With full stomachs, Xu Ruomeng leaned back against the sofa, rubbing her rounded belly, and belched lightly. She looked across at He Xiaoyuan: “You were really lucky to add Brother Lu.”
By the end of the meal, Xu Ruomeng also started to see Brother Lu as a sort of godlike figure.
“Hey, what’s Brother Lu’s full name?”
For such a brilliant figure, there should be stories or reputation in the company group chat, maybe she’d heard of him before?
Seeing He Xiaoyuan shake his head, unsure, Xu Ruomeng murmured: “He’s under the president’s office project team, huh.”
Right, the company had too many departments. She knew the president’s office, but its sub-project teams? Not so much.
A mysterious department’s master… impressive.
Xu Ruomeng gave a quiet thumbs-up: “Amazing.”
She sat up and said: “Once you’re familiar with him, you have to introduce me. It’d be good to meet him and maybe get some guidance for my own work.”
He Xiaoyuan agreed readily: “Sure.”
Then she asked: “Things not going smoothly at work recently?”
Xu Ruomeng’s expression fell: “Don’t even mention it…”
After dinner, they didn’t part immediately, strolling through the mall, since Xu Ruomeng wanted to buy some summer clothes.
While browsing the women’s store, she asked He Xiaoyuan: “Are you planning to buy a few outfits?”
They were too familiar with each other to bother with niceties. Xu Ruomeng, with good intentions, reminded him, “Work isn’t like school—you need to at least have some proper clothes.”
She glanced at He Xiaoyuan, taking in his outfit for the day.
Fair enough: a white T-shirt with the company logo.
Being handsome had its perks; he could throw on anything and still look good.
But Xu Ruomeng still asked, “You’re not planning to wear this to work every day, are you?”
He Xiaoyuan didn’t see an issue—he was already in debt, and spending carefully was a habit. If he could avoid buying clothes, he would. “Yeah.”
Xu Ruomeng suggested, “Maybe buy a few outfits once you get your salary?”
Starting out it didn’t matter, but after a while, if everyone noticed he only had a few sets of clothes, people would gossip just like in school—pretty face, no money.
He Xiaoyuan nodded. “Okay.”
Work really wasn’t the same as being a student.
Xu Ruomeng winked. “When the time comes, I’ll share all the stylish, affordable men’s stores I’ve bookmarked online. I’ll make sure you look like a model.”
He Xiaoyuan raised an eyebrow. “You bookmark men’s stores?”
Xu Ruomeng gave a look that clearly said, You wouldn’t understand. “Sometimes I go for a unisex style, and some men’s clothes actually look good on me.”
Later, she bought a top for over 800 yuan, and He Xiaoyuan carried it for her as they continued browsing.
Eventually, Xu Ruomeng couldn’t resist and wandered into a luxury brand store on the first floor.
“Let’s look at bags,” she murmured, then followed the sales associate, leaving He Xiaoyuan alone.
He didn’t know much about women’s bags. His eyes swept across the store, catching the open wardrobes full of men’s clothing. He wandered over and casually checked out a shirt—one of the cheaper ones cost several thousand, nearly ten thousand.
So expensive? He raised an eyebrow. He knew he’d never buy anything from this brand, so he put it back immediately.
A sales associate approached politely, asking if he wanted to try the clothes he was looking at.
He Xiaoyuan waved her off. He knew these items were far beyond his reach; if he wasn’t going to buy them, there was no reason to try them on.
Xu Ruomeng returned, looking troubled. “Let’s go.”
He walked with her. “What’s wrong?”
She whispered, “That bag—almost forty thousand! I really liked it before. I saved up two months’ salary to splurge on it, but now… I just can’t spend forty thousand. It hurts too much.”
He Xiaoyuan wasn’t great with comforting words, and with Xu Ruomeng, he felt comfortable being direct.
He thought for a moment. “Don’t buy it yet. Once I’ve paid off my debts, I’ll get it for you.”
Outside the store, Xu Ruomeng lightly tapped his arm. “Are you crazy? Buy me a bag? You management trainees make good money—you could save for a house instead.”
Then, more cheerfully: “I’ll wait for you to get rich. I have a feeling you’re destined to strike it big.”
He Xiaoyuan teased, “Win the lottery?”
She didn’t care how he got rich—promotion, salary raise, lottery—she only had one condition: “Get rich! And don’t forget me!”
He knew it was impossible, but played along. “Okay, I won’t forget.”
Xu Ruomeng was serious: “Then I want a 400,000 yuan bag!”
He Xiaoyuan nodded along. “Sure.”
That night, back in the dorm, he pushed the mall scenes aside and focused on his computer.
After a while, he wondered: forty thousand yuan? He knew a four-thousand-yuan bag existed, but four hundred thousand?
Could a bag really cost that much?
Curious, he closed his reference materials and searched online.
Just then, Lu sent him a message.
Lu: Sleeping?
He Xiaoyuan: No.
Lu: Looking at something?
He Xiaoyuan: Something like that.
He clicked away from the chat and focused on the search results.
His screen displayed a luxury brand he had heard of: Hermès.
Hermès.
He opened the link and found bags priced at 400,000 yuan, and even over a million.
He Xiaoyuan was shocked. What kind of bag could cost half a house?
He closed the page and returned to the chat.
Lu: “Something like that” means?
He Xiaoyuan: [screenshot] Looking at this.
Screenshot: Hermès search results.
Lu: A bag? Are you buying it?
He thought, Not a chance. Just looking.
He casually explained: After dinner with a friend, we went shopping. She mentioned a 400,000 yuan bag, and when I was reviewing my materials, I got curious about what kind of bag could cost that much.
Lu: Curiosity satisfied?
He Xiaoyuan: Not curious anymore—shocked. Decided to focus on work and earn money. Little Dinosaur fists.jpg
Lu: Earn enough to buy a 400,000 yuan bag?
He Xiaoyuan: If I ever had that kind of money, I’d buy it for a friend.
Lu: So generous.
He Xiaoyuan: Yeah. Back in school, I was broke, and she always helped me. We’ve known each other since high school, stayed close, and she deserves a 400,000 yuan bag if I could afford it.
Lu: Broke in school?
He Xiaoyuan didn’t hide anything: Yes.
As he typed, his hand paused above the keyboard. Though many knew he was poor, besides Xu Ruomeng, he had never admitted it to anyone. Now Lu knew too, even though they had never met in person.
Why, at that moment when he admitted it, did he suddenly feel like saying more?
Was it because he’d been in frequent contact with Lu lately? Lu had helped him a lot, so he trusted him?
Or was it because it was all online—neither of them had ever met in person—and without real-world worries, he could finally let his guard down?
He Xiaoyuan thought for at least twenty seconds before typing again.
He Xiaoyuan: “Indeed, my family isn’t well-off.”
Lu: “Big Dinosaur pats Little Dinosaur’s head.jpg”
He Xiaoyuan laughed. “Lu, why that reaction? Is it hard to reply? Let’s change the topic.”
Lu didn’t respond immediately. He Xiaoyuan waited, and when there was still no reply, he glanced at a webpage before returning to the chat—then Lu’s reply came as a voice message.
Surprised, He Xiaoyuan clicked it.
A low, pleasant male voice came through the speakers:
“It’s not that I find it hard to reply… I just feel any words I say right now are unnecessary.”
He paused, then added, “Do you want to talk about the past?”
At first, He Xiaoyuan found the voice vaguely familiar but couldn’t place it. He focused instead on Lu’s words.
Talk about the past?
He hesitated, staring at the screen. He pulled his hands off the keyboard, tucked his legs under the chair, hugged his knees, and nibbled his lip—a subconscious gesture of self-protection.
Another voice message came: “Did you have part-time jobs in college?”
The voice was clear, calm, and polite, leaving no trace of defensiveness.
He Xiaoyuan replied in text: “Yes, part-time. Anything that earned money, I did it.”
Lu: “When I was in college, I took a two-month break to travel with no money. I played guitar in the subway, even set up an easel to sketch portraits.”
He Xiaoyuan was a little surprised. He expected the conversation to continue around financial struggles, yet Lu flipped it and shared his unconventional student experiences, making it unexpectedly engaging.
Dropped out?
He Xiaoyuan typed: “Wow, that’s bold. Why did you take a break? Behind your family’s back?”
Lu’s voice message explained: “I remember it was after arguing with my parents. They wanted me to switch majors; I disagreed. After a few fights, I got frustrated, so I left college with a backpack, not wanting to use their money, just wandering and earning a bit to live.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Playing guitar in the subway? Not in our country, right?”
Lu: “I went to college abroad.”
He Xiaoyuan: “An Ivy League?”
Lu’s new voice message contained a laugh: “And you guessed that?”
He Xiaoyuan: “Just to be clear, I’m not flattering you, but that’s impressive.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Can I ask what you studied?”
Lu: “Physics.”
Instantly, He Xiaoyuan’s pupils practically trembled.
A physics major, yet knows so much about business and the internet?
He silently knelt in his mind.
He Xiaoyuan: “Little cat raises paw, kneels, kowtows.jpg”
Lu: “When I first started college, my first exam was only a B. Someone in class got an A+, and I thought… just like this little cat you’re sending me now.”
He Xiaoyuan teased: “But you didn’t really kneel, right?”
Lu laughed in a voice message: “Are you just enjoying the show?”
He Xiaoyuan: “No, no, you’re Lu God in my eyes.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Then… where did you travel?”
Lu: “Over a dozen states in the U.S., and some parts of Europe too.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Lu can draw?”
Lu: “I studied oil painting before, returned everything to my teacher. Portrait sketching barely passed—can’t compare to those street artists—so only a few domestic exchange students gave me chances.”
He Xiaoyuan: “Were your clients mostly girls?”
Lu: “Feels like you’re watching my show again.”
He Xiaoyuan: “No, just guessing that young Lu was handsome.”
Lu: “You knew that too?”
He Xiaoyuan: “Of course, you’re Lu God.”
…
And so, He Xiaoyuan spent the night chatting with Lu online, away from work topics, from Lu’s dropout adventures to He Xiaoyuan’s college part-time jobs. The more they shared, the more relaxed and easygoing the conversation became.
After saying goodnight, He Xiaoyuan scrolled back through the chat, seeing the stream of voice messages from Lu, realizing just how long they’d been talking.
He stretched, feeling neither tired nor strained like those nights of late assignments—only content and happy.
He reflected: he was growing closer to Lu.
And he thought: isn’t this more tangible than a 400,000-yuan bag?
The next week, Monday morning, all trainees in Team Three erupted over a newly announced reward:
The trainee with the highest rating after rotation would receive an extra 400,000 yuan.
All trainees: !!!
400,000?
400,000!!!?
Team Three: Damn! That’s 400,000! Real cash!
He Xiaoyuan pinched himself in surprise: …Am I dreaming? What a coincidence!
Meanwhile, assistant Qiao, on a business trip with Lu Chen, personally delivered the 400,000-yuan reward instruction to HR:
Truly a top boss—anything goes.
HR: Is the leadership really that focused on this batch of trainees?
Zhu Xuanmin was also full of question marks. “Is it because there’ll be executives inside who will influence future decisions and the company’s development? Is that it?”
“Maybe… I guess?”