On her first day at Aoxing, Cen Jin deliberately curled the ends of her hair, hoping to appear more seasoned.
Her new colleagues, however, seemed largely indifferent to such details. After a brief introduction to the team, she had barely warmed her seat before being summoned to a conference room.
Aoxing was located in a skyscraper within Yishi’s CBD, less than eight hundred meters from her former employer.
As a rising star in the advertising industry, Aoxing exuded a noticeably younger and more vibrant energy. The entire office was decorated in red and white, matching the company logo, creating a bold and lively atmosphere.
Despite being new, Cen Jin was immediately entrusted with a significant responsibility:
Their agency had secured the entire domestic social media campaign for a multinational fast-food chain’s Christmas promotion.
This was a high-budget project backed by a deep-pocketed client, notorious in the industry for both its arrogance and exacting standards. Aoxing took it seriously, assembling a team of no fewer than ten people.
Cen Jin arrived early and quietly took a seat. Soon, the stark white conference table was surrounded by a bustling crowd, most carrying their own laptops.
Though the faces around her were young, few radiated vitality—a clear sign of relentless overtime and sleepless nights.
Before diving into the agenda, the creative director leading the proposal stood up to specially introduce the only unfamiliar face in the room: “Cen Jin, our new copywriter.”
He was from Hong Kong, with a buzz cut and a plain black T-shirt that highlighted his muscular arms. Animated in speech, his Cantonese accent was distinct: “As everyone knows, at Aoxing, we hire based on looks first—and Miss Cen is a perfect example.”
The room erupted in laughter, all eyes turning toward Cen Jin. She lowered her gaze briefly, offering only a faint smile in response.
The man then shifted his tone: “But Cen Jin worked on the Mid-Autumn Festival marketing campaign for McDonald’s last year. Her experience might surpass everyone here.”
Caught off guard by the effusive praise, Cen Jin felt a wave of embarrassment. She waved a hand dismissively, as if unworthy: “I was just coasting along. Please don’t set your expectations too high.”
“Perfect,” the director raised an eyebrow, breaking into a broad, conspiratorial grin. “Then you’d better not set your expectations too high for us, either.”
Laughter filled the room again, the atmosphere warm and congenial.
Once the brief welcome concluded, the man’s expression turned serious as he leaned forward to control the mouse.
A short, stylish PPT animation flashed onto the screen, and his tone shifted from playful to polished and steady: “The final execution of some video content may differ slightly from what we pitched earlier…”
—
Back at her desk, Cen Jin logged into WeChat on her computer and specifically searched for the new CD’s ID in the member list.
All she found was a strikingly incongruous English name: Teddy.
She raised an eyebrow in surprise and changed her group display name to: Aoxing-Gin.
Her attention to the department head wasn’t driven by any romantic interest, but rather by the stark contrast in his demeanor compared to Wu Fu. Wu Fu was the epitome of a gentleman—even his most imaginative ideas were tempered with caution. Teddy, however, possessed a wild, antelope-like pride and unrestrained energy.
Noticing her screen lingering on Teddy’s profile, the woman at the next desk leaned over and warned, “Don’t get interested in him. He’s the kind of man no woman can ever have.”Cen Jin understood immediately and turned it off, smiling as she replied, "No, I just wanted to get to know my new supervisor."
"I thought so. You've been in this industry for so long—how could you lack that kind of awareness?" The girl slid her chair back to sip her coffee. "Want to exchange WeChat? I'm Lù Qíqí."
Cen Jin accepted her friend request. Her display name was Lucky.
The girl glanced at her phone and suddenly froze. She looked over and asked in a low voice, "Did you just get divorced?"
Cen Jin nodded.
Lù Qíqí gave a thumbs-up. "And you even posted about it on Moments? Bold." She smoothed her side-swept bangs and asked curiously, "What happened?"
"Enough gossip. Did you submit the design?" A brand-new employee ID was placed on Cen Jin’s desk, accompanied by a compliment: "The photo looks nice."
With that, the person left like a gust of wind, leaving Lù Qíqí no time to retort.
Cen Jin recognized that distinctive baritone voice—it belonged to Zhāng Jué, the HR manager at Aoxing. She had met him briefly during her interview.
He was a curly-haired guy with glasses, his eyes always carrying a sleepy lethargy. He didn’t seem like someone from HR; he looked more like a key member of the technical department.
Just as Cen Jin was about to put away her new ID, Lù Qíqí snatched it from her, held it up, examined it for a moment, and then peeked over her monitor with one eye. "It really is nice. Which studio took this photo?"
"The one on the third floor of Jingyuan Mall."
"Oh, thanks..." Lù Qíqí replied, handing the ID back to her.
For some reason, Cen Jin didn’t mind Lù Qíqí’s instant familiarity. There was a certain vibe about her that felt quite compatible.
For now, she decided to call it the "Chun Chang" vibe.
Putting aside the small talk, Cen Jin returned to her workstation. Just then, someone tagged her in the group chat—her "zero-sheep" supervisor:
Aoxing-teddy: @Aoxing-Lì Fēi, brief her on the video direction @Aoxing-Gin
Cen Jin replied with a "1" to indicate she was listening.
Teddy: Hahahaha, we got a "1."
Everyone laughed, including Cen Jin.
In the end, it was Lì Fēi who brought order to the chaos, replying to Cen Jin: "Their classic Wing Bucket—we want to create a short pixel-art animation video similar to Super Mario, but with a Christmas theme. Can you refine it? We need a storyline that highlights the product and ends with a slogan."
Cen Jin replied: "I have some ideas."
Lì Fēi: "Start drafting it and send it to me later."
Cen Jin asked: "When do you need it?"
Lì Fēi: "As soon as possible."
Cen Jin: "Tonight."
Lì Fēi: "Ok."
...
Returning to this kind of work rhythm felt slightly unfamiliar to Cen Jin. After all, transitioning from leisure to busyness was never easy.
By the end of the workday, her shoulders were sore, and she couldn’t help but stretch her arms and let out a yawn.
Lù Qíqí, sucking on a lollipop, glanced over and asked, "Tired?"
Cen Jin leaned over to look at her screen. The girl was adjusting the size of a QR code on a poster. Cen Jin asked, "Is this the new Christmas combo?"
Lù Qíqí quipped sarcastically, "Yeah, looks nothing like what I usually eat."
Cen Jin asked, "When are you getting off work?"
"Probably soon," Lù Qíqí picked up her phone to check and twitched her lips. "Just three more hours."
Cen Jin smiled faintly and turned back to pack her bag.
Lù Qíqí pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, astonished. "You’re leaving already?"
Cen Jin blinked. "I’m done for the day."
"You finished the draft?" Lù Qíqí’s eyes widened.
"Yeah, Lì Fēi seemed okay with it. He’s taking it to the animation director now.""Holy shit, is this what people from 4A agencies are like?" Lù Qíqí exclaimed, dramatically dropping her head onto the keyboard.
Cen Jin smiled without responding, slung her bag over her shoulder, and left.
As she passed the director's office, someone suddenly called out loudly: "Cen Jin! Gin! Miss Cen!"
Cen Jin turned to see Teddy waving at her from behind the glass wall of his private office.
She circled around to his office, paused by the door, and only entered quickly after receiving a nod from inside.
Teddy gestured for her to sit on the sofa, so Cen Jin settled into a single seat.
The man brought her a bottle of purified water and sat down as well: "Heading back already?"
Cen Jin: "Mhm."
His teeth were dazzlingly white, his smile brimming with warmth and kindness: "How was your first day here?"
Cen Jin answered truthfully: "Not bad."
Teddy said: "We're quite busy these couple days. Let's get together over the weekend - we'll all have a welcome dinner."
Cen Jin smiled gently: "Sure. You don't mind if I pick up the tab, do you?"
"NO! I disagree, I mind very much," Teddy's light brown eyes always seemed to hold deep affection: "Please let me have this opportunity."
Cen Jin curved her lips: "No problem."
―
That same evening, Li Wu was still bent over his desk in the classroom, working on problems.
After the afternoon class meeting, he no longer sat alone against the back wall. Instead, he had moved five rows forward and gained the English class representative as his deskmate.
As fate would have it, this class representative happened to be Táo Wǎnwén - the very girl his roommate Cheng Rui constantly pined for.
After changing seats, the girl had greeted him with a sweet smile, and out of politeness, he had responded.
But when they went to dinner together before evening self-study, Cheng Rui had been seething with murderous intent, his eyes looking ready to devour someone.
Li Wu felt a headache coming on and didn't dare exchange another word with Táo Wǎnwén. During second period, the math teacher entered carrying a stack of test papers, announcing an impromptu quiz.
At that moment, the entire Class 10 could only be described as a scene of widespread lamentation.
The teacher turned a deaf ear, cheerfully distributing the test papers while everyone could only secretly weep blood as they wrote their names and braced themselves to answer.
The classroom fell silent.
Until―the teacher stepped out to take a phone call and didn't return for a long time.
Only then did whispers begin to rise throughout the class, like restless dough in the early stages of fermentation.
The scratching of pen tips filled the air. Li Wu frowned slightly, still concentrating fully on his calculations in the scratch paper, when suddenly his elbow was gently nudged.
Li Wu glanced sideways to see his new deskmate carefully pushing a folded note toward him with the back of her hand.
His brow furrowed deeper. He looked at Táo Wǎnwén - the girl had her hair in a ponytail, with strands of bangs naturally framing her face, hiding her expression from view.
Perplexed, Li Wu could only take the note into his palm and unfold it.
There were only a few words:
"What's your WeChat ID
By Táo Wǎnwén"
Li Wu paused slightly, refolded the note exactly as it had been, placed it back in his desk, and then... nothing more followed.
...
When the class-ending bell rang, the teacher returned to collect the papers. Some boys who hadn't finished yet loudly begged for mercy, but the middle-aged man behind the podium shattered all their hopeful pleas with a smile: "Just hand in whatever you've completed!"
Li Wu packed his backpack but remained motionless in his seat.
Táo Wǎnwén's seat was closer to the aisle. She methodically packed her bag and left with a familiar classmate.
Only then did Li Wu rise as if granted amnesty, also heading toward the classroom door.
Cheng Rui, who had been waiting by the door for some time, immediately hooked an arm around Li Wu's neck and jumped up to vigorously ruffle the hair on the back of his head.
Li Wu ducked his neck and pushed his hand away: "What are you doing?"Cheng Rui beamed with a radiant smile: "Congratulations, you passed the test of character!"
"?" His words made no sense.
Cheng Rui clicked his tongue: "The note."
Li Wu asked, "What note?"
"The one I wrote."
Only then did Li Wu understand, finding it absurd: "So it was you who wrote it?"
"Of course, otherwise how could it be a test? I had Táo Wǎnwén pass it to you—she thought I was trying to cheat with you. Haha, 'don't covet a friend's partner.' From now on, you, Li Wu, are my lifelong brother," Cheng Rui, with a face thicker than bedrock, slung an arm around his shoulder without a hint of guilt: "Come on, brothers for life."
Li Wu had nothing to say. He shrugged off Cheng Rui's arm and walked ahead in silence, finally spitting out two icy words: "You're insane."
"Holy crap," Cheng Rui exclaimed, hearing him swear for the first time: "Was that some prehistoric miracle? Should've recorded it."
Li Wu stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept walking briskly.
Cheng Rui chased after him relentlessly: "Why are you so mad? Is it because it wasn't written by Táo Wǎnwén herself? Huh?"
Li Wu stopped short and denied it: "No." Then he continued downstairs.
"Then why won't you wait for me? We're not rivals in love," Cheng Rui jogged to catch up.
Li Wu still didn't look back.
Cheng Rui started whining, pulling a long face to beg for forgiveness: "I was wrong, I admit it! I won't do it again, okay? I have my Táo Wǎnwén, you have your online crush! We won't interfere with each other, deal?"
Those words acted like a highly effective spell. The boy abruptly slowed his pace, the chill around him instantly receding.
Seizing the opportunity, Cheng Rui hooked his arm and refused to let go, laughing and joking as they headed back to the dormitory together.
After washing up, Li Wu studied his chemistry notes for a while before setting them aside. He took his phone from the drawer and opened WeChat.
His first move was still to check Cen Jin's Moments.
The woman's status remained unchanged, still displaying that photo of the divorce certificate that had once excited him so much he couldn't sleep all night.
Li Wu opened it again, never tiring of the sight, a smile instantly spreading across his face.
He knew she had just changed jobs and wanted to check in on her, but didn't know how to bring it up.
After an intense internal struggle, the rational army in his mind finally surrendered. The young man pressed the keyboard and began typing.
—
At the same time, Cen Jin sat on her bed with her laptop open, carefully reviewing past client cases sent by Teddy for reference.
It had to be said, Teddy was indeed a very responsible and considerate superior.
Suddenly, her phone chimed with a WeChat notification.
She picked it up and was somewhat surprised.
Li Wu: How was your day? Settling in okay?
Cen Jin tilted her head in confusion.
Why did that line sound familiar?
She immediately switched to her messages to verify her suspicion and, sure enough, found that on the boy's first day of transferring schools, she had sent him the exact same message.
Cen Jin took a screenshot and sent it over.
And asked: Copying me?
Li Wu: ...
He immediately pleaded guilty: Yeah.
Then explained: Didn't know how else to ask properly.
Cen Jin was amused by his sincerity and typed back four words: Very well, thank you.
The boy didn't reply for a long time, perhaps having fallen asleep instantly—after all, he was always diligent, burning the midnight oil every day.
Just as she was about to put her phone down, another message came through: Have you met any new colleagues?
Cen Jin scoffed coldly, incredulous. She pressed her lips together and typed rapidly in response: Getting addicted to copying, are you? Go to sleep.After a moment of silence from the other side, came an obedient, muffled reply:
Li Wu: Oh.
Li Wu: Good night.
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