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At the accountability meeting, after a long tug-of-war and a struggle to shift responsibility, the parties finally reached a grudging consensus on the division of responsibilities.

Each party bears a portion of the responsibility, including the cost department where Su Xiao works, which was also found to have made oversights in the audit process.

Su Xiao was completely unprepared for this conclusion.

She felt that her budget was clear and the cement type was clearly stated. So what did it have to do with her if the supplier changed to inferior cement?
But some things, you can't really absolve yourself of all responsibility just because you think you didn't do anything wrong.

Pan Jianhua needed someone to take the blame to shut up the authorities, and Su Xiao had already made a mental note of him when she publicly mentioned "joint liability" last time.

Therefore, Pan Jianhua made a direct decision at the meeting: "Su Xiao, the cost supervisor, failed to perform her auditing duties and did not strictly control the materials, causing significant losses and adverse effects to the company. After investigation, it has been decided to dismiss her."

These words felt like a bucket of cold water being poured over Su Xiao's head.

She stood there, stunned, for several seconds before she came to her senses.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but people in the conference room had already started getting up and packing their things, and no one glanced in her direction.

Xia Ming, however, had an expression that said he had expected this all along, knowing from the beginning that each side needed to put forward a scapegoat.

In any case, there is no such thing as fairness and justice in the workplace, and Su Xiao unwittingly became the scapegoat.

After the meeting, Yu Chao walked up to Su Xiao with a troubled expression on his face. He sighed and said, "Su Xiao, I really tried my best in this matter. I pleaded with the leaders several times, but as you can see, this matter has blown up too much. The higher-ups want to deal with people, and no one can stop them. Don't take it too hard. I'll help you find a solution after things calm down."

Su Xiao didn't speak, she just looked at Yu Chao.

Suddenly, she remembered the indifferent and unhurried manner Yu Chao had when she went to him with the cement sample.

Yu Chao said he would help her coordinate with the quality inspection department. Did he actually do it?

Or was I just a pawn that had been prepared all along?
Disheartened, Su Xiao didn't question Yu Chao, because questioning him was pointless.

"Thank you, Manager Yu." Su Xiao simply nodded, then turned and walked out of the conference room.

……

Su Xiao returned to her workstation and began packing her things.

She had been in this position for several years. There wasn't much on her desk: a water glass, a potted green plant, a few reference books she had used for the cost engineer exam, and a stack of project files.

Su Xiao neatly stacked the files, put her personal belongings into a cardboard box, and carried it out of the office building.

Standing downstairs, Su Xiao glanced back at the building she entered and exited every day, feeling a sense of emptiness in her heart.

Then he took out his phone and called Zhou Jun.

The phone rang several times before it was answered.

Zhou Jun's voice was very low: "Hey, Xiaoxiao, I can't talk right now, I'm at the hospital with my boss."

Su Xiao said, "I've been fired."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, then Zhou Jun said, "What happened? Why were you suddenly fired?"

Su Xiao briefly explained what had happened, and then said, "Zhou Jun, I'm feeling really confused right now. Could you come out for a bit? I want to see you."

Zhou Jun's voice was somewhat impatient: "No, Team Leader He is still in the hospital, I really can't leave here. You go home first, and I'll contact you when I'm done, okay?"

Su Xiao said, "Then I'll come to the hospital to find you."

Zhou Jun's tone immediately changed, and he almost interrupted, saying, "Don't come! What are you doing here? The hospital is full of leaders, it's not convenient for you to come. Listen to me, go home first, I'll call you when I'm done."

Zhou Jun hung up the phone after saying that.

Su Xiao stood by the roadside with her phone in her hand, when a thought suddenly popped into her head.

I had previously shared my phone location with Zhou Jun, originally so that we could easily find each other.

Su Xiao checked her location and found that Zhou Jun was indeed at the hospital.

Su Xiao hailed a taxi and went straight to the hospital.

Upon arrival, Su Xiao followed the location provided, but stopped abruptly at the corner of the corridor.

At this moment, Zhou Jun was standing by the window at the end of the corridor, with a woman beside him.

She recognized the woman; she was Li Xue, an official from the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau.

Li Xue was standing very close to Zhou Jun, with one hand on his arm. The two of them were talking and laughing.

As she spoke, Li Xue reached out and straightened Zhou Jun's tie, her movements as natural as if she had done it countless times before.

Su Xiao stood at the corner, and the blood in her body suddenly felt cold.

Suddenly, I remembered a time when I saw Li Xue at an event, and Li Xue looked at me with a kind of inexplicable hostility.

Although Su Xiao found it strange at the time, she didn't think about it too deeply.

Now Su Xiao understood everything.

I quickly took out my phone and snapped a picture of the end of the corridor; my finger was shaking as I pressed the shutter button.

She originally wanted to rush up and confront them directly, but as soon as she took a step, she saw several leaders from the Housing and Construction Bureau walking over from another direction.

Li Xue immediately let go of Zhou Jun's hand, creating some distance between them, and the two resumed their serious work mode.

Su Xiao bit her lip, put her phone away, and turned to leave.

She didn't take the elevator, but walked down the stairs step by step, and finally couldn't hold back her tears.

I didn't walk far before I found a bench downstairs at the hospital and sat down.

Her mind was like a movie, with scenes from her and Zhou Jun's lives over the years flashing by.

I met Zhou Jun when we were in college. Back then, Zhou Jun was full of ambition and ideals, saying that he would become the best architect in China and give her a good life.

After graduation, the two of them stayed in Shanghai to work hard, renting a small apartment and feeling happy even eating instant noodles.

At that time, Zhou Jun had an inherent arrogance, believing that he could earn anything with his own abilities.

But now?
Su Xiao didn't know how long she had been sitting on the bench; the sky gradually darkened.

Finally, Zhou Jun called, "Su Xiao, where are you? The boss is done with his work."

"I'm at the hospital entrance."

"What? Then wait for me at the hospital entrance."

……

When Zhou Jun walked out of the hospital, Su Xiao stood at the bottom of the steps watching him.

Wearing a sharp suit, he certainly looked like a promising young man.

But Su Xiao now felt only unfamiliarity with Zhou Jun.

Zhou Jun strode over, his face weary, and reached out to take Su Xiao's hand: "Xiao Xiao, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. Don't worry about the expulsion, I'll ask around and see if it's possible..."

"..." Su Xiao pulled her hand back.

Zhou Jun was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

Su Xiao took out her phone, brought up the photo, and handed it to Zhou Jun.

When Zhou Jun saw the photo, his expression changed instantly.

He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Xiaoxiao, let me explain."

Su Xiao said, "Okay, you explain."

Zhou Jun opened his mouth, but seemed unsure where to begin.

Then, he took a deep breath. "Li Xue... she's helped me a lot. You know how I work at the Housing and Construction Bureau; I have to rely on her to handle many things. That project manager position I mentioned to you—if she hadn't spoken up for me several times, I wouldn't have gotten it at all. Now that I've come this far, I can't give up halfway, you understand?"

Su Xiao said, "So you got together with her?"

Zhou Jun's eyes flickered, and his voice lowered: "Xiaoxiao, I'm doing all this for us. Think about it, if I can establish myself and get this deputy section chief position, our future..."

Su Xiao interrupted him: "Zhou Jun, do you remember what you told me in college? You said that the most important thing for someone in architecture is conscience. You said you would never do anything against your conscience in your life. Look at yourself in the mirror now, do you even recognize yourself?"

"..." Zhou Jun was speechless. Su Xiao took off the ring on her hand, took Zhou Jun's hand, and placed it in his palm.

Zhou Jun looked down at the ring, his lips moved, but he only managed to utter one sentence: "Xiao Xiao..."

Su Xiao didn't look back, but turned and left.

As I walked out of the hospital, tears welled up in my eyes again.

But Su Xiao tried her best to hold back and didn't let it flow.

Su Xiao now has the answers to everything.

She lost her job, and Pan Jianhua used her as a scapegoat.

The man is gone; Zhou Jun chose that path himself.

These two things combined made Su Xiao feel suffocated.

But Su Xiao gritted her teeth and walked out step by step, never looking back even once.

……

Meanwhile, Su Xiao's parents went to the supermarket in their hometown and happened to run into Zhou Jun's mother.

Su's mother saw her from afar and quickly tugged at Su's father's sleeve, "Hey, isn't that Zhou Jun's mother? Come on, let's go say hello."

"it is good."

The two walked over, and Su's mother greeted them with a smile, "Mother-in-law, you're shopping at the supermarket too?"

Zhou's mother pushed the shopping cart, glanced at them, and her expression was indifferent.

He simply nodded slightly, didn't say a word, and pushed the cart away.

The smile on Su's mother's face was still on her face, and she hadn't even had time to put down her waving hand when she was gone.
Her heart skipped a beat. She turned to look at Mr. Su and said somewhat awkwardly, "Maybe he didn't hear me."

Mr. Su stood there, watching Mrs. Zhou push the cart away into the distance, and frowned, saying, "What did you not hear? She's not deaf or blind. Her attitude suddenly changed like this; something's not right."

"No way! Su Xiao and Zhou Jun are getting married soon."

"Hmph! You've seen this kind of thing all too often?"

"..."

Su's father took out his phone and called Zhou Jun, but no one answered after two attempts.

Mr. Su put his phone away and said to Mrs. Su, "No, I have to go to Shanghai to see Xiaoxiao."

"That's fine! Hopefully we're just overthinking it."

……

Su Xiao lost her job and her engagement fell through; both were ruined, so naturally she couldn't bother helping Su Ning find a job.

Suning, however, didn't seem to care.

Instead, he wandered the streets of Shanghai alone, without any particular destination, just strolling around aimlessly.

After transmigrating, Su Ning found that her mindset had changed.

In his previous lives, he had always accomplished something significant, and he had spent too many days manipulating the business world. To be honest, he was getting a little tired of it.

In this life, I actually think that the life of an ordinary person is quite good. There's no need to scheme or plan, you can just go wherever you want.

So Su Ning isn't in a hurry at all. He's neither in a rush to find any opportunities nor in a rush to contact Su Xiao.

Anyway, Suning knew roughly how things were going; Su Xiao had to experience some pitfalls herself to learn from them.

Even if you go up there and say a bunch of things, people might not believe you.

Let's let the bullets fly for a while.

That day, Su Ning walked to a block in Jing'an and was about to find a place to eat a bowl of noodles when he suddenly heard a woman shouting from ahead.

"Thief! Thief! Robbery!"

Su Ning immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw a man dressed in a slick style running forward with a woman's handbag in his hand.

A young woman in business attire chased after him for a few steps, but couldn't catch up at all, and stamped her feet in frustration.

Without thinking twice, Su Ning took off after him.

The thief ran quite fast, but he was no match for Su Ning.

Su Ning caught up with the man in less than two hundred meters, tripped his calf from the side, and then grabbed his wrist and twisted it backward...

"Ah..." the thief screamed and fell to the ground, dropping his bag.

Su Ning picked up the bag, pressed her knee against the thief's back to prevent him from moving, and took out her phone to call the police.

The police arrived quickly, handcuffed the thief, and took him away.

The young woman whose bag had been snatched ran over breathlessly, took the bag from Su Ning, and kept thanking her, "Thank you so much! The bag was full of my ID and important company documents. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost it."

The woman was panting as she spoke, clearly exhausted from the chase.

Su Ning dusted off his hands and said, "It's okay, just be more careful next time."

I glanced up at her casually and realized that she was really beautiful.

She was dressed neatly in a business suit, had delicate features, and a great temperament; she looked like she worked for a large company.

Su Ning suddenly felt a jolt in her heart; she felt that this face looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

After thinking about it carefully, a name came to mind—Secretary Tang.

Secretary to Zhao Xiankun, Chairman of Winsea Group.

Su Ning chuckled inwardly; this was too much of a coincidence.

There aren't many female characters in "The Ideal City," but Secretary Tang is definitely the most beautiful one.

As for Wu Hongmei, perhaps due to the character's setting, she lost her original wow factor.

Secretary Tang took out a business card from her bag and handed it to Su Ning, saying gratefully, "My name is Tang Ning. Thank you so much for today. This is my business card. If it's convenient, please leave your contact information. I'll treat you to dinner another day."

Su Ning took the business card and looked at it; it was indeed the secretary of Zhao Xiankun from Yinghai Group.

He first put the business card in his pocket, then smiled and said, "What a coincidence! My name is Su Ning. No need for a meal, it's no trouble at all."

Tang Ning looked at him, and for some reason, she felt that this person was a little different.

Most people who do good deeds either feel embarrassed to accept thanks or try to get closer to the person, but Suning is neither of those.

Suning spoke casually, as if catching a thief was as insignificant as picking up a mineral water bottle on the roadside.

Tang Ning couldn't help but ask, "What do you do for a living?"

After thinking for a moment, Su Ning realized that she didn't actually have a proper job, so she said directly, "I don't have a job. I just arrived in Shanghai and am just wandering around."

Tang Ning was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "You're so calm even without a job, you have a pretty good attitude."

Suning laughed too: "There's no use in being anxious! What's meant to come will come."

Tang Ning found this man's words quite interesting, so she said, "How about this? Give me your phone number, maybe I can help you find a job. You ran so fast just now, and you're so agile, it's a shame you're not a bodyguard."

Su Ning was amused by Tang Ning's words and took out her phone to exchange numbers with her.

The two chatted for a few more minutes, but Tang Ning, who had work to do, thanked them repeatedly and left in a hurry.

Su Ning stood there, watching Tang Ning's retreating figure, then looked down at the business card in her hand again.

He couldn't help but chuckle and muttered to himself, "Lucky me! I've run into this stunning beauty as soon as I arrived."

...(End of this chapter)