Having already made up his mind about An Su’s situation, Mai Ding returned to the office, finished sorting all the files into categories, and handed them to Guo Ping. After gathering everyone’s work together, Guo Ping let out a long breath and moved his stiff neck. “After all this time, we’re finally done.”
“If we didn’t finish soon, I was going to lose my mind. Every day I came in and saw those piles of files on my desk, I got a headache.” Fan Shao Jun rubbed his scalp. Liu Wei suggested, “To celebrate, why don’t we go out for lunch today?” Mai Ding protested, “Why do you people celebrate every little thing? What’s there to celebrate? We finished this, but there’s still other work to do.”
“You’re just our junior and you’re already lecturing us. If you’re so capable, go lecture Yan.”
Mai Ding badly wanted to say smugly: You have no idea how many times I lecture him every day. Even your boss gets scolded by me, so lecturing all of you would be nothing. But he was not that stupid, so he changed his wording. “He has plenty of shortcomings, but it’s not my place to lecture him. Someone at home probably does that.”
“Listen to you. If Yan has plenty of shortcomings, then you don’t even qualify as a human being.”
“What does that mean?! I’m much better than him. I’m upright and hardworking. What does he have on me? He just got lucky and was promoted!”
“Stop joking around to change the subject. I think you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared, and I wasn’t joking just now either.”
“Well, Mai Ding’s got guts today. How about a bet? If you dare lecture Yan in front of everyone and he doesn’t say a word back, this fifty yuan is yours.” Liu Wei pulled fifty yuan from his wallet.
“You seriously think I’m going to sacrifice my career and lecture my boss for fifty yuan? Do you think I don’t have a brain?” Mai Ding had barely finished speaking when Gao Shuang added coolly, “You just said you weren’t scared.”
“I-I’m not scared.” Mai Ding could not find a way to explain the contradiction. Fan Shao Jun propped up his chin. “Fifty yuan is already plenty. Just say whether you dare or not. If you don’t, shut up. If you do dare lecture An Zi Yan, from now on we’ll consider not treating you like the newcomer anymore. We won’t always send you to make coffee or buy things. But there’s one condition: while you’re lecturing Yan, he can’t say anything back. If he curses at you or hits you, the bet doesn’t count.” Fan Shao Jun’s offer was far more tempting than Liu Wei’s fifty yuan. If all Mai Ding had to do was lecture An Zi Yan to earn some respect among his coworkers, there could hardly be a better deal. Perhaps this was exactly what it meant to benefit yourself at someone else’s expense.
The printer whirred as white sheets were pulled in and rapidly spat back out. When it finally stopped, Guo Ping picked up the thick stack of index pages, bound them together, and handed them to Mai Ding. “Take this to Yan, then carry all the files back to the archive room. And get me a cup of coffee while you’re at it.” Guo Ping sounded almost as though he were deliberately provoking Mai Ding. It worked. Mai Ding tucked the index under his arm and entered An Zi Yan’s office. An Zi Yan was buried in documents.
“Busy?”
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“What could I possibly want? I’m just checking on you.” Mai Ding’s gentle, affected tone made An Zi Yan lift his head and narrow his eyes at that fake smile. Mai Ding walked over, placed the material on his desk, glanced outside to make sure nobody was watching, then said, “Tired? I’ll cook your favorite food when we get home and give you a massage too.”
“What are you trying to do?” An Zi Yan was not moved by Mai Ding’s attentiveness at all. He asked directly. Mai Ding put on an innocent expression. “What could I be trying to do? How can you doubt my sincerity?”
“I understand your sincerity now. You can go.”
“W-wait. There’s one tiny thing, a very tiny thing, I need your help with. It’s inconvenient to talk about it at work. I’ll tell you when we get home.”
“Either say it now or forget it.”
Mai Ding rubbed his hands together as though choosing his words carefully. “Here’s the situation. You know I get along very well with my coworkers. They said I wouldn’t dare lecture you in front of everyone, so we made a tiny bet. If I lecture you and you don’t say anything back, they’ll stop treating me like the newcomer and ordering me around. Look what a great opportunity this is. You don’t have to say anything, and I get their respect. It’s the best of both worlds.”
“Best of both worlds? I don’t see what I get out of it.” An Zi Yan questioned him. Mai Ding thought bitterly: So much for slipping that past him. His smile became even more ingratiating. “I’ll cook you something good. I’ll give you a massage too~” His tone was light and lively, the complete opposite of An Zi Yan’s. “Do you know how badly your face is begging to be punched right now?”
“What will it take for you to agree?”
“What do you think?” An Zi Yan asked in return. Mai Ding carefully studied his expression, trying to guess the answer hidden behind that calculating look. A clear possibility gradually formed in his mind, but he did not want to say it aloud. He was tired of always relying on things too embarrassing to mention as bargaining chips.
“Let you control the remote for a week?”
An Zi Yan waved a hand, indicating that he should leave. Mai Ding refused to give up. “You can turn on the television, use the tablet, play on your phone?” He made it sound as though An Zi Yan normally needed his permission for any of those things, without considering whether Mai Ding had any authority over them in the first place. An Zi Yan lowered his head again as though he were no longer listening. Mai Ding had no choice but to bring out his final weapon. “I-I can play with you next time.”
“Play what?”
“You know perfectly well.”
“I don’t know.”
Mai Ding’s face reddened. He glared at An Zi Yan and struggled for a while before finally saying, “In… in bed, whatever you want to try, I won’t object. Even if it’s really… shameless. But I’m saying this in advance, only once.” An Zi Yan looked up and spun the pen once between his fingers. “Now that’s what I call the best of both worlds.” Mai Ding walked out resentfully. What a hateful man. Why did he have to fall in love with him?