"Enough!" Lu Qi slapped the table, his tone firm.
"I believe Qingqing didn't do this. There's someone else behind this sabotage."
Hearing Lu Qi's words, the restorers started shouting and complaining that he was being partial.
"Boss, this is so unfair! When we make mistakes, we get punished. Why is Xu Qingqing the exception!"
"Exactly! Don't you think your words are really disappointing, boss?"
Master Hu, who was sitting on the ground, shouted hysterically, looking like he had exposed a villain and suffered a great injustice.
"Lu Qi, you're even willing to drive me away for Xu Qingqing! Are you being fair to us old employees?"
Liu Yuanyue, standing in the corner, saw them arguing. A triumphant smile flashed across her face as she added fuel to the fire.
"Boss, the evidence is conclusive. You can't cover for her."
Liu Yuanyue looked like a righteous crusader out to eliminate evil.
"I'll say it one more time. I believe Xu Qingqing wouldn't do such a thing..."
Lu Qi repeated himself, his tone long and heavy.
Seeing the other restorers looking indignant, Xu Qingqing knew that if Lu Qi kept defending her, these guys might even quit en masse.
Xu Qingqing grabbed Lu Qi, who was about to continue defending her, and snorted.
"You all think I'm unworthy of my position, right? How about we have a competition, just to compare our restoration skills."
"If you can't beat me, you should all shut up from now on. If you win, I'll resign and leave immediately."
"Fine, let's do it!"
The team leader of the restoration group was a woman in her forties.
She was wearing a tight cheongsam with her work uniform tied around her waist. There were two jade bracelets on her arms, thicker than her fingers, as if she was afraid others wouldn't notice.
This team leader had even more reasons to dislike Xu Qingqing than the others.
She thought she was more capable and had been working in this shop for over a decade. She deserved more trust.
But the boss had taken a fancy to a young girl instead and given her all the difficult restoration jobs, leaving no chance for others to shine.
This time, she was determined to humiliate the boss!
"What shall we compete in?" Team Leader Hao raised her eyebrows and looked at Xu Qingqing, her tone full of disdain.
Xu Qingqing pointed at the storage room.
"We'll compete to see who can restore more, faster, and better antiques."
"Okay."
Team Leader Hao readily agreed. She turned around and looked at the other staff behind her. "Who wants to be on Xu Qingqing's team?"
"I'm not going. I want to be on Team Leader Hao's team!"
"Me neither. I'm used to working with Team Leader Hao."
"I have no intention of showing off, so I'll be with Team Leader Hao."
At this moment, anyone who joined Xu Qingqing's team would be seen as a traitor to the whole restoration group.
Team Leader Hao had proposed this just to humiliate Xu Qingqing.
"Xu Qingqing, you're not very popular, are you?"
Team Leader Hao curled her lips in satisfaction.
Lu Qi on the side was so angry that he was shaking. If it weren't for the fact that they were all old employees, he would have kicked them out.
Forming cliques was the last thing you wanted in the workplace. The restoration group was doing just that, isolating Xu Qingqing.
But Xu Qingqing didn't seem to care at all. She said casually,
"In that case, you all form one team, and I'll be on my own. Let the competition begin."
"Are you sure?"
Team Leader Hao thought Xu Qingqing was just being sarcastic, but she didn't expect Xu Qingqing to turn around and head straight for the storage room.
This woman was serious!
The members of the restoration group and Team Leader Hao felt insulted.
Even if Xu Qingqing had three heads and six arms, she couldn't possibly be faster than the seven of them!
She was so arrogant.
Xu Qingqing had no time to care about the others. All her attention was on the restoration work.
Lu Qi glared at the restoration group and gritted his teeth.
"You guys! Is it fun to isolate your colleague like this?"
"You'd better hope you win, or not only Xu Qingqing but also I won't let you off easily!"
At a time like this, they weren't thinking about the shop at all, only about their own interests!
But had they ever thought about why? If their skills were really that good,
why would Lu Qi be willing to pay a high price to hire Xu Qingqing instead of giving them those restoration jobs?
It was because they simply couldn't reach Xu Qingqing's level. Instead of reflecting on themselves, they were bullying their colleague.
In the past, they thought they were skilled and acted arrogantly. Lu Qi had tolerated them.
But Xu Qingqing had both skills and a good attitude, a sharp contrast to them. Lu Qi could no longer stand it.
Seeing the boss still standing by Xu Qingqing's side, some of the members of Team Leader Hao's group began to have second thoughts.
"Team Leader Hao, since Xu Qingqing has the guts to challenge all of us, maybe she really has the skills."
"Maybe we should just say it was a joke and call it off."
"Right. It's not worth making the boss unhappy over a competition."
Hearing the discouraging words from her team members, Team Leader Hao's anger burned even hotter.
"The competition has already started. It's too late to back out!"
She didn't believe that Xu Qingqing could really beat all of them.
Seeing that he had successfully stirred up trouble in the antique shop, Master Hu got up from the ground, grinned at Liu Yuanyue, and left.
That Mr. Liu hadn't lied to him. There really was someone in Lu Qi's shop who could help him teach Xu Qingqing and Lu Qi a lesson!
Liu Yuanyue smiled faintly, hiding the evil in her eyes. She greeted her colleague who was on the morning shift and said she was going home to catch up on sleep.
As soon as she left the antique shop, Liu Yuanyue couldn't wait to make a phone call.
"Hey, cousin. I've done what you asked me to do."
"Yeah, that stupid Xu Qingqing actually proposed a competition with seven restorers to see who's better at restoration. I bet she's bound to lose."
A cold smile appeared on Liu Yuanyue's face. The man on the other end of the phone said a few more words, which immediately made Liu Yuanyue beam with joy. Her excitement was hard to hide.
"Really? I'm getting promoted! Thank you, cousin, for the promotion. I'll definitely contribute to the White Lotus Sect!"
Xu Qingqing paced back and forth in the storage room full of fragments. She asked someone to use a tiny brush, only as big as a palm, to carefully clean each fragment and preserve it.
Restoring antiques was a delicate job. Even a tiny fragment that was invisible to the naked eye could affect the final result.
All these antiques had been smashed into pieces. They could only try their best to collect all the fragments.
Meanwhile, Team Leader Hao and her team members were scrambling around, trying to find fragments that belonged to the same antique.
They were chattering and arguing in the storage room.
"Put that down! That fragment is mine!"
"You're lying! The vase I'm restoring is blue, and this fragment is blue too!"
"Right. It's clearly mine. The bottom of my vase has that pattern!"
The arguing never stopped. Xu Qingqing was getting a headache, so she decided to go out and take a break.
She'd wait until they were done choosing and then go in.