Chapter 36

Wu MuLiang’s face turned red with anger, and he bit his molars, about to continue speaking to Chi Xiting.

However, before he could open his mouth, Fang Ben came around the corner from the pantry corridor, his brows furrowed. His gaze paused on Wu MuLiang for a second before shifting to Chi Xiting.

“What’s all this noise? Why aren’t you at your workstations during work hours? What are you all doing gathered here?” Fang Ben’s usual kind smile was gone, replaced with a stern expression that made every intern a little nervous, shrinking back like quails, afraid to speak.

Fang Ben was a longtime employee at the Chu Corporation. However, he hadn’t had much luck with opportunities and projects, so he hadn’t moved up in the company. Despite this, Fang Ben had a good personality, was well-liked, and got along well with everyone in the marketing department. He also had a good relationship with Shen Zhizhe and would occasionally go out drinking with him. Though his rank wasn’t high, he was respected and somewhat feared by other employees.

This was especially true for the interns who hadn’t even set foot in the Chu Corporation.

Wu MuLiang’s flushed face turned pale, his hands clenched by his sides, and his eyes darted around, unsure of when Fang Ben had arrived and how much he had heard.

Fang Ben’s expression was unpleasant, clearly dissatisfied with the group of gossiping interns, but he remained civil and simply said, “Disperse quickly. Luckily, it’s just me. If your team leader or Manager Shen caught you, you’d be in big trouble.”

Fang Ben didn’t want to make too big a deal of it. After all, these were young people, and chatting during downtime was normal. However, they should be more mindful of what they discussed.

There are things that can be said and things that shouldn’t be said.

Common sense is important.

Fang Ben glanced at Wu MuLiang with a hint of disdain.

He didn’t have a good impression of Wu MuLiang.

His work skills were questionable, and his interpersonal skills were even worse.

During the last meeting, when Wu MuLiang was struggling with the control panel, Fang Ben had stepped in to help out of kindness but hadn’t even received a word of thanks.

Poor interpersonal skills are a recipe for a short career.

As soon as Fang Ben finished speaking, the interns quickly dispersed, not wanting to be scolded further and definitely not wanting Manager Shen to hear about it.

Wu MuLiang, still angry, glared at Chi Xiting before leaving.

Fang Ben then turned to Chi Xiting, his expression softening a bit. “You should go back too. Some things are better left ignored. Don’t take it to heart.”

This was a hint to Chi Xiting.

Wu Muliang’s words weren’t severe, but they were hurtful. However, it was a minor issue not worth escalating.

Chi Xiting understood Fang Ben’s hint, shrugged, and said, “Alright, I’ll head back.”

Fang Ben patted Chi Xiting’s shoulder, nodded, and left.

Li Yang watched Fang Ben leave and then turned to Chi Xiting, hesitating before saying, “Was he talking about you again?”

Li Yang had also caught Wu MuLiang gossiping before.

She wasn’t close to Wu MuLiang, although they attended the same university and had met at some large competitions.

Wu MuLiang had good grades and was quite famous at school, having won several awards. Perhaps because of this, he had become increasingly arrogant, looked down on many people, and couldn’t resist talking behind others’ backs as if it made him feel superior.

Chi Xiting indifferently acknowledged.

—-

Indeed, he had been talking about him.

But it wasn’t too damaging.

“He’s always like that,” Liyang said, disgusted by Wu MuLiang’s behavior. She spat and then comforted Chi Xiting, “Just ignore him. Let him be bitter on his own.”

As they walked towards the C-group office, Liyang continued to comfort Chi Xiting until they reached the entrance. Then, remembering something important, she sincerely thanked Chi Xiting.

Chi Xiting: “?”

Li Yang beamed, saying, “I revised my proposal based on your suggestions and submitted it yesterday. Do you know what happened?”

Chi Xiting put on a curious expression.

Li Yang’s smile grew brighter, and her eyes sparkled.

“Manager Shen specifically praised me.”

Li Yang turned her head, her ponytail bouncing happily, the joy spreading through every strand of hair.

“At first, I submitted it to Brother Dong, but somehow it got to Manager Shen. He called me to his office and said my proposal was excellent.”

Li Yang stuck out her tongue and added, “Even though the parts he praised were mostly your contributions, haha.”

Chi Xiting couldn’t help but smile, infected by Li Yang’s happiness.

“And Manager Shen also hinted at something,” Li Yang said, stopping and tugging on Chi Xiting’s sleeve to get his attention.

Chi Xiting slowed down and looked at Li Yang.

Her smile remained, but now there was a hint of mystery in her eyes.

Chi Xiting guessed what Liyang was about to share.

It was likely about the new mentorship assignments.

And he was right.

Li Yang, lowering her voice, shared everything Manager Shen had told her, including that the three of them would now be directly under his supervision.

“Though I’m not sure why, I’m really happy about it,” Li Yang said. “Manager Shen is very capable. I hope to learn a lot from him.”

After all, he’s the head of the marketing department.

Being directly under Shen Zhizhe increased her chances of securing a permanent position.

Even in calm and peaceful times, competition was the main theme for these interns.

When they entered the C-group office, Li Yang stopped talking, waved at Chi Xiting as she sat at her desk, catching the attention of Ren Jiajia and Li Xin, who glanced curiously at them.

Once Chi Xiting left, Ren Jiajia leaned over to talk to Li Yang.

“Yangyang, are you close with him?” Ren Jiajia asked, puzzled. “Doesn’t it bother you?”

Li Yang was confused. “Bother me about what?”

Ren Jiajia, irritated, said, “That he took your spot.”

Li Yang was even more confused: “Huh?”

“It’s about the business trip slots,” Ren Jiajia explained. “Originally, President Chu was supposed to take you and Huo Youshen on the trip.”

They were both recognized as the top interns by everyone.

Being chosen to accompany the big boss on a business trip was well-deserved.

How could it fall to someone as ordinary and unremarkable as Chi Xiting?

Li Yang frowned, “Who said that?”

Seeing Li Yang’s displeased expression, Ren Jiajia hesitated and stammered, “T-they all said so.”

Li Yang’s expression turned a bit strange, and he helplessly shook his head, reaching out to rub Ren Jiajia’s head. He gently said, “Don’t just follow what others say. You need to have your own thoughts and use your brain to think about problems.”

—-

After speaking, Li Yang tapped Ren Jiajia’s forehead.

Ren Jiajia, bewildered, pressed the spot where Li Yang had poked her and instinctively responded with an “Oh,” then sat down in a daze, pouting in confusion.

Why didn’t she have her own thoughts?

On the other side, as soon as Chi Xiting returned to work, he took out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Lu Yanzhao, asking if he could come home tonight.

Lu Yanzhao replied almost instantly with a resounding “yes” and followed up with several excited emojis.

Even just from those emojis, Chi Xiting could feel Lu Yanzhao’s joy and happiness.

Chi Xiting guessed that if Lu Yanzhao weren’t still at work, he might have called him directly.

After receiving Lu Yanzhao’s response, Chi Xiting no longer worried about his accommodation and took some time to carefully review Ruifeng’s project proposal.

Unlike a planning document, the project proposal was simpler. After reading it, Chi Xiting had a rough idea and quickly cleared his mind of all the cluttered thoughts, starting to outline the structure of the plan.

The Ruifeng project itself wasn’t difficult.

The challenge was finding a balance.

Chi Xiting was relatively focused on customer needs. In the past, when drafting plans, he would spend a lot of time understanding customer thoughts after analyzing the market and product situations.

Within practical limits, he tried to meet customer needs as much as possible.

For example, promotional effects, implementation cycles, supporting effects, and subsequent maintenance.

Zhao Wen’s requirements were straightforward and clear.

The promotional effects needed to be fast.

However, their product cycles were updated and iterated too quickly.

How to efficiently and orderly adjust strategies for each cycle according to product iterations was something Chi Xiting needed to consider.

When Chu Yu took Chi Xiting to visit Ruifeng, Chi Xiting already had a rough idea of a plan, but there were still some minor issues without reasonable solutions.

Chi Xiting typed a few words into a document, glanced at the time in the bottom right corner, and sighed softly.

Time was still needed.

Seeing that it was almost the end of the workday, Chi Xiting saved the file, shut down the computer early, looked around, and put the Ruifeng project proposal that Chu Yu had given him into the drawer, locking it. He then checked the time again.

Okay.

Just five o’clock.

Chi Xiting stood up and left.

Passing by Li Yang, Li Yang kindly said goodbye to Chi Xiting.

On the other side, Ren Jiajia, after much hesitation, raised her hand and said goodbye to Chi Xiting as well.

Chi Xiting looked at Ren Jiajia in surprise but didn’t say much. He politely nodded and replied, “See you tomorrow.”

However, nearby, Li Xin kept her head down the whole time, completely unaffected by Li Yang and Ren Jiajia, pursing her lips and ignoring Chi Xiting.

Office gossip would inevitably influence them.

—–

In a competitive environment, the most taboo and least welcomed behavior was using connections and backdoors.

If opportunities that didn’t belong to you could be obtained through connections, what did it mean for those who got in through their efforts?

Li Xin couldn’t understand why the most affected person, Li Yang, didn’t care at all and was even friendly with Chi Xiting. However, it didn’t stop her from not joining their ranks.

She despised such behavior.

Chi Xiting couldn’t be bothered to guess what these kids were thinking. Work was exhausting enough, and figuring out all these thoughts was even more tiring. He’d rather spend the time thinking about what to eat tomorrow.

After leaving the company, Chi Xiting opened his phone’s navigation and searched for the location.

It was far.

Taking the subway required three transfers.

One of the lines was the dreaded Line 3.

After getting off at the last stop, there were still over four kilometers to go. Riding a shared bike back would take at least ten minutes.

Just thinking about it was exhausting for Chi Xiting.

He thought it might be better to find a hostel nearby for a few days.

But since he had already told Lu Yanzhao he would go back, saying he wouldn’t now didn’t seem right.

After struggling for a while, Chi Xiting still got on the subway home. After several transfers, he finally arrived at the closest station to home, getting there around six o’clock.

Chi Xiting was exhausted, feeling like his soul was almost squeezed out on the subway.

It was terrifying.

Chi Xiting checked his phone.

He hadn’t locked the screen when he got on the subway, and WeChat had almost been squeezed into uninstallation.

He regretted it.

He should have gotten a driver’s license back then.

Putting his phone away, Chi Xiting stepped out of the elevator and saw Lu Yanzhao eagerly waiting at the door.

Seeing Chi Xiting, Lu Yanzhao immediately opened the door wide, smiling brightly and beckoning him in, “Xiting, come in, come in.”

“Why are you waiting outside?” Chi Xiting felt a bit embarrassed, walking towards Lu Yanzhao with slight awkwardness, “Have you been waiting long?”

“No, no,” Lu Yanzhao replied with a smile. “I just checked the time and figured you should be arriving around now, so I came out to check.”

Chi Xiting glanced at the sweat on Lu Yanzhao’s forehead, pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything.

Lu Yanzhao welcomed Chi Xiting at the door and bent down to get Chi Xiting some slippers.

Chi Xiting glanced at the slippers, which had already been taken out of the shoe cabinet and placed on the floor by Lu Yanzhao, clearly prepared in advance, waiting for him to arrive.

Chi Xiting felt a touch of emotion and quickly bent down to stop Lu Yanzhao, saying, “I can do it myself, it’s fine.”

Seeing that Chi Xiting had already taken the slippers himself, Lu Yanzhao didn’t insist and stood up with a smile, saying, “Mom tidied up your room, and look, your dad bought you some fruit. Are you hungry? Do you want a snack first?”

Holding a plate, Chu Yu came out of the kitchen and said, “No need for snacks, come, let’s eat.”

Still wearing an apron, Chu Yu wiped his hands on it after placing the dishes down and cheerfully invited Chi Xiting over to eat. Seeing Chi Xiting and Lu Yanzhao coming over, he happily introduced, “This fish is great. I just caught it today. You’re in for a treat.”

Chu Yu patted Chi Xiting’s shoulder and guided him to a seat, then glanced at the kitchen and said, “There’s still some baby bok choy. You two start eating.”

“That’s enough, Dad. Sit down and eat. There are only three of us; we can’t eat that much,” Chi Xiting quickly said, trying to pull Chu Yu down to sit.

Seemingly hearing something, Chu Yu paused slightly and stared at Chi Xiting for a moment. His lips involuntarily curved into a smile, and his gaze wandered happily as he muttered, “The baby bok choy is very fresh. Just a quick blanch is enough. You two eat, and Dad will get you some rice.”

Chi Xiting: “…”

Chi Xiting watched Chu Yu’s retreating figure, wanting to say something but ultimately remained silent. He turned back around, resigned.

Lu Yanzhao had already started serving him food, asking with concern while doing so, “Why do you look thinner? Come on, eat more. You used to love the fish your dad made, always clamoring for it.”

Chi Xiting nodded repeatedly, obediently eating the food Lu Yanzhao had given him.

“Why didn’t Yuan come back with you?” Lu Yanzhao asked. After asking, she abruptly paused, instinctively raising her eyes to observe Chi Xiting’s reaction, her eyes full of tension and regret, as if she felt she had said something wrong again.

Chi Xiting’s eyes flickered, and a subtle thought flashed through his mind.

—-

After a moment, Chi Xiting said, “He doesn’t know I came back.”

Lu Yanzhao breathed a sudden sigh of relief, seeing that Chi Xiting wasn’t angry. Then, as if catching some information, she frowned and asked, “Hmm? Did you run into some trouble?”

Chi Ye, carrying the last dish, also looked at Chi Xiting with a puzzled expression and then at Lu Yanzhao’s serious face, asking, “What’s going on?”

Chi Xiting and Lu Yanzhao exchanged glances for a while. Seeing Lu Yanzhao’s determined look demanding an answer, Chi Xiting hesitated for a moment before helplessly saying, “There was a bit of trouble at the rental place.”

With that, Chi Xiting briefly explained what had happened that day to Lu Yanzhao and Chu Yu.

The couple grew angrier as they listened.

Even the usually gentle and amiable Chu Yu couldn’t help but slap the table and curse, “What kind of people are these? So uncivilized.”

Lu Yanzhao was even more furious, getting angrier as she spoke, looking like she wanted to confront Yuan Yin right then and there, “Why didn’t you tell Mom earlier? Where did you stay that night? Why didn’t you come home?”

Chi Xiting felt even more helpless, putting down his chopsticks to soothe his parents. It took a lot of effort to calm their anger, and he began to regret telling them about this distressing matter.

This behavior was something he never…

He had never done in his previous life.

Chi Xiting looked at his parents, genuinely angry on his behalf and wanting to stand up for him, and felt a surge of emotion.

Because his original family was a mess, Chi Xiting had become independent very early on, knowing that no matter what help he sought from his family, they would never provide positive feedback. They would only latch onto him like leeches, draining all his value.

After failing time and again, Chi Xiting learned to process negative emotions and solve problems on his own, losing any expectation from his family and gradually losing the ability to confide in and seek help from his parents.

“You should stay at home for a while. It’s fine, stay as long as you want,” Lu Yanzhao said softly, patting Chi Xiting’s hand.

Chu Yu, still frowning, said, “Yes, but the transportation isn’t convenient.”

After a moment’s pause, Chu Yu added, “Otherwise, I’ll take some time off work and drive you in the morning.”

Chi Xiting was slightly shocked and quickly refused, “No need, no need. I’ll take the subway.”

Lu Yanzhao disagreed, “How long does it take to get there by subway? At least an hour, right? And it’s so crowded in the morning, how uncomfortable.”

Chi Xiting pursed his lips and said, “Really, there’s no need. Besides, it’s just a few days. I’ll solve the housing issue over the weekend.”

Seeing Chi Xiting’s firm refusal, Chu Yu and Lu Yanzhao had no choice but to give in, allowing Chi Xiting to get up early and squeeze into the subway for work.

Although Chi Xiting had anticipated it, he still felt resentful enough to want to kill the whole world when he got up the next morning.

He had gotten up early.

So what if he was a bit less civilized?

Chu Xiting sat on the bed in a daze for a while before reluctantly getting up. After washing up and eating a simple breakfast prepared by Chu Yu, he left the house with a half-awake look.

Chu Yu and Lu Yanzhao watched Chi Xiting leave with worried expressions.

“Will he be okay?”

Chu Yu said quietly, “Maybe I should follow and check on him?”

Lu Yanzhao replied, “… You might as well drive him to the company.”

Why follow him afterward?

Chu Yu put his arm around Lu Yanzhao and comforted her, “It’s fine, don’t worry. I’ll call him around eight to check on him.”

When Chu Yu called, Chi Xiting had just made a major transfer, but because he answered the call, he missed the subway and had to wait for the next one.

—-

After letting Chu Yu know he was safe, Chi Xiting caught the next subway.

He transferred several times and ran up and down various subway stations, finally making it to the company just a minute before being late, struggling but managing to clock in.

As expected.

This is why commute time is such a critical factor when job and housing hunting.

The experience of commuting for over half an hour is absolutely dreadful.

Like his current commute, which is over an hour and doesn’t even have a direct route—truly torturous.

Chi Xiting collapsed onto his desk as soon as he arrived at his workstation, resting his head on it for a while.

He hadn’t had proper rest for two days.

The previous day, he only slept for three hours.

Now that he was back home, he probably wouldn’t get much sleep for several days in a row.

He was genuinely worried about his mental state and physical health.

—-

After a ten-minute nap, Chi Xiting groggily sat up, almost falling asleep again while just turning on his computer.

The constant keyboard typing sounds in the office were even more sleep-inducing.

Although sleepy, Chi Xiting still had a sense of professional ethics. He couldn’t sleep so blatantly.

At least he needed to be a bit more discreet.

After opening a document, he read just two lines before realizing something was wrong. Propping his chin on his hand, he stared at the computer screen for a while until his head suddenly dropped. His hand, which was propping up his chin, shook, causing the pen next to his elbow to fall to the ground.

The noise startled him awake. He looked around instinctively, relieved that no one noticed him.

Alright, alright.

The last time he was this tired was during an afternoon math class.

Chi Xiting bent down to pick up the pen. As his fingers touched the pen, he paused briefly, realizing that this position wasn’t bad—he could sleep for a bit without being noticed.

Without hesitation, Chi Xiting closed his eyes.

To get to the manager’s office from the elevator, one has to pass by the C group office.

Remembering that Chi Xiting was in the C group, Chu Yu intentionally glanced inside as he passed by, quickly spotting Chi Xiting in the corner.

Chi Xiting’s workstation was in a relatively obscure spot, mostly out of the line of sight from the doorway, with only a small part visible.

Chu Yu paused, his gaze lingering in Chi Xiting’s direction for a while.

Chi Xiting seemed to be working diligently, propping his chin on his hand and staring at the computer without moving. Then, as if startled by something, he suddenly twitched.

Chu Yu frowned, instinctively raising his foot to step into the office.

But before Chu Yu could take another step, he saw Chi Xiting glance down and bend over as if to pick something up.

Chu Yu halted his motion to enter, his hand curling slightly at his side. Feeling that his behavior was a bit puzzling, he shook his head almost imperceptibly and prepared to leave.

Just before leaving, Chu Yu’s peripheral vision caught Chi Xiting, who had been about to pick something up, suddenly freezing.

His hand was still in the picking-up position, but his eyes were closed.

The whole scene was absurdly peaceful.

Chu Yu: “…”

Heh.