Public Relations had split completely in two, yet strangely enough, the atmosphere became more relaxed. The things that used to annoy the senior employees no longer bothered them. After all, the more mistakes the younger group made now, the better it was for the seniors.
Mai Ding turned down Guo Ping’s invitation to go drinking and celebrate and hurried home. The moment he stepped through the door, before he had even taken off his shoes, An Zi Yan said, “The alarm clocks.”
“Stop caring only about the alarm clocks! Today was seriously dangerous. I was worried you’d get demoted.” That was what Mai Ding wanted to talk about, not some stupid alarm clocks.
“If you don’t find every one of them within ten minutes, you should start worrying about yourself.”
“I did it for your own good. If it weren’t for me today, you might’ve even been late to the meeting, and Square-Face Cui would’ve found another excuse to make trouble for you. You should be thanking me.” Since Manager Cui and An Zi Yan could not stand each other, Mai Ding had given him a nickname based on his perfectly square face.
An Zi Yan stopped speaking. Mai Ding assumed his criticism had been too harsh and added, “I’m not angry with you. I’m just saying. Fine, I’ll go cook now.”
Halfway through the movie they watched after dinner, An Zi Yan suddenly checked the time and walked into the bedroom. “Mai Ding, come here.”
“What is it?” Mai Ding paused the movie and followed him. An Zi Yan said, “Close your eyes.” Hearing a line straight out of an idol drama made Mai Ding’s heart pound wildly. Usually when someone said this, it meant the male lead had prepared a surprise for the female lead. Mai Ding obediently closed his eyes. An Zi Yan moved behind him and guided him to the middle of the bedroom. “Wait here.”
“Mm.” Mai Ding nodded emotionally.
A minute passed. Then Mai Ding’s pounding heartbeat was drowned out by an earth-shattering chorus of alarm bells. Ten alarm clocks shrieked from different corners of the room, loud enough to nearly rupture his eardrums. When Mai Ding bought them, he had never imagined they could be this powerful. He had set all ten for eight o’clock, which meant they rang at eight in the morning and eight at night. This was An Zi Yan’s surprise for him. It was nothing like an idol drama. Mai Ding looked around. An Zi Yan was already gone. Covering his ears, he rushed out of the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him.
“An Zi Yan!”
“Didn’t you want me to thank you? That’s my return gift. Are you going to thank me now?”
Damn him. Infuriating bastard. Rotten to the core.
An Zi Yan sat on the sofa and pressed play. Mai Ding hurried over and sat beside him, unwilling to miss a single part of the movie and equally unwilling to miss a single minute beside An Zi Yan. As he kept watching, he gradually sank into An Zi Yan’s arms.
The next day, President Wang came to Public Relations. The office, which had still been full of conversation moments earlier, instantly went quiet until only the flipping of documents and tapping of keyboards remained. Mai Ding thought, As expected of a leader. You really need that kind of presence. After what happened yesterday, his impression of President Wang had changed dramatically. Before, he had assumed President Wang was just collecting a salary. If Mai Ding could develop that kind of presence too, maybe he would become a leader himself before long. His imagination immediately ran away with him.
An Zi Yan was leaning against Guo Ping’s desk listening to a work report when President Wang walked over. “Come upstairs and fix my computer.” Fixing the computer again?! All of yesterday’s severity had vanished. An Zi Yan frowned. “I told you. That piece of junk should’ve been thrown away ages ago.”
“I’m used to it.”
An Zi Yan abandoned President Wang and returned to his office. A minute later, he came back carrying a new laptop and handed it over. “Consider this a bribe. Take it.” What was he saying in front of the entire department?! Bribes were supposed to be secret.
“What use is giving this to me? I’m no good with computers.”
“President Wang, don’t tell me you came down here to waste my time because you want to help Manager Cui.”
He was so direct. If Mai Ding could, he would have reached from behind and viciously pinched An Zi Yan. But he was not An Zi Yan. He was a rule-abiding subordinate.
“Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“You.” An Zi Yan paused, then frowned slightly. “I’ll copy your files onto this computer. Don’t come looking for me again after that.”
“Plenty of people wish I’d come looking for them. What kind of attitude is that?”
The two argued as they headed toward the elevator. Mai Ding could not figure out their relationship. Yesterday in the conference room they had been so serious with each other… Was this one of those rules of adult office life, business was business and private matters were private? But how could An Zi Yan behave like an adult? He was obviously an immature brat.
President Wang smoked as he watched An Zi Yan in front of the computer. He had first met An Zi Yan because his daughter liked him so much. Probably because of An Zi Yan’s looks, his daughter had constantly talked about how wonderful he was, which made President Wang a little jealous as a father. Later, when he discovered An Zi Yan had joined the company, he started paying attention to him, worried that An Zi Yan might be trying to use his daughter. But after observing him, President Wang gradually grew fond of him. He liked the way An Zi Yan worked: direct speech, decisive handling, no dragging things out. One month after An Zi Yan joined the company, President Wang took a gamble and promoted him despite other people’s objections. An Zi Yan turned out even better than he had expected, and President Wang came to trust him more. Having spent years navigating the workplace, President Wang knew he always had to guard against the people around him, but he believed An Zi Yan was not the sort to scheme against others. President Wang’s opinion of An Zi Yan was far too positive. An Zi Yan had already schemed against more people than anyone could count.
President Wang took another deep drag from his cigarette. An Zi Yan stood, preparing to leave, when President Wang stopped him. “Keep an eye on Old Cui for me. I don’t have evidence yet, but I still think he’s doing something behind my back.” An Zi Yan said nothing and walked out.
Mai Ding waited for the elevator because he needed to go to Marketing for some documents. When the doors opened, he found An Zi Yan inside. Since An Zi Yan showed no intention of getting out, Mai Ding asked, “You’re going downstairs too?”
“Mm.”
Mai Ding watched him warily. Who knew what An Zi Yan might do inside an elevator? He pointed up at the camera. “There are surveillance cameras in here. Don’t do anything weird to me again. If somebody finds out, the consequences will be serious. Are you trying to get me transferred?”
“True. It wouldn’t be fun if we got caught.”
“Can you think about this from the perspective of protecting me for once?!” Mai Ding snapped. He glanced at the floor An Zi Yan had selected and saw it was the first floor. “Where are you going?”
“Personal business.”
The elevator happened to stop at the fourth floor. Mai Ding had no time to ask what kind of personal business before he stepped out. What personal business could An Zi Yan possibly have? Surely he wasn’t planning to leave work early and go home to play. The more Mai Ding thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He hurried down the stairwell, determined to stop him. Things were different now. In the past, if An Zi Yan disappeared, Manager Cui could still arrange the work. Mai Ding ran outside the company, panting, and looked around. He finally spotted An Zi Yan, but stopped just as he was about to walk over. The man speaking with An Zi Yan was the same man Mai Ding had seen in the café. He recognized him immediately. After all, the question of who this man was had been tormenting him for a long time. An Zi Yan had said it was personal business, which meant the man was not a company client.