Chapter 19

“Who was that?” Qin Nan asked, noticing Ye Sibei’s tense expression during the call.

“Fuqiang Real Estate. They want to talk to me.”

“You shouldn’t go,” Chen Jun immediately interjected. “It’s a trap,” he said, looking at Qin Nan. “It has to be a trap, Nan Ge. Sister-in-law shouldn’t go.”

“What do you think?” Qin Nan ignored Chen Jun and focused on Ye Sibei. She put away her phone. “I agreed to go.”

Qin Nan nodded. “I’ll take you.”

Ye Sibei paused with her chopsticks in hand, thought for a moment, and then nodded.

After lunch, Ye Sibei tidied up and left with Qin Nan.

Outside the shop, Qin Nan brought out a motorcycle, took a helmet from the back, and handed it to her. “Here.”

Ye Sibei was surprised and asked, “Are you really riding this?”

“I used to ride this before we got married,” Qin Nan laughed. “I stopped after we got married. Want to try it today?”

Ye Sibei smiled and awkwardly put on the helmet, then carefully sat sideways on the motorcycle, one hand on Qin Nan’s shoulder and the other holding the rear handle.

“Ready.”

“I’ve never seen anyone as refined as you,” Qin Nan complained, but he rode the motorcycle slowly, as if to accommodate her.

Ye Sibei sat behind him, watching the sunlight play on his face. He always remained calm and composed, as if the hurtful words of others never touched his world.

She observed his handsome features and deep-set eyes.

As she watched him, she slowly realized what a good person he was.

Such a handsome, wonderful man.

She greedily gazed at him from behind, wanting to get closer but hesitating to approach.

The motorcycle slowly arrived at Fuqiang Real Estate. Qin Nan stopped the bike, and Ye Sibei got off. Qin Nan raised his hand to help her take off her helmet. Ye Sibei stood in front of him, and Qin Nan reminded her, “Remember to record.”

“Yeah.”

“If you want to curse, go ahead. Don’t let anyone bully you. Just repeat back whatever they say to insult you.”

“Okay.” Ye Sibei smiled, but Qin Nan hesitated and suggested, “Should I accompany you…”

“Qin Nan,” she interrupted him, staring at him intently. “It’s already good enough that you brought me here.”

Qin Nan looked up at her. Ye Sibei spoke seriously, “I can walk the rest of the way on my own.”

Qin Nan was taken aback. Ye Sibei turned around and walked out of the shade towards the entrance of Fuqiang Real Estate.

As soon as she entered Fuqiang Real Estate, everyone looked at her. Ye Sibei walked up to the front desk and, ignoring all the stares, spoke directly, “Manager Tao asked me to come over.”

The receptionist looked at her, hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Please wait a moment.”

She immediately called Tao Jingli. After a moment, she nodded and said, “Ms. Ye, Manager Tao is waiting for you in the conference room.”

“Thank you.”

Ye Sibei nodded and headed straight for the conference room.

In the conference room, Tao Jie and a group of people were busy. Tao Jie called out to the people around her, “Quick, turn on the recording.”

As she spoke, Tao Jie caught sight of Ye Sibei’s figure outside the conference room. A man hurriedly turned on the recording device and placed it under the table. At the same time, Ye Sibei pushed open the door and entered.

Ye Sibei quickly glanced around and saw three people sitting in the conference room. Tao Jie sat on the side, a middle-aged man sat in the middle, and there was a woman in her thirties beside him. She was dressed plainly and looked somewhat tired.

Ye Sibei knew the man was Song Ming, the boss of Fuqiang Real Estate. However, she didn’t recognize the woman.

The three of them sat in a row. When Ye Sibei entered, Tao Jie quickly stood up. “Sibei, come, please sit down quickly.”

Ye Sibei closed the door and sat down across from the three. Tao Jie stood up and introduced Ye Sibei, “Sibei, this is our company’s boss, Mr. Song Ming.”

Ye Sibei nodded and greeted, “Mr. Song.”

“And this…” Tao Jie pointed to the woman beside her, looking somewhat embarrassed, “is Mr. Fan’s wife, Zhao Shuhui.”

Ye Sibei looked up at Zhao Shuhui and nodded towards her. “Hello.”

Zhao Shuhui turned her head away, appearing impatient.

“This time, we called you here,” after introducing everyone, Tao Jie sat down, “to discuss matters regarding Mr. Fan.”

Ye Sibei remained silent. After hesitating for a while, Tao Jie stood up and went to the side to fetch a small box, placing it in front of Ye Sibei. After opening the box, there was a stack of thick RMB inside.

“Without further ado, here is 100,000 RMB. It’s enough to pay off your loan and have some left over.”

Ye Sibei looked at the money. It was the first time she had seen so much money that “belonged” to her. She remained silent, and Song Ming looked at her reaction, furrowing his brows. “Ye Sibei, if you have any thoughts, you can say them. The company will help negotiate for you.”

“As for this money,” Ye Sibei looked at the money and smiled, “is it compensation from the company?”

“You can interpret the money however you like,” seeing her loosen up, Tao Jie seized the opportunity, “but anyway, with the money, you can clarify things.”

“Clarify what?”

Ye Sibei looked at Tao Jie, and Tao Jie smiled, “Don’t play dumb. You sued Mr. Fan this time, which is a huge loss to the company’s reputation. Originally, we could have sued you, but Mr. Song is generous and wants to minimize the impact. So he called you over. You just want money, right? Now that you have the money, everything is settled.”

“Is this what Mr. Fan told you?”

Ye Sibei’s gaze fell on Song Ming. “That I’m after money?”

Song Ming remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly, “If you feel this money is inappropriate, we can discuss it again.”

“What’s there to discuss?”

Ye Sibei stared at them. “You think I framed him?”

“Framing is definitely not the case,” Tao Jie quickly tried to smooth things over, “there must be some misunderstanding.”

“He wasn’t caught by me,” Ye Sibei turned to Tao Jie, “he was caught by the police. If there’s any misunderstanding, you can talk to the police.”

“What are you pretending for, Ye Sibei?”

Zhao Shuhui, who had been listening, couldn’t hold back anymore. She slapped the table with her hand. “Aren’t you just complaining that the money isn’t enough? If it weren’t for money, why did you come here today?”

“What did I come here for?” Ye Sibei smiled, tapping the table with her hand and staring at Song Ming in the middle. “I came here today to ask you, what does Fuqiang Real Estate plan to do about this scumbag Fan Jiancheng?!”

“Who are you calling a scumbag?” Zhao Shuhui suddenly stood up.

“Sis,” Tao Jie quickly stopped Zhao Shuhui, “you go out first, I’ll handle this.”

Zhao Shuhui didn’t speak. She stared at Ye Sibei, her chest heaving as if she was holding back her anger. Ye Sibei and her locked eyes, but Zhao Shuhui turned her head and hurriedly left.

Tao Jie whispered a few words to Song Ming and then stood up to leave.

The entire conference room was left with Ye Sibei and Tao Jie. They sat there for a long time before Tao Jie spoke slowly, “Sibei, we don’t really know what happened between you and Mr. Fan. The company can’t make any decisions regarding Mr. Fan without understanding the situation.”

“What about me?” Ye Sibei cut to the chase, “If you can’t do anything to him, can you just give me money to change my testimony?”

“This isn’t changing your testimony,” Tao Jie corrected quickly, mindful of the recording, “we just hope you’ll tell the truth.”

“What truth?” Ye Sibei smiled. “Everything I’m saying now, every word, every sentence, is the truth.”

“Okay.”

Tao Jie nodded, “You may not care about the company’s reputation, you may not care about your own reputation, but you still have to live, right?”

Ye Sibei fell silent, and Tao Jie looked at her, smiling, “Have you found a job recently?”

Before Ye Sibei could speak, Tao Jie continued, “If you found one today, you wouldn’t have time to come.”

“You said, who would believe that a female employee who goes out to entertain at night, lets her boss drive her home, and owes a large amount of debt, would be raped? What leader wouldn’t think, if they hire someone like you, what if you repeat the same mistakes? Ye Sibei, your only way out now is to tell the truth, apologize sincerely, and then return to prosperity. Do you understand?”

“Do I have to stay in the south city?”

Listening to Tao Jie’s threats, Ye Sibei pretended to be calm, “I can leave.”

“Yes,” Tao Jie shrugged, “Tell your husband not to keep his shop, not to keep his house, let Zhao Chuchu lose her job, let your parents suffer humiliation, let Ye Nianwen lose his future,” she smiled, “Moving the whole family, huh?”

Ye Sibei couldn’t speak.

She didn’t speak, her hand under the table tightly gripping the strap of her bag.

Tao Jie pushed the money towards her, leaned closer, and whispered, “Ye Sibei, one must learn to compromise to take shortcuts. Take the money, and everyone will be happy. Don’t take it, and it’s harming yourself and others.”

Ye Sibei’s gaze fell on the money, she stared at it, saying nothing.

Her hand trembled lightly under the table, scenes of Qin Nan being mocked, Zhao Chuchu being fired, and Ye Nianwen losing his job filled her mind.

But behind these scenes, there was the night she took the pills, lying on the cold ground, desperately trying to grab her phone.

That moment reminded her.

She didn’t survive to live a life of servility.

Thinking Ye Sibei was compromising as she looked at the money in silence, Tao Jie smiled, forgetting about the recording for a moment, with a hint of threat, “Have you thought it through? This path isn’t easy.”

“I know,” Ye Sibei looked at her without flinching, “But someone has to take it.”

“You can threaten me, but let me tell you, if you dare to fire Zhao Chuchu, things won’t end well. I will go online and expose everything I know to the public. Do you think this is the worst outcome? It’s not.”

“Ye Sibei, are you crazy?” Tao Jie looked at her in shock, “Do you think anyone will pay attention to what you post online? With your appearance, people will just curse you to death!”

“Then let’s see,” Ye Sibei stood up, approached her, took out her phone, “I will post the recording online and let everyone know how you persuaded a victim to recant. I will make it clear who you are, what you look like, and what you’ve done. Tao Jie, you better hope that none of you ever have any stains on your record, otherwise you’ll be facing the judgment of this world along with me.”

“Ye Sibei,” Tao Jie finally showed some fear, “You’re insane.”

“Yes,” Ye Sibei looked at her calmly, “I am. So don’t think about threatening me anymore, and don’t try to dissuade me. I will keep going.”

“As long as I’m alive, I won’t give up. I must fight for what’s right, I must seek justice. I must tell you all,” Ye Sibei paused, her eyes reddening, controlling her tone, “In this world, the innocent should not be punished, and wrongdoers must pay the price.”

“There is always a sense of justice hanging over our heads, and I, will certainly reach it.”