Chapter 557 - The Face-Slapping Continues!
Chapter 557 The Face-Slapping Continues!
When Nora heard this, she countered with a question of her own: “Why not?”
Damon didn’t believe her at first. “How can that be?! Captain Johnson has already invited Q to join the team so many times, but Q didn’t respond at all. Besides, because you are so cold and distant, Ruth said that your status among the Smiths may not be very high, so maybe you can’t assign tasks to Q. Because of that, she told us not to give you any trouble… Therefore, it is impossible for Q to have fixed it!”
Her status wasn’t high among the Smiths? She wouldn’t be able to get Q to do something for her?
Nora looked at Ruth again.
Ruth stood where she was uneasily and immediately said, “Damon, those are just my private speculations. Don’t word it so bluntly.”
She felt really embarrassed.
Damon actually hadn’t been resentful toward Nora initially the day before. It was under Ruth’s purposeful guidance that he had slowly become brainwashed and felt that working for the special department was an honor and that it was every citizen’s duty to serve the special department!
This had led to him becoming resentful toward Nora. He had said, “I am going to talk to her tomorrow. Even someone like you, who has just returned from abroad, is dedicated to the country and the homeland. As the young lady of the Smiths, she comes from an even better family background than you and enjoys an even higher social status, so why doesn’t she have a sense of responsibility?”
His words had displeased Ruth.
She sighed and replied, “Everyone has their own difficulties. Interpersonal relationships among the wealthy are also complex. Some people don’t hold any work positions in their families. Even though they say that they are from rich families, they just look a bit more glamorous on the surface, that’s all. Who knows what it’s like for them in private…” Damon had understood what she meant at once. He said, “You mean Nora’s status among the Smiths may not be high enough? But isn’t she the only daughter of the previous head of the Smiths? The current head of the family is the previous head’s nephew, you know!”
Ruth smiled and looked at him. “There you go. The current head of the family is the previous head’s nephew. This means that they aren’t real siblings…”
Damon immediately felt like he had understood something. He nodded and said, “I get it now.”
That was how it had led to the conversation just now.
After Ruth made that ambiguous statement, Damon went on. “At first, I’d thought that you must be quite pitiful at home, so I didn’t ask you for help anymore. Neither have I ever forced you to make any contribution to the special department. But for you to make things difficult for Ruth when you haven’t even done anything for the department… You’re too much! Are you upset that she managed to get Y to help?”
As Nora listened to him prattle on, she kept her head down and continued to use her phone, ignoring him.
She had always been someone who preferred to let her actions speak for themselves.
Meanwhile, Damon was still complaining. “I have always liked Q and Y, the two of them are every programmer’s idols. I also believe that Q is a patriotic person, it’s just that you have never been willing to convey our messages to him, that’s all! Never mind that you aren’t introducing him to the team, but how can you still be jealous of other people?”
II
11
He was really noisy.
Nora became even more annoyed. She pressed the Enter key on the phone.
Then, she raised her head.
Next to them, Ruth had already slowly opened her mouth. She said, “Don’t say any more, Damon. Everyone has their own lifestyle, we mustn’t impose our own standards on others. Being strict with ourselves and being lenient with others is the best quality one can have.”
She spoke patiently and used her words methodically to guide everyone’s thoughts. On top of that, her voice was sweet and pleasant, and she even had two dimples on her face when she smiled.
This immediately made everyone around them find Ruth even more approachable.
The contrast between the two women was simply too strong.
At this moment, Johnson and Morris also came over.
Seeing the group of them there, Johnson frowned and asked, “What are all of you gathering around here for?! Slacking off?”
“No…” Damon walked over and quickly explained what had happened.
Ruth hurriedly tried to get Nora off the hook again. She said, “Captain Johnson, Captain Ford, don’t hold it against Ms. Smith. She must have her own difficulties too…”
Johnson sneered, his eyes sweeping over Nora. He looked at Morris and said, “Morris, even though you are now the acting director, I still have a better eye for people than you! Even the person you picked trying to bring special talents into the department is so irresponsible. In this respect, you still have lots more to learn from me!”
Then, he looked at Ruth and Nora. “Capabilities and so on are secondary for people specially recruited into the special department. What matters the most is, ultimately, still one’s character! After all, this is a special department!”
Morris frowned. He wasn’t very convinced.
Previously, it was because Nora had gotten a hacker to help them out that they had managed to identify the hotel that Trueman was staying at.
Later, it was only after word, that Q was working for the Smiths, had gotten out that all of them had speculated that Q was the hacker that Nora had approached. Nora might seem like a cold person all the time, but when he thought of how she had fought the people at the martial arts tournament and the boxing champion one-on-one after Quentin met with harm…
She was a loyal person who stood up for her friends and family.
If she really hadn’t helped, then there could only be one reason why-Damon had upset her.
But… whether to help or not was an individual’s own decision in the first place.
Morris lowered his head and said, “I don’t think we should claim the moral high ground to guilt-trip others.”
Johnson immediately reprimanded him. “What do you mean by claiming the moral high ground? You youngsters come up with all sorts of reasonings and use an endless string of different terms. Back in our era, all we had was a passion for the department! If everyone stands back whenever something happens, how bleak would society become?!”.
He didn’t hold back at all when he reprimanded Morris and didn’t show the respect that he should be to the acting director.
He was deliberately taking Morris down a notch in front of everyone.
He wanted everyone to know that even though Morris was the acting director of the special department, he still had the final say when it came to seniority!
His words made Morris frown.
It didn’t matter that he was reprimanded, but if Nora was the one being reprimanded…
He was about to say something when someone from the IT department suddenly ran over and shouted, “Damon, Damon! This is terrible!”
Damon was taken aback. Everyone turned around in unison and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The man gasped for breath and replied, “Our network was hacked into again a moment ago. The other party has sent us a message.”
Damon asked, “What did they say?”
“I am Q, not Y.”
Damon: “??!”
Everyone: “??”
Stunned by the news, everyone looked at Nora, only to see her standing there calmly… If she told them that she had asked Q to help, the group of them would definitely continue to whine. Thus, she had decided that she would just use her actions to prove it instead.
She didn’t give much of an explanation, but Brenda stepped forward and said, “I get it now! It’s you who got Q to help, Nora!”
Everyone looked at her in unison. Brenda explained, “When we were tracking Trueman the other time, Damon wasn’t skilled enough to do it. It was the hacker whom Nora had approached who pinpointed the hotel as his location! That hacker must have been Q. right? The person who fixed the network bug for us free of charge last night was also Q!”
1111
The whole corridor fell silent.
Damon’s eyes widened and he looked at Nora in surprise. “Were you really the one who helped us?”
Then, he turned back to Ruth in confusion. “But didn’t you say that it was you who got Y to help?”
Ruth clenched her fists.
She hadn’t expected things to turn around this way!
However, she’d already thought that this might happen when she falsely claimed the credit, so she managed to remain calm and composed. She even acted surprised and said, “Y said he would help, though! Wasn’t it Y who did it?”
After speaking, she deliberately took out her cell phone and took a look. “I’ll ask him.”
She went to the side and sent a message.
Brenda, however, launched straight into mockery mode. She said, “Oh my, is there still a need to ask, though?! What’s this? Are you already starting to steal other people’s credit when you’ve only just joined the special department?”
Then, she pretended to reprimand Nora. “And you too, Nora! Why are you so silly?! In the future, remember to leave your name behind after you do good deeds, get it?
“Those who understand you all know that, even though you look like a cold person, you’re actually very enthusiastic deep down. You obviously did the IT department a big favor last night, yet you had to suffer all these ridiculous accusations after coming to the office today! It’s too much!”
Every word of hers was like a knife that stabbed right at all the people who had condemned Nora just now.
They were all straightforward men. Knowing that they had misunderstood her, some of them immediately apologized. “Sorry about that, Nora! We really didn’t know…”
“Yeah. What’s going on, though? Ruth claimed the credit for herself just like that. It’s only because we misunderstood that we…”
“Why did Ruth claim false credit for it, though?”
While everyone was talking about it, Ruth returned. With a guilty look on her face, she immediately said, “I’m sorry, everyone! It was a misunderstanding on my part! After so long, it turns out that it was a misunderstanding!”
After speaking, she handed her cell phone to Damon.
Displayed on the screen was her chat history with Y on Messenger.
Ruth: ‘Wasn’t it you who helped us fix the network bug last night?’
Y: ‘No. When I infiltrated the system after agreeing to help, I found that the bug had already been fixed, but I forgot to tell you about it.’
Ruth sighed and said, “Y has always been unsociable and eccentric, and he rarely speaks. He didn’t inform me about it. Moreover, the moment I arrived at the office today, Damon said that the bug had been fixed, so I assumed it was Y… Ms. Smith, I formally apologize for what I said just now! You should still speak up if something happens again next time, though The department is full of men, so their thoughts are all very straightforward. They won’t get it if you don’t say anything.”
Tsk.
She was accusing Nora of not being genuine enough now.
Nora looked at her and asked, “Are you very familiar with Y?”
To think she even had him on her Messenger!
Even she didn’t have Y as a contact on Messenger. The chat window in the Hacker Alliance was her only way of contacting Y!
Ruth was too much!
The rest, however, felt enlightened. “I knew it, it’s just a misunderstanding!”
Elsewhere, Brenda, who had already walked out of the crowd, stared at Ruth.
At this moment, her cell phone suddenly beeped.
She looked down and saw a message from Justin: ‘Have you asked her? Why is Nora ignoring me?’
Brenda took out her cell phone and sent Justin an audio message: “It’s all y’s fault, Justin. If I were Nora, I would also be really mad! Someone named Ruth, who joined the department recently, said that she’s friends with Y and embarrassed Nora! Quick, go and ask him why he has a friend like that!”
Justin: “?”
To think that was why Nora was angry! In that case, he would have to explain things properly to the public!