Chapter 72

By the time she handed the supplies over to Meng Jue, it was already dark.

Wei Xiaolu was a little dazed as she squeezed onto the rush-hour subway. Looking at her reflection in the glass, she realized that the formal outfit on her somehow looked dull and dusty now.

The tips of her fingers still carried the rough, numb sensation of handling plastic all day. Then she thought of how carefully she had sorted and organized everything, only for Meng Jue to dismiss her report on the clear data results with a completely indifferent expression and a flat, emotionless, “Come earlier tomorrow.”

Come earlier tomorrow; was she supposed to count goods in another warehouse?

Wei Xiaolu’s spirit would not allow her to do work like that.

She could work in a warehouse for a day, but she could not keep working in a warehouse forever.

So Wei Xiaolu decided that tomorrow, when she saw the leader, she would have to perform well and fight for work that matched her actual position.

Halfway through the subway ride, Shen Siyan sent her a message.

【Shen Siyan: Still not back yet?】

Commuting really was as hard as Shen Siyan had said. Packed into the crowd, Wei Xiaolu replied while dragging along her tired body and stifled irritation: 【It’s my first day, so there’s a lot going on. I’ll be there in a little over ten minutes】

She said ten minutes, but in reality it was already half an hour later by the time she got home.

Wei Xiaolu opened the door and caught the scent of noodles. Before her craving could even get the better of her, Shen Siyan walked out of the room with a smile and came toward her. “You’re back.”

It felt as if something had quietly shifted.

Watching Shen Siyan stand where she used to stand, greeting her with the same words she used to say, while she had gone from being the one waiting to the one returning; with Shen Siyan taking her bag for her, even receiving the kiss she bent down to give, it was impossible not to wonder: when Wei Xiaolu used to do these things for Shen Siyan, did Shen Siyan also feel as if the day’s exhaustion had melted away?

“How was your first day?”

Wei Xiaolu was still spaced out when she heard Shen Siyan ask that.

“Mm, it was okay...” She instinctively avoided Shen Siyan’s gaze, sat down at the dining table, and ate a few bites of steaming Lanzhou beef noodles. “What can you even do when you first go in? Just get familiar with the environment. It was pretty full-on.”

In case Shen Siyan decided to continue her habit of pressing for details, Wei Xiaolu immediately covered up her mood with exaggerated appetite. “It smells so good! How can it smell this good? Sis, you should eat too.”

“So hungry already?” Shen Siyan handed her some tissues. “I’ll pack some snacks in your bag later. If you get hungry on the way, eat a little first.”

Wei Xiaolu immediately rattled off a string of snacks, warning Shen Siyan not to pack the wrong things.

“How could I not know your tastes?” Shen Siyan smiled. “Bring more tomorrow; take them to share with your coworkers.”

What coworkers? That bad guy surnamed Meng?

Wei Xiaolu had lost all desire to do anyone any favors at Kerong, but she still agreed with Shen Siyan and quickly changed the subject. “How’s things on your side? Is the revision plan going smoothly?”

Perhaps she hadn’t expected to be asked about so suddenly; Shen Siyan went still for a moment.

“It’s going very smoothly.” In the end, Shen Siyan smiled and said those three words.

I’m not going very smoothly, though.

Wei Xiaolu hesitated, then stuffed a few more mouthfuls of noodles into herself and swallowed her impulse to complain. She forced out a bit of cheer and made some playful small talk with Shen Siyan.

But this wasn’t joy in any real sense. After dinner, Wei Xiaolu felt mentally exhausted. Shen Siyan even asked if she was too tired when she kept yawning, and Wei Xiaolu shook her head and said with certainty, “Carb coma.”

Shen Siyan didn’t doubt her, but Wei Xiaolu really was so sleepy she felt ruined. The energy she used to stay up until two or three in the morning playing on her phone had disappeared without a trace. She could only use adjusting her sleep schedule as an excuse and crawl into bed early.

The next day, Wei Xiaolu got up a little earlier on purpose and arrived at the company half an hour before yesterday.

Meng Jue once again handed her the job of counting disposable syringes in another warehouse. Wei Xiaolu didn’t take it on. Instead, she asked with a smile, “Team Leader Meng, um, I haven’t gone to report to the leader yet. Is the leader here today?”

“Oh right.” Meng Jue slapped his forehead. “Director Liu is here today. I’ll take you over.”

Wei Xiaolu followed close behind and met the Director Liu Meng Jue had mentioned. She was in her forties, with a sharp face and an air of quiet authority that made her seem naturally intimidating.

Not knowing the leader’s preferences, Wei Xiaolu did her best to smile while stating her request. But when she said that she was in data processing and asked about a workstation and whether she could participate in data analysis work afterward, Director Liu showed no expression at all. She only said coldly, “Xiao Wei, you’re making the mistake all young people make: you’re too eager. You need to start from the most basic things first, and that means fully understanding the business.”

Wei Xiaolu gave an awkward smile. “I see.”

“First follow Xiao Meng and get a clear grasp of the warehouse procedures, build the ledgers properly; isn’t that honest-to-goodness data processing?” Director Liu seemed to be teaching her earnestly. “The company is cultivating you with great care. Don’t be overambitious. Settle down first.”

Wei Xiaolu: “...”

“As for the workstation, when you first join the company, everyone rotates through different posts. You’ll be gone in two months anyway; there’s no need to specially arrange a seat. For now, there’s a little rest room inside the warehouse. You can sit there temporarily.”

Hope dashed.

Wei Xiaolu failed to fight for any change in her current situation. Disheartened, she walked out of the director’s office and then made her way back to the warehouse. After wandering around for ages, she finally found the shockingly named “rest room.”

The rest room was a rest room in name only; in reality, it was just a corner piled high with miscellaneous junk. The only thing that could be called decent was the wobbly wooden table.

Wei Xiaolu closed her eyes.

I’m so angry, so angry, I’m going to explode—this is a humble room, but my virtue is fragrant, she would not bother arguing with those dogshit leaders.

Since these tasks were unavoidable, she might as well accept them. She couldn’t change the work, but at least she could change her attitude toward it, and change the environment here.

Anyway, she would only be here for two months.

Two months would pass very quickly.

Her target of getting the ideal job was downgraded to doing the bad job well.

And doing things well was still the only support Wei Xiaolu had for preserving her dignity and personal pride. At that moment, she started believing Shen Siyan’s words again: no matter where you were, as long as you worked hard, you could achieve something.

Thinking of what the guide had said when she came yesterday, she simply stopped overthinking and got on with it.

After counting the disposable syringes, she entered the blurred old ledger, and in the end even cleaned out the rest room, giving it the grand name “Orchid Retreat” as Wei Xiaolu’s elegant office alias.

By the time she finished all that, it was already past six in the evening. After handing her work over to Meng Jue, she stepped outside under a sky full of stars.

The day’s workload had been excessive. On the rush-hour subway, Wei Xiaolu could barely stand steadily. She made it purely on the fantasy of going home and throwing herself into Shen Siyan’s arms, which kept her going through the packed crowd until she reached the front door with unsteady steps.

She unlocked the door; warm light and the scent of food were still there. Shen Siyan was waiting for her.

Only today, Wei Xiaolu didn’t even have the strength to force herself into a lively state. When Shen Siyan came to greet her and lowered her head for a kiss, Wei Xiaolu dodged it and, almost purely on instinct, leaned against her shoulder instead. “Today I want Sister to hug me instead.”

“What snack did you just eat?” Shen Siyan teased her. “No kissing, only hugging.”

Wei Xiaolu was so tired she felt numb, but hearing that, she still couldn’t help laughing. She argued back with complete shamelessness, insisting, “I didn’t eat anything.” Then she tilted her face up and caught Shen Siyan for a thorough kiss. At the end, she gave her testimony: “I didn’t eat anything, right? My mouth is clean.”

“If you didn’t eat anything, then you must be starving,” Shen Siyan said as she let her go, lightly patting her waist. “Baby, come eat.”

With some warmth back in her body, and another delicious meal on top of that, Wei Xiaolu felt like her health bar had filled right back up. After dinner, she even had the energy to go with Shen Siyan to Renmin Square for a walk.

They were strolling around when Shen Siyan received a call. She glanced at it and said to Wei Xiaolu, “I’m going to take this,” then turned and walked a few steps away.

Wei Xiaolu had noticed the caller ID by accident just now; it read Chen Yuran.

Even though Shen Siyan never avoided taking calls in front of her, Wei Xiaolu didn’t take this one small exception to heart. She only assumed it was a company secret outsiders weren’t meant to hear. In just a few seconds, she was distracted by a street vendor selling hairpins on the square.

“CEO Shen, sorry to bother you so late.”

Shen Siyan looked at Wei Xiaolu not far away, enthusiastically trying on hairpins, and replied evenly, “What is it?”

Chen Yuran paused, as if she had spent a long time choosing her words. “Today, people from headquarters came to inspect the special task force. Someone in our team spoke without enough caution and caused you some bad influence. I’m willing to take responsibility on their behalf.”

The evening wind brushed past, carrying a faint chill.

Shen Siyan turned her back and walked a few steps farther away.

After the headquarters people inspected things today, they had called her in for a talk. There was no formal reprimand, but their words and tone made the implication clear enough: do not divert your attention from the recent key project; manage your emotional matters properly; keep public and private separate; and there must be no more situations where, because of personal feelings, you form a work group and stuff people into it.

Shen Siyan didn’t have any extra emotional reaction. She had simply smiled lightly in front of the inspection team.

These rumors had come faster than she expected, and they had attacked her professional competence more directly than she had anticipated.

It seemed Wang Chen’s mouth, together with some people’s ingrained prejudice, had already fermented the gossip into a bizarre new version.

“I know it wasn’t you,” Shen Siyan said, her voice calm and steady. “Don’t feel pressured. Things like this can be said in the special task force, and they can be spread in other teams too.”

“CEO Shen, you...” Chen Yuran hesitated; after a moment, her concern became sincere. “Are you all right? The department’s atmosphere has never been very good. This has really caused you trouble...”

“I’m fine. This doesn’t count as trouble.”

The other side fell silent. Shen Siyan, on the other hand, smiled with confidence. “Remember this: what decides whether a project succeeds or fails, and what judges your level of work, is always your professional ability and the final results you deliver.”

Chen Yuran seemed thoughtful. “Understood, CEO Shen.”

“As for those idle rumors, I don’t think they’re a bad thing.”

Shen Siyan had never intended to hide anything. She had many ways to shut Wang Chen’s mouth in advance, but she hadn’t done that. She simply felt that she owed Wei Xiaolu a public acknowledgment, so after Wang Chen found out the truth, she went along with it and let things take their course.

Besides, once the water was muddied, it was easier to see which people underneath had both talent and virtue, and which had talent without virtue.

“Chen Yuran, I can feel your concern,” she said into the receiver, each word clear. “But some things aren’t worth wasting your energy on. Rumors will choose their own audience. They can also reflect a manager’s breadth of mind. You have that kind of perspective, and the special task force you lead will slowly change along with you. As for the rest—including the current mood in the department, or whatever people are saying—I’ll guide it. I’ll set the tone.”

“Yes, CEO Shen,” Chen Yuran said with feeling. “I’ve learned something from you again.”

Shen Siyan answered once, said nothing more, and hung up.

She put away her phone and turned back around. The hairpin stall in the distance was already empty, and she couldn’t see Wei Xiaolu anywhere nearby.

Where had she wandered off to now?

With a soft laugh and a shake of her head, she picked up her phone and dialed the number saved as [Baby].

The ringtone sounded behind her. Shen Siyan’s smile froze all at once.

She slowly turned around and saw Wei Xiaolu covering her phone, muttering, “Oh no, I exposed my location,” then snapping into a properly serious expression the moment their eyes met. “Did something go wrong with Sister Chen’s work?”

“No,” Shen Siyan said. “It didn’t.”

“Oh, okay, that’s good then.” Wei Xiaolu’s face brightened again. She blinked her big eyes at her and sent a little electric current her way. “So Sister is done with work?”

“Mm.” Shen Siyan nodded.

“Ready to receive the gift I bought you?” Though she said that, Wei Xiaolu didn’t give her any time to prepare at all. She immediately pulled something out of her pocket and thrust it in front of her. “A hairpin I bought for you!”

It was a golden hairpin with a phoenix motif.

Bought from a roadside stall, it had obvious signs of cheapness, but the phoenix was so beautiful that Shen Siyan still felt an upsurge of affection. When she took the hairpin, she felt like her smile was especially sincere. “Thank you, little sister.”

“Not giving it to you then,” Wei Xiaolu snatched it back at once. “That wasn’t right.”

Shen Siyan tried again. “Thank you, baby.”

Wei Xiaolu weighed it in her hand twice, and only then was she finally willing to dawdle and hand the gift over. Shen Siyan keenly sensed that her expectations still hadn’t been met; she twirled the hairpin once between her fingers, turning it into a little stick, and tapped Wei Xiaolu on the top of her head.

“I bought you a present and you still hit me!” Wei Xiaolu clutched her head and denounced her.

“You weren’t satisfied with being called baby?” Shen Siyan gathered up her hair into a bun and slid the gift into the updo. “What else do you want me to call you?”

Wei Xiaolu suddenly seemed to blush. Holding the hem of her clothes, she leaned closer and said something strangely and quietly: “Wife.”

“Hm?” Shen Siyan blinked.

“I’m not asking you to agree to it!” Wei Xiaolu shoved her hard. “I’m asking you to say it!”

Shen Siyan laughed so hard she couldn’t stop. She thought that since the outside world had already counted as making it public, how could they not have a title between themselves? So she called out generously, “Thank you, wife.”

“You’re welcome.” Wei Xiaolu finally got what she wanted and straightened her proud little chest.

Shen Siyan saw in her the pride of a wife, and so she copied her, straightening her own back as well as they walked on together.