Her voice was so loud that Tu Ming certainly heard her. He looked up at the advertisement hanging on the opposite building, clear as day—he wasn’t blind.

Tu Ming felt that this employee named Lumi was like an untamed wild horse, with her own style of standing and sitting, and even in this bustling fast-food restaurant, her unruly aura couldn’t be concealed.

“Luke, sit here!” Lumi waved at Luke, using the tip of her foot to gently push the empty chair outward by a few centimeters, telling the person who was quickly approaching to grab a seat: “This seat is taken!”

Shang Zhi Tao glanced at Luke, her face slightly reddening.

“Hey? Why are you blushing?” Lumi teased her and said to Luke, who sat down next to her: “Why are you eating fast food downstairs today? Doesn’t our new boss deserve a welcoming banquet?”

“The more you say, the more mistakes you make.” Luke glanced at her tray: “Is it good?”

“What? This fast-food place? It’s my favorite.” Lumi praised it sincerely. Someone who could eat soy milk and fried dough sticks with relish would certainly find the carefully steamed small dishes here delicious as well.

“If it’s good, you should eat more. Who knows, you might get fired one day and won’t be able to eat it anymore.”

Screw you. Lumi cursed Luke in her mind. That bastard’s mouth was really infuriating.

“Indeed.” Tu Ming, who had been silent until now, suddenly said this, causing both Lumi and Shang Zhi Tao to think they had misheard. They turned to look at him. His appearance was refined, his expression proper, his shirt neatly pressed. Even next to the handsome Luke, he could stand out with a different kind of presence.

Tu Ming remained expressionless: “Luke is right. Anything is possible.” He wasn’t countering Lumi; he simply agreed with Luke’s view, showing a basic lack of emotional intelligence.

Shang Zhi Tao, who was sitting nearby, couldn’t help but laugh. She suddenly felt that Lumi, who was usually fearless in fights, had encountered a tough opponent this time. It was quite interesting.

Lumi’s one-on-one meeting was the last one that day.

After Tu Ming’s “Luke is right” comment at lunch, she basically concluded that the new boss would be difficult to get along with. Even someone who usually just got by at work sat there obediently waiting, crossing her legs and preparing to counter whatever came her way.

She was so hungry that her chest was sticking to her back. She ordered a piece of chocolate cake from the coffee shop and devoured it in two bites, which revived her spirits.

Leaning back in her chair, scrolling through her phone, by 10 p.m., her energy was halved. The morning’s vigor that could take on anything was gone, leaving only a restless heart that wanted to go clubbing.

Finally, it was her turn. She looked in the mirror and secretly praised herself: After a day of inhuman torture at work, she could still look this good; it was truly a blessing from the heavens. So, her deflated spirit perked up a bit, and she knocked on Tu Ming’s office door and entered.

She was very familiar with this office; the previous two bosses who had occupied it were now serving time in prison.

“Have a seat.” Tu Ming smiled at her.

“Thank you.” Lumi mimicked Shang Zhi Tao’s posture, sitting with her knees tightly together and her hands on her knees, pretending to be well-behaved. She didn’t look anything like the person who had made bold remarks in the elevator that morning.

“How many years have you been with the company, Lumi?”

“Almost seven years.”

Almost seven years. Tu Ming glanced down at the file again. Seven years, only promoted three levels, and was surpassed by her own apprentice. Either she was just coasting along, waiting for her paycheck, or she was incompetent. Judging by her behavior in the morning, she was likely just coasting.

“Today is our first conversation, and it’s getting late. Let’s get straight to the point. As my subordinate, I value both ability and attitude. I won’t give examples of ability, but attitude is reflected in behavior. No tardiness, no early departures, no slacking off, no slander of the company in public, and if possible, don’t say things like you’d sleep with your boss.” Tu Ming spoke directly, without beating around the bush, and even without deliberately avoiding the comment Lumi had made in the elevator.

Lumi’s eyes widened. Sleep with the boss? What was he talking about? She wondered how he could accuse her of such things! Completely forgetting that she had said those words in the elevator herself.

“Yes. I suggest you refrain from saying you’d sleep with your boss in the future.” Tu Ming thought she was going to play dumb, so he reminded her: “I heard what you said in the elevator this morning.”

“Oh oh oh oh oh! You mean that?” Lumi remembered and instantly relaxed, dropping the act: “I was just joking. I’m like this; my mouth has no filter. I say things off the cuff, and you should just listen casually, don’t take it to heart. My colleagues all know I like young guys, and I have a boyfriend, so I wouldn’t sleep with you. Please rest assured.”

…

Tu Ming didn’t expect Lumi to be not only a loose cannon with her words but also someone who could handle criticism smoothly.

He pointed out her problem directly, and instead of feeling ashamed, she reassured him that she wouldn’t sleep with him.

The conversation derailed.

A moment of silence ensued.

Lumi, however, brightened up, leaning forward: “Boss, I speak like this. It’s normal for you to think I’m unreliable. But let’s not get stuck on the stereotype from this little misunderstanding today. You’ll see in the future that I’m quite capable. Any big or difficult tasks you give me, I guarantee I’ll handle them well.” Lumi started to express her loyalty, knowing that it wouldn’t cost her anything. She just wanted to happily coast along, collecting her social security benefits, and make herself seem a little useful.

“Flattering me?” Tu Ming asked her, then smiled. Lumi’s foolishness was transparent to him. This employee had no ill intentions; she just wanted to get by comfortably. Tu Ming neither accepted nor disliked people like Lumi. The world was full of all sorts of characters, and she was just one of them.

“Let me reiterate, no tardiness, no early departures, no violations of company rules, no breaking the law. As for your claim that you’re capable, we’ll see about that in the future.” Tu Ming checked the time; it was getting late. The person in front of him couldn’t help but yawn, her eye makeup smudged. He stopped looking at her, feeling it was impolite to stare at a woman with smudged makeup. He closed his computer and stood up: “Shall we end here for today?”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Lumi hurriedly stood up, calculating in her mind if she could still make it to the bar for a while. Then she remembered what the boss had said about not being late, and her desire to let loose fizzled out. She decided to play the part well for a while, until she got to know him better. That’s how the workplace was; bosses wouldn’t treat everyone equally. Whoever had a deeper trust relationship with the boss would have an advantage.

Nowadays, even coasting requires a methodology? Lumi inwardly scorned herself.

Walking behind Tu Ming, she noticed the way he walked with purpose. Feeling a bit unwilling to admit defeat, she quickened her pace to catch up with him and asked, “Where do you live, Will?”

“Summer Palace.” Tu Ming stopped in front of the elevator, and the elevator doors reflected their postures. Lumi’s eyes were smudged with black, and she was curious. Once inside the elevator, she saw her smudged eye makeup in the mirror and turned to look at Tu Ming. He was looking straight ahead as if nothing had happened.

Lumi took out a tissue to wipe her lower eyelids, saying casually, “I don’t live far from here. Do you need a ride?”

“I have my own car.”

“Oh, that’s fine then.”

The parking space arranged for Tu Ming by the company was right next to Lumi’s. Lumi had just replaced her car with a red Jeep Wrangler, a color as striking as she was. Tu Ming’s ordinary business sedan was parked next to hers, pitch black, like a middle-aged man who had lost his vitality.

It’s said that in the workplace, even the choice of car has some significance, with the unwritten rule that a subordinate’s car should not be better than their boss’s. Lumi was well aware of this and bought a car that was half the price of Luke’s when she replaced hers, thinking that the new boss wouldn’t be too shabby either.

Well, now it turned out that the new boss wasn’t shabby; he just didn’t leave her anyway.

“It’s my dad’s car, my dad’s car,” she quickly explained, trying to save face for Tu Ming.

“Nice car.” Tu Ming wasn’t interested in such comparisons; his car was just for commuting.

“Hehe.” Lumi let out an unrefined chuckle, opened the car door, and got in. By the time Tu Ming’s car drove away, she hadn’t even finished changing her shoes. After she changed her shoes and tossed her high heels into the back seat, Tu Ming was already out of the parking garage.

Lumi arrived home in the middle of the night.

While applying a face mask, her phone rang. She lounged on the sofa with her legs crossed, answering the call and hearing Zhang Xiao’s voice: “Coming?” He had had a few drinks.

“Where to?”

“Near the Workers’ Stadium.”

“I’m not going.”

“Should I come find you?”

“Let’s talk about it on the weekend. The new boss doesn’t want me to be late.”

“Got it, let’s duel three hundred rounds on the weekend!”

Zhang Xiao hung up the phone, and Lumi burst into laughter, wrinkling her face mask. Zhang Xiao was Lumi’s boyfriend, a burly man with a head full of small dreadlocks, tattoos all over his body, and a heavy motorcycle. Lumi, being a playful person, ended up with Zhang Xiao, who was equally fond of having fun.

Lumi’s family didn’t like Zhang Xiao.

According to Lumi’s grandmother: “With Lumi being so impulsive and Zhang Xiao having no brains, who knows how much trouble they get into every day!”

The old lady had seen her share of life and understood her granddaughter thoroughly. The most infuriating thing they did was probably the year before the New Year, when Lumi, who had been given an early holiday, and Zhang Xiao beat up a hooligan on the bus who had been harassing a young girl. Then the hooligan called the police, and they were all taken to the police station.

Lumi couldn’t stand such humiliation and even pointed at the hooligan in the police station, yelling: “Watch out, you bastard! I’ll beat you every time I see you! I’ll beat you to death!” The police officers tried to break it up and told Lumi’s family: “This girl is really something, she has a sense of justice and is brave, but her temper is too fiery. We’ll definitely educate that guy, but he’s shameless and wants compensation!”

“Compensate your ass! Look at your behavior!” Zhang Xiao stood up, ready to fight, and another officer intervened.

After much persuasion, the hooligan finally dropped the compensation and didn’t press charges, and they were released from the police station in the middle of the night. Lumi’s father, Lu Guoqing, patted Lumi on the head from behind: “You’re always causing trouble for your dad!”

“Didn’t you teach me to stand up for what’s right? Didn’t you raise me to be honest? Didn’t you say we should be grateful to the Party and the country for the good life we have and that we should serve the country?” Lumi retorted, not convinced. Her grandmother, uncle, and the rest of the family thought about it and agreed. So, the matter was dropped, but from then on, Lumi was not allowed to keep her nails long.

Before every family gathering, Lumi’s mother, Yang Liu Fang, would check Lumi’s nails, and if they were even a bit long, she would cut them. While cutting, she would lecture her: “Don’t upset your grandmother; she’s old and can’t take it.” This went on for two years until Lumi’s grandmother finally forgot about it.

Lumi was just that kind of person, seemingly reckless.

To say that the Lu family, going back three generations, had never produced someone with a temper like Lumi’s would be an understatement. The men of the Lu family were cautious. Back when they lived in the old hutongs, eating stir-fried noodles and drinking porridge, their simple and frugal lifestyle had shaped their honest character. Lumi, however, was different. Although she grew up in those hutongs, she had an inexplicable confidence.

Not only was she confident, but she was also domineering.

When she was seven or eight years old, she would walk home from school in the hutong with her backpack, and the other children would obediently follow her. If she said run, everyone would run; if she said stop, everyone would stop. She would give treats to those who listened to her, showing her domineering side!

Lumi’s grandmother would sigh whenever she saw Lumi, sometimes worrying: “What will become of her in the future?”