"I promise I won't tell."
"Trust me."
Nuomi said nothing. She slowly drew back the hand she had pressed against the desk and sat down.
The chair's wheels scraped against the floor, more softly than before.
"I trust you."
She lowered her head, both hands resting on her knees.
"It's just that ever since you saw it, I haven't stopped panicking."
"Why?" Wang Xiaoliang frowned. "Am I really that untrustworthy?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm just scared." Nuomi's voice had lost its earlier brightness.
"I'm afraid the boss will find out and send me away."
Send her away.
Something suddenly clicked in Wang Xiaoliang's mind.
He remembered.
From beginning to end, Nuomi alone had been the backbone of this company.
Xiao Mo filmed videos, and Nuomi wrote the scripts. Xiao Mo appeared on camera, and Nuomi handled the backend. Finance, operations, business partnerships, content planning-it all rested on her shoulders alone.
She was generous with cash gifts and never shortchanged anyone.
But she never hired more people to help her.
Anything she could do herself, she refused to leave to anyone else.
"So you did every job you could." Wang Xiaoliang stared at her. "You'd rather give out more cash gifts than hire more people. All so Boss Xiao couldn't do without you."
Nuomi raised her head.
She didn't deny it.
"The boss was right about you. You're quick on the uptake."
Wang Xiaoliang didn't take that as a compliment.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"What?"
"Those young girls." Wang Xiaoliang gestured toward the door with his chin. "They're around Boss Xiao every day, and he never turns any of them away. Doesn't that bother you?"
Nuomi scoffed.
"It's all fake."
"As if I don't know him."
The confidence in those words wasn't a girlfriend's confidence.
It was the confidence of