Chapter 43: A Fierce Rebuke to Tian Yulan

Nan Li was sitting in her office, continuing to refine her home furnishings gallery proposal. Although the events of yesterday had made her furious, her emotions did not affect her work. The success of the gallery project was the most critical factor in determining whether she could remove the "Acting" from her title as Acting Director, so she dared not show the slightest bit of slack.

Suddenly, her phone rang. She picked it up, glanced at it, and her brow furrowed instantly before she hung up and tossed it aside. However, Nan Li did not continue with her planning; instead, she leaned back in her chair. Tian Yulan had argued with her husband just yesterday and was calling today; Nan Li didn't know what kind of scheme Tian Yulan was hatching, but she really had no desire to deal with her.

The phone rang again shortly after being hung up. She still didn't answer, and it wasn't until it had rung for over ten seconds that she finally picked up, speaking first with a tone of clear dissatisfaction.

"Tian Yulan, I don't care why you're calling, but I don't have time to waste on you right now. That's it."

Before she could hang up, Tian Yulan shouted urgently from the other end, "Wait, Nan Li, wait!"

Nan Li ignored her completely and hung up. But a few seconds later, the phone rang again—still Tian Yulan. An angry Nan Li hung up again, only for it to ring once more a few seconds later...

Furious, Nan Li answered, "Tian Yulan, what exactly do you want? I'm at work; I don't have time to waste on you. Don't go too far."

"Nan Li, I really have an urgent matter. Our shopping mall's anniversary celebration is coming up soon, but the supplies from your company, WinWarm, still haven't arrived at our mall. We called to ask, but got no results. Could you please help me out and ask what's going on?"

Tian Yulan spoke very quickly, clearly having rehearsed these words to ensure she could get them all out before Nan Li hung up again. After finishing, she was left panting for breath.

Nan Li frowned slightly after listening, but replied quickly, "I'm sorry, if there's a problem with the logistics department, go talk to them. It’s useless to come to me; I’m not in charge of logistics."

She was the Acting Sales Director; naturally, she had no authority over the logistics department. If it were her problem, she would certainly fix it, but since it wasn't, she had no intention of helping Tian Yulan. This woman truly had thick skin—after what she did to her husband yesterday, she actually had the gall to ask for a favor today?

"Nan Li, Nan Li, please help me. This is really important. If the supplies don't arrive by the day of the anniversary, I'll lose my job. Please, help me."

Hearing Tian Yulan's pathetic tone, the kind-hearted Nan Li felt a moment of hesitation, but then she remembered what had happened at home and the grievances her husband and daughter, Huanhuan, had suffered yesterday. Her heart hardened again.

"I'm sorry, if there’s an issue with the logistics department, you can contact them. I really can't help with that. I have an important meeting, so I'm hanging up."

With that, Nan Li hung up instantly and set her phone to "Do Not Disturb."

"I am not deliberately retaliating. This is not my fault, and I don't need to carry any psychological burden..." Nan Li took a deep breath, suppressed the inner voice of guilt, regained her professional composure, and went back to work.

At the Yibai Shopping Mall, Tian Yulan was so angry she almost smashed her phone. "What kind of person is she? Retaliation, this is absolutely retaliation! Nan Li, I didn't expect you to be this kind of person. To think you claimed to be professional and objective; you're just a petty, despicable person."

Tian Yulan’s face was twisted in rage, frightening the nearby employees, who quickly distanced themselves for fear of being caught in the crossfire.

Tian Yulan cursed for about two minutes before slowly calming down. Even though she was incredibly incensed, she had to solve the WinWarm issue for the sake of her job. Since Nan Li wouldn't help, she had to go to the WinWarm logistics department herself. To her despair, they told her directly that the delivery trucks were being held for inspection and couldn't deliver as scheduled, telling them to wait.

But how could Tian Yulan wait? If she waited, she would lose her job. She tried every means possible—begging people for favors, promising benefits—but after a whole day, the problem remained unsolved. It even reached the mall leadership, but they couldn't do anything either, as WinWarm was following standard procedures and the delay was an accident. In the end, it all circled back to Tian Yulan; since she was responsible for that section, the mall leadership didn't want to take the blame.

After a whole day of running around, the problem remained unresolved. Tian Yulan spent the evening cursing Nan Li, calling her a petty person who played dirty behind her back.

Back home that night, Tian Yulan complained to her husband, Yan Peng, about the situation, ranting that Nan Li was unprofessional, sinister, and retaliating for personal reasons.

"That can't be right. Nan Li isn't the type of person to do that, is she?" Yan Peng was skeptical. They had sat at the same table for dinner many times; he just couldn't see Nan Li as that kind of person.

Hearing her husband still defending Nan Li at a time like this made Tian Yulan explode. "How could she not be? I’ve been the one communicating with her regarding the WinWarm business, and now the problem is specifically with their logistics. If she didn't play dirty behind the scenes, how could it be such a coincidence? She won't even answer my calls—it's obvious she’s guilty and wants to sabotage me so I lose my job. I think she’s just holding a grudge because of what happened at their house!"

"To think we’re even related! Who acts with such calculated malice against their own relatives? I never realized she was such a petty person before. And that Xia Junshan, he’s no good either. They must have colluded to get back at me."

It had to be said that Tian Yulan was truly frustrating. When they argued before, she would scream that they weren't family, yet now that she needed help, she used the "family" card without a hint of shame.

"Impossible, impossible," Yan Peng shook his head repeatedly. "Nan Li and Xia Junshan aren't those kinds of people. Especially Xia Junshan—we're such close friends, how could he do something like this? It's absolutely impossible. Wife, you must have misunderstood."

"If it were before, maybe not. But can't you see? Ever since that family dinner, they've become increasingly arrogant. Plus, at their house, I caught them bullying my mother, and yesterday they made a scene at school. If they can do those things, why wouldn't they sabotage me at work?"

"I think they are doing it on purpose to make me lose my job and humiliate me. Otherwise, why wouldn't she help me?"

The more she thought about it, the angrier Tian Yulan became. She felt that all the problems stemmed from Zhou Chen and Nan Li, and that she was being deliberately targeted by them.

Yan Peng had no choice but to say, "How about I call Xia Junshan and ask about the situation?"

"What else is there to ask? It's obvious."

"We still have to ask. I'll make the call; you don't say anything." Yan Peng didn't trust Tian Yulan, so he decided to call Zhou Chen, putting the phone on speaker.

"Hello, Yan Peng? What made you call at this hour?" Zhou Chen was surprised. Yan Peng surely knew about yesterday's events, but since a full day had passed, he couldn't quite figure out Yan Peng’s intentions.

Yan Peng gestured for Tian Yulan to stay quiet and said, "Brother, it's like this. I'm really sorry about yesterday. You know what Tian Yulan's personality is like; please don't take it to heart."

Zhou Chen didn't know Tian Yulan was right there. After hearing Yan Peng, he replied, "I don't mind much else, but your wife stabbing at Huanhuan's wounds several times was really crossing the line. Yan Peng, I think you really need to have a talk with her. Yesterday, I only held back for your sake. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn't have hesitated to slap her."

When Tian Yulan heard this, her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak. Yan Peng saw this and scrambled to cover her mouth, shaking his head at her vigorously.

"Ah, I'm really sorry, Brother. I didn't know that would happen. Tian Yulan is just blunt; she doesn't actually have any bad intentions."

"Fine, I just wanted to say that. If I were really holding a grudge, I wouldn't even be talking to you about it. Is that all you called for?"

Yan Peng said, "Yes, yes, just wanted to apologize to you, Brother. Oh, and there's one small matter. Tian Yulan's mall is having some trouble with WinWarm. Isn't Nan Li a director there? I was wondering if you could see if you could help?"

Tian Yulan, who had been struggling, stopped moving and listened intently. Zhou Chen was stunned for a moment. Tian Yulan was in trouble? He quickly recalled the plot and realized this did seem to happen; in the story, the goods at her mall hadn't been delivered on time, and Nan Li had worked late into the night to fix it. Thinking it over, he realized it was entirely possible that Nan Li hadn't helped this time, given how much worse their relationship had become compared to the original story.

"Oh, that. Nan Li doesn't tell me about her work, and I don't know what's going on. Why don't you have your wife call Nan Li and ask?" Regardless of Nan Li's intentions, Zhou Chen had no intention of undermining her, so he decided to play dumb.

Yan Peng: "Oh, I see. Brother, could you please put in a good word for us with Nan Li? I know she has reservations after what happened, but we are family after all. No matter how much we argue, we're still family. Tian Yulan regrets it too; it's just that you know how their sisterly relationship is—she just can't bring herself to apologize. Brother, please help us out. To her, this is a small matter, but for Tian Yulan, if it isn't handled well, her job is gone."

"Fine, Yan Peng. Since you asked, I'll help. I'll talk to Nan Li tomorrow. With her personality, if she can help, she will."

Tian Yulan grew anxious. Tomorrow? Tomorrow would be too late! The anniversary was the day after tomorrow. If he waited until tomorrow, the logistics definitely wouldn't catch up. In her desperation, she couldn't care less and spoke up aggressively, "No, absolutely not! Tomorrow is too late; we need to reach out today!"

Hearing Tian Yulan speak, Yan Peng knew it was ruined. He quickly covered her mouth, but it was too late.

Zhou Chen, hearing Tian Yulan interrupt, was stunned for a second, followed by a surge of anger. Yan Peng was actually making this call with Tian Yulan right there? And what was that tone? Was she ordering him around?

Zhou Chen couldn't be bothered anymore and said coldly, "Yan Peng, it's late. I'm going to sleep. That's it."

But Tian Yulan was already burning with rage; how could she let Zhou Chen hang up so easily?

"Xia Junshan, what is your problem? How did we ever offend your family? Not only did you bully my mother, but now Nan Li is deliberately making things difficult for me at work to get me fired. Are you people too shameless? Do you have no bottom line?"

Zhou Chen was infuriated. He hadn't wanted to cause a scene at the school, but now that Tian Yulan was being this arrogant, how could he tolerate it?

"Tian Yulan, are you sick in the head? *We* are shameless? *We* have no bottom line? Take a look in the mirror before you call others shameless. I've only been holding back for the sake of Yan Peng and your son, but you just keep jumping up and down. I've been tolerating you for a long time."

Tian Yulan shrieked, "I'm not as shameless as your family! You just know how to bully an old woman. You've been tolerating me? I've been tolerating you even longer! Every time we go back, you act like lords, letting my mother wait on you, and then you turn around and bully her! Your family is the one that's truly shameless!"

"Enough, enough! Tian Yulan, stop talking! Give me the phone..."

"Get lost! I'm going to say it today! What's so great about them? Just a pair of orphans abandoned by Uncle Nan. She couldn't even keep her own husband, how dare she act all high and mighty..."

"Tian Yulan, have you lost your mind? What are you saying?!" Yan Peng roared, but Tian Yulan pushed him away, ran to the balcony, locked the sliding door, and continued to scream into the phone.

"Xia Junshan, you listen to me! If I lose my job, I'll fight you to the end! Why aren't you saying anything? Weren't you talking just a second ago? Are you feeling guilty?"

"Shut the hell up! I've been tolerating you long enough. Who do you think you are?" A sudden, explosive roar came from the phone, cutting off Tian Yulan. She had never been yelled at like that in her life and was stunned into silence. But that was just the beginning.

"Tian Yulan, you listen to me! You want to fight? Come on then! Do you really think everyone in the world is going to coddle you? Who do you think you are? You're nothing but the daughter of a mistress. You and your mother stole someone else's husband and father, enjoyed someone else's family, and you have the nerve to call others shameless? I have never seen anyone as shameless as you. Your mother was a mistress, and you act like it's an honor!"

"No matter how brightly you dress, you can't change the sickening rot inside you. I didn't want to bother with you, but you keep asking for it. I don't want to be related to someone like you. Get lost as far as you can and go eat dirt!"

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Tian Yulan stared at the disconnected phone for a few seconds before letting out a piercing scream.

"AHHH!"