Those who came demanding for a statement finally calmed down when Huang De Xin stepped forward, and said that they want a statement as well as a clear explanation of the incident within a week. Only then did they nod and leave, with difficulty.
After waiting for them to leave, Huang De Xing called out the project person in charge of the engineering, Hou Zheng Wen, and An Ran, to come into the office.
In the office, An Ran and worker Hou sit in front of Huang De Xing’s desk. Spread out on the office desk is the blueprint for the building. With a grave face, Huang De Xing leans against the edge of the black swivel chair, and in a serious tone, says, “With regards to the construction site’s accident, people have already came and made a fuss at the firm. I want to hear your opinions on this.”
Worker Hou glances at An Ran, turns his head and looks at Huang De Xing, and says, “My work is completely in accordance to the specifications of the blueprint. If you don’t believe me, the firm can go ahead and dispatch someone to investigate.” His intentions were clear. He was clearly pointing that there was an issue with the blueprint. He was just following the blueprint, so the responsibility is not on him at all.
Huang De Xing looks at him in the eye, turns to look at An Ran, and asks, “An Ran, what do you think? Is there a problem with the blueprint?”
An Ran presses on her sore temples, only saying, “I think that we must give the family of the deceased a statement and an explanation.”
“An explanation?” Beside her, worker Hou shoots her a glance, coldly saying, “Before giving a statement or an explanation we need to be clear about who is responsible, or else, or else, how could we make a statement, how could we give an explanation.”
An Ran takes a deep breath. She doesn’t want to argue with him. She also doesn’t want to shift the blame. However, with how aggressive and determined he is that there was a problem with her blueprints, really makes a person loathe him. She turns her head and looks at Hou Zheng Wen, and says, “If I am to blame, then I certainly won’t avoid responsibility. We need to provide an explanation, we need to apologize. I, myself, will compensate, and not implicate the firm.” She points at the blueprint on the desk, “But I can inform you clearly, regarding the position of the balcony on the blueprint, weight specifications, I’ve minutely gone through each and every thing in the design. This one thing, I believe that you, who, with more than 20 years of construction experience, will understand, more than me, that there is nothing wrong with the blueprint!”
Hou Zheng Wen doesn’t look at her, and flatly denies, “I don’t know. I just carried out the construction according to your blueprint. To go as far as whether or not there was a problem, I wouldn’t understand.” Here is where the problem arises. If there isn’t a problem with her blueprint, then the problem would come from his carrying out of the construction. This kind of blame, he doesn’t want to shoulder it!
An Ran also doesn’t look at him, turns to look at Huang De Xing and says, “Director, I ask that with regards to the investigation of this accident, if the outcome, in the end, truly is due to a problem with my blueprint, then I will take the blame for the accident on my own. I will in no way involve the company or any other person.” Upon finishing her speech, she gets up and leaves the office.
Leaving Huang De Xing’s office, An Ran immediately heads to the washroom, turns on the tap, gathers water in her hand and slaps it on her face, attempting to cool herself down.
It appears that there was someone in the washroom before her, as she hears someone flush. After that, Xiao Xiao’s voice appears beside An Ran, “Feeling troubled about the accident?” As she says this she hands her a paper towel.
An Ran raises her head, switches off the tap, takes the towel that was offered to her and dries off her damp face, not saying anything.
Xiao Xiao grabs her lipstick and turns towards the mirror to apply it on her lips, saying, “Wouldn’t you say that you’ve had enough bad luck this time. Worker Hou is widely known within this company to quickly avoid responsibility when it comes to accidents. This is the first time you’ve collaborated, yes?” She puts the lipstick back in her bag, and teases her hair in the mirror, her attitude expresses a comforting charm.
An Ran stays silent. She simply throws the paper towel into the basket, and turns around to go to the office.
Xiao Xiao watches her figure disappear behind the door, the corner of her mouth can’t help but go into a sneer, and snorts despicably, “Fake goody two-shoes.”
An Ran goes into her office, sits down and stares at the pile of documents on her desk, yet also motionless.
Knock knock knock…
An Ran doesn’t respond. She sits motionlessly.
Knock knock knock….
Another knock on the door, a regular tempo.
An Ran wakes up, takes a deep breath, raises her head towards the door and raises her voice. “Come in.”
An Ran had a feeling it was Ling Lin, but to her surprise it was Huang De Xing. She stands up uneasily, “Director?”
Huang De Xing raises his hand to indicate her to sit down. He sits down facing her, and says, “Hou Zheng Wen, this person, is an intense man. Don’t take it to heart.”
An Ran shakes her head, not commenting.
“Regarding the accident, the company will surely thoroughly investigate the cause and identify the specifics of the blame. When the time comes, not only must we give the family members of the victim a statement and an explanation, regarding you, we will also have to explain it to them.” Huang De Xing continues to say.
An Ran was surprised, and fixes her stare at him. She asks, “Director, are you saying that you don’t think there’s a problem with my blueprint?”
“I’ve looked over your blueprint. The scales, calculations, etc. are all correct. But to identify the responsibility and the outcome, that we have to wait until after the investigations to know. I came here to look for you mainly because I don’t want this matter to hang over your head during work and made you become careless. Don’t let this matter influence your other work.” Huang De Xing says as he looks at her.
An Ran nods, understanding that he was referring to the project with the government building. “I understand, I won’t make myself suffer. I will hand over the blueprint to you over the weekend.”
Huang De Xing nods in satisfaction, and says, “Ok. Also, about this blueprint, the firm plans to submit it to a competition. Several of you young architects will all participate. All of you will be concerned with the matter of delivering the blueprint. Not only will this allow the firm’s blueprint to invite bids, it will also raise the competitive strength. Not only that, this will motivate the enthusiasm of everyone else in the company. What do you think?”
“I think it’s good to have a competition. I have no complaints.” An Ran understands the argument for survival of the fittest, so she doesn’t have any objection to the competition. If there’s something to compare it with, then how would we know what is good and what’s bad.
“Ok.” Huang De Xing nods, pleased. He gets up to leave. “Then, you can continue with your work. The accident will be investigated, what’s most important is that you do well with the work in your hands.”
An Ran nods in agreement, “I understand.” She rises to send him out.
Su Yi Cheng’s call came in half an hour before work ended, saying that he will come and pick her up, that they will leave together to eat dinner at An Ran’s house. And while they were at it, they will move some of An Ran’s stuff over to Su Yi Cheng’s apartment.
“It’s fine, I can drive back myself. The car has been in the parking lot for so many days already.” An Ran declined. In fact, at the time when she was still considering about marriage, not only did she think about finding the appropriate person to fulfill this mission, she also thought that between the two of them, there would only be an addition of a paper. She didn’t think too much of it. She wanted to maintain her lifestyle, but she will live up to the responsibilities and obligations of the marriage. However, she really didn’t think of troubling other people, even though that other person is her husband.
“Use it tomorrow. I might not have the time to pick you up tomorrow.” Su Yi Cheng states.
“I really don’t…”
“An Ran, can you give me a minute.” An Ran was still thinking of something to say, but she was interrupted by Su Yi Cheng. She can hear him speaking about something with another person beside him, but she can’t clearly hear about the details. She waited for one or two minutes, until she hears Su Yi Cheng say, “I still have some things over here, wait for me at the front door after work, I’ll pick you up. So it’ll be like that.” He hangs up after he finishes speaking, not waiting for An Ran to reply.
An Ran stares at her glowing phone, helplessly shaking her head. The marriage to this husband is more distant that she thought. Not only does she not have any control over this thing, she doesn’t even know whether this marriage is right?
Even though she doesn’t expect Su Yi Cheng to pick her up or drop her off, but according to the phone call earlier, An Ran has to punctually be at the front doors after work. Not seeing a trace of that flashy car, she raises her head in expectation. She thinks to herself, whether or not she should have a serious talk with him this evening.
As she was thinking that, a black Mercedes-Benz stops at the curb. A remarkably handsome man steps out of the car, looks at her, and calls outs, “An Ran.”
An Ran's mind is suddenly brought back to the present, and looks at the Mo Fei standing in front of her. Surprised, she couldn’t utter a response.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Errrk... What a nightmare come true... But good for An Ran, sticking up for herself. (Y) F seniority, and thank god she has a fair boss.
