Shine on Me

I work in the finance department, partly because I had interned at an accounting firm before and was relatively familiar with this field, and partly because my mother had started her career in this very position when she and my father launched their business. She excelled in finance and capital operations, while my father was skilled in production and marketing. Once a formidable duo, they had now drifted apart.

There isn’t much to say about the work in the finance department. The section chief assigned me to an experienced employee named Ou Qiqi, and my current task is to sit beside her, watching her handle accounts, familiarize myself with various processes and financial software, and study the reports they’ve prepared before.

What surprised me was that the company actually provided dormitories—two rather impressive high-rise buildings, probably because the land was cheap when they bought it. Of course, the accommodation fee was still deducted from our salaries. When I learned about my salary, as well as the salaries of most factory workers, I thought the deduction was quite steep. Occasionally, when I overheard colleagues complaining about it, I couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty…

The first floor of the employee dormitory was the cafeteria, so my daily routine became: walk from the dorm to work—walk back to eat—walk back to work—walk back to sleep.

Yin Jie complained, “I never thought working life would be worse than school. Back then, it was three points in a line, but now it’s just two. Sigh, at least the university was close to downtown. Here, you can’t even find a convenience store when you step out.”

Yin Jie was my new roommate, working in the company’s management department. Another roommate, Wan Yu Hua, was in the marketing department. Both were fresh graduates like me. The three of us shared a four-person room, with one bed left vacant…

Yin Jie had a sweet appearance and was a quick and straightforward girl from Shandong. Wan Yu Hua was the quiet type, originally from Chengdu, and—quite surprisingly—didn’t like spicy food…

Work was neither good nor bad, but the cafeteria food was absolutely detestable. After a few days of eating there, I realized I was wrong—I had unfairly maligned my school cafeteria…

It was definitely not the worst cafeteria in China.

The worst one was right here, waiting for us.

So, going out for good food became one of the main themes of our lives.

Not long after starting work, I called my mom to complain about the terrible cafeteria food and demanded that she make up for it during the National Day holiday by preparing a table full of delicious dishes.

Little did I know, I was being naive. Finance is truly one of the most miserable professions in the world. During major holidays, we’re always stuck with closing accounts while other departments can leave. The finance department can’t, because our closing period falls at the end of the month and the first two days of the new month.

So, I had to work overtime until the second before I could go home. According to national regulations, overtime during the National Day holiday comes with triple pay, but I shamelessly exchanged all my overtime pay for compensatory leave. I immediately took four days off, and the section chief reluctantly approved it. Overjoyed, I rushed back to my mom’s embrace—mainly for her delicious cooking—and stayed for a full nine days. When I returned to the company, I found I was already out of touch with the times.

When did the topic of conversation in the cafeteria shift from complaining about the food to collectively fawning over someone?

“First-hand news! I heard the new deputy general manager used to be a surgeon. He’s handsome, has great poise, and is super charming.”"Really? How did you know that?"

"Ah, don’t you know I have a classmate working in HR at Sheng Yuan’s headquarters in Shanghai? Last week, she called and said their Manager Lin was being transferred here. She was so heartbroken and jealous, hahaha. So I just dug around for some gossip."

"Huh? Why would he leave being a doctor to come here?"

"How should I know? Anyway, they said he used to be a surgeon, quite famous too, but for some reason, he quit and became a department manager at Sheng Yuan’s headquarters. Then suddenly, he was transferred here to take charge of our branch."

"Hey, do you think being transferred from headquarters to here counts as a promotion or a demotion?"

"That’s hard to say."

"Ah, none of that matters! The most important thing is—he’s handsome!"

The girls at our table were all fresh graduates, still clinging stubbornly to their student-era gossip habits. But unlike their carefree school days, they were more cautious when it came to discussing superiors, keeping their thoughts to themselves. Still, the implications were clear to everyone.

A department manager from headquarters becoming a vice president at a branch—it didn’t sound like a promotion.

I nibbled on the nearly flavorless fried fish fillet, ears perked up as I listened to their chatter. Unable to resist, I whispered to Yin Jie, "Have you already gone to check him out?"

Yin Jie smirked. "Vice President Lin is my direct supervisor, okay? Do I need to go ‘check him out’? I can just look whenever I want!" After basking in her triumph, she added, "Besides, he hasn’t even arrived yet. What’s there to check out?"

I was speechless. So after all that excitement, he hadn’t even shown up yet? Talk about getting ahead of themselves. But then again, the company’s leadership was entirely made up of middle-aged or elderly executives. Suddenly having a young, reportedly handsome high-ranking official…

Sigh.

Even I couldn’t help feeling a little anticipation.

Despite the eager anticipation, the handsome vice president was long overdue, so the hype eventually died down. Our daily routine remained work and the cafeteria. The company was located in a remote part of the industrial park, with nowhere nearby to even stroll around. The employee dormitories didn’t even have internet, making post-work hours a struggle.

Later, we learned from our seniors and started downloading licensed TV shows and novels during work breaks to watch back in the dorm.

It might sound a bit dull, but I found I quite liked this kind of life—peaceful and simple. The colleagues were nice, and I was genuinely learning things at work.

One evening after work, I was squatting in the dorm scrolling on my phone when Yin Jie dragged me and Yu Hua over to watch a drama starring her idol. I wasn’t much of a TV person—it always felt exhausting—but this show was surprisingly good, fast-paced and full of suspense. I was hooked.

But right at the most intense moment…

It stopped.

Yin Jie wailed, "Ah! How did I miss an episode? Am I an idiot?!"

"..." Yu Hua and I nodded in unison.

"Rock-paper-scissors! Whoever loses goes to the office to download it."

Yu Hua and I both protested. "It’s your idol’s drama. Why should we go download it?"

Yin Jie looked at us with heartbreak. "You’ve watched several episodes for free, and now you’re complaining about downloading one? Sisters, you can’t be like this!"...Alright, then let's play rock-paper-scissors...

And I lost...

I sneaked into the office with my hard drive. It wasn't the end of the month, so the finance department was relatively idle, with no one working overtime. I didn't turn on the lights either, quietly pulling out a chair and booting up the computer. I connected to the internet and started downloading a TV series.

According to the company's unwritten rules, the better computers were always given to senior employees first. Our batch of new hires got old computers that had been phased out from some branch office who-knows-how-long ago, so they often had minor glitches.

Sure enough, halfway through the download, the internet suddenly cut out—probably the ethernet cable had come loose again. I had to crawl under the desk to reconnect the cable at the back of the CPU.

Just as I reached under the desk and touched the cable, there was a sudden "click," and the lights blazed on.

The abrupt brightness startled me. Instinctively, I stayed crouched under the desk without moving. Then I heard steady, unhurried footsteps approaching, until a pair of sharply pressed suit pants entered my line of sight.

Feeling guilty like a thief, I looked up and found myself staring straight into a pair of deep, inscrutable eyes.

Maybe because I was looking up at him from under the desk, his gaze felt particularly oppressive. He stared at me for a while without saying a word.

We just silently locked eyes like that.

How long was he going to keep staring at me...?

At that thought, I suddenly realized I was still crouched under the desk and hurriedly scrambled out. Clearing my throat, I defensively questioned him first: "I don't think I've seen you before. You're not an employee here, are you? What are you doing here?"

Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like his expression and eyes darkened instantly after I said that.

"Haven't seen me..." He stared at me as if enunciating each word, "Of course you haven't seen me."

With that, he averted his gaze and turned to leave without warning...

I gaped at his retreating, ramrod-straight figure until the computer's "ding" snapped me out of it, notifying me that the download was complete.