Manager Cui spotted An Zi Yan through the glass window, put down the documents in his hands, and waited for him to come in. To his surprise, An Zi Yan did not enter his office at all and went back to his own instead. Manager Cui’s face tightened. He felt humiliated. He had been the one to recruit An Zi Yan in the first place, and An Zi Yan had once worked under him. While Manager Cui was away, his other subordinates kept him updated on An Zi Yan. At first he had not taken any of it seriously, thinking An Zi Yan was nothing more than an inexperienced kid. He had never imagined that the boy would one day threaten his position in Public Relations. Who did An Zi Yan think he was? Manager Cui had brought him in, and he could make him get out just as easily.
“Wasn’t he supposed to go to Manager Cui’s office?” Mai Ding muttered through clenched teeth. Guo Ping heard him and shook his head. “That’s why I say you’re still green. Come here. Shifu has time today, so I’ll give you a proper lesson. Manager Cui and Yan hold the same position. The way Manager Cui is acting now is like he’s ordering around a subordinate. If Yan gives in, this kind of thing won’t stop. It’ll only get worse. Then how is Yan supposed to maintain authority in front of the people he manages? And it won’t just be Yan. All of us will suffer too, with Manager Cui and his people pressing down on us. Understand, kid? The workplace is complicated.” Mai Ding nodded. He had never imagined that such a simple matter could involve so much.
Manager Cui waited in vain for An Zi Yan and finally had no choice but to go over himself, though the contempt never left his face. Without greeting him, he said coldly, “I told Guo Ping to pass along that you were supposed to come see me. Did he not tell you?”
“I know.”
“Is that so? Then I’d like to hear why you didn’t come to my office.” Manager Cui held his temper and studied An Zi Yan darkly. An Zi Yan’s tone and expression were not offensive, but there was no warmth in them either. “You’re the one who has something to discuss with me, Manager Cui. I don’t have anything to discuss with you. Why would I go to your office?” Manager Cui had no answer.
The door stood open, and the area outside had gone completely silent. Everyone was straining to hear the conversation. Manager Cui pulled over a chair and sat down. Apparently, after his promotion, An Zi Yan no longer respected him at all. Manager Cui had intended to give him a chance. If An Zi Yan had been willing to lower his head, he would have let him off and expected him to behave himself at the company from then on, allowing everyone to coexist peacefully. Instead, An Zi Yan had wasted his goodwill. Manager Cui knew that if he was not careful with his wording, An Zi Yan might refuse what he was about to ask, so he had no choice but to endure it for the moment. He put on a professional smile. “Here’s the situation. I came back in a hurry because of the gathering, and there are still a few things over there that I haven’t finished handling. Things are busy here now and I can’t get away, so I’d like you to go there and take my place for a while.” He sounded completely sincere. An Zi Yan silently rolled a pen back and forth across the desk with one finger. That old fox had been handling the case from the beginning, and now he wanted An Zi Yan to take over halfway through without knowing anything. There was probably no chance he would hand over the materials he had gathered either. He was obviously waiting for An Zi Yan to mess it up and embarrass himself.
When An Zi Yan did not respond, Manager Cui grew faintly contemptuous, assuming he must be afraid. He pressed harder. “I know it’s a lot to ask on short notice, but this is still Public Relations business. You can help me out with this, can’t you? I’m staying here now and helping you handle the things you haven’t finished too.” The corner of An Zi Yan’s mouth lifted. “Of course.”
Satisfied, Manager Cui stood. “If you run into any difficulties over there, you can call me. Then it’s settled. I still have things to do, so I won’t keep you.” The moment Manager Cui walked out of the office, everyone outside immediately pretended to be busy again. Mai Ding pretended to type while countless thoughts flew through his head. An Zi Yan was going on a business trip? He began listing all the advantages of An Zi Yan being away: no following behind him to pick up his clothes, no one fighting him for the remote, the freedom to roll around the bed by himself, even running naked through the apartment without worrying that someone might suddenly pin him to the bed… There were so many benefits that Mai Ding could hardly find fault with any of them. Then he lifted his head from the computer screen and caught only the vaguest outline of An Zi Yan in the corner of his eye. Somehow, that blurry figure crushed every one of those perfectly clear advantages into nothing. Mai Ding would never be ready to be apart from An Zi Yan. The virus created by love was just like a zombie infection. All you could see was the person you wanted, and you desperately wanted to devour him even at the risk of having your head chopped off.
[Hurry up and go on your business trip. Go!] He sent An Zi Yan a message. Before receiving a reply, he sent another one. [If you don’t leave soon, I’m going to turn into a zombie!! There are only two possible endings: either I eat you, or you kill me.] When An Zi Yan saw the baffling messages, he remained completely calm. He did not even bother asking what Mai Ding meant and simply replied: [You’re wrong. There’s only one ending: I kill you, then I eat you.]
Beast! He would not even spare a zombie! Mai Ding finished the last little bit of work and truly had nothing left to do. He took a wet wipe from his drawer and rubbed his desk back and forth, using tiny chores to distract himself. When they got home, he should pack An Zi Yan’s luggage first. But how many outfits should he prepare? Manager Cui had been gone for months. Would An Zi Yan be away that long too? Mai Ding’s hand stopped moving. He threw the wipe into the trash and thought he was acting like a woman.
After work, Mai Ding returned home and saw a married couple coming out of Xu De’s apartment. It looked as though Xu De and Yu Rong Mei had already made friends nearby. How nice. Unlike Mai Ding, who would only attract more creepy people into the apartment if An Zi Yan left. He opened the door, dragged out a medium-sized suitcase, packed several sets of clothes, then added the book An Zi Yan had not finished reading. He stood in front of the suitcase with his chin propped on one hand, thinking. Then, without warning, Mai Ding sat down inside it to see whether he would fit. When An Zi Yan came home, he could not find Mai Ding anywhere. He heard movement from the bedroom, walked to the doorway, and found Mai Ding twisting himself into all sorts of awkward positions as he tried to cram his own body into the suitcase.
“I don’t want to hear an explanation. Get out of my suitcase immediately.”
“You scared me.” Mai Ding’s embarrassed smile was nothing compared with the embarrassment of his posture. “I was just playing.”
“You play with suitcases too?”
“I mean childish, innocent playing, not dirty playing!”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your tone and your eyes said plenty.” Mai Ding struggled to climb out of the suitcase. Feeling far too humiliated, he said, “Don’t look.”
“Where I look is my business, isn’t it?”
Mai Ding fell silent for a moment, then asked, “You’ll be gone a long time, won’t you?”
“Who knows.” An Zi Yan shrugged indifferently. Mai Ding looked at him. Did An Zi Yan really feel nothing about leaving him soon?