The weather was hot and humid, and the atmosphere in the office wasn't great either. It wasn't until the afternoon when the boss went out for a meeting that everyone suddenly stood up, stretched, and started running around to different rooms.
Wen Zheng was typing intently with his earphones in, until the new intern next door poked him with a blush, at which point he turned his head and gave her an inquiring look.
"Um, Brother Wenzheng."
Wen Zheng's arm felt a little numb, but he remained expressionless.
"Uncle Jin Fanrong just said that his brother-in-law is treating us to dinner and karaoke next weekend. Are you going?"
Uncle Jin Fanrong...
Wen Zheng paused for a moment, then said, "I'm not going."
"Huh?" The little girl raised her eyebrows and said in a coquettish voice, "But I see everyone else going..."
Wen Zheng's gaze lingered on the young girl's name tag—Li Xiaoting, 21 years old.
Calling himself, who is 23, "brother" and Jin Fanrong, who is 29, "uncle" doesn't seem wrong.
“Well, you can go if you want.” Wen Zheng’s attitude became a little more friendly towards her calling him “uncle”: “Anyway, his brother-in-law is rich.”
Seeing them whispering, the gossip queen immediately jumped over: "Hey, what are you saying? Why is Wen Zheng so nice to Xiaoting? Is that right, hmm?"
"…………" Wen Zheng said coldly, putting his earplugs back in.
Jin Fanrong's brother-in-law has mentioned treating everyone to a meal at least a hundred times. I don't know why his colleagues love hearing him brag about how rich his brother-in-law is.
His brother-in-law is rich, but it's not him who's rich, nor is it his gossipy colleague who's rich. Why is he so excited?
However, today this mysterious wealthy brother-in-law finally set a date for a dinner party, and Wen Zheng thought to himself, "This is really not easy."
The leader returned in the late afternoon, accompanied by a much higher-ranking leader.
Everyone stuffed snacks, milk tea, curling irons... into their drawers, pretending to be serious, and the office was filled with the clattering sound of typing.
The high-ranking leader inquired about everyone's work before leading them to a private office inside. After a while, the leader came out, looking puzzled, and called Wen Zheng to his office, saying that the high-ranking leader wanted to speak with him.
Wen Zheng pulled off his headphones without asking any further questions.
After entering and closing the door behind him, the high-ranking leader, who was originally in the leader's seat, smiled at him and said, "Wen Zheng."
Wen Zheng gave him a military salute.
"No," the senior leader said self-deprecatingly, "I've been demoted to an administrative position, which takes me further and further away from my original unit. I can no longer be considered one of your people."
Wen Zheng stood ramrod straight and said earnestly, "A superior is always a superior."
The big boss laughed and patted Wen Zheng on the shoulder: "Relax, you're making me nervous. How have you been lately?"
"fine."
"It's up to you. Whether you want a permanent position or not, whether you want to change jobs or not, it's all up to you. If you're unhappy here, just come find me."
Wen Zheng relaxed his shoulders and smiled at the senior leader, revealing a very shallow dimple: "It's really great. Colleagues often drink milk tea and chat. The atmosphere is quite relaxed."
The big boss laughed for a long time: "Oh, you young people, all you know is drinking milk tea. Alright, I won't bother you anymore, go back."
"yes."
Wen Zheng returned to his seat under the watchful eyes of the crowd, while Jin Fanrong gritted his teeth.
He tugged at his colleague's sleeve in surprise: "Why is the big boss meeting with him alone? He's just a contract worker!"
His colleague slapped his hand away: "Stop fooling around, the boss is here!"
When it was time to leave work, no one dared to leave first. Only after the top leader and other leaders left did everyone start to float and sink in the pot like dumplings in boiling water.
"The rain is so heavy!" Someone pulled back the curtains, and as soon as they opened the window a crack, a gust of wind blew in, sending the documents on someone's desk flying through the air.
"Are you crazy for opening the window?!" Jin Fanrong had just taken out his umbrella when a gust of wind made him lose his grip, and his own umbrella hit him in the face. The colleague who opened the window apologized humbly, and after a brief commotion, the crowd finally dispersed.
Wen Zheng typed in the last data, took off his headphones, and found himself alone in the office with Jin Fanrong and Li Xiaoting, the new intern from next door.
Li Xiaoting stood by the window, looking anxious. Jin Fanrong was on the phone, seemingly discussing dinner with his brother-in-law. Wen Zheng, uninterested, tidied his desk, preparing to leave work, but glanced at Li Xiaoting one last time before taking a step.
You probably didn't bring an umbrella.
But what does it have to do with me?
Jin Fanrong is the real social king of the office. He has a brother-in-law who lives in a mansion, and his brother-in-law gave his wife's relatives a house as a gift. A person like that should save the whole office. No matter what, it's not my turn. Wen Zheng thought indifferently.
Ten seconds later, Wen Zheng, who had reached the door, clicked his tongue. He turned and stepped forward.
"Give."
Li Xiaoting was surprised. She took the black umbrella from Wen Zheng and hesitated, saying, "I..."
"Return it to me on Monday," Wen Zheng said before striding away.
Jin Fanrong looked strange, and it took him a while to come to his senses. He then said "Hello, hello" twice into the phone, "Sorry, brother-in-law, I didn't hear you just now. What is it...?"
***
Wen Zheng decisively stepped into the torrential rain.
He doesn't dislike getting wet in the rain, and he has done a lot of related training before, so he rarely gets sick from getting wet.
Moreover, he enjoys the feeling of facing nature directly, and sometimes he deliberately doesn't bring an umbrella.
The song "Don't Get Angry" was playing on repeat in his headphones, and he hummed along softly: "Life is short, it's not easy to live..."
Entering the dilapidated Wutong Garden, on the second floor of Unit 3, Wen Zheng, dripping wet, took out his key and opened the door.
"Big Black." He called out, taking off his shoes. The cat, who would usually be the first to greet him, was nowhere to be seen.
The song was still playing in my headphones: "In this world, things can't all be arbitrary..."
Wen Zheng had a bad feeling.
He closed the door, took off his dripping clothes and threw them by the doorway, then walked in step by step. The door to his parents' room was open.
In that instant, Wen Zheng felt his blood rush backward and his vision blurred.
Big Black was squatting in the center of the room. The cardboard box was opened, but the contents didn't fall apart. The only thing it had knocked onto the floor was the black Rubik's Cube.
Just as Wen Zheng was starting to relax a little, Da Hei suddenly raised its paw and slammed it heavily onto the Rubik's Cube—
*Snap*
Debris scattered everywhere.
"Damn it!" Wen Zheng roared, rushed in, knelt down, and grabbed the cat by the neck! His eyes were red, his hands were trembling, and he barely knew what he was doing until his raised hand was about to slap the cat's head.
"..." Wen Zheng gasped for breath, slowly loosening his grip, and said in a trembling voice, "Get out."
Big Black arched its back little by little and hid at the foot of the bed, but did not go far, watching him warily.
Suddenly, everything went blurry, and Wen Zheng realized he was crying.
Very little was left in the fire; even after collecting all the remaining debris, only two cardboard boxes remained. This Rubik's Cube cost over three thousand yuan; it survived because it was made of a new type of material that wouldn't burn. Even so, the surface blocks were completely blackened and unusable.
But it actually broke?
As Wen Zheng's most painful moment passed, a big question popped into his gradually clearing mind.
Isn't this 3,000 RMB Rubik's Cube supposed to be indestructible even if you hit it with a boulder?
He then thought of his poor cell phone, which seemed to be on the verge of a storm...
Wen Zheng banged his head against the wall twice, then gritted his teeth and picked up the pieces one by one. Suddenly, his hand stopped.
"Big Black?" he called out, but Big Black didn't come over. Wen Zheng, however, couldn't care less about the cat. He pushed aside the other fragments and picked up the note hidden among them.
The white slip of paper was extremely ordinary, as if it had been casually torn from some notebook. Wen Zheng held his breath and slowly unfolded it. On it was a line of delicate handwriting, belonging to his mother.
— Clue 1: Fireflies may glow, but they are not fire; dewdrops may form on lotus leaves, but they are not pearls. Xiao Zheng, keep it up! :)
Author's Note: Big Black: I felt a little guilty for not being able to stop that kid, so I tried to appease him. After all, he's my fragile human.
Big Black, one day later: He hit me!!!
(Tomorrow's update will be at 3 PM. Love you all!)
(Red envelopes will also be given away for comments in the next chapter and this chapter!)
Chapter 25
Inside the underground fighting arena "Number One".
Golden spotlights shone brightly, and the high, semi-circular roof enveloped the entire arena. In the center of the fighting ring, two shirtless men were wrestling and fighting. Blood and roars were no match for the adrenaline-pumping shouts from the stands. The code names of the two men on the ring were constantly being shouted and repeated. Some hostile spectators almost came to blows. The scene was extremely primitive and chaotic.
Above the stands is a ring of VIP boxes, with curtains half-open, offering a sense of ethereal tranquility.
"What the hell?!" Bai Shuang yelled at Wen Zheng, "Are you an idiot for not knowing to use an umbrella in the rain? And you're already here, would it kill you to go take a shower first?!"
Seeing that Wenzheng remained silent, his eyes sharpened. "What? Did you break up with your boyfriend?" He then changed to a gentle, pitying expression and whispered, "When did you fall in love? Why didn't you tell your father..."
"Shut up." Wen Zheng irritably sat down on the sofa, his wet clothes making a mess of the expensive and luxurious sofa.
Bai Shuang was furious but dared not speak out. After holding back for a long time, she said, "You won't take a bath when I tell you to, and you won't talk to me. What exactly do you want?"
"..." Wen Zheng took a deep breath: "I've found the clues my parents left me."
"What?" Bai Shuang exclaimed in surprise, sitting up straight. "You mean thirty-five or twenty-four?"
"right."
In his early years, before he gave up, Wen Zheng would often take out that password to look at, and his close friends all knew it.
When he saw the note, he felt a mix of emotions—bitterness, confusion, and bewilderment. A fire seemed to burn within him, surging and pounding, unable to find a way out. He left without taking anything with him. After being soaked in the rain for half a day and having nowhere else to go, he came to Bai Shuang's place.
“My cat broke the Rubik’s Cube that my mom bought,” Wen Zheng explained. “The note was hidden inside the Rubik’s Cube. I don’t even know where my mom put it or how she put it there.”
As he spoke, he took a tissue from the table to wipe his hands, reached into his coat pocket, picked out the crumpled little piece of paper, and placed it on the table.
Bai Shuang picked it up, opened it, and raised an eyebrow: "Is it a poem?...The fireflies may glow, but they are not fire...Hmm."
When Wen Zheng was little, he loved playing with Rubik's Cubes. He was smart and could solve them by memorizing the formulas as if it were child's play. When he showed them off, he would get admiring looks from his friends. After we bought a new Rubik's Cube, he played with it often, but he couldn't remember if it was detachable. He only knew that if all six sides were solved, the center of the cube would make a click, flash a light, and make a mechanical sound saying "You're awesome."
"Even if you don't shower, wipe your fur first." The waiter finally arrived, and Bai Shuang tossed a towel to Wen Zheng: "So, your mom slipped a note into this most sturdy toy in the family, assuming you'd see the hidden code once you pieced it together?"
Wen Zheng put a bath towel over his head and rubbed it anxiously: "I don't know. But the color coating on the surface of the Rubik's Cube is not fireproof. If it catches fire, it will be completely blackened and cannot be solved. What a stupid fireproof toy... I have never played with it again, it's just sitting there."
The fight on the field reached its climax. The red belt seized the opportunity, grabbed the blue belt under the ribs, and slammed him heavily to the sidelines. With a loud bang, a roar of cheers and curses erupted from the crowd.