TPIL - 38

After the rainy season passed, the greasy air returned with abandon, and neuroses sprouted around women who seemed to attract oddballs like bamboo shoots after rain. Though reluctant to admit it, Qi Xiaochuan was even less inclined to be someone without self-awareness—he knew he was one of them.

When did he start becoming a neurotic?

His conversation with Su Yining in the elevator ended in silence. Until the very end, Qi Xiaochuan hadn’t responded, simply thinking that Su’s nonsense wasn’t worth accompanying him from the second floor down to the basement level three. But not only did he not warn Su Yining, he deliberately led him out, waiting until the elevator doors closed and began ascending before speaking: “None of my business.”

“Such crude language,” perhaps due to his upbringing, Su Yining showed no mockery, “Has Mr. Qi never considered undergoing gentlemanly transformation?”

Qi Xiaochuan ignored him, retorting without hesitation: “Why don’t you ask me if I’ve ever thought about building nests for swallows.”

As he walked away, he heard Su Yining finally pressing the elevator button, possibly out of impatience, pressing it several times in quick succession.

Qi Xiaochuan didn’t feel the joy of a successful prank.

Whether that overseas Chinese man had any connection to him, he naturally wasn’t clueless. He had conducted all necessary investigations from the start.

During work hours, he couldn’t reach his secretary and was worried that the guy had fallen into the toilet while using the restroom. Just as he stepped out, he encountered another assistant who softly informed him that the secretary was downstairs handling administrative matters. Qi Xiaochuan originally just wanted to ask if he would play golf in the afternoon, so he conveniently took his new golf club and went downstairs.

There, he met Zhong Shiwei, who had just finished an interview.

Rarely seeing the punk not dressed in leather but instead in a neat suit, holding a resume, and with hair slicked back with hair oil, resembling the naive look from a TV drama called Interns . Zhong Shiwei, freshly angered by the interviewer’s question, “Do you speak Chinese?” glared at him with gray eyes, perplexed, asking: “What are you doing here?”

Qi Xiaochuan thought to himself, this is my company; where else should I be? “Shouldn’t I be asking you—”

“I’m here for a job.” Zhong Shiwei waved the folder in his hand.

Is there anyone who applies to Microsoft without knowing Bill Gates? Qi Xiaochuan found it somewhat speechless: “Don’t you Baidu the company encyclopedia before applying?”

Watching Zhong Shiwei’s ears move like Doraemon’s ear-flapping technique, Qi Xiaochuan felt deeply reflective. His company could let such people come for interviews; if they didn’t improve, they might soon be eliminated from the industry.

However, after Qi Xiaochuan turned around and visited the department briefly, then poured himself a cup of coffee and returned, within five minutes he encountered Zhong Shiwei three more times. The last time, Zhong was muttering, “How do I get out of here?” Seeing the executive elevator, his eyes lit up. Qi Xiaochuan wasn’t cruel enough to really keep him out.

Before the elevator doors closed, passing employees greeted him respectfully. Qi Xiaochuan simply responded. Zhong Shiwei then realized something was amiss, astonished, confirming: “Are you an employee here? What level? Are you important?”

Drinking freshly ground coffee from a paper cup, Qi Xiaochuan answered expressionlessly: “Not bad.”

“Wow, hiding your true identity. They call you ‘Mr. Qi.’ Are you a rich second-generation heir? No, I remember Luo Andi said Xiaochuan doesn’t rely on his parents... Then I’d better not work here, what if you retaliate against me? I guess I can only go to the union or the top boss.”

That’s also me. Qi Xiaochuan said: “What exactly has Luo Andi said about me?”

“Just mentioned occasionally,” Zhong Shiwei chuckled lightly, “But you, getting stabbed before, Luo Andi rejected Su Yining to take care of you… You didn’t plan it, right? How coincidental. But don’t be too proud. You probably don’t know yet, when Luo Andi encounters someone in need, she just—”

He finished the line for him: “‘Just can’t refuse.’“

“How do you know?”

Qi Xiaochuan crushed the paper cup, maintaining a poker face, answering irrelevantly: “That’s why I’m proud.”

Zhong Shiwei looked at him with a mixture of sympathy, confusion, and anger: “...”

In his memory, the day he woke up in the hospital and saw her for the first time, there was indeed a dense hatred in his heart, hating why he could never escape her, but it was far from just that. Seeing her made him want to give everything to her. Her mere existence healed him more effectively than any camping, hot springs, feeding animals, or crafting ever could. Thanks to your mother for giving birth to you, gratitude to your father for raising you. Qi Xiaochuan had never thanked anything so much.

“But being stabbed once, Luo Andi could leave him and come to me. Doesn’t that mean he doesn’t amount to much?” The wound on his abdomen had gradually healed. That slight pain mixed with the memory of her tear-drenched arm turned into a subtle pleasure. Qi Xiaochuan said, “I’ll make a comeback.”