Chu Yifeng arrived at the company only a little more than half an hour before they did.
Huaying Real Estate was thriving. In addition to the Fengxia Mountain project, the company was expanding into other projects. Gao Yongfu might be an all-purpose assistant, but even he could not carry everything by himself.
Wang Cheng was not deeply involved, but he knew Huaying Real Estate was not Chu Yifeng’s only business. He never tried to pry. The company later hired three new employees, and Li Yu shoved one of them at Wang Cheng, telling him to train the newcomer the way she had once trained him.
Wang Cheng himself had been with the company for less than two months. Asking him to train a newcomer left him completely at sea. Fortunately, Xu Siyu came to his rescue and took the person off his hands.
Xu Siyu was the one employee at the company Wang Cheng had interacted with the least. The projects he handled were important, however, and his department could be considered one of the company’s core departments. There was plenty to learn by following him.
The arrival of fresh blood made the company much livelier. That was especially true of the new employee assigned to Xu Siyu. Like Tang Sisi, he had only graduated from university that year. Unlike her, he was bursting with energy and enthusiasm and worked diligently at everything. In Wang Cheng’s words, he was like a hardworking little bee.
The new employee was named Cheng Cheng. Every morning he was the first to arrive at work. Watering the office plants had originally been Wang Cheng’s task, but Cheng Cheng took it over after joining. He also eagerly volunteered to buy everyone’s afternoon snacks, making the other two new employees look bad by comparison.
Cheng Cheng was not scheming. He simply had too much energy and wanted to prove himself after joining the company. Unfortunately, that still managed to offend the other two newcomers. More than once, Wang Cheng overheard them discussing Cheng Cheng in private, and their tone made their displeasure obvious.
Relationships between people really were a strange thing.
“Brother Cheng, is there anything else I can do?” Officially, Cheng Cheng was being trained by Xu Siyu, but in reality he had mostly been left to fend for himself. Maybe because Wang Cheng was closest to him in age, or because Wang Cheng had initially been assigned to train him, Cheng Cheng was especially attached to him.
“No. You’ve been very diligent today and finished everything there was to do. Just wait for the workday to end.” Wang Cheng yawned. He had nothing to do himself, so where was he supposed to find work for Cheng Cheng?
“Would that… be okay?” Cheng Cheng looked hesitant.
Wang Cheng thought he probably should not teach a new employee how to slack off, so he handed over a stack of documents from his desk. “If you think you’re too idle, read through these. They’re good material. More useful than textbooks.”
Cheng Cheng immediately hugged the documents to his chest with delight. “Thank you, Brother Cheng. I definitely won’t let down your expectations!”
“…” What expectations do I have for you?
Zhu Chunlin and the other new employee saw this from the pantry and looked down on Cheng Cheng a little. They had already been at the company for several days and knew Wang Cheng was a newcomer just like them, merely a little over a month ahead. Neither thought there was any point in currying favor with him. Yet Cheng Cheng hovered around Wang Cheng every day. At first, they had thought the newcomer was calculating. Now they decided they had overestimated him.
“Quick, look. Boss is coming out.”
Zhu Chunlin hurriedly nudged the coworker beside him. The two immediately pretended they had just come out of the pantry, hoping to pass in front of the boss and make themselves familiar faces. Before either could speak, however, Boss walked straight toward Wang Cheng.
“It’s time to leave. Why are you still here?” Chu Yifeng tapped on the desk.
“Work’s over? Then let’s go.” Wang Cheng, who had been slacking off right in front of the boss, lifted his head without the slightest pressure and yawned. Being too efficient had consequences. He had finished everything before quitting time, so with nothing left to do, all he could do was put his head down and sleep.
The two left the company side by side.
Zhu Chunlin and his companion were already staring in shock. An employee who dealt with the boss like that could not possibly be ordinary. Had Cheng Cheng known this all along? Was that why he was always deliberately trying to please Wang Cheng? The two instantly revised their opinion again and decided Cheng Cheng was frighteningly calculating after all, so subtle that neither of them had seen through him.
“Boss, what do you want for dinner?” Wang Cheng took out his phone and searched for recipes online. Whenever he had enough time, he occasionally studied recipes. Learning a few more dishes could never hurt.
“I’m not picky.” Chu Yifeng drove to an intersection just as the light turned red and stopped the car.
“Then let’s stop by the supermarket first. There’s no food at home.” Wang Cheng quickly settled on several dishes.
When the light turned green, Chu Yifeng turned and changed course for the supermarket.
They bought a large pile of ingredients. Wang Cheng packed away everything he would not need immediately in the refrigerator and put the remaining vegetables and meat into bowls. He had originally wanted to make chicken stewed with mushrooms, but that dish tasted better after a long simmer. By the time it was ready, it would already be eight or nine. Instead, he could only make the simpler stir-fried pork with garlic-chive stems. Tomato-braised beef also seemed like a good choice.
After dinner, Chu Yifeng did not leave right away. Instead, he sat in Wang Cheng’s living room with his laptop, typing away at something Wang Cheng could not identify.
When Wang Cheng came out after showering, Chu Yifeng was still working on the laptop. Wang Cheng rubbed his shaved head with a towel and it dried almost instantly. That was the advantage of having no hair.