Chapter 142

That delicate face, soft and serene like a lotus in clear water, was filled with regret and pity. “Little Ning is still young, there are too many things she doesn’t understand. It’s fine, even if you can’t hand it in today, it doesn’t matter. Even if you break your promise once, Assistant Hua will forgive you.”

She let out a few light laughs, glanced at Zhong Ning, and then walked away with graceful elegance.

The receptionist girl lowered her head like a puppet quail, pretending to be both blind and deaf.

Although she had a good impression of Zhong Ning, she could not risk that impression to help her out, nor could she openly stand there watching the drama unfold.

She quite liked this job. Just earlier, when Zhong Zinuan had come over to ask questions and chat idly, she had already felt it strange enough.

Zhong Ning stood frozen in place, the anger in her chest surging higher and higher.

She had only known that Zhong Zinuan had poor character, but she had never expected her to actually steal her proposal and use it as her own.

Thinking it over, it must have been on the day of the villa gathering. After she had finished her tasks, Zhong Zinuan had taken the chance to steal the document from her computer.

Truly insidious!

Regarding the past misunderstanding, Xie Shiqing had already told her what Zhong Zinuan had done. It was she who had lured Liu Rushi into working at Lvxue Bar, she who had helped cover up the surveillance, and she who had arranged for a fake medical appraisal at the hospital.

From beginning to end, it was a conspiracy she had carefully orchestrated, with the sole purpose of sabotaging the marriage alliance and ruining Zhong Ning’s reputation.

But now that the proposal was stolen, as the later person, Zhong Ning had no evidence to prove that it was her own work.

She glanced at the time. There were still nine hours left before the end of the day. She decided to seize the time and write a new one.

Choosing a small unused waiting room, Zhong Ning held her laptop, forcefully suppressing her resentment toward Zhong Zinuan, and poured all her focus into creating the new proposal. She could not be someone who broke promises. She would finish the new proposal first, then think about how to fight back later.

Just as the computer started up, a message from Xie Shiqing popped up first.

[My work is done! Ning Ning, when will you finish? Is it still the usual time to get off work?]

[How’s the proposal going? I’m sure Assistant Hua will really like it.]

Zhong Ning gave a bitter smile. Liking it wasn’t the problem—the only problem was that it had been handed in under the wrong person’s name.

[My proposal was stolen by Zhong Zinuan and submitted as hers. I’m planning to hurry and write a new one now.]

Immediately, a voice message came from Xie Shiqing’s side. “Ning Ning, what happened? How did she steal your proposal?”

Zhong Ning explained the incident with the receptionist, then ended with regret: “It’s also my fault, I was too careless. After using my laptop, I just put it aside casually.”

She had really never expected someone to be so insidious. She had fallen into a mental blind spot of habit, thinking that no one would touch another’s belongings, forgetting entirely that Zhong Zinuan cared nothing for morals or conscience.

This person truly had no bottom line.

“I don’t know when I can finish. Shiqing, I’m sorry, I’m afraid I won’t be able to have dinner with you tonight.”

Silence flowed through the earphones for a moment.

“There’s evidence,” Xie Shiqing suddenly said.

“Evidence? What evidence?” Zhong Ning was stunned. She hadn’t installed any surveillance on her computer, where could the evidence come from?

On the other end of the earphones came another suspicious silence.

“Shiqing? Shiqing?” Zhong Ning asked anxiously, “What evidence is it?”

After she pressed several times, Xie Shiqing finally spoke slowly: “Download a surveillance app and log into this account.”

“There are cameras at home, it should have recorded you writing the proposal.”

Just as the account and password were sent over, she hurriedly added: “Pine Mushroom is calling me, I’ll hang up first.”

Zhong Ning felt a little bewildered. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this person was fleeing in a panic, but she couldn’t figure out why. Shaking her head, she decided that checking the surveillance was more important right now.

The proposal was typed out by her, word for word. If the surveillance had recorded the computer screen, showing the complete process of her writing the document, then Zhong Zinuan’s claim would become utterly weak—unless she too could produce a video as proof.

Zhong Ning went to the app store, downloaded the software, and logged into the account. The moment she entered, she froze.

Over a dozen surveillance windows were crowded across the screen, too many to fit on one page, she had to swipe to another.

She was dumbfounded. She was speechless. She stared in silence for a full minute, not knowing what sound to make or what reaction to give.

This was… far, far too many!

The duplex had no elevator; to go upstairs one had to use the stairs, so Xie Shiqing never went up, and neither did she.

And yet, those dozen cameras—were only the downstairs floor.

The bedroom alone had three, the living room had six, the dining room had one, the kitchen had one, the pet room had one, and even the bathroom had one.

Installing one or two cameras at home could be for safety. Installing over ten… no matter how one explained it, it wasn’t normal.

And Xie Shiqing couldn’t even see. Why would she need so many cameras?

In the bedroom feed, the camera showed Xie Shiqing’s figure. She hadn’t gone to Pine Mushroom. Pine Mushroom was curled up asleep in its nest and hadn’t come to her either. What she had said earlier on the phone had only been an excuse.

The entire room was under surveillance with no blind spots—every corner could be seen.

Xie Shiqing lay on the bed, tugged the blanket, and covered her whole body including her face.

The sound of fabric rubbing between the thin quilt and the bed sheets echoed so clearly in Zhong Ning’s ears, it was as if she were right there beside her.

…Xie Shiqing truly could not see, but the audio recording of these cameras was simply too sharp.

Zhong Ning’s feelings were extremely complicated. She wanted to say something, but her mind was completely blank.

Stiffly, she switched to the study feed and searched the history. There she found the footage of herself drafting the proposal.

She was very lucky… though in truth, luck had little to do with it. The study had two cameras. Either one could capture the screen and clearly record her typing, along with the words on the monitor.

Zhong Ning silently downloaded the video and saved it onto her computer. After thinking for a long time, hesitating for a long time, she finally sent a message to Xie Shiqing.

[Found the video. I’ll go see Assistant Hua first.]

Those words—thank you for being here—stuck in her throat, no matter what, she couldn’t bring them out.

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