The Early Spring

Тhе nехt night, shе didn't dare sleер inside the rоom, nor did shе wаnt tо disturb оthеrs, sо she simplу went outside to look аt thе stars.

Тhe stаrs оn thе mоuntain wеrе trulу bеаutiful, a whоle exраnse оf brilliant night sky. Shang Zhi Тao rеmemberеd whеn shе wаs dаting Хin Zhаozhou, thеу had trеkkеd tо the сountrуsidе togethеr tо seе the stars. Bаck then, neithеr оf thеm had muсh money—thеу tоok busеs, trаnsfеrrеd аgаin and аgаin, staуed in thе shabbiest guеsthousеs, whiсh sеemеd еvеn wоrse than the оne they were stаying in now.

But Shаng Zhi Taо had bееn pеrfectly content back then.

She remembered Xin Zhaozhou tucking her feet into his embrace, saying with a hint of heartache, "No one else has to suffer like this when they're in a relationship."

"But no one else gets to see such beautiful stars either," Shang Zhi Tao had said foolishly. She didn't know that many people in relationships neither suffered hardships nor missed out on such beautiful stars.

She sat for a while until she felt cold, then ran back inside, boiled a pot of water, soaked her feet, and felt completely refreshed. She cheered herself on in her heart: There are mouse traps by the bed, rat poison in every corner—today will definitely be fine. Wrapped in her blanket, she prepared to sleep. Just as she closed her eyes, her phone rang. It was alex, and she hurriedly answered.

"Hi, alex."

"Flora, we're still in a management meeting. The other bosses just asked about the progress of the shoot. I'm putting you on speaker now—please update everyone."

The report came unexpectedly. It was late at night, and the bosses were actually holding a management meeting. Shang Zhi Tao was completely unprepared. She sat up abruptly and said, "Okay."

"I'm putting you on speaker now. The attendees are luke, tracy, jason, and zack. Are you okay with that?"

"Sure." Shang Zhi Tao quickly organized her thoughts and began her report as soon as alex gave the go-ahead: "Hello, everyone. We've shot three simple scenes so far, with additional expenses of twenty-one hundred yuan. No major issues have arisen for now."

"Good, good. Stay safe, bye." alex knew Shang Zhi Tao well—her reports were brief, but her work was always solid. He didn’t want to give her a hard time.

Luan Nian frowned.

What kind of report was that?

After the meeting ended, he picked up his phone and messaged Shang Zhi Tao: "What exactly did you just report?"

"The progress..."

"Are you sure?"

"I..."

Luan Nian felt a surge of anger. He thought Shang Zhi Tao really didn’t understand the situation—such an important occasion, and she just gave a few casual sentences? He called her directly: "Report again, properly this time." His tone was icy.

His words frightened Shang Zhi Tao out of her wits. She cleared her throat and said, "I covered the key points earlier."

"Making excuses?"

"No, no." Shang Zhi Tao hurriedly waved her hands, forgetting that Luan Nian couldn’t see her.

"Report again," Luan Nian repeated.

"We shot..."

"Wrong. Who is 'we'? How many scenes have you shot over the past two days? What are they? How far along is the progress bar? How much has been spent? Where was it spent? What’s the estimated total cost? What’s the expected outcome?" Luan Nian fired off question after question like a machine gun. Even his inauguration speech had been just a few sentences, but today he had spoken so much, all at once.

Luan Nian truly couldn’t stand having fools in his team. Shang Zhi Tao was an employee of Lingmei, and he was the head of Lingmei, so Shang Zhi Tao was part of his team.

Shang Zhi Tao reorganized her thoughts according to Luan Nian’s questions and timidly asked, "Should I report again?"

"Go ahead."Based on Luan Nian's questions, Shang Zhi Tao revised her response: "A total of seventeen people from the crew, creative, and marketing departments are involved in this shooting project. So far, three scenes have been filmed: 'Morning Mist,' 'Mountain Trail,' and 'Moonlit Heart.' The entire advertisement consists of sixteen scenes, with the remaining parts planned to be completed within ten days. As of today, miscellaneous expenses have totaled two thousand one hundred yuan from the marketing budget. I haven’t estimated the subsequent costs yet, but they will not exceed the budget."

"Hmm." Luan Nian grunted. "What role do you play in this?"

"I... manage the budget and... handle miscellaneous tasks..." Shang Zhi Tao's voice grew softer. Sure enough, Luan Nian interrupted her upon hearing the words "miscellaneous tasks": "Is your value just handling miscellaneous tasks? Can’t I hire someone to do that anywhere? If you’re still stuck doing miscellaneous work, you might as well come back now. Don’t waste the company’s travel expenses, and don’t waste your time here."

He hung up and tossed the phone aside.

He had been so busy all day that he hadn’t even eaten, and by evening, Shang Zhi Tao had managed to infuriate him. What was wrong with her? Miscellaneous tasks? Did she really think her value lay in handling miscellaneous tasks?

After being scolded by Luan Nian, Shang Zhi Tao was wide awake.

She wasn’t particularly discouraged—after all, Luan Nian often scolded her, so it was nothing new. But he was right; she really lacked experience in reporting. She thought she had covered the key points, but to others, it might have seemed like she was just brushing things off.

She turned on her computer, opened a document, and began summarizing reporting methods. What were reporting methods? Probably the key questions Luan Nian had asked. She recalled his tone—this guy had such a terrible temper. Even though he was teaching her, he couldn’t speak nicely.

Shang Zhi Tao snorted. Luan Nian was such a strange person.

She spent half an hour writing a document on reporting methods and sent it to Luan Nian’s email. Then, she messaged him: "I just benefited greatly from luke’s guidance and have compiled a summary of reporting methods, which I’ve sent to your email. Could you please take a look at it?"

As soon as she sent the message, she received a reply from Luan Nian: "What time is it?"

Shang Zhi Tao checked the time and replied, "It’s one in the morning." Clearly, she didn’t grasp the meaning behind Luan Nian’s "What time is it?" He was saying: What time is it? You’re not sleeping, and others aren’t either? Are you out of your mind?

Seeing Shang Zhi Tao’s reply, Luan Nian narrowed his eyes. She really couldn’t read the room. It was impossible to stay angry with someone like her. You could be fuming to death, and she might just squat beside your corpse with a puzzled look, asking, "How did you die?"... That was the kind of clueless person she was.

Luan Nian sat by the bed, his hair still damp, and opened his email to see the reporting summary Shang Zhi Tao had compiled. It was detailed, albeit a bit wordy, but showed significant improvement.

He called Shang Zhi Tao again: "Are you still up?"

"You’re not asleep yet?" Shang Zhi Tao asked him.

Luan Nian suddenly felt the urge to strangle Shang Zhi Tao. He paused for two seconds to calm himself down, then said, "I’ll explain, and you revise."

"Okay, thank you, luke."

"When giving work reports in the future, first think about what others care about. Then focus on the project itself." Luan Nian explained carefully, and Shang Zhi Tao listened attentively. This late-night tutoring session came so suddenly that Shang Zhi Tao felt as if she were back in school, being kept after class for one-on-one guidance. She couldn’t tell whether the teacher was afraid she’d drag the class down or simply wanted to help her.

"Did you write that down?""Noted. Thank you."

"Since you've noted it, take the initiative to request a project debriefing session with Alex. Give a detailed report on the progress of the project you've been following up on once you return."

... "Alright."

"Unwilling?"

"No, no, I just think it feels a bit abrupt."

"If you find upward management abrupt, then be prepared to never move upward." Luan Nian was stating a workplace reality—those who don’t engage in upward management rarely advance far in their careers.

"Alright, I’ll schedule time with Alex tomorrow."

The two suddenly fell silent, and Shang Zhi Tao felt awkward. She racked her brain for something to say, but Luan Nian hung up the phone without even saying goodbye.

Luan Nian had already spoken too much today; he couldn’t be bothered to say another word. After hanging up, he dried his hair and lay back in bed.

His phone rang again. He picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number. Answering, he heard a muffled sob on the other end: "Luan Nian, do you believe I’ll die just to prove a point to you?"

Luan Nian hung up. The phone rang again: "Do you think I don’t dare?"

"Don’t threaten me with death. You know it won’t work." Hearing the crying on the other end, Luan Nian, unusually, didn’t hang up. He waited for her sobs to subside slightly before saying, "We agreed to part amicably when we broke up. There’s no need for you to make such a scene." Luan Nian hung up.

The next day, he opened his eyes to dozens of missed calls on his phone.

Zhang Xin had gone mad.

Then he saw several messages in his inbox:

"Luan Nian? I’m Zhang Xin’s friend. She slit her wrists."

"Can you come to the hospital? She’s in emergency care."

"Are you even human? Is this how you treat your ex-girlfriend?"

Luan Nian called back. The person who answered immediately began cursing him: "If you’re tired of living, just say the word—we’ll take care of you!" Luan Nian frowned, listening to the venting, then asked, "Which hospital?"

The person on the other end paused, then quickly gave the hospital address.

After washing up, Luan Nian grabbed his car keys and left. Stuck in traffic for a while, he arrived at the emergency center by nine. He found the ward and saw Zhang Xin leaning against the headboard while a girl fed her fruit.

When Zhang Xin saw Luan Nian, she pushed away the fruit offered to her, tears falling once again.

Luan Nian thought to himself, impressive—rushed to emergency care late last night, yet able to eat fruit this morning, with emotions perfectly controlled. Truly worthy of Zhang Xin.

He walked to Zhang Xin’s bedside and said to her friend, "You cursed at me over the phone this morning?"

The girl was taken aback, then retorted, "So what if I cursed at you? I’ll even have someone take you out!"

Luan Nian took out his phone and pressed stop recording in front of her. "Alright, I’ve recorded the evidence. I’ll send it to my lawyer later."

The girl was stubborn too. She sprang to her feet, her hand swinging toward Luan Nian’s face. Luan Nian reacted quickly, stepping back and catching her wrist mid-swing. "Don’t make a scene. It’ll only end in embarrassment."

Luan Nian despised people who threw tantrums—men or women, it didn’t matter. Such behavior in front of him always displeased him. If there was a point to make, make it. If not, stay quiet. He released the woman’s hand and cast a cold glance at Zhang Xin. "Is this amusing?""You don't feel the slightest bit of heartache, do you?" Zhang Xin looked at Luan Nian, thinking this man's heart truly could never be warmed. In a relationship, he would buy you bags, go on dates with you on weekends, and occasionally call once or twice during the week—but that was all. He always kept his distance, even during intimacy; she never felt how much he loved her.

"If I remember correctly, we broke up almost half a year ago. How long do you expect my after-sales service to last? Three years? Five years? Ten?" Luan Nian knew exactly how the emergency center staff saw him at that moment—in their eyes, he was a complete scumbag.

He didn’t care about others’ opinions, nor did he want to waste any more words on Zhang Xin.

"If you plan to attempt suicide again, don’t call me. Your life is your own—if you don’t want it anymore, there’s no need to notify me."

"Also, don’t forget—you were the one who initiated the breakup."

Zhang Xin remained silent, consumed entirely by hatred for Luan Nian.