"I know. Thank you for your kindness."
"It's getting late, I have things to attend to. Please tell my brother I owe him another debt."
With that, she turned to leave.
Jiang Nan Fang called out to her again.
"Wait."
"I won't force you to do anything, or make any decisions for you. Because I know you're a smart person, and whatever you do, you have your reasons."
"But I want you to know that Ah Jue has always been grateful to you and has never thought of abandoning you."
"Here's my business card. Take it. If you can't stand working at Huatai anymore, or if you encounter difficulties, or if you're feeling down, you can call me anytime."
"Ah Jue and I will always be your family, and we'll always be there to help you immediately."
Ke Teng ambled out of the shop.
Shen Min Er turned back and saw him looking in their direction.
She was like a toy doll with a remote control, operated by him.
Without emotion, without self-respect, she woodenly walked back to his side.
The two of them, one after the other, disappeared from their sight.
Zhou Jin Bei couldn't help but complain.
"Is she crazy? He treats her like that, doesn't even bother to buy her anything, yet she's still devotedly following him. How much does this woman love self-abuse?"
"Since she likes to debase herself, you shouldn't bother with her anymore. Sooner or later, she'll regret it. I despise women who are so blinded by love."
Jiang Nan Fang understood.
Shen Min Er, though she had two legs, might not have been in control of them.
It was definitely not as simple as it seemed.
But she couldn't figure it out.
She had just returned from Switzerland, had no interaction with Ke Teng, so what leverage could he possibly have over her?
It seemed she needed to have a good talk with her when she had the time.
No matter how nice Zhan Bei Jue sounded.
She knew that if Shen Min Er was fine, then everything was fine.
But if something happened to her, he wouldn't stand idly by.
The next day, the entire technical department submitted their resignation papers.
Everyone was extremely excited, clamoring to have a meal with Jiang Nan Fang.
Jiang Nan Fang invited Vice President Gao and booked a private room at a specialty restaurant.
Because of the financing matter, Ke Teng had gathered the heads of eight major banks there.
Taking advantage of Zhan Bei Jue's inactivity these past few days, he had to finalize the loan and interest rates first.
In the private room sat eight men with an average age of over 40.
Adding Ke Teng, there were a total of nine men, but only Shen Min Er was a woman.
Dressed in high-end clothes and with makeup on, Min Er was breathtakingly beautiful.
The old men, as if they hadn't seen a woman in their lives, vied to sit with her.
"Come, Miss Shen, sit here with me. It's spacious."
"No, you should sit with me. You guys like to smoke, it's not good to offend the girl with the smell."
"As if you smell so good, look at all that fat. Miss Shen, come to me. I'm in decent shape, I definitely won't crowd you."
Shen Min Er was flustered by their teasing.
She stood there looking at Ke Teng's expression. Ke Teng, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't help her out.
After everyone had had their fill of talking, he finally pulled out the chair next to him.
"Why are you standing there? Go pour drinks for all the elder brothers."
"Everyone said it. They're not here for my sake, they're here for you. You have to toast them properly."
Min Er wanted to grab the wine bottles on the table and smash them on Ke Teng's head.
Knowing she couldn't drink, making her toast so many people alone... wasn't that demeaning her?
Since he disliked her, why not just kill her!
However, she didn't dare.
It was the same as before, she didn't care about herself.
Her mother's condition had only just started to improve a little, and she was afraid Ke Teng would bother her mother.
Putting on a fake smile, Min Er picked up the wine bottles and poured a glass for each of them.
Then she returned to her seat and raised her glass.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to grace us with your presence. It is my good fortune to know all of you. I'll toast you all."
With that, she raised her glass and drank it in one gulp.
The fiery foreign liquor made her eyes water.
But the crowd was not satisfied.
"You say it's your good fortune to know us, but you only take a sip? Are you fooling us?"
"Miss Shen, sincerity is the least one should have."
"If you want to cooperate, you should at least toast each of us individually. Otherwise, with so many people, who knows whose face you're showing respect to?"
"Exactly. We are all in the same industry, competitors. The fact that we're sitting together because of you shows great sincerity. You can't disappoint us."
Min Er was helpless and had to go around toasting them individually.
These old men were cunning and had prepared to play tricks on her.
They pulled her to sit on their laps, finding various excuses to make her drink glass after glass.
After toasting just three people, Min Er had already drunk more than half a bottle of liquor by herself.
She felt dizzy, her feet unsteady.
If this continued, she would definitely collapse.
Heaven knows what would happen if she collapsed.
She started to panic.
Although she had lost interest in life, she didn't want to die without understanding why.
While she still had her consciousness, Min Er coquettishly addressed the fourth person, Director Zou.
"Director Zou~ I'm young, I've never really drunk before, my tolerance is low, I'm so sorry~"
"I'm afraid I might throw up on you, could you let me go to the restroom to recover for a bit before I come back to accompany you?"
Director Zou chuckled, his greasy hand rubbing her back.
"You can't handle this little bit? Can you find the restroom? Do you need me to accompany you?"
The intention was too obvious, and Min Er of course couldn't agree.
"No, thank you. Please sit and talk with the others for a while. I promise I'll be back soon."
After speaking, she sought Ke Teng's opinion.
Ke Teng leaned back like a lord and nodded lazily.
Min Er grabbed her bag and, leaning against the wall, stumbled her way to the restroom.
She was truly scared.
When Zhan Bei Jue had warned her before, she had dismissed it out of spite.
But today, she had seen just how inhumane Ke Teng was.
In his eyes, she, Min Er, was not even a woman!
She was just a pawn he held leverage over, someone he could manipulate however he pleased.
He could so calmly push her out to so many old men.
Who knew what else he would make her do in the future.
Min Er could accept being mocked for being poor, ugly, or uncultured.
But she couldn't accept selling herself.
So, she immediately thought of Zhan Bei Jue.
However, as she shakily took out her phone, she realized.
Out of spite, she had deleted Zhan Bei Jue's WeChat and phone number.
Now, she had no way to contact him.
Fortunately, when she met Jiang Nan Fang at the mall yesterday, she had given her a business card.
Min Er knew she didn't deserve to call Jiang Nan Fang.
She had always seen her as a rival and had never given her a good look.
But now, she couldn't afford to worry about that.
Jiang Nan Fang was sitting with her old colleagues, listening to them loudly complain about how frustrating it was at Huatai and how badly Ke Teng treated them.
Her phone rang.