“Congratulations. Yan finally remembered your name.” Gao Shuang suddenly spoke from behind him like a ghost.
“Does nobody care about the actual problem? President Wang went in there with a serious expression. He definitely heard what Yan said. The company’s already in trouble. What are we going to do?” Mai Ding frowned anxiously.
“Yan will be fine.” Liu Wei was organizing the list Guo Ping had brought down from the meeting. The phone on the desk kept vibrating with messages from various apps. Everyone else seemed to agree with Liu Wei and showed almost no concern over President Wang’s arrival.
President Wang’s shouting suddenly came from inside the office. Mai Ding could not make out the words, but he could guess President Wang was probably tearing An Zi Yan apart. Mai Ding started praying again. He himself could not bear to scold An Zi Yan too harshly. Hopefully President Wang would scold him gently too.
“See? Am I seriously the only one worried? He’s our boss!”
“We just think that if it’s Yan, he’ll be fine,” Feng Fei Meng said, echoing Liu Wei. Mai Ding bit his lower lip and muttered, “Could it be that I’m the one who doesn’t trust him enough?” The thought frightened him. What if his feelings for An Zi Yan were somehow weaker than everyone else’s?
Feng Fei Meng crossed her legs. “There are two explanations. The first is that you don’t believe Yan can handle things and don’t trust him. The second is…” She deliberately stopped there, keeping Mai Ding in suspense. Confused, he asked, “What’s the second?”
“Don’t mothers constantly nag their kids? Study properly, wash your hands before eating, watch for cars when crossing the street, don’t talk to strangers, things like that. Does that mean a mother doesn’t trust her child? Maybe it’s because she loves him too much…”
“I’m definitely the first kind!! A boss like him obviously isn’t trustworthy. He looks respectable on the surface, but maybe he’s a well-dressed beast, maybe he’s shameless and childish, maybe he does absolutely nothing at home and throws things everywhere and orders people around, maybe he pulls stupid pranks sometimes, maybe he even tries to sleep with his ex-girlfriend the night before getting married!” Mai Ding spat out one “maybe” after another in one breath, spraying saliva everywhere as he denied it. It sounded more like an accusation. Then he noticed everyone around him suddenly pretending to be very busy. Realizing something was wrong, he slowly turned around. President Wang looked Mai Ding up and down for several seconds, said nothing, and walked out. An Zi Yan leaned against the doorframe. By the time Mai Ding tried to put on a fake smile, it was already too late.
“You, surname Mai. Come in.”
“Y-yes.” Once inside the office, Mai Ding respectfully closed the door and adopted the manner of a lowly servant. “What business does Your Excellency have with this humble subordinate?”
“What do you think?”
“How could this humble subordinate possibly fathom Your Excellency’s thoughts?”
“I thought you understood me pretty well. A well-dressed beast? Shameless? Childish?”
“I must’ve been possessed just now! I had no idea what I was saying!”
An Zi Yan suddenly planted both hands against the door, trapping Mai Ding between his arms. “I’ll give you two choices.”
“Y-you tell me…” Mai Ding had nowhere to retreat. Unable to withstand the familiar presence and that face so close to his own, he started stammering without meaning to.
“Do you want to die, or do you want to do it?”
Mai Ding, who had barely held himself together, shoved An Zi Yan away. Keeping his voice as low as possible, he hissed, “Pay attention to what’s happening right now! Isn’t the company in trouble? Didn’t President Wang just yell at you?” An Zi Yan shrugged absentmindedly. “It’s not my company.”
“My god! The biggest tragedy this company ever suffered was hiring you! No wonder President Wang yelled at you. Since we’re part of the company, we should contribute whatever little we can. Every ordinary position has a purpose.” Mai Ding started speaking in official slogans again.
“He did lose his temper.”
“See? That’s exactly what I’m saying, so…”
“His computer broke again. He told me to go fix it, and I said I was busy, so he started losing his temper. Nagging old man.”
“Does President Wang have nothing else to care about besides his computer?” Mai Ding was nearly speechless, though he also felt relieved. “Good thing he didn’t hear what you said.”
“He heard it.”
“And he didn’t say anything?”
An Zi Yan was already tired of answering questions. He was about to dismiss Mai Ding, but when he saw those eyes staring at him without blinking, desperate for an answer, he reluctantly continued. “He said unless I fix his computer, he’d rather die than give me his position.”
“President Wang was hired to be company decoration, wasn’t he?!” Mai Ding concluded. An Zi Yan’s phone began ringing nonstop. He returned to his chair and answered. “First calm down the old clients you’re familiar with. Public Relations will handle the rest. Also…” He looked up and saw Mai Ding preparing to leave, so he covered the receiver. “Hey. You still have something to say, don’t you?”
He noticed. Mai Ding was starting to feel that his face betrayed its owner far too easily.
“But you’re busy.” He saw An Zi Yan still covering the receiver, waiting for him to speak. Not wanting to waste his time, Mai Ding spoke quickly and concisely. “I’m sorry. I caused trouble for you just now. If it weren’t for me, everyone wouldn’t have started arguing.”
“That’s it?” An Zi Yan sounded as though Mai Ding had just told him he accidentally stepped on an ant outside. Mai Ding nodded. “Then I’ll go.”
“Stop right there.”
“What?”
An Zi Yan’s lips curled slightly, as though somebody were forcing him to say something he had no intention of saying. “Nobody dislikes having someone defend them.”
“You don’t dislike it either?”
“Mm.”
“Then do you like it?”
“Don’t push your luck. Get out.”
For the next several days, Public Relations stayed in a constant state of chaos. Endless overtime, endless trips outside, phones ringing and footsteps never stopping. In the restroom, Mai Ding hurriedly splashed cold water over his face. He had no time to care about the dark circles under his eyes before rushing back to the office. The atmosphere there was gloomy. Everyone was exhausted and irritable, and curses occasionally erupted from somewhere.
Guo Ping slammed down the phone and drank several mouthfuls of coffee as though it were water. Then he grabbed his jacket and beckoned to Mai Ding. “Let’s go.” Mai Ding nodded and followed him out in a daze. He could not stop himself from yawning. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere good.” Guo Ping rubbed his temples.
“Shifu, you look exhausted. Let me drive.” Guo Ping ignored him completely and sat directly in the driver’s seat. “One of Yan’s instructions was that you’re not allowed to drive.”
“Why does he have to stick his nose into everything!” This time Mai Ding did not ask why. He probably already knew the reason: there was a fifty-percent chance of disaster whenever he drove.
“Shifu, are we going to apologize to a client and handle the aftermath now?”
“I wish an apology were enough. The product itself doesn’t have a major problem. It’s just that one minor feature doesn’t work the way it was advertised. If apologizing alone solved it, Marketing’s after-sales team could handle that. Our job is to keep customers from losing confidence in the product or the company, minimize the damage, and protect the company’s interests and image as much as possible. That’s what Public Relations has to negotiate. Of course, the best result would be if the customer doesn’t care about the minor feature and doesn’t demand a refund or replacement, but they’re not idiots.”
Mai Ding nodded thoughtfully. He refused to waste any opportunity to learn and kept thinking through how he should negotiate later, determined not to make a mistake. Guo Ping glanced at his troubled expression. “You’ve been pushing yourself way too hard lately. Don’t overthink everything.”
“Mm. Okay.” That was what Mai Ding said, but he could not relax at all. Recently An Zi Yan was rarely in the office. He spent most of his time in Marketing. Mai Ding had no idea whether he was arguing with people down there again.
“Even if you don’t work yourself to death, Yan won’t fire you just because he doesn’t like your face.” Guo Ping completely misunderstood Mai Ding’s thoughts and continued, “Last time several managers attacked him in the meeting and he didn’t react at all. Then he came downstairs, saw people attacking you, and stepped in front of you to defend you. He isn’t someone who mixes personal and professional matters. Disliking you is one thing, but you’re still his subordinate.” Apparently Guo Ping misunderstood An Zi Yan just as badly. He mixed personal and professional matters all the time.
“Is he okay down in Marketing?”
“What could go wrong? We fight normally, sure, but when something like this happens, the departments have to work together. Nobody keeps behaving the way they do on ordinary days. We’re all adults. We know what matters. Otherwise the company would’ve collapsed ages ago.”
“That makes sense.” Mai Ding still did not understand the adult world very well.