Protecting one's own
Pan Yue frowned.
His mother called yesterday, asking him to come home for New Year's Day. Her words implied that she was urging him to find a partner, so he put his phone on silent.
He would definitely have the sound on normally; he wouldn't go this long without checking his phone.
Could it be that she really minds that he didn't reply to her messages last night?
But it shouldn't be that bad.
Not replying to messages means something's up. That's just how things are between him and Lin Changren; it's not like either of them would mind.
Besides, he explained it clearly last night.
Pan Yue tried to convince himself methodically, but he still felt uncertain.
Why is she so cold?
Intracranial battle.
After much deliberation, Pan Yue decided to observe further. He sent a message: "Have you eaten?"
Zhu Shiyi: ?
Did he initiate a casual conversation?
Her heart softened slightly, and Zhu Shiyi licked the toothpaste from her lips; it tasted sweet.
So he was actually... willing to chat with her, right?
Zhu Shiyi: [No.]
She thought about it again. Would replying with just two words, so dry and uncompromising, be too harsh?
Zhu Shiyi: [I'm going downstairs to buy mushroom and vegetable buns later. What are you having for breakfast?]
Attached is a ecstatic emoji.
Pan Yue relaxed, and this meme is just right.
He tidied up the table, raised his hand, and took a picture.
Zhu Shiyi rinsed his mouth and clicked on the picture.
On a minimalist white plate, there are two slices of slightly browned whole wheat bread as a base, topped with a few lettuce leaves, a neatly fried egg, and a slice of tomato covering it.
On the side of the plate, there was a glass of milk and a box of sliced beef.
Good, healthy, clean, and nutritious food.
Unlike college students, they can't get out of bed.
I've never had a good breakfast; whenever I have, it's always the best of the best.
Zhu Shiyi: [Is this all your breakfast?]
Pan Yue: [Beef is not it.]
Pan Yue doesn't eat takeout, so beef must have been his lunch.
Is this what he ate for lunch?
Zhu Shiyi: [Was that lunch? You ate so little, are you preoccupied?]
Pan Yue: [There's more, I'll make it at noon.]
Zhu Shiyi: [Does that mean cooking in the office?]
She glanced at the time; it wasn't too early or too late, so she had to get ready and go downstairs.
Pan Yue: [Yes.]
While putting on her shoes, Zhu Shiyi replied to a text message: "Don't make us in the office faint from the fragrance."
Pan Yue: [Probably not, I don't cook. I'll just boil some noodles for lunch.]
Zhu Shiyi ran downstairs, bought some steamed buns, and ate them as she walked, quickly finishing them before rushing into the subway station, afraid of being late.
The morning rush hour crushes people like meat patties.
Zhu Shiyi, panting heavily in the corner, barely managed to maintain her balance as she shuffled around before raising her hand and unconsciously turning on her phone.
She took a photo with the caption: "[The morning rush hour is so crowded I feel like I'm going to die.]"
Pan Yue: [Don't die.]
Zhu Shiyi: [?]
Fortunately, she was already used to it; Pan Yue was definitely not a yin-yang master.
Zhu Shiyi: [Here's a philosophical saying for you.]
If it's a minor matter that won't kill you, then everything's fine; if it's a major matter that will kill you, then it's a good thing.
Pan Yue: [What's so good about it?]
Zhu Shiyi: ......
Do not discuss jokes with people in their twenties.
Two stops later, Zhu Shiyi got off the subway.
As I stepped off the escalator, a warm light suddenly shone into my eyes.
She looked up, following the direction of the light.
The warm sun, having somehow broken through the clouds, gently spoke to her:
good morning.
......
The Christmas project has come to a perfect end. The department's focus now is on the New Year's Day projects, which are not the responsibility of Li Xuan and Zhu Shiyi. As a capable and experienced senior employee, Li Xuan also has to take charge of some other projects.
Intern Zhu Shiyi had nothing to do, and she felt perfectly justified in slacking off.
Zhu Shiyi opened a PC-based novel website. After several days of working like a slave, she had indeed gained a lot of workplace experience, such as the skill of slacking off: slack off, use the computer as much as possible, playing on your phone is just too easy to be discovered.
But her workstation was cursed; it was positioned with her back to the minister's office, so she couldn't see anything happening on the leader's side.
And so, they got caught red-handed.
"Have you finished your work?" Zhong Qi asked softly.
Zhong Qi happened to come out of the minister's office, glanced at Zhu Shiyi, and immediately realized something was wrong.
Zhu Shiyi instinctively closed the website, then turned around, feeling incredibly guilty.
"Sister Qi," Zhu Shiyi stammered, feeling extremely guilty, "I just looked at the documents for a while, and now... I'll organize them again."
Zhu Shiyi's expression was stiff; it was obvious he had made it up on the spot.
Zhong Qi remained silent.
She could roughly guess that Zhu Shiyi didn't have any projects to work on.
Interns are like that; they often have nothing to do.
Except for exceptionally responsible individuals. Generally, mentors don't want to micromanage interns. Teaching others complicated tasks is too time-consuming; they can easily handle simple tasks themselves; mentors only remember to call on interns for errands and miscellaneous tasks.
“Organizing data is not just about mechanical integration,” Zhong Qi said seriously. “You have to summarize those project documents and the data from completed activities yourself.”
Zhu Shiyi nodded repeatedly, looking very sincere.
“Find something to do,” Zhong Qi said again. “I’ll send you some new project information on WeChat. You need to organize it and send it to me by today.”
"Okay, Sister Qi." Zhu Shiyi replied obediently.
As soon as Zhong Qi left, Zhu Shiyi immediately lowered his guard.
I thought I was going to get a lot of flak, but thankfully Sister Qi didn't say anything.
Zhong Qi sent me some materials, not a lot.
Since I'm just idling around anyway, I might as well take on some tasks.
Zhu Shiyi had a good attitude. She decided to go to the break room to grab some snacks before continuing to work.
While I was getting a glass of water, Vicky arrived.
After exchanging greetings, the two chatted idly.
"I was really scared just now. I thought Sister Qi was going to scold me," Zhu Shiyi sighed. "My image in front of the leaders is ruined."
Zhu Shiyi wasn't seeking a permanent position, so she wasn't worried about any financial gain; however, Zhong Qi had helped her, and she quite liked Zhong Qi, so she didn't want to leave a bad impression on others.
“It’s not that bad,” Vicky waved her hand. “That’s how leaders are. They can’t stand seeing their subordinates idle. Sister Qi was just saying it offhand.”
Zhu Shiyi was comforted: "I really have nothing to do. I'd like someone to arrange something for me, but not too much."
Enough for daily reports.
“I’m also super free, I’m just busy doing random things,” Vicky changed the subject, “but there are advantages too, I have more time to date handsome guys.”
Zhu Shiyi's eyes lit up with gossip: "There's a story behind this?"
“I told you about that handsome guy from the next department,” Vicky smiled mysteriously, “He asked me out to dinner tonight.”
"Wow!" Zhu Shiyi exclaimed. "How did you do that? The progress is so fast!"
“Is that fast?” Vicky raised an eyebrow. “With my charm, men are easy to catch just by chatting online.”
"Just chatting online is enough?" Zhu Shiyi had his own ulterior motives.
So, she and Pan Yue...
“There are still some tricks,” Vicky said proudly. “For example, in the early stages, when a man texts you, never reply immediately. You have to keep him hooked.”
"It drives him crazy, he thinks about it day and night, he's itching for it." Vicky slowly clenched her fingers, shrugged her shoulders, and her words perfectly captured the scene.
Zhu Shiyi, who always replies instantly: ......
Haha! I hit the jackpot perfectly.
What does "early game" and "late game" mean? Is it about hooking up with guys or playing a game where you have to play cautiously and develop your character in the early game?
"But if you like someone, wouldn't you want to reply instantly?" Zhu Shiyi said weakly.
Vicky narrowed her eyes, then smiled knowingly, "Who do you like?"
Zhu Shiyi's ears turned red.
Vicky lowered her voice and blurted out, "Pan Yue?"
......
Zhu Shiyi surrendered and confessed honestly.
“Our current situation is very delicate,” she said, leaning against the bar, sipping her water and pursing her lips. “It’s ambiguous, I guess, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I don’t know what he’s doing, what he’s thinking, whether he likes me or not, or how he feels about me.”
Zhu Shiyi's throat tightened. She raised her head slightly, blinked, and took a deep breath: "I have no right to ask him. I have to guess."
In matters of the heart, she dislikes guessing and dares not guess.
The grievances from last night suddenly welled up in her heart, but she held them back, her voice sticky and slightly nasal.
"It's okay," Vicky quickly stepped forward and patted Zhu Shiyi's shoulder. "It's normal for things to be a little awkward during the ambiguous stage. Let me give you some advice."
Zhu Shiyi pouted, curiously asking, "What move?"
Vicky spread her hands: "First, let's look at your chat history."
"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?" Zhu Shiyi grinned, forcing a dry laugh.
“Don’t worry,” Vicky said brightly, a hint of mockery in her slightly upturned eyes, “I don’t look at those shameful parts.”
Zhu Shiyi: ......
They never talked about anything shameful!
Zhu Shiyi pulled up the chat history and handed it to Vicky.
“This profile picture,” Vicky clicked her tongue, “looks like my uncle’s generation.”
Vicky looked up, glanced at Zhu Shiyi, and suddenly nodded, unusually serious: "It's true love. I don't even have the desire to continue this conversation with this old lady."
"Really? It's alright," Zhu Shiyi craned her neck and pointed, "Look at this picture of the seascape, it's quite beautiful."
Vicky chuckled and shook her head.
She continued scrolling up the chat history.
Suddenly his eyes trembled.
"You said you wanted to die," Vicky's pupils dilated, "He said you didn't want to die?"
Zhu Shiyi burst out laughing.
“My goodness,” Vicky said, her face stiffening as she shook her head. “I told you so, he’s such a blockhead, not funny at all, and has no sense of humor.”
Zhu Shiyi feigned indifference: "...Actually, he's quite interesting."
Vicky: ?
What's so interesting about it?
Zhu Shiyi thought for a moment and said, "He was hilarious when he was arguing with President Lin."
Vicky gave a fake smile: "Anything else?"
“He sings terribly,” Zhu Shiyi said, cupping her hand to her mouth to lower her voice, “and he always sends old-fashioned emojis.”
Vicky: ……
These have absolutely nothing to do with romance or fun.
Seeing Vicky's speechlessness, Zhu Shiyi added, "But I really think he's hilarious!"
"Mainly because he's very old, I can't help but laugh at everything he says."
“Yes, yes, yes,” Vicky conceded. Faced with this stubborn mule, she couldn’t say a word about Pan Yue. “If he were alive, you would want to laugh.”
She was too lazy to argue with Zhu Shiyi and continued scrolling up.
Another wave of shock.
“You…” Vicky’s lips twitched, “Sent him this emoji?”
"What?" Zhu Shiyi looked innocent and leaned closer to look. "Is there a problem?"
"..." Vicky smiled bitterly, her lips parted, looking slightly melancholic and weary. "Do you consider him your brother? Sending him such ugly emojis, are you going to have an emoji battle?"
“Where is it ugly?” Zhu Shiyi pouted, revealing her carefully preserved sense of humor. “It makes me seem so interesting, wouldn’t he want to chat with me even more?”
“Yes,” Vicky nodded emphatically, “but you also have to consider what kind of conversation he wants with you. Do you want to win him over or just be his good buddy?”
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