12
I put on my newly bought brown suit, changed into the "Lacoste" brand tie that I should have replaced long ago, and awkwardly tied my tie. I tilted my chin up slightly, looked in the mirror, and asked Zhang Peng behind me, "How is it? Does it look good?"
Zhang Peng sat on the commemorative sofa we bought to celebrate our one-year anniversary of living together, glanced at me with a newspaper in hand, and said, "Not bad, he's kind of handsome."
A simple sentence, yet it sounded beautiful to me. I looked in the mirror again, picked up the file folder I had prepared on my desk, walked over to Zhang Peng, gently patted his head with the corner of the folder, and said, "Let's go. I don't want to be late for my first meeting with the big boss."
Zhang Peng put down his newspaper, picked up the black tea on the coffee table, took a leisurely sip, looked up at me with a smile, and said, "Relax, he's not a big shot, you don't need to be nervous."
"Who's nervous? Nonsense!" I scoffed and turned to walk towards the door.
Zhang Peng caught up from behind, put his arm around my shoulder and chuckled, "Hey, how does it feel to wear new shoes?"
I looked down at the new leather shoes he'd given me and laughed, saying, "This feeling can't be described with just one word, it's fucking awesome!"
After a half-hour drive, we arrived at Jianjin Digital Technology Co., Ltd. The company was not large, occupying only a corner of the first floor of an office building, but upon entering, we were greeted by a bustling scene.
Zhang Peng leaned closer to me and said, "You shouldn't find working here boring."
I forced a lighthearted smile, though my palms were slightly sweaty. I was still a little nervous about the interview.
Led by the secretary, we arrived at the general manager's office. Inside stood the innocent man I had mistaken for his "adulterer" a few days ago. He was sitting in his executive chair, looking up from a pile of documents at us. His expression was the same as when I first saw him—very indifferent. The only difference was that today he was wearing glasses, and his eyes, seen through the glass, seemed even more distant than before.
Seeing us come in, the man said expressionlessly to his secretary, "Everything's fine here, you can go out now." Then he pointed to the chairs in front of the desk and said to Zhang Peng and me, "Don't be shy, have a seat."
I said "thank you" and sat down by the window. Zhang Peng sat down next to me.
Zhang Peng had previously mentioned that the man in front of him was his college classmate, and the two were very close. However, looking at the man's unenthusiastic expression, I began to doubt the depth of their friendship.
"Xia Xiang, is that right? Hello, I'm Huang Zikun, the manager here." The man smiled slightly at me, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him.
"Hello."
"Pengpeng has given me a general overview of your situation. I know you're very interested in working in the internet field, and our company happens to need someone with that kind of talent. Did you bring your resume?"
Listening to Huang Zikun's words, I felt a little annoyed. He was about the same age as me, but he gave off a very arrogant vibe. Although his attitude was very polite, the way he looked at me was the same kind of cold indifference I had encountered countless HR managers at the job market, and I hated that.
I glanced at Zhang Peng, who was sitting silently beside me, and my brows furrowed involuntarily. Why did Huang Zikun also call him Pengpeng? So that nickname wasn't just for me. Thinking this, my annoyance deepened. Even so, I still handed the file folder to Huang Zikun.
“I brought it; it’s here.”
Huang Zikun took the resume, flipped through it casually, and in less than a minute, he threw my 27-year life story onto his desk.
Looking at the resume I had spent the whole night preparing, I felt like leaving.
A hand reached out, and I looked at Zhang Peng, who was looking at me with great interest and a smile on his face.
Damn it, what's so interesting about that? Didn't you see his attitude? What a load of crap!
I glanced toward the door, signaling to him that I wanted to go home.
Zhang Peng laughed again and shook his foot at me under his desk.
So I held back.
"You studied journalism, right?" Huang Zikun asked.
Suppressing my unease, I looked up and replied, "Yes."
Do you type fast?
"Huh?...It's alright."
That's strange, why is he asking that?
"Okay, you can come to our company tomorrow and start with typing, okay?"
I stood up immediately upon hearing that.
"You mean you want me to be a typist?"
"Yes, although you have Microsoft's system engineer certification, your major is not relevant. Start from the bottom and take it slowly."
I glanced at Zhang Peng, who was staring at Huang Zikun without reacting.
I grabbed the resume, looked down at Huang Zikun, and said with a smile, "Let me recommend a newspaper to you: Hand to Hand. There are tons of people looking for typing jobs there. People who can type 120 to 150 characters per minute could line up from downstairs to upstairs at your company. My fingers aren't nimble enough, and I'm not interested in that. If you're looking for a typist, go to them."
Looking at Zhang Peng sideways, I said, "We've made a wasted trip, let's go back."
Zhang Peng stood up, a smile still on his face. Suddenly, he reached out, snatched my resume, and threw it back in front of Huang Zikun.
"Hey, if you keep messing around, I'm going to get angry." Zhang Peng crossed his arms and glanced sideways at Huang Zikun.
Huang Zikun paused for a second, then burst into laughter. He leaned back in his high-class executive chair.
"What's going on? Are you playing a trick on me?" I asked Zhang Peng, looking at Huang Zikun who was laughing so hard he was almost crying.
"He's the one playing you, I'm not. Don't listen to him. What typist? He'd be willing to pay that much a month for a typist? That's stupid!" Zhang Peng said, walking over to Huang Zikun, one hand on the boss's chair, the other on the desk, squinting as he said, "Is it funny? Is it really funny? You've gone too far, you know? See? Xia Xiang's angry. Tell me, how do you want to die?"
Although Zhang Peng was joking, his icy tone really startled me. His few words seemed to carry a chilling wind, and didn't sound like he was just saying it casually. But it's not necessarily true that he would actually do anything to Huang Zikun; they were classmates with a deep friendship, weren't they?
Huang Zikun was still laughing, his finger trembling as he pointed at me, speaking in short, fragmented sentences, his laughter quite exaggerated.
"Oh, that's funny, you...are you really angry? Haha...No, no, no, I was just joking. Hehe...Look at how serious you are...Pengpeng said you're very straightforward...Haha, it's really true. You wear your heart on your sleeve. Haha, you're so funny!"
Funny? Me? Fuck! You're the one who thinks it's funny that you're making fun of me!
Just as he was about to lash out, Zhang Peng preemptively struck. He lightly patted Huang Zikun's shoulder, "Hey, you haven't even said how you want to die yet? Offending him is offending me, you know that."
At this moment, Huang Zikun had completely abandoned his boss-like demeanor, shrinking back as he said to Zhang Peng, "Don't be so fierce, I don't want to die. Look, I'm just working so hard my head is cramping, okay? You're a magnanimous person, don't hold it against me, okay? I promise it won't happen again. I've seen his report, you know I'm going to appoint him. Don't let a joke ruin our relationship. Hey, Xia Xiang, want to work for me? I really admire you."
Listening to their conversation, I was completely baffled. When did I show Huang Zikun the report?
"What report? When did I show it to you?"
"The portion that Pengpeng gave me."
"You gave it to him?" I looked at Zhang Peng, waiting for his answer.
Zhang Peng avoided my eyes and said softly, "It's the planning report you wrote when you first got your certificate. I showed it to Zikun."
"Huh? Wasn't that thing thrown away a long time ago?"
"I... found it."
My eyes widened in surprise, and I took a step back. How could he be so kind to someone? That report was something I wrote right after I got my systems engineer certificate and was planning to change jobs, but because the editorial department was so busy at the time, I never had a chance to submit it. I never imagined that something I thought should have long since disappeared into the junkyard would be kept by him. Why did he keep it? Did he know how reluctant I was to throw it away back then?
“When I showed it to Zikun a few days ago, he said your writing was great, so he came to our house that day to talk to you in person and also to talk about salary. But you weren’t here… Xia Xiang, I was the one who talked to him about salary. I’m sorry, I made the decision without your consent.”
If Huang Zikun hadn't been there, I would have gone over and given Zhang Peng a big hug and a passionate kiss. Why is he so good to me? What do I, Xia Xiang, have? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I have hardly any redeeming qualities, but a whole host of flaws. His treatment of me makes me want to love him to the core, to the very core of my being.
"It's okay, you can decide, I'll listen to you."
Zhang Peng looked at me, nodded, and smiled happily.
"Alright, alright, you two stop flirting in front of me, okay? Xia Xiang, come to my company tomorrow. You two go home and be all lovey-dovey."
"Hey, aren't you afraid of your tongue getting rotten from talking so recklessly?" Zhang Peng blushed and grabbed Huang Zikun's ear.
Huang Zikun yelled for help right at me.
The anger in my chest had completely dissipated. I walked over and pulled Pengpeng aside, saying, "Let's go, they have other things to do."
"Yeah, I haven't even looked at all these documents yet. If you pull my ear again, I'll torture Xia Xiang when he gets to work."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Peng released his grip.
Before leaving, Zhang Peng said to Huang Zikun with his back to him, "Hey, thanks for his help. I'll treat you to dinner another day."
Huang Zikun looked at me and said, "Xia Xiang's situation was entirely his own doing, and I'm very satisfied with that report. But let me make this clear first: starting tomorrow, I'll have someone take him out for a couple of days to see his actual work ability. If he's not up to par, I'll have to return him." He smiled at me and asked, "Are you capable?"
I laughed and said, "Don't be fooled by the fact that my report was written early; I used to be in charge of all the computers in the editorial department."
"Alright, then it's up to you."
As I closed the door, I watched the people bustling about in the office, took a deep breath, and said to myself, "It feels so good here."
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