Chapter Three: Workplace Coercion?
1587 Words
The scene continues.
A rainy night.
The sky in the frame is as dark as the bottom of a pot; the rain is so heavy that even with the windshield wipers on full speed, the road is barely visible.
A black minivan is parked on the side of a mountain road, its hazard lights flashing.
He sees himself getting out of the driver’s seat, his suit soaked through and clinging to his body.
In the passenger seat, Liu Ruyan leans back, her face pale and her forehead covered in sweat.
A voiceover appears.
[On the way back from a business trip, they encountered a torrential downpour. A mudslide occurred on the mountain road, causing the vehicle to break down and mobile phone service to be cut off. Liu Ruyan developed a high fever from getting soaked in the rain, with a temperature of 39.8°C.]
In the scene, Li Mo pulls Liu Ruyan out of the car, crouches down, and hoists her onto his back.
Liu Ruyan’s face pressed against his back; her lips were parched, and her voice came out in broken gasps.
“Li Mo... don’t worry about me... you go first.”
In the scene, he doesn’t look back. His feet sink into the mud as he takes step after step down the mountain.
The rain is so heavy he can barely keep his eyes open.
Half the road has collapsed. Debris rolls down and strikes his calf, causing him to stumble and nearly fall.
Liu Ruyan clutched his shoulders tightly from behind.
“You’re crazy…”
On the screen, Li Mo was gasping for breath, his voice drowned out by the rain.
“Shut up. Save your strength.”
Li Mo sat on the bed watching the footage, his fists clenching unconsciously.
With every step he took in the footage, Li Mo could feel the weight.
The torrential rain, the muddy path, and the woman on his back, burning with fever until she was nearly unconscious.
If it were him in real life, he would have done the same.
The scene cut.
A hallway in a small-town clinic.
He was covered in mud, had lost one shoe, and stood barefoot at the doorway.
Liu Ruyan was wheeled into the examination room.
Voiceover.
[After walking 7.3 kilometers, Li Mo found help at the town clinic at the foot of the mountain. Liu Ruyan is out of danger.]
The scene cut again.
This time, it wasn’t a rainy night.
The sunlight was bright.
A room.
He lay in bed, covered with a blanket, a fever-reducing patch stuck to his forehead.
Someone sat in the chair beside him.
Liu Ruyan.
She wore no makeup, dressed in loose loungewear with her hair tied back casually, holding a bowl of porridge in her hands.
She looked nothing like the chairman who could freeze you to death in his office.
In the scene, Liu Ruyan sets the bowl of congee on the nightstand and reaches out to touch his forehead.
Then she sits on the edge of the bed and watches him.
She watches him for a long time.
Narration.
[The day after returning from the trip, Li Mo fell ill with a high fever. Liu Ruyan canceled all her appointments for the day to take care of him personally.]
[From that day on, Liu Ruyan’s attitude toward Li Mo underwent a fundamental shift.]
Li Mo stared at Liu Ruyan’s expression on the screen.
It wasn’t the concern a superior shows a subordinate.
Nor was it ordinary gratitude.
There was something in Liu Ruyan’s eyes that he couldn’t put into words, but he could recognize.
It was the feeling of having let someone into her heart.
The scene cut.
This time, the cut was abrupt.
The scene shifted to Liu Ruyan’s office.
But Liu Ruyan wasn’t there.
On screen, he pushed open the door and walked in, holding a folder.
“President Liu, the minutes from this morning’s meeting…”
He stopped mid-sentence.
The drawer behind the desk is open.
There’s a box inside.
The box has no lid.
The camera zooms in for a close-up.
Li Mo, sitting on the bed, nearly bit his tongue.
He saw that thing.
To be precise, he saw several of them.
They came in various colors and shapes, neatly stacked against the velvet lining.
The expression on his face in the shot was nothing short of spectacular.
First, he froze.
Then his eyes widened.
Next, his face flushed instantly, the heat spreading from the base of his neck all the way to the tips of his ears.
The folder in his hand fell to the floor.
As he bent down to pick it up, he bumped into the corner of the desk.
He looked as flustered as a thief caught red-handed.
He placed the folder on the desk and practically ran out of the office, forgetting to close the door behind him.
Li Mo watched his own disheveled appearance on the screen and couldn’t help but cover his face.
“Shit...”
The footage jumped to the next day.
Liu Ruyan’s office.
She sat alone behind her desk, the computer screen in front of her displaying the surveillance footage.
The footage showed exactly the moment he had pushed open the door yesterday. Liu Ruyan’s finger hovered over the mouse, rewinding the footage to watch it again.
Li Mo in the footage—spotting something—freezing—blushing—bumping into the corner of the desk—and fleeing in panic. Liu Ruyan watched it again.
Then she smiled.
Not a cold smile.
One hand propping up her chin, her eyes crinkling, the corners of her mouth refusing to stay down.
She rewound the footage again to the exact moment Li Mo’s face turned red, pressed pause, and stared at the screen for quite a while.
Narration.
[Liu Ruyan replayed this surveillance footage a total of seven times.]
Li Mo: “……”
Seven times.
She watched him make a fool of himself seven times.
And she even paused it specifically on the frame where his face was the reddest.
“This woman… is she crazy?”
He said this out loud, but his heart began to race a little faster.
The footage continued.
The final segment.
A private dining room in a restaurant.
It was a very small room, with only a table and two chairs.
There weren’t many dishes on the table, but there was plenty of alcohol.
Liu Ruyan sat across from him, wearing a black dress.
She kept pouring him drinks.
In the footage, his face was flushed from drinking, and his speech was slurring.
“Ms. Liu... I can't drink anymore... I really can't.”
Liu Ruyan smiled and poured him another glass.
“Don't call me Ms. Liu—call me Sister.”
“Liu... Sister Liu...”
“Good boy. Have another glass.”
Narration.
[Liu Ruyan hosted a dinner for Li Mo to thank him for saving her life. That night, Li Mo drank too much.]
The scene cuts.
The location has changed.
The decor suggests it’s Liu Ruyan’s home.
The hallway lights are dim.
On screen, Liu Ruyan is half-supporting, half-dragging him into the living room.
He’s already too drunk to stand steadily, and half his weight is bearing down on Liu Ruyan.
“Sister Liu… I’ll call a cab to go home…”
“Go home? You can’t even walk straight.”
Liu Ruyan pushes him onto the sofa.
He falls backward, his eyes half-open, half-closed.
Then he struggled to get up.
“No… this isn’t right… I have to go.”
He braced himself against the armrest of the sofa, trying to stand.
One leg swung over.
To be precise, it was a leg clad in black stockings.
Liu Ruyan was straddling him.
Her knees pressed against the sofa, the hem of her skirt splayed out on either side of his thighs.
Li Mo was half-sober.
He looked down. The black stockings stretched from her ankles up, taut against the curve of her thighs. The hem of her skirt was pulled apart, revealing a faint indentation where the top of the stockings pressed against her skin.
His gaze was fixed on the mark; he couldn’t look away.
Liu Ruyan’s hands rested on his shoulders as she looked down at him.
Her hair slid down from her shoulders, brushing against his face.
“You said you were leaving?”
Li Mo’s mouth moved slightly.
His throat felt as if something were blocking it.
Liu Ruyan pressed her hips down, shifting her weight onto him.
Even through his clothes, he could feel the warmth of her inner thigh.
He didn’t realize when his hand had found its way to her waist.
“Liu… Sister Liu…”
“Hmm?”
“This… you’ve had too much to drink.”
Liu Ruyan let out a low, nasal chuckle.
“You think I’m drunk?”
Her eyes were bright, unnaturally clear.
The scene froze there.
Then it vanished.
Li Mo sat on the bed, his palms drenched in sweat.
He replayed every moment of what had just happened in his mind.
Chosen for his good looks, taken under Liu Ruyan’s wing, promoted all the way up, saved her life on a business trip, discovered her secret, and then got drunk by her and brought home.
The pieces fell into place.
He slowly leaned against the headboard and raised his hand to cover his eyes.
“So…”
“Is this just an unwritten rule?”
- Writer
