After An Zi Yan walked out, Mai Ding pressed himself to the crack in the door and secretly watched him. An Zi Yan had only gone down a couple of steps when he suddenly stopped and looked back. “Don’t rush the job thing. You’re cheap enough that I can afford to support you for now.” After saying that, he winked his right eye. The door slammed shut. Mai Ding leaned against it and touched his face. He definitely was not blushing. They had been together for so long. There was no way he would still blush. He walked over to the mirror, stared at his bright-red face, and said, “See? Not blushing at all.”
At first Mai Ding had been happy that An Zi Yan found a job, but worry soon outweighed the happiness. Fretting over nothing was one of Mai Ding’s bad habits. The thought of An Zi Yan’s completely undisciplined attitude toward life made him break out in a cold sweat. These past few days, whenever An Zi Yan came home from work and Mai Ding asked how things were going, his only answer was: “It’s whatever.” Eventually Mai Ding stopped asking. He could tell An Zi Yan did not particularly want to talk about it, though he had never been the type to describe details anyway. Mai Ding could only regret not following him to the company to see what he was actually doing. Wait. Weren’t there people like that too? People so concerned about saving face that they pretended to go to work every day and killed time outside even though they had never found a job at all. No, no more thinking about him. Mai Ding could not neglect his own job search either.
If Mai Ding really could do what An Zi Yan said and stop worrying while slowly looking for a job, then he would not be Mai Ding. He was someone who could not sit idle. Maybe it was the deep-rooted inferiority complex inside him at work, but Mai Ding did not want to be useless. He had no grand goals or dreams. He simply did not want to become An Zi Yan’s burden.
He felt someone push his head and looked up. An Zi Yan had already taken off his suit jacket and thrown it on the sofa. Rolling up his sleeves, he asked, “What are you thinking about?”
“Things. What does going to work feel like?”
“Annoying.”
“Then which is more annoying to you, work or school?”
“Both are annoying.”
Sometimes Mai Ding thought it was already a miracle that An Zi Yan had not been fired. With unconcealed envy, he said, “Must be nice. You actually found a job without any trouble. No wonder I never won the lottery before. You probably sucked away all my good luck.”
“You really do have the nerve to blame all of it on me.” An Zi Yan started taking off his clothes to shower, tossing clothes and his tie all over the floor as he went. Mai Ding followed behind him picking everything up. He had thought working might correct some of An Zi Yan’s bad habits. Instead, they had only gotten worse. He was even lazier and more terrible than before!!
After his shower, An Zi Yan changed back into the clothes he normally wore and once again looked as young as a student. A transition this sudden could easily catch a person off guard, but life would never stop and wait for you to adapt. It did not care in the slightest whether you could adapt or not.
The clean scent of body wash still clung to him. Mai Ding scooted closer. “I found a company today that looks pretty good.” He pulled it up on his phone and held it in front of An Zi Yan. “What do you think?” An Zi Yan glanced at it, then continued drying his hair with the towel. “Forget it. You won’t get in.”
“You forgot how I encouraged you back then?!” Mai Ding had been hoping to get some confidence from An Zi Yan.
“Forgot.”
“Then what if I can’t find a job?!”
“Wait a little longer.”
“You’re definitely doing this on purpose because you don’t want me to find one. Then you can laugh at me, prove you’re better and more capable than I am, and suppress my position in this household.” An Zi Yan scoffed at Mai Ding’s accusation. “Stop imagining things. When have you ever had any position in this household?” Mai Ding turned his back, refusing to talk to An Zi Yan, and muttered quietly, “I’d rather you stayed home and played while I went out to work. I do housework all the time, so I can handle hardship much better than you. Your personality may be horrible, but if you worked yourself sick, I’d still feel a little bad. Don’t get smug. Just a little.”
“Only a little?”
“Yes!”
“I heard liars go to hell.” Tossing the towel away, An Zi Yan teased Mai Ding with interest.
“Then you must have crawled straight out of hell! And you derailed the work topic again!”
“Nobody’s rushing you. Why are you so anxious? Doing some brain teasers every day to raise your IQ is more urgent.”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore!!”
One week passed, then two, then three. Mai Ding, still unable to find a job, finally lost patience. He lowered his standards again and again until he was willing to take almost anything as long as it was work. Yet every time, nothing good ever came out of An Zi Yan’s mouth. Either he discouraged Mai Ding or frightened him. Mai Ding fumed inwardly. Half the reason he still had no job was An Zi Yan’s fault. No, two-thirds was his fault. No, that was wrong too. It was entirely his fault! Whatever happened today, Mai Ding was not going to let An Zi Yan lead him around by the nose again.
When An Zi Yan prepared to leave for work, Mai Ding followed him out.
“What are you doing?”
“I have an interview.”
“You’ll fail anyway.” An Zi Yan got into the car. Mai Ding made a face at him and climbed into the passenger seat, fastening his seat belt while he said, “The confidence I worked so hard to build has been completely crushed by you.” An Zi Yan started the car, foot on the accelerator, one hand turning the steering wheel as he looked ahead. “What do you need confidence for? You have me. That’s enough.” He always said that!
“Shameless bastard.” Mai Ding wrinkled his nose even though a smile had appeared on his face. When they reached a bus stop, he started undoing his seat belt. “Just drop me here.”
“The interview address.”
“You’ll be late for work.” Mai Ding refused.
“You’re noisy. Just tell me.”
“Then what about your work?” An Zi Yan shrugged with an infuriatingly natural attitude. “Don’t worry about little things that can be solved by telling a lie.”
“Can you take your job seriously?!” After giving An Zi Yan a lecture, Mai Ding finally told him the company address. An Zi Yan frowned the moment he heard it. Compared with the usual locations for companies, the place Mai Ding described was unusually remote.
“What exactly does the company do?” His suddenly serious tone made Mai Ding answer honestly. “I think it’s sales.”
“What do you mean, you think? What position are you applying for?”
“He said we’d discuss it at the interview.”
“This company of yours has no requirements for major, education, or experience at all?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Stop saying ‘I think.’ What salary are they offering?” An Zi Yan was colder than any interviewer now, a temperature Mai Ding could not handle. Mai Ding grew quiet, unable to understand exactly how his job search had offended An Zi Yan. Seeing that Mai Ding would not answer, An Zi Yan softened his tone slightly. “I’m asking you.”
“Pretty high. More than seven thousand. They said if you’re willing to work hard, it can be even higher.” The moment Mai Ding finished, An Zi Yan turned the car around. “We’re going home.”
“Why?”
An Zi Yan concentrated on driving and stopped answering. Mai Ding grew angry too. “I’m not a child anymore.”
“You know you’re not a child?” That completely infuriated Mai Ding. He unfastened his seat belt. “Stop the car. If you don’t want to take me there, I can go by myself. Did I stop you when you found this job? What gives you the right to decide for me?”