Chapter 3 | The One Who Got Caught Cried First
Su Yanxi’s hand, gripping her phone, froze in midair.
Zhou Yuheng stood at the conference room door. His gaze first fell on her phone, then shifted to the documents spread across the table.
The number in the bottom-right corner was so clear it was almost glaring.
B07.
“I’m asking you.”
His voice was even colder than it had been during the meeting.
“What are you doing?”
Su Yanxi quickly turned her phone facedown.
“Nothing.”
“Give me the phone.”
“Yuheng, are you misunderstanding something?”
She put on a helpless smile, trying to lighten the mood.
“I just noticed this document hadn’t been put away yet, so I wanted to check whether it was something Zhiqing had left behind.”
“Did you need to take a picture to check?”
The smile on Su Yanxi’s face paused for a moment.
“I didn’t take one.”
“I saw you.”
Zhou Yuheng walked into the conference room and casually closed the door behind him.
Su Yanxi instinctively took a step back.
Five years ago, Zhou Yuheng had rarely spoken to her in that tone.
Back then, no matter what happened, the moment her eyes reddened, he would always soften his voice first.
Even when Xu Zhiqing was so angry she could barely speak, he would assume Su Yanxi had made an innocent mistake.
But now, there was no comfort in his eyes as he looked at her.
Only scrutiny.
“Delete it,” Zhou Yuheng said.
“I really didn’t take a picture.”
Su Yanxi tightened her grip on her phone.
“Why do you assume I’m the problem the moment you show up? Is it because Zhiqing doesn’t like me, so you have to be suspicious of me too?”
“This has nothing to do with her.”
“How could it not?”
Su Yanxi’s voice trembled slightly.
“From the moment you walked into the conference room, you’ve only been looking at her. You believe everything she says, but when I offered one idea, you rejected it in front of everyone.”
“I rejected your proposal.”
“Is there a difference?”
“If you can’t tell the difference between a professional judgment and personal emotions, you shouldn’t be involved in this project.”
Su Yanxi’s eyes quickly turned red.
She lowered her head, as if trying hard to hold back her tears.
“You never used to talk to me like this.”
“You said it yourself. That was before.”
“So you’re still blaming me?”
Zhou Yuheng didn’t answer.
Su Yanxi raised her eyes.
“What happened five years ago—I was a victim too.”
Her tears finally fell.
“People spread all those horrible things about me, and everyone talked about me behind my back. Zhiqing didn’t believe me, and even you thought I’d deliberately tried to ruin your relationship.”
“I didn’t bring up five years ago.”
“But that’s what you’re thinking in your heart.”
She placed the documents back on the table, her fingers trembling with grievance.
“Today, I just wanted so badly to do a good job. This was my first company meeting, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep up, so I wanted to take the materials home and organize them.”
“This is a confidential internal document.”
“I didn’t know.”
“The confidentiality notice is on the first page.”
Su Yanxi’s sobs stopped for a moment.
Zhou Yuheng looked at her, giving her no chance to change the subject.
“Give me the phone.”
“This is my personal phone.”
“Then delete the photo in front of me and clear it from Recently Deleted.”
“You have no right to inspect my phone.”
“I’m not asking to inspect anything else.”
Zhou Yuheng took out his own phone.
“You can refuse. I’ll notify Xu Zhiqing and your manager now, and the company can handle it under the data-leak procedure.”
Su Yanxi’s expression changed when she heard Xu Zhiqing’s name.
“Do you really have to let her know?”
“She’s in charge of the project.”
“But she’s already biased against me.”
“So?”
“She’ll use this to get me fired.”
“If the company decides to terminate your employment, that will be the result of you taking a picture of confidential documents.”
There was not the slightest hesitation in Zhou Yuheng’s tone.
“She didn’t do this to you.”
Those words silenced Su Yanxi completely.
She didn’t do this to you.
Five years ago, no one had ever said that to her.
Back then, whenever Su Yanxi cried and said she had been hurt, everyone would immediately look for someone to blame.
And that person was always Xu Zhiqing.
But now Zhou Yuheng was placing the responsibility squarely back on her.
Su Yanxi bit her lower lip and slowly unlocked her phone.
“I’ll delete it.”
She opened her photo album.
The newest picture was of the conference documents spread across the table.
Zhou Yuheng didn’t look at any of her other photos. He watched only as she deleted that image, opened Recently Deleted, and erased it permanently.
“Is that enough?”
Su Yanxi put her phone away.
“I’ll notify Xu Zhiqing about this.”
“I already deleted it!”
Her voice suddenly rose.
When she realized she had overreacted, she immediately lowered her voice.
“I only took one picture, and I didn’t send it to anyone. Since the information wasn’t leaked, why make such a big deal out of it?”
“Whether this needs to be handled isn’t up to you.”
“Yuheng.”
Su Yanxi reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
“I just started today.”
She looked at him, her eyes full of pleading.
“If my manager finds out on my first day, how am I supposed to keep working here?”
Zhou Yuheng glanced down at her hand.
“Let go.”
Su Yanxi didn’t release him right away.
“Just do it for the sake of what we used to have.”
“What did we used to have?”
She froze.
“Weren’t we friends?”
“At least I wouldn’t secretly photograph a friend’s documents and then ask her to keep it a secret for me.”
Zhou Yuheng pulled his arm free.
Su Yanxi’s hand remained suspended in midair, the grievance in her eyes gradually replaced by humiliation.
“So now you only care about Xu Zhiqing?”
“This is her project.”
“If it were someone else, would you do the same thing?”
“Yes.”
“You’re lying.”
Su Yanxi stared at him.
“You still love her.”
Zhou Yuheng’s expression didn’t change.
“That has nothing to do with what you did.”
“You didn’t deny it.”
“I don’t need to answer to you.”
Footsteps suddenly sounded outside the conference room.
Xu Zhiqing had already reached the client lounge when she realized she was missing a research attachment.
She pushed open the conference room door, and the first person she saw was Su Yanxi standing beside the table.
Her eyes were rimmed red.
Zhou Yuheng stood in front of her. The distance between them wasn’t particularly close, but the atmosphere was clearly off.
Xu Zhiqing’s gaze fell to the tabletop.
B07 was still spread out where it had been.
She stopped.
“What happened?”
Su Yanxi quickly turned around and wiped away her tears.
“Nothing.”
Xu Zhiqing didn’t look at her. Instead, she looked straight at Zhou Yuheng.
“Director Zhou?”
Zhou Yuheng was silent for several seconds.
“I just saw her taking pictures of the conference documents.”
Xu Zhiqing’s expression instantly turned cold.
Su Yanxi immediately explained, “I only wanted to take it home and organize it. I already deleted the picture.”
“Who gave you permission to take it home?”
“I didn’t know I couldn’t.”
“The confidentiality rules are written on the first page.”
“I didn’t look closely.”
Xu Zhiqing picked up B07 from the table.
The document originally belonged to another colleague who had attended the meeting.
The colleague had forgotten to take it when leaving, and Su Yanxi had simply picked it up and photographed it.
If Zhou Yuheng hadn’t returned, the picture might already have been sent anywhere.
“Give me the phone.”
Xu Zhiqing held out her hand.
Su Yanxi immediately stepped back.
“Yuheng already watched me delete it.”
“Did you clear Recently Deleted too?”
“I cleared it.”
“What about the cloud backup?”
A flicker passed through Su Yanxi’s eyes.
It lasted only an instant.
But Xu Zhiqing saw it.
“Do you have automatic backup enabled for your photo album?”
“No.”
“Open your settings.”
“This is my personal phone. You have no right to inspect it.”
“I’m only confirming whether this picture was uploaded.”
“I said it wasn’t.”
Su Yanxi clutched her phone tightly.
“After joining the company, am I not even allowed to have any privacy?”
“You photographed materials from my project.”
“I already apologized.”
“You didn’t apologize just now.”
Su Yanxi’s tears fell again.
“I’m sorry. Is that enough?” she choked out.
“I really didn’t know it would be this serious. Zhiqing, I just wanted to get familiar with the work quickly. I didn’t want to hold everyone back. Why do you insist on thinking the worst of me?”
Xu Zhiqing looked at her in silence.
In the past, whenever Su Yanxi spoke in that tone, Xu Zhiqing would start to wonder whether she had overreacted.
She would think that maybe Su Yanxi really hadn’t meant any harm.
Maybe if she gave her another chance, things could return to the way they were.
Until she gave in again and again, and eventually couldn’t even explain what she had lost.
“You don’t need to cry to me,” Xu Zhiqing said.
“You took the picture yourself.”
“I deleted it already. What more do you want?”
“To report it according to company policy.”
Su Yanxi’s face instantly went white.
“You’re going to tell the manager?”
“Yes.”
“I just joined the company today!”
“So that means you can secretly photograph documents on your first day?”
“You obviously just want to drive me out.”
Her voice grew louder and louder.
“From the moment I showed up, you’ve been guarding against me at every turn. You numbered the documents, restricted my access, and now you want to use a picture that’s already been deleted to make me lose my job.”
Xu Zhiqing glanced down at B07.
“I numbered the documents because someone applied for access she wasn’t entitled to on her first day.”
“The manager already approved it.”
“The manager approved you sitting in on the meeting. She didn’t approve you taking pictures in secret.”
“I just made a minor mistake.”
“The person who makes a mistake doesn’t get to decide how serious it is.”
Su Yanxi roughly wiped away her tears.
“You’re still taking revenge on me.”
“If I wanted revenge, I wouldn’t have left five years ago.”
Xu Zhiqing’s voice was soft.
Su Yanxi went completely rigid.
“Back then, you took my friends and my reputation away, and you made everyone believe I was the one who hurt you. I did nothing. I simply left that group of people.”
She looked at Su Yanxi.
“Now you’ve walked into my company yourself, touched my project, and demanded that I bear the consequences for you.”
“I didn’t take anything from you.”
“Then let the company investigate.”
“You don’t believe me at all.”
“That’s right.”
Xu Zhiqing didn’t avoid it.
“I don’t believe you.”
Su Yanxi’s gaze turned completely cold.
She probably hadn’t expected Xu Zhiqing to admit it so directly.
In the past, Xu Zhiqing had always tried to appear fair.
Even when pushed to her limit, she would say that she simply needed time or that she couldn’t accept it yet.
She had been afraid of being called petty, vengeful, or unfairly targeted toward others.
So every refusal had to come with a reason.
But now, she no longer explained herself.
“Fine.”
Su Yanxi nodded.
“Since you’ve already decided I’m the problem, go tell the manager.”
She put her phone into her bag.
“But I’ll also explain everything that happened today. From the moment I joined the company, you’ve been blocking me from accessing my work because of a personal grudge. You even demanded to inspect my personal phone in front of the client.”
“You can say that.”
Xu Zhiqing took out her phone and photographed B07 still lying on the table.
“I’ll also submit the access request records, the meeting attendee list, the document checkout list, and Director Zhou’s testimony.”
Su Yanxi looked at Zhou Yuheng.
She seemed to be waiting for him to speak up and smooth things over for her.
But Zhou Yuheng said only one thing.
“I’ll state the facts.”
The last trace of hope in Su Yanxi’s eyes disappeared.
She picked up her things and hurried toward the door.
When she passed Xu Zhiqing, she stopped.
“Do you think him taking your side now means what happened five years ago never happened?”
Xu Zhiqing didn’t turn around.
“At least someone saw what happened today.”
Su Yanxi’s fingertips dug viciously into her palm.
She said nothing else and pushed the door open.
After the door closed, only Xu Zhiqing and Zhou Yuheng remained in the conference room.
The silence suddenly became even more unbearable than before.
Xu Zhiqing placed B07 in the folder.
“Thank you for notifying me.”
She deliberately used the most distant form of address.
“Director Zhou.”
Zhou Yuheng looked at her.
“I didn’t come back specifically to catch her.”
“I know.”
“I left my tablet here.”
“Whatever the reason, thank you.”
She gathered up the documents and prepared to leave.
“Zhiqing.”
The long-forgotten way he addressed her made her stop.
During the meeting, he had consistently called her Miss Xu.
As if the two of them really were merely a client and a presenter working together for the first time.
Now that they were alone, he finally called her by her name.
“Is there something else?”
She didn’t turn around.
Zhou Yuheng was silent for a moment.
“I looked into what happened five years ago.”
Xu Zhiqing’s fingers tightened slightly.
“That has nothing to do with the project now.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t talk about it at the company.”
“If not at the company, will I ever have a chance to see you?”
Xu Zhiqing finally turned around.
Zhou Yuheng stood where he was, his expression far more complicated than it had been when he faced Su Yanxi.
Countless times, she had once hoped he would look at her that way.
Not with suspicion.
Not with disappointment.
But with belated guilt.
Unfortunately, she had already waited five years.
“No,” she answered.
“Other than work, there’s no reason for us to see each other.”
Zhou Yuheng’s Adam’s apple moved faintly.
“I owe you an apology.”
“I don’t need one.”
“But I need to say it.”
“That’s what you need, not what I need.”
Xu Zhiqing pushed open the conference room door.
“I’ll send you next week’s proposal materials according to company protocol. If there’s nothing else work-related, I’ll be going.”
She didn’t give him a chance to continue.
At the end of the hallway, the elevator doors happened to close.
Su Yanxi stood inside, looking down at her phone.
Only after the metal doors had completely shut did she raise her head.
The tears on her face had long since vanished.
The phone screen displayed the cloud album’s sync record.
The latest upload had been three minutes ago.
She had indeed deleted the original picture.
She had also cleared Recently Deleted.
But before Zhou Yuheng stopped her, the picture had already finished syncing.
Su Yanxi opened the cloud backup.
The last page of B07 appeared on the screen once more.
She enlarged the complete strategic framework Xu Zhiqing had written, then tapped Share.
An unnamed email address had long been saved in the recipient field.
Su Yanxi stared at the screen for several seconds.
At last, the corners of her mouth slowly lifted.
The next second, she tapped Send.