I struggled to stand up from the ground, glaring at Mi Cai, who wore a face of “surprise”. “Come here, let me strangle you!” I exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” Mi Cai asked innocently, looking at me.

I laughed in anger, “You locked me up for a day and you’re asking me what’s wrong? The more you pretend, the more shameless I think you are!”

“Crazy.” Mi Cai casually threw out these words, then started to change her slippers.

I walked towards Mi Cai, but my legs were weak. I used the last of my strength to grab hold of her, angrily asking, “Why did you lock the door today?”

“Aren’t all security doors supposed to be locked?”

“I was still at home, didn’t you know?”

Mi Cai shook her head, “I didn’t know, I thought you had left.”

“Fine, even if you didn’t know I was at home, why did you take the key while I was sleeping?”

“Shouldn’t I take the key to my own house?” Mi Cai retorted coldly.

My head spun with anger. I slapped my forehead hard, struggling to keep my composure. “Alright, it’s your key, you should take it. But how do you explain stealing the battery from my phone?”

“Who stole your battery? When I took the key yesterday, I accidentally knocked your phone over. The battery might have fallen under the bed. The room was dark, I couldn’t see clearly, so I just put the back cover on.”

“Damn, you really planned everything perfectly to kill me. I can’t even find a way to trouble you!”

Mi Cai responded with a smile, “In your words, it’s your bad luck to meet me. What are the odds of us meeting in the vast sea of people, and what are the odds of me locking you in the room after we met?”

“Are you admitting it?”

Mi Cai replied coldly, “So what if I admit it? Go call the police. Say I illegally imprisoned you… You definitely won’t call the police, after all, you’re a man and I’m just a woman. Besides, you’re the landlord, how could a landlord be imprisoned by a tenant? Even if you told the police, they wouldn’t believe you!”

Mi Cai once again hit me hard with the words I used against her before. I didn’t know how to retaliate. After a while, I blurted out, “You… you’re a female hooligan, a devil, a demon… Does your shameless behavior match your pretty face?”

Mi Cai was unaffected by my anger, she calmly replied, “Save those words for yourself. Without your cause, there wouldn’t be my effect.”

“But the effect you gave is too poisonous. You locked me up for a day, I couldn’t make a call, how will the company see me? This is much worse than skipping work, I might lose my job!” I said, my face turning red.

Mi Cai stared at me in silence for a while, then calmly said, “You’ve been talking so much, aren’t you hungry?”

As soon as she finished speaking, my legs went weak and my stomach growled. I felt dizzy from the anger, and instinctively put my hand on Mi Cai’s shoulder. Swallowing my hunger, I struggled to say, “Help me downstairs to eat Zhajiang noodles, the biggest bowl!”

……

In the noodle shop downstairs, I put the battery back into my phone. As I nervously turned it on, dozens of text message alerts sounded like an earthquake. They were all missed call notifications from Circle and Chen Jingming.

I threw the phone aside in annoyance, glaring at Mi Cai who was sitting across from me with a calm face.

Mi Cai stood up and said to me, “I’ve brought you here, you can eat slowly.”

“Sit down, this matter isn’t over so easily. You heard the message alerts just now, right? They’re all from the company, what should we do now?”

A hint of guilt finally appeared on Mi Cai’s face. She said softly, “I always thought you didn’t have a proper job, I really didn’t expect…”

I was speechless for a moment. Given my previous state, I didn’t look like someone with a proper job. I patiently said to Mi Cai, “Even if I don’t have a proper job, I should still have some organization and discipline, right? Haven’t you seen those beggars in the underground passages? They gather and count their numbers every day, then divide up the begging areas!”

Mi Cai was silent for a while, then said to me, “I was indeed a bit thoughtless about this. What do you want me to do, you tell me.”

After Mi Cai softened her attitude, I felt a bit embarrassed. Actually, I was the one who had gone too far before. Mi Cai’s reprimand was just a natural reaction after being bullied. As a shopping mall CEO, she should have some temper.

After thinking for a while, I said, “I won’t make things difficult for you. Just call our leader and explain why I didn’t go to work today. As long as I can keep my job, I won’t mind being locked up for a day.”

“Can’t you explain it yourself?”

“If he would believe my explanation, would I need you to explain?” I gave Mi Cai a look.

“It seems you’ve also fooled your leaders quite a bit… Give me the number.”

I was left speechless by Mi Cai’s words. Speechless because she hit the nail on the head. I coughed to cover up my embarrassment, then gave her Chen Jingming’s phone number. She immediately dialed it.

I was a bit curious. If Chen Jingming knew that the person calling him was the CEO of Zhuomei, what would his reaction be? But Mi Cai and Chen Jingming definitely wouldn’t talk about this, so I could only be curious.

The call seemed to be connected on the other end, and Mi Cai began to speak, “Hello, may I speak to Manager Chen?”

“I’m Zhao Yang’s roommate. I have something to explain to you. When I left today, I accidentally locked Zhao Yang in the room. His phone had some problems, so he couldn’t notify the company immediately. I want to express my apologies to you, I’m sorry.”

Although Mi Cai’s words were polite, there was still a sense of authority in her tone.

After speaking with Chen Jingming for a while, Mi Cai handed the phone to me, saying, “Your manager wants to talk to you.”

I took the phone from Mi Cai and immediately said, “Manager, you heard just now, right? I’m not going to work today, it’s really an accident!”

Chen Jingming asked with an angry yet helpless tone, “Is it true?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you. Would I go to the trouble of finding an excuse to tell you? I, Zhao Yang, always take responsibility for my actions. It is what it is.” I said confidently, because this time I really didn’t deceive Chen Jingming.

“Alright, we’ll treat this as an accident this time. Come to the company early tomorrow and communicate with Circle. The plan this time must be efficient.”

“You can rest assured, I will go to the company early tomorrow.”

……

After ending the call with Chen Jingming, I called Circle to explain the situation. I finally breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, the Zhajiang noodles were served. Without a word, I started to wolf down the food. I ate two big bowls until I couldn’t eat anymore.

I wiped the oil stains from my mouth with a napkin and said to Mi Cai, who I had forcibly kept here, “You just told our leader that we are roommates, right?”

Mi Cai guessed my intention and immediately denied it, saying, “That was necessary under the circumstances. Otherwise, how would I explain this to your leader?”

“Oh… oh… so you can also lie and deceive!”