Chapter 2 — Power Games and Illusions

During that time, Truong Kieu especially liked to make people guess her age. Because of social etiquette, everyone cleverly guessed youthful numbers like 18, 20... Every time she heard it, she would smile from ear to ear and immediately act coy: "That's wrong~ that person is 26 years old~~!" Ordinary people who hear that know clearly: everyone is just being social, no one really thinks. But Truong Kieu is different. She firmly believes that she is very young and very cute, so she deliberately acts like a babe to get a little benefit from everyone. I suspect she's watched too many Japanese movies so she's learned the exaggerated coquettish ways of the female lead of the drama, calling herself "so cute"... But in reality, that behavior makes her co-workers' skin crawl. Now it's great, the CEO only said she "looks young", she was extremely proud, posting everywhere that "the CEO in a sea of people chose the baby with one look". I really want to faint from laughter. In the blink of an eye, the middle of the month has passed. Truong Kieu has been in the company for a month and a half. To create a spirit of solidarity, the general manager arranged to invite each department to have small team-building events, eat and chat. This month, it's our room's turn. On the 15th, the CEO invited our entire team to a team-building meal. Coming to the restaurant, everyone gathered around a large round table, each dish was presented, the atmosphere was both comfortable and happy. This restaurant is a long-time partner of the company, often offers discounts, and even offers complimentary dishes. At the end of the meal, dessert was served — mango pudding. One portion for each person, completely free, given by the restaurant. After eating, everyone dispersed. On the way home, I sat on the subway, boredly scrolling through WeChat, when... I discovered that Truong Kieu had just posted a series of photos, the main topic focusing on mango pudding. The caption also wrote two lines full of "female protagonist": 【Following my boss out to socialize, in the middle of a table full of "high-class" dishes, my favorite mango pudding suddenly appeared.】 【My boss said I was like a child, specially ordered a portion of "childish dishes" for me... A bit surprising, a bit touching~】 "Pffft!" I almost choked on my saliva right on the train. What genre is this? Is this the upgraded version of "Kieu buffalo and horse" literature?! What is the truth? • Mango pudding is a bonus dish from the restaurant. • Everyone has an equal share. • That party was not a social party, nor was it "high-class" at all, just normal team-building. Yet in Truong Kieu's words, the story was transformed into: • A luxurious commercial party. • The CEO takes special care of his "baby". • Specially ordered mango pudding just to please her. Really... speechless. But I didn't expect that there were even weirder things behind. The next day, Truong Kieu personally walked into the management office, holding a small bouquet of chrysanthemums in her hand. Her expression was shy and her voice was soft: "Manager~ thank you for taking me out to eat yesterday." Our whole room at that time: “……” Truong Kieu bowed her head shyly, her voice as soft as noodles: “Thank you, manager, for taking me out to eat yesterday~” … Yes, you heard right. She respectfully thanked the manager for taking her to... team-building. In fact: • Team-building costs are paid by the company. • The name is that the president invited our room to eat, and has nothing to do with the management. Yet Truong Kieu is indebted to the manager? We can't understand how her brain is working. Could it be... Did she really believe that the manager specially ordered mango pudding to please her "baby"? Impossible… right? …Or is there really a problem with her brain? The capital manager is an "old fox" in the company, with extensive experience in behavior. He received the small bouquet of chrysanthemums and smiled politely: "This is what I should do, thank Giao Giao." In fact, before that, the manager completely forgot about Truong Kieu's existence. But as soon as he was given flowers, he casually asked: "It's been half a month since you officially joined the company. What have you been responsible for recently?" Truong Kieu happily told a story. The truth is that she doesn't have a specific job, mainly just running errands and doing miscellaneous work. After listening, the manager nodded and pulled out an old document from the drawer: "You guys haven't had time to do this yet. I'll extract the data and make it into a report." Truong Kieu's eyes immediately brightened. She thought that by giving flowers to the manager, she would definitely receive special favors. Now assigned to "do a report", she thought this was a good thing, happily holding the documents and walking out, her face beaming like she had won a lottery ticket. Five minutes later. On WeChat Moments, Truong Kieu immediately updated a full-screen selfie. • Hand on chin. • Mouth pouting. • His eyes sparkle like a deer. Caption: 【The manager calls me Giao Giao~ He completely treats me like a baby and pampers me~~】 Whole room: “……” That's it. Maybe... she really is flat-headed. Truong Kieu sat in the middle of the office, holding her phone in her hand, taking pictures continuously, flashing the flash so loudly that it was difficult to ignore. We just glanced at it and understood the pattern: Every time she took a photo, it was definitely to post WeChat Moments. Sure enough, a while later, she updated a new post, this time with a photo of a small bouquet of chrysanthemums. The caption is long, three consecutive lines, filled with the style of "little white lotus female protagonist": 【In the middle of a serious office space, suddenly a bunch of small bright daisies appeared, a bit... out of place, right?】 【But for a small girl like me, the only thing I could think of as a gift... was just this bouquet~】 【Luckily my boss liked it very much, and even thanked me!】 We: “……” Is this also called “behaving like a baby”? As expected of Kieu Trau Ngua — this name is completely worthy. What about the truth? That bunch of chrysanthemums only stayed in the management office... for about 20 minutes, then was secretly taken away... thrown straight into the trash. We don't understand Truong Kieu. • If you say she doesn't understand, then why does she know to give gifts to the manager? • If she is said to be observant, then why did she give... a small bouquet of daisies to a male manager, when there wasn't even a vase of flowers in the office? This logic is really impossible to analyze. No one asked questions, nor did anyone tell her that the bouquet had been thrown away. After posting an article "Literature of Kieu Trau and Horse" filled with the smell of white lotus, Truong Kieu began to do the task assigned by the manager: extracting data from old documents. She opened the folder, but before she could move, she was stunned on the spot: There was too much data. Too confusing. Too messy. In fact, management wanted to consolidate data from many years ago. But for us, this work is extremely heavy, tiring, boring, and has no practical value. To put it bluntly, everyone finds excuses to refuse, that's why she pushed it to Truong Kieu - who voluntarily jumped in when she thought she was getting "special favor". But she was still dreamily thinking: "Maybe my manager likes me, that's why he gave me such an important task..." We looked at each other: "Poor thing, but it's more funny." This time, Truong Kieu proactively jumped in to apply for a job, just when the manager was looking for "horses" to push the job, so she was immediately caught. Since Truong Kieu does not have an official mission yet, it is reasonable to assign this job to her. At first, Truong Kieu was excited about her job, but after only two days, her face changed 180 degrees. Reason: • Data must be typed in manually one by one. • Sitting for a long time causes neck fatigue, blurred vision, and extreme discomfort. • I don't know how to use the database, I'm doing something wrong, I'm frustrated and angry. Truong Kieu began to feel depressed and visibly uncomfortable. Immediately after that, she switched to her familiar tactics - pretending to be pitiful, begging for help. “Sister~ help me a little~ they can't do it anymore~~” There were a few colleagues who couldn't stand her pitiful eyes, so they gave up and secretly helped. That day, after work, I saw a colleague standing bent over Truong Kieu's computer, enthusiastically giving instructions. I thought to myself: "Someone saved my life, maybe tonight will be peaceful." But no! The next morning, I just woke up, picked up my phone, and saw Truong Kieu's WeChat Moments exploding with drama: 【Have you ever seen the moon at 4 am?】 【It's four in the morning, Hai Duong hasn't slept yet, the manager is training Giao Giao's abilities~】 【Do your best, Giao Giao!】 Illustrations are: data charts, desks, documents... Look at the caption, ai I also thought: "She must have stayed up all night working overtime until 4am!"