It wаs а vidеo Trасу shоwеd Luan Nian.
Thе vidеo cirсulating amоng НR сirсlеs оf an emрloyee unable tо bеar thе prеssurе аnd jumрing to thеir dеаth, with thе lаst girl in the vidеo crying hеr hеart оut.
Seeing Shang Zhi Тao's аnguished weерing, Luаn Niаn fеlt аn inеxpliсаble sаdnеss wеll up insidе him. Hе hаnded the рhоne bаck to Trаcy, lowеrеd his hеad, аnd asked her, "Тhе nаme оf thе dесеаsed?"
"Оut оf resрeсt for the dеcеаsеd, his namе wаsn't disсlоsed. It's said his surnamе is Sun."
Luan Nian looked uр at Traсy, then glаncеd аt Shang Zhi Тao's empty workstation.
"Josh granted her leave," Tracy said to Luan Nian. "In such special circumstances, it's not appropriate for us to force employees to come to work. After all, she's broken down."
"Alright."
Luan Nian kept calling Shang Zhi Tao's phone, but no one answered. He stood up and left. He had been to Shang Zhi Tao's home before, a cozy little place. He pressed the doorbell for over ten minutes before he heard slow footsteps approaching. The door opened, and he saw a lifeless Sun Yu.
"Is something wrong?" Sun Yu asked him.
"Where's Shang Zhi Tao?" Luan Nian asked her. Sun Yu stepped aside to let him in, then returned to the bedroom. Luan Nian's heart ached. He walked to the door, pushed it open, and saw Shang Zhi Tao leaning against the bed, reading a book.
She looked up at him, her gaze distant, as if looking at someone she wasn't very familiar with. Luan Nian sat by her bedside. After a long while, he reached for her hand, pressing his palm against the back of hers, and said to her, "My condolences."
Shang Zhi Tao withdrew her hand without saying a word. Luan Nian stayed with her like that. The window in her room was closed, and the curtains were drawn, making it feel suffocating. It seemed she hadn't slept for a couple of days, with faint dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't showered either, and there was even a musty smell in the room.
"Do you want to go out for a walk?" Luan Nian asked her.
"Do you feel happy?" Shang Zhi Tao suddenly asked him this.
"What?"
"The Sun Yuanzhu you hated the most is dead. Do you feel even a little bit happy?" Shang Zhi Tao put down her book and looked at Luan Nian. "Sun Yuanzhu, whom you slandered multiple times, is dead. Are you happy?"
"No, you probably wouldn't be happy. Because he has nothing to do with you. You always stay aloof from things that don't concern you. Selfish and self-serving."
"You think I'm that kind of person?" he asked her.
"Aren't you?" Shang Zhi Tao retorted. She didn't really care about the answer; she just felt so stifled inside that she desperately needed to vent. She thought Luan Nian was the perfect target for venting—no matter what you said, he would at most get angry, maybe call you an idiot, but he never took it to heart because he simply didn't care. People like him, who care about nothing, are truly fortunate. Because they don't care, they never suffer themselves; they only make others suffer.
Surprisingly, Luan Nian didn't get angry this time.
He walked to the window and pulled open the curtains. Sunlight streamed through the window and fell on Shang Zhi Tao's face. Her eyes stung from the brightness, and she turned away.
"Close them," she said to Luan Nian.
As if he hadn't heard, Luan Nian turned and went out to the bathroom to look for a towel. In their bathroom, a towel rack was nailed to the wall, with three clean towels hanging at moderate intervals. On the wooden rack, names were written in colored markers. Luan Nian picked up the towel under "Tao Tao," turned on the faucet to wet it, wrung it out, and walked back to the bedroom.Shang Zhi Tao's book lay beside her hand as she gazed out the window, lost in thought. Luan Nian walked up to her, but the moment he reached out, she slapped his hand away. "Go away! Don't touch me!"
Luan Nian said nothing. He pressed her down onto the bed, ignoring her fierce struggles, and gently wiped her face with a towel. Traces of dried tears from the night before still lingered on her cheeks, and Luan Nian's heart ached again.
Shang Zhi Tao's eyes suddenly grew hot. She clenched her teeth, holding back her tears, and turned her head away, refusing to look at Luan Nian. She didn't want to see him, especially in such a wretched state. All she wished for was for him to leave quickly, so she could quietly read her book.
But Luan Nian never did as she wished.
He pulled a chair over to her bedside, sat down, took out his phone, and started playing with it, not even glancing at Shang Zhi Tao.
Neither of them spoke, and the air grew still.
Shang Zhi Tao sat up again and picked up her book. She handled it with such care, not daring to fold a single page, turning them gently. Sun Yuanzhu's entire collection of books had been left to her.
Shang Zhi Tao thought, I need to buy a bigger house so I can have a wall of bookshelves to hold all these books.
The two of them sat facing each other until evening, with Luan Nian not uttering a single word. As the sky darkened further, he walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and found there was hardly any food left. Taking Shang Zhi Tao's keys, he went out, drove home to fetch osmanthus flowers, syrup, and milk, then headed to the market to buy groceries.
When he returned to Shang Zhi Tao's home and opened the door, the room was pitch dark. Luan Nian made her favorite osmanthus milk and brought it to her. "Drink."
"I don't want to drink it, and I don't want to eat either. I'm not hungry," Shang Zhi Tao turned her face away.
Luan Nian placed the cup on her bedside table and walked out.
The clattering sounds from the kitchen drifted in, along with the faint fragrance of osmanthus. Her nose tingled, and tears began to flow again.
Outside, the sizzle of hot oil and the sound of stir-frying filled the air, and the sweet aroma of rice wafted in. Breathing in the scent, Shang Zhi Tao suddenly felt a little drowsy and leaned against the headboard, dozing off for a while.
When she opened her eyes, Luan Nian was already gone. The table was set with food, and Sun Yu sat beside it, quietly eating.
Shang Zhi Tao joined her but only took a few bites before losing her appetite.
Luan Nian came for six days in a row, but he never spoke. Shang Zhi Tao didn't understand why he kept coming when he clearly cared about nothing. It was only on the night Sun Yu finally broke down in tears that the two of them seemed to feel alive again.
The next day, they washed up and went to work as usual, as if nothing had ever happened.
When Shang Zhi Tao arrived at the company, her colleagues cast sympathetic yet peculiar glances her way. Lumi walked beside her and suddenly cursed, "What the hell are you looking at!"
Shang Zhi Tao grabbed her hand, stopping her from cursing. She had already lost one very important friend, and she hoped the few friends she had left would never be troubled or angry.
Shang Zhi Tao accompanied Lumi to buy coffee and saw Luan Nian standing at the counter. She waited outside without going in. Luan Nian turned around and saw Lumi, then unexpectedly asked her, "Did you sleep with Will?"
"Huh?" Lumi was stunned, unsure why he would ask such a thing.
"Good, I know you did. Since you finally managed to sleep with him, make good use of it." Luan Nian took his coffee and left.As he passed by, Shang Zhi Tao turned away without greeting him. She didn't know when this pain would fade. Sometimes she deliberately ignored the sudden waves of sadness, forcing herself to appear cheerful. Only she knew how deeply she missed her friend—how terribly, terribly much.
She still went to Luan Nian’s place on weekends, but they no longer slept together. Shang Zhi Tao had lost interest in intimacy; she simply enjoyed spending time with Luke. At Luan Nian’s home, she barely spoke to him either, limiting herself to brief requests like, "Could you please pass me that… Thank you…"
The intense emotions she once felt for Luan Nian had gradually faded, and she could even trace the process of their disappearance. This had nothing to do with Sun Yuanzhu’s passing—it truly began the day he flew to the northwest to find her and they had that argument.
She wanted to take Luke away, but Sun Yu was now extremely sensitive to noise. If Luke suddenly barked, it would frighten her. She said to Luke, "Can you stay here a little longer? Once Sister Sun Yu feels better, I’ll come take you away."
After a long period of preparation, she finally faced her performance review.
The day of the review arrived in early winter.
She wore a sharp, professional outfit and had put on makeup. That afternoon, the wind was strong, and sitting in the conference room, they could hear the rustling of branches outside. Across from Shang Zhi Tao sat seven reviewers—strangely, this year’s panel was exceptionally formidable.
Tracy smiled at her. "Flora, you may begin."
Shang Zhi Tao recounted her past six years—the solutions she had devised for each challenge, the experience accumulated from project after project, and finally, the highly impactful project she had led. Her presentation was even somewhat moving. After she finished, Tracy suddenly said, "I still remember what you said during our first phone call."
"I also remember how you looked when we first met. Six years have passed—time really flies. Before the other reviewers ask their questions, I’d like to thank you on behalf of the company for your hard work over these six years. Thank you, Flora." Tracy stood up and hugged her.
Luan Nian recalled the first time he saw Shang Zhi Tao—not in Alex’s office, but that morning when he pushed open the back door of the café and walked out. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl sitting on the sofa in the lobby, her posture upright and proper. Even in 2010, there were still people who sat like that—with such humility.
Six years had passed, but the humility in Shang Zhi Tao had not faded with her growing competence; it remained ever-present. She possessed an endless thirst for knowledge, often asking probing questions in various meetings until she fully understood. She was willing to learn from anyone, even unashamed to ask questions of interns. This was truly rare.
Time changes people, sculpts them, yet it could not alter Shang Zhi Tao’s core. How resilient she was.
Will asked about the projects she had worked on in the marketing department, showing great interest. Shang Zhi Tao’s work was solid, her thinking rigorous, and even more remarkable, she dared to imagine and break conventions. She even offered suggestions for the current budgeting process.
Throughout this, Luan Nian did not ask any questions. Only after all the others had finished did he speak: "If given another chance, would you still choose to go to the northwest?"
"Yes. I don’t regret my choices," Shang Zhi Tao replied.Luan Nian nodded. "Let's proceed with the scoring."
Lingmei's promotion mechanism was highly rigorous. The reviewers had outlined different scoring parameters based on job levels and position models. They would anonymously score each parameter, ultimately calculating a composite score from the seven individuals.
Shang Zhi Tao watched them assign scores. Reviewers were reviewers—you couldn't discern their thoughts at all, as their expressions remained unreadable. Once the scoring was completed, the results were uploaded to the system.
Tracy said to her, "The scoring results will be announced later today. Thank you for your hard work."
Shang Zhi Tao nodded. "Thank you to all the reviewers for your efforts."
She walked out of the meeting room and saw Lumi raising an eyebrow at her. She approached and asked, "What's up?"
Lumi pointed to her phone. "Shang Zhi Tao, Will said you were outstanding. He gave you the highest composite score." After sending that message, Lumi added another: "Will said it has nothing to do with whether you're my good friend. It's purely because you're genuinely impressive."
Shang Zhi Tao looked at Lumi, the person who had accompanied her in the workplace for six years. It seemed she no longer cared as much about winning or losing. She suddenly realized that the people before her, those around her, were what mattered most.
But Lumi disagreed. Lumi said to her, "If someone has to win, why can't it be you?"
"If it's not you, I won't accept it."
The bosses in the meeting room gradually filed out. Shang Zhi Tao noticed Luan Nian giving her a deep look before walking back into the meeting room.
Shang Zhi Tao recalled how upset she had been when he hadn't informed her in advance about Song Ying participating in the promotion competition. Yet today, she didn't feel as strongly about wanting him to disclose the results ahead of time.
She watched as Luan Nian sat at his desk, frowning. After a while, he picked up the phone. Shortly after, Tracy entered Luan Nian's office and sat across from him. They seemed to be discussing something serious, their expressions grave.
Shang Zhi Tao sat at her workstation, waiting for the outcome. She didn't know how the results would be communicated to her—only those who had participated would know. Strangely, no one seemed willing to discuss it openly.
Time passed so quickly.
Six years had gone by.
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