At the same time.

Yuanyue Publishing House, in the editorial office of Moonlight.

Sitting in her seat, Chu Li had already rolled her eyes a hundred times at someone's shamelessness. If Ah Gui hadn't been there pleading for Mr. L with tears in his eyes, she would have almost wanted to block this rubbish again with her own hands.

[The disappeared Mr. L: Don’t be so fierce. We are in a relationship now. You need to be gentle to me.]

[The monkey’s hired navy: What the hell is love? 】

【The disappeared Mr. L: Hahahahaha, my little wife! What are you doing now, my little wife? I heard from Ah Gui that you are in trouble? What about that front matter project? You want to recruit authors, but there are not enough people?】

When the topic of the frontispiece project was brought up, Chu Li's attention was immediately diverted. She forgot her anger towards Mr. L, the idiot, for a second, and her fingers began to fly across the keyboard.

[The naval forces hired by Monkey: Yes, I will also organize the submission mailbox... But these are trivial matters. The most important thing is the front matter planning - I am a new editor, where can I find authors? ]

[The water army hired by Monkey: Originally, this project was jointly managed by me and another new editor, but the deputy editor-in-chief was obviously in charge of the two of us, but he favored her and introduced all the great people he brought with him to her. She didn't even tell me, and the two of them teamed up to deceive me...]

[The Monkey’s hired navy: I just joined the company a month or two late, what do you have to bully me? ]

Complaints came quickly here, and Zhuochuan took a look and found that the little girl was still living in dire straits that he didn't know about - the deputy editor-in-chief, isn't that Lao Miao?

[The missing Mr. L: Is that new editor prettier than you? ]

Chu Li: "..."

I looked up at the little bird not far away. She had delicate features, exquisite makeup, a small skirt, and long curly hair draped over one shoulder. She looked like a little bird, worthy of the name "little bird". She was very pretty.

So Chu Li became even more angry.

[The trolls hired by Monkey: It has nothing to do with this! The deputy editor-in-chief’s sexual orientation is unclear! ]

[The monkey’s hired navy: You men always talk about appearance, you are so superficial. 】

【Disappeared Mr. L: Hahahahahahahahahahaha, I’m superficial, I’m superficial! Tell me, what kind of great person did your deputy editor-in-chief find for your beautiful partner? Look how jealous he makes you.】

Chu Li carefully recalled the list he had just heard in the toilet, and then counted them out one by one...

[The navy hired by the monkey: Suo Heng, Niannian, and Hippopotamus. ]

After the initial greetings, I didn't expect the other party to react so calmly, even arrogantly, and even a hint of disdain between the lines -

[The disappeared Mr. L: That’s all? ]

[The disappeared Mr. L: Suo Heng was quite popular eight years ago, but he has not been popular in recent years. Eight years ago, he only had 40,000 Weibo fans, and now he has 60,000. Jiang Yucheng, who had fewer Weibo fans than him back then, now has 600,000 Weibo fans. What era does Niannian belong to? Hippo is even more——]

[The disappeared Mr. L: Just this outdated lineup of an old band makes my wife so jealous? 】

[The disappeared Mr. L: I'm telling you straight, these people, you can fight them evenly with just Ah Gui... Can you wake up? ]

Chu Li: "..."

Staring at the screen, Chu Li's first reaction was whether this person had taken an enlargement pill to speak so arrogantly. Her second reaction was that these authors were all very famous in her memory, and not as bad as Mr. L said.

Chu Li hesitated for a moment, then quietly logged onto Weibo with her phone and searched for all three authors. Only then did she realize that their “very popular” status was just an illusion deep in her memory. Suo Heng, the most popular of them, only received a dozen comments and a few reposts for each post he made.

………………He really looks like a has-been.

[The Monkey’s hired naval forces: …Really? I just checked it out and it’s true. Damn, how do you know so much about the industry? ]

[The water army hired by Monkey: But even if that's the case, it's better than not being able to invite anyone at all - I also thought about inviting Ah Gui, but the topics she is good at are too inconsistent with the direction of our magazine. ]

[The navy hired by the monkey: A skinny camel is bigger than a horse, you know? ]

[The monkey's hired navy: And don't keep mentioning your wife all the time, it's unclear. ]

Chu Li sent out a series of past messages.

This time Mr. L was silent for a long time.

Chu Li waited for a while but didn't get a response from him, so she continued to sort out her mailbox. After a while, the dialog box finally lit up. Chu Li opened it and found that the reply from the other party was quite brief and to the point -

[The disappeared Mr. L: Don’t you still have Chu Chuan? ]

Chu Li was silent for a moment. The past that he couldn't bear to look back on was brought back to him, so he typed with a blank expression.

[The navy hired by the monkey: I tried, but was rejected. It was expected.]

[The disappeared Mr. L: Try again. Perseverance is the most valuable thing. What if by chance, Chu Chuan is in a good mood today and agrees on impulse? ]

Chu Li: "..."

I don’t know why, but when I saw Mr. L’s reply, Chu Li’s heart skipped a beat for no reason, and then it started beating strongly again, thump thump, as if it wanted to break out of my chest... She blinked, not knowing where this strange, strong feeling came from——

It's like...

It was as if after hearing what L said, Chu Chuan would be in a really good mood and might really agree to her——

The feeling is strong.

Very strong.

It's inexplicably strong for no apparent reason.

Chu Li stared at the screen for a while, then with excitement and encouragement from Mr. L, she clicked on the profile picture that she saw every day but didn't have the courage to click on several times, and typed carefully, just like her cautious tone -

[The water army hired by the monkey: Mr. Chuan, I am sorry to bother you again. Last time we talked about the front matter plan. Do you have time...]

This time, Zhuchuan replied immediately.

【Zhuchuan: I don’t.】

First Li: “………………………………………………”

Fuck you, I have this "inexplicably strong feeling".

He quickly took a screenshot of the conversation with Master Chuchuan, copied it, and pasted it into the conversation box of "The Disappeared Mr. L", clicked send, and then Chu Li turned the chat font size to the largest, blood red, and sent the words one by one -

[The navy hired by the monkey: Go.]

[The navy hired by the monkey: You. ]

[The navy hired by the monkey: Ma. ]

[The navy hired by the monkey: Germany. ]

[The navy hired by the monkey: Get out! ! ]

What Chu Li didn't know was that on the other side of the computer, the man with two QQ accounts in front of him was almost laughing to the point of choking - and he didn't realize at all that his behavior was so childish.

Chu Li banged the keyboard.

[The Monkey’s hired navy: I don’t know how anxious I am! ! Blind chicken, give me some advice! What if I fail the trial period? Will you support me? ! ! ]

[The missing Mr. L: Given that we are in such a serious online relationship, isn’t it only natural for me to support you? ]

[The disappeared Mr. L: No, don’t forget that you still have the contract with Chu Chuan. How could they bear to fire you, a woman who has conquered Chu Chuan? ]

Chu Li was stunned for a moment, then she remembered that she had been pretending to be stupid for the past few days and had almost forgotten about this matter.

…

Here, Zhuochuan was elated over his recovery and some other inexplicable reasons, but he didn't know that Chuli was about to be baptized by a storm.

As the saying goes, what you fear is bound to come true.

The next day, when Chu Li was carrying her bag to work, she stepped into the office and saw Lao Miao standing next to the editor-in-chief's desk. Lao Miao raised her head and looked at her. Chu Li had a bad feeling at that moment.

Sure enough, the next second, Chu Li was called over by the editor-in-chief Yu Yao.

Yu Yao: "Chuli, how do you feel about having been in the job for so many days?"

Chu Li was confused and uneasy: "...It's fine."

Yu Yao: "Well, that's good. I received a notice last night that the internship period for this batch of new employees will end on the first of next month, which means you will be finished with your probation period in about ten days. Then you will be signed with a formal employee contract and your monthly salary will be increased by a few hundred yuan. But before that, I hope you can give me a reason to keep you."

Chu Li: "..."

Yu Yao: "Zhu Chuan's contract will expire next week."

Chu Li: "..."

Yu Yao: "How is the search for authors for the front matter going? I heard that Xiaoniao has already secured three authors, Suo Heng, Niannian, and Hema. What's the progress on your end?"

Chu Li's lips twitched: "...I found one called Guiwa."

After Chu Li finished speaking, she felt that she clearly heard a faint sneer behind her - the laugh was obviously coming from Xiao Niao. She turned her head to look, and Xiao Niao pretended to be calm and turned her head away. Chu Li turned her face back and heard Lao Miao ask, "Who is the ghost doll?"

Chu Li: "...an author who has emerged recently, writing about pure love."

Lao Miao: "Is it possible to cooperate with our magazine?"

Chu Li nodded randomly.

Lao Miao continued, "But one is not enough, right? Xiaoniao has found three authors after all. You can't hand in one that I've never heard of... Well, I'm the one leading it anyway, and you guys are a bit far behind. It can't be my fault, right? - By the way, give me Zhuchuan's contract later. I'll go visit him again. The deadline is next week, and I can't let you keep wasting time like this..."

Wasting time?

…………so it is.

It turned out that he was not going to delay it to the last day, but had a backup plan. From the beginning to the end, Lao Miao was actually going to convince Zhao Chuan himself - as for handing the contract to Chu Li, was it just to make things difficult for her?

Why?

Because she came later? She broke the so-called "stable ecosystem" that was supposed to be harmonious? In order to prevent her from passing the probation period, reduce a competitor, and prevent them, the old guys, from being affected by the wave of layoffs after Yuanyueshe went public?

So everyone dislikes her?

Chu Li realized this in a flash, her face turned pale, she raised her head and looked at Yu Yao, but Yu Yao didn't seem to notice Lao Miao's little thoughts - or did she acquiesce? She looked at her with regret: "Chu Li, I really asked the editor-in-chief for it because of your enthusiasm - now it seems that 'enthusiasm' really can't produce any positive energy for your work ability..."

Yu Yao looked like he had "Sorry, you can't pass the trial period" written all over his face...

When Chu Li saw this, he felt a little panicked.

"No, editor-in-chief," Chu Li put down the bag in her hand, "I really want to pass the trial period and sign a contract with Zhu Chuan——"

Chu Li took out the contract of Zhu Chuan that had been in her bag for a long time. Before she could hand it over, it was snatched away by Lao Miao. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Lao Miao chuckled, glanced at her and muttered, "It has been in your bag for so many days, I hope it has not been damaged," while opening the folder...

Chu Li took a deep breath. As Lao Miao was checking and slowly turning to the signature page, she looked at Yu Yao and said word by word, "Zhou Chuan's contract has been signed."

As Chu Li's words fell, Lao Miao, who was holding the contract in his hand, saw the flourishes on the signature page with his own eyes, and the smile on his face froze instantly.

At that moment, the entire office fell into an incredible silence.

The author has something to say:

Zhuochuan: The most profound routine you have ever gone through is my routine.