Chased by My Heartless Ex - Chapter 16

Li Rui lowered her voice and leaned close to Xu You’s ear, speaking disdainfully in a tone only the two of them could hear.

“If I could make money just by spreading my legs, I’d be as unhurried as you are.”

Xu You, who had been breathing in small, quiet gasps, abruptly lifted her head in disbelief at the words.

She couldn’t understand what she had done wrong. Ever since entering university, she had become this young lady’s imaginary rival. Her repeated forbearance had only led to more brazen slander and oppression.

“It’s not just about spreading my legs, I also run fast. If you can’t, maybe you should go to the hospital and check if there’s something wrong with your legs.” But she was no pushover. She retorted just as quietly, her contemptuous gaze drifting downward as she clicked her tongue twice. “Those two fake legs of yours probably can’t run at all.”

Li Rui’s eyebrows shot up in anger. Turning her back to hide her expression, she no longer held back. Her meticulously applied makeup couldn’t conceal her ugly demeanor or the murderous aura radiating from her.

Ignoring her rage, Xu You stepped past her and approached a woman in casual attire standing behind her. She spoke openly, “Hello, I’m Xu You, the intern here to report for duty. My apologies for keeping you waiting.”

“No need to apologize. Our company doesn’t have strict requirements for arrival times. We just got here, too.” She handed Xu You a work badge and continued, “My surname is Qian. I’m a few years older than you, so you can call me Sister Qian or former team leader.”

“Alright, Team Leader Qian.” Xu You accepted the badge. In the workplace, it was best to address people formally by their titles.

Team Leader Qian nodded. “Xiao Li, I heard you two are classmates, so I won’t bother introducing you.”

Upon hearing this, Li Rui forced a smile. “No need, Sister Qian.”

The trio swiped their cards one after another to pass through the security gate and entered the elevator lobby. Two of the three elevators had people waiting in front of them, while the innermost one, with its digital display showing the first floor, stood empty, with no one approaching it.

Xu You remembered riding that particular elevator up and down on her interview day. Back then, people had used it, but today, everyone avoided it as if it were cursed. Her eyes clearly reflected her confusion.

“Our design department is on the second floor. Usually, taking the stairs is faster. From now on, when you’re delivering materials up and down, remember to only use the two outer elevators. The innermost one is reserved for the executive office. Aside from that, only clients are allowed to use it.”

Team Leader Qian had no intention of leading them to the elevators. As she walked ahead and explained, she guided them straight to the stairwell.

Xu You and Team Leader Qian were both wearing flat shoes, but Li Rui’s stiletto heels clattered noisily on the steps. Her carefully curated city-girl outfit clearly hadn’t been designed for climbing stairs. She rolled her eyes, a gesture Xu You happened to catch. Thinking the conflict was escalating, Xu You shot back an even more exaggerated eye-roll.

Following Team Leader Qian out of the stairwell and into the office area, Xu You looked around with a sense of novelty.

The design department was located in the mid-to-lower section of the building, with large glass panels making up the walls. Outside, sparse bare branches let ample sunlight flood into the room. YUYOO’s employee workstations hadn’t been designed with innovation in mind, the entire floor was divided into several large sections, each consisting of small cubicles placed close together yet arranged to avoid disturbing one another.

At this hour, most of the workstations were still empty. The few employees scattered at their desks didn’t look up as the trio arrived, engrossed in sliding their mice or moving pressure-sensitive pens across their graphics tablets.

“Just finished a major project, so everyone’s resting at home. Don’t mind the casual atmosphere. Those two empty desks over there are your workstations, sort out between yourselves who takes which. I’ll send today’s tasks to you via WeChat later.”

Team Leader Qian pointed out the locations to the two newcomers, gave a brief explanation, and then returned to her own seat.

“I want the one by the window.” Of the two workstations, one was by the window and the other faced away from the sunlight. Li Rui seized the initiative, pointing to the sunlit spot.

Xu You couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. She picked up her bag and settled into the other workstation.

“These are the company’s welcome gifts, one for each of you.” Team Leader Qian returned shortly, placing canvas bags printed with the YUYOO logo on each of their desks. She had just added them to a WeChat group when a colleague she didn’t know well called her away.

Two minutes later, the group was renamed “Design 7,” and a PDF document was sent to the chat.

Xu You picked up her phone and carefully read through the employee guidelines.

She was already familiar with YUYOO’s development history, which could easily be looked up online. Scrolling past that section, she found an introduction to the company’s internal facilities.

The cafeteria and coffee shop were on the first floor, and employees could top up their cards to make purchases directly. The employee lounge on the third floor was open 24/7 and also accessible via card swipe. New hires were entitled to in-game items worth up to four digits from any of the company’s games. The weekly attendance requirement was only three check-ins…

After reading through each point, Xu You had only one thought:

Zhou Siyu was very generous to employees.

Thinking of Zhou Siyu, she couldn’t help but glance up at the ceiling. If she remembered correctly, Zhou’s office was directly above. Just then, another message popped up in the group chat, and she quickly lowered her head to check.

[Qian Doudou: Today, our company’s game Otherworld: Mountains and Seas is launching. Your task is to get familiar with it and, before the end of the day, each submit two character design drafts to me. Find your inspiration from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, but do not plagiarize or discuss your ideas, create independently.]

At the mention of the word “discuss,” Xu You and Li Rui’s eyes met briefly in the air. With unspoken understanding, they both turned away, letting out simultaneous snorts of disdain.

Xu You disliked leaving tasks until the last minute. While Li Rui was busy decorating her workstation and touching up her makeup, Xu You quickly organized her things, took out her phone, and started downloading the game.

Otherworld: Mountains and Seas was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game set against the backdrop of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Its art style was deeply rooted in Eastern aesthetics. At the start, players could choose one of 16 characters, each with different attributes, to embark on a journey of leveling up, battling monsters, taming mythical beasts, changing outfits, making friends, and forming alliances for duels.

Once the game finished downloading, the YUYOO logo flashed briefly across the screen, followed by a breathtaking landscape painting blending ink wash aesthetics with majestic mountains and rivers.

A progress bar at the bottom of the screen raced forward. Xu You widened her eyes, studying the artwork closely. If she wasn’t mistaken, this painting was by the renowned traditional Chinese painter Tao Qizhen, who was famously reluctant to sell his works. She wondered what method Zhou Siyu had used to acquire it.

As the installation package finished loading, the screen transitioned to the game interface. Following the character introductions, Xu You selected the female character named “Moonlight with Longsword”, a spirited and elegant warrior that best matched her personality, and began her adventure.

The game map was modeled after the three-tiered structure described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Even though Xu You wasn’t typically a gamer, she found herself immersed in the characters and storyline, completely losing track of time.

“Xu, Li, are you two coming for lunch?” Team Leader Qian, having finished her tasks, came over to invite them as it was mealtime.

Li Rui set down her makeup mirror. “Sister Qian, I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll join a bit later. You two go ahead.”

Not close enough to wait for each other, the two parted ways. After over ten minutes of clearing a small checkpoint to unlock the storyline, Xu You, satisfied, headed downstairs to the cafeteria.

With the new game launch, the tech department was tense. The company’s core staff were glued to their chairs, monitoring data, leaving the cafeteria nearly empty. Team Leader Qian and the other two sat at a window-side table for two, leaving no seat for Xu You. She was perfectly content with this, settling alone at a spot not far from them.

“Back in the day, I wanted to get into the Central Academy of Fine Arts too, but my academic scores fell a bit short. I heard Xiao Xu was the top of your year, she’s quite impressive.” The speaker was Team Leader Qian. Xu You, chewing her food, could clearly hear their conversation, which was neither too loud nor too soft.

Li Rui sneered, “Her? She is something, all right. But her best act is playing the innocent, pitiful victim. And, tsk-”

Her voice cut off abruptly, leaving the rest to the listener’s imagination.

“Really? She seems like a well-behaved kid,” Team Leader Qian replied hesitantly.

“Oh, she is. Our whole class disliked her. Sister Qian, you’d better be careful, don’t let all your hard work end up credited to her in the end.” Li Rui spoke with the air of someone sharing hard-earned wisdom.

Xu You nearly laughed out loud but shook her head and focused on her meal.

Having come down early, Li Rui continued spinning her tales for a few more minutes before the sound of high heels faded into the distance. By then, Xu You had finished eating, cleared her tray, and prepared to head back upstairs.

Faced with the choice between the elevator and the stairs, she opted for the stairs.

As her foot landed on the first step, her phone rang from her pocket.

A familiar voice, concise and to the point: “Come to the fifth floor.”

She mentally reviewed the floor layout.

Fifth floor – Zhou Siyu’s restroom.