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"Annie,come with me."
Eric said.
I followed him to his office.
"Sit down."
He sat on his office chair and poured two cups of tea.
How dare I sit?I kept my head down and didn't say a word.
He didn't force me when he saw my appearance:
"Is he really your uncle?"
At this moment,I really hated how unlucky I was to have such a jerk relative.
I closed my eyes,took a deep breath,and reluctantly squeezed out the word:
"Yes."
"You asked for leave several times in the past few days because of this?"
"Yes."
At this moment,my heart was in turmoil.I was sure I was going to lose this job.
I was thinking about what to say to try to fight for it.At worst,I could start from the bottom again.
"I'll give you a week's leave.Go back and sort out the matters with your relatives.I believe you have the ability to do it."
I looked up in disbelief and asked in surprise:
"You...You don't plan to fire me?"
Eric smiled slightly:
"Why would I fire a capable employee like you,whose performance index is almost always first every month?
Annie,this isn't your fault.You don't need to blame yourself.
Of course,it would be the same for other employees."
I didn't cry after going through so many difficulties,but when I heard these words,I almost burst into tears and almost knelt down in front of him:
"Thank you,Mr.Eric."
"There's no need to thank me.Go ahead."
I went home early and started thinking carefully about what happened today.
In fact, there were quite a few doubts.
I had never told Mary or Tom where I worked.How could Tom find my workplace so accurately?
My mother definitely wouldn't have told them.I had told her about this a long time ago.According to how tight-lipped my mother is,probably no one in our hometown knows.
Also,why did Tom come today of all days?
Moreover,he didn't emphasize the 300,000 dollars anymore but focused on the insurance issue.
Is Mary sick?
Taking a chance,I dialed the phone number of Auntie Sue,a neighbor I had saved before.
After the phone was connected,I briefly told her what happened and asked if there was anything wrong with Mary's family.
Auntie Sue thought for a while and lowered her voice:
"Tom had red spots all over his body a few days ago.He was yelling at his mother,saying he felt uncomfortable.A few days ago,he went to the hospital,and it turned out...
He had contracted a sexually transmitted disease.It's not easy to cure that.But I think he deserves it.He's like an old toad looking for a little frog,ugly and promiscuous."
That's why he came wearing a down jacket on a hot day in New York,and his face looked redder and more swollen than usual.
There was definitely something wrong.
I thanked Auntie Sue and hung up the phone.
Now that I knew why he came to find me,how did he manage to locate me?
I pondered for a long time,eliminating various possibilities,yet still couldn't find an answer.
In the afternoon,my mother came back from grocery shopping.Seeing that I was home early,she happily chatted with me for a long while.
I didn't want to dampen her spirits,so I didn't mention Tom's visit.Instead, we talked about everyday trivial matters, and it was a very warm moment.
Today,my mother was in a good mood and cooked several dishes.My mood improved as well.
I turned on the TV,planning to watch a variety show with my mother while having dinner.But when changing channels,we stumbled upon the news channel.
"Mainland Chinese actor Xiao Lifang passed away at 5:27 pm today after being attacked by a fan.He was unable to be saved and died at the young age of 27."
I silently sighed.I quite liked this actor;he had excellent acting skills.
Private fans can be really terrifying...
May there be no more private fans in the world...
Wait a minute,private fans?
Suddenly,I thought of something and opened my Weibo account.
Looking at my face in the profile picture and the big words"Rising Star Annie"beneath it,I finally figured out the problem that had been bothering me all day.
Because I'm good-looking,have audience appeal,and have outstanding abilities,the company simply helped me create a personal account to record some aspects of my work and life,which also serves the purpose of promoting the company.
The account already has two million followers.It would be extremely easy for Tom to dig up information about me.
He could use the Internet to find my company and then print dozens of fake pictures.
When he came to the company this time,he didn't act like a rambunctious fool as before.Instead,he aimed to catch the attention of the company's senior management and said things that would arouse everyone's anger,portraying me as a heartless and evil ungrateful person.
In this way,if I remained silent,he could use some high-sounding reasons to threaten me into giving him money in front of everyone,such as medical expenses and compensation for mental distress,and have the crowd as witnesses.
If I chose to have a showdown and create a big scene,I would most likely lose my job.
Tom had really calculated everything well.If it weren't for our kind-hearted Mr.Eric,I would probably have been out of a job.
Looking at it this way,the insurance issue was just a pretext.His real goal was still to get money.
How come I never realized he could be so clever before?
No,it couldn't be his idea alone.Deep down,he's just as stupid and malicious as his mother.
It seems that my aunt isn't an ordinary person.In order to get the betrothal gift money,she has manipulated Mary's family,making them dance to her tune without leaving a trace,which is equivalent to using others to do her dirty work.
The way she played this trick is both cunning and disgusting.
But how could I let them achieve their wishes so easily?
The Internet is not something that only they can use.
I retrieved the recording of Mary's family coming to my mother's house to ask for money last time,asked Auntie Sue for the video taken by passers-by when Mary smashed my mother's shop,and also asked Brother Li,who works in the company's monitoring room,for the surveillance footage of Tom causing trouble this morning.
These three things are more than enough to stir up a storm on the Internet.
Nowadays,young people on the Internet are under a lot of pressure and are just looking for an outlet to release their positive anger.
I stayed up all night,editing and organizing all the materials.I also put a mosaic on the faces of my mother and me and did voice-changing processing.
At 6 am,everything was ready.I switched to a new account and posted the video.
Worried that the popularity wouldn't be enough, I even bought a spot on the trending topics list for the video and hired some online water army.
Everything was set.All I had to do was wait and enjoy the fruits of my labor.
I stretched my stiff neck,then fell onto the bed and slept soundly...
