C18

Chi Tianche stopped mid-sentence, deliberately leaving Qiao Lishan to figure it out on her own. Lishan froze, thinking to herself, "I'm almost thirty, and I can't outsmart this kid in his early twenties?"

With a cold chuckle in her heart, she slowly replied, "Alright, I got it." Without waiting for Tianche to respond, she hurriedly jumped out of the car, grabbed her bag, and left the underground parking garage.

As she walked out, she noticed her lips were swollen from Tianche's kiss. Her expression changed, and she cursed him under her breath, wiping her lips vigorously, which only made them redder. Damn it! That sly fox Tianche was too cunning!

With that thought, Lishan quickened her pace, imagining the asphalt as Tianche's face and stomping on it as she angrily made her way to a nearby pharmacy.

"I need a disposable mask and... some birth control pills," Lishan muttered, keeping her head down and pretending to examine the medicines on the counter, her voice barely above a whisper, hoping no one would recognize her.

The pharmacist, seemingly unfazed, asked coolly, "Do you need the 24-hour emergency kind or the regular birth control pills?" Birth control pills come in so many types?

Lishan checked the time and realized she might have missed the window for emergency contraception.

"I'll take the regular kind."

"Sixty-eight dollars a box. Cash or card?" The woman behind the counter grabbed a box and tossed it onto the counter.

"Cash." Lishan paid, quickly put on a mask, stuffed the medication into her backpack, and quietly left the pharmacy.

She headed to a nearby café, bought a cup of coffee, and swallowed the pill with it. As the medicine settled in her stomach, she finally felt a sense of relief.

She absolutely couldn't afford to get pregnant right now, nor could she get too entangled with Tianche, as it would derail her plans for revenge.

Staring at her flat stomach, a fierce determination flashed in Lishan's eyes. In her previous life, she never even had the chance to get pregnant. Because of Tian'ai, Jinxi never touched her, leaving her in a loveless marriage for three years. She intended to repay every bit of that injustice.

Discarding her coffee cup, Lishan walked into the office and overheard hushed whispers.

"Is it her?"

"It must be her, the one who got in through connections, the eldest daughter of the Qiao family."

"What Qiao family heiress? She's downright malicious! She even misunderstood Ms. Mu. If the news hadn't come out, she might have bullied us too!"

"What news?" Lishan approached, towering over the employee sitting across from her.

The employee's expression shifted, the arrogance from moments ago fading significantly. "Yeah, it's the company's own forum. There's stuff about you on there. I was just curious."

Just curious, yet quick to point fingers.

People like this are probably keyboard warriors online too.

Lishan smiled. "Thanks for the heads-up. But if you want me to come down on you, that's not out of the question. Yesterday's report had five mistakes, including a typo. If you make such basic errors again, you're out."

As soon as she finished speaking, several onlookers quickly retreated, not wanting to get on Lishan's bad side and cause unnecessary trouble for themselves.

Lishan turned her attention back to the department manager and quietly asked, "Could you send me an invite code for the company forum?"

Without hesitation, the department manager sent it to her.