24. Gu Chuqi hates me
Ling Ling thought dejectedly: job transfer is nothing more than jumping from one fire pit to another. As soon as she arrived at the office of Group A, Ling Ling seemed to smell the strong smell of an earth pit that had been burned by a fierce fire. As soon as she entered the door, she ran into Mei Xiao, who was wearing a coat and carrying a bag, and was about to go out in a hurry. "Hey, Ling'er, you're here so soon!" Mei Xiao called her without any hesitation. The only person who called her name in Beijing dialect was Long Jia, who had known her for seven years. "Then let Huan Huan help you settle in, Huan Huan--" She turned around and shouted to the office cubicle behind her, but there was no response, "I don't know where she went to slack off again. Then you wait for her for a while, I have something urgent to do and I have to leave first!" Mei Xiao patted her shoulder in a friendly manner and walked away with a thud in her seven-inch high heels. Ling Ling stood awkwardly at the door holding a useless broken cardboard box. She felt useless standing there like that, so she had to slowly move in and found an empty workstation to sit down. "Don't you know that this is a dedicated computer used to check the company's internal database?" A cold voice came straight at her. Ling Ling stood up awkwardly, and the bottom of the cardboard box immediately gave way, and push pins, markers, and sticky notes all fell to the ground. She squatted down in panic to pick them up, but the person who spoke had no intention of helping. Instead, he stepped over the mess, walked to the workstation, and concentrated on checking the database. After she finished cleaning up, she glanced at the name on the name card: Gu Chuqi. Gu Chuqi looked like a skinny boy from a distance, but she was a handsome girl when she looked closer. Her small facial features and neat short hair made her look very delicate. Ling Ling had just finished packing and was about to stand up when she was stopped by an enthusiastic female voice: "Hey, Ling Ling, come here! I'm Bai Yihan, everyone calls me Huanhan, and I'm the back office administrator for Group A. You can always come to me if you need anything." Ling Ling finally felt like she had returned to civilized society, warmed by the camaraderie of her peers. Bai Yihan pulled her to the workstation behind Gu Chuqi. "This is your workstation from now on! It was empty before, and everyone used it for their lunch boxes, making it messy. I spent the whole morning cleaning it up. What do you think?" Bai Yihan tried to curry favor with Ling Ling, and Ling Ling was naturally grateful. After Ling Ling put her things down, Bai Yihan took her to each workstation to meet her new colleagues. "This is Shi Wenjin, a veteran of Group A. Everyone calls him Brother Jin." "Hello, Brother Jin," Ling Ling greeted politely. "You...
Ling Ling thought dejectedly: A job transfer is nothing more than jumping from one fire pit to another. Arriving at Group A's office, Ling Ling could almost smell the strong odor of a pit of earth that had been burned by a raging fire.
As soon as she entered the door, she ran into Mei Xiao, who was wearing a coat and carrying a bag, and was about to go out in a hurry.
"Hey, Ling'er, you're here so soon!" Mei Xiao called her without any hesitation. The only person who called her name in Beijing dialect was Long Jia, whom she had known for seven years.
"Then let Huanhuan help you settle in, Huanhuan—" She turned around and called towards the office cubicle behind her, but there was no response. "I wonder where she's been slacking off again. Then you should wait for her for a while. I have something urgent to do, so I'll have to leave first!"
Mei Xiao patted her shoulder in a friendly manner and walked away with a thump of her seven-inch high heels.
Ling Ling stood awkwardly at the door holding a useless torn cardboard box. She felt useless standing there like that, so she had to move slowly inside and found an empty workstation to sit down.
"Don't you know that this is a dedicated computer used to check the company's internal database?" A cold voice came straight over.
Ling Ling stood up awkwardly, and the bottom of the cardboard box immediately leaked, and the push pins, markers, and sticky notes all scattered to the ground.
She frantically squatted down to pick it up, but the person who spoke showed no intention of helping. Instead, he stepped over the mess and went to the workstation, concentrating on checking the database.
After she had packed up, she glanced at the name on the artificial sign: Gu Chuqi.
From a distance, Gu Chuqi looks like a skinny boy, but up close, she's a handsome girl. Her small features and neat short hair make her look quite delicate.
Ling Ling had just finished packing and stood up when she was stopped by an enthusiastic female voice: "Hey, Ling Ling, come here! I'm Bai Yihan, everyone calls me Huanhuan, and I'm the back office administrator for Group A. You can always come to me if you need anything."
Ling Ling finally felt like she had returned to civilized society, warmed by the camaraderie of her kind. Bai Yihan pulled her to the workstation behind Gu Chuqi.
"This will be your workstation from now on! It was empty before, and everyone used it to eat lunch boxes, making it dirty. It took me the whole morning to clean it up. What do you think?" Bai Yihan tried to get close to Ling Ling in a way that would take credit for it, and Ling Ling was naturally grateful.
After Ling Ling put down her things, Bai Yihan took her to various workstations to meet her new colleagues.
"This is Shi Wenjin, a veteran of our Group A. Everyone calls him Brother Jin."
"Hello, Brother Jin." Ling Ling greeted him obediently.
"Hello," Shi Wenjin replied politely. He was slightly balding, his overly honest, middle-aged face adorned with dark circles. The color combination of his polo shirt and pants had nothing on the fashionable advertising industry; instead, it resembled the attire of an employee of a declining state-owned enterprise.
Bai Yihan then pulled her to the workstation of a young man next to her. "This is Lu Chong, our group's artist. His artistic taste is truly exceptional!"
"Hello, Brother Lu Chong, I look forward to your guidance in the future."
"Yes, no problem. You're welcome." Lu Chong responded to Ling Ling politely, his reassuring smile still hinting at a touch of elegance. Then, he returned to the task at hand.
"And this one is Gu——"
"No need for introductions, I just met you." Before Bai Yihan could finish, Gu Chuqi interrupted her sweet words and dialed the number of the media department. She started yelling, "What a crappy client you pushed to me! A boss who objectifies women wants to advertise and yells at me, 'Aren't you in the advertising business? You can sell my ideas like you sell soap and toothpaste!' If you want to lick this kind of crappy person, just lick him. I don't have that bone in my knees!" After that, she hung up the phone with a snap, and then stood up from the public workstation. Without even looking at the two of them, she turned and walked away.
The two of them were left smiling at each other awkwardly, "Hey, it's okay, she's just like that." Bai Yihan said angrily.
Afterwards, Bai Yihan took Ling Ling around the entire floor. They told her which departments used the printing room and who never refilled the printing paper; whose workstation was closest to the bathroom and who liked to watch other people's restroom hours and then go and tell tales about them slacking off... Bai Yihan told Ling Ling every detail about the negative effects of office politics.
Ling Ling was filled with gratitude. This was the first time since joining the company that someone had treated her so thoughtfully. Bai Yihan was like Ling Ling's ideal workplace sweetheart. She had always longed for a close friend like him, but it always seemed out of reach. Now that it had finally become a reality, and they were truly arm in arm, she felt an immense warmth.
Back at her workstation, everyone had their own things to do, except Lingling, who hadn't been assigned any work yet. She felt uneasy about the idleness. But she didn't dare use her phone during work hours; it went against her professional ethics. So, she spent the afternoon cycling between drinking water and going to the bathroom.
When she came out of the bathroom to wash her hands, she met Gu Chuqi with a cold face again. Ling Ling knew that she must have recognized her, but she just lowered her head and ignored her deliberately.
But Ling Ling still wanted to make peace with her, so she took the initiative to say in a friendly manner: "Your name is very special."
Gu Chuqi tilted his head in annoyance and spoke in a cold voice, "I was born on the seventh day of the fourth lunar month. Not the seventh day of the first lunar month, nor the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, but just the ordinary seventh day of the fourth lunar month. This name has no meaning, story or incident. It's just because my parents were too lazy to name me and they looked at the calendar and it just happened to be the seventh day. - Oh, I have to explain this to everyone I meet. It's so annoying."
Ling Ling gave a slightly awkward smile, then said sincerely, "I actually think this name is quite refined and open-minded. Something like 'casual' requires some spirit. It's better than trying to be pretentious with an obscure character that can't even be typed on a computer."
When Chuqi heard her say this, he raised his eyebrows and stared at her for a few seconds, then left with an arrogant look on his face.
When it was time to get off work in the evening, everyone knew that Manager Mei Xiao was not there, so they all left at the appointed time.
Only Gu Chuqi was still busy, sometimes flipping through various documents, sometimes sipping coffee and meditating in front of the stagnant computer screen. She was probably worried about the copy she couldn't write.
"Chuqi, do you need any help?" It was Ling Ling's first day reporting to Group A, so she naturally didn't dare to slip away, so she took the initiative to help Gu Chuqi.
Gu Chuqi glanced at her unhappily and refused without any intention of engaging in any workplace friendship with her: "No thanks."
Ling Ling timidly placed the freshly brewed black tea in a disposable paper cup in front of her and said, "Drinking so much coffee at night really affects your sleep, so I made you some black tea to calm your nerves. I'm leaving early tonight and don't have much else to do, so I'm studying the old copywriting the company used to do at my desk. If you need any help, feel free to let me know."
"I don't need your help. If you help me again, you will drive me away." Gu Chuqi said this coldly, and Ling Ling suddenly realized where the hostility she had been undisguised all day came from.
Gu Chuqi is currently the only full-time copywriter in Team A, and Ling Ling's arrival is likely to be assigned to a copywriting role as well. If Mei Xiao transferred Ling Ling due to a heavy workload, numerous clients, and a shortage of staff, then they could still be considered partners. However, if Mei Xiao felt that Gu Chuqi's previous work wasn't up to par and needed a new member to bolster the team's energy, then they would become a head-on competition.
Ling Ling's naive idea of making friends with her competitors is seen by her competitors as a trick with ulterior motives.
Ling Ling didn't dare stay in the company any longer, fearing that Gu Chuqi would mistakenly think she was stealing the fruits of her labor. She packed her backpack, said goodbye to Gu Chuqi, who didn't respond at all, and left work.
Riding alone in the empty elevator, Ling Ling felt her ambition slowly dwindling. She had originally only wanted to focus on writing copy, but since joining, she'd been exhausted by the constant workplace competition and felt completely drained. She'd assumed private companies would be more efficient, but she hadn't expected the competition to be even more intense.
The elevator door opened and she walked out of the dull building. The cool night breeze brushed across her face, and she felt a lot refreshed.
Under the bright moonlit night sky, nothing new happened. People, carrying their own similar worries, rushed along the road, and then moved forward.
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