When Mai Ding returned to the office, lunch break still was not over. An Zi Yan remained in his office, sunlight from the building opposite spilling behind him. Once again he had turned into a painting. Why could he become something so beautiful at any moment that people hardly dared look directly at him? Mai Ding practically wanted to rinse his eyes with water. Somebody tell me, who is that? An Zi Yan must have hired an expensive body double. This morning he had still been refusing to get out of bed, yet now he looked completely serious. Mai Ding stared at his phone. Sending An Zi Yan a message during lunch break should not disturb him, right?
The phone on An Zi Yan’s desk vibrated twice. He picked it up.
[By the way, what am I supposed to call you?]
[Pointless nonsense.]
[How is that nonsense? It’s serious. I almost exposed us earlier because I called you by name. This involves both of us.]
[No. It’s your problem alone.]
[Then should I call you Yan like everyone else?]
[If you dare call me that, I’ll fire you immediately.]
[Abuse of authority! Everyone else can call you that. Why can’t I?]
[No reason. You just can’t. Hearing it from you ruins my appetite.]
[What is that supposed to mean? Then what do you want me to call you?]
[Grandpa is fine.]
[Stop taking advantage of me!!]
“New guy, who are you texting? You look so happy your face is practically splitting from smiling.” Guo Ping had just returned to the office and could not resist teasing Mai Ding when he saw him grinning stupidly at his phone. Mai Ding hurriedly touched his face. What was wrong with me? He had been smiling without even noticing. An Zi Yan had told him to call him Grandpa, yet he was still smiling like an idiot. Was my brain broken? Pretending not to hear Guo Ping, he buried himself in the files again.
Besides desperately cramming company information into his head, Mai Ding also had to run errands for people from time to time. Apparently this was a newcomer’s fate, something not even prison could save you from. He really wanted to know whether An Zi Yan had ever endured this kind of unspoken newcomer rule when he first joined. Liu Wei had just returned from another department and immediately took out his phone to scroll Weibo, collapsing against his chair like someone had removed all his bones. After a while he picked up a pen and threw it at Mai Ding’s back. Mai Ding turned around blankly. “Do you need something?”
“It’s your first day. You’re supposed to treat your coworkers to dinner, karaoke, and drinks.”
“Exactly.”
“If you don’t spend some money bribing us, don’t blame us for bullying you later.” The others all agreed. In their eyes, Mai Ding was a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Another newcomer custom. Mai Ding looked at how many people there were and visibly mourned his money. “I’ll treat everyone to a packet of instant noodles.” Fan Shao Jun kept typing, his face full of disdain. “Cheapskate. Who wants junk food? It’s bad for your skin.”
“Then cup noodles?” What generosity. An Zi Yan walked out of his office and set a file in front of Fan Shao Jun. “Images two, five, and six are wrong. Redo them.”
“Redo them again? What kind of image are we trying to build for the company? I haven’t even finished the rest of my work.” Fan Shao Jun complained, but when he opened the file, every problem had already been marked clearly. It really was better than before. Guo Ping leaned over. “We were planning to bleed the newcomer dry tonight. Yan, you should come too.”
“I’m not familiar with him.” An Zi Yan refused.
“You’re way too cold toward him.”
“I’m not used to looking at that stupid face. Are you finished with your work?” Guo Ping shrugged and returned to his seat. I’m sitting right up and to your left! Can’t you see me?! Who has a stupid face? If you’re not used to looking at it, why don’t you turn the lights off when we have sex?! Mai Ding nearly chewed the paper in half. After An Zi Yan returned to his office, the usually silent Gao Shuang spoke gloomily. “Yan seems to especially dislike the new guy.” Your name really does not suit you. You should be called Gao Unhappy! Mai Ding had far too many voices in his head.
“I think so too,” Feng Fei Meng added.
He’s acting! Mai Ding folded his arms, firmly rejecting the idea that An Zi Yan disliked him. Mai Ding understood him. In order to keep their coworkers from discovering them, An Zi Yan was painfully concealing his feelings, like Romeo and Juliet, lovers obstructed by the world. Give it a rest. Wake up. A voice inside his head dragged him back to reality. Mai Ding dropped his forehead onto the desk. Concealing? Acting? That bastard had always treated him exactly like this!!
“Is the new guy possessed? His expression keeps changing.”
“Who knows? Maybe he’s just feeling the pressure of entering the workforce.”
Mai Ding touched the Public Relations badge on his clothes. He had taken off his ring, but now he had something else matching An Zi Yan instead. That felt nice.
Because Mai Ding’s instant-noodle proposal was unanimously rejected, he began acting poor and pitiful when work ended. He had always been thrifty. Treating coworkers to food was an unnecessary expense. With a miserable expression, Mai Ding pulled out his empty pockets to prove his poverty. “I only bring thirty yuan to work every day. Look, I really don’t have enough money to treat everyone. Next time. I have to go home and patch a hole in the ceiling. It might rain today, and I’m afraid the roof will leak. I also need time to pick wild vegetables by the roadside for dinner.”
“We’ll drive you to the bank to withdraw money.” A pack of vampires! We’ve known each other for one day and we’re not even close, yet the moment free food appears, you all come running. Do you people have no humanity? An Zi Yan had just come out of his office to leave when they blocked him too. “Don’t rush off. Since you hate the newcomer, come take revenge with us and help eat him poor.” An Zi Yan frowned. “Not interested.”
“You’re too cold to your subordinates. Careful or nobody will work for you.” Mai Ding lowered his voice as much as possible. Everyone looked at him in surprise, apparently not expecting the newcomer to have such a temper. An Zi Yan stared at Mai Ding. “What was your name again?”
“Mai Ding.”
“Mai what?”
This bastard. This asshole. This childish demon!!
“Mai Ding.”
“Forget it. I don’t want to know.”
He was doing it on purpose! Mai Ding forced a smile. “I’m sorry. I was talking to myself just now and wasn’t criticizing you. I sincerely apologize for causing a misunderstanding.”
“Apology rejected.”
Go die! I’m going home and spitting all over your piano. Just wait.
Sooner or later, Mai Ding was going to be driven into developing multiple personalities.