Mai Ding had barely arrived at the company and was fanning his face when he heard the women behind him talking as he sat down. “Did you hear? Cao Cheng Yi from Marketing, the one Manager Bi nearly fired a while ago, landed a huge deal all by himself.”
“I noticed ages ago that he was pretty good. There aren’t many good-looking men in Marketing. If he weren’t there, I wouldn’t even have the motivation to go downstairs.”
“I wonder if he has a girlfriend.”
“…”
Because of company rules, the women in Public Relations could only admire An Zi Yan from afar. Cao Cheng Yi was different. He was in another department, which meant he was fair game. Mai Ding shook his head. His female coworkers were probably going to be disappointed. They were not Cao Cheng Yi’s type at all. Mai Ding looked around the office and finally let his gaze land on Fan Shao Jun. If it were Fan Shao Jun, there might be a chance. Mai Ding was ninety-nine percent certain Fan Shao Jun liked men.
As he turned on his computer, Mai Ding casually asked Fan Shao Jun, who was fixing his hair, “Shao Jun, do you have a girlfriend?” Fan Shao Jun always sat perfectly straight at work so his suit would not wrinkle. Mai Ding thought he was fussier than a woman.
“Yeah. Why?”
“What?! You have a girlfriend?” Mai Ding’s expression exposed every thought in his head, as though Fan Shao Jun having a girlfriend were the most absurd thing he had ever heard. Fan Shao Jun rolled his eyes. His eye rolls were always so perfect that the dark parts of his eyes nearly disappeared. “That reaction is incredibly rude. Is it really that strange that I have a girlfriend?”
Guo Ping had just arrived and caught the conversation. He teased, “I think Mai Ding assumed you should have a boyfriend instead.”
“I-I never thought that.” He absolutely had.
“What about me looks like I like men?!”
Feng Fei Meng, still eating breakfast, joined the teasing. “What about you doesn’t look like you like men?” Her bluntness made Mai Ding break into a cold sweat. If Fan Shao Jun got angry, wouldn’t Mai Ding be the one who started this disaster? Mai Ding stuck a straw into his milk and tried to steer the conversation away. “Drinking some milk at breakfast is good for you. You people shouldn’t keep eating junk food.” The attempt failed miserably. Fan Shao Jun stood with his hands on his hips. “How exactly do all of you see me?” Gao Shuang added gloomily, “Effeminate.” Fan Shao Jun sent him another perfect eye roll. “How am I effeminate? You judge people by appearances! And even if I were, does that automatically mean I like men? Mai Ding isn’t effeminate. Does that mean he definitely likes women? Maybe he likes men too.” Mai Ding choked on his milk and started coughing.
No. He absolutely had to get the conversation away from this subject. If they only found out he liked men, that would be one thing. But if they followed that line of thought, sooner or later they might start paying attention to how he acted around An Zi Yan, and then things would become impossible to clean up.
“You mean me? Have you forgotten my title as the office playboy? Everyone has seen how many women I’ve been involved with. Women already keep me busy enough. Why would I have time for men? Unless I somehow worked my way through every woman in the world, maybe I’d consider it. Otherwise, hmph, even if a man stripped naked and begged me, I wouldn’t touch him.” His reputation was already terrible, so Mai Ding had given up trying to protect it. Making it a little worse hardly mattered now. Unfortunately, his heroic declaration was overheard by An Zi Yan, the last person to arrive at work. An Zi Yan only glanced at him once, but that single glance nearly cut Mai Ding in half. “If you didn’t come to the company to work, you should pack up and go home to clean.”
You were the last one to arrive. What right do you have to criticize me?! And I already cleaned the house this morning! After furiously cursing An Zi Yan in his head, Mai Ding put on an obedient expression. “Sorry. I’ll start working immediately.” An Zi Yan scoffed. “How did this company ever hire someone like you?”
Weren’t you the one who hired me?!
Humiliating. Completely humiliating. If Mai Ding had to keep facing An Zi Yan at work, sooner or later he was going to bottle things up so badly he would grow a uterus just to have a period. Once again, anger had driven Mai Ding’s dignity straight off a cliff.
After An Zi Yan entered his office, the others immediately started criticizing Mai Ding too. Guo Ping, as Mai Ding’s shifu, naturally went first. “Mai Ding, I’m the one who trained you. Don’t embarrass me. I finally thought Yan had stopped hating you quite so much, and now you’re getting carried away again.”
“I don’t think you’ll last long in this job. You get along terribly with your superiors. Not just Yan, even President Wang.”
“Why don’t you try using those tricks you use on women on Yan and see if they work?” Liu Wei said. Everyone burst out laughing. Mai Ding ignored them and started working. The more he talked, the more likely he was to slip. Topics like this had to be banned from now on. An Zi Yan and I, Mai Ding, are sworn enemies at the company. We have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I will never give him another opening! Work hard, get promoted, get a raise. That’s what matters. And since I happen to have this connection to An Zi Yan, I might as well use it too. Don’t blame me for sacrificing family for justice and stepping on you on my way up. I’ll teach you how ruthless society can be. Mai Ding silently cursed and swore to himself.
A phone kept vibrating on a desk. An Zi Yan answered.
“Hello! Yan.”
“I told you not to call me at work.”
“It’s fine. I went somewhere nobody’s around. Did anyone in your office mention me today? I’m kind of famous in Marketing now. It wasn’t easy. I nearly worked myself to death. I wonder if that’ll affect my kidneys and my performance in bed… Hello? Hello…” Cao Cheng Yi stared at the disconnected phone, refused to give up, and called again.
“Don’t hang up. I promise I’ll talk about something serious.”
“Then talk.”
“My job is safe, but Bi Sheng Lin is making my life miserable now. I’ve done what you told me and worked hard enough to look impressive. How much longer do I have to keep this up?”
“Keep what up?”
“The USB drive. Didn’t you give it to Manager Ji?”
An Zi Yan went silent. Cao Cheng Yi asked suspiciously, “You didn’t get bored of dealing with this whole mess and forget about it because it was annoying, did you?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you! You definitely forgot! Do you have any idea how miserable my life is downstairs from you right now? And meanwhile you actually…” The call was disconnected again.