Chapter 20: An Unexpected Encounter

"So, you mean Cong Fangfang suddenly charged forward on her own initiative even after the other party had already stopped the confrontation?" Yan Xue was startled. If two people were to accidentally shove each other during a scuffle, leading to a fall that caused a pregnant woman to suffer complications, that would be one thing. But to actively rush toward a heavily pregnant woman and push her to the ground in that situation was a completely different matter.

"There is absolutely no mistake about that. Although the scene was a bit chaotic that day, the pregnant woman was already being pulled away by her husband," Li Ying rolled her eyes. "I don't think that coward was necessarily trying to protect his wife; he just wanted to get her out of the office quickly to avoid any further scandal!

"If these were just empty words, you could call it slander, but the chat logs were photographed and displayed for everyone to see. The possibility of them being forged is extremely low! After all, someone carrying such a large belly shouldn't have the spare time to specifically Photoshop an image just to frame Cong Fangfang for having an affair with her husband, right? Don't you think?

"Since she was already the one in the wrong, she should have just let it be. Instead, she rushed over and struck the woman. I was honestly terrified at the time. I thought to myself, if she continues to work in our company, I must stay far away from her. Her mind is just too vicious; you have to be on guard against her!"

"Did you see the photos of the chat screenshots? Was the content consistent with what was read out that day?" Yan Xue asked.

Xiaoyun smiled. "At first, I didn't get a good look, but later those screenshots somehow circulated around the office, and then I saw them clearly. The content was consistent."

"I don't know what others think, or whether they feel Cong Fangfang and that man went too far, but I think they were outrageous. They kept claiming they were just discussing work, but I'm curious: how does discussing work lead to talk of 'spiritual resonance' and 'common language'? What is that supposed to mean? They even went to see art exhibitions together. How did they have so much free time?" Li Ying had never hidden her disgust for the matter.

Sister Na added with a fake smile, "That's why it's so interesting. One person knew full well the man's wife was about to give birth, yet still wanted to play the 'soulmate' card. The other felt his own wife lacked resonance, while simultaneously not delaying the process of getting her pregnant! Isn't that ironic?"

"You said they went to see art exhibitions together? Do you know what kind of exhibition it was?" Because of "Master Xin Rui," Yan Xue was particularly sensitive to the words "art exhibition," and she asked immediately upon hearing this.

"I'm not exactly sure, but there was a line in the screenshot saying it was such a joy to see the art exhibition together that she couldn't bear to throw the ticket away, so she tucked it into her favorite book as a keepsake for future memories," Li Ying said with a look of disdain. "It was so pretentious and mushy; I honestly couldn't stand it!"

After chatting with the three women for a while, they had a general understanding of the situation. Before leaving, Yan Xue asked for the names of the first male colleague Cong Fangfang had flirted with, the second one she had been intimate with for a while, and the married man, as well as whether they were still employed at the company.

The three were quite forthcoming. Since they had already shared this much, they didn't hold back, telling Kang Ge and Yan Xue that the first two colleagues were named Ma Le and Zhao Ke. Both still worked at the company. Originally, Ma Le and Zhao Ke had been rivals, but ever since the scandal with the married colleague broke out, the two young men had buried the hatchet and made peace.

As for the married colleague, his name was Shi Shugao. Not long after the incident, he chose to resign. By the time he left, Cong Fangfang hadn't even resigned yet; she was still coming to work every day as if nothing had happened. Many in the company were shocked by her nerves of steel. It wasn't until more than half a month later that Cong Fangfang finally left.

As for where Shi Shugao went after resigning, the three women were unsure. He had left in such a rush and in such an embarrassing state that he had no contact with them, and he had completely vanished afterward. They heard he had even abandoned his original phone number and WeChat account, likely because that incident had caused a severe shock to his entire life.

Although they didn't learn exactly which art exhibition Shi Shugao and Cong Fangfang had attended, they at least had a direction for finding the answer—the ticket stub might still be tucked inside a book at Cong Fangfang's residence.

Yan Xue felt her nerves were becoming sensitive due to Xin Rui. Now, whenever an art exhibition was mentioned, all she could think of were Xin Rui's eerie creations, making her more suspicious by the second. She had previously considered using a burner account to probe the artist's background, and it now seemed necessary.

After bidding farewell to the three employees, the two took the elevator downstairs. The area was crowded, and it wasn't suitable to discuss work for fear of eavesdroppers, so they remained silent. As they walked through the lobby to leave, a group of young men came toward them, laughing and talking. One of them, distracted by turning his head to speak to his companion behind him, didn't notice what was in front of him and slammed into Yan Xue.

By the time Yan Xue realized the man had no intention of dodging, it was too late. She managed to sidestep just enough to avoid a direct collision and stumbled, but she regained her balance. If she hadn't moved, given the force of the impact, she might have ended up on the marble floor.

Dressed in thick clothes for the season, a fall wouldn't have been terribly painful, but it would have been humiliating.

"Are you okay? Oh, I'm so sorry! I am truly, truly sorry!" The man who bumped into her was thin and tall with dark skin. He offered an apologetic smile, which made his teeth look exceptionally white.

Yan Xue waved a hand to show she wasn't so fragile and prepared to leave. Kang Ge, who had been walking in front of her, noticed the commotion and came over to check.

"What happened, Yan Xue?" he asked, looking her over from head to toe to ensure she was fine.

"I'm fine," Yan Xue waved him off, signaling there was no need for alarm. "I just bumped into someone while walking."

"Yan Xue? Are you Yan Xue?" The tall, thin man who had bumped into her heard Kang Ge call her name, and his attention immediately refocused on her. After looking her over carefully, he asked tentatively, "The Yan Xue who graduated from Experimental High School, whose homeroom teacher was Wang Guilan?"