After failing to retort several times, Zhao Youxi’s face had turned red in rage. She raised her hand and tried to slap her.
But Zhao Youlin seemed to have expected she would do this. Her face grew stern. She locked Zhao Youxi’s wrist, dragged her forward and pinned her down on the desk.
With a thud, Zhao Youxi collapsed directly on the table when she was dragged forward by Zhao Youxi. Her stomach that hit the desk directly hurt so much that she let out a muffled grunt.
Grimacing, she raised her head and was about to curse, only to find that Zhao Youlin’s face was just a few centimeters away from her own. Her hands were being locked. She was unable to move.
“What? You’re trying to slap me because you’re mad and desperate? Zhao Youxi, I’ve never seen anyone who likes to make a fool of herself more than you and Zhao Yifei. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet? This face of yours, looks like you don’t really want it anymore, is that right?” Zhao Youlin said while gently tracing the outline of Zhao Youxi’s face with her fingertips, successfully causing Zhao Youxi to break out in a cold sweat and even her body unconsciously cowered backward a little.
“What…What are you trying to do? I’m telling you, if you dare to hurt me, my dad and my mom won’t let you off!”
Zhao Youlin chuckled as if she was laughing at Zhao Youxi’s untimely naivety. “Someone who only cowers behind her parents’ back when things go wrong is just an immature kid. With my current status, even if I really did something to you, what do you think your dad and your mom could do to me?”
Zhao Youxi’s face was slightly pale. She bit her lips tightly, wanting to refute, but she realized that what Zhao Youlin said was true. For a second there, she could not find any word to refute her assertion.
Zhao Youlin could see the trepidation in Zhao Youxi’s eyes. The corners of her lips curled. She lowered her body a little to admire Zhao Youxi’s fear at a closer distance. With an undisguised mockery, she said, “There are just some people in the world who feel too good about themselves. She doesn’t even have a clue about a lot of things, yet she still tried to force those around her to accommodate and give in to her. When things don’t go the way she wants, she would do something crazy, like killing someone. Am I right?”
Upon hearing that, Zhao Youxi was shaking internally and her face paled. A trace of guilt emerged under her eyes, which were glaring at Zhao Youxi. Her gaze subconsciously shifted away to avert Zhao Youlin’s eyes.
“What…What are you talking about? I don’t understand anything of what you’re saying.”
“You don’t?” Zhao Youlin’s smile grew brighter. She may still have had some doubts at first, but right then, Zhao Youxi’s instinctive reaction had let her confirm the truth of this matter.
“It’s only been a few days, and you’ve forgotten everything. Should I say you are forgetful? Or should I say you simply have no regard to human life?”
Seeing that Zhao Youxi’s expression was getting more ghastly, the coldness beneath Zhao Youlin’s eyes also became more obvious. “Since you’re so forgetful, Vice Manager, I shall kindly remind you of the incident a few days ago when the general manager’s exclusive elevator suddenly malfunctioned and fell down from the fortieth floor. Do you still remember that, Vice Manager?”
Zhao Youxi’s body shivered uncontrollably, but she forced herself to stay calm on the outside. “Of course I remember, but what does that have to do with me?”
“It’s been two weeks only since I took over the position as general manager. I only used that elevator a few times. Besides, elevators in our company are maintained and inspected every week, especially those exclusive elevators, which are basically inspected every two or three days. If there are no accidents, they will never fatally malfunction like this.”
“You said it yourself, if there are no accidents. Who knows if that elevator is in disrepair, the machine inside has long been broken. It just happened to malfunction when you took it, it’s just a matter of luck. Don’t try to make an issue of something like this.”
“You know very well whether I’m making an issue out of this or not! An elevator is usually supported by four to five cables. Take my elevator, for example, there are a total of five cables, any one of them can support the elevator for going up and down. Even if four cables have issues and snap, the remaining one is able to get me to the top safely, while those cables that go wrong would surely be found within the next two or three days by the inspection department and be repaired. But on that day, all five cables snapped at the same time. Don’t you think it’s too much of a coincidence?”
“What’s so coincidental about it? There are so many accidents happening in the world every day. Yours was just one of them. You’re just being paranoid.”
“Then what about the smooth and neat incision that we found on the cable?” Zhao Youlin narrowed her eyes and looked coldly at Zhao Youxi, who was struggling in desperation. “If it really was an accident, the cables of the elevator snapped by accident, there should be strands of filament on the snapped cables. But…there wasn’t any. There wasn’t any sign of filaments on the five cables, instead, the cables were bizarrely neat, like it was…corroded by something.”
Zhao Youxi’s expression changed slightly and her eyes flickered for a moment, but she quickly recovered herself. She put on a calm face and said, “Even if… Even if it’s true that someone was messing with you on purpose and wanted to kill you, what makes you think that I did it? I’m not the only one you’ve offended. Maybe it’s some guy who doesn’t like you and wants to teach you a lesson. Why would you blame it on me?”
The more Zhao Youxi said, the more confident she was. She seemed to believe in the certainty that she had destroyed all evidence, and Zhao Youlin was just trying to bluff her.
With this in mind, Zhao Youxi’s spine, which had been bent because of her guilt, straightened up as she said aggressively, “You need evidence to arrest me. Do you want to convict me just based on your words? That’s ridiculous! If you keep talking nonsense like this, I’ll sue you for slander. If you want to mess with me, I’ll mess with you too!”
Hearing that Zhao Youxi was chopping logic to defend herself, Zhao Youlin sneered. “I see that you really prefer to learn your lesson the hard way. I wonder if you still have the nerve to be so bold after you see this.”
Before Zhao Youxi could figure out what Zhao Youlin was talking about, she was terrified by the thing Zhao Youlin took out from her pocket.
“Vice Manager, do you recognize this?” Zhao Youlin wickedly waved the glass bottle in her hand in front of Zhao Youxi, as she expected, she saw that Zhao Youxi’s face paled instantly.
“Of course…Of course I don’t. It’s such a dirty thing, where did you get it from? It’s disgusting.”
“You don’t? How come your fingerprints are on it when you don’t recognize it? This is so strange.” Zhao Youlin held Zhao Youxi down with strong force as she presented the glass bottle before Zhao Youxi. She said playfully, “My secretary has had this stuff tested. It said that it’s the most terrible kind of superacid these days. By putting a few drops of this on the cables, very soon, the cables would be corroded until there is nothing left, and the elevator would plummet instantly from the high altitude and break to pieces, together with the people inside.”
Zhao Youlin exaggeratedly described the horror of the object in her hand to Zhao Youxi. Then, she changed the subject and said, “This object can easily pierce a hole even in steel and concrete. If it accidentally spills out and drips on your beautiful face, what do you think the result will be? Vice Manager, can you imagine it?”
