She placed the manuscripts on the table and glanced out of the corner of her eye at Fujena, who was sitting at Frank's door.
Cowens had gone upstairs to get materials for Frank, leaving Fujena alone at the desk.
Jenny stood up, scanned the room, took a packet of Ceylon tea from her drawer, went to the break room to brew a pot in a ceramic teapot, and carried it by the handle toward Frank's office.
As she passed Fujena, Fujena indeed looked up and glanced at her.
Jenny looked straight ahead, walked into Frank's office, set the teapot on his desk, and picked up the empty pot that was there.
Before leaving, Jenny thanked Frank again.
Frank didn't know what she was thanking him for, but he was busy and just grunted in response.
Jenny didn't linger. She turned and walked out with a faint smile.
Seeing this, Fujena felt very uneasy.
She had a premonition that this Jenny was definitely a shameless vixen, openly flattering him in public—was she plotting some dirty trick to push her out of her position?
Fujena always thought that someone who hadn't even attended training school couldn't possibly have such strong writing skills. She suspected someone was secretly guiding her, and that person was likely her boss, Frank.
He looked decent on the surface, but behind the scenes, he was a lecher. Their reputation would ruin the entire editorial office.
Fujena gritted her teeth but couldn't stir up trouble herself.
What if Jenny really did have something going on with Frank? Offending her would be like lifting a rock to drop on her own foot. She needed to find a scapegoat.
Seeing Jenny leave the office and head toward the stairs, Fujena quickly picked up her manuscript and sidled over to Polly.
She patted Polly on the shoulder and whispered in her ear.
Soon, the two of them went out one after the other, heading to the storage room next to the ladies' restroom.
"So, what exactly was she thanking Frank for? And Frank acknowledged her, treating her like one of his own. You share a dorm with her—do you know anything?"
When this came up, Polly looked aggrieved.
"I don't know. Jenny spends all her time with the other two roommates, excluding me. They never include me in anything. How would I know what she does outside?"
Fujena knew that although Polly could keep up with the work, her personality was too weak; she was no match for Jenny in social matters.
"Aren't I your friend? Why bother with them?" Fujena consoled her.
"Ronald got picked by Mr. Alpha to work, and now he's basking in glory.
Jenny monopolizes the manuscript collection work, so she gets the credit for any good articles first.
And here I am, stuck doing all the dirty work behind Clare, who is a hypocrite—everything wrong is my fault, and everything good is his credit."
Polly had long forgotten how glad she was when Jenny first took over the manuscript collection work. Now all she did was complain.
"Just now, Jenny was bragging to me that she'd received submissions that would surely satisfy the big boss. She might bypass us and go straight to Mr. Eliot again..."
Fujena was impatient with Polly's complaints, but as she listened, an idea formed in her mind.
"You can't keep wasting your time following that fool Clare. Are you willing to be overshadowed by her forever? Listen, here's what you do..."
A moment later.
Polly returned cautiously to her seat and looked around. She didn't see Jenny.
She wondered why Jenny was taking so long for lunch. Even Mr. Eliot had returned, and she was still dawdling.
Polly looked at Jenny's desk, where there were some unfinished submissions piled up.
Polly had never done anything like this before. Her heart pounded as she got up, moved over, and took the submissions Jenny had gathered today, bringing them back to her own desk.
Recalling Jenny's words, she made some modifications to the manuscripts.
After finishing, she carried the manuscripts toward Mr. Eliot's desk.
When she was still about two zhang away, Polly was so nervous that she suddenly felt someone pull her aside.
Seeing Clare's grim expression, Polly's heart sank.
"Mr. Clare..."
"What are you doing? Don't you see Mr. Eliot is editing a manuscript? He hates being interrupted while working!"
Polly's face flushed as if on fire, and she stammered in denial.
"I wasn't trying to do anything. I was looking for you. These are today's submissions. I'm delivering them for Jenny. Oh, and I've already revised some of them."
Polly quickly repeated Jenny's favorable comments about the two articles.
"These two articles have protagonists that are very eye-catching and will definitely satisfy the big boss..."
Clare looked at Polly with contempt. He knew that Polly, seeing Jenny benefit from bypassing him, wanted to do the same.
But Polly lacked the skill. She had clearly taken Jenny's work and tried to pass it off as her own.
Clare was both angry at Jenny for setting a bad example for the assistants and disgusted with Polly's stupidity.
He told Polly to get lost, returned to his seat, glanced over the two articles, and grew increasingly irritated. He stuffed them at the bottom of the pile.
After flipping through other articles, he finally pulled out Sean's piece.
Although it was a long piece, the content was excellent, clearly more exciting than the two Jenny had favored.
Clare thought he had a better eye. He extracted the story and revised it according to his own habits.
When Jenny, after a hearty lunch downstairs, strolled back to the office, she happened to see Clare standing in front of Mr. Eliot.
He was pointing at the article on the desk, vividly introducing its content and his own revisions.
Nearby, Polly sat with a guilty look on her face.
Jenny knew that what she had promised Sean had been accomplished.