Chapter 1: Getting a Regular Position Even the most aloof woman would laugh upon seeing this…
Outside the window, the sun blazed fiercely, and the cicadas chirped incessantly, causing inexplicable irritation. Inside the meeting room, the air conditioning whirred loudly.
Jiang Shan was in a daze during the early morning meeting. She accidentally sat right in front of the air conditioner vent, and her hands and feet got freezing cold. But the team leader, Zhao, was giving her a forced smile, so she didn't dare to move.
"Jiang Shan, Xu Qing," Zhao Yi pointed her finger in the air, "I called you two interns to a meeting to discuss your permanent positions."
Jiang Shan straightened his back, which had been curled up to keep warm.
In S City, land is incredibly expensive. She's currently an intern earning 6,000 yuan a month, barely enough to cover her rent. Once she's a full-time employee, her salary will be 9,000 yuan, at least enough to keep her from living paycheck to paycheck.
There's no other way; ordinary people can only save a tiny fraction of what the wealthy in big cities can achieve by scrimping and saving.
“My sister Zhao is a straightforward person. When it comes to getting you promoted, we don’t look at anything else but the results you’ve achieved in the project team over the past three months. We’ll have a small presentation in three days, okay? But—”
Zhao Yi drawled out the last syllable: "Privately, I'd like to ask you all a question: If you weren't the one who stayed, would you have any objections?"
Jiang Shan's heart skipped a beat.
To her even greater surprise, the next second, Zhao Yi looked at her.
"Jiangshan, do you have any objections?"
"I……"
Two pairs of eyes stared at him. Jiang Shan adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, swallowed hard, and spoke with difficulty: "Team Leader Zhao, I... have no objection. I respect the team leader's well-considered decision, which is in the best interest of the company."
"No objections?" Zhao Yi smiled knowingly, turning to the male intern, "Xu Qing, what about you?"
"Oh, Sister Zhao, I have a problem!" Xu Qing rubbed her hands together and leaned forward. "I've been working here for three months and I'm very familiar with the company's business. I've completed every task you assigned me properly. I'm not happy that you fired me just because I didn't meet the targets."
Seeing that Zhao Yi not only nodded slightly, but also raised her eyebrows, adding a touch of sincerity to her smile, and revealing appreciation in her eyes, Jiang Shan's heart skipped a beat again.
Oh no, why are Xu Qing's answers different from hers?
Xu Qing was tactful and smooth in her dealings with others. During her three-month internship, she was very popular in the company. She was afraid of offending him, so she suppressed her excitement to stay and earn a higher salary, and did not compete or fight for anything.
But she pretended to be magnanimous, so that Manager Zhao wouldn't think she lacked the drive that young people should have, right?
But whether she stays or not has nothing to do with her subjective will, right? It depends on her individual professional skills, doesn't it? If she gets emotional about this, won't she be seen as "too aggressive" and "unsuitable for teamwork"...?
“Zhao…”
Jiang Shan hesitated, cautiously trying to make amends, but Zhao Yi stopped him with a raised hand.
"Okay, I understand. I was just asking casually. It doesn't have much to do with your promotion. In the end, it depends on your project reports. Don't be too nervous. If there's nothing else, you can all go home and do your best."
Jiang Shan was slightly embarrassed, biting her lips which were turning slightly blue from the cold wind, and slowly nodded as she processed her awkwardness.
“Sister Zhao,” Zhao Yi got up to leave, but Xu Qing stopped her with a gentlemanly gesture. He grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, but his gaze lingered on Jiang Shan. “I have something I’d like to discuss with you privately. Would it be convenient for you to take five minutes?”
This means "to drive away the country."
Jiang Shan just graduated with a bachelor's degree this year and is new to the workforce, still retaining the naivety of a student.
But Xu Qing emphasized the words "talk alone" so much that even if she was clueless about social etiquette, she knew that staying any longer would be a disturbance.
"Team Leader Zhao, I'll be going now. You two can continue your conversation."
A wave of embarrassment and melancholy swept over him, engulfing him like a tidal wave. Jiang Shan awkwardly shuffled out of the meeting room, and only when the hot wind outside blew in did his frozen mind revive.
Oh no, she forgot her thermos in there.
But Team Leader Zhao was discussing private matters with Xu Qing, and it wouldn't be appropriate for her to barge in.
...Or should we knock on the door first?
Jiang Shan curled his index finger and just as he raised his hand, the indistinct sound coming through the crack in the door suddenly became clear.
"Sister Zhao, when I visited your house last time, I really liked your silver shaded kitten. Its name is Sesame, right?... Haha, such a cute kitten, I certainly can't forget its name. I wonder if it would be convenient for me to visit it again tonight?"
Jiang Shan's hand paused in mid-air.
She was a night owl, suffered from chronic sleep deprivation, and was neurasthenic, making her more sensitive to sound than the average person.
For this reason, Jiang Shan has to wear earplugs every night before sleeping, otherwise he will not be able to sleep well due to the slightest noise and will also suffer from nervous headaches.
Unexpectedly, everyone has their own unique talents, and this tormenting sleep cycle actually came in handy at this moment.
"You really just want to look at the cat? Last time you..." Zhao Yi stopped abruptly, seemingly unaware that someone was listening, and said only, "Just look at the cat, don't bring anything. We don't need any more cats."
So this wasn't the first time Xu Qing had given a gift.
Jiang Shan suddenly realized.
All the subtle signs of being deliberately made things difficult for others seem to have been explained.
She was also puzzled. She and Xu Qing were both majoring in artificial intelligence and were both in Zhao Yi's project team. Why was she given all the dirty and tiring work of running programs on the computer, while Xu Qing only had to stay in the office and learn data processing from Zhao Yi?
Little did she know that she only knew how to work hard, while smart people were already putting effort into understanding human relationships.
Unable to articulate whether it was resentment or indignation, Jiang Shan gave a self-deprecating smile, turned to leave, but his eyes involuntarily peeked into the conference room through the narrow crack in the door.
Are they just leaving like that?
I always feel like I'm holding my breath.
But what can be changed by simply standing here like a block of wood, protesting with silence?
Jiang Shan peeked inside silently and saw Xu Qing slumped on the table, her peach blossom eyes gleaming, looking as pitiful as a homeless puppy: "Sister Zhao, see you tonight."
Zhao Yi flicked his forehead with her thumb and middle finger, saying, "You're a sensible person."
"Knock knock".
Whether out of spite or self-abandonment after feeling ashamed of himself, Jiang Shan didn't touch the slightly ajar door, but instead knocked twice on the wooden door frame.
Seeing the two people inside straightening their clothes and saying "Come in," she creaked and turned the handle.
"Sorry to bother you, I left my water bottle here." Without looking at the reactions of the two people inside, Jiang Shan grabbed his dark blue thermos and left. "You can continue."
She slammed the door shut and left without looking back.
As soon as the door closed, my nose started to sting.
Several full-time employees hurried along the road. They noticed the redness at the corners of the young woman's eyes, but they didn't stop or even bother to greet her.
The trial period is about to end in a few days, and only one of the girl and the boy can be kept.
The young man seemed like a smooth operator, while the girl was a pitiful, honest person.
But in the workplace, who didn't start out as an honest person?
They comforted her and sympathized with her, but back then, when they were learning about social etiquette, no one pitied them.
Survival of the fittest.
This is a natural law in the workplace.
Jiang Shan was too preoccupied with enduring her grievances to think about the white-collar workers' thoughts. It wasn't until she sat back down at her workstation that she unscrewed her thermos, swallowed two mouthfuls of warm water, and rinsed away the soreness in her mouth and nose.
Perhaps, she really is destined to be a corporate slave.
Jiang Shan thought he had come to terms with things.
But her unhealthy body didn't think so.
Jiangshan's work was constantly interrupted by the sudden image of "gift-giving in the meeting room" in his mind, making it fragmented. He was absent-minded and distracted all day, barely eating any of the eel rice he had specially ordered for lunch, and then he went off to work on his presentation PPT with little interest.
"Xiao Jiang," a face that was both strange and familiar approached, followed by a file on WeChat, "There's some data here that needs to be organized. It's urgent and due tomorrow. I see that Xiao Xu is too busy. Why don't you organize it?"
...The implication is, is she very free?
Organizing data was not part of her job duties in the first place.
Jiang Shan instinctively wanted to refuse, but when he thought about how this person might cast a valuable vote on his promotion report, he gritted his teeth and silently recited "be kind to others" three times, turning his resentment into a standard professional smile.
"Okay, received."
The project team already had a heavy workload, and then they took on the task of organizing the data halfway through, plus the presentation slides. With three mountains pressing down on them, Jiangshan had no time to think about anything else and typed on the keyboard until his eyes ached.
"country."
Jiang Shan went to the restroom and rinsed his face with cold water. After his eyes started to feel sore and tired, he had just sat down when someone called out to him, and he reflexively straightened his back.
"exist!"
It was Zhao Yi. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Why aren't you leaving yet? It's been half an hour past the end of the workday. Xiao Xu just got home and had dinner with her parents. She sent me a message saying she was safe."
Oh, Xu Qing took care of organizing the data, so he naturally went home happily.
I can still have dinner with my parents.
She lives thousands of meters away from her parents, and they only see each other via video.
...Although she deliberately stayed in this big city to get away from her parents.
With mixed feelings, Jiang Shan patiently reported to Zhao Yi, who appeared to have been bribed.
"Team Leader Zhao, this procedure is not quite right. I need to test it again. Brother Li also asked me to organize a set of data. He said it's urgent and needs to be submitted tomorrow... The power will be cut off when I leave, so I won't bother the company."
Zhao Yi looked at the thin girl from another province, her gaze fixed on her dark, almost purple, lower eye sockets with a blue vein, and sighed softly.
This young lady is quite capable, but Xu Qing...
"Jiangshan, I don't mean to complain about you using up the company's water and electricity, but no matter how hard you work, you need to rest. Look at your dark circles. You can do the work tomorrow, right?"
Jiang Shan's heart tightened.
The implication is that she is physically inadequate and unable to perform the tasks assigned by the company.
She patted her chest and assured them, "Don't worry, team leader, I can handle this workload. At worst, I'll stay up all night and make sure the task is completed."
"You young people just don't know how to take care of yourselves. You'll understand when you get old." Zhao Yi patted Jiang Shan on the shoulder, said no more, picked up her bag and left. "Work hard, the company won't treat you unfairly."
In the vast office, only his computer screen was lit up at his workstation. Jiang Shan leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and tried to recover from the dizziness caused by lack of sleep and mental tension.
When I opened my eyes again, the evening glow outside the window was as beautiful as fireworks.
That's true; in summer, it gets dark late, and the sky is still bright at six o'clock.
But no matter how beautiful the fireworks are, they will eventually fade away.
Jiang Shan took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
It's a bit sour, probably from looking at the computer too much.
Actually, she quite enjoys being alone. She doesn't have to rack her brains to guess what others are thinking, and she can do whatever she wants as long as it doesn't violate morality or the law, which is quite comfortable.
But she didn't like it very much today.
Is it really worth sacrificing your health, working overtime despite being exhausted, and doing all the work for someone else?
Others can comfortably relax at home, and all they have to do is send a few gifts...
Or, she can send one too.
People always need to adapt to their environment; isn't "all-round development" the way to go?
Jiang Shan took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and deeply, and took his thermos to the tea room to get hot water.
When she was working on her graduation project, she had also stayed up all night running data, it was just a repeat of the past, just another all-nighter, nothing special.
Although most of the company's employees have left, there are still some hard-working people who have persevered to this point. To avoid the awkwardness of encountering unfamiliar people, Jiang Shan casually swiped his phone screen with his free hand, browsed a shopping app, and gritted his teeth to buy a four-figure cosmetic that he wouldn't normally be willing to use.
She noticed that Zhao Yi always had a different perfume every day, and her makeup was always impeccable, so she guessed that Zhao Yi must like cosmetics.
Although she doesn't know much about cosmetics, it's always good to buy something more expensive and give it as a gift, right?
Having put one thing on his mind, Jiang Shan opened the Little Green Book app, intending to read some juicy men's videos to relax. Just then, a video with a familiar cover popped up, titled "What to do when your bra chain breaks every time you take a photo."
At first glance, it seemed to be a post asking for help, and Jiangshan was about to scroll away when he noticed four small words under the author's name: "Your attention".
Hmm, that's not simple.
Jiang Shan glanced left and right, confirmed that the corridor was empty, and confidently opened the post.
It's a video.
He starts off in an ordinary black shirt, but a few seconds later, his eyes light up.
A gleaming silver chain, snow-white skin, trembling chest muscles, and a black outfit that only serves to conceal her true nature.
There's no out-of-tune mind, only meticulously maintained arms.
Everything was so perfect.
Jiang Shan smiled knowingly, his fatigue vanishing instantly.
Sure enough, even the most indifferent woman would laugh when she saw this.
"Uh..."
A seductive groan suddenly entered his ear.
Jiang Shan hurriedly pressed the volume down button, his pale face, usually flushed from lack of blood, suddenly felt hot.
She didn't wear Bluetooth headphones to play the sound aloud because there was no one in the hallway, but... the phone's volume was off, so the sound wasn't coming from her phone.
A note from the author:
----------------------
The story has started! Before it goes live (VIP chapters), I'll update every other day, occasionally daily. After it goes live (VIP chapters), I'll update daily. Welcome to the fandom! [Milk tea emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com