Yang Jun walked around behind the desk, picked up the jacket from the chair, and tossed it onto the sofa.
“Sit, sit,” he said, then looked around and realized there was nowhere to sit.
Yang Jun scratched his head, moved a stack of documents from the desk to the floor, and cleared half a chair. “Sit here for now.”
Chen Man walked over and sat down.
Yang Jun then dragged a cardboard box out from the corner and placed it by her feet. A handwritten note with the year and month was stuck on the box.
“This is the first box,” he said, then went to drag over another. “And these—four boxes in total.”
Chen Man glanced down at the contents of the box. File folders, notebooks, loose pages, reports stapled together.
Yang Jun dragged all four boxes over and lined them up at her feet. He stood there, hands on his hips, catching his breath.
“You start organizing. I have something to do in a bit—I’ll help you sort through them tomorrow,” he said.
Chen Man nodded. “Okay.”
Yang Jun looked at her calm, unresisting expression and breathed a sigh of relief. President Liang was finally showing him some consideration.
Chen Man set her canvas bag behind the chair, flipped open the lid of the first box, and began taking things out, sorting them roughly on the desk.
Yang Jun turned to leave. At the door, he looked back. “I’m going to President Liang’s office. Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay.” Chen Man didn’t even look up.
The door closed.
The office fell quiet. The air conditioner hummed as it blew. The sound of traffic came faintly from outside the window.
Chen Man pulled out the first file folder, untied the string seal, drew out the documents inside, glanced at the header, put them back in the folder, and set it to her left.
The second one. The third one…
With no one disturbing her, she worked calmly and quickly until quitting time.
During all this, Yang Jun never came back.
Chen Man took out her phone and checked the time. It was already five minutes past quitting time.
On her phone screen was a message from Zhong Kaihui, sent three minutes ago, saying he was coming to pick her up. She suddenly remembered that in the past, whenever Zhong Kaihui wanted her to pick him up, he would always s a message an hour in advance, telling her to get ready and go wait early.
Chen Man didn’t open his chat window—she skipped right past it and found Yang Jun’s WeChat, sending a message: “Assistant Yang, can I get off work now? Do I need to lock the office door?”
She had planned to leave work early, but it looked like the next few days would be busy.
There wasn’t much time. After sending the message, Chen Man went online and ordered cookware to be delivered by courier to her rental apartment first. She would stop by the supermarket to buy groceries on her way home—that would be faster.
Yang Jun saw the message, glanced at Liang Jinfeng, who had been working nonstop all afternoon, and replied: “You need to work overtime.”
Chen Man frowned and texted an explanation: “I need to go home and check on my maternal grandmother and cook for her. Could I come back to work overtime in an hour?”
Given the current situation, overtime would probably be the norm. It wasn’t something he could decide.
Yang Jun held his phone and sneakily glanced at Liang Jinfeng. Instead of replying to Chen Man right away, he asked, “President Liang, Chen Man says she needs to go home and cook for her grandmother, and she’ll come back to work overtime in an hour. Is that okay?”
“How much of the material has she organized?” Liang Jinfeng asked without looking up.
Just as Yang Jun was about to ask, he saw that Chen Man had sent over a photo along with a progress report.
“I’ve pretty much finished going through these two boxes of files. I’ll come back later to work overtime—I can finish reading everything before ten o’clock. After that, all that’s left is compiling it into an organized report.”
Yang Jun’s eyes widened. Something he’d estimated would take three days, she could finish in half a day with a bit of overtime?
Yang Jun held his phone up in front of Liang Jinfeng and said with genuine admiration, “Chen Man works so fast!”
Liang Jinfeng glanced up, his gaze first landing on Chen Man’s fluffy WeChat profile picture—a capybara, eyes either squinted or closed, standing on a patch of grass, tiny, looking almost fake.
Then he looked at the photo itself. In the bottom right corner, her bag sat on her lap, as if she were ready to leave at any moment.
Liang Jinfeng looked away. “Have her bring food.”
Yang Jun said, “By the time she comes back it’ll be way too late. I’ll just order takeout!”
Liang Jinfeng tossed the files in front of him. “Get this organized tonight.”
Yang Jun took one look and didn’t dare glance at his phone again. Holding down the voice button with his thumb, he said, “Remember to bring us food when you come.”
Then he tossed the phone aside and got busy.
When Chen Man received the message, she hesitated. Did this mean she should cook and bring food over? Then she’d need to buy more groceries.
She got up, closed the door, and headed out.
The elevator stopped at the third floor, the Business Development Department, and opened. Zhou Liangliang and Zhong Kaihui were standing outside, chatting and laughing. Zhou Liangliang had her bag hanging from her wrist, holding a milk tea, head slightly lowered in a faint smile as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Zhou Liangliang said, “Senior, you still remember? I’d completely forgotten—so embarrassing. Thanks so much for bailing me out. You’re so nice. Actually, back in school I always wanted to treat you to a meal…”
“A meal? Well, I’ll be waiting!” Zhong Kaihui joked.
Between them flowed the easy familiarity of old acquaintances reunited after a long time, along with a harmony that no outsider could break into. But Chen Man knew that Zhong Kaihui could chat like this with anyone, as long as he wanted to.
Chen Man raised her hand and pressed the close-door button several times.
“Hey, Wife, I was just coming to find you!” Zhong Kaihui spotted Chen Man and reached out to block the elevator door.
He handed Chen Man the four-yuan cup of lemonade he was holding. “I brought this for you—your favorite milk tea.”
Then he turned to Zhou Liangliang and said gently, “Go on in! Watch the elevator door.”
With him blocking the door, was Zhou Liangliang really going to get caught in it?
Meaningless thoughtfulness and consideration—but Zhong Kaihui was very good at saying these things to girls.
Zhou Liangliang praised him again. “Oh my god, Senior, you’re such a good man! I’m so envious of some people.”
After saying that, she glanced at Chen Man and walked over to stand beside her.
Zhong Kaihui followed and stood on Chen Man’s other side, pushing the milk tea into her hand. “Wife, come on, take it!”
Chen Man didn’t take it. She didn’t even look.
Zhou Liangliang took a sip of her milk tea, tilted her head slightly, and looked past Chen Man, who stood between them, to thank Zhong Kaihui again. “Thanks for the milk tea, Senior. I’m so happy.”
Then her gaze landed on Chen Man’s face.
Chen Man stared straight ahead, expressionless.
Zhong Kaihui said, “I just grabbed it while buying one for my wife. Don’t be polite—a cup of milk tea isn’t worth much.”
He acted generous, but the first milk tea he’d ever bought Chen Man hadn’t even been worth the change from Zhou Liangliang’s cup.
After getting off the elevator, Zhou Liangliang walked toward his Tesla. Before getting in, he asked Zhong Kaihui, “Want me to give you two a ride since I’m going that way?”
“No, no, you go ahead. Drive carefully,” Zhong Kaihui said, waving his hand with a look of genuine concern.
Once Zhou Liangliang was gone, Zhong Kaihui said enviously, “When are we ever going to be able to buy a car?”
Only after saying this did he notice that Chen Man had already put on her helmet and started the electric scooter.
He hurried over and grabbed the back seat of the scooter. “Wife, take me with you—let’s go home together.”