Zhang Xiaoyan did what she said she would do.

She went back to the office that same afternoon and handed in her resignation, and as it happened one of the vice presidents was standing right there. He pressed her on why she was leaving. Zhang Xiaoyan hadn't wanted to say, but the man was decent enough, so she gave him a fairly roundabout account of it.

The moment the vice president heard Yang Zhiqiang's name in it, he took Zhang Xiaoyan straight to the firm's owner and had her go through the whole thing in detail. Zhang Xiaoyan gave a rough account of what had happened that day, and the owner hit the roof.

The owner may well have disliked Yang Zhiqiang for a long time already. Taking the opening, he called him then and there, laid into him from the first word to the last, and ordered him back to the office that afternoon.

Once the call was over, the owner said to Zhang Xiaoyan, "I'll deal with this, I can promise you that. I haven't signed your resignation yet. If you're certain you want to go, I'll have finance settle your wages now. If you'd rather not, then take your letter back."

Zhang Xiaoyan hadn't expected it to go this way. She hesitated for a full two minutes, and in the end she said, "Thank you, sir. But I'd still like to leave."

Zhang Xiaoyan had three reasons for going.

The first was that she had no idea what the owner would do about Yang Zhiqiang. If it turned out to be nothing more than a formal reprimand and Yang Zhiqiang stayed at the firm, he would certainly make her life difficult from then on.

The second was that she hadn't been happy working there. She hadn't gotten along with her coworkers, and the atmosphere in that office was oppressive on the whole.

The third reason, and the most important one, was that she thought Xu Ye was a good person — and at the fair that morning, Qingye Investment had been extremely popular. Putting those two things…