Chapter 61: Good People Skills

Hearing him say this, Su Nuo hurried over.

Then, Chi Ling shoved a breakfast tray into her hands, already piled high with the things Duan Yubai loved to eat.

Looking at the croissants, honey water, and dark chocolate on the tray, Su Nuo felt a bitter pang in her chest.

In the past, whenever Duan Yubai wanted to eat these, she would learn to make them herself.

Duan Yubai actually liked sweets, but not overly sweet ones. It had taken her over a year of trial and error to get the sweetness just right.

Yet every time, Duan Yubai would only take a tiny bite and then complain that she was wasting time.

"Instead of wasting time on this, you should go study. Stop revolving around me every day."

"When are you ever going to grow up? Playing house like this, is it even meaningful?"

"Su Nuo, you are an adult. You need to have a world of your own."

Duan Yubai never gave her a pleasant look.

And yet, she would still shamelessly cling to him.

She had thought that even if he were a block of ice, warming him for all these years should have melted him.

But a millennial glacier was simply not something she could melt.

While she was lost in thought, Chi Ling had already urged her to leave the restaurant.

Just as they reached the elevator banks, Chi Ling’s WeChat notification chime sounded.

Frowning slightly, he shoved everything in his hands straight into Su Nuo’s arms.

"You didn’t eat breakfast, right? Have something later. I need to go pick up a contract, go on up by yourself."

He gestured for Su Nuo to take the executive elevator.

Hesitating for a moment, Su Nuo obediently went to line up for the employee elevators instead.

Having already provoked Mo Xiaoxue, she had no wish to butt heads with her further.

However, there were simply too many people commuting to work at this hour, and there were always line-cutters. Even though Su Nuo was near the front, she still failed to board the elevator.

Bzz, bzz, bzz~

Her phone vibrated. Seeing that the call was from Duan Yubai, Su Nuo hurriedly answered.

"I told you to come to work, what on earth have you wandered off to do now?"

"To the restaurant."

"The restaurant? Su Nuo, did I tell you to come to the company just to eat the employee cafeteria food?"

Duan Yubai practically roared over the line.

"Can't even be bothered to eat properly at home, putting on a pitiful act at the company just so people will say the Duan family is abusing you, is that it?"

He truly could no longer fathom Su Nuo's thought process.

What could she possibly want to eat that she couldn't eat at home? Why did she have to come to the company during work hours?

Thinking of how Su Nuo had never once eaten at the corporate cafeteria before, Duan Yubai felt a surge of restless irritation.

"Acting has its limits, Su Nuo. You've gone too far."

"I'll give you ten minutes. Get to the seventeenth-floor meeting room immediately, or you can pack your things and get lost."

He hung up abruptly, without the slightest hesitation.

Su Nuo looked at the people still waiting in line, clenched her teeth, and headed straight for the emergency stairwell.

Seventeen floors—she figured she could still manage to climb that far.

During her months at the training base, aside from being tormented, any free moment had been spent doing hard labor.

She was no longer the delicate, pampered young miss of the Su family; she was Su Nuo, capable of enduring hardship.

Yet, she had overestimated her physical stamina.

By the time she reached the eighth floor, she was already gasping for breath.

The high heels she wore had also become a shackle.

In the end, she had no choice but to kick off her shoes and walk completely barefoot.

After passing the tenth floor, she felt as though every single step upward was a matter of life and death.

She could only feel her muscles perpetually contracting and relaxing, an endless torment.

Yet she knew she only had ten minutes.

If Duan Yubai didn't see her within ten minutes, she would be thrown out.

And where would she be thrown out to? To leave the company, or to leave the Duan family?

She didn't dare to imagine her fate, and could only grit her teeth and push forward.

Fortunately, right at the ten-minute mark, she finally made it to the top.

Gathering the last shred of her strength, she pushed open the doors of the conference room.

A dozen people inside the room turned to look at her.

In her left hand, she clutched her high heels; in her right, she held the breakfast.

Sweat had soaked her bangs, flattening them against her forehead.

She panted heavily, feeling as though her lungs were about to burst.

"D-Director Duan, your breakfast."

Uttering those few words exhausted the very last of her strength.

"Nonsense!"

Duan Yubai slammed his hand hard against the table. Su Nuo looked up and realized she didn't recognize the person sitting on the other side.

Most likely a client visiting the company for business.

Mo Xiaoxue stood up and hurriedly pulled her toward the doorway.

"Su Nuo, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you there was a meeting?"

"It's not like you didn't know Director Duan and I already had breakfast. Are you doing this on purpose?"

"Clean yourself up before coming in, don't embarrass the company!"

Mo Xiaoxue's voice wasn't loud, but it was just enough to ensure everyone in the meeting room and the adjacent offices could hear her clearly.

"Director Duan already said you didn't need to suck up like this. Oh, fix your hair quickly."

As she spoke, Mo Xiaoxue helpfully smoothed Su Nuo's hair.

Though her movements were gentle, she still managed to yank out a few strands of Su Nuo's hair.

Su Nuo's hair was dark, thick, and possessed a slight natural wave.

Mo Xiaoxue utterly detested women like her who looked pretty no matter what they did.

Even her hair was prettier than other people's—by what right?

Without missing a beat, she exerted a firm pinch on Su Nuo's hand.

"Hurry up and go in once you're tidied up."

"No, on second thought, you should go wash your hands first. They're so filthy."

Mo Xiaoxue looked Su Nuo up and down without a shred of mercy, causing Su Nuo to tremble slightly.

She knew what Mo Xiaoxue was looking at—she was looking at the places where scars covered her skin.

Every bit of her skin that remained exposed was covered in scars.

Thinking of how angry Duan Yubai had been yesterday when he saw the scars on her body, she assumed he must think she looked utterly hideous, right?

Su Nuo practically ran to the restroom in tears.

When Mo Xiaoxue turned back around, her face was a mask of pure apology.

"I'm so sorry, President Wen. Miss Su just started working here and doesn't know the rules yet."

"It's nothing. I've heard Miss Su has always had a rather fiery personality, very much like her mother." Wen Zheng waved a hand, looking entirely unconcerned.

"Please forgive the spectacle, she was completely spoiled at home since childhood."

Duan Yubai took the opening to ask, "You are acquainted with Su Nuo's parents?"

"We started a few projects together when we were young. Later, they moved to the Jiang family, and we lost touch. I never expected that they would already be gone."

Wen Zheng looked somewhat melancholic. "Still, seeing that Su Nuo is doing well now, I'm happy for them."

"If I hadn't known she was here, the Duan Corporation wouldn't have been my very first stop for this cooperation."

His remark immediately made the nearby Mo Xiaoxue prickle with vigilance.

So they were old acquaintances of the Su family! No wonder an out-of-town investment firm had chosen the Duan Corporation as their first option.

Realizing that even though Su Nuo's parents were dead, there were still people backing her up, Mo Xiaoxue felt a surge of resentment.

Why were her own parents just ordinary university professors, while that bitch Su Nuo had so many influential benefactors helping her?

If not for the debt of gratitude owed to her parents, the Duan family probably wouldn't treat her this way now either.

Thinking of Su Nuo's current predicament, Mo Xiaoxue lifted her chin and smiled faintly.

"Indeed. President Wang came by yesterday and also said he was here specifically for Miss Su."

"Miss Su certainly has a wonderful network of people looking out for her."