Chapter 40: Cucumber Strips Observing Secretly

On her first day at work, Ning Jia arrived at the new company early.

She successfully signed the contract at the HR department, was taken to her workstation, and got to know her other colleagues.

While greeting them, Ning Jia secretly observed them and found that her new colleagues seemed quite friendly, probably mainly because they included not only humans but also... various small animals.

At first glance, a snow-white Persian cat is sleeping on someone's desk; a tiny Teddy bear, dressed in an exquisite little outfit, is quietly darting back and forth in the aisle; and a fluffy Schnauzer is engrossed in eating its dog food…

When I came for the interview yesterday, I didn't notice there were so many cats and dogs.

Seeing that Ning Jia was a little confused, her colleague comforted her, saying, "Don't be afraid, these cats and dogs are all very friendly and have been vaccinated. They are the darlings of our company."

Since the company makes pet products, it will definitely encourage employees to bring their pets to work, in order to create a work atmosphere that matches the product's tone.

Ning Jia nodded understandingly, and relaxed after hearing that the animals had all been vaccinated. After all, what she feared wasn't the cats and dogs, but the cost of vaccinations after being scratched.

Ning Jia took out her personal belongings and placed them on her workstation. She had just opened her cup and taken a sip of water when an uninvited guest arrived.

A pug with wet eyes silently approached and plopped down next to Ning Jia's workstation, looking at her with pitiful black eyes, as if waiting to be fed.

"Don't feed her!"

The owner of the pug, a short-haired girl with a cool style of dressing, was Kaka, Ning Jia's colleague at the next workstation.

"She likes to use that look in her eyes to trick people into giving her snacks."

Another colleague came over and petted the pug's head, then glared at Kaka, saying, "Lucky is clearly very well-behaved, don't talk to her like that, she understands."

"Don't worry, I won't feed her anything indiscriminately."

Ning Jia laughed, her tone very certain.

Just kidding, how could she possibly spend money to buy treats for a puppy? Even if the puppy's eyes are so pitiful and adorable... that's still not an option.

However, the reality check came much faster than expected.

When it was lunch break, Ning Jia took out her own Lock & Lock lunchbox. She had just taken out a piece of cucumber and hadn't even taken a bite when Lucky quietly ran over again, squatted down at her feet, tilted its head back, and started looking at her with those very, very longing eyes... at the cucumber in her hand.

Really? You like cucumbers?

Ning Jia couldn't ignore the dog's gaze, so she lowered her head and communicated with her through her eyes.

The pug silently stretched out its two front paws and lay down on the spot. Its wrinkled little face had its big, round, black eyes wide open, still showing that very, very longing expression.

Ning Jia: ...

She swore she must have seen the same gluttonous expression on the face of some little person.

This cucumber is my lunch. If you eat it, I won't have any food left.

Ning Jia gripped the cucumber in her hand tightly and continued to send out communication signals through her eyes.

But the puppy, whether it didn't receive the message or not, remained staring intently at the cucumber in her hand, its face filled with longing.

...It's just half a cucumber, what's so delicious about it that you really want to eat it?

Ning Jia looked at the myna bird and asked with a somewhat helpless look in her eyes.

This time, Lucky finally made a move. She raised her little paw, squatted down again from a different angle, and stuck out her little tongue at Ning Jia with a "ha-ha-ha" sound.

Ning Jia: ...

After a long standoff between the woman and the dog, Ning Jia finally gave in and turned to the dog's owner, asking, "Um, Kaka, can she eat cucumbers?"

Kaka chuckled, probably used to her dog's shameless attempts to be cute, and nodded.

"She especially loves cucumbers, but don't feed her too many, just a small piece is enough."

Ning Jia looked at the cucumber in her hand, broke it in half, squatted down and placed it in front of Lucky, "Eat up, eat up, consider it my little gift to you."

Ning Jia's words were witty and made all the young colleagues laugh.

While Lucky was enjoying her cucumber, Ning Jia asked her owner, "Kaka, where is the break room in our company? I want to heat up some food there."

Kaka peeked into Ning Jia's lunchbox and exclaimed, "Wow, your meal looks so delicious!"

Stir-fried lettuce with eggs, braised eggplant with minced meat, and thick-cut braised beef, plus the cucumbers that came with it—there were actually four dishes in total, which was quite a feast.

Ning Jia smiled and immediately revealed her stingy personality, "Takeout is expensive and not cost-effective, it's cheaper to bring your own food."

Kaka nodded understandingly, "Actually, that's what I was thinking too, but our company doesn't have a microwave or a refrigerator, so I didn't bring one."

What? Ning Jia was a little surprised. This was a company with dozens of employees, and they didn't even have a microwave?

She suddenly had a bad feeling, and sure enough, Kaka continued, "Our boss is really stingy. Since it's your first day, I won't say much more, lest you feel like quitting your job."

Stingy? I thought he was quite generous when he was making empty promises. Ning Jia muttered to herself, while secretly becoming wary.

Sure enough, when she went to the restroom, she found there was no toilet paper. Luckily, she had two tissues in her pocket, otherwise it would have been incredibly embarrassing.

As for lunch, Ning Jia shamelessly went downstairs to the convenience store to heat it up. A colleague happened to be going to buy a vegetable salad, so she pretended to go with him and asked the cashier to heat up her lunch.

Seeing that the other party seemed reluctant, Ning Jia thought that the chances of them coming to the store to use the microwave in the future were not high, and she would have to think of other ways.

After lunch break, Ning Jia's work computer finally arrived; it was an old-fashioned laptop.

After Ning Jia turned on the computer, she found that although it wasn't fast, it was usable enough, and she breathed a sigh of relief. No big problem; if all else fails, she can just bring her own computer to work.

Around three or four o'clock, Ning Jia finished the barley tea she had brought and was about to get some water when she suddenly realized a problem:

Where's the company's water dispenser? She's been here for ages and hasn't seen it at all!

Ning Jia couldn't help but ask her colleague next door, "Kaka, where's the water dispenser in our company?"

"There's no such thing."

Kaka shook his head vigorously, then pointed to his huge water bottle, "It only has tap water, but it smells like bleach, so we all bring our own water to drink."

What? There isn't even hot water?

Ning Jia was stunned, unable to believe it: she used to bring bottled water home from the company to drink, but this company was actually turning the tables and forcing her to bring water from home to the company to drink?

Such a stingy company naturally doesn't have a break room or snack corner; afternoon tea is nowhere to be found. However, the cats and dogs are treated quite well, as they get to eat some free pet treats provided by the company.

It's true that you don't know until you compare. Ning Jia suddenly missed her previous company, but when she thought of her eccentric former boss, she felt that neither of them were good places.

Ning Jia spent her first day at work observing and familiarizing herself with the business in secret. Perhaps because she hadn't worked for a few days, even though there wasn't much workload, she still felt extremely tired when she got home.

The next morning, Ning Jia got up early to make herself lunch.

Learning from yesterday's experience, she changed her strategy and made herself a beef sandwich, washed some cherry tomatoes, and added the extra sweet potatoes and corn she had steamed that morning—a pretty substantial meal. The best part was, she didn't even need to heat it up.

She had just stepped into the yard with her lunchbox and was about to leave when she suddenly saw several little figures lying haphazardly on the ground next to the vegetable garden, motionless.

Good heavens, what's going on?!

Ning Jia's heart tightened, and she quickly ran over, placing a finger under Xue Cao's little nose. Thankfully, she was still breathing...

She reached out and gently poked Xuecao's arm, calling "Xuecao" a few times. Xuecao's tightly closed eyelids twitched, and then she opened them with difficulty.

"Are you all alright?" Ning Jia asked anxiously.

"It's nothing, I'm just too sleepy." Xuecao said, yawning widely. "We came here last night to catch bugs, and we didn't go to sleep until dawn."

Ning Jia was speechless for a moment, "It's just growing vegetables, you guys are going way too far!"

Under the careful care of Daoya and others, the various vegetables planted in the yard finally entered their growth period. The tender leaves were particularly pleasing to the eye. However, as the leaves grew, various insects also came to gnaw on the fresh ingredients.

At this moment, Daoya and the others also woke up. Gancao rubbed her eyes and angrily told Ningjia about the snails' misdeeds, "You didn't see it, those snails ate any vegetable leaves they saw, they were so greedy!"

"That's right, we just couldn't stand it anymore, so we caught a lot of them."

Ning Jia couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing this, and a scene flashed through her mind of tiny people guarding the vegetable garden under the moonlight, angrily fighting against the snails that stole the vegetables...

"By the way, what happened to the snails you caught?"

Quartz licked his lips. "We roasted and ate them all. Snails with seasoning were really delicious."

What? Ning Jia was shocked. She turned to look at the small stone stove next to the vegetable garden, which was the "temporary kitchen" of the little people, and the small seasoning bottles that looked like they had been used. She fell silent for a moment.

This was originally meant to be used to bake eggs for them, but the first time it was used, it turned out to be used to bake snails?

Uh, just thinking about the snail's soft, slimy body made Ning Jia feel a little uneasy, so she stopped imagining it.

"The sun is so strong, you should just lie here and avoid getting heatstroke."

Ning Jia reached out and lifted the little figures, bringing them into the living room and letting them sleep in the bamboo basket bedroom before going to work with peace of mind.

When Ning Jia arrived at the company, before she could even have a sip of water, she heard that the company had assigned her a big task.

They said that since she had several years of work experience, this kind of work would definitely be easy for her, and she wouldn't need to waste time getting familiar with the company's business. Instead, they would let her work on a new project with Kaka from next door.

Ning Jia, who had only been there for two days: ? ? ?

Kaka, who was already familiar with the company's ways, was not surprised at all. After discussing the specific work with Ning Jia and assigning her the easier parts, the two of them went about their own business.

Ning Jia stared at the computer screen, somewhat speechless.

I originally thought I'd slack off for a few days after starting my job, but I didn't expect the workload to pick up so quickly.

Fortunately, she brought a sandwich today, so she could eat while working on the computer. After sacrificing her lunch break, she finally finished her work for the day before leaving get off work.

That was close, I almost had to work overtime.

Ning Jia breathed a sigh of relief, stuffed the cherry tomatoes she hadn't finished eating at noon into her mouth, said something to Kaka, and then picked up her bag and headed towards the subway entrance.