Goddess of Strength and Speed (VI)

"Our ten-minute break is almost up," Jingyi stated, gazing at his watch, "We have about three minutes left."

Lai, Na, and Zhenya stood up. They did a few stretches and mentally readied themselves for the remaining events.

As Lai stretched her slender arms to her right, she saw Chi-Chi approach her.

"Hi!" the woman cheerily greeted, waving her hand.

"Oh, hi."

Chi-Chi smiled and pointed in the direction of Bai.

"I was told by Mr. Ying he wanted to see you," she informed Lai.

Na and Zhenya exchanged glances while Lai nodded - turning to her teammates.

"I'll be right back," she told them.

"Oh, yeah," Na nodded, "Don't worry and take your time. The next event is archery. Lingxin is doing that."

"If you'll excuse me," Lai glanced in her boss's direction, wondering what he wanted to tell her.

Was she needed for an urgent meeting? Or did something critical come up that needed their attention?

Questions raced through her mind as she walked toward him. He stood up as soon as she passed some chairs before standing in front of him.

"I was told you needed me, Mr. Ying," she said, hands clasped in front of her.

Bai cleared his throat, and Min watched in amusement, hiding his amused smile.

"Oh, yes," Bai said, "It seems like there was an altercation with Fan Qing and your team."

"Oh, about that..." Lai pressed her lips together.

'Ah, so that's what this is about,' she thought, 'Well, I better clear this up quickly. I don't want to cause any trouble or animosity - although there already is- between the Finance and Sales Departments.'

She placed her hands in front of her body, dismissively waving them.

"No, no," she smiled, "We just had a misunderstanding. It was nothing, really."

Bai raised his eyebrow.

"Are you sure?"

Lai nodded vigorously.

"It really is nothing, Mr. Ying," she assured him.

"Okay, everyone!" Chi-Chi began as she held the microphone in her hand while some employees brought in the items for the archery event.

Lai turned her head to the side as she watched Chi-Chi speak, her hands lingering in the air.

"It's time for the next event!"

Lai turned to Bai and bowed.

"If there is nothing else, sir," she softly spoke, "I better get going. The next event is about to start."

He crossed his arms and nodded.

"Very well."

With that, Lai smiled and bowed at him and Min, then walked back to her teammates. Bai's unmoving gaze was fixed on her.

Min cleared his throat, causing him to snap out of his daze. He sat down next to Min, who gave him a sly smile.

"What?" Bai asked, widening his eyes.

"Jealousy is really something, ain't it?" Min pat Bai's shoulder.

"I'm not jealous," Bai immediately refuted, scoffing.

"Yes, yes," Min chuckled, "If you say so."

Lai met up with her teammates. Na gently nudged her side.

"What did the devil want from you?" she asked Lai, whose eye's widened at her calling Bai the devil.

Jingyi seemed to notice that Lai was shocked by Na's name-calling and shook his head.

"Don't worry," he told Lai, "Na and Mr. Ying go way back. They are childhood friends. She's the only one that can get away with calling him the devil."

"Though, I'm not sure 'friends' is a good term," Na instantly added, "We're more like Tom and Jerry."

Lingxin had already gone to grab a bow and arrow.

"Who is Tom, and who is Jerry?" Zhenya wondered, tugging loose strands of her hair.

Na laughed and placed her hand on Zhenya's shoulder.

"Isn't it obvious?" she told Zhenya, " I'm Jerry since I'm way smarter and cunning, but don't tell him that. He'll bite my head off."

Na whispered the last part, earning a chuckle from Lai and Zhenya. Lai and Jingyi watched as the employees held their bows and arrows.

"We'll have one individual participate at a time. The one with the most points within five rounds wins!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, "The first participant will be from the Operations Department."

A female employee from the department stepped forward. She focused her dark brown eyes on her target and pulled back the arrow, letting go once she was sure her aim was precise and ready.

The first arrow hit the 9-point zone on the target.

"Wow!" the crowd of employees cheered for her.

The remainder of her arrows hit the 7th, 8th, 8th, and 9th points on the target.

"An impressive start from the Operations Department," Chi-Chi cheered, "with an overall score of forty-one points!"

The Operations Department cheered loudly, clapping their hands at their teammate's impressive score. Zhenya looked at Lai, her shoulders slumped.

"Forty-one points," she sighed, "How can we beat that?"

"Everyone knows Qin Wia from the Operations Department is great at archery. Even the Finance Department fears her," Jingyi added.

Na whined loudly, nearly giving Lai a mini heart attack.

"We're doomed here," Na pouted, "Lingxin is great and all, but no one can beat Qin Wia."

Lai titled her head to the side and crossed her arms as it was time for the Finance Department.

'Maybe we will be surprised,' she thought.

A female employee from the Finance department stepped forward, pulling back her bow and letting the arrows shoot through the air and towards her target.

The employee had fiery red hair with ocean blue eyes.

"Wow. She looks like a Disney princess," one male employee told his colleague.

"So elegant," a female employee mumbled in awe.

Lai couldn't agree more. The employee really did look like an elegant Disney princess who was out hunting. To everyone's amazement, the employee managed to beat the Operation Department's score by one point.

This surprised the employee herself as she twirled around happily, placing her bow and arrow back where she had taken them.

"Oh, great," Jingyi mumbled, sighing, "Now we need to have more than forty-two points to be first."

The other departments managed to get above thirty points with the Purchasing Department currently in third place with thirty-nine points.

For the Sales Department to rank in the top three, they need to score forty points.

"He must be feeling so much pressure now," Lai softly spoke, pressing her lips together.

She and her teammates were anxious. Lingxin let out a long breath. He drew his bow back and shortly released the arrow, watching as it pierced the ten-point mark on the target.

It was a bullseye.

His eyes widened in shock.

"Woo-hoo!" Na exclaimed, jumping with excitement.

Lingxin blinked several times, shocked at his ten-point start.

'At least there's something for me to be proud of even if I lose this event,' he thought with a smile.

He drew his bow back again and released the arrows for the remaining four rounds. To everyone's surprise, he hit the ten-point marks twice more, with the last two arrows striking the 6th and 7th point marks.

"H-he did it," Zhenya gasped in surprise.

Jingyi stared at Lingxin with his mouth wide open, clearly shocked.

"And that concludes the archery event with the Operations Department in 3rd place, the Finance Department in second, and the Sales Department in first place with forty-three points!"