Chapter 17

Josh felt his breath catch in his throat, his heart pounding in sync with the flashing notifications.

When Josh was a child, he watched workplace dramas and always envied the people who worked in office buildings. They were dressed smartly, chatted and laughed with smiles on their faces, received satisfactory salaries, and lived a luxurious life.

But when you actually experience it yourself, you realize that the reality is not like that at all.

Even though Josh's office is located in an office building in the center of Hengcheng City, a location with excellent transportation, it still doesn't stop her from getting up at seven o'clock every morning, hurriedly eating breakfast, and then squeezing onto a bus with a group of elderly people rushing to the morning market.

Compared to working in a branch office, it's nothing more than a superficially glamorous facade.

At noon, the office building lobby was bustling with people, as it was lunchtime, and groups of three or five people walked together.

"Our department is having a dinner party today, so don't wait for me for dinner tonight." Josh stood at the entrance of the office building lobby, took the documents from Chen Zhiyu, glanced at them, and then looked up at him, asking, "How did you get here?"

"Direct bus service is convenient." The old town where they live is located in the southwest of Hengcheng City. If there is traffic congestion, it takes about an hour to drive from the old town to the city center.

After answering her question, Chen Zhiyu asked, "When does your dinner party end?"

"I don't know yet. Anyway, I don't have to work tomorrow, so I guess they'll drink for quite a while." Josh has only been working here for less than five days and doesn't know the group's dining style. He conservatively guesses, "It'll probably be around nine o'clock. Just leave the door open for me."

Chen Zhiyu stared at her and asked again, "Where?"

Josh had never been to that place before. She had only glanced at it when she booked it, but she didn't remember the name. She took out her phone from her pocket and looked at the address her colleague had posted in the group chat.

"Just send it to me directly," Chen Zhiyu said.

Josh operated her phone, copied the dinner address, and forwarded it to Chen Zhiyu. She thought he was just curious about the place, so she added, "Feng Zhao found this place and said it's good. You can go with your classmates in the future."

"Hmm?" Chen Zhiyu took out his phone and glanced at the address. Hearing the next sentence, he raised his eyelids and stared at her. "Feng Zhao?"

“Don’t you remember? We were having dinner together a few days ago, the one who shared a table with us for barbecue skewers,” Josh reminded him.

"You're from the same department?"

Josh laughed and replied, "How novel! It's just the two of us coming from the branch office."

Chen Zhiyu nodded. "Understood."

Josh then asked, "Have you eaten? If not, I'll take you to eat somewhere nearby?"

The area is full of office buildings, so there's no shortage of small restaurants, but Josh hadn't eaten there before. For the first few days after arriving, she brought her own meals from home.

"I've already eaten," Chen Zhiyu said, swaying his backpack. "I'll go straight to the student's house later."

"Okay, be careful on your way."

Josh parted ways with Chen Zhiyu in front of the office building and went straight back to his company.

Josh interned at this company during college, but not in her current department. Her current department has a great work environment, mostly young people, making communication easy, and the older staff don't hire based on qualifications alone.

As 'transfer students,' Josh and Feng Zhao are very lucky to work in such a department.

At first, the two were worried that they might be ostracized as outsiders, especially since they had received a kind reminder from another colleague in the branch office before they officially started working there.

That colleague wasn't as lucky. The company offered positions near his home, and he chose another branch that was closer to his home. As soon as he joined, he was subjected to unfair treatment by his colleagues there.

They couldn't accept that newly hired employees received better salaries and benefits than them, yet they refused to acknowledge their own mediocrity or strive for improvement. Josh and his colleagues had clearly earned these benefits through hard work and experience, yet that group remained blind to their efforts.

When Feng Zhao learned of this, he cursed, "Back then, when those people heard that we were going to that branch office, they all thought it was too tough and shrank back, refusing to go. Now that they see we persevered, they're jealous and resentful, so they've ganged up on us to bully us again. What right do they have?"

Josh and Feng Zhao cherish this job very much.

On Tuesday, the minister proposed a departmental dinner, largely to help the two new employees, Josh and Feng Zhao, integrate quickly.

They certainly had no reason to refuse.

But they ran into a major problem when it came to choosing a restaurant.

Including the two of them, there are a total of nine people in the department. Each person has different tastes, even vastly different ones. Some people can't eat spicy food, some don't eat meat, and some claim to be allergic to vegetarian food.

We said we should have a buffet, but it felt like something was missing, so we couldn't come to a conclusion.

Finally, I struggled for three days with the choice of restaurant.

Josh quietly asked the senior employee next to her—who was actually just a young woman in her early twenties—"How did you guys organize your previous get-togethers?"

The girl stammered at first, but finally told the truth: "Actually, we've only gotten together a handful of times."

The two department leaders are from a different generation than them, and they always feel there is a generation gap between them and the younger staff. They rarely organize gatherings, and just tell them to go and they will be reimbursed when they come back.

Of the remaining five young people, four were from out of town, and one lived even further away than Josh.

“We are always so envious when we see other departments having dinner together.”

"You really didn't go even once?"

"Actually, we got together once, but we weren't familiar with the area. We parted ways after dinner because we were all tired from work and wanted to go home and rest."

Perhaps this time, seeing that a new person had joined the department, the leader felt that they had to create a lively atmosphere, which is why they suggested a dinner party.

This time is definitely different, with Feng Zhao, the know-it-all, on board.

Feng Zhao recommended a place on Fengbei Road, where the copper hot pot is very authentic, and they also have grilled skewers and stir-fries, with a wide variety of options.

Tomorrow is Saturday, no work. Feng Zhao is very talkative and good at livening up the atmosphere. At first, the colleagues were reserved, but they soon opened up.

They booked a private room, which had a long wooden table on the side, and everyone sat on a sofa against the wall.

Colleagues would toast each other, going around in circles drinking.

The department head was a kind old gentleman who usually looked scholarly. This time, he even brought his own collection of red wine.

Josh took a small sip and found it to be quite good, but knowing that he could only hold his liquor and was eager to get home, he didn't plan to drink much. He only drank the few glasses he was required to have at the beginning.

The leader was indeed very responsible; during halftime, he specifically asked them how they were going to get home, whether they had any companions, and whether they needed to arrange transportation in advance.

Josh was feeling dizzy from drinking, as if she were floating on a cloud. When asked, she waved her hand absentmindedly and said, "The bus."

This place is closer to home than my workplace; it only takes about twenty minutes by bus to get home.

Feng Zhao volunteered to take her home, but Qiao Xi refused with disdain, saying that a drunkard who drank more than her was not someone who would take care of whom.

As for her other colleagues, some were picked up by friends, and some by roommates. After hearing this, Josh felt a little empty. There was still more than half a glass of red wine left in her glass, with a faint fruity aroma and a mellow and lingering fragrance. To avoid getting drunk, she couldn't drink it to her heart's content.

She has to protect herself.

Josh propped his left arm on the corner of the table, thinking that if he couldn't satisfy his craving for alcohol, at least he could have a full meal.

The grilled skewers that were just tender and delicious have become tasteless, and even the stir-fried dishes don't taste right.

Josh investigated the reasons.

While she was thinking, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and saw that it was a message from Chen Zhiyu.

There was only one black picture.

Josh clicked on the picture and zoomed in. It was a long street, not very wide, and it looked familiar.

As she was wondering where she was, a second message arrived: 'Is this the place?'

The picture showed a store sign with familiar neon lights. It took her a while to process the words on it.

The other end couldn't wait any longer and sent another message: 'Josh?'

Josh clicked her tongue and typed two words in reply: 'Call me sis.'

Seeing the "typing" message in the chat box, Josh felt his breath catch in his throat, his heart pounding in sync with the flashing of the message.

Josh's eyes were glued to the screen; those few seconds felt like an eternity.

She didn't even know what she was expecting. This feeling was something she had never experienced before. It was as if she had been thrown high into the air, and her whole heart was suspended in mid-air.

Afterwards, two words were sent from the other end.

'Wait for you. '

It landed steadily.

Josh laughed in exasperation. She didn't reply. Amidst the noise, she hunched over, her forehead hitting the corner of the table, staring unmoving at the enlarged image on her phone.

The phone's camera resolution is the problem; the photos are very blurry.

The street wasn't wide, and colorful lights shone in the darkness. The scattered lights seemed like twinkling stars in the blurry pixels. The thought that someone was waiting for her here warmed Josh's heart. She picked up the wine glass beside her and drank it down in one gulp.

The wine was delicious.

When the dinner party ended, Chen Zhiyu was waiting at the bottom of the steps at the restaurant entrance, still wearing the same clothes he had worn at noon. He was tall and slender, with his hands lazily in his pockets.

It was Feng Zhao who discovered him first.

Feng Zhao was unsteady on his feet from drinking, but his eyesight was good. Upon seeing him, he immediately greeted him, "Hey, little brother, are you here to pick up your sister?"

Chen Zhiyu slightly tucked his chin in, as if to greet him.

After successfully picking up Josh, Chen Zhiyu led her across the long street.

The road was congested with traffic. Chen Zhiyu arrived late, and parking was inconvenient nearby, so he parked his electric scooter at the intersection and walked the rest of the way.

Josh was drunk and didn't want him to help him up. "You little brat, you think you're so great just because you're tall?" He swayed as he stepped onto the street steps and gestured between the two of them with his hand. "Back in the day, you... you were only up to my level."

Chen Zhiyu put his hands in his pockets, tilted his head slightly, smiled, and gazed at her with fascination.

Afterwards, Josh went down the steps and walked in front of him. Her high heels stepped on some gravel, and she swayed. Chen Zhiyu, who was behind her, quickly reached out and pulled her into his arms.

Josh muttered under his breath, "What a lousy road."

Chen Zhiyu sighed, "Qiao Xi, you've had too much to drink."

In the end, it was Chen Zhiyu who carried her on his back.

The street behind me was lined with restaurants, and some diners were chatting outside after finishing their meals, creating a noisy atmosphere.

The night breeze is a bit chilly.

Josh lay drunkenly on Chen Zhiyu's back, his knees pressed tightly against Chen's waist and abdomen. As they took a step, both of them, dressed in thin clothing, seemed to have a subtle electric current coursing between them, and a faint scent of perfume mixed with a hint of red wine wafted around them.

Chen Zhiyu carried her on his back, paused for a moment, looked up at the moon for a while, and then continued walking.

The person on his back was still muttering, "Chen Zhiyu, you must study hard."

"Mmm." Chen Zhiyu answered earnestly, his back to her.

"Chen Zhiyu, if you have any questions, you can talk to your sister."

"Um."

"Chen Zhiyu," he said, but there was no sound behind him.

Just when he thought the other person had fallen into a deep sleep, Josh's voice rang out again, "Chen Zhiyu, it's so good to have you as my backup."