Gu Ming reviewed Zhong Xiao-ou’s proposal and found several issues. Seeing that Xiao-ou was still online on RTX, she messaged her: “Xiao-ou, come up for a moment.”
Xiao-ou rushed upstairs.
“Has your Manager Wen seen this proposal?”
“I sent it to him, and he told me to pass it to you, President Gu, to see if there were any other problems.”
“So he didn’t revise it at all and just let you send it straight to me?” Gu Ming’s tone was sharp. Xiao-ou thought, Oh no, and lowered her head. “President Gu, if the proposal isn’t good, I can go back and rewrite it.”
“Do you even know which parts are bad?” Gu Ming asked.
Xiao-ou didn’t dare say another word.
“If you don’t even know what’s wrong, what’s the point of rewriting it? It’s meaningless.”
Xiao-ou felt like a cicada in winter—silent and shivering. She wanted to ask, Then tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it! but she was terrified of Gu Ming picking her apart further.
Gu Ming got angrier as she read. “Where is Manager Wen?”
“Manager Wen… he’s already left for the day.”
“Heh, he’s certainly living the easy life. He’s treating me like your department manager, doing his job for him every day.” Gu Ming threw up her hands. Xiao-ou felt exhausted; she felt like she was constantly walking into a disaster.
Gu Ming looked at her standing there in silence. After a moment, she realized she was taking her frustrations out on the girl. Professionalism dictated she shouldn’t vent on a subordinate. Actually, Xiao-ou’s proposal wasn’t terrible; it just had many small errors. For example, she didn’t fully understand the business model of the upcoming Chongqing project. But that wasn’t Xiao-ou’s fault—Manager Wen had been handling that project himself long before Xiao-ou joined. He clearly hadn’t briefed her properly, and he certainly hadn’t checked the work before it was submitted. The fault lay with Wen Chao, yet here she was, yelling at Xiao-ou.
Gu Ming took a deep breath and softened her voice. “Come here. I’ll show you how to fix it.”
Xiao-ou was on the verge of tears. Hearing Gu Ming’s voice turn gentle made her nose sting with emotion. She quickly walked around the desk to stand beside her. Gu Ming pointed at the screen, guiding her: “The general logic is fine, but these few slides need work. As for the project model here… do you understand now?”
Xiao-ou nodded silently. Suddenly, Gu Ming’s phone rang. “Yes… No, I didn’t… Fine, just leave it at the front desk.” It was Su Ran, who had ordered takeout for her. Gu Ming had no appetite; she’d survived on several cups of coffee all day and felt unproductive. She didn’t want to eat, but Su Ran had insisted. She glanced at Xiao-ou. “Have you had dinner?”
Xiao-ou, who had been leaning over to look at the screen, stood up straight. “Not yet.”
“Perfect. Su Ran ordered a meal for me. It’s in the lobby. Go grab it and we can eat.”
“No, President Gu, that’s your meal. I’ll finish this and eat later. Is it downstairs? I’ll go get it for you.” Xiao-ou hurried out of the office.
Su Ran had thoughtfully ordered porridge and various side dishes. There was enough for several people. Xiao-ou set it all out on the coffee table, planning to retreat downstairs to her lonely desk. Gu Ming felt a bit guilty—not just for losing her temper earlier, but because the last time she’d meant to treat this girl to dinner, she had ended up catching her fiancé cheating.
“President Gu, I’ll go back down to revise the files now. Please enjoy your meal.”
“Eat with me,” Gu Ming suggested. “Su Ran ordered too much, and I don’t have much of an appetite anyway.”
Xiao-ou hesitated, but Gu Ming had already pressed a pair of chopsticks into her hand. Xiao-ou’s heart was doing gymnastics—being scolded one minute and invited to a private dinner the next was a lot to handle. But knowing Gu Ming was in a bad mood, she didn’t want to disobey. She sat on the sofa and started opening the side dishes. The porridge was soft and fragrant, and the appetizers were refreshing. For a moment, Xiao-ou forgot the day’s stress. The day had started and ended poorly, but here she was, eating with the VP. She treats me differently than the others, Xiao-ou thought, feeling her spirits lift. Noticing Gu Ming had barely touched her food, she asked shyly, “Sorry… am I eating too much?”
Gu Ming looked at her eating so heartily and shook her head. “No. You must be hungry. Keep eating.”
“Why aren’t you eating? Is it not to your taste?” Xiao-ou asked, picking up the last piece of cucumber.
“No, I’m just not—” Suddenly, the room went black.
“What happened?” Xiao-ou said, still holding her bowl.
“Probably a tripped circuit?” Gu Ming looked out the window. The rest of the city was still glowing.
“Did the power go out?” Xiao-ou asked, bewildered. How could it stop right in the middle of dinner?
Gu Ming stood up and fumbled for her phone on her desk. She called property management. “What? A regional fault? Repairs are underway?”
She hung up. In the darkness, she couldn’t even see where Xiao-ou was. “The whole block is out of power.”
“Seriously? Such bad luck?” Xiao-ou swore to the heavens that she wasn’t secretly happy about being alone with the VP in the dark. Her thoughts were pure—mostly. “Oh no!”
“What’s wrong?” Gu Ming asked, startled.
“The proposal isn’t finished, and now I can’t work on it.”
“You’ll just have to come in early tomorrow to finish it,” Gu Ming said.
Xiao-ou nodded. Gu Ming, still uneasy, called property management again. “When will it be fixed?”
“They aren’t sure. They’re working through the night. The telecom people said 10:00 AM tomorrow at the earliest.”
“10:00 AM?!” Gu Ming sighed. “Fine. To be safe, we’d better finish it tonight. You’ll have to take my laptop home.”
Xiao-ou pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. She waved it around until she found Gu Ming and shone the light in front of her. She packed up Gu Ming’s laptop; she wasn’t going to let the VP carry something that heavy.
They left the office. Xiao-ou habitually went to press the elevator button. Gu Ming gave a bitter laugh. “The power is out. Why are you pressing the elevator?” Xiao-ou bit her lip. Does my IQ just vanish when I’m around her?
“So… the stairs?” Xiao-ou frowned.
“Luckily, it’s only ten floors.” Gu Ming led the way in her high heels. Both held their phones for light. Gu Ming carried her bag, while Xiao-ou followed with the laptop.
Gu Ming’s phone buzzed—2% battery. After one flight of stairs, it gave a final chirp and died. Modern batteries were useless. Xiao-ou stepped up to walk side-by-side so they could share her light. Gu Ming, forgetting about the bruise near her eye, realized she couldn’t see a thing through her sunglasses in the dark and took them off. At some point, she reached out and grabbed Xiao-ou’s hand—the one holding the phone.
The “fan-girl” inside Xiao-ou was screaming with excitement. The frustration of the blackout vanished. Is this a blessing in disguise? she thought. If my phone died too and it was pitch black… wouldn’t that be romantic? Xiao-ou, acting on impulse, sneakily silenced her phone and held down the power button. The screen went black. Gu Ming, still clutching Xiao-ou’s hand, gasped. “No way… your phone died too?”
Xiao-ou tucked the phone into her pocket and faked a sigh. “It just had 20%! Why did it turn off?”
“Try turning it back on.”
“Huh?”
“Turn it on!” Gu Ming said, a note of panic in her voice. The total darkness brought a strong sense of insecurity.
“Oh… okay.” Xiao-ou reached into her pocket. She should have just said it was broken. As she pulled the phone out, it slipped from her nervous, sweaty grip. Clatter-thump-thump! It tumbled down the stairs.
“F***!” Xiao-ou blurted out.
“What happened?” Gu Ming’s grip on Xiao-ou’s hand tightened.
“I dropped my phone.” Xiao-ou knelt down, feeling around the steps. In the ink-black stairwell, she felt four steps down but found nothing. Gu Ming stood frozen, too afraid to move. Xiao-ou felt a mix of emotions. She’d gotten her wish for darkness, but that was her favorite iPhone 4s! Where did it go?
“Did you find it?”
“No.” Xiao-ou sighed and sat on the step. There were still five floors to go. She felt like an idiot.
“Let’s just get downstairs first. We’ll look for it tomorrow,” Gu Ming said, her voice small. She was clearly afraid of the dark.
“I guess so. President Gu, let me help you.” Xiao-ou felt her way up four steps until her hands met Gu Ming’s body. Her heart was hammering against her ribs. “President Gu… can I lead you down by the hand?”
In the darkness, she found Gu Ming’s hand again. It was soft and smooth. Maybe losing an iPhone 4s was worth it…