After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

"I really don't know why you're so familiar with my project proposal."

Anning took out a lipstick and looked at Li Hui, "But I'm sure you gave me the lipstick so I could go to the bathroom to touch up my makeup, just to create an opportunity to switch it out."

Li Hui's expression suddenly changed, her eyes filled with astonishment, "Lipstick?"

She quickly snatched the lipstick from Anning's hand. "This is my lipstick. How did it end up with you?"

As if she suddenly understood, she laughed, "I know, Sister Anning, you deliberately stole my lipstick so you could turn the tables on me. I kept calling you Sister Anning, but I never expected you to be so cunning."

As Li Hui spoke, her eyes reddened. "I know you need a job, and you're afraid I'll take your job opportunity away, but Anning, you can find another job. How can you live with yourself doing something so slanderous?"

An Ning never expected Li Hui to be able to argue to this extent.

"This project proposal was originally mine! You're plagiarizing my work!"

Li Hui's words were flawless, and Sun Liangying felt humiliated in front of the two CEOs of Ou Teng. Her face darkened. "An Ning! It's one thing for you to lose face, but do you want Hao Wei to lose face with you too?! What makes you think Li Hui would steal your project proposal without any evidence?!"

Listening to their argument, Liang Xu flipped through Li Hui's project proposals. None of these proposals were signed, making it difficult to prove who stole from whom.

The man in the main seat, who had been indifferent, suddenly spoke up, "Manager Sun, I don't think our time at Ou Teng is for watching your company put on a show."

Lu Xiyan stood up, his tone slightly flippant, "We can discuss the project cooperation another day. I suggest your company resolve its internal conflicts first."

His refusal to cooperate was obvious, but the cooperation that was about to be finalized was about to fall through. How could Sun Liangying be willing to let the project fall apart because of a newcomer who hadn't even started working yet?

Seeing that Lu Xiyan was about to leave, Sun Liangying quickly intervened, "President Lu, An Ning hasn't joined Haowei yet, she's not an employee of Haowei, and someone with that kind of character wouldn't be considered for a position at Haowei. So what she just said doesn't represent any Haowei employee. Our cooperation can still be discussed."

An Ning's face turned pale, and her body trembled uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that Sun Liangying would reject her before even understanding the truth of the matter.

She saw the smug look in Li Hui's eyes.

Anning was unwilling to accept that her work was stolen to obtain a high-paying job and that she was branded a slanderer!

The people from the Auten Group gradually stood up and prepared to leave.

An Ning watched as the tall figure almost reached the door. Just as he was about to step out, she clenched her fists tightly and said loudly, "Mr. Lu! I can prove that the project proposal is mine!"

When Anning shouted those words, she was almost trembling all over.

The man at the door paused upon hearing this, then turned around two seconds later, his icy gaze meeting her reddened eyes.

He asked in a cold voice, enunciating each word clearly, "How can you prove it?"

Without a signature or evidence, how can she prove it?

Li Hui thought it over in her mind, but An Ning had no evidence to prove her innocence!

An Ning met his gaze for a second before quickly looking away.

She lowered her eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "I've underlined the important parts of my project proposal in black pen."

Upon hearing this, Li Hui's lips curled up slightly. What kind of proof is this?

But the man's eyes were waiting for her to continue.

Anning's heart was pounding. "The pen I use is specially made. There are tiny fluorescent particles in the pen marks. If you look at it with a magnifying glass, you can see two letters—AN, my name."

Everyone was stunned by these words.

Her handwriting is surprisingly profound and mysterious.

Assistant Jiang Yao hurriedly went out to get a magnifying glass.

Liang Xu frowned slightly and glanced at Lu Xiyan. The closer they were, the colder the aura emanating from him seemed to deepen.

Lu Xiyan slowly clenched his fist in his pocket, his brow twitching almost imperceptibly.

"How could there possibly be a name in the handwriting?" Sun Liangying dismissed her as making it up. "Anning, are you out of your mind?"

Li Hui didn't believe it either. "Sister Anning, you can't just make things up to ruin my job."

"This pen was specially made in Italy." An Ning looked at Li Hui. "Whether I made it up or not, you'll know once you see it."

At this point, a senior executive from the Auten Group spoke up, "I have indeed heard of this highly creative pen, but I've heard that it's very expensive to have it custom-made."

The other person sized up An Ning, seemingly certain from her attire that she couldn't afford a custom-made pen, and asked, "Miss An, how did you come to possess this pen?"

It sounded like a normal question, but given Li Hui's earlier accusation that she had stolen the lipstick, An Ning felt as if the pen was of dubious origin.

"The pen's origins seem unrelated to today's events, don't they?"

An Ning's voice was soft but neither humble nor arrogant: "The most important thing now is to verify whether what I just said is true."

"It wasn't stolen either, was it?" the man at the door said with a hint of sarcasm.

An Ning suddenly looked over and met the man's flirtatious gaze.

In his eyes, there was disdain and sarcasm.

An Ning's face paled for a moment, and even her rosy lips lost some of their color.

She suddenly chuckled softly, "Mr. Lu, you're overthinking it. It was a gift from my ex-husband."

Their eyes met, and a subtle, almost imperceptible, brooding look flashed in Lu Xiyan's deep gaze. His hand, hidden in his pocket, clenched into a fist, his bony ring turning white, but his cold, handsome face remained calm and composed.

At this moment, assistant Jiang Yao brought over a magnifying glass and immediately opened the project document to look at the underlined areas.

"President Lu! President Liang! There really are fluorescent lights and letters!"

Jiang Yao shouted in surprise, and many people rushed to see what was happening.

Liang Xu turned his head to look at An Ning, then looked at Lu Xiyan.

Of course he knew whether it was fluorescent light or letters.

Because that special pen was a gift from Lu Xiyan to An Ning back then.

He almost broke his leg while racing, and used the prize money he won to specially order it for her.

He took a deep breath; these two were truly destined to be enemies.

Across the noisy and chattering crowd, two pairs of eyes met in mid-air.

His eyes held too many emotions that An Ning couldn't understand, causing her heart to ache. She was the first to look away, turning her gaze to the side, her eyes reddening.

Li Hui was still trying her best to defend herself, but Sun Liangying's face darkened.

In the end, it turned out that the project proposal awarded to the Auten Group was indeed for Anning.

Hearing the truth announced felt like a wronged criminal being given the chance to be exposed. Anning was filled with resentment and turned to run away.

......

In the dimly lit stairwell, An Ning took deep breaths, tilting her slender neck back to force back the tears that were about to fall.

Someone once told her that tears are useless.

But some people told her that her tears were the weapon he couldn't resist.

Anning leaned against the stair railing, clutching her pounding heart and breathing heavily.

Suddenly, the half-closed stairwell door was pushed open, and a tall, slender figure walked in.

An Ning suddenly stopped breathing.