Chapter 18
As Chengshi approached his first year of work, he noticed that the joy he once felt had faded. One reason was that the balance of his life with Huang Ruoyu had been disrupted by their newborn, crying baby. Another reason was that they had taken out a loan to buy an old, dilapidated apartment that was unsatisfactory in every way. Yet another reason arose in Chengshi's work – he discovered that none of his colleagues understood this ridiculous joke, which greatly disappointed him.
"Oh? You mean your dad used to work at our company?" Every time Cheng Shi tried to tell his colleagues jokes about Cheng Xinhua, they would ask this question. "Then you've followed in your father's footsteps!"
Inheriting the family business? To Cheng Shi, this phrase was an even more ridiculous joke, because "inheriting the family business" was the childhood ideal of Cheng Shi's older brother Cheng Guo's generation. But what about reality?
Moreover, Cheng Shi always felt that after hearing this joke, his colleagues looked at him the same way they looked at other "good kids" who only listened to their parents and were so docile that they had no adventurous spirit or independent thought. This made him very depressed.
More than a year passed, and after Cheng Xinhua and Wang Xiuhua passed away one after another, Cheng Shi stopped trying to tell the joke to his colleagues. Instead, he talked about things at work that he found funny and worth complaining about, such as the absurd contrast between his personal ideals and Haosikai's hyped-up, empty corporate culture, the gap between the energy the company expected him to put in and the energy he actually put in... and these kinds of topics.
"The biggest advantage of working at a company like Haosikai is that you can shut down your brain at 9 a.m. every day and let it rest for the whole day. The important thing is that no one can tell the difference between when your brain is on and when it's off." Cheng Shi, who was still living in the city at the time, would often meet up with a few college classmates, such as Wang Rui and Zhou Qian, to go to a bar or have a late-night snack. When the brothers got together, Cheng Shi would always enthusiastically share his "work experience" with them.
Then, quite some time passed, and Chengshi was unable to resign from Haosikai as he had initially envisioned. The contrast between the effort required for the job and the salary he received was simply too tempting. Moreover, Chengshi felt that he hadn't figured out the things he hoped to understand. Then, Huang Ruoyu gave birth to another son for him, and they bought this villa in Central Park. So Chengshi had no choice but to continue slacking off at Haosikai, and then he even managed to get the position of deputy director, with an even more attractive salary. As a result, Chengshi had even less of a chance to resign.
And so, until three years ago when the Narumi family moved to Central Park, he began to get used to avoiding any questions about his work. Whenever a new acquaintance—like at the Beth Salon—asked him what he did, he would always say that he didn't actually do anything, and that his job was the most boring kind of job one could imagine.
On Cheng Shi's 35th birthday, he walked into the Haosikai Building with his usual catwalk. The Lobby display window featured the latest product posters: a group of shapely, stylishly dressed women on a sunny beach, laughing joyfully as they spread sunscreen, powder compacts, lipsticks, parasols, and tote bags all over the floor. Next to the posters, thick velvet mats were piled high with the actual products featured in the advertisements. While the advertisements claimed these were new products, they had actually existed over 20 years ago during Cheng Xinhua's era, and their names hadn't changed since; only the design had been altered to appear more modern and technologically advanced.
Chengshi didn't even bother to glance at the new products and posters. After swiping his card, he walked straight into the elevator, absentmindedly pressing the button. He didn't even notice which colleague greeted him in the crowded elevator; he simply responded and politely stood at the very back of the enclosed space. Then Chengshi heard the elevator doors close. As the elevator began to ascend, Chengshi was engulfed by voices, phone calls, and music from poorly sealed headphones. One voice was particularly captivating—a deep, rhythmic Cantonese-accented Mandarin speaker excitedly discussing his annual leave travel plans. Simultaneously, another voice, somewhat shrill, belonged to a Shanghai woman, with certain pronunciations identical to Huang Ruoyu's, causing Chengshi to instinctively recoil again. Besides these sounds, Chengshi could also vaguely hear men and women exchanging good mornings amidst the hum of exhaust fans. Then came the routine of nodding and stepping aside to let people pass. Those getting off the elevator whispered "Excuse me" and "Excuse me" as they pushed forward. The elevator doors opened and closed, then opened and closed again, slowly ascending—eighth floor, ninth floor, tenth floor, eleventh floor, twelfth floor, fifteenth floor…
At first glance, every floor above the fifth floor of the Haosikai Building looks almost identical: opposite the elevator on each floor is a spacious reception area, behind which the entire open-plan office area is divided into a maze by neat, shoulder-high blue partitions; only further in and at the back are meeting rooms, smoking rooms, tea rooms, storage rooms, and a few private offices for senior executives. Unfortunately, Cheng Shi has not yet reached a senior position, so he does not yet have his own private office.
To anyone stepping out of the elevator, the entire 15th floor resembled a giant, blue indoor swimming pool. Swimmers were moving about, some swimming straight ahead, some treading water, and others leaping or diving into the water. However, most were submerged—the employees at their workstations had their heads completely obscured by partitions, as if they were submerged in the pool. But getting closer to these workstations revealed strangely shaped faces—their color depending on the color of the light reflected from the computer screens. Cheng Shi found this to be one of the most darkly humorous aspects of the workplace.
Every time Chengshi walks into the 15th floor, Wang Shuo's novel "Emerging from the Sea" immediately pops into his mind. However, it's clear that there are very few people in the entire Haoshikai head office who can emerge from the sea; probably only Chengshi himself, who can transcend the three realms, is one of them.
Continuing to the 15th floor, the illusion of a swimming pool gradually disappears, as the air becomes increasingly dry. Narumi complained more than once: "My eyes are so dry they're about to pop out! Doesn't Haosikai sell humidifiers? Can't they install a few of their own products in the office?"
Despite having endless complaints, Narumi sometimes experiences the pleasures of the office with a touch of guilt. Over the years, Narumi has always said that if he were to leave the company one day, he would miss the swimming pool on the 15th floor of the Haoshikai Hotel. Of course, he meant that he would miss his colleagues there: "They are a pretty good group of people, at least some of them are good."
Honestly, Narumi couldn't deny his attachment to the 15th floor of the building. Although he'd sadly discovered over the years that all the floors in the building had only subtle differences, and the 15th wasn't actually more appealing than the others, he still considered it unique because it was "his" floor. The lights were glaring, the air dry, and the internet sometimes infuriatingly slow. Day after day, he repeated the same monotonous work, but this place had taught him to manage his days in entirely new ways—time for a smoke, time for a coffee, time for a paid bathroom break, time for lunch, time to go home—these were the relatively pleasant parts of each workday. But Narumi found himself becoming accustomed to relying on those other times, those times meant to be wasted, like a masochist becoming accustomed to relying on pain.
These things have become a part of Narumi's life.
"Good morning, Cheng Sir!" Candy greeted Cheng with a smile.
Today, the receptionist at the 15th-floor front desk was Candy. She wore a tight-fitting navy blue business suit, exactly like the kind of unflattering suits that bank tellers love to wear. However, the suit looked surprisingly good on Candy's voluptuous figure.
"Good morning, Candy!" Chengshi replied, while restraining the urge to put his arm around Candy's waist and take her somewhere—maybe the supply room, maybe the freight elevator, or even the restroom.
Although Narumi managed to control the impulse, the fantasy continued. Narumi imagined sitting down there, letting Candy sit on his lap, then stripping off her unflattering navy blue blazer and everything underneath, and then taking turns putting her breasts into his mouth…
Since that kiss at the Q1 annual meeting, this wasn't the first time Narumi had felt this urge when facing Candy; the only difference was that this time, at the same time he felt the urge, he was thinking: Why not?
Despite his constant daydreams, Cheng Shi's steps did not stop at the front desk. He believed that even if he fell asleep, his feet would still be able to accurately guide him to his workstation.
"Frankie, you're here right on time again!" Jason greeted him with a smile as he approached.
Eddie, who was passing by, greeted him warmly: "Moring, Cheng Sir! The boss said he'll be holding a morning meeting for our team at 10 a.m. in conference room number 6. Don't be late!"
"Good morning, Frankie!" It was Grace's voice. She was Wendy's subordinate in the Central Support Department - Secretariat. She was a pretty girl, but unlike Candy, she wasn't innocent and charming. Instead, she had a shrewd look on her face.
Cheng Shi wore a charming smile, nodding and greeting everyone, while his mind continued to fantasize about Candy wearing a navy blue suit.
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