Kieu donkey'! All day long, she purses her lips and calls 'ang ng', it's so annoying!" How should I put it... Truong Kieu's pampering style is not a big deal. But... when this habit of spoiling is combined with a series of other bad habits, it is really difficult to endure. The manager sometimes invites the whole room to milk tea and coffee. Everyone knows that he is frugal, so he defaults to cheap brands like Mat Tuyet Bang Thanh, Kudi... Yet, Truong Kieu stubbornly believes that the manager is especially pampering her, then posts it on social networks to show off the truth... making it difficult for anyone who sees it to not find it funny. And yet, recently, she often pretends to act like a babe to push the work to others, making everyone in the room angry, and the complaints increase more and more. 2 A few days later, the president inspected the departments and casually complimented Truong Kieu: "Looking so young, I thought I was still young." Truong Kieu immediately bowed her head shyly, her voice as soft as noodles: "Thank you for your compliment, I'm 26 years old this year~" The president didn't bother to glance any further and left straight away. Less than an hour later, Truong Kieu posted WeChat Moments again, with a sparkling, heart-wrenching caption: 【Today the CEO still "recognized you" in a sea of people, and even praised you for being cute~】 The whole room: "..." Thai Hoa was the one to laugh first, laughing so much that she made a pig noise: "I'm dying of laughter! The CEO clearly praised the whole room, why did she post like she was only praising her?" Another colleague chimed in: "Also, the CEO only said she looked young, but never said she was cute?" We both laughed and shook our heads. Another colleague analyzed: "She deliberately cuts her hair like a princess, wears childish cartoon clothes, pouts and acts like a babe every day. Everyone respects her so they politely compliment her on looking young, but she believes it."