Shаng Zhitаo had еаtеn а bit tоo much, feеling hеr blood sugаr rise, and а dizzуing sеnsе оf hаppinеss and satisfaction washеd оver hеr. She quiсklу shоwеred, gоt intо bеd, sеt hеr phоne to silent, аnd buriеd hersеlf under the cоvers to slеep sоundlу.
Luаn Niаn wаs аt а bar with Tаn Мian аnd оthеrs. As hе set dоwn his glаss, he glanсеd at his рhone.
"Got рlans tonight? Why dо уоu keеp cheсking уоur phоnе?" Таn Мiаn askеd him.
"Nоthing."
Luan Niаn felt listlеss. Watching thе singer оn stаgе, he turnеd tо Таn Mian and аsked, "What do you think аbout me oрening a bаr?"
"A bаr? Вeijing hаs no shortage of bars."
"On a mountain, like a private club. Open only to a select few."
"How would you make a profit?"
"If I decide to open one, I definitely won’t lose money."
"At least three million in initial investment."
"Money isn’t an issue."
"Right, I forgot Young Master Luan comes from wealth." Tan Mian teased him. "I’ll go with you to scout locations later. Have you thought about where to open it?"
"Not yet. It’s just an idea for now." Sometimes Luan Nian felt life was rather dull, and finding something extra to do might make it more interesting. The singer on stage had moved on to a song about the south. He glanced at his phone again, just as it lit up. It was Zang Yao.
Tan Mian, sharp-eyed, saw Zang Yao’s name and raised an eyebrow at him before getting up and moving elsewhere.
"Where are you?" Zang Yao asked, her voice sounding a little sad.
"I’m at a bar."
"Can I come to Beijing to see you?"
"What’s wrong?"
"I want to move to Beijing." Zang Yao said, "I’ve had enough of Guangzhou. I’m tired of it." She suddenly started crying. "I’m tired of Guangzhou. I want to go to you all."
"Alright. Come on."
Luan Nian couldn’t remember how many times Zang Yao had moved. Ever since he’d known her, she had been constantly drifting, never willing to settle in one place for long.
"Thank you." Zang Yao said softly before hanging up.
Tan Mian sat back down and laughed. "So you were waiting for Zang Yao’s call."
"No."
"Then why were you constantly checking your phone?" Tan Mian asked.
"There might be work calls." Luan Nian said, but the work call he was waiting for never came.
"So what did Zang Yao want?"
"She wants to stay in Beijing for a while."
"That’s good. Your place is big. If you ask me, you two should stop dragging this out. While she’s here, settle things and just get together." Tan Mian started talking nonsense. Zang Yao had been hanging out with them for years, and her relationship with Luan Nian always seemed ambiguous. Their friends had bet more than once on when they’d finally make it official.
Luan Nian didn’t respond.
His relationship with Zang Yao wasn’t what Tan Mian thought. Zang Yao was a very good friend, so good that he felt no desire for her.
"She can stay at your place. I’ll pay her rent." Luan Nian didn’t want to live with Zang Yao. Once they lived together, things would become even more unclear.
"Does Miss Zang need your rent money? What she needs is for you to make a move." Tan Mian teased him.
Luan Nian didn’t want to talk more about his relationship with Zang Yao. In fact, even with his closest friends, he preferred to keep his private life to himself. Besides, he didn’t really have much of a private life right now.
The night was too boring. Nothing could spark his interest, but when two women walked by, he suddenly remembered Shang Zhitao in her cheerleader uniform.He returned home after drinking, but the good weekend sleep didn't come as expected. Picking up a book nearby, he wondered: Had Shang Zhi Tao's problem been resolved? She hadn't asked for his help this time, so where was the issue stuck?
A supplier called him. He answered and heard the supplier say, "The problem is solved, and we'll start running the numbers again right away. Just wanted to give you a heads-up."
"How was it resolved?" The problem was solved, and Shang Zhi Tao hadn't even said a word to him?
"Alex called me and explained the situation. We've been cooperating for so long; a small mistake occasionally is no big deal. Sometimes taking a loss can be a blessing." The supplier was smart enough not to mention to Luan Nian that Alex had promised to compensate him in future projects. He didn't say it, but that didn’t mean Luan Nian didn’t know.
Shang Zhi Tao was something else—she had managed to get her direct boss to handle it. She really knew who could save her now, learning to be clever.
"Did Flora send you the new brief?"
"Yes, she sent it this afternoon."
"Alright."
Shang Zhi Tao had sent the new brief to the supplier. She had made such a big mistake and hadn't even offered an explanation. He called her directly, but she didn’t answer. All his harsh words were stuck in his throat. Since she didn’t pick up, his anger had nowhere to vent.
Luan Nian was simmering with silent anger.
He never simmered with anger. He had been formidable since childhood, with everyone around him giving way. Even in the workplace, he was more domineering than others. In the two or three relationships he’d had before, he never played the gentleman. He didn’t need to argue with his ex-girlfriends, but his back-and-forth remarks were infuriating—a few sentences were enough to extinguish their anger. Crying and making a scene were useless against Luan Nian, as all his ex-girlfriends knew.
He was angry because Shang Zhi Tao had made such a big mistake without explaining herself to him. She went about her life as usual, eating, drinking, and having fun, simply making a call to her direct boss to settle the matter. It never occurred to her how much loss this mistake would have caused the company if he hadn’t discovered it, or how she would have been able to stand her ground in the company afterward.
That anger coiled in his chest, unable to be expelled or dissipated, just lingering there. It wasn’t until the next evening, after finishing his workout at home and heading to the kitchen to make something to eat, that he saw his phone light up. Shang Zhi Tao had sent him a message: "Hello, Luke. Alex asked me to confirm with you: Will you be attending the marketing department’s weekly meeting next week?" Not a word about the mistake she had made.
Shang Zhi Tao had no intention of bringing up that matter. What was there to say? She had been scolded harshly by him, her bonus deducted, and she couldn’t get promoted or receive a raise. When Kitty’s creative work had issues before, the client nearly terminated the contract, but Luan Nian had stepped in to resolve it. Back then, he hadn’t said a word about it. People in the company said he protected his own, but his harshness toward Shang Zhi Tao was simply because she wasn’t one of "his own," even though they had shared two intimate moments.
"Why doesn’t Alex ask me himself? Is the marketing department so short-staffed that they have to send you to ask?" Even when angry, Luan Nian could still reason, but he never reasoned with Shang Zhi Tao.
Seeing him become unreasonable again, Shang Zhi Tao replied, "Then I’ll have Alex ask you himself. He was tied up with other work earlier and casually asked me to help check. Sorry for disturbing you."After saying that, Shang Zhi Tao called alex: "luke said you should ask him yourself."
"Huh? Is he in a bad mood?"
"I don't know." How would I know if he's in a good mood or not? I'm not close with him.
After hanging up, Shang Zhi Tao went to do laundry, completely dismissing Luan Nian like a passing fart. You're mean to me, so I don't like you anymore either! At this moment, she was that naive, inexperienced person. She thought she was competing with her superior, but she wasn't—she was competing with someone she liked. She just refused to admit it subconsciously.
When Shang Zhi Tao saw the frowning Luan Nian early the following Monday, she still smiled and greeted him, then stood in the corner of the elevator. Luan Nian didn't even glance at her; when the elevator doors opened, he walked straight out. That anger was stuck in Luan Nian's chest, and this resentment made him ignore Shang Zhi Tao entirely. He also wondered: with twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in an hour, sixty seconds in a minute, and six elevators available around the clock, why did he always run into Shang Zhi Tao?
Shang Zhi Tao sat at her desk and began working seriously. She had made one mistake before, nearly ruining her first-ever project, so she was extra cautious now, unwilling to make another error. When lumi arrived and saw her working diligently, she greeted her: "Model worker, 'watch' girl, outstanding employee of our company, hard at work?"
Shang Zhi Tao was amused by her, then pulled her aside to talk about the mistake she made with the brief: "I can't make any more mistakes. I need to work hard."
"Did luke dock your bonus? Not allow you a promotion or raise for a year?" lumi was a bit surprised. No matter how strict Luan Nian was, he never blocked others' paths. He just had a sharp tongue. If he went on a rampage, you didn't need to ask—it was definitely the other party's fault. But this time, the other party was the harmless Shang Zhi Tao! lumi thought carefully for a long time before finally asking Shang Zhi Tao: "Little Tao Tao, think carefully. Are you sure you haven't offended luke?"
"I haven't." Would Shang Zhi Tao dare to offend him? Then she asked: "Why do you say that?"
"Because luke is obviously making things difficult for you. How else can this be explained?"
"It's not the first time luke has made things difficult for me. I'm the one he's tried to get rid of multiple times." Shang Zhi Tao smiled, turned back to her work, and stopped discussing the matter.
Even though Shang Zhi Tao didn't hold onto things, she was still a very strong-willed person, with that little bit of self-respect deep in her bones, which Luan Nian had completely shattered. This made her not want to face him.
lumi and alex asked Shang Zhi Tao twice to help check the project progress with Luan Nian, but she politely declined. To avoid Luan Nian, she even timed her schedule to catch the last bus. If her work wasn't finished, she would take her computer home.
Project data began to come back gradually.
Shang Zhi Tao had thought the data wouldn't be too simple, but she found it was actually quite complex. She didn't need to do the analysis, but she needed to understand it. She immersed herself in the industry data, spending half a day just looking at it. A colleague in business analysis told her that data emphasizes the beauty of logic—you need to find patterns and breakthroughs within the complex data. Understanding is one thing; analysis is another.Shang Zhi Tao tried to discover the beauty of logic her colleagues spoke of, but to no avail. This left her feeling somewhat frustrated. What is logic? Why don't I have it? She discussed this with Sun Yuanzhu, who suggested she do some logic training.
"For example?"
"For example..." Sun Yuanzhu said halfway over the phone, then laughed: "How about I run a workshop this weekend?"
"That would be great."
"Don't worry too much about work. Don't think you have to be all-powerful—it's impossible for one person to do everything. You need to recognize your own limits and learn to show weakness. Appropriately lowering your boss's expectations of you is also a form of upward management."
I can't lower them.
My boss thinks I'm good for nothing.
Shang Zhi Tao thought to herself. After hanging up, she walked toward the office area and ran into Luan Nian at the automatic door. She hadn't seen him in several days, so she offered a perfunctory greeting: "Hello, luke."
"How's the data collection going?" Luan Nian suddenly asked, catching her off guard.
Luan Nian, however, seemed to be in a good mood, standing there with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her answer.
"We've already collected data from three industries. Next, a professional business analysis team will step in to analyze it."
"Mm, keep it up."
"Thank you."
People were passing by, and Shang Zhi Tao didn't want to talk to him in public—it would make him look like a magnanimous boss while she seemed like a hopeless underling. She smiled at Luan Nian: "Sorry, luke, I still have work to handle. I'll organize the project progress you're concerned about and send it to alex and you later, okay?"
"Sure." Luan Nian was smiling, looking as gentle as a spring breeze.
Shang Zhi Tao couldn't figure him out, so she simply stopped looking at him. She nodded at him and walked away. Her back was filled with stubbornness, and this time, her stubbornness was very obvious—Luan Nian saw it.
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