The sound of his heartbeat grew faster with every frequency of emotional stirring.
Wen Qi was entirely unaware of which kind of self-conquest Duan Linrang had put himself through—whether it meant his condition acting like a conditioned reflex the moment he heard his name, or secretly prying and spying upon learning of his existence.
These suspicions belonging to the adolescent, spring-awakened youth of Wen Qi remained completely unknown to Duan Linrang.
Had Duan Linrang known, surely a tangible, genuine answer would have been presented right before Wen Qi’s eyes.
Yet what left Wen Qi distressed for the time being was their relationship.
Making zero progress!
Feeling bored out of his mind, Wen Qi wandered through the book-fragrant study where Duan Linrang worked, setting aside the important documents Duan Linrang laid out on his desk.
He gently flipped through the pages of each book, attempting to decipher every single word Duan Linrang had once read through careful textual analysis.
Only, as time dragged on, he developed the urge to head out and get a job.
“You want to… find a job?”
Through the communication channel, Duan Linrang chewed over those words one syllable at a time: “Let me hear Qiqi’s reasoning.”
Wen Qi argued logically and fluently: “I can’t just eat off you and live off you for the rest of my life. All my friends have gone out to work, and I’m just too bored.”
“Your injuries haven’t fully healed yet.”
“It’s already been three weeks, and there are only two days left in the final week.” Displaying a hint of willful petulance, Wen Qi softly called Duan Linrang “Older Brother”: “Can I?”
“…Mn, alright. Older Brother agrees to let you look,” Duan Linrang conceded, completely at his wit’s end. “But I’m not at ease with you going out alone, how about Ding Tong tags along with you?”
Actually, Wen Qi hadn’t expected Duan Linrang to agree so readily. He acknowledged with a hum: “Thank you, Duan Linrang.”
Twisting a piece of paper to turn the page, Duan Linrang said, “Come thank me once Qiqi earns your very first pot of gold. I have a meeting coming up shortly, will you send me a message reporting your movements when you head out, alright?”
“Okay! I promise to let you know all my whereabouts,” Wen Qi said happily. “You hurry off to your meeting.”
Changing into well-fitting clothes, Wen Qi, under Ding Tong’s guidance, headed toward the most bustling commercial mall in the Imperial Capital.
Wen Qi listed out the shops that matched his conditions. Strangely enough, the number of shops hiring personnel recently was abnormally high.
He sent a text message over to Duan Linrang.
[Wen Qi: Special Assistant Ding and I are currently at the entrance of the mall, planning to go through the interviews according to my scheduled list.]
The very first place he went to interview was for a mall administrator position.
The general manager of the Imperial Capital mall sized Wen Qi up from top to bottom, handing the application materials over to him:
“Regarding the position you’re applying for, I have the right to inform you in advance: if you want to do this job well, the training time alone takes up the greater half of the summer vacation, and all the content and techniques inside our mall will require you to spend time memorizing and learning. You’re not very old, do you have plans to work long-term?”
Obviously, Wen Qi did not.
Ding Tong looked toward the mall general manager thoughtfully: “Isn’t there a simpler position? Can’t someone start working after picking up short-term skills?”
Secretly wiping away sweat behind the scenes, the general manager caught the drift instantly, and Wen Qi said: “An employee responsible for mall data analysis recently resigned for unexplained reasons. If you intend to take on the job, you can try starting by doing the simplest data tracking.”
Ding Tong chimed in again: “What is the salary Young Master is expecting?”
Stepping in a step ahead, the general manager stated: “The salary and benefits we can offer generally range between twelve thousand and thirty thousand. This is the administrator’s salary, with perks calculated separately.”
His pupils dilating in shock, Wen Qi gestured with an astonished hand shaped into the number five—wait, twelve thousand to thirty thousand?!
After undergoing a bout of intense mental struggle, he said: “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, but I believe I might be unable to competently handle this job. Let me check out some other options.”
What worried him most was that resigning after the summer vacation ended would mean breaking the promise of calling himself a long-term worker.
Casting a sideways glance at Ding Tong, the general manager stood up and extended his hand toward Wen Qi: “Ah, I wish you a smooth journey in finding a suitable job.”
Shaking hands with the general manager, they subsequently departed the meeting room.
“Does the Young Master feel this job isn’t suitable for you?” Ding Tong asked.
“It’s suitable, I just have a weakness for money,” Wen Qi sighed. “Tsk… but I can’t lie to myself. Drawing a high salary while sitting in an office handling data statistics, I’m not a long-term worker either, I’ll be heading off to school in a month, how could I possibly lie to myself like that?”
“Rest assured, Young Master, President Duan will cover for you.”
“No way” Wen Qi declared with absolute certainty. “I cannot rely on him.”
In turn, he left a message for Duan Linrang.
[Wen Qi: First job ended in failure.]
Ding Tong also took out his phone to report on the situation.
[Ding Tong: President Duan, the Young Master probably felt the salary was too high and lacked long-term plans, stating he couldn’t bring himself to lie like that.]
Heading up to the second floor, Wen Qi located the second interview spot.
A shop assistant for a men’s clothing brand, the store manager didn’t even lift his head: “How old are you, do you have work experience, you aren’t some summer temp, are you?”
Hearing the store manager say that, those three words summer temp were enough to persuade Wen Qi, who was attempting to pull off a deception, to back down entirely.
Apologizing, Wen Qi said: “Sorry for the disturbance.”
He turned around and prepared to leave.
Catching sight of this, Ding Tong swiftly covered his mouth and coughed, prompting the store manager to slowly raise his head just in time to collide with Ding Tong’s icy, stern gaze.
Startled, the store manager called out to stop Wen Qi: “Wait a minute! We can talk first!”
Stepping past the front desk, he asked: “What salary are you expecting? If your work experience falls short, we have a crash course available right here, and as for long-term or short-term, we can temporarily set that aside and not discuss it.”
Wen Qi froze for a moment.
Struggling desperately to remedy the situation, the store manager added: “Our brand has fantastic global influence, and exploding sales orders happen all the time. Right now we just happen to hit the summer vacation rush, and we’re urgently in need of a few sales associates let’s talk!”
Following a brief communication session, the store manager asked Wen Qi: “Considering joining us?”
Wen Qi remained hesitant and undecided.
Stealing a glance at Ding Tong’s expression, Ding Tong unceremoniously blurted out: “What is the staff salary like at your store?”
The store manager replied: ” Uh… the salary, we can offer up to seventy-five hundred? Commissions and performance bonuses depend entirely on the individual.”
Looking toward Ding Tong once more, the store manager offered: “How about this, nine thousand a month. Passing performance evaluations is extremely easy for our brand, are you interested?”
In a deep voice, Wen Qi said: “Manager, the treatment you’re offering is wonderful, but due to my lack of capability, I’m afraid I cannot competently handle this job. Sorry to have troubled you.”
“Ah, not considering it anymore? You can learn, you can enter the crash course right now, or how about you exchange pointers with experienced sales associates first…”
Smiling wryly, Wen Qi shook his head.
The moment Wen Qi walked away, the store manager immediately turned 100% earnest: “Apologies, Special Assistant Ding, I didn’t notice this was someone you brought along. I was simply too busy when I received the interview notification and accidentally overlooked it.”
Smiling faintly, Ding Tong said: “You’d better hope you were merely too busy and overlooked it. If you anger President Duan, you and I both know what happens.”
“I really didn’t pay close attention…”
“Get back to work.”
Lingering an extra second would inevitably cause Ding Tong to expose flaws.
Following closely right behind Wen Qi as he exited the clothing store, he turned his head to search for Wen Qi’s figure, only to discover Wen Qi leaning against the wall, those pretty eyes staring straight at him.
Wen Qi had long since sensed something was amiss the moment the store manager’s attitude underwent a drastic 180-degree shift. He figured that as a short-term temp without Duan Linrang backing him up, absolutely nobody would hire him.
Beaming genially, Ding Tong said: “Someone will definitely appreciate the Young Master’s talent.”
Wen Qi:
Blatant provocation.
Composing a lengthy paragraph of text, he fired it straight off to Duan Linrang.
[Wen Qi: You bastard man! You promised to let me find a job myself, but it turns out everything was arranged by you! Even if I earn my first pot of gold, it’s still money given to me by you, so you might as well just hand the money straight to me! What job am I even looking for… you’re a madman who drives people crazy both openly and behind the scenes!]
Accompanied by a giant crying sticker.
Carefully reading through those paragraphs of messages all the way to the final sentence, Duan Linrang realized that Wen Qi’s words were bristling with fierce hostility.
Chosing not to dwell on how the truth had leaked out, Duan Linrang decisively tapped open the transfer function and shot three separate transfers of one hundred thousand yuan each to Wen Qi.
[Duan Linrang: Fine, my fault. I shouldn’t have done that and made Qiqi unhappy. I’m buying your anger from just now, I beg Qiqi not to be mad at me anymore.]
[Duan Linrang: I swear, I won’t interfere anymore. Ding Tong following you is purely out of consideration for your safety.]
Staring unblinkingly, Wen Qi watched messages pop out one by one from the dialog box.
Such a colossal monetary transfer made Wen Qi realize that as long as he was willing to bring up money with Duan Linrang, it was impossible for Duan Linrang not to hand it over.
Wen Qi was genuinely rendered completely speechless.
Before he had even experienced the dim prospects of job hunting or undergone the trials and tribulations of stepping into society, his wallet had magically fattened by another three hundred thousand yuan.
[Wen Qi: I hate you.]
[Duan Linrang: When will you be able to start liking me again? I don’t want to be hated by you.]
Wen Qi’s slender fingers paused for a split second.
[Wen Qi: I never said I liked you in the first place.]
[Duan Linrang: Mn… seems like that’s true. Since I don’t want to be hated, I suppose I’ll just have to make you favorable toward me all over again.]
[Wen Qi: Unless you stop helping me behind the scenes. I want to try it out on my own once.]
[Duan Linrang: Alright, I’ll be a good boy and wait for your good news.]