Chapter 19

Narumi finally strolled gracefully to his workstation. But instead of sitting down, he placed one hand on the partition and turned to look at Candy in the distance. Candy was carrying a pile of materials toward the elevator on the 15th floor, her round bottom swaying rhythmically beneath her suit skirt. Narumi stared at her until she stepped into the elevator and disappeared into the lobby before snapping out of his daze.

"No rush, no rush, take your time," Cheng Shi reminded himself.

Cheng Shi knew that this kind of thing required careful planning and couldn't be done rashly. He knew that his first priority was to greet Jack at the next workstation, then take off his coat, sit down, and turn on his computer as usual.

So Cheng did just that. After finding a comfortable seat, he absentmindedly opened his email, browsing the subject lines of the emails he'd received over the weekend. A mix of excitement and joy welled up inside him: Why not? Hadn't Candy been giving him hints all these past few months? The way her breasts heaved as they brushed past each other in the hallway, how she often bent down to hand him things, and that ambiguous, unique smile she gave him—she'd never smiled like that at anyone else! At the year-end party, wasn't she trembling in his arms? And she'd whispered then, "Cheng Sir, I like you so much."

Of course, most importantly, that passionate kiss at the annual meeting—doesn't that say it all?

Honestly, Narumi still hasn't forgotten what Candy's lips felt like.

Just as Cheng was savoring the kiss from that night, Jack, who was sitting next to him, suddenly moved his chair back and spoke to him sideways through half a partition.

Cheng Shi cursed under his breath, but still managed to turn slightly to the side and asked Jack, "What did you say?"

If it were someone else who bothered her, Narumi would probably give a polite nod, an appropriate response, or a reply without even looking up, while continuing to think about Candy. But it's different with Jack.

“You’ll have to cover for me in a bit,” Jack said with a burp. “This is an emergency, bro.”

A strong smell of alcohol immediately filled the air. Moreover, Chengshi could tell that Jack's hand, which seemed to be blocking the light from his eyes, was actually used to support his head, since Jack's eyes were closed at the moment.

Jack's Chinese name is Chen Zhaojun. He's ten years older than Chengshi, and at 45 this year, he's roughly the same age as Chengshi's older brother, Chengguo, and Su Ningna. However, this guy's demeanor is completely different from theirs. Although Jack isn't particularly tall, he has a well-proportioned and balanced physique. While his temples are streaked with gray, it doesn't diminish his striking good looks. In short, this gentleman exudes a wise and aristocratic air, perfectly embodying the currently popular "uncle" type of mature, sophisticated man.

However, once you get to know Jack, you'll realize he's not some middle-aged man at all; he's just a heavy drinker. Jack feels like he's wasting his days if he doesn't have a few drinks every day. But to be honest, Jack isn't annoying. He likes to make fun of himself, is good at creating a lively atmosphere, and most importantly, he's handsome, charming, and unassuming. Therefore, everyone on the 15th floor, and even the entire head office of the Hoskey team, likes him.

Today, Jack was wearing a custom-made suit, which was said to cost two months' salary. Jack always wore this suit with an elegant silk pocket square as an accessory, and today was no exception. However, looking further down Jack's trousers, things became quite unsettling—he was wearing a pair of bright yellow Onitsuka Tiger slip-ons, the same style worn by Bruce Lee, with prices completely out of sync with his suit. It was also immediately obvious that the soles of these shoes were badly worn.

The reason Jack's outfit is so drastically different is because he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself after a hangover, except for one thing: tying his shoelaces. So everyone on the 15th floor knows that if Jack wears these shoes to work, it means he was drunk again the night before.

"In a little while..." Jack's voice was a little hoarse, and he kept panting heavily, "I'll sit behind you in the meeting later, so block my way a bit. If the teacher notices me, give me a signal. Also, help me deal with Jonaan. If I throw up... oh my god, that's so fucking disgusting!"

Jack was a legendary figure not only on the 15th floor, but throughout the entire Hauskey head office. Everyone knew he married a wealthy heiress in his early twenties while studying abroad, making him a true gigolo. However, his good fortune didn't last long. After a few years of this, his father-in-law lost power, and Jack joined the Hauskey head office, moving from one position to another, working in many departments. Most incredibly, he was extremely diligent and almost never took a day off. Even in the Central Support Department, a place where few people besides Minister Ban Jiande truly worked hard, he maintained his previously established good reputation. Unless he was too drunk the night before and couldn't cheer up, he would usually arrive at his workstation early and wander around the 15th floor talking to people. Every place he went was filled with happy laughter. Sometimes even the old-fashioned Ban Jiande would be amused by him, not to mention Ban Jiande's assistant Joanna, who would always be flattered by him until she laughed until tears streamed down her face.

“Brother, you don’t know,” Jack began to explain to Cheng Shi, “On Saturday, some of my wife’s friends flew in from Hong Kong to visit her. How could I not entertain them? Of course not, they’re all my wife’s best friends, and besides, they didn’t come empty-handed. So, it was a long day, starting from noon. We had roast duck at Da Dong for lunch. The drinks there were alright, but you can’t just have a couple of drinks as a token gesture, so I ended up drinking completely out of control. Then… then… then… oh right, we couldn’t do anything else, we could only sit there and keep drinking until dinner. And after dinner, we had to keep drinking, so we…”

At this point, Jack had completely abandoned his pretense of a professional attitude. He kicked his foot and slid his chair all the way to the partition behind him, cupped his head in his hands, and kept shaking his head to the sides in rhythm with his speech, talking and laughing non-stop.

Looking at Jack, Cheng Shi felt both disgusted and sympathetic. Every time Jack drank heavily, it was because his wife had friends flying in from all over the world to visit them, and each time they brought fine wines and spirits. And the most interesting protagonist in Jack's stories was always his former high-ranking official's daughter, Lisa—a party queen, very fashionable, childless, energetic, and beautiful playboy.

Narumi always fantasized about just how charming Lisa was, a woman whose name he only knew. He even imagined that Jack and Lisa's home might be more luxurious and magnificent than Beth's. It wasn't until Narumi took Jack home after he had drunk too much at a dinner party that he realized Lisa was just an ordinary middle-aged woman with loose skin, an out-of-shape figure, no vitality, and already beginning to age. She didn't have a trace of the daughter of an official family.

Even so, Cheng Shi, a straight man, could see that Lisa's face bore the "tech and ruthless" look Huang Ruoyu had described. And it was precisely this "tech and ruthless" look that revealed Lisa's anxious mourning for her lost youth. That night, Lisa wandered aimlessly among the worn leather and dusty furniture, calling out Jack's name, each utterance filled with resentment—resentment that he had shattered her world: it was this gigolo who had made her sacrifice her original life, destroying every friendship she had; while he devoted himself to his dull and boring white-collar job, and even brought his dull and boring colleagues home!

That night, Jack sat awkwardly in the corner, occasionally trying to ease the awkward atmosphere with jokes, and even called Lisa "Mommy," but nothing worked. In the end, Chengshi had no choice but to hurriedly say goodbye and go home, regretting why she had so carelessly taken Jack home and even escorted him upstairs!

"As for where we went after that, and how we got home," Jack continued, rubbing his head, "I have no idea. The last thing I remember is standing in the lobby of No. 8 Mansion at three in the morning, desperately trying to figure out why we ended up there. Oh, wait a minute, something about KFC happened later... no, no, that can't be right, it should have been earlier..."

Finally, Jack finished telling his story. He finally took his hand off his head, pretended to test it, frowned a few times, and then blinked, as if checking if he had returned to normal. After all that fuss, Jack announced that he felt better.

"Great, let's go." Cheng Shi said, picking up his laptop. "Our teacher is going to personally chair our team's morning meeting today. He's really gone mad. It'll take months to go through every team on the 15th floor? I think he's just a worrier. Can you walk by yourself?"