Xie Hui was over there clattering around as he packed up his personal belongings from the desk and cabinets.
Wang Xiaoliang stood up. "Ma Yuanyuan, come on. Let's talk downstairs."
Ma Yuanyuan's heart leaped into her throat.
Here it comes. Time to settle the score. Last time, when Mr. Gu and Wang Xiaoliang had parted ways, she had gone with Mr. Gu. Wang Xiaoliang still remembered that.
She looked to Cui Wanqiu for help.
Cui Wanqiu smiled and tipped her chin toward the door.
Bracing herself, Ma Yuanyuan fished her phone out of her bag, set the bag on Cui Wanqiu's desk, and followed him out.
A root-carved tea table sat in a corner of the first-floor lobby. Wang Xiaoliang was already seated in the host's seat, fiddling with an electric ceramic stove to boil water.
When he saw her come down, Wang Xiaoliang pointed to the round stool opposite him.
Ma Yuanyuan perched on half the seat. Since she was wearing a skirt, she sat sideways, her hands clasped on her knees. She had already rehearsed her apology over a hundred times in her head. The moment he brought up what had happened that day, she would throw herself at his mercy. She would make him feel that she clearly understood her mistake and would never repeat it.
Wang Xiaoliang paid her no attention, concentrating on the tea set on the table.
He added tea leaves, poured in water, paused for a few seconds, picked up two tasting cups with wooden tongs, and poured the tea.
Ma Yuanyuan was a Fucheng native through and through and had grown up watching her elders brew tea. Wang Xiaoliang's movements were rough and stiff, those of a complete amateur, without the slightest finesse.
Watching him spill tea outside the tea tray, Ma