On He Xiaoyuan’s first day in Commercial Services, after getting off work, he had dinner with the other management trainees from his former group. Back in the dorm, he chatted with Lu Chen on a voice call for a while.
Lu Chen told him that he’d already spoken with Yang Yun that day and mentioned transferring someone to the project team. Yang Yun was aware of it.
But the transfer wouldn’t happen that quickly. He Xiaoyuan would definitely need to stay in Commercial Services for a period of time first as a transition.
Lu Chen added, “Get along well with President Yang over there. He’s someone who knows how to recognize talent and is willing to promote people around him—he’s the type to play the role of a mentor.”
Then he said, “That said, Yang Yun has a quirk—he doesn’t like doing things by the book. Some of his behavior might seem a little strange to you young people.”
He Xiaoyuan immediately thought of that afternoon, when Yang Yun had come back to the department, dragged over a chair, and stared at him.
He Xiaoyuan smiled silently. Yeah… that did seem a little strange.
But there was one thing Lu Chen said that he didn’t quite agree with.
“Brother Lu, what do you mean by ‘you young people’? Aren’t you one of us?”
Lu Chen replied, “I’m not. You are. I’m quite a bit older than you.”
He Xiaoyuan muttered, “Six or seven years isn’t that bad, right?”
Lu Chen repeated, “Six or seven years?”
He Xiaoyuan paused. Wasn’t it?
Lu Chen chuckled softly on the other end of the line. “Looks like I don’t seem old to you.”
Surprised, He Xiaoyuan asked, “Are you much older than me, Brother Lu?”
Lu Chen joked, “A man’s age is a secret.”
He Xiaoyuan laughed. “No way. Is it really that much? You seriously don’t look it at all.”
Then he brought up Yang Yun. “Like President Yang—he already has white hair.”
Lu Chen said, “Yang Yun’s hair turned white from worrying too much.”
Amused, he added, “You’re comparing me to Yang Yun now?” Was there even any comparison to be made?
He Xiaoyuan asked, “Then how old is President Yang?”
Lu Chen answered, “Over forty.”
He Xiaoyuan put on an exaggerated tone of surprise. “Then Brother Lu is also…?”
Deliberately gasping, he said, “You’re the same generation?”
Lu Chen couldn’t help laughing. “What nonsense are you guessing?” Smack.
He Xiaoyuan figured it out. “So that means you’re in your thirties, Brother Lu?”
That was more than six or seven years older than him—clearly not in his twenties anymore.
And since he wasn’t the same age as President Yang, who was in his forties, that meant he hadn’t reached forty yet.
Somewhere between thirty and forty—put nicely, that meant his thirties.
Lu Chen gave a low “mm.”
He Xiaoyuan went, “Wow! That’s a lot older than me.”
After a pause, he asked, “Are you ten years older?”
Lu Chen said, half amused and half exasperated, “Still trying to trap me into saying it?”
He Xiaoyuan deliberately said, “Brother Lu, are you thirty-nine?”
Lu Chen snapped, “He Xiaoyuan!”
He Xiaoyuan laughed and quickly said, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I know you definitely aren’t.”
Then he immediately switched gears. “Thirty-five?” Still guessing, still fishing.
Lu Chen fell silent. “…”
The two of them were clearly getting more and more familiar.
Especially over the phone—jokes just slipped out naturally.
Right before ending the call, Lu Chen said, “Come over to my place this weekend?”
He Xiaoyuan didn’t react at first. “Huh?”
Where?
Oh. Oh.
“Your place?”
Lu Chen said, “Yeah.”
He Xiaoyuan thought about whether he’d have to work overtime that week. He figured probably not, and immediately answered, “Sure! Which day?”
Lu Chen said, “I’m free all weekend. You can come both days.”
He Xiaoyuan laughed. “Then should I just bring a sleeping bag and crash on your floor?”
Lu Chen said, “Why sleep on the floor? Is there no bed?”
Laughing, He Xiaoyuan replied, “Then Saturday it is.”
The next day, all morning long, Yang Yun didn’t show up at all—he never appeared in the department. He Xiaoyuan was bored out of his mind, sitting at his desk flipping through case materials, occasionally chatting in the group chat.
Someone noticed that He Xiaoyuan had been online the whole time and asked in the group whether he was especially free today.
He Xiaoyuan replied:
【So free I’ve started bouncing my leg.】
Jiang Weiwei instantly popped up:
【STOP! Don’t bounce! I already have the image in my head! You’re ruining the perfect image of the handsome guy in my mind.】
【ps I’m so busy my hands are shaking. crying.jpg】
He Xiaoyuan followed up with:
【So free I’m just eating popcorn.jpg】
【Damn, I can tell—you seriously have nothing to do.】
He Xiaoyuan replied instantly:
【Yep.】
Yuan Miao said:
【I’ve been writing code all morning! Who the hell told me management trainees don’t have to code?! I’ll smash his head in with a keyboard!】
He Xiaoyuan:
【Little dinosaur so free, eating popcorn.jpg】
He was so bored that at eleven on the dot, He Xiaoyuan grabbed his badge and took the elevator down to the cafeteria.
He’d never come this early before. Once he arrived, he realized there were barely any people in the cafeteria at eleven.
He easily got his food. As he sat down, he spotted Qin Chengfei just walking in.
?
He Xiaoyuan looked over while eating, thinking to himself: Don’t tell me the project team is that free too? Qin Chengfei is down here this early as well?
In the afternoon, close to three o’clock, Yang Yun finally showed up.
President Yang strolled into the department at a leisurely pace, hands clasped behind his back, looking like an old man heading out into the sun to play cards.
He Xiaoyuan looked up. “President Yang.”
Yang Yun smiled warmly, kind and genial. “Had lunch?”
He Xiaoyuan stood up. “I did.”
Feeling it would be rude not to ask, he added, “Is there anything you need me to do, President Yang?”
Yang Yun gestured for him to sit, no need to stand.
He said slowly, “Nothing much.”
With his hands still behind his back, he wandered over to the pantry area, then turned his head. “Xiao He, do you know tea?”
He Xiaoyuan walked over and stood beside him.
Yang Yun lifted a hand and pointed at the rows of tea canisters lined up neatly against the wall. Unhurried, he said, “This one’s Caoqing—most basic tea. This is Maojian, also fairly common, but it tastes quite good. This one’s called Foshou. This is Jin Junmei. You’ve probably heard of this one—Longjing…”
The only thing He Xiaoyuan did all afternoon was follow behind Yang Yun learning to recognize tea leaves. He could’ve even picked up the extra task of brewing tea for his superior, but Yang Yun stayed in the office for only twenty minutes before leaving. Before he left, he reminded He Xiaoyuan to get off work on time, even saying it was fine to leave ten or fifteen minutes early—after all, Commercial Services didn’t clock in.
So bored was He Xiaoyuan that, aside from popping into the group chat now and then to reply instantly, he spent the time before getting off work searching up information on tea—different processing methods, brewing techniques. He even pulled out a notebook and jotted down some simple notes, then looked up local tea markets, where tea was sold, and checked the going prices for tea sets.
By the time he finished, it was just about time to get off work. He Xiaoyuan raised his arm, stretched his shoulders and back, shut down his computer, and stood up to leave.
Strictly speaking, he was leaving ten minutes earlier than the official end of the workday.
Because of that, the elevators were especially easy to catch, and there was no crowd inside at all. What he didn’t expect was that the moment he stepped in, he came face-to-face with Qin Chengfei.
Qin Chengfei saw him too. The two exchanged a silent look.
He Xiaoyuan said, “Hey,” as a simple greeting. Qin Chengfei nodded, saying nothing.
He Xiaoyuan glanced at him and thought unconsciously: Don’t tell me the project team is so free that Qin Chengfei gets off work at this hour?
?
That shouldn’t be the case.
But the next day—Wednesday—when the extremely idle He Xiaoyuan went down early again for lunch, he once more ran into Qin Chengfei coming down at about the same time.
That evening after work, they met again in the elevator.
He Xiaoyuan: ?
Qin Chengfei: …
Thursday was the same. They even ended up at the same window when ordering lunch.
He Xiaoyuan: .
Qin Chengfei: …
Qin Chengfei nodded at He Xiaoyuan in greeting, then carried his tray past him. He Xiaoyuan watched him with question marks practically floating over his head. Was it really that much of a coincidence?
That evening after work, He Xiaoyuan watched as the elevator was about to arrive, thinking to himself, Don’t tell me I’m running into Qin Chengfei again? The doors opened—and there he was, Qin Chengfei standing inside.
He Xiaoyuan: !
Qin Chengfei: …
On Friday at noon, sure enough, the two ran into each other early again in the cafeteria. This time, He Xiaoyuan took his tray and sat down next to Qin Chengfei.
He Xiaoyuan said, “Hey,” and sat down.
Qin Chengfei turned to look at him, but didn’t say anything.
He Xiaoyuan took a bite of food, glanced at him again, and took the initiative. “I heard you went to the project team.”
Qin Chengfei gave a quiet “Mm,” then asked, “You went to Commercial Services?”
It was a bit of a pointless question—forced small talk.
He Xiaoyuan nodded. “Just got there. It’s pretty quiet. What about you?”
Qin Chengfei didn’t seem very talkative, and his answer was vague. “It’s okay.”
And that was it.
He Xiaoyuan wasn’t particularly outgoing or good at starting conversations, but he’d been so idle lately and had no one to talk to at the company. Running into Qin Chengfei felt like finally catching hold of a living person. Even without much to say, he found something to say. “Oh, right—have you seen our President Yang over in the project team?”
Qin Chengfei: “?”
He Xiaoyuan explained, “Yang Yun—the one with a bit of white hair.”
Qin Chengfei thought about it, then shook his head. He had no impression.
He Xiaoyuan asked again, “Is the project team busy?”
Without realizing it, he was repeating himself.
This time Qin Chengfei answered, “Not busy. There’s not much going on.”
He Xiaoyuan paused and turned to look at him. Qin Chengfei also turned his head.
?
He Xiaoyuan blinked. “Didn’t you just say it was okay?”
Qin Chengfei: “…”
Awkward.
Thinking it over, He Xiaoyuan found it a little funny and couldn’t help laughing.
Seeing him laugh only made Qin Chengfei more embarrassed. He unconsciously straightened his back, but watching He Xiaoyuan sit there beside him, laughing so openly and without guile, Qin Chengfei gradually relaxed. His shoulders slumped, the awkwardness giving way to ease.
After all, they’d come from the same batch of management trainees and had interacted before. There was no real unfamiliarity between them. Qin Chengfei finally spoke. “Maybe it’s just because the timing happens to be slow. These past couple of days, there really hasn’t been much to do.”
He Xiaoyuan chatted casually while eating. “Same here. I’m really free.”
Qin Chengfei turned to look at him. “So what have you been doing this week?”
He Xiaoyuan shrugged. “Nothing much.”
Hadn’t he already said he was free?
At that, Qin Chengfei lowered his gaze and fell silent.
He Xiaoyuan: ?
Qin Chengfei looked back at him. His chopsticks had barely moved, like he didn’t have much of an appetite. Only then did He Xiaoyuan notice that Qin Chengfei’s mood seemed a little low.
He Xiaoyuan looked at him and heard Qin Chengfei ask, “Don’t you think this is a waste?”
“Huh?”
Qin Chengfei said, “A waste of life.”
He Xiaoyuan understood. Qin Chengfei meant that as management trainees, being placed in departments only to have nothing to do felt like wasting time, wasting energy, wasting their limited lives.
He Xiaoyuan blinked. “I don’t think so. Isn’t work just like this?”
When there’s work, you work. When there isn’t, you’re idle. When it’s busy, you don’t touch the ground all day. When it’s slow, you slack off wherever you can.
Besides—
He Xiaoyuan took another bite and continued, “We’re here to work and get paid. We didn’t sell ourselves to the boss.”
Did they really have to be like blindfolded donkeys, pulling a millstone nonstop for eight hours straight?
He Xiaoyuan said, “If there’s nothing to do, then there’s nothing to do. As long as it doesn’t affect my paycheck.”
Qin Chengfei: “…………”
They stared at each other in silence for a long moment before Qin Chengfei said, “You really take things in stride.”
He Xiaoyuan blinked, completely matter-of-fact. “What else should I do? The company belongs to the boss, not me.”
Qin Chengfei: “……”
Qin Chengfei fell silent. Again. And again.
He thought about it—then thought about it some more—and suddenly felt that what He Xiaoyuan said made a lot of sense.
Why did he need to feel that going to the project team and not immediately shining, not fully unleashing all his talent and intellect, meant he was wasting time and wasting his life?
He Xiaoyuan was right. The company wasn’t theirs, and it didn’t stop them from getting paid.
The tangled emotions that had weighed on Qin Chengfei for nearly a week unraveled all at once, like a knot being undone. Everything felt smooth again.
And once that pressure lifted, he suddenly felt starving. He immediately buried his head and started shoveling food into his mouth.
He Xiaoyuan ate too—not fast, not slow. While eating, he casually said, “By the way, Qin Chengfei, would it be convenient for you to let me see your résumé?”
“I’ve always been curious how you managed to get into the project team.”