Chapter 42
Friday was as quiet as a weekend at the Huanyu Building, as employees had all gone to attend the company's 10th anniversary celebration. Apart from property management and cleaning staff, there was practically no one else in the building.
On the nineteenth floor, a faint beam of light shone from office 1903, spreading a warm, pale yellow hue across the dark corridor—soft, light, and dreamlike.
Yan Qing rested her elbows on the table, her face buried in her hands. The office was so quiet that her soft sighs seemed amplified, along with all the emotions within them. She glanced through her fingers at the bottom right corner of the computer screen; it was almost nine o'clock. She rubbed her sore eyes and began to shut down the computer and tidy her desk. Inadvertently, she caught a glimpse of someone behind her in the screen's reflection and jumped in fright.
"Did I scare you?" Shen Hanyang said.
Yan Qing, still shaken, controlled her breathing and asked, "President Chen, when did you arrive?"
Shen Hanyang: "Not long, only... about ten minutes."
Before the computer screen went dark, Shen Hanyang glanced past her at the half-modified model on the screen, then glanced at the messy files, notebooks, and sticky notes on the table.
His gaze returned to her face: "Come to my office later."
Yan Qing wasn't sure what "later" meant. She tidied up the table and slowly made her way up to the thirtieth floor.
The thirtieth floor was also silent. Without Secretary Zhao, who was diligently in charge of appointment registration, and without Secretary Gao, who was elusive and unpredictable, Shen Hanyang's office was open to her without any obstacles for the first time.
After hesitating for a moment, she stepped inside.
Shen Hanyang was already sitting in front of the computer. Before she came in, she had heard his phone ring several times. Each time it rang twice and then went silent, obviously being cut off by them.
Just then, the phone rang again, and he impatiently rang it off once more.
He looked up at Yan Qing, and just as he opened his mouth, the phone rang for the nth time. This time, he didn't hang up immediately. He put on his earphones and answered, his voice gentle.
"Jiaming".
"Okay, Dad understands."
"Be good at home and go to bed early."
Yan Qing glanced at him thoughtfully; his eyes were still fixed on the screen as he spoke. Behind him was a massive glass curtain wall, with the lights of S City cascading down beneath his feet.
His office was situated in a secluded, elevated location. And his face seemed far too young for that position.
He also seems too young for the role of "father".
Lost in thought, Shen Hanyang had already finished his phone call.
“Come here,” he said.
Yan Qing hesitated for a few seconds, then took a few steps closer.
"Closer."
Helpless, she stopped when she reached him.
Shen Hanyang tapped the computer screen with his gaze: "Scan."
Yan Qing saw a large QR code on his screen. She then remembered the message he'd sent asking her to participate in a lottery. However, she was preoccupied with dealing with Feng Xin at the time and had no energy left, not even the mood to give a perfunctory reply.
"Sweep," Shen Hanyang said again.
The phone was right in her hand, but Yan Qing hesitated, not stepping forward. Secretary Gao's advice still echoed in her ears: she wasn't a company employee and therefore not entitled to company benefits. She was very clear about her position; the project wouldn't last more than a month, and after that, she wouldn't even need to set foot in the Huanyu building. Her life was already filled with a series of dramatic events; she didn't want to offend Secretary Gao any further.
"Mr. Shen," Yan Qing hesitated for a long time before finally saying "I," when her phone rang. She was almost startled. "Excuse me, I need to take this call." She covered the phone and walked out, her voice filled with panic.
Shen Hanyang found her at the corner of the stairs.
She covered the microphone, her voice low and muffled, as if she were gritting her teeth as she spoke each word:
"Feng Xin, don't go too far..."
"I've already given you your son's tuition fees. I can't and don't have the ability to help you anymore..."
"It's your business who you want to bribe, why should I pay for it for you? Instead of teaching him to learn real skills in school, you encourage him to use underhanded methods to climb the social ladder?"
"If you insist on doing it this way, then so be it..."
By the last few sentences, her voice was unsteady. After hanging up the phone, she stood leaning against the railing for a long time before the rush of blood to her head slowly subsided.
Shen Hanyang stood in front of the office's floor-to-ceiling window, and turned around when he heard the door open.
"I'm sorry," Yan Qing apologized, her fair skin still flushed.
"Can I borrow your phone?" Shen Hanyang held out his palm to her.
Yan Qing was stunned for a moment, then obediently handed over the unlocked phone.
Shen Hanyang opened WeChat to scan, held it up, and aimed it at the computer screen. "Beep—" Four numbers appeared.
“5214,” Shen Hanyang read aloud, then looked up at Yan Qing, “It’s the grand prize.”
Upon hearing the words "Special Prize," Yan Qing's brows furrowed slightly involuntarily.
At first, I was surprised, then I became suspicious.
This grand prize seems a bit...unformal, more like something Shen Hanyang casually awarded on the spur of the moment. Her long-cultivated mindset is a slightly pessimistic pragmatism; she doesn't have the habit of believing in miracles or good luck.
But she almost immediately realized that Universal Company must have had high emotional intelligence to name the "Participation Award" as the "Special Award," similar to a "Special Prize."
Shen Hanyang handed her the phone, but when she reached for it, he took it back and held it up where she couldn't reach it.
Yan Qing didn't go forward again, but just looked at him with confusion.
"What do you want? You can choose the prize."
Yan Qing looked away absentmindedly: "Anything is fine."
"Think it over carefully, and I'll have them prepare."
Seeing how serious he was, Yan Qing also took it seriously and thought about it.
"Could I have a mouse pad? The one I have now was left by the previous owner. It's made of fabric, and it's frayed, so it's not very comfortable to use."
She didn't know what was wrong with her request, and Shen Hanyang looked at her with a strange expression.
Finally, he sighed, seemingly not entirely satisfied, and handed the phone back to her.
His reaction made Yan Qing slightly uneasy, but she didn't have the energy to think about it anymore. Feng Xin, wanting 20,000 yuan to bribe his son Feng Yiming's teacher at the vocational high school and seek preferential treatment, had been bombarding her with WeChat messages, text messages, and phone calls since nine in the morning, harassing her all day. She naturally refused, but Feng Xin, to achieve his goal, resorted to all sorts of shameless blackmail. Before she could come up with a countermeasure, Shen Hanyang summoned her to the thirtieth floor.
Exhausted, she bowed to Chen Hanyang to thank him and prepared to leave.
"etc."
She turned around and saw Shen Hanyang with his hands on the table, his head slightly lowered, his back slightly arched, and his fingers clenched so tightly that the sharp bones at his joints were clearly visible.
After a long silence, he said, "Never mind, let's go."
When Yan Qing came to work on Monday, the frizzy mousepad on her desk had been replaced with a large, glossy silver mousepad that covered half of the desk.
Yan Qing's instinctive reaction was that Xiao Guo had changed it for her. Xiao Guo was usually the most proactive in going to the general affairs office to collect stationery, getting a notebook, a pen, or a desktop file organizer every few days.
Seeing Xiao Guo applying foundation with a cushion foundation at her seat, I was about to speak when a scene from two days ago suddenly flashed into my mind. Friday night, in Shen Hanyang's office, she said she wanted a mousepad. As she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at Shen Hanyang's desk, and there it was—a mousepad just like this, even the artistic letters in the lower right corner were exactly the same.
She froze. Xiao Guo's loud voice broke through her frozen thoughts.
"Holy crap, you know what? Last Friday at the company's anniversary celebration, that usually quiet girl in the finance department won the grand prize—a Porsche Taycan electric car! Can you believe it? Not a Yadea, not an Emma, and definitely not a low-speed electric car, it's a Porsche Taycan!" She sighed deeply, "When did I ever have to have such incredible luck?"
Yan Qing only understood "Porsche" and "electric," but not the car model number.
She put down her bag, sat down, turned on her laptop, and then tentatively asked, "What's the grand prize?"
Xiao Guo gave her a look as if she were a layman: "First prize is the limit, there's no such thing as a grand prize." He glanced at her desk: "This mousepad is pretty nice, I've always wanted a large one, did you get it from the general affairs office?"
"No," Yan Qing replied evasively. Deep down, she was even more convinced that the "Grand Prize" was right under her hand.
Another workday passed by in an orderly fashion. As it was almost time to leave work, Yan Qing's landline rang. It was the front desk in the lobby, saying someone was looking for her.
Yan Qing was puzzled. She hadn't ordered any takeout or received any deliveries, so who would come looking for her here?
Upon arriving at the rest area on the side of the first floor, Yan Qing's face suddenly turned pale.
On the sofa inside, Feng Xin, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, was slumped over, one shoe off, legs crossed, his eyes darting around at the female employees passing by. He was lip-syncing and muttering something filthy before spitting on the floor in a lewd manner.
Feng Xin, his eyes darting around, quickly spotted Yan Qing and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey! My niece!"
Yan Qing turned and walked out of the building. Feng Xin quickly put on his shoes and caught up with her in a few strides: "Niece, you've really made something of yourself! You didn't even tell your uncle you were working in such a high-class place. We're all so happy for you!"
Yan Qing kept a straight face and didn't say a word. She was almost at the door when she suddenly felt a pain in her shoulder and was turned around. Feng Xin's disgusting face was right in front of her.
He raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean? Trying to act tough with your uncle? Can't you hear me? Can't you even fart?"
Yan Qing's shoulder ached from his grip, but she had to control her temper: "If you have something to say, come out and talk."
Feng Xin was very cunning and refused to step out of the building no matter what. He pointed to the floor under his feet and said, "Let's talk right here!"
Yan Qing glared at him coldly: "Do you think this is a place where you can do whatever you want? Open your eyes and look at the security guards at the door."
Feng Xin looked in the direction Yan Qing was pointing and saw not only uniformed security guards outside the door, but also security patrols inside the building wearing helmets and carrying transparent shields.
Feng Xin grinned nonchalantly, revealing a glaring gold tooth through his filthy lips: "Scare me? I've always been law-abiding, why are you kicking me out? Let me tell you," he said, his expression shifting, his sclera flashing with malice, "I'm not leaving until I get my money."
Yan Qing: "Then go ahead and rob it. You're familiar with robbery anyway."
Feng Xin has been to prison many times for petty theft. The longest sentence he received was for being drunk and the theft turned into robbery.
Such sarcasm and warnings had no effect on habitual offenders like Feng Xin, who were as thick as a rock: "Am I afraid of going to jail? I'd risk my life for your brother. But I'm not that stupid. In a harmonious society, why commit robbery? We have plenty of civilized methods!"
Yan Qing knew exactly what he meant by "civilized tactics." He had caused trouble at the school more than once or twice, but this was the first time he had come to the company to cause trouble like this.
At school, she could grit her teeth and bear it. But Huanyu is not a school. On her first day here, the team leader dumped a bunch of rules and regulations on her and told her to study them on her own. Although she was still a student, she knew that the workplace was like a battlefield. Being cautious and walking on thin ice might not satisfy everyone. If Feng Xin made a scene, she would be lucky to get a warning or a disciplinary action. Being kicked out was not out of the question.
She was more worried about the impact on Huang Qian's project than about being kicked out.
She twisted her body, trying to pull her shoulder out, but Feng Xin's fingers were like nails, firmly embedded in her shoulder blade.
"Feng Xin, you won't get your money today no matter how much you talk. Maybe you should wait a bit, and when I get my salary, I can give you some."
Feng Xin glanced at her from under his eyelids and said, "I can't wait. Teacher's Day is on September 10th. I have to give my teacher something."
A lively female voice rang out from not far away: "Qingqing, aren't you leaving after get off work?"
Following the sound, Yan Qing saw Xiao Guo carrying a backpack, joining a wave of people walking out.
That's when I realized it was time to leave work.
Yan Qing forced a smile at her: "I'll leave later."
Feng Xin grinned, revealing his golden teeth, and leered at Xiao Guo: "This woman's pants are really tight, she's horny!"
Yan Qing snapped in a low voice, "Shut your filthy mouth!"
Xiao Guo was too far away to hear, so he waved to Yan Qing and continued walking out with the crowd. After taking a couple of steps, he turned around and headed back towards them.
Just as Xiao Guo approached, Feng Xin cunningly let go of her hand. Yan Qing felt as if several pieces of flesh had been ripped from her shoulder, and involuntarily rubbed it.
Xiao Guo laughed, "Luckily I was quick-witted and didn't lock the office door." He glanced at Feng Xin beside him, "Who's this uncle?"
Feng Xin stuck out his tongue and licked his upper lip, his greasy eyes glancing at Xiao Guo's lower body: "There are so many beautiful women in our company!"
Yan Qing quickly pulled Xiao Guo aside and said, "You go back first. I'll just say a few words and then leave."
Unaware of the situation, Xiao Guo said "Oh," glanced at Feng Xin behind her, and smiled at Yan Qing, saying, "See you tomorrow!"
In the few seconds it took to turn back, Yan Qing made a decision.
The rush hour was getting heavier, with everyone hurrying towards the door. Passersby cast brief, strange glances at her and Feng Xin, two people who seemed completely mismatched.
Yan Qing took a deep breath and said to Feng Xin, "I don't have any money right now, so there's no point in you wasting your time. Let's talk about it after I get paid."
Feng Xin, with his little finger raised, picked at his teeth and spat out a piece of scallion from between his teeth: "When do we get paid?"
"This month's salary will be paid at the beginning of next month."
Feng Xin snorted: "You better behave yourself. If I find out you're up to no good, I'll teach you a lesson!"
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