Mai Ding could finally go to work full of energy again. Biting into a piece of bread, he took a deep breath. “Ah, the air is wonderful. It may be cold, but forcing yourself out of bed through sheer willpower gives you such a sense of accomplishment. Don’t you think?”
“You’re noisy.”
“If I’m too noisy, then hurry up and get out of bed. I seriously don’t understand how your attendance record works.” The company required employees to clock in and out, and Mai Ding was naturally a model employee. But no matter how he thought about it, there was no way An Zi Yan could be. Human Resources getting it wrong once or twice would make sense, but An Zi Yan was definitely late more than once or twice. Could there be some trick Mai Ding did not know about?
“If you don’t get up, I’m leaving you behind.”
There was still no response at all. Mai Ding stuffed the last of the bread into his mouth and left. Sometimes An Zi Yan needed to be taught a lesson too.
Once Mai Ding reached the company, he kept checking the time. Sure enough, An Zi Yan was late. Mai Ding sincerely hoped President Wang would see him and give him a proper scolding. Half of Mai Ding’s wish came true. President Wang did see the late An Zi Yan, but only because President Wang himself was late too.
“Getting up on winter mornings is pure suffering,” President Wang complained.
“Mm.”
“One time I slept until noon before getting up.”
Instead of feeling ashamed of being late, the two of them actually started discussing it! Did being a superior mean you could show up late whenever you wanted and bully ordinary employees? Mai Ding’s eyes were full of hostility as he stared at them.
President Wang walked in and cleared his throat. Public Relations immediately went quiet. “You all know what happened with Manager Cui. He won’t be coming back to work. From now on, An Zi Yan will be solely responsible for Public Relations.” The two late arrivals walked in and casually announced the news. Mai Ding’s eyes widened. He had originally assumed someone would take Manager Cui’s old position. Naturally, he had also briefly fantasized that the replacement might be him. After all, he had a special relationship with An Zi Yan. Just like that, his beautiful dream of being called Manager Mai was shattered by two late people. He really needed to stop daydreaming. No matter how far down the list they went, the position would never reach him.
“You don’t have any objections, do you?” President Wang looked toward Manager Cui’s former subordinates.
“No.”
“Good. You’re going to be busy from now on. Don’t embarrass me or Public Relations.” President Wang left the department. Guo Ping, Mai Ding, and the others pulled out handheld confetti poppers they had prepared earlier and twisted them. With a bang, streamers burst into the air, several landing across An Zi Yan’s shoulders.
“Congratulations. We originally wanted to celebrate you staying at the company, but this still counts as a promotion, so let’s applaud.” Aside from the senior employees, every one of the younger workers started clapping. Mai Ding clapped until his hands hurt. An Zi Yan remained expressionless the entire time, staring coldly at them. Their applause gradually weakened, and their smiles stiffened. Even an idiot could see that An Zi Yan intensely disliked their celebration.
Mai Ding timidly removed several streamers from An Zi Yan’s shoulders, then patted off his suit. “Ha, haha. Y-you should say something about how you feel too.” An Zi Yan looked at Mai Ding from the corner of his eye. “Clean my office.” Then he swept his gaze across the others. “Learn more from the seniors. Stop wasting your time on pointless things. None of you ever think about how old you are.” With one sentence, An Zi Yan struck down the entire group.
“Yan, don’t bring up age. It’s too depressing!” The person speaking was not Feng Fei Meng, but Fan Shao Jun. Mai Ding could see other people’s problems very clearly when they had nothing to do with him. In his opinion, Fan Shao Jun was asking to die. The more he told An Zi Yan not to mention it, the more An Zi Yan would definitely mention it. Sure enough, An Zi Yan said, “Aren’t you already over thirty, just like that guy surnamed Mai?”
“Who’s thirty?!”
“Do you have to drag me into it when you insult someone else?!” Mai Ding and Fan Shao Jun shouted almost at the same time. After cleaning the streamers from the floor, Guo Ping began moving desks, dragging his toward the divider that had previously separated them from the seniors. He grinned at them. “Since we’re all working under the same boss now, it’ll be more convenient if we sit together.” Guo Ping’s move made Mai Ding admire him. As expected of his shifu, he had thought everything through. Why had Mai Ding not thought of it himself? He started laboriously moving his own desk, and the others followed.
“There’s so much more room like this.”
Guo Ping asked the senior beside him, “I heard your daughter had chickenpox a while ago. Is she all right now?”
“Mm. She’s fine now.”
“I’m really jealous of you guys. You go home every day and someone already has dinner waiting. Being married really is better than being single.”
“Don’t be jealous. Compared with the tigress at home, being single is better.” The senior’s words made quite a few people laugh. Mai Ding was in an excellent mood. This was what an office should feel like.
The successful product launch did not mean Public Relations was finished being busy. They still had to gather relevant information, and everyone was swamped. Mai Ding refused to let himself sit idle. He had just hung up the phone when he stretched. “Marketing says sales are pretty good. There haven’t been any major problems so far, and there are very few complaints.”
“Then we can really enjoy ourselves over New Year this year.”
“I hope so.” Mai Ding tilted his head back and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling.
The young woman from Human Resources who had appeared in the conference room last time walked in and handed Fan Shao Jun a sheet of paper. “The time and location for the year-end banquet. Let everyone in Public Relations know. I’m leaving now. Don’t forget.” Fan Shao Jun nodded and took the paper. Mai Ding stared intently at the girl as inspiration suddenly struck. He could not help admiring his own quick, agile mind. If An Zi Yan wanted to manipulate his attendance record, he had to have an inside contact in Human Resources. That day in the conference room, this girl had looked at An Zi Yan so meaningfully. Maybe… Besides, a young girl like her, still immature and naive, could easily be dazzled by An Zi Yan. Had An Zi Yan seduced her? Young girls these days had no sense of propriety! Mai Ding was once again self-righteously criticizing everyone else. Apparently everyone in the world except him was improper.