"Hailey Tang," Lin Xin'er's tone sharpened, laced with unmistakable disdain, "designing a building isn't just about drawing pretty pictures. It's not enough to have ideas or talent!"
Hailey couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.
Leaning in close, she fixed Lin Xin'er with a cold glare.
"Are you doing this on purpose?"
Lin Xin'er remained unflinching, calm as ever.
"I don't understand what you're trying to say. Everything I've said is fact."
"Yeah, facts."
But the truth was—
Hailey didn't understand any of it.
Even knowing the real situation at the orphanage, she didn't know how to translate that into a design.
All she could do was draw from her imagination.
She couldn't, like Lin Xin'er, glance at a building's exterior and instantly estimate how many rooms it might hold.
She didn't know how to optimize space.
She didn't even know such things needed to be considered in the first place.
Because all she knew was how to draw houses…
No—Lin Xin'er wasn't the one doing this deliberately.
It was Ethan Yu.
He was the one deliberately setting her up.
Her face hardened.
Without another word, Hailey spun on her heel and stormed out.
Behind her, Jin Peng hesitated, uneasy.
"Team Leader, maybe you shouldn't speak to the Madam like that?"
After all, she really didn't understand anything.
Lin Xin'er's expression was icy.
"I'm just stating facts. If she doesn't understand, that's her problem."
But what puzzled her was that Hailey hadn't fought back.
Not the way she used to.
—
Hailey stormed up to the top floor, pushing open the door to Ethan Yu's office without hesitation.
He looked up, displeased.
"Hailey Tang, you're an employee now. Don't forget the basic rules."
Her anger flared.
She slammed the design drafts onto his desk.
"Ethan Yu, you know I don't know anything. I didn't even go to college. You're deliberately humiliating me, aren't you? Deliberately torturing me, right?!"
Ethan glanced at the papers with an unreadable expression.
"This is your design?"
"Yes."
"Too many problems. Aside from looking nice on the outside, it has no merits."
Hailey yanked off her employee badge and threw it on the desk beside the plans.
"Then I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore because no matter how hard I try, I can't meet your standards in such a short time."
Unless she went back to school for years.
So Ethan's demand was just setting her up to fail.
And she could never finish it.
His face darkened.
"You're already thinking of quitting because it's difficult? What about the divorce agreement?"
Hailey sneered.
"Do you think I can finish this? Ethan Yu, if you don't want to give me the divorce, just say it. No need to beat around the bush and torture me like this. You've known from the start I can't do this job."
"That's why I told you to ask questions if you don't understand!"
Hailey laughed mockingly.
"But I don't even know what to ask!"
"…"
She was done wasting words.
"I'll find another way to get that divorce. But this job? I'm not doing it."
She turned to leave.
"Stop."
Ethan's voice was low, commanding.
He stood and closed the distance between them, his presence towering.
"Hailey Tang, I'll be honest with you."
"You have no other way to get that divorce agreement except by doing this job."
"You either do it… or you never get divorced."
Hailey's fists clenched tight, fury blazing in her eyes.
"I don't believe I have no way to force you to sign the papers!"
He reached out, gripping her chin, tilting her face toward his.
His breath was dark, filled with a dangerous promise.
"What will you use to force me?"
She froze.
What could she possibly use?