This chapter opens with a conversation between yan, the manager of the company, and his secretary xia. yan asks xia why she has been promoted to the position of personal secretary for lian. xia tells yan that she is a capable worker and that she likes the quiet atmosphere at the company. She also tells him that xia is disliked by the other women in the company because she does not fawn over yan as much as she does over the other secretaries. .