Chapter 73

Unlike her internship under Shen Siyan, where the women outnumbered the men, Wei Xiaolu didn’t see a single female employee until her fourth day at Keron Medical. The only one she met was Director Liu’s daughter, who had been dragged into the office by her father after school on Friday and left there to do her homework.

The reason Wei Xiaolu got to see her at all was entirely because of her reputation as a top student from T University. She’d been summoned to help with the problems the little girl couldn’t solve.

Wei Xiaolu screamed inwardly: I am absolutely not here to tutor homework!

But the child hugged her workbook and looked at her pleadingly. “Big sister, can you teach me how to do this problem?” And Wei Xiaolu immediately betrayed her principles, thinking that for a sixth-grader, how many problems could there possibly be that she couldn’t solve? It would only take a few minutes to do a bit of charity and earn some merit; why not?

She had underestimated the burden of being the future heir. She never expected that after finishing one workbook, the little girl would pull out such a thick stack of test papers. Wei Xiaolu was horrified. She shouted that there were still parents at home who needed her care, then hurriedly begged Director Liu for leave and fled at once.

If she lingered any longer, it would be nearly eight o’clock by the time she got back. She wouldn’t even eat until close to nine, and that was basically starving her to death.

Ever since she started working, her three meals had been completely thrown into disarray. Now her eating habits were practically underworld-style: no time for breakfast, a hurried lunch, and dinner right before bed. But she loved this arrangement, because that delayed dinner, plus Shen Siyan’s devoted company, made the meal taste especially delicious.

What made it not delicious anymore was Meng Jue’s message telling her that she had to work this weekend.

By then, she had already agreed with Shen Siyan to go skiing together on the weekend.

“Damn capitalist! He doesn’t even let people have a peaceful weekend.”

Beating her chest wasn’t enough to vent her anger, so Wei Xiaolu got up and punched the pillow a few times.

“I think he’s rotten from the inside out; he must have it out for me!” Thinking of the ruined ski trip, Wei Xiaolu’s hatred for Meng Jue deepened. “Is he sick? Why tell me this only now? On what grounds am I supposed to go?”

But with one light, dismissive line—“If you don’t come, your perfect-attendance bonus is gone”—Meng Jue brought the fired-up Wei Xiaolu straight down.

“I have to go. That bastard’s threatening me,” Wei Xiaolu said, holding up her phone for Shen Siyan to see. “He’s truly heartless and shameless.”

She squeezed out a fake sob and threw herself into Shen Siyan’s arms, only to be lifted right back up by Shen Siyan. “You used to say that about me quite a lot, didn’t you?”

“……” Wei Xiaolu took two steps back and eyed Shen Siyan warily.

Shen Siyan smiled behind her hand. “I heard you.”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t,” Wei Xiaolu denied flatly. “You hallucinated it.”

“Oh... then by that logic,” Shen Siyan said in a teasing tone, “the thing I heard last night about someone wanting me to hold her while she slept was also a hallucination?”

The night before, before bed, Wei Xiaolu had gone into Shen Siyan’s room to keep her company. Shen Siyan pointed at the white puppy doll Wei Xiaolu had given her earlier and said she would hug it to sleep. Wei Xiaolu had been talking nonsense and blurted out, “What’s the point of hugging it? Hugging me to sleep would be so much better.”

She’d only meant it as a joke, but the speaker had no heart while the listener took it to heart. Shen Siyan immediately shot back, “Then come sleep over here,” and Wei Xiaolu had gone bright red on the spot, shrinking her neck as she retreated, muttering that maybe another day, another day.

“Looks like it was,” Wei Xiaolu said solemnly, nodding. “It must’ve been a hallucination too.”

“At this point, it’s definitely not a hallucination,” Shen Siyan said. “Say it again and let me hear it.”

“Then come a little closer. Don’t mishear it again.” Wei Xiaolu beckoned her over.

Shen Siyan leaned in, bringing her ear a few centimeters closer.

“Sis, hold me while I sleep.”

Wei Xiaolu finished the whisper in one breath, then laughed as she backed away with her hands clasped behind her, clearly looking for trouble. But she accidentally stepped on the bunny ears of her cotton slippers and nearly turned flirtation into disaster, stumbling a few steps before finally steadying herself.

“Look at our Xiaolu being so pleased with herself,” Shen Siyan said with her arms crossed, smiling. “You can’t even walk straight?”

“Oh!” Wei Xiaolu felt a boom go off in her head, and before she could think, the words had already tumbled out in a rush. “I still have work tomorrow, so I’ll come find you to sleep after I get off.”

Shen Siyan smiled faintly. “That makes it sound like if you come here now, you won’t be able to sleep.”

It was only something Wei Xiaolu had blurted out on instinct, and she hadn’t even noticed the flaw in the logic. Unable to find words to argue back, she could only awkwardly admit it. “Yeah, I’m afraid I might catch fire, and then I won’t be able to sleep.”

The smile on Shen Siyan’s face suddenly froze.

Wei Xiaolu had never expected that reaction. They’d had this kind of warm-up before, so she thought it was no longer such a private thing. But the other person’s startled expression made a flash of shame and embarrassment rise in her. She hurriedly waved her hands so fast they were almost afterimages. “I was just talking nonsense. That’s not what I meant. I mean I still have work tomorrow, and I’m so sleepy, I’m going to bed..."

Only then did Shen Siyan snap out of it and gather her smile back into place. “Go on, baby. Good night.”

Wei Xiaolu quickly showered and locked herself back in her bedroom.

She covered her face and let out a breath.

—She must have gotten stupid from work. Otherwise, how had her brain rusted over so badly the moment she got home?

Well, rusted was rusted; she still had to work properly.

Every day when she inventoried a portion of the supplies, she also recorded the data separately on her computer. But keeping records without organizing them was still a little messy. Maybe she could use her weekend shift to analyze and manage that data.

Once she made up her mind, she got to work.

However, time wasn’t as plentiful as she’d imagined. A lot of supplies came into the warehouse over the weekend, and Meng Jue ordered her to count them. Wei Xiaolu could only squeeze out her rest time to sort the data while she inventoried.

After a week of grinding, she finally finished the spreadsheet. On Friday evening, when she was summoned to help the little girl with her homework, she finally saw Director Liu and seized the chance to present the online shared spreadsheet she had made.

“Director Liu,” Wei Xiaolu cleared her throat. “This is an online spreadsheet I put together after reorganizing our warehouse supplies in my spare time.”

To make the interface as clear as possible and the data as easy to follow as possible, Wei Xiaolu scrolled through it again.

“The old paper ledger records were too scattered, and the updates weren’t timely enough. The goods I’m checking and reconciling now are all from a long time ago,” Wei Xiaolu said, bringing her phone a little closer. “So I thought of making a spreadsheet and putting it in the cloud. Whoever takes something out or puts something in can just scan a code or click a link to enter it at any time, and the data can sync in real time. That way, checking and inventorying later would be much easier too.”

Managers were all experts at hiding their emotions. Wei Xiaolu couldn’t read anything from Director Liu’s cold expression; her nerves stayed tight the whole time. After a while, when there was still no response, she had no choice but to keep going on her own.

“Look here,” Wei Xiaolu said, pointing to one of the cells. “I also set up an inventory warning line. If the quantity drops below a certain value, it’ll automatically turn red, and then we can restock in time so we don’t run out of anything when we need it.”

At that, Director Liu finally stopped being a block of wood and gave a hum.

Wei Xiaolu was greatly encouraged; her voice grew a little warmer. “Of course, this is only a preliminary plan. If it can be adopted, I can keep optimizing it. It should save us quite a bit of time and reduce the chance of mistakes.”

“Your spreadsheet doesn’t look very nice,” Director Liu clicked her tongue.

Wei Xiaolu smiled awkwardly. “I just made a table. I can adjust the colors later and make it look nicer...”

“No.” Director Liu waved a hand. “I mean it’s troublesome to use. Your spreadsheet has everything in it; are you going to make people search for which row and column to enter whenever they record something? Also, what if they enter it wrong? What if someone changes the data? If everything gets messed up, whose fault is that?”

Wei Xiaolu fell silent.

“If you really want to do this, do it properly,” Director Liu lifted her chin. “Make a mini program, or an internal webpage just for us. Everyone logs in with their employee ID, then records things after they get in. That way, each person can only see what they’ve taken in and out. In the end, everything can be compiled together from the backend into your master spreadsheet.”

Wei Xiaolu’s eyes lit up—good idea! How had she not thought of that?

But immediately after, that little spark was snuffed out. She hadn’t thought of it because... the workload wasn’t even in the same league. It had taken her a whole week to make a spreadsheet; if she had to make a mini program or a webpage, she’d probably work herself to death.

“Can you make a mini program?” Director Liu suddenly asked.

She could; even if she couldn’t, she could learn. But...

“Just a little, but Director Liu, for a mini program, isn’t it usually better to hire an outsourcing team?” She was already being plenty straightforward.

But Director Liu ignored that entirely. “If you can do it, then do it. If you really can make it, that would be a tremendous benefit for our branch company. When you go back to the city, I’ll definitely recommend you strongly and push you upward.”

Absurdly enough, even though she knew it was just empty bait, Wei Xiaolu still nodded and agreed. “I’ll try.”

After helping the little girl with her exercises, by the time she sat down on the subway it was already eight-thirty.

The commute left her exhausted, her body sinking down, yet in her mind she kept thinking about those three words: push you upward.

Director Liu’s final sentence stirred up ripples in her heart far greater than she had expected.

There was no denying that Wei Xiaolu still had ambition in her blood, ambition that hadn’t yet been worn away. That thing, which had lain dormant for so long, finally showed a tiny set of fangs when someone was willing to support her.

It wasn’t simple vanity, but a sharper, hotter desire. A desire to stand higher and reach farther.

And, as well, a desire to be evenly matched with Shen Siyan.

If she could really make some visible contribution during her internship, then in the reassignment evaluation six months later, her rating might go up another notch. Maybe her salary could increase a lot. Maybe she could even become the kind of calm, capable boss Shen Siyan was. Maybe she wouldn’t just be a cute little ornament in Shen Siyan’s life anymore, one with no real confidence to speak of. Maybe she would—

The subway reached the station.

Perhaps her excitement had given rise to delusions, because after getting off, Wei Xiaolu’s steps unconsciously turned toward the supermarket. She wanted to buy some yogurt Shen Siyan liked, the way Shen Siyan used to do when she came home.

At first she put things into the shopping basket with great enthusiasm. But when she added the fifth bottle, she accidentally glanced at the price tag and froze. Only then did she remember that a few days ago, she had spent over five thousand hiring someone to draft the patent; her remaining balance was already pitifully small and couldn’t support such carefree spending.

The heat in her blood suddenly settled down and turned into something sharper and clearer.

Her hand reversed in mid-motion as she put the yogurt back onto the shelf one bottle at a time. In the end, she only kept the one Shen Siyan usually drank.

When she left the supermarket, her steps were heavier than when she’d come, but also more solid.

A cold night breeze swept over her, peeling away layer after layer of the hopes inflated by those three words, “push you upward,” until what was left was the one desire she least wanted to think about too carefully.

What she wanted was never to wait miserably every evening for her girlfriend to come home. What she wanted was the confidence to stand in front of a display window next time without hesitation; the qualification to no longer look up from below, but to truly stand side by side.

The fire in her heart seemed to burn even more stubbornly now. Maybe she really could try making a mini program. If it worked—

Maybe then she would dare to dream of something about forever between her and Shen Siyan.