The door to the room was opened sooner than Xia Qingtian had anticipated.
Xia Qingyu's eyes were slightly red. She peeked out from behind the door, revealing only half her face. "What are you doing here?"
"Xia Shi..." Xia Qingtian's words were cut off by Xia Qingyu.
"Whether you believe it or not, I never thought about fighting you for Xia Shi or anything..." Xia Qingyu glared at Xia Qingtian. "If it weren't for my mother... I..."
"I'm sorry," Xia Qingtian said directly, apologizing.
"You..." Xia Qingyu had expected Xia Qingtian to scold her or mock her.
She hadn't expected to hear an apology from Xia Qingtian's mouth.
"I'm sorry about what happened before." Xia Qingtian had mixed feelings towards Xia Qingyu, especially after learning about Aunt Liu and Xia Qingyu's fate from Mo Jianing.
She felt like she owed this mother and daughter something, but if she had to repay it, she didn't know what she could offer.
However, she could manage to not be antagonistic towards this mother and daughter from now on.
"From now on, let's... coexist peacefully. That's all," Xia Qingtian said, then turned to leave.
"Xia Qingtian, what do you mean?" Xia Qingyu shouted at Xia Qingtian's retreating back, questioning her. "Xia Qingtian! What exactly do you want to do!"
Xia Qingtian didn't even know what she was doing, so she could only ignore Xia Qingyu's words and head straight back to her bedroom.
She closed the door tightly, walked to the desk, took out a notebook and pen, and began to sort out the situation at Xia Shi.
In her previous life, she had been too withdrawn, especially after the car accident. She hadn't had the time or energy to pay attention to anyone else. Now, if she had to figure out who the mole in Xia Shi was, Xia Qingtian was truly clueless.
Fortunately, she had the system. Although the system didn't directly tell her who the mole was, it had helped her review the personnel in Xia Shi's management positions and the overt interpersonal relationships.
Meanwhile, Xia Qingyu, bewildered by Xia Qingtian's apology, was about to go downstairs for a glass of water. As she was on the stairs, she overheard Aunt Liu and Xia Father chatting.
"I understand Qingtian's thoughts. I'm already very grateful that you took us in when my mother and Qingyu were at our lowest. Xia Shi belongs to Qingtian. My mother and Qingyu will absolutely not have any designs on Xia Shi.
If you're not at ease, my mother and Qingyu can go to a lawyer for notarization. After Qingyu graduates from high school, we can send her abroad directly. Qingyu won't compete with Qingtian for anything."
"Why are you saying this now!" Xia Father frowned. "We're all family now. Why do you want Qingyu to sign any notarization? Have you considered Qingyu's feelings?"
"But Qingtian..." Aunt Liu frowned, still seemingly worried about Xia Qingtian's feelings. "Qingyu isn't Qingtian's biological sister..."
"Nonsense! Qingyu now takes my surname, she is my daughter!" Xia Father said. "I know Qingtian's personality. She's not bad at heart. Once she spends more time with you, she'll understand."
"But..." Aunt Liu seemed to want to say more, but Xia Qingyu interrupted her directly.
"That notarization, I'm willing to sign it," Xia Qingyu said as she walked down the stairs.
"Qingyu!" Seeing Qingyu suddenly appear, Xia Father and Aunt Liu were both startled.
Xia Qingyu's expression was blank, her eyes clear and cold.
She had never coveted Xia Shi's assets in the first place. Wasn't Xia Qingtian afraid she would snatch them?
Now that she had completely given up, Xia Qingtian wouldn't have to put on such a clumsy act anymore.
Xia Qingyu and Aunt Liu soon found a lawyer to do the notarization. Xia Father's signature was reluctant, while Aunt Liu and Xia Qingyu looked much more relaxed after signing.
The matter was not mentioned to Xia Qingtian by the three of them for the time being, and Xia Qingtian officially joined Xia Shi.
As the boss's daughter, even if her business skills were not proficient, no one dared to find fault.
Xia Qingtian was parachuted into the secretarial department, becoming the second-in-command, handling only simple tasks.
Although Xia Qingtian had considered whether to hide her identity and go undercover to investigate the truth, it was actually impossible. She had never missed a Xia Shi annual meeting, and the company's executives all knew her, let alone private shareholder gatherings and socialite parties.
One of her bags could be worth a year's salary for an ordinary secretary. Trying to hide would be conspicuous and might even lead to ridicule.
It was better to be open about it.
Fortunately, although Xia Qingtian was not proficient in her work, she hadn't made any mistakes. Everyone was sensible, and everything went smoothly.
However, Song Junhan did not seem to be so lucky. Initially, his entry into Xia Shi was smooth. But after Xia Qingtian publicly confronted him a few times, without Xia Qingtian needing to say anything, countless eyes were already on him. Some people even secretly made things difficult for him, and his workload was several times that of others in the same department.
This was exactly what Xia Qingtian wanted. This way, Song Junhan would likely not have the time or energy to cause trouble in the company.
But this alone was not enough. Preventing him from causing trouble was one thing, but catching the mole was another.
Xia Qingtian wanted Song Junhan to be unable to stand it and actively seek out the so-called mole.
However, Song Junhan was clearly more resilient than Xia Qingtian had anticipated. Not only did he complete the extra work, but he also endured the pressure from all sides without a word.
About two months later, as university was about to start, Xia Qingtian overheard conversations outside the pantry.
"Miss Xia will be going back to school soon, so she'll finally be leaving. After she leaves, Assistant Song will be better off, right..."
"This young lady is really willful. Isn't this just pure bullying! Workplace violence!"
"Shh, speak quieter."
"It doesn't matter. She always drinks freshly ground coffee hand-poured by the chief secretary, so she wouldn't stoop to come here."
"That's right. I really don't know how Assistant Song offended her to be treated like this!"
"She's a pampered young lady from a wealthy family. Does she need a reason to target a junior employee? Spoiled by her family."
"I really don't understand. You're also a young lady from a wealthy family, Su Wan, you're never like that."
"Not at all. I can be willful too, but my family has always taught me not to cause trouble for others, so... so I don't bother anyone much."
"That's a true young lady from a wealthy family! By the way, Su Wan, you were the one who gave Assistant Song a band-aid last time when his finger was injured, right?"
"Yes, we're all colleagues..."
"Su Wan, you're so kind!"
"Yes, yes!"
"Alright, everyone, stop teasing me. People from Gu Corporation Entertainment will be here soon. Mr. Gu is a major client that our Xia Shi has worked hard to secure. Everyone, hurry back." Su Wan's voice was cheerful and gentle.
Standing at the doorway, Xia Qingtian narrowed her eyes slightly.
Su Wan... Xia Qingtian had an impression of this person.
Su Wan's father was a director at Xia Shi, holding a significant share. Su Wan was a third-year economics student interning at Xia Shi, starting from the grassroots. She had good relationships with people in the company.
She was beautiful and had a good personality, winning people's hearts. It wasn't impossible that she and her father might want to seize power.
"Qingtian? What are you doing here?" As everyone walked out of the pantry, chatting and laughing, they saw Xia Qingtian and were all startled, their hearts suddenly filled with unease.
It seemed they were all worried about how much of their recent conversation Xia Qingtian had overheard.
"I'm going back to school soon, and I wanted to see if there were any parts of the company I hadn't visited. I'm just taking a stroll," Xia Qingtian said with a faint smile, her gaze seemingly casually sweeping across everyone's faces.
"There's nothing much to see here," Su Wan's appearance was indeed outstanding. Even among these beautiful office ladies, she was the most eye-catching. "If Qingtian wants to look around, I can take you to visit various departments of the company."
"Oh?" Xia Qingtian asked back, "Aren't you afraid that I'll see Song Junhan and bully him again in public?"
As soon as Xia Qingtian asked this, everyone fell silent.
"Heh heh." Xia Qingtian chuckled. "Then I'll go and visit the departments."
Turning around, Xia Qingtian left directly. The others, however, could no longer laugh. Su Wan's expression was particularly unsightly.
"Su Wan, she won't hold a grudge against us, will she..." the others asked in hushed tones after Xia Qingtian left.
"No, she'll be back at school soon anyway, it'll be fine," Su Wan said perfunctorily before adding, "I'll go and see her. Don't really go and make things difficult for her."
After saying that, she hurried away.
"What a joke. She's the daughter of a director, of course she's not afraid."
"Exactly... Who doesn't know that when she looks at Assistant Song, her eyes are practically glued to him?"
"What should we do... I don't want to lose this job..."
"It's all because you can't control your mouths! To praise Su Wan, you trample on Xia Qingtian."
"Aren't you the same..."