At nine o'clock on Monday morning, Lu Zhe and Xue Xiaodie walked into the office together, sat at adjacent workstations, and began their work.
Over the weekend, Lu Zhe felt he had changed a lot. He didn't know whether this change was positive growth or negative decline, but in any case, he felt like a completely different person now.
However, once he sat down at his familiar workstation and faced with business matters, he switched back into work mode. All thoughts of the chaotic love triangle and the rich, bespectacled girl were thrown to the back of his mind.
However, around 10:30, Mao Kai strolled over with his hands in his pockets and reminded him, "Take a look at the group chat, the big one where everyone in our company is in it."
Lu Zhe looked up: "Is there something urgent?"
Mao Kai smiled mysteriously: "I don't think it's urgent. Actually, you don't have to look at it. But I think taking a look might be better for your mental and physical health, or at least it will make you happier."
Hearing his boss say that, Lu Zhe took out his phone, opened the WeChat group with a puzzled look, and then saw the boss's message.
Xia Xiaobing: [I've prepared afternoon tea for everyone today. We'll meet in the main conference room. I'd like to have a chat with you all.]
Lu Zhe looked up and asked again, "What exactly does President Xia want to talk to us about?"
Mao Kaiwei bent down and lowered her voice, saying, "According to reliable sources, she's going to treat everyone to afternoon tea and snacks, and she's also going to give everyone red envelopes."
Lu Zhe: "It's not a holiday today, why are we giving out red envelopes?"
Mao Kai: "I don't know."
Lu Zhe: "Is your reliable information really reliable?"
Mao Kai patted the back of his chair and said confidently, "Of course, HR Sister Yang told me. Preparing the packaging for the red envelopes, as well as the afternoon tea and snacks, were all tasks that President Xia assigned to her today."
Lu Zhe suddenly had some guesses about why Xia Xiaobing sent red envelopes and treated people to afternoon tea, and they were the kind of guesses he couldn't reveal to anyone else...
He felt a slight panic inside, but on the surface he remained calm and asked, "Did Sister Yang say why President Xia wanted to give out red envelopes?"
Mao Kai shrugged: "Who knows? Maybe she's just in a good mood today? Or maybe the company closed a big deal?"
Lu Zhe also chimed in, "Perhaps..."
Perhaps that's the case, but it's also possible that the real reason lies with him.
Lu Zhe couldn't help but think of what happened last night. Originally, Xia Xiaobing hadn't asked him to come over to serve her in the middle of the night for the three nights from Thursday to Saturday last week, but last night, which was Sunday night, the boss sent another summons.
To be precise, since it was past midnight, it should have been the early hours of Monday morning. From 12:30 to a little after 1 a.m., both of them were exhausted before Xia Xiaobing let Lu Zhe go downstairs to sleep.
So at this moment, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy...
Of course, he didn't think Xia Xiaobing would be in such a good mood to give out red envelopes to the entire company just for this reason. But what if last night's events led her to decide to make their relationship public?
Lu Zhe initially thought this was unlikely, after all, Xia Xiaobing had always said that work was work and that one shouldn't bring anything outside of work into the company. But then he thought about it again, and realized that every time she tried to harm him, it was always the prelude that started in this company.
The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.
All "scumbags" share a common weakness: interpersonal relationships. To manage multiple relationships effectively, the prerequisite is to prevent any one girl from making the relationship completely public. If everyone around you knows you're involved with a certain girl, it means your relationships with other girls will be in serious trouble.
Although Lu Zhe had only been aware of his "scumbag" tendencies for less than two days, this core principle seemed to him like an unquestionable axiom. This made him increasingly uneasy...
Mao Kai turned and walked away, and Lu Zhe sent Xia Xiaobing a message on his phone: "What are you going to talk about with everyone this afternoon?"
After sending the message, he subconsciously turned off his phone screen. Then, just three seconds later, he couldn't help but feel glad he had acted that way.
Xue Xiaodie leaned closer and asked softly, "What are you doing?"
Lu Zhe turned his head and stared at her.
From Xue Xiaodie's perspective, she should be able to see his phone. The girl had moved her chair, getting much closer to him.
Lu Zhe tried to appear calm and said, "I was looking at the messages in the company group chat. Did you see it? The boss said he's treating everyone to afternoon tea."
Xue Xiaodie nodded: "I saw it too. But doesn't our company not have afternoon tea? Do you know why the boss suddenly wanted to treat us?"
Lu Zhe shrugged: "How would I know?"
Just then, he felt his phone vibrate. Glancing at it, he saw the screen light up and a new WeChat message notification appear.
He turned around as naturally as possible.
The chairs in the office can rotate freely; just a slight push of the feet against the ground will turn them 90 degrees.
At this moment, Lu Zhe rotated ninety degrees so that he was facing Xue Xiaodie. As a result, Xue Xiaodie could not see his phone screen, but only the back of the phone.
Then, without making a sound, he unlocked his phone and saw Xia Xiaobing's WeChat reply:
"Perfect, I can talk to you first. Come to my office."
Xue Xiaodie said, "It would be great if we could get a raise."
Lu Zhe laughed and said, "Yes, it would be great if we could get a raise. But it's unlikely that everyone would be called into a meeting room and given a one-on-one announcement about a raise, right? It should be the department heads who make the announcements..."
As he spoke, his fingers flew across the keyboard, typing a question and sending it on WeChat: "Now?"
Xia Xiaobing: [What, are you not available right now?]
Lu Zhe: [No, not at all.]
The message was sent at the same time Lu Zhe had just finished speaking. Xue Xiaodie smiled and was about to speak when she saw him suddenly stand up.
"I need to go to the toilet," Lu Zhe suddenly lowered his voice, "to take a paid dump."
Xue Xiaodie covered her mouth and laughed: "Then you go ahead, I won't keep you company."
Lu Zhe nodded and walked towards the restroom. But as he turned the corner, he glanced back to make sure Xue Xiaodie wasn't watching him, then naturally turned in another direction and quickly walked to the door of the CEO's office.
He entered quickly but calmly. If anyone else had seen him, they wouldn't have noticed anything amiss; they would have simply assumed his boss had called him.
And crucially, he was certain that Xue Xiaodie hadn't noticed him at that moment.
After he went in and closed the door, he said, "Mr. Xia, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Xia Xiaobing looked at him, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Of course, we're talking about future benefits."
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