Mai Ding decided to cook something good as a reward for An Zi Yan. His standards for rewarding An Zi Yan were always very low. If one day An Zi Yan did not throw his clothes around, or if one day he surrendered the remote control… Mai Ding could always find a reason. He busied himself in the kitchen. At least An Zi Yan had finally made some progress now. He would even come into the kitchen.
“Is it ready yet?” That was the progress: coming into the kitchen to ask.
“Come help me. Don’t just stand there.”
“Standing takes energy too.”
“You work so hard! Can’t you help me a little?” Mai Ding did not look back, keeping his attention on the food in the wok. Add a little salt in a moment. MSG could go in later. He did not know when An Zi Yan had moved closer, but the distance between them was so small that the slightest movement would make Mai Ding’s back brush An Zi Yan’s chest. Mai Ding thought of those lovey-dovey scenes where someone cooking was gently embraced from behind by a husband or boyfriend, and instantly forgot when the salt was supposed to go in and when to add the MSG. But An Zi Yan did nothing else. He simply stood behind him watching and repeated the same mood-killing question: “Is it ready yet?”
“Don’t you have anything else to say? In some movies, couples always have really intimate interactions in the kitchen. Sh-should we try it?” Mai Ding had to blush all the way to his ears before he could get the words out. He only wanted to see whether it would have the same effect as in the movies.
“You want to do it in the kitchen? Fine.” An Zi Yan reached around in front of Mai Ding and had barely started undoing his clothes when Mai Ding grabbed them and spun around, looking like a virtuous maiden facing assault by a hooligan. “I didn’t mean those kinds of movies. I meant respectable movies!” The moment he finished, An Zi Yan looked disgusted. “I’m not in the mood.”
“But you’re always in the mood for obscene things.”
“What you want is stupid. What I want lets both our bodies…” Mai Ding cut him off before he could finish. “I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“How much longer are you going to keep pretending to be proper?”
“Being proper has always been one of my virtues!”
“What a killjoy.” An Zi Yan walked out of the kitchen. Fine, he had not helped with a single thing. But after insulting Mai Ding with his words, somehow it had all ended up being Mai Ding’s fault. Mai Ding violently flipped the food back and forth in the wok as if taking out his anger on it.
The weekend passed just like every other weekend before it. They barely did anything before it was over.
Work remained dull and repetitive, except the gossip about the manager’s wife grew worse and worse, spawning version after version. Eventually it reached the manager himself. Sometimes whenever he walked somewhere, people who had been chatting suddenly fell silent, and he assumed they had been talking about him. Embarrassment, anger, and suspicion showed more and more clearly on his fat face until, at last, he exploded.
That day, Mai Ding was looking up information on the computer when a roar sounded through the office. “You dare say you didn’t do it? Then why would people be saying it?” The manager’s wife raised her voice nearly to a shriek. “I didn’t! How would I know why those bitches are making things up to smear me? They’re obviously jealous of me.”
“I’m going to have someone investigate this properly.”
“Then investigate! Do whatever you want. If you don’t trust me, we might as well get divorced!” The manager immediately softened his tone. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I want to find out who’s spreading rumors behind our backs. Rumors have to start somewhere, right?” He tried to move closer and soothe his young wife, but she was having none of it. “Don’t touch me!” She yanked open the office door and walked out. Everyone hurriedly pulled their gazes away and pretended to be busy.
After the manager’s wife left, several coworkers who had helped spread the rumors became preoccupied, worried the investigation might trace back to them. Only Gao Guo carried on working as though nothing had happened. Mai Ding’s phone suddenly rang. It was Li Ming.
“Hello?”
“You found a job and you’re not buying me dinner?” Li Ming dispensed with greetings.
“No money.”
“Don’t you have An Zi Yan?” That was Li Ming’s favorite line. No matter what happened to Mai Ding or what situation he was in, if he mentioned it to Li Ming, Li Ming had only one response: Don’t you have An Zi Yan?
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m an independent living being, not an accessory.” He arranged to meet Li Ming during lunch break. Of course, he still had to ask Gao Guo. If Gao Guo suddenly handed him something to do, his lunch break would be ruined and he would have to order takeout instead. Mai Ding turned around and cautiously asked Gao Guo, already more or less expecting either for Gao Guo to deliberately make trouble and refuse or to agree with a sour expression.
“Do you need me for anything during lunch?”
“No. Go ahead.”
Mai Ding was rather surprised by how readily Gao Guo agreed. Maybe he had overheard the phone call. Mai Ding’s impression of Gao Guo improved, and he began wondering whether Gao Guo was the type whose mouth was sharp but whose heart was soft, strict with him only because he wanted Mai Ding to improve at work. Mai Ding was the kind of person who trusted people easily. Grandpa An had fooled him, Bai Xiao Si had fooled him, Su Xiao Mi had fooled him, and that was without even mentioning An Zi Yan.
During lunch break, he sat with Li Ming in a small restaurant. Mai Ding asked, “Don’t you have class?”
“I just filed for an off-campus internship.”
“You found a job?”
“No. I asked a friend to stamp the application for me.”
“Then what are you planning to do?”
“Me?” Li Ming gave a smug little laugh through his nose. “Obviously I’m going to devote myself to staying home as a shut-in.” His expression was exactly the same as Zhou Ge’s when Zhou Ge announced he planned to be a rich second-generation heir. Mai Ding could not help shaking his head and sighing. Whether they were An Zi Yan’s friends or his own, why were they all the same? After they finished eating, Li Ming walked back toward the company with Mai Ding since it was on his way. When they reached the building, Li Ming looked at Mai Ding in confusion. “I seriously don’t understand why you came out to intern. Why are you even working?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
Li Ming put one arm around Mai Ding’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “Don’t you have An Zi Yan?”
“What does that have to do with me working?”
“I’m seriously jealous of you. All you have to do is take your clothes off and lie on the bed and someone will support you. Why work? Just go home and lie down. How come I don’t get benefits like that?” Mai Ding’s face went red and he shoved Li Ming away while cursing under his breath. Then Li Ming suddenly said, “Is that your coworker up on the third floor who keeps staring at us?” Mai Ding looked up and saw Gao Guo standing at the third-floor window, looking down at him and Li Ming. The moment Gao Guo realized Mai Ding had noticed him, he disappeared from the window.
“Probably my imagination. I need to get back to work. And I’m telling you, while we’re still young, we should work hard and make the most of our youth. Why are you walking away so fast? Let me finish!” Every last one of them ignored him!
Back in the office, Mai Ding took a deep breath and buried himself in work again. He had no idea how long had passed before the vibration of an incoming text pulled him out of the suffocating pile of documents. It was from An Zi Yan, only a few brief words: [Get off work already.]
What kind of tone was that?! Was he my boss?! Mai Ding thought. He looked up and only then realized the office was empty except for himself and Gao Guo. Checking the time, he was startled to discover work had ended an hour ago. The moment he stood, Gao Guo’s icy voice sounded across the office. “You saw it, didn’t you?”