Chapter 10: Single mother bravely enters the blind date market

There is no doubt that Kuang Jia is a rare good boss no matter what industry she is in. During the three years that Meng Wei has been working in the company, Kuang Jia has indeed helped him to block many difficulties and taught him a lot of professional knowledge and unspoken rules of the workplace.

The day Kuang Jia arrived to complete her resignation, the day a dead rat was discovered at her workstation, Meng Weishen felt deeply distressed. Whenever a person becomes obsessed with the past and fearful of the future, they experience a sense of powerlessness, pushed forward by fate.

But even if a dead mouse appeared in the work area, he shouldn't show any emotions, so he had to remain numb.

Kuang Jia threw her bag on the desk and started cursing, "What's going on? It's almost Chinese New Year, and the group is still so dead and silent. It looks so unlucky. No wonder there are dead rats in the vents! Aren't you going to organize any activities this year?"

Meng Weishen smiled bitterly: "I know. The year you first came to the company, the entire team flew directly to the Maldives before the Spring Festival."

"This year, are we just waiting for the annual meeting? What's the point of an annual meeting? Isn't it just waiting for the raffle? I heard that due to budget constraints, gold bars have been removed from the prizes and replaced with luxury brand scraps, like Hermès ties and scarves. I seriously suspect those are just junk that the executives allocated."

"I can't win the prize anyway, so it doesn't matter. At least the Sunshine Prize hasn't depreciated in value. It's still the same as last year, a 300 yuan shopping card."

Kuang Jia rolled her eyes. Then she asked, "Has Lin Zhesi met with you? He's definitely going to inherit my office. Ask him to help me take care of the succulent jade plants by the window."

"He is still in Shenzhen handing over his work. We chatted online for a few sentences. He asked me to complete my annual leave first, and he would arrange new work after the holiday." Meng Weishen reported honestly.

The more Kuang Jia listened, the more she frowned. "It's a good thing to be able to take annual leave, but why do I feel like something's wrong?"

Meng Weishen actually agreed with Kuang Jia's inference, but he couldn't figure out the reason, so he listened to Kuang Jia's continued analysis:

"If there are plans to lay off employees, some managers will collude with HR in advance and arrange for employees to make up their annual leave, so that they don't have to compensate employees for triple the salary during the annual leave when they are laid off."

"Then I'll apply for annual leave today." Even the scariest ghost story becomes a joke after hearing it a thousand times. Meng Weishen had already prepared himself mentally for being laid off. "The person who cares most about me losing my job is actually my mom. But as long as I use my annual leave to go on a blind date, she'll probably shut up."

Kuang Jia rarely refrained from scolding him for being clueless. Her gaze rested on the crystal-clear jade dew potted plants by the window. "Wesley, I'm actually very worried about you."

"Don't worry about me. At worst, I'll go back home and teach high school math Olympiads, and train a new generation of problem solvers."

"A good student doesn't necessarily make a good teacher. Do you know how to deal with today's overly pushy parents? You obviously don't."

Meng Weishen's brain short-circuited. He had always used "teaching at home" as a fallback, but he had never considered what to do in the real world. Drawing on his three years of work experience, he figured he should do this: first, conduct market research among parents, then compile a list of cram school needs based on the market research, and then prepare a schedule based on that list... But then Kuang Jia interrupted his thoughts:

"You're smart. Even in a research and development team full of smart people, you're the smartest. That's true. But your emotional intelligence is too low. You don't understand the underlying meaning of what others say, and you can easily offend people. That's also true. A company isn't like school, where just getting the test right is considered excellent."

"I know, but I don't know where I might have said or done something wrong."

"I'll still give you the highest performance this year, so your new boss can't use performance as an excuse for layoffs," Kuang Jia said. "But I suggest you think carefully about how to manage your relationship with your new boss. It's okay to do a background check on them first."

Meng Weishen was burdened with a question heavier than a rock, a knot in his chest. This time, he finally asked, "Boss, why were you laid off? I remember your performance ratings were always top-tier. Could it be because... you were on sick leave?"

Kuang Jia glared at him: "Who said I was laid off? I took the initiative to resign."

"You don't want to return to your family and become a full-time housewife, do you?"

"Get lost! My friend is planning a software company, and I've decided to be the founder. I won't be joining you guys anymore."

For some reason, the weight of the burden on Meng Weishen's heart finally settled. He awkwardly congratulated the other person, "Great, great. You're suited to leadership."

"Well. Although my marriage is indeed a mess, I don't want it to affect your blind date plans." Kuang Jia never talked about the details of her sick leave, and Meng Weishen certainly didn't ask. "At least I've experienced all kinds of feelings, love, marriage, and quarrels. Your biggest problem is that your life is too monotonous. After you test your grades, you test your performance. You should actually experience more different flavors in life. The experience itself is a kind of meaning to you."

Meng Weishen didn't really understand. He was considering blind dates purely to cope with Meng Lirong's pressure to get married. After all, he had to satisfy his mother with either work or marriage. If he lost his job, he would have no choice but to get married.

When Meng Weishen emerged from Kuang Jia's office, the cleaning staff had already cleaned up the rat carcasses and re-scrubbed the floor, leaving it shiny and glossy once again. It was as if filth and death had never existed.

——

Meng Weishen's annual leave application went exceptionally smoothly. Not only did Zeus approve it instantly, but HR also handled it very quickly. He easily secured two weeks of precious vacation.

On the first day of the holiday, Meng Weishen originally planned to sleep until he woke up naturally, but his Qin Shi Huang started singing loudly at around six o'clock every morning, so he had to go out for a walk with the dog in the harsh cold wind of the early morning.

While Qin Shi Huang was sitting in the park with his legs crossed and peeing, Meng Weishen freed one hand to first tighten the zipper of his down jacket, and then edit his blind date introduction:

Meng Weishen, male, 28 years old, Master's degree, works in R&D at an internet company. I own no house or car, and have no plans to buy one in the near future. I come from a single-parent family; my parents are divorced, and I live with my mother. I'm introverted, have low emotional intelligence, and am not very good at speaking. I have a beagle at home, which is a bit of a mess, sheds fur, and barks loudly. Dog lovers, please don't bother me.

He sent the first draft of the introduction to Kuang Jia for review, but she sent him a series of eye-rolling emojis and then began to drastically change the copy for him.

"Since you're going on a blind date, you should treat yourself as a commodity to be sold. Look at the blind date ad you wrote. Do you think you can make people want to buy it?"

"The choice of a dating platform is very important. The mainstream dating apps are mostly for short-term dating. You can actually consider other life-sharing platforms with a large female user base, such as the Xiaodigu app."

"Remember to pick a few nice photos of your daily life, so everyone can see your face and figure clearly. Add popular tags to attract traffic, and sooner or later, a horny girl will send you a private message."

Meng Weishen followed his leader's instructions and registered a Xiaodigu account when he got home.

He dug out a few decent photos of himself in his photo album, pasted Kuang Jia's heavily beautified blind date resume into the copy, added a string of traffic-generating tags, and finally nervously clicked the publish button.

[Topic] Located in Haidian District, Beijing, sincerely looking for a partner to enter the palace of marriage

Personal information: Male, 28 years old, 182cm/70kg, has fitness habits, and the photo is not photoshopped.

He was among the top 30 in science in a province with a high college entrance examination score. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and technology from THU and was admitted to graduate school in the same major at the same university. He won multiple national scholarships and science and technology trophies while in school.

After graduation, I joined a first-tier Internet company in R&D, and now my annual income is stable at 600,000 yuan.

I have a wide range of interests and hobbies. I usually play games, but I also enjoy sports and I'm not a homebody. I'm easygoing and friendly, and I take relationships seriously. My family and romantic history are simple, and I'm single because I'm too busy with work.

PS: I have a cute beagle at home. It is very friendly and you can pet it at will.

Requirements for a partner: None, just someone we can chat with. Ideally someone who likes dogs and games.

#blinddate #BeijingSameCity #darkskinnedathlete #babyfood #beaglevictimsalliance #bosscolleagueinheaven

The traffic-generating tags are well-used, and the topic is sure to be popular. That night, he had received several comments one after another:

[Puppy Cult Leader] Don’t be in a hurry about blind dates, take a look at your little one first.

[一缕幽梦] The guy is quite handsome and has good conditions. Girls born in 1974, would you consider him?

[Sentimental Female Cockroach (Preparing for 108 Pregnancy)] Guys, I'd love to be like the poster. Are there any men's fitness groups, the kind where people post photos of their abs and just share them? But I've been taking too many Chinese herbs lately, so I look a bit like a girl. I hope you guys won't be disgusted.

The posting seemed to work pretty well. Meng Weishen sent private messages to each of the netizens who replied to the post, sending dogs to those who wanted them and contact information to those who wanted them.

Strangely, by the next night, he had not received any reply to his private message.

He fully understood that women tended to be more reserved and cautious in choosing a partner. Furthermore, with the Spring Festival still a week or two away, he expected he would be able to complete his assignment, so he wasn't in a rush.

Meng Wei was optimistic and stopped staring at his blind date post. Instead, he started learning how to make his own Sukiyaki on the Xiaodigu app.

Meng Weishen followed the instructions and fried a small piece of butter, then poured half a box of sliced ​​beef into the pan. Before the pink and white meat in the pan had even begun to burn, his app suddenly notified him that he had received a message from a stranger.

[Little Cat] Honey, you're so cute, you're my absolute favorite! I want to add your contact information so we can meet up anytime in the future.

As expected, the horny girl came when she smelled the scent, and it was a bit embarrassing that she called me husband right away.

Out of politeness, Meng Weishen replied to the other party's message: Thank you, the cat in your avatar is also very cute.

The other party sent back a picture in seconds. The picture might be too large to be stored in memory, and the signal in the kitchen is not good, so it only shows a gray loading icon after loading for a long time.

Meng Weishen clicked on the picture and waited patiently for it to load.

The sweet and greasy aroma of meat emanated from the boiling sukiyaki pot. Qin Shi Huang had already smelled the aroma and was howling at the kitchen door. Meng Weishen was about to scold the dead dog when a photo of a male penis suddenly loaded on his phone screen.

Meng Weishen shuddered violently, and his cell phone slipped into the boiling Sukiyaki soup pot, undergoing high-temperature boiling and disinfection for several seconds.

After a flurry of activity, he finally fished out the phone with chopsticks.

After high-temperature disinfection, the phone still displayed the original image. For the first time, Meng Weishen hated the quality of his phone.