I spend my weekends playing the bed-and-body game.

On Monday, I forced myself to go to work with full energy.

During the regular meeting in the afternoon, Chu Li found that before one wave of torture was over, a new round of blows came: Editor-in-Chief Yu Yao assigned the task of the June issue of "Moonlight" magazine at the regular meeting on Monday, and the newcomer Chu Li and the semi-newcomer Xiao Niao were assigned to the "front matter planning" column——

The "forehead plan" is also called the "head of volume plan". It is the thing that is located before the magazine's table of contents, on the front page of the magazine. The theme of the "forehead plan" will vary according to the content of the monthly magazine that month. Some are to advertise for the new book that the publisher is about to publish; some will launch a special discussion on the current hot topic; sometimes it is simply to plan a theme and then find some interesting related content to fill it in.

The theme of the June issue is "childhood fun". Yu Yao hopes that the editors can find some authors to write about some interesting childhood events or related stories to attract readers...

Chu Li: "How do you plan this foreword?"

Lao Miao: “Think about it yourself.”

Chu Li: “Which authors are you looking for?”

Lao Miao: “Think about it yourself.”

Chu Li: "What is this frontispiece project for?"

Lao Miao: "I don't know. Actually, few readers are willing to read this stuff, but other magazines have it, so we have to have it too."

Chu Li: "..."

………………Huh? No, because others have it, so we have to have it too? Other magazines offer editors a monthly salary of 5,000 and year-end bonuses, why don’t you also take a good look and learn from them?

During the entire meeting, Chu Li was completely confused.

Before the meeting ended, Yu Yao, who probably couldn't stand Lao Miao's fearless look, kindly told her that since she was working with Xiao Niao, she could ask her for help if she had any questions or they could discuss it together... After hearing what Yu Yao said, Chu Li nodded reflexively without any doubts -

Many years later, Chu Li concluded that at that time he still had many unrealistic fantasies about "human nature", which was the most stupid and hopeless thing.

…

A few days later.

[The ghost behind you: Ah L is still a missing person, ah, are you okay? ]

[The water army hired by the monkey: "A hanging emoticon." 】

[The ghost behind you: Ah, let's talk about something happy. Do you feel super happy when you do this job and get to know so many authors? I still remember that we used to follow the stories of Chu Chuan and Jiang Yucheng together. Now you can even talk to Chu Chuan! You even went to his house! Ah! You must be able to get his autograph, right? I'm super jealous!]

[The water army hired by Monkey: In this line of work, the probability of encountering crazy people and idiots is definitely much higher than encountering authors... and now the only signatures that Chu Chuan gave me are the ones written on the contract with the official seal. They will be handed in to the organization next Monday. There is no possibility of cutting them out and sticking them on the headboard. ]

[The ghost behind you: Huh? So miserable... What about the other authors? Who else did you get to know? How are those adults? ]

Chu Li: "..."

Facing a series of questions from his friend, Chu Li sighed and slumped in his seat, rolling his eyes fiercely at the ceiling: Ah Gui did ask the right questions, but other authors……………………

She really hoped to get to know a few of them.

The kind of hope that comes from praying to God or Buddha.

The whole front matter planning task assigned on Monday was not done very smoothly. First of all, there is no payment for writing this thing. If you want to find an author to write it for you for free, it depends purely on whether the relationship between the author and the editor is strong enough...

I'm a newcomer to the party, and I don't know any of the authors.

So the whole project was stuck in a rut after working on it for a few days, and Chu Li didn't hire a single author... She didn't even know the authors, and the most famous one among the authors she knew was her Xiao Bai Lian. It's not that she didn't consider asking him for help, but when she thought about how she had privately contacted the author the night before she started working and boasted that she would help him publish a book, but in the end, she had to kneel down and beg him for help before the book was even published, it was so embarrassing.

After much thought, Chu Li finally gave up. He did try to find Zhuo Chuan. Now that he thought about it, he probably had a lot of guts, because the whole conversation went like this.

[The water army hired by Monkey: Teacher, this is what I want to ask you for a favor. We are planning to make a theme about "childhood fun" for the frontispiece of the June issue, and invite authors to talk about childhood memories, childhood fun, and other short stories... There are three pages in total, and I only need about a thousand words. If it is convenient for you, can you write such a manuscript for us? ]

[The navy hired by the monkey: Please, teacher! ]

[The Monkey’s hired navy: 800 words is fine! ]

[The monkey’s hired navy: Just treat it as writing a college entrance exam essay! It won’t take you 20 minutes! ]

[The monkey’s hired navy: ………………………How about I write a paragraph myself and sign your name at the end? Like “The sky has never left traces of flying birds, but bird droppings prove that they have been here - Chu Chuan”? ]

【Zhuchuan:? 】

The above is what happened. Amid Chu Li’s series of mumbling, the conversation finally ended with a ruthless and disgusted “?” from the gentle and jade-like Gong Zichuan. Chu Li, who was sitting in front of the computer at the time, was so sad and angry that she wanted to press her head into the fish tank at the door!

At this moment, Comrade Ah Gui mercilessly poked at her pain point again, and Chu Li once again had to face this bloody and unbearable past... After thinking about it, she couldn't sit still anymore. Seeing that it was almost lunch time, she simply stood up from her seat and ran to the side of Xiaoniao's seat, which was separated by an aisle.

At that time, Xiao Niao was chatting with someone, sending cute emojis everywhere. Feeling someone approaching, she quickly closed the chat window, turned her head and smiled cutely at Chu Li: "Why are you here?"

Chu Li didn't take her evasive behavior seriously. He pulled the chair next to Xiao Niao and asked, "Have you found the author? How do you plan to do this frontispiece? Can I write a paragraph and put it in there and sign it at the end: Zhuochuan?"

Little Bird: "I didn't find it. I don't know what to do. And I can't do it."

Chu Li: "..."

Putting all the complaints back into his stomach, Chu Li rubbed his brows with a headache: "I have asked several authors in the past few days, and they probably think I am crazy. They either don't reply to me or directly reject me. It's a waste of effort for people to work without any royalties. Do you think authors are doing charity?"

Xiaoniao's answer was very predictable. She said innocently, "I don't know what to do either. I'm also a newbie... But I've done so many episodes before, so there must be other ways, right?"

Chu Li thought about it and sighed. If it really didn't work, he could shamelessly ask Yu Yao or Lao Miao if he could use their names to find a few authors who had published articles in Moonlight before and give it a try...

Thinking this was a solution, I stood up and said I was going to the supermarket to buy lunch. I left the office and walked halfway down the corridor when I suddenly felt like vomiting, so I changed my route and went to the restroom.

After responding to the call of nature, Chu Li stood up and was about to flush the toilet when she suddenly heard the "clicking" sound of high heels coming from outside. For some unknown reason, Chu Li retracted her hand that was about to touch the flush button.

The people who came were Xiaoniao and Ah Xiang.

Chu Li hesitated for a moment and did not go out to greet them. Instead, he stepped back. Then he heard two colleagues walking back one after the other. The faucet of the wash basin was turned on. Amid the sound of running water, Ah Xiang's voice came: "Little Bird, why didn't you tell Chu Li that Lao Miao had already contacted Suo Heng, Niannian, and the hippopotamus for you?"

Chu Li was stunned.

After a long time, the sound of running water stopped, and the voice of a bird began to ring out - it still sounded so harmless: "Hey, the author that Lao Miao found for me was not found by me, why should I tell her?"

Ah Xiang: "Aren't you guys working on this project together? What if Chu Li thinks you haven't found any authors and finds many other authors? It will be difficult to arrange the layout then..."

When Ah Xiang was halfway through his words, Xiao Niao started laughing and said while giggling, "It would be better if she could find a lot of authors. Do you think the three pages should be divided equally according to the number of authors? Hahaha, if she could find a few unknown authors who are suppressed by them, and seven or eight authors are squeezed into one page, that would be a pretty picture!"

Ah Xiang looked through the mirror at the little bird that was bending over with laughter, and hesitated for a moment: "...Isn't this bad?"

Xiaoniao stopped laughing, glanced at Ah Xiang through the mirror, and said calmly: "Then you help her."

Ah Xiang stopped talking immediately.

Xiao Niao took a piece of paper from the paper towel dispenser, wiped her hands, then crumpled it up and threw it into the trash can: "Lao Miao helped me find the author but not Chu Li. His meaning should be quite obvious..."

Ah Xiang asked, "What do you mean?"

Xiaoniao tidied her hair and said, "You should know that Yuanyueshe is recruiting employees because the company is going public and needs to increase its valuation, right? Generally speaking, no matter whether the company succeeds or fails in the IPO, there will be large-scale layoffs in the end..."

Ah Xiang: “Is that so?”

Xiaoniao snorted softly, and the strangeness in her tone was different from her usual harmless appearance in the office: "So, everything should be based on first come first served, right? How can I let someone who comes later take the lead? After all, I am enough as the newcomer in our magazine's editorial department, not to mention that she hasn't done a good job. Now isn't she using the contract with Chuchuan as an excuse to slack off? I didn't even know why the editor-in-chief asked Chu Li to come over. Really, wouldn't it be better to let her go to Star Track?"

As Xiaoniao spoke, her smile blossomed and she laughed again. She pulled Ah Xiang over and asked her intimately what she wanted to eat for lunch as they walked out...

"I want to eat ice cream. Ah Xiang, can you treat me to some ice cream?"

The two of them walked farther and farther away until the sound of footsteps and conversations disappeared at the end of the corridor - from the second to last cubicle, then the sound of the toilet flushing was heard. After a long time, Chu Li walked out of the cubicle with an expressionless face, came to the mirror, put on some lipstick, pressed down her nose and cheeks with powder, and added some makeup.

After finishing her makeup, she looked carefully at the person in the mirror, and her complexion still did not look that good.

He took out his phone and wanted to find someone to complain to, but he found that the person he wanted to find was no longer in his friend list. His already messy heart suddenly became even more irritated. Chu Li frowned, found [The Ghost Behind You], and sent a message -

[The Monkey’s hired army: Oh my god! It’s new!!! I seem to have encountered the legendary office bullying!!!]

[The ghost behind you: "Black question mark face emoji pack"]

…

Fifteen minutes later.

Chu Li returned to the office with lunch. When passing by the fish tank, he suddenly found something wrong and went back. A tank full of parrot fish were swimming around leisurely. Chu Li bent over and stared at the fish tank for a long time. Finally, he found what was wrong. He grabbed Lao Li who was passing by and asked, "Hey Lao Li, why is the scavenger fish that Editor Yu put in last week gone?"

Lao Li: "I don't know. The parrot fish ate it. Don't these fish eat everything?"

Chu Li: “Ah?”

The little bird stood up with the lunch box in his hand and smiled: "These parrot fish have been here since we moved into the Moonlight editorial office. They have been living well even without the scavenger fish!"

First Li: “?”

The little bird smiled even brighter: "Don't you understand? A stable ecological environment does not need additional outsiders."

Chu Li: "..."

Looking at her own face reflected in the fish tank, Chu Li paused, then straightened up and looked at Xiao Niao. Perhaps the expressionless face was too scary for Xiao Niao to be shocked, but soon, Chu Li smiled and silently tightened the plastic bag in her hand. She nodded and said in a gentle and soothing tone, "Oh, then the scavenger fish died a little unjustly."

The little bird stared at her for a while, making sure that there was no emotion on her face, then heaved a sigh of relief and retracted his head.

Chu Li returned to her seat with her lunch, resisting the urge to throw the 10-yuan lunch box on someone's head. She placed the expensive lunch box on the side of her desk, forced herself to remain calm, and turned on her computer. She was just about to watch something like "Saw" to suppress the evil spirit in her body...

Then I found a guy who was here to die——

Beep beep.

【System message】【"The missing Mr. L" requested to add a friend, is it approved? 】

Additional message: Girl, do you want to have an online romance?

First Li: “……………………”

Ugly rejection.