Chapter 2

In my third month after joining the company, we had a team-building event, and I carried a bag worth thirty thousand dollars.

It wasn’t a big brand, just a niche designer piece, and I had saved up for half a year from my side writing work to buy it.

The team-building event was at a resort outside the city, with four round tables set up in the private room, and as soon as everyone sat down, my bag caught people’s attention.

"Nina, that bag is so pretty. How much was it?"

"A little over thirty thousand," I said casually.

As soon as the words left my mouth, someone across the table let out a sneer.

Karen leaned back in her chair, twirling a knife and fork in her hand, and swept her eyes over me from head to toe.

"Nina, how much do you make a month again?"

"Five thousand."

"Five thousand a month, and a thirty-thousand-dollar bag." She slapped the knife and fork onto the table. "Do your parents know you spend money like this?"

The private room went quiet, and everyone’s eyes landed on me.

I held back the urge to roll my eyes. "I earned this money myself. How I spend it is nobody else’s business."

Karen didn’t answer. She pulled out her phone, took a photo of me, and lowered her head to type.

I thought she was posting in the work chat, so I didn’t care.

It wasn’t until a coworker at the next table quietly told me, "Nina, Manager Chen is livestreaming. Almost three thousand people are watching you right now..."

I took the phone from my coworker and looked—

A livestream platform, with the title: [What do you think about a girl making five thousand a month carrying a thirty-thousand-dollar bag?]

The comments were flying by fast.

"Vain."

"Either her family’s loaded, or someone’s taking care of her."

"Girls these days..."

My face burned at once.

Karen was still smiling at the phone screen in front of the camera,

"I just think young people these days don’t really know how to plan. Their salary isn’t high, but they still want to buy luxury goods. That kind of spending mindset isn’t very healthy."

I took a deep breath, handed the phone back, and said nothing.

When the team-building event ended and we went back to the company, I thought that was the end of it.

I didn’t expect that this was only the beginning.

The next day at 8:30 a.m., I arrived at the company right on time.

Karen stood by the time clock, holding a stack of files.

"Nina, you’re late."

"8:29. I’m not late."

"I say you’re late, so you’re late." She shoved the files into my arms. "This is the first draft of next week’s bid proposal. I want it from you before tonight."

I lowered my head and glanced at the thickness of the file. It was at least two hundred pages.

"I’m not responsible for this project."

"You are now. What, you don’t want to do it?"

I looked at her and took the files.

"Fine."

When I got back to my desk and opened them, I froze—

The data inside was a complete mess, the table format was wrong, and even the page numbers were off.

This wasn’t a job where I just needed to work overtime and rush it. It was basically asking me to remake the whole thing from scratch.

I looked up at Karen, and she was already back in the supervisor’s office, smiling at me through the glass.

The meaning behind that smile was very clear: if you don’t like it, get out.

I took out my phone, opened the chat box, and sent my mom a message.

"Mom, when you told me to come work at your friend’s company to experience life, did you mean experience how people set traps for me?"

My mom replied in seconds: "What’s wrong, baby?"

I thought about it and still put the phone down.

My parents’ company would eventually be mine to take over, but before that, I wanted to try relying on myself.

If I couldn’t even handle one Karen, how was I supposed to manage hundreds of people later?

I started organizing the files.

At noon, a coworker named Jordan came over and lowered his voice.

"Nina, did you piss off Manager Chen? Ever since she livestreamed your thing yesterday, the whole company chat has been talking about you."

"What are they saying?"

"That you... are keeping a sugar daddy."

I almost laughed.

If I had a sugar daddy, would I still be sitting here getting bullied by a department manager?

"Forget it. I’m not going to bother with her."

Jordan looked like he wanted to say more, but in the end, he left.

I worked overtime until ten at night and redid the entire bid proposal.

When I sent it to Karen, I thought it was over.

The next morning, Karen slammed the proposal onto the table in the morning meeting.

"Nina, what the hell did you make? The data is all wrong, and even the company name is wrong. Where on earth are your eyes?"

I picked up the bid proposal and looked at it—

The company name really was wrong.

But that wrong character had been handwritten, with a black ballpoint pen, and the handwriting was exactly the same as the pen on Karen’s desk.

"Manager Chen, I didn’t write this. I submitted the electronic version. There’s no way it would have handwriting after printing."

"Then you’re just making excuses." Karen kicked her chair back and stood up. "The bid proposal has a problem, the client is going to walk, and you want to take responsibility for that?"

The whole room fell silent, and everyone looked at me.

I clenched my fists so hard my nails dug into my palm.

"Fine, I’ll redo it."

"Have it on my desk by two this afternoon."

"Okay."

I turned back to my desk and redid the proposal.

At noon, I sent it to her.

At 1:50, she sent it back with more than ten red marks on it.

I changed them one by one.

At 1:59, I turned it in.

At exactly 2:00, she walked out of her office and shouted from the hallway.

"Nina, you don’t need to do it anymore. I already gave it to someone else."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, you’re not capable enough. You’re off this project."

I stood at my desk and looked at her.

Standing next to her was Jordan, and he was holding the very proposal I had just revised.

Jordan didn’t dare look at me and kept his head down.

Karen patted Jordan on the shoulder. "Young people need to be steady. Don’t be so impatient, and don’t use spending to show off."

She was saying that to me.

I didn’t say anything.

Back at my desk, I started writing my resignation letter.

Halfway through, I stopped.

Why? What exactly had I done wrong?

I put down my phone and deleted the resignation letter.