Dawn of Life

During her month-long cooling-off period, her main focus remained on work. Most of the time, she was seen sitting in front of her computer, looking serious, typing away on the keyboard, revising plans and writing reports; or she was carrying her laptop, wearing high heels, moving between meeting rooms for meetings.

However, she would occasionally space out while getting hot water, and several times the boiling water overflowed from the cup and flowed down the water dispenser onto the carpet; she would also daydream while waiting at a traffic light, and be honked at by the car behind her.

That day, Lin Yue and Gao Ming arranged to meet at the Civil Affairs Bureau. When Lin Yue arrived, Gao Ming had already taken a number and was waiting there for an hour! Lin Yue smiled bitterly. Was he so impatient, so eager to immediately sever ties with her? What had she done to him that made him so disgusted?

In an instant, she fell into deep self-doubt: she was the one who handled all kinds of interpersonal relationships at the company, so why couldn't she handle her own intimate relationships? Did she lack the ability and wisdom to manage a marriage?

Then, on second thought, maybe it was just because the wrong person was chosen? This can only be considered a failure in "recruitment," not a failure in "management." Thinking this way, I felt relieved, and the current result was a timely stopgap measure.

Walking through the glass doors of the Civil Affairs Bureau, there was an information desk where Lin Yue registered. The staff calmly asked if she was getting a divorce or a marriage. After hearing Lin Yue softly say she was registering for a divorce, they directed her to the right. It turned out that the divorce registration office and the marriage registration office were directly opposite each other.

Lin Yue observed the couples waiting in line at the divorce registration office. Some sat one after the other, and even those sitting side by side had several seats between them. She couldn't help but think: it seems that what people say online about remaining family after divorce and parting amicably is just polite talk. No matter how close they were before, separation reveals the hypocrisy and greed of human nature to the fullest extent.

Lin Yue sat there, looking at the corridor across the street leading to the marriage registration office. Couples, embracing each other happily, walked in together, laughing and talking, the bright red decorations particularly eye-catching.

Suddenly, Gao Ming walked over to Lin Yue and suggested that they take another look at the contents of the divorce agreement. There were several computers and printers on one side of the registration office against the wall. They went over and opened the electronic version of the "divorce agreement" that they had prepared in advance.

Gao Ming stared at the computer screen and said coldly, "The agreement must include a clause about the house. We'll go to the real estate agency this afternoon to list the house. If the house doesn't sell within a year, you'll have to move out."

Lin Yue frowned and firmly refused, "Not today. Something came up at the company, and I only took half a day off."

In the afternoon, Lin Yue met with Yin Jie to discuss the job levels within his team. Yin Jie eventually wrote down the job level standards at Liu Zheng's request, including the team members. However, he hadn't resolved his inner conflict, and Lin Yue, worried that he wasn't following the rules, asked him to discuss it again.

She had already boasted to Shengxing that the first phase of the project was going smoothly and that there should be no problems during this phase.

However, Gao Ming persisted, and the two were once again at an impasse. Gao Ming kept bringing up the house issue, which made Lin Yue feel extremely tired.

Lin Yue tilted her head and stared intently at Gao Ming, asking, "We're already paying you rent at market rates every month, so you haven't lost anything. Why do you insist on specifying in the agreement that you're only staying for one year?"

Gao Ming glanced up and said, "My ultimate goal is to sell the house. Compared to the millions in sales revenue, what is a monthly rent of 6000? If you don't put the house on the market first and include a clause in the agreement that you can only live there for one year, you won't really want to sell the house."

Lin Yue looked at this cold-hearted man. He had considered every possibility and calculated every penny, but he had not taken into account their ten-year marriage or their seven-year-old son's difficulty in adapting to the changes in their lives.

Anger was burning in Lin Yue's chest. She stared intently into Gao Ming's eyes, about to explode, when her phone rang. She glanced at it and saw that Xiao Yu was reminding her of a meeting with Yin Jie at 1:30 pm.

Lin Yue gritted her teeth and replied, "Okay."

She glanced at the time; it was 10:30. If she went to get the marriage certificate first and then to the agency, she would have enough time. But she felt a surge of resentment. Why was she always the one giving in? Was she so easily manipulated? So she said, slowly and deliberately, "What if I don't agree?"

Gao Ming said nonchalantly, "Then we can all just stay here. Anyway, I have people watching over the shop, so I can afford to wait."

Lin Yue glared at that hateful face, and her hand on the computer desk clenched into a fist.

"Number 13, please proceed to room 2 of the divorce registration office." The computer's voice called out their numbers, drawing their attention. Lin Yue stood up and walked straight to room 2, with Gao Ming following closely behind.

The staff member glanced through the documents they submitted, casually confirming with them, "Have you brought all the documents? Have you finished discussing the divorce agreement?"

Gao Ming answered first: "Not yet, the terms regarding the house still need to be revised."

The staff member looked up at them, pushed the documents in front of them, and said calmly, "Then you should come back after you've discussed it. We're only responsible for handling the paperwork, not for mediation. If you can't reach an agreement, then you can proceed with the legal process."

Just then, Lin Yue's phone rang again at an inopportune moment. She turned her back to answer it. It was Xiao Yu calling, anxiously saying, "Sister Lin, I don't know how Yin Jie found out you took leave, but he came over and said the afternoon meeting is canceled."

Lin Yue gripped her phone tighter, then said firmly, "It has to be on. Tell him I'll definitely be back before the meeting."

After hanging up the phone, she made up her mind and said to the staff member, "Change the agreement according to his terms. Please process it quickly, I need to get back to work."

Lin Yue thought, "So what if I move out in a year? If I refuse to move then, I don't believe he'll actually kick me out. As for going to a real estate agency, there's still time. I've already been to this place twice, and I really don't want to come a third time."

The two then filled out a lot of forms and pressed their fingerprints multiple times. The staff even separated them and asked, "Was this divorce voluntary?"

The entire process took almost an hour.

In the afternoon, they went to the real estate agency, and unsurprisingly, something unexpected happened. The two of them got into a series of arguments over issues such as the asking price of the house, whose contact information the agency should keep, and who should have the property certificate. From then on, the two, who had become strangers, had even less trust in each other.

So when Lin Yue arrived at the company, she had already missed her appointment with Yin Jie. She had sent Yin Jie a message in advance, hoping to change the meeting time, but she had not received a reply from him.

As soon as Lin Yue arrived at the company, Xiao Yu rushed up to her, puffing out her cheeks, and said, "Yin Jie and Zhang Wei have already finalized the job titles for the team members." She paused, lowered her voice, blinked, and continued, "Yin Jie's team is all high-ranking staff. According to his method, most of the team members will get a raise next."

Yin Jie knew, of course, that his draft wouldn't be the final version because the review panel wouldn't approve it. However, he could then shift all the blame onto Lin Yue, claiming her proposal was unreasonable. If adjustments were necessary on-site, that was fine too; afterward, he could tell his team that Lin Yue had guided the review panel to lower the draft during the review meeting. This would create a public outcry, and they could see how Lin Yue would appease her staff and explain herself to her boss.

Lin Yue immediately stood up, slammed her laptop shut, and walked straight toward Zhang Wei's workstation.

After stopping, he asked, "What's the deal with the job titles within Yin Jie's team?"

Zhang Wei looked up and met Lin Yue's angry gaze, replying innocently, "I followed the logic of your plan exactly, which means your plan is unreasonable. Besides, you stood Yin Jie up first, and I filled in for you at the last minute, so why are you blaming me?"

Lin Yue frowned, then suddenly realized that Zhang Wei had long been dissatisfied with Qin Lan handing the project over to her, and this action was clearly intentional.

For the next few days, Lin Yue went to see Yin Jie, but Yin Jie always gave her the cold shoulder. He even gave away the coffee he bought for her to his other colleagues with a look of disgust.

Lin Yue felt helpless. If she couldn't make adjustments before the meeting, she could only devise a plan for the meeting itself. No matter what, she couldn't let it affect her performance on this project, and she couldn't destroy the little bit of trust she had just built with Shengxing. That was something she had worked incredibly hard to earn.

During this period, Shengxing wanted to understand the team's situation in great detail, so she wrote the weekly work reports as detailed as possible. However, some issues concerning personnel relationships could not be discussed in the weekly meetings, so she would write two weekly reports each week, one for reporting and one sent separately to Shengxing.

Every time she reports to Shengxing, she strives to present her PowerPoint presentation perfectly. She minimizes text and spends more time creating charts to make the results more intuitive, thereby showcasing her professional abilities.

If Lin Yue happens to run into Sheng Xing in the elevator or the break room, she will casually mention that she has just had an important meeting or pushed forward some important matter.

There's a saying: "It's not enough to just do it; you also need to know how to market your results."

Gradually, Lin Yue was able to detect more and more approval in Sheng Xing's expression, but she knew that this was far from enough. This only showed that her attitude was good; there also had to be results, such as the smooth and efficient completion of the project.

At the same time, there can be no serious resistance or complaints about the project within the team, so even if Yin Jie is currently in a state of complete agitation, she can only try to smooth things over.

Besides work, her life was still not peaceful. Although the problems of picking up her child from school and having dinner had been solved, new problems arose with the house.