Je ne serai pas ta poupée

Chapitre 9

"That's too unfair!" Gao Jinze exclaimed in surprise. "You're a great feng shui master, how can you live in such a remote house? By the way... I see that your job is quite demanding, is your income low?"

Qi Qi was a little embarrassed and said evasively, "What master? Just an employee. As for the house... we can get a bigger one later..."

"I'm starting to believe in feng shui now!" Gao Jinze said, looking closely into Qi Qi's eyes.

"Why? Aren't you from MIT, where people only believe in science?" Qiqi hurriedly avoided his eyes and said.

"Because you're so smart, why do you focus solely on Feng Shui? Can you tell me how you learned Feng Shui? I always thought a girl your age wouldn't even know basic concepts like the twelve earthly branches (子午卯酉). And yet, you're a Feng Shui expert!"

Gao Jinze pressed closer and closer, and Qi Qi suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"I..." Qi Qi hesitated for a moment, then said, "I'm destined to study feng shui, there's no escaping it..."

Gao Jinze sensed that Qi Qi seemed to have something to hide, so he considerately stopped asking.

"My father told me that our Qianqiu Shanghai branch should hire a feng shui consultant. I wonder if Miss Qiqi would like to know..."

Gao Jinze stared intently at Qi Qi.

Qi Qi slowly shook her head and said, "My qualifications are insufficient to serve as a feng shui consultant for such a large enterprise as Qianqiu. However, if there is anything that President Gao's project can do with my expertise, I will definitely help."

Gao Jinze sighed with a hint of regret and said, "It's just that Qianqiu Real Estate isn't fortunate enough to have this opportunity. Manager Zhou told me that you've come up with a way to break the 'Great Void' ominous formation, which is to invite Master Juehui?"

“Master Juehui did not come to decipher the ‘Great Void’, but to deliver a Buddha statue.”

Qiqi immediately corrected herself.

Gao Jinze sighed, "Alas! I've heard that Master Juehui is famous throughout the world, especially among Shanghainese. If we invite him to pray for blessings, the homeowners will be happy."

Qiqi took his leave, saying he was going to see Master Juehui.

Gao Jinze earnestly invited her to have lunch together, but Qiqi declined, saying she had work to do back home.

Gao Jinze's face clearly showed disappointment.

Qiqi didn't want to get too close to him. After all, she was in charge of the feng shui projects for Tianyuan Apartment. She hoped that work and feelings should be kept separate and not mixed up, otherwise, neither of them would end up well.

Qi Qi didn't dislike Gao Jinze. She hoped that after this deal was completed, she could stay in touch with him and discuss anything else then.

Weiwei and Song Yu often review the feng shui knowledge they have learned by asking each other questions.

They weren't competing to see who knew more, but rather who couldn't answer more questions.

Both sides found the greatest pleasure in stumping the other.

Both individuals used the same resource when setting their questions—"A Collection of Feng Shui Case Studies."

This document was written by Qi Qi; to put it bluntly, it is a collection of Qi Qi's work reports over the past two years.

Of course, Qiqi later added some pictures and textual annotations of the corresponding feng shui practices.

Weiwei and Song Yu were very familiar with the material and knew the cause and effect of each case very well. However, the judgments Qiqi made when looking at feng shui and the methods and reasons she used to adjust feng shui were completely outside their knowledge. Therefore, they could only memorize them by rote and often made mistakes.

The two knew that Qiqi's probationary period test questions would come from this "Feng Shui Case Collection", so they would look at it whenever they had free time during and after work.

However, Weiwei was always afraid that Song Yu would find out that she was studying hard, so she was reluctant to look at him in front of him at work.

Qiqi didn't come in the morning, and she didn't come after lunch either.

Weiwei's mind was like fifteen buckets of water being drawn up and down – a state of constant anxiety.

Yesterday, Qiqi didn't scold her, but today Zhou Haisheng hid in his office as soon as he arrived at work.

This, on the contrary, made Weiwei uneasy.

She felt that she was doomed this time, and her internship at the multinational company might have to end prematurely.

Song Yu noticed this and comforted her, saying, "Don't you know what kind of person Sister Qiqi is? She wouldn't have the heart to fire you; she'll cover for you. I'm sure Manager Zhou doesn't know about this yet, otherwise he wouldn't be so calm. Also, I watched Dragon TV last night, and they didn't broadcast the news about Cai Yini's interview; they only saw a follow-up report about the compensation for Fenghe Shuiyuan."

"What if it airs today?"

Weiwei asked without much confidence.

Song Yu said helplessly, "Then you'll just have to wait and see today. I'm going to continue reviewing feng shui case studies."

Weiwei, alone, grew increasingly afraid the more she thought about it.

She didn't know how to explain it to her mother and roommates if she lost her job as well.

Just as I was feeling flustered and confused, Qiqi opened the door and came in.

Weiwei cried out as if she had seen a savior, "Sister Qiqi!"

Qi Qi didn't even glance at her, waved her off, hurriedly knocked on the door of Manager Zhou Haisheng's office, then went inside and closed the door.

Weiwei stood there, her face contorted with grief, and said, "It's over. Sister Qiqi must have gone to talk to Manager Zhou about firing me. Look, she can't even be bothered to say a word to me..."

Song Yu looked up at her, then looked down at the case again, saying, "I think Sister Qiqi has something on her mind. You shouldn't make her so anxious."

Weiwei clearly didn't believe her, shaking her head and saying, "She must be talking about me! Maybe the news at noon already aired what happened yesterday, she can't hide it anymore!"

After saying that, she walked heavily towards Song Yu, step by step.

Song Yu looked up and said, "Why do you look like a female martyr going to the execution ground? Your expression is too solemn."

Weiwei, seemingly having made a great decision, said, "Song Yu, do you think I should offer my resignation when Qiqi comes out later?"

Song Yu was surprised.

Weiwei gritted her teeth, seemingly talking to herself, "I've traveled all over the country and never been driven by anyone!"

Song Yu was even more surprised: "What about your previous jobs—"

Weiwei suddenly became smug: "If I see the boss is going to fire me, I'll quit on my own! Otherwise, I'll lose face. They want to fire me? No way!"

Song Yu remained silent.

Weiwei seemed to have made up her mind, stopped talking to him, and sat back in her cubicle with her head held high.

However, Qiqi never came out.

Weiwei's courage to resign was gradually fading away with time.

Zhou Haisheng simply shut down the stock trading software.

"Not even 100,000? Master Juehui's demands are way too high!"

Zhou Haisheng said unhappily.

Qi Qi immediately explained, "I'm afraid it's not a matter of money... Master Juehui means that he doesn't want to get involved in the real estate developments in the Fenghe Shuiyuan area."

Zhou Haisheng, holding a teacup, stood up and paced around the manager's office.

“We won’t even give Vice President Shang face… But if we tell Vice President Shang about this, he will blame us for not handling things well, not for not having a good relationship with Master Juehui.”

Zhou Haisheng analyzed with difficulty.

Qi Qi, however, understood that he was subtly criticizing her for her incompetence in handling the matter and for failing to invite Master Juehui.

So Qiqi said, "Let's not talk to Vice President Shang yet, let's think of another way. After all, Tianyuan Apartment won't go bankrupt right away."

Zhou Haisheng immediately agreed: "Okay, then you go and find a way, as soon as possible."

Qiqi knew this was how things would end; Zhou Haisheng wouldn't offer her any advice, and she would have to bear everything herself.

As soon as she stepped out of the manager's office, Weiwei stood up abruptly and walked straight towards her.

"Manager Yang—"

Qiqi only remembers being called Weiwei once, on her first day at work.

Qiqi felt very uncomfortable at the time, so she and Song Yu started calling her by her name.

Of course, Song Yu and Weiwei sometimes called her "Sister Qiqi" and sometimes "Supervisor Qiqi," but they never called her by her own surname again.

Weiwei's eyes sparkled, and she seemed a little excited.

Qiqi didn't know what she wanted to say, but she knew she didn't have time to listen to her nonsense right now.

Then, pointing to Weiwei's seat, he said, "Keep memorizing the case studies. The exam is next Wednesday. We can talk when I get back!"

Weiwei was taken aback. She tried her best to suppress her surprise, covered her mouth, and hunched over, like a cat that had just finished eating fish, she slipped back to her cubicle.

Qi Qi didn't have time to look at her strange behavior and went straight out of the Suzaku Department office.

Qiqi went to find Tianxin.

Qiqi is reluctant to seek out Tianxin unless absolutely necessary. Because once she goes, she often finds herself unable to escape.

Tianxin has a leisurely job and has worked at the company for over ten years, with more seniority than the boss. She gets bored every day and just wants to chat with someone. Once she finds someone, she won't let go until the other person's eyes are lifeless and she herself is foaming at the mouth.

Qiqi couldn't understand why she loved gossip so much. She knew everything about her family, from ancient times to the present, from the hometown of the mistress of the boss next door to the home of the security guard at the gate, and even how many acres of land her family owned.

What Qiqi most wanted to know was what she didn't know.

Before Qiqi could even step into Tianxin's archives, Tianxin called out loudly, "Qiqi, I was just about to look for you! I found out who did the feng shui planning for Tianyuan Apartments!"

Qi Qi, unfazed by such occurrences, sat down first and then gestured for her to sit down as well.

"It really is that Director Xu!"

"Are you guessing, or do you have a reliable source?"

Qiqi asked directly.

Tien-hsin avoided answering, munching on a bottle of melon seeds from Laiyifen, and instead asked, "Do you know that there's a Japanese sect called 'Nine Chrysanthemum School'? They're really good at feng shui and magic, right?"

Qiqi said, "Of course I know. Isn't that 'world's tallest building' in Lujiazui across the Bund a masterpiece of the Jiuju faction?"

Tianxin nodded repeatedly, fed a few more salted grapes into her mouth, and handed the grape jar to Qiqi. Qiqi reluctantly took one, as she didn't really like snacks, especially dried fruit.

Tianxin said, "The original design of that building was two military swords picking up the sun, how ruthless! It was like cutting open the belly of a Chinese fish and picking it up to die in the sun! Fortunately, our New York headquarters stepped in and joined forces with the five arts circles at home and abroad to advise us, which forced the Japanese to change the design... Hey, Qiqi, tell me, what does the current 'world's tallest building' look like?"

Qiqi recalled the strange shape of the upper part of the tallest building, which was hollowed out in a square shape, and asked, still not quite understanding, "What does it look like?"

Tianxin popped a handful of amber-colored peach kernels into her mouth, giggled, and mumbled, "A bottle opener!"

Qi Qi chuckled to herself.

Tianxin had already picked up a bag of Amin dried apricots, torn it open, and poured some into Qiqi and the others. She then smacked her lips and sighed, saying, "We Shanghainese just love to eat. So first we built the Oriental Pearl Tower, which looks like a candied hawthorn skewer; then we built the Jin Mao Tower, which looks like chopsticks; and finally, we built the world's tallest building, which looks like a bottle opener..."

Qiqi laughed loudly.

After laughing, he said, "Go ahead and gossip, there's nothing you can't find out. I'm asking you about that director surnamed Xu..."

Tianxin stopped chewing, made two "oh" sounds, and said, "Oh right, I almost went off-topic. That Director Xu, his name is Xu Qin, is an expert in feng shui and sorcery. He likes to take unconventional approaches. Later, he offended many people in the Shanghai real estate industry and couldn't make it there, so he went to Guangzhou and met Gao Jinze's father. Gao Jinze's father had made some money in foreign trade at the time, and under Xu Qin's encouragement, he entered the real estate industry. As a result, the two of them had a smooth ride and their business grew bigger and bigger..."

"Stop, stop, stop, Sister Tianxin, I don't want to know Xu Qin's rise to wealth—just tell me—is Xu Qin the feng shui designer of Tianyuan Apartments—"