Chapter 3 — Try Loving Me

I walked a few steps and he rolled down the window again.

“To Niem Niem.”

“Yes?”

“Next time you're sad, don't sit alone at a convenience store.”

Something in my heart just vibrated slightly.

“So who can I find?”

“Guess what.”

He closed the window and drove away. I stood downstairs smiling absent-mindedly for a long time. The following week, Trieu Dinh was even more outrageous. Monday morning, the customer sent a new change request, which was supposed to be handled directly by the person in charge. Trieu Dinh forwarded the email to me: "Recite it for me, I have a meeting this afternoon." I don't answer. At 3pm he came to my desk.

“Nien Niem, have you seen the email yet?”

“See it.”

“So you—”

"I'm busy, you can do it yourself."

He was stunned. This was the first time I rejected him.

“What do you mean?”

“This project is not yours—”

"Miss Truong said she wouldn't let me participate in this project. Don't you remember what happened last Friday?"

His expression was extremely unsightly, his usual smile disappeared.

“Nien, what I said to the customer that day was a slip of the tongue, don't take it to heart.”

“Yeah, I don't mind.”

I continued typing without looking at him: "So you do your own work, I'll go do mine." He stood there for a moment then left. In the afternoon, Mrs. Truong called me into her office.

“To Niem Niem, Trieu Dinh said you did not coordinate the work.”

"Miss Truong, last week you told me you wouldn't let me participate in this project anymore."

“When did I say it?”

I looked at her, she looked at me.

"Miss Truong, Tieu Lam can testify, verbatim what you said last Friday was 'this project does not allow To Niem Niem to participate'."

Her face changed.

“What's with your attitude?”

“Normal attitude.”

“I do my job, the project doesn't belong to me, I don't accept it.”

“If you keep this attitude, the KPI at the end of the month—”

“Miss Truong.”

I interrupted her: "If you feel I am not cooperating, you can send an email according to OA internal procedures."

“If you talk with your mouth, you can pretend you didn't hear it.”

She didn't expect me to say that. Because To Niem Niem of the past would never be like that. In the past, To Niem Niem would obediently and resentfully say

“Yes, I will”

, then worked overtime until midnight, went home and texted 100 complaints to Lam Noan Noan. But Luc Tu said one thing —

“When you need to turn it back on, you have to turn it on”

. When I walked out of Mrs. Truong's office, Trieu Dinh happened to be standing at the other end of the hallway looking at me. As I passed by, he spoke up.

“Nim, you've changed lately.”

“Is that so?”

“In the past, I wasn't like this.”

"In the past, I didn't work overtime to clean up the mess for my ex."

His face is extremely unsightly. I left. Returning to my seat, I sent a text message to Luc Tu.

“I turned it back on today.”

I replied immediately.

“How to turn it on.”

“Refuse the trash thrown away by your ex-lover, toughly confront your boss one-on-one.”

“What are the results?”

“She can't do anything to me.”

“Of course.”

“Are you that confident?”

“You have the trump card.”

“The person who has the trump card has nothing to fear.”

I held the phone and giggled for a while. Then continue texting.

“Luc Tu.”

“Yes.”

“You were so good today.”

“Yes.”

“Can't you give me a compliment?”

“Good.”

“Just one word?”

“Benefits.”

“You Can't you say a little more?”

“What's for dinner?”

“Does this count as a compliment?”

"I'm going to invite you out to eat."

“So I want to eat expensive food.”

“It's up to you.”

That night he took me out to eat Teppanyaki for 600 yuan per person. Halfway through eating, I received a phone call from Lam Noan Noan.

“Recite!”

“I heard you turned on Mrs. Truong today?!”

“Who told you?”

“There is someone at Chu Ngon company who knows your colleague and spread the word.”

News spreads quickly.

“Not turned on, communication is normal.”

“To Niem Niem, when did you learn how to communicate normally?”

“I'm excited for you, you're finally strong enough!”

I glanced at Luc Tu sitting opposite.

“Someone taught me.”

Hang up the phone, Luc Tu asked: "Lam Noan Noan?"

“Yes, he was more excited than me.”

“She should be excited.”

He pushed a piece of Wagyu beef onto my plate: "You've been clinging to her for so long, she's always been your emotional trash can, now you can solve the problem yourself, isn't she relieved?"

“You talk like I'm a burden.”

“You are a burden.”

My chopsticks stopped. He added: "But not everyone sees burdens as a bad thing." I looked at him, he bowed his head while cutting the steak, as if he had never said anything special. This person. Really knows how to flirt. Another week passed, things began to take a turn. The company had a quarterly report, the departments had to submit project summary reports and highlights of the third quarter. Ms. Truong told Trieu Dinh to make a PPT slide, including the plan of the biggest customer from the previous quarter as the department's outstanding achievement. That's the plan I edited. After Trieu Dinh finished making the PPT, he tagged everyone in the group chat room to take a look. I opened it to see. On the plan page, it is clearly written: Person in charge of the project — Trieu Dinh. My heart pounded. My finger clicked open the folder

“Ace in the hole”

. Edit history, timeline, email screenshots, compare original to final. Not missing anything. But I didn't send it right away. Luc Tu once taught me —

“People with trump cards don't need to rush, just wait for the best opportunity.”

The quarterly report meeting takes place on Friday. All middle managers and above of the company participate. Trieu Dinh will go up to the podium to give a presentation. I had to wait for him to finish speaking. Friday morning, the meeting room was packed with people. The director sits in the chair and the departments report in turn. When it was our room's turn, Mrs. Truong said a few polite opening words, then Trieu Dinh walked up. He wore a new shirt, gelled his hair and sprayed it shiny, and when he moved to the slide with that plan page, he smiled brightly.

“This project was the biggest highlight of our department in the third quarter, customer satisfaction reached 98%, after that they signed two more rounds of cooperation…”

I sat in the backseat, my palms were sweaty. He finished speaking. The director nodded and praised

“Good job”

. Ms. Truong's face lit up radiantly. The meeting entered a free question and answer session. I raised my hand. The whole room turned their eyes towards me. Ms. Truong's smile stiffened for a moment.

“To Niem Niem, do you have any questions?”

The director asked.

“Boss Vuong, about this plan, I have some additional information I want share."

I stood up, walked forward, plugged the USB into the computer. A photo of the document's editing history appeared on the projector screen — the time stamp clearly stated, 9:07 p.m., editor: To Niem Niem. Next is the comparison between the original and the final version. And finally, a screenshot of Trieu Dinh's WeChat message sent to me: "Recite it for me, I have a meeting this afternoon." The whole room was silent. Trieu Dinh's face turned white. Ms. Truong's smile completely disappeared.

“The person who actually edited this plan was me.”

My voice was not loud, but very steady: "The original copy that Trieu Dinh gave me had 7 logic errors and 3 data inconsistencies. I had to work overtime that night to fix all the problems."

“Edit history and timestamps can be checked directly on the server log.”

The director looked at Trieu Dinh.

“Trieu Dinh, how do you explain this?”

Trieu Dinh's lips moved: "I..."

“I just asked her to polish it up a bit…”

“7 logic errors and 3 data contradictions, you call this elaboration?”

The voice is not mine. It's the Director's. Ms. Truong tried to help: "Boss Vuong, this may be due to a bit of communication—"

“Chief Truong.”