37 Violence
Wang Ruopeng was grading papers in his room, looking at the strange answers on the computer, and his anger grew as he corrected them. Just as he was about to get up to get some water, he heard the door lock turn.
"Xiaoxiao?!" Ruopeng held up the clothesline in a defensive gesture, his face still trembling with fear. Seeing that it was Yang Xiao who had returned, his heart dropped back into his chest. "Why are you back again? Was your flight cancelled?" He threw away the clothesline and said, "Didn't you eat? I'll heat up some soup for you."
"No need, Cat, I can do it myself." Yang Xiao picked up the clothesline on the ground and stroked Wang Ruopeng's back. "Are you scared by me? Sorry, Cat, I sent you a message, but you didn't reply. I thought you saw it and forgot to reply. Go back to the room and rest. I can make something to eat myself."
"I haven't slept yet. I'm still marking papers. My eyes are almost popping out from reading them. It's a good time to take a break." Wang Ruopeng opened the kitchen door and took out the refrigerator that they had packed full. "I'm going to use this bone soup to soak up the rice. It's delicious. I ate two bowls of rice tonight."
"Wow, so amazing! I've got to try it!" Yang Xiao took the bowl of soup from Wang Ruopeng's hand and placed it in the microwave. The warm light came on, and the bowl slowly spun in circles. Night always amplified the most common noises during the day, and now the coughs of passersby downstairs were as clear as if they were coughing right next to their ears.
"Your eyes are red. You must have been crying again." Wang Ruopeng saw Yang Xiao staring at the microwave without moving, her eyelids slightly red and swollen. "Go get a good sleep after you finish eating."
"Okay, I'll eat right away and go to bed." With a ding, Yang Xiao used her heat-insulated gloves to bring out the bone broth and poured a small bowl of cold rice into it. As soon as she took the porcelain spoon and put it into her mouth, tears streamed down into the bowl, like a light rain.
"Oh, don't cry, don't cry. This meal won't taste good if you cry." Wang Ruopeng quickly took out a few tissues from the tissue box and handed them to her. "The stomach is very sensitive to emotions. The more you cry while eating, the more uncomfortable it will be."
"Mao Mao, I don't want to cry for him anymore, never again." Yang Xiao sniffed, took the tissue from Ruopeng's hand, wiped her tears, and finished the food in the bowl.
Yang Xiao got up very early the next day and ran into Wang Ruopeng who was about to go out for morning self-study.
"Teacher Wang, you're up so early." Yang Xiao said with a smile. She held the comb and smoothed her messy hair. She then took out the perfume given by Yu Jingyan from the drawer, sprayed some on her wrists, and rubbed behind her ears.
"Good morning, Miss Yang! You look even prettier today." Wang Ruopeng was never shy with her compliments. She praised Yang Xiao when she bought a new dress. She praised her when she changed to a new perfume. She also praised her when she heard Wuwu Parkour at night and saw her eyes shining brightly when they met. She was genuinely happy and proud of every subtle change in her life, because she felt Yang Xiao deserved it.
"You're the one who should take the responsibility, Teacher Wang." At first, Yang Xiao would shyly smile and wave her hands, looking a bit embarrassed when she was praised by Ruopeng. But now, she has gradually become more relaxed and can now praise Ruopeng without any hesitation.
When Yang Xiao arrived downstairs, Yang Zhi's car was nowhere to be seen. She had a few technical interviews to do today, so she simply started looking over resumes as soon as she entered the office, ticking off a few items before Yang Zhi arrived, waving his car keys.
"Mr. Yang, you're here too early! I'm afraid there's going to be traffic at the Guomao area, but I've already arrived early." Yang Zhi saw that she had several resumes under her hands. "We, the Yang Family Army, are so lucky to have you."
"Stop joking. Take a look at the resumes." Yang Xiao stood up and handed some resumes to Yang Zhi. "Yang Zhi, we have a problem. The number of people who submitted resumes and the number who ultimately decided to come for interviews is too different. Many people who submitted their resumes did not accept the interview invitation. Secondly, the technical personnel we are interviewing do not have good educational backgrounds."
"Yes, the kind of people we want who are highly educated and willing to start from scratch in a small company are too rare and too idealistic. Even if you change me, I won't want to come. So we have to solve the problem from the root." Yang Zhi was spinning around with a pen in his hand. He glanced at Yang Xiao who was sitting opposite his desk with a frown on his face. His expression was so serious that he looked like he had been taken out of a mural of a medieval immortal.
With limited funds but wanting to provide ample office space for their employees, they separated a room into two rooms to serve as their offices. They placed two desks in the middle of the room, though they weren't exactly facing each other, as they were separated by two computers and a pot of green radish.
"You want a raise?" Yang Xiao looked up, and happened to meet Yang Zhi's half-eye, which was hunched over and peeking out from between the green ivy leaves. It was so funny that she couldn't help but laugh. "Then what if we go over budget?"
"Yes, let's try to increase it by 6%-8% compared to the industry average, and up to 10%. Problems that can be solved with money now are still minor problems. The excess can be transferred from my account." Yang Zhi sat back down when he saw that she finally smiled.
"Mr. Yang, you are so generous." Yang Xiao clasped his fists to show his gratitude, and then immediately opened the recruitment software to modify the salary range.
Yang Xiao glanced at the time in the lower right corner of her computer. It was only thirty minutes before the scheduled 10:00 AM interview. She called Yang Zhi over, and the two of them set up the conference room, adding some mineral water and basic information sheets, and then moved a few chairs outside.
When the two of them finished getting ready and came out to the front desk, there was already a man sitting obediently on the sofa, carrying a gray laptop bag. Yang Xiao saw him looking down at the documents in his hands and did not interrupt him too much.
After all, when she was interviewing, what she feared most was the sudden chat with the HR before the interview. He looked kind, but in fact, he had already defined her before the interview even started.
Yang Zhi followed behind, also imitating her tiptoeing back to the office. "Is that Liu Xingyang? I think he looks like a pretty honest guy, someone who can get things done."
"It's him. We'll have an interview later." Yang Xiao gathered the scattered resumes on the table and secured them with a steel clip. "There are still five minutes left. Once everyone is here, lead them to the conference room door. That way, we can ask them to come in."
"become."
As luck would have it, the first person lined up for an interview was Liu Xingyang. He wore black-framed glasses and a formal suit, and his legs were shaking. He looked incredibly nervous, so nervous that even his "Hello, interviewers!" trembled as he walked in.
Seeing how nervous he was, Yang Xiao handed him a bottle of mineral water from the table. "Don't be nervous. We just want to get a basic understanding of you. Could you please give a brief self-introduction first?"
Yang Zhi nodded in agreement, "Yes, within a minute."
After about ten minutes of interviewing, Liu Xingyang closed the door and left. Yang Zhi looked smug and said, "See, what did I say? This guy was persuaded to have a second interview, Mr. Yang."
"Yeah, I felt a little nervous during the interview. But he spoke quite logically, and his algorithm made me, a layman like me, want to applaud." Yang Xiao ticked the resume, "Okay, let's call the next person."
It went on like this from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM, and both Mr. Yang and his wife felt that this "manpower"—despite the "manpower" and "force"—wasn't truly human work. Sometimes, they watched their mouths constantly opening and closing, yet they couldn't understand a word. If they interrupted, it would seem rude; if they continued listening, their minds would freeze.
Another interview was scheduled for the afternoon at two o'clock. The two of them had a quick meal downstairs and then rushed to the office building. Just as they were about to get on the elevator, they saw Liu Xingyang coming out of the stairs with a bag on his back.
"Why don't you take the elevator? Are you here to exercise?" Yang Zhi smiled and greeted Liu Xingyang, then began teasing him. Liu Xingyang lowered his head, spoke softly, and said shyly, "Someone in my family was sick a while ago, and I was in the hospital with them every day. My neck and legs were sore for a while, so I've been running up and down the stairs every day to relieve the pain. I've gotten used to it after walking a lot."
Yang Zhi patted his shoulder to show his understanding and comfort, and nodded goodbye. The elevator car window was clean, without a single stain, reflecting Yang Xiao's absent-minded expression clearly. "Mr. Yang, what are you daydreaming about?"
"No, I'm thinking about the second candidate." Yang Zhi felt that what Yang Xiao said now was probably a world away from what she was thinking.
I was just worried she might be tired, but wow, she was so energetic the moment she sat in the meeting room. It turns out this partner she found through her friend circle is even more reliable than him.
As for Fang Qiu, whom Yang Xiao occasionally missed, he also kept his promise to Yang Xiao: he would take good care of Zhou Qi. Sometimes he even didn't have time to look after his own shop, but he would still deliver different kinds of meals to Zhou Qi every day: sometimes it was beef spine soup, sometimes it was pork rib soup, and sometimes it was pig's trotter soup.
Zhou Qi really felt that Fang Qiu's kindness to him had long surpassed the kindness he showed Fang Qiu when he was a sophomore.
The instructor at the time happened to be Fang Qiu's teacher, Guo Xiangfeng. Mr. Guo had practiced eye surgery for decades, but even his expert appointments were being scalped for six or seven thousand yuan each.
That day, a fading evening, the sky was a brilliant yellow. Fang Qiu subconsciously felt that something bad would happen on such a day, like the half watermelon he had just bought, which he had been gazing at all the way across the street, only to be knocked to the ground before he even crossed the street, smashing it to pieces.
There was no melon to eat, and he returned to the office with a lot of complaints to copy the medical records. Mr. Guo said that it was his granddaughter's birthday today, so he had to leave work early so that Fang Qiu could leave early too.
Fang Qiu sighed, prepared to copy another copy, and left.
Just as he was about to close the pen cap, the door of the clinic was pushed open from the outside. Fang Qiu didn't even look up, "There are no appointments today. Doctor Guo is off work. Come back tomorrow."
A fruit knife was pressed against his neck.
It was cold, and the blade still shone with the silver light from the white woven lamp above.
When threatened and caught off guard, people become mute. This was Fang Qiu's unwavering conviction after experiencing this ordeal. His trembling legs and chattering teeth prevented him from speaking. All that remained was a primal fear of death.
He couldn't even remember whether the knife was against his Adam's apple or the side of his neck, nor could he hear the desperado's threats clearly, until Zhou Qi, the unlucky and studious guy, arrived.
Zhou Qi opened the door with a textbook in hand, and saw the man turning his head and staring at him. Even with a mask covering most of his face, he couldn't hide the hostility in his eyes.
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