Chapter Nineteen

After the Spring Festival, the research on reducing MEA costs was officially launched. Zuo Xutong won over everyone with an impeccable solution and deservedly became the project leader. She also gave the project a development name, "Sheng Guang," which is an astronomical term representing the stage before celestial bodies are covered in light during a solar or lunar eclipse.

The company planned to help her build a research and development team of three to five people, but she insisted that as long as she was provided with a laboratory, she could handle the research and development phase by herself. The legalization of underground work allowed Zuo Xutong to thrive. For the past two years, she had been secretly conducting research, not daring to do so openly. Now, she had finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

One night at 11 p.m., Peng Kun was about to leave the company when the security guard downstairs stopped him: "Sir, are you from Polar Blue Sky?"

The 23rd and 24th floors of this building are all offices of Polar Blue Sky. The 23rd floor is the R&D center, and the 24th floor is the functional departments other than the R&D center. The general manager's office is also on the 24th floor, while the company's laboratory is on the east side of the 3rd floor, and the manufacturing workshop is located in a remote suburb more than ten kilometers away.

"Sir, I saw your elevator come down from the 24th floor. Are you from Polar Blue Sky?" the security guard asked again.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Um...does your company...have anyone who's mentally unstable?"

"What's the meaning?"

"Last night, I went upstairs to patrol and saw a woman wandering back and forth in the corridor on the 23rd floor. It was the middle of the night, and she was the only one on that floor. She was also disheveled. I was almost scared to death. Is she from your company? Could she have suffered some kind of trauma?" The security guard spoke in a serious tone, as if he were telling a ghost story.

Peng Kun didn't say anything. He pondered for a moment, then turned and walked back to the company.

He walked around the company's office area and found that everyone had left. He then went to the laboratory on the third floor and, sure enough, one of the labs was still lit. Through the glass window, he saw Zuo Xutong sitting cross-legged on the lab floor, surrounded by messy papers. Her brows were furrowed, and her hair fell down her pale cheeks, obscuring the right half of her face.

Peng Kun stood at the door observing for a long time, completely unaware of her presence. A moment later, she suddenly slapped her forehead, jumped up from the ground, walked to the table, quickly grabbed an A4 sheet of paper, and without even sitting down, wrote a few lines while still bent over.

When she straightened up to face the door, Peng Kun raised his hand, about to greet her, but she sat back down in the pile of papers. At that moment, she couldn't see out the window; the whole world had vanished before her eyes.

Peng Kun couldn't bear to go in and disturb her, so he quietly turned around and went upstairs.

Zuo Xutong worked in the lab downstairs until after 2 a.m. before returning to her office on the 23rd floor. To cope with working too late and not being able to go home, she kept a set of toiletries and a sleeping bag for outdoor camping in her office. For two consecutive nights, she slept on the office floor.

As soon as Zuo Xutong entered the room, she saw Peng Kun sitting at Tan Chao's workstation. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, then walked over and asked, "What are you doing here? Haven't you gone home yet?"

"I'll wait for you to come together." The words were a bit ambiguous. Peng Kun was about to explain when the other person seemed completely oblivious to the inappropriateness of the statement and said indifferently, "No need, I'm not afraid."

Peng Kun laughed: "I was worried that the security guards in the building would be scared."

Zuo Xutong looked at him blankly, clearly not understanding.

"You didn't go home last night, did you?" Peng Kun asked.

"Yes, but don't worry, I didn't swipe my card when I came back after dinner, so there won't be any overtime pay." Zuo Xutong quickly clarified, otherwise, what boss would be willing to let someone sleep at the company while receiving overtime pay?

"It's not about overtime pay. Were you sleepwalking last night? You scared the security guard downstairs. He thought our company was haunted."

"Ah, I took a few laps around the corridor last night. I like to walk around when I'm thinking, it helps me stay awake," Zuo Xutong said earnestly. "How did I end up scaring the security guard? I'll apologize to him when I see him later."

Peng Kun nodded, looked around the office, and couldn't find a place to lie down. All the desks had partitions, and the chairs were swivel chairs. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Didn't you sleep last night?"

Zuo Xutong pointed to a plastic box under her workstation: "I brought a sleeping bag."

In the past, Zuo Zongtang led his troops to conquer Xinjiang while carrying his own coffin; now, Zuo Xutong conquers MEA while carrying a sleeping bag. Peng Kun really didn't know whether he should be grateful or gratified to have such an employee in the company, and couldn't help but say, "You wouldn't happen to be a descendant of Wenxiang Gong who has been scattered among the people, would you?"

Zuo Xutong laughed and said, "Anyway, we must have been one family five hundred years ago."

"Come on, I'll take you home. You don't have to sleep on the floor tonight."

"Great, I haven't washed my hair or taken a shower for three days."

Peng Kun looked at her helplessly, not knowing what to say.

After getting into the car, Zuo Xutong adjusted the passenger seat, found a comfortable position to lie down, and quietly closed her eyes.

"Hey, seatbelt!" Peng Kun called her a few times, but when she didn't respond, he had no choice but to turn around and help her fasten her seatbelt. In this small space, he could feel her breathing and body temperature. There was no more legitimate reason to maintain such an intimate distance with a woman than "fastening her seatbelt".

Zuo Xutong fell asleep as soon as she got on the bus, and slept very soundly. She even had a dream where she was in a laboratory researching the raw material ratios for a new type of catalyst. A few strands of hair stuck to her face, and she subconsciously reached out to brush them away. The dream collapsed at her action. In her half-awake state, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and she woke up with a start, sitting up abruptly and shouting, "One to seven..." Her nose almost brushed against Peng Kun's face.

Peng Kun was holding the seatbelt in his hand, but before he could fasten it, he was startled by her action.

"What are you going to do?" he asked in surprise.

"Quick, quick, take me back to the company! I've thought of a mixed solution that might reduce the resistance to oxygen transport. I want to go back and try it!" Zuo Xutong excitedly grabbed Peng Kun's arm and shook it hard.

"The car hasn't even started moving yet..." Before Peng Kun could finish speaking, the other person had already opened the car door and jumped out. He was completely shocked by her madness and followed her out of the car.

Back at the company, Zuo Xutong immediately went into the laboratory. She had been pondering the problem for the past few days, and unexpectedly, she suddenly got an inspiration in her sleep.

As dawn broke, she was like a tireless perpetual motion machine, having worked for a day and a night without sleep, yet still nimble and energetic. Peng Kun had someone watch her all morning, but she showed no sign of stopping. Her colleague bought her breakfast, but she only drank soy milk, leaving the rest unopened. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and personally came down to the lab, forcing her to go back and rest. Such compassion from a capitalist for the exploited working class would have moved most people to tears, but Zuo Xutong felt no gratitude whatsoever; instead, she was furious. In two months, she would have spent six years developing this project, and now, with success seemingly within reach, at this crucial juncture, he had to come and disrupt things. She could only ignore his presence and continue doing as she pleased.

Peng Kun used his position as a leader to coerce her, yelling at her or trying to reason with her. He tried everything, from threats to gentle persuasion, but nothing worked. Finally, he was forced to forcibly drag her out of the lab. Thus, the following scene unfolded in the lobby: a boss dragging a disheveled female employee, trying to force her out of the office building. The woman struggled desperately, and everyone looked at her with pity. They had no idea what heinous crime she had committed to force the boss to personally intervene and remove her—something usually done by security guards.

The two dragged each other to the open-air parking lot outside the company, where they were locked in a stalemate again. Zuo Xutong refused to get in the car no matter what, so Peng Kun had to say, "Didn't you want to go home and take a shower? You haven't washed your hair for three or four days, and it smells sour."

"I won't wash, let me go, let me back to the lab!" Zuo Xutong said stubbornly.

"Are you even a woman? Don't you care at all about how other people feel about you?"

“I don’t care about anything except this project.” She acted like a stubborn mule.

"You can't go back. If you keep bothering the other employees with the smell, how will you compensate them for their emotional distress?"

"I'm the only one in the lab, who else could I possibly be bothered by the fumes? Anyway, I'm not leaving, so nothing you say will make a difference."

Peng Kun was at his wits' end with her; neither threats nor bribes worked. But seeing the bloodshot eyes and obvious dark circles under her eyes, he knew he couldn't give in. So he suggested, "I'll book you a short-stay room at a hotel near the company. You can go there, sleep for a few hours, and then come back to work."

Just as Zuo Xutong was about to refuse, he preemptively said, "Why don't we just stay here and waste our time?"

Zuo Xutong's mind was completely occupied with the project that was about to yield results. Her brain was in an abnormally excited state, and she felt like she was possessed by Popeye, with inexhaustible energy. She didn't feel tired at all, and how could she possibly fall asleep now?

"Please let me go back. I'll go home as soon as I finish this experiment," she pleaded.

Peng Kun knew in his heart that once the experiment started, no one could say for sure when it would end. He shook his head: "Go to the hotel or go home. There is no third option."

Zuo Xutong squatted down dejectedly, covered her face with her hands, and after a long while, sighed in despair: "Let's go home."

When Peng Kun dropped Zuo Xutong off at home, it was already 2 PM. He didn't go to the company; he drove straight back to the villa. He hadn't slept a wink the night before either. His employees were working like their lives depended on it. This was the first time he'd faced such a problem since becoming the company's boss. Of course, having a probationary employee who hadn't even been officially hired yet independently manage such a project was also unprecedented in Polar Blue Sky's history.

The project had only been underway for a little over three months, and there was still a long time before the deadline. However, Zuo Xutong seemed more anxious than any of the company's senior executives. Her obsession with the project astonished Peng Kun. Her thirst for scientific research completely refreshed his understanding of workaholics.