“Ah?” Nancy Cole wasn’t surprised at all that Susan Clark stayed up all night writing, but the other piece of information in that sentence hit her hard. “So you actually managed to interview Ian Shaw?”

“Yes, and I submitted the article this morning too.”

“Oh my god, you scared me! I thought you were going to suffer in silence.” Nancy Cole immediately laughed, happily turning back to her own work. Suddenly remembering something, she turned her head and said, “So, Ian Shaw seems like a pretty decent person.”

Susan Clark’s fingertips paused on the mouse, and she let out a cold snort.

——

In the following few hours, Ethan Turner replied to the email, but never contacted Susan Clark. The “busy” sign remained on the office door the whole time.

Susan Clark understood as well—there are never any rules to restrain things that skirt the edge of unspoken workplace norms. Since the issue hadn’t blown up, Ethan Turner didn’t want to waste too much time on it during performance review season.

It wasn’t until five o’clock that Susan Clark finally received Ethan Turner’s feedback on her article. The comments were in the usual style, without mentioning anything else.

Now the problem was, although Susan Clark had submitted her article, Lily Hughes had used her outline and written the same content.

It was entirely possible that Ethan Turner or the editor-in-chief might think Lily Hughes’s article was better, and in the end, publish hers instead.

Susan Clark glanced back at Lily Hughes, who was sitting there flipping through a magazine, looking relaxed and seemingly unbothered.

But Susan Clark was anything but calm.

It was her interview—why should she have to worry about someone else’s article being published instead?

Another half hour passed. Nothing happened on Susan Clark’s end, but Lily Hughes went into Ethan Turner’s office.

“I’m going to the restroom.” Susan Clark pointed at Ethan Turner’s office and said to Nancy Cole, “Keep an eye out for me, and message me if anything happens.”

Nancy Cole gave an “OK” sign, and Susan Clark immediately stood up.

She didn’t move much, but her leg lightly bumped the corner of the desk, making her suck in a sharp breath from the pain.

“What’s wrong?” Nancy Cole turned around. “Be careful!”

“It’s nothing.”

Last night, she’d started writing as soon as she got home, working until dawn. She’d taken a dazed shower and hadn’t noticed the state of her leg.

Now, with this pain, it was clear she’d gotten a bruise from the saddle.

In the restroom, Susan Clark looked down and, sure enough, that was the case.

Leaning against the door, she gritted her teeth, mentally cursing Ian Shaw for the eighteenth time.

Just as she was about to leave, someone shoved the restroom door open with a loud bang. Instinctively, Susan Clark pulled her hand back from the stall door she was about to open.

Then, the person who entered started talking.

If you had to pick the place in the company most likely to breed gossip, the restroom would be number one.

Like now—Susan Clark recognized the voice immediately.

“Isn’t she just favoring Susan Clark?”

By the sink, Lily Hughes was holding her phone, talking to someone. “Ever since Susan Clark parachuted into the finance team, how much of my share has she taken? The year before last, I got three main features, last year two, and this year? It’s almost the end of the year and I haven’t gotten a single one! Can Ethan Turner honestly say she hasn’t been favoring Susan Clark?!”

Whatever was said on the other end made Lily Hughes even angrier. “Don’t even mention it! I’m just unlucky—Susan Clark gets way more information than I do, and when you compare our articles, Ian Shaw just brushes me off!”

Hmm?

Susan Clark thought she’d misheard and froze for a moment.

So, when she was organizing her notes last night and felt like her brain was about to explode, it wasn’t just her imagination.

Suddenly, the bruise on her leg didn’t hurt so much, and her steps felt steadier.

Lily Hughes was so caught up in venting that she didn’t notice the door behind her hadn’t opened.

“Who knows what kind of spell she put on him—he told her all the key points.”

“I didn’t cast any spells, you know.”

A chill ran down Lily Hughes’s back. The moment she looked up, she saw Susan Clark standing right behind her in the mirror, smiling sweetly.

At that moment, Lily Hughes felt not only the guilt of being caught red-handed, but also a supernatural fright. The color drained from her face at a visible speed.

Her hand shook, and her phone crashed to the floor with a bang.

Susan Clark took a step forward, leaned in close to Lily Hughes’s face in the mirror, and said, “Mr. Shi just happens to like me more.”

She even winked.

With that, she strode out, gently closing the door behind her.

——

On the way back to her desk, Susan Clark couldn’t stop smiling.

Nancy Cole looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn’t care, as if she’d just gotten a big promotion.

But the moment she sat down, a sharp pain shot through her thigh.

“Hiss—”

Susan Clark gripped the desk, looking down at her leg, and the thought she’d tried to suppress came back again.

What’s a little pain?

Endure hardship to become the little aunt:)

Chapter 7

In fact, just as Susan Clark left the restroom, Lily Hughes followed right after.

The two of them walked back to the finance team’s office area, one after the other, less than three meters apart.