I woke up a little later than usual this morning. I hurriedly fed Pizi breakfast and rushed to the office. Pizi is a five-month-old white male cat that I picked up from the street last winter. While I was away on a business trip, I entrusted him to the young lady next door for a few days, but he stopped eating properly when I wasn't around and lost a lot of weight. I didn't want him to turn into a long-haired Christy Chung, so I've been trying to get him to eat as much as possible since I got back.
When I rushed into the office, most of the company's employees had already arrived. Strangely, although everyone is usually indifferent to me, today, as soon as I returned, everyone greeted me warmly: "You're back?" "You've worked hard?" I was a little overwhelmed by their kindness, and even the big dark circles under my eyes seemed to glow.
About five meters from my desk, a sudden sense of foreboding washed over me. A little nervously, I turned the corner, and there before me stood a large bunch of red oriental lilies, thirty or forty stems at least, blooming vibrantly on my desk, their fragrance filling the air. I was terrified and turned to run, but it was too late. My nose, severely allergic to pollen, stung and itched, and the first sneeze erupted. I knew my day was ruined by these wretched oriental lilies.
Aunt Zhang, the cleaning lady, walked away happily with the pile of flowers. Five or six minutes later, I dared to return to my seat, my nose red and swollen. Two beautifully packaged boxes lay on the table. I opened them and found a dress in each box—one a slightly worn, brown A-line skirt, the other a brand-new Chanel blazer. What surprised me wasn't knowing Chanel was expensive, but that the tag on the slightly worn A-line skirt actually said "PINKLUDY"!
My phone suddenly rang. I saw it was an unfamiliar number, so I pressed OFF and then dialed the number using the landline on my desktop. Before I could even speak, I heard the person on the other end say, "Hey, can't you be any dumber? I know you're trying to save money. I've already made a call that's payable, so you don't have to pay for the call. Why did you hang up on me? So, do you like the flowers I sent you?"
"Yin Tianyu, you bastard... Achoo—" For the first time, I felt a bit powerless when I was cursing, thanks to this unlucky allergic nose.
"What's wrong, Miss? I've never been scolded for delivering flowers before."
"You still dare to say that? You left a huge pile of dead plants on my desk first thing in the morning, ouch—it triggered my allergic rhinitis, ouch—" I couldn't continue.
"What? You're allergic to pollen? I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Do you have any medication with you?"
"Medicine my foot! If you had any medicine, I'd poison you first! Achoo!" I angrily hung up the phone.
"Why are you so restless so early in the morning?" A-Ce asked, standing to the side at some point.
"Ah, good morning." I forced a smile at him, realizing I'd lost my composure. I don't know why, but I always get so angry at that boring playboy.
"Congratulations, you've handled this negotiation so well on your first attempt."
"No, the general manager did all the talking. I was just looking for information. It had nothing to do with me. Achoo!" I wasn't being modest.
"That's quite remarkable. Our general manager is known for his incredible memory; very few people can keep up with his thought process. He's already replaced over a dozen assistants because of this, and you're the only one who's stayed for a full week without being transferred. Everyone is now looking at you with new respect." A-Ce didn't seem to be joking.
I stuck out my tongue: "No wonder everyone was so nice to me today."
"That's not entirely the reason," A-Ce said with a hint of mystery.
"What else?" I rubbed my nose and barely managed to suppress a sneeze.
"Anyway, there's a lot of trouble in the company, so you need to be careful." A-Ce smiled, patted my head, and walked away.
I didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but I didn't pay much attention. It's just office politics, isn't it? Even if you haven't eaten pork, you've seen pigs run.
The pager rang: "RUBBY, come in for a second." It was Willson, and my heart skipped a beat. It had been 13 hours since I'd seen him, since I'd gotten off the plane at 8 p.m. last night. I told myself to be natural, to act like nothing had changed.
I knocked and went in. He looked up from the table and glanced at me. I forced my eyes to meet his, but within a second, my willpower crumbled under his gaze. I pretended my nose was itchy, sneezed, and quietly looked away.
"You caught a cold again?" I tried to find any trace of concern in his voice, but to no avail.
"No, it's just a nasal allergy." I didn't dare say more, afraid of revealing my disappointment.
"Could you prepare Investigation Report A0731 for me? Then contact Botten Chen at A&D and tell him I have thirty minutes available after 3 PM today, and also..." I quickly jotted down the notes, afraid of missing anything. After I finished, he waved for me to leave. I asked in surprise, "Don't I need to repeat it again? Joyce told me..."
“Ignore Joyce, and remember that you only need to listen to me now,” he said domineeringly.
"Oh, I understand."
As I walked toward the door, I suddenly heard him say behind me, "Those flowers are very pretty."
I was taken aback and turned around to see him sitting there staring at me intently, his face tense, showing no sign that he was praising the flowers.
"I'm allergic to pollen, so I gave the flowers to Aunt Zhang who does the cleaning." I don't know why I explained, but seeing that his expression relaxed a little after hearing it made me very happy, and I quickly left the general manager's office.
I was compiling a report when the receptionist called me, saying someone was looking for me.
I wondered who would have found this place. When I saw Yin Tianyu chatting animatedly with the receptionist, I was so angry that I turned to leave, but another pungent sneeze gave me away, exposing the bank manager. The long-limbed Yin Tianyu rushed over and grabbed me, shoving a paper bag into my hand without a word. "Remember," he said, "some of the medicines in here are to be taken before meals, and some are to be taken after meals. Be sure to read the instructions carefully and don't take the wrong ones or miss any. I'll call to check if you've taken your medicine at the appointed time, okay?"
That last sentence almost made me vomit. Before I could even unleash a torrent of abuse, he turned and waved to the receptionist, saying, "It's settled then, I'll bring you chocolates next time." Then he pressed the elevator button and left, leaving me clutching the paper bag, staring blankly at the closing elevator doors, utterly livid with rage.
"Rubby, is that your boyfriend? He's so handsome and considerate. We were already telling him to go straight in and find you, but he insisted on waiting here, saying he didn't want to put us in a difficult position. That's rare." "Yeah, yeah. You'd better keep a close eye on him, someone so tall and strong could easily be snatched away." The two receptionists, oblivious to the awkwardness, chimed in with their banter. I grinned in response and turned to leave.
The paper bag contained over a dozen bottles of various medicines, and the instructions were all in daunting English. This lunatic, is he trying to poison me? Flipping through the bag further, I found a note in Chinese detailing the dosage instructions for each medication. Apparently, these dozen or so bottles were a series of medications specifically for allergic rhinitis. Some were for allergy flare-ups, others for general care, and the dosage schedule was meticulously divided, with different medications for morning, noon, and evening use, and even specific courses of treatment. I threw the bag of medicine into the trash can. Who cares? Humph.
But the constant sneezing made me dizzy and lightheaded, and it seemed my body had developed a resistance to my usual allergy medication; it wasn't helping at all. Even TK had inquired about my health, and looking at the overflowing trash can of tissues, I feared I couldn't hold on any longer. I pulled out the packet from the trash, took one pill labeled "DAY 1" according to the instructions, and after about half an hour, my condition had improved considerably. I couldn't help but look at this somewhat dubious-sounding medication with newfound respect.
"Beep." My phone received a text message. I opened it and saw it was that persistent ghost, Yin Tianyu again.
"It's time to take your 'DAY 2' medication now. Also, it's inconvenient for you to carry so much medicine around every day, so I've put it in a medicine box for you, at the bottom of the paper bag. And, I'm warning you, you're not allowed to give those two dresses to anyone else, especially that cleaning lady, or I'll leave a bunch of flowers on your desk every day!" I felt like I'd been burned, jumped up and ran outside, asking as I ran, "Have you seen Aunt Zhang?"
I had to beg and plead to get those two dresses back from Aunt Zhang. Back in my seat, I tossed the unfortunate dress into my drawer, let out a rough sigh, and pulled a flat, light blue box from the paper bag. Opening it, I saw it was divided into over a dozen compartments, one for each type of medicine, with the name of the medicine written in pen under each compartment—it looked very elegant. A sudden realization dawned on me. No wonder so many girls were fooled by him. Only a lazy, spoiled rich kid like him, who didn't have to work and just spent his days thinking about how to make girls happy, lived such a luxurious life. Now I just hoped he'd returned the dress and we'd be even, so he wouldn't bother me anymore. Every time I saw him, nothing good ever came of it.
Part One, Chapter Five
To keep up with that western development plan, for a whole week, A-Ce and I spent every day in the expansion department, finance department, and planning and contract department. Although we worked more than 12 hours a day under intense pressure, I didn't want to do anything but sleep when I got home. If it weren't for the fear of Willson smelling my sweat, I would have almost skipped the daily shower. Finally, when Willson stopped shaking his head at our plan, I knew that I would be willing to endure a week of hardship, even if I didn't eat or drink, just to make his furrowed brow relax even a little.
As soon as A-Ce and I stepped out of Willson's office, A-Ce's gang swarmed around us, bombarding us with questions about the fate of the project proposal. Seeing A-Ce silently keeping his head down, everyone seemed to understand what was going on, so they fell silent and were about to leave dejectedly when A-Ce suddenly looked up and said, "What's wrong? I haven't even told you the project was approved yet, why are you leaving?" Seeing A-Ce practically trampled to death by that group, I just felt he deserved it.
"OK, you've worked so hard for so long. Tonight, the usual routine: to Zhujiazhuang, we'll split the bill." Everyone agreed when A-Ce called out, but I wasn't happy about it. This stingy Hong Kong guy wants to split the bill even for a meal that costs several hundred dollars. I'd rather go home and eat instant noodles than pay for a meal.
"Sorry, I'm exhausted. I'm going home to catch up on sleep tonight. You guys do as you please, don't worry about me." After saying that, I even gave a very serious yawn. My yawn immediately spread to everyone, and one after another, everyone started yawning, and everyone seemed a bit listless.
When Ah Ce saw that everyone was about to leave, he said stubbornly, "Then everyone go home and get a good night's sleep tonight. Tomorrow is Saturday, so let's go out for drinks and dinner, and sing karaoke tonight. It's on me, and no one can be left out." Everyone got excited again and started discussing which nightclub had the girls dressed the most scantily. These stinky men, it's like they don't even recognize me as a girl in front of them.
Seeing that I couldn't escape any longer, my eyes lit up and an idea came to me: "Instead of eating those MSG-laden dishes outside, why don't we each give me 50 yuan and I'll buy a meal to treat everyone? I guarantee you'll all be well-fed and satisfied. The location will be my rented room. How about it? Come on, pay up now."
Although everyone questioned the edibility of the dishes I prepared, fortunately, they were only interested in the lively atmosphere and had no intention of scrutinizing my culinary skills, so they readily handed over their money. I did a quick calculation and realized that this money would not only ensure a decent meal but also save me my share of the gift money, which made me very happy.
My phone beeped; it was a text message. I opened it and saw it was from Yin Tianyu again, reminding me to take my medicine. Only then did I realize that he really hadn't shown up for a whole week.