Modern people rarely paid attention to the scenery around them. Student or office worker, who cared whether birds were singing, flowers fragrant, or morning mist curling through the air? Nobody simply abandoned everything to enjoy it either. Romantic sensibility was an expensive luxury. You needed enough time and money. Mai Ding had neither, so he obediently prepared for his first day of work. He put on the Zhongshan suit he had once worn to meet Grandpa An and looked quite pleased with himself. “Everything has its day eventually.”
“You’re going to work, not attending the founding ceremony of the nation.” An Zi Yan tossed him the car keys. “Go get it yourself.”
“Get what?”
“If I tell you to do something, just do it. Why so much nonsense?”
Mai Ding turned his back and rolled his eyes. Only after opening the car door did he realize An Zi Yan had already bought him a suit. He rushed back into the apartment delighted. “You could’ve told me you bought me a suit. I was cursing you in my head the entire time.”
“As if you don’t curse me often enough. One more time doesn’t matter.”
Mai Ding grinned shamelessly and denied everything. “Never happened. That was the first time. How could I possibly curse you? I’m too busy loving you.”
“Stop there. Go change.”
Mai Ding nodded and quickly changed. Seeing himself in a suit in the mirror, he felt an inexplicable surge of pride. He struck pose after pose until finally blowing his own reflection a kiss, then hurriedly grabbed his bag and ran to the entryway to put on his shoes. “I’m leaving first.”
“Why make it so complicated? I’ll drive you.”
“What if somebody notices?”
“Then we deal with it when they do.”
“It’s exactly because of that careless attitude of yours that things go wrong! If I get out of your car on my first day, how am I supposed to explain it?”
“We can put you in the trunk.”
Mai Ding made a face, pulling one finger beneath his eye, and left by himself. Today he had to perform well, get along with his coworkers, and show everyone what he could do. He had been a class officer before, after all. Whatever negative effect An Zi Yan had on the entire department, Mai Ding would compensate for it. He was overflowing with fighting spirit.
First, Human Resources gave him his employee ID and other materials, then someone escorted him to Public Relations. Mai Ding looked around curiously, eager to see where An Zi Yan worked. That anticipation crushed his nervousness by force. The elevator stopped on the seventh floor. The moment he stepped out, bright light spilled across the floor. Through transparent glass, he could see a deliberately designed silver-and-black interior, identical computers, identical desks… arranged like soldiers in formation, clean and severe. The HR secretary tapped the door lightly with one finger. Everyone inside turned around.
“This is the new employee reporting to Public Relations. His name is Mai Ding.” The secretary gave the briefest introduction, clearly unwilling to linger, and abandoned Mai Ding there.
Under everyone’s gaze, Mai Ding swallowed, then bowed so deeply it looked like he was paying respects at an ancestral grave. “Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you. I’ll work hard and do my best not to hold anyone back.” His enthusiasm was met by awkward silence. Someone examined him. It was the average-height man with the equally average face from last time. “You look familiar. Wait, weren’t you the guy we saw downstairs outside the company before?”
“I think it really is him,” someone agreed.
Disaster. He had fallen into crisis almost immediately. Mai Ding scratched his head. “That was me. Back then I already wanted to get into the company. When I saw you coming out, I figured I’d make myself familiar.” Embarrassing as it was, when Mai Ding had once tried to make Fu Qian hate him, he had casually lied about drug use and having syphilis. Compared with that, this was nothing. Another awkward silence followed. Mai Ding could only search for An Zi Yan from the corner of his eye. Right on cue, the familiar voice sounded. “Guo Ping, show him the ropes for now.”
“Me again?” complained the same average-height, average-looking man. So his name was Guo Ping. And stop emphasizing that both his height and face are average! Mai Ding politely walked up to An Zi Yan. “Hello. My name is Mai Ding, male, unmarried, twenty years old, one hundred eighty-two centimeters tall.” He was lying about both age and height again.
“Do you think I’m blind?” An Zi Yan kept his head down, looking at a document.
“May I ask what I should call you?”
An Zi Yan raised his head. Mai Ding still wore that same cafeteria smile from years ago, as though they truly had only just met. The thing An Zi Yan had once found unbearably annoying was now married to him, an outcome perhaps even An Zi Yan himself had never expected. The corner of his mouth twitched. “You don’t need to know. And nobody cares what your name is either. Go work.”
At least give me a little dignity!! Mai Ding clenched his fist and turned toward Guo Ping, forcing a wounded smile. “Doesn’t seem easy to get along with.” He had intended to position himself as the vulnerable newcomer and win sympathy. Unfortunately, nobody sympathized. Everyone seemed to take An Zi Yan’s attitude for granted.
“Who was that just now?” Mai Ding pretended to be confused, secretly trying to learn what his coworkers said about An Zi Yan behind his back. Someone who had been promoted so soon after joining had to inspire resentment and jealousy, right? Mai Ding worried.
“Who else? Our superior. But he’s just like you, only recently graduated from university and hasn’t been with the company long.”
“Seriously?!” Mai Ding deliberately cried out in disbelief, then continued, “Did he get promoted through connections or some background? Somebody that young getting promoted has to make people hate him, especially with that terrible attitude.” If Mai Ding were a manager, he would absolutely treat his subordinates well. Whether he was worried or actively stirring trouble was becoming difficult to tell. Guo Ping shrugged and looked toward An Zi Yan. “We don’t really resent him. Some of the older staff naturally have opinions, but once you work with him for a while, you’ll understand. Losing to that kid is inevitable, and honestly pretty normal.” At twenty-seven, Guo Ping sounded less jealous than like someone discussing a younger colleague he admired.
Mai Ding followed Guo Ping’s gaze and looked over. Only now did he truly notice the scene in front of him, and it almost made him fall from his chair. Who was that? Who on earth was that? Mai Ding certainly did not know him. That could not possibly be the deskmate who never listened seriously in class, nor the roommate who threw everything everywhere. An Zi Yan’s crisp suit sat perfectly on his body as he leaned seriously against a desk with another coworker, studying a computer screen and discussing something. From time to time someone came over to ask about another matter, and he gave clear, precise instructions each time. Mai Ding recognized the expression, though. It was the one An Zi Yan wore whenever he played piano. Mai Ding stared stupidly. Was he still asleep and trapped in a dream? How much self-control would it take not to throw himself at An Zi Yan right now and announce to everyone: This is my man. Oh God, none of you steal him. This is my man.
“The company isn’t paying you to sit there spacing out.” An Zi Yan looked coldly toward Mai Ding.
At least the fact that he was a devil never changed, no matter where he went!!!