Volume One: Farewell to the Mortal World, Chapter Three: Requesting Leave
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After days of continuous use, Xiao Wenbing unexpectedly discovered that his supernatural ability seemed to have increased in an unforeseen way. Although he didn't know how much it had increased, he certainly had a very real feeling about it.
Just as he was overjoyed about this, his gaze inadvertently drifted to the calendar on the wall.
Suddenly, he remembered something. When Lu Jun left, he had asked him to deliver the briefcase to Xiaoputuo within a month.
A month, oh my god...
Xiao Wenbing's expression changed drastically. He frantically ran towards his phone, only to find that it was out of power.
These past few days, only one thing had been on his mind; his phone and such had long been forgotten. Luckily, he had a spare battery, which he quickly switched on. He turned it on, checked the date, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Ten days passed by in this way, day and night. Fortunately, there were still twenty days left. And this place was not too far from Xiaoputuo. We could get there within five days no matter what.
"Beep beep beep..."
The text message notifications kept ringing, and when he glanced at them quickly, he saw that there were already more than thirty messages.
He opened them one by one, and apart from a few spam messages, most of them were messages from close colleagues asking him why he was suddenly playing some kind of disappearing game.
Xiao Wenbing slapped his forehead, realizing he was in trouble. He hadn't been to the company for ten days. Although Cheng Yifei was a fairly competent boss, no boss would like an employee who had been absent for ten days without a word.
He quickly washed up, shaved off his full beard, hesitated for a moment, then rummaged through the room and found a travel bag. He put the safe inside and covered it with some clean clothes.
I stepped out of the room, jumped into a taxi, and rushed to the company as soon as possible.
His appearance surprised his colleagues. They lived in those small rooms, where everyone saw each other all the time. Even the most trivial things would spread quickly, let alone someone who had suddenly disappeared for ten days.
Xiao Wenbing smiled and nodded at them, then walked to the door of the manager's office and knocked.
The manager's office is divided into two rooms, the inner one being Cheng Yifei's room, and the outer one being the office of his secretary, Zhang Yaqi.
The door opened, revealing a pretty, elegant face. Zhang Yaqi asked in a low voice, "Xiao Wenbing, where have you been these past few days? The boss has been asking you several times a day."
She could naturally see Xiao Wenbing through the glass window.
With a wry smile, Xiao Wenbing gave her a grateful look and said softly, "Can I see the boss now?"
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Yaqi sighed, "Be careful."
After opening the door, Zhang Yaqi turned around and knocked on the inner door of the manager's office.
Xiao Wenbing was deeply moved; the worry in Zhang Yaqi's eyes was clearly genuine.
In this company, he only had three friends he could get along with, and Zhang Yaqi was one of them. Although she was a female friend, in his opinion, she was much more reliable than many people who called each other brothers.
After a moment, Zhang Yaqi came out, gave him a careful look, and said, "Go in."
Xiao Wenbing responded and was about to go in when she tugged at his sleeve.
"What are you doing? The boss is watching. It's not good to get into any physical altercations," Xiao Wenbing said in a low voice.
Zhang Yaqi was taken aback, and immediately put her hand down. Her pretty face flushed slightly, and she said angrily, "Go to hell! You're still being cheeky even now. You're not going to bring this thing in with you, are you?"
Xiao Wenbing glanced at his hand and realized he was carrying a travel bag, which was indeed inappropriate. However, the contents of the bag were a matter of life and death for him, and he was even more worried about leaving it there.
With a chuckle, Xiao Wenbing said, "My life is in there, I can't let it go."
After saying that, he winked at her twice, smiled, and went inside.
Once inside, he closed the door behind him. Recalling Zhang Yaqi's radiant smile, a warm feeling inexplicably welled up inside him.
"Wenbing, sit down."
The boss's words brought him back to reality, and Xiao Wenbing quickly and respectfully said, "Manager, I'm sorry, I..."
Cheng Yifei suddenly interrupted him, saying, "You don't need to say anything."
Xiao Wenbing raised his eyes slightly, realizing that all the drafts he had prepared were now useless.
However, Cheng Yifei's attitude seemed somewhat strange. Although they weren't particularly close, they had known each other for years.
Xiao Wenbing knew that although this boss was shrewd and secretive, he was still reasonable when dealing with his own people.
In this society, there are not many bosses like this anymore, so the employees in the company are highly motivated. He deserves great credit for Haoyunlai's current status in the province.
Although I disappeared for several days without any reason, when he called that day, didn't he tell me to rest well? Even though the rest period was a bit long, he shouldn't be so unreasonable.
"Wenbing, it doesn't matter where you've been these past few days, and you don't need to tell me."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Wenbing was greatly surprised, wondering if he had misunderstood him.
Cheng Yifei smiled slightly and said, "Actually, I regretted letting you in that day, but thankfully you're alright, so I'm relieved."
Xiao Wenbing's surprise grew stronger, and suddenly a thought struck him. He whispered, "You mean Lu Jun?"
“That’s right.” Cheng Yifei sighed and said, “I’ve dealt with people all my life. I can usually tell what kind of person someone is at a glance. But that Lu Jun…”
His eyes suddenly changed, and he seemed a little scared: "That day, Lu Jun came to me and said he needed someone to ship an item. This was not a strange thing, but that person, that person gave me a very dangerous feeling."
Xiao Wenbing's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected Cheng Yifei to have the same feeling. Could he also be a person with special abilities?
However, Xiao Wenbing looked closely at his obviously overweight body, with its fat head and big ears, and the more he looked at it, the less it resembled a person with special abilities, and more like some kind of... that animal.
“I don’t know who he is, but I have this absurd thought that if he wanted to kill me, it would be a very simple and easy thing for him,” Cheng Yifei continued.
He nodded slowly. Based on the methods Lu Jun had demonstrated in the restaurant, killing someone wouldn't be too difficult.
“At that time, I only had one thought, which was to get rid of this... this plague god as soon as possible, so I called you up.”
Xiao Wenbing chuckled to himself, "Plague God," he truly felt the same way.
“I called you that day when I saw you weren’t at work, and your voice sounded off, so I got really worried. I called you two or three times a day after that, but you never answered. I was almost ready to call the police, but thankfully, you finally came.”
Cheng Yifei breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I don't want to know where you've been these past few days. However, to show my apology, your salary will be doubled from now on. Consider it a small token of my appreciation."
"Thank you, Manager." Cheng Yifei smiled nonchalantly and said, "But, Manager Cheng, there's something else..."
To be honest, Cheng Yifei didn't care about that salary at all. Even if he were paid five times more, it would still take him most of his life to buy those two houses.
"What is it? Just tell me."
"I would like to ask for a few days off." Xiao Wenbing found it difficult to say. He had already been absent from work for ten days, and he was reluctant to ask for leave again as soon as he returned to work.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Yifei readily agreed, "Sure, you can go wherever you want to relax. Have a good time, consider it your paid leave, and stay as long as you like."
He took out a pen, signed a personal check, and said, "Here is ten thousand yuan, consider it a bonus for you."
"Thank you, manager."
Book One: Farewell in the Mortal World, Chapter Four: Farewell
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As Xiao Wenbing left the manager's office, he still felt a pang of gratitude towards Cheng Yifei; he was truly kind to his employees. He sighed again, thinking how rare it was to find a boss like Cheng Yifei these days.
However, he was unaware that Lu Jun had already thrown down 100,000 RMB when he arrived.
Cheng Yifei only used a small portion of his resources. If Cheng Yifei didn't possess such a businessman's nature, how could he have survived in the cutthroat world of business, and even thrived?
"How was it?" Zhang Yaqi stood up immediately when she saw him come out and asked quietly.
He raised his index and middle fingers, making a victory sign.
Zhang Yaqi smiled, genuinely happy for him.
"Zhang Yaqi, I'm leaving now. Could you please say goodbye to Guan Qin and the others for me?"
"You're gone? Didn't you just say you were alright?" Zhang Yaqi asked in surprise.
“Yes, this time I’m on official business.” Xiao Wenbing shook the check in his hand in the air, making a slight rustling sound.
Zhang Yaqi, with her sharp eyes, glanced at it and said with slight surprise, "Ten thousand yuan? Did the boss give it to you?"
As the boss's secretary, she had seen her share of big events, and ten thousand yuan was not a surprising amount for her.
"Yes, it was given to me by the boss. I'll be gone for a while, so he gave me a bonus in advance."
Zhang Yaqi glanced at the smug Xiao Wenbing with a puzzled look and asked softly, "Should we invite them over for a farewell dinner?"
The "they" that Zhang Yaqi mentioned were two other good friends that Xiao Wenbing got along with here. Whenever they went out for late-night snacks or played cards, it was basically always these four people.
"No need, I'll treat you when I get back."
Xiao Wenbing himself couldn't grasp the uncertain future. With Xiao Putuo exuding an air of mystery, he really had no interest in doing anything else.
Besides...
In case anything unexpected happens...
Ptooey... Ptooey... Ptooey...
Xiao Wenbing spat several times, wondering why he was overthinking things...
He slung his travel bag over his shoulder. It wasn't heavy; for a young man like Xiao Wenbing in his prime, it was nothing. He waved his hand, smiled casually, and said, "I'm leaving. Give them my regards."
After saying goodbye to Zhang Yaqi, Xiao Wenbing whistled as he went to the bank to cash the personal check and withdraw 50,000 yuan. When he checked his account, it was almost empty.
He sighed, hurried home, and went to his bedroom. He took out a bag of jewelry—the leftovers from the last sale. Judging by the quantity, it was worth at least 100,000 to 200,000 yuan.
This is the last bag. After it's used up, it looks like he'll have to make something else. But he's not in the mood for that right now. The most important thing right now is to get to Xiaoputuo.
He didn't think Lu Jun was joking with him. If he couldn't deliver the briefcase to Xiaoputuo within a month, he feared that what awaited him would truly be a lifetime of torment worse than death.
The mere thought of that excruciating pain sent shivers down his spine.
Arriving at a car detailing shop by taxi, Xiao Wenbing pushed open the door and entered. Two apprentices inside immediately greeted him, "Brother Wen..."
Xiao Wenbing frowned and said, "Alright, I'm not in your line of work. What about your youth?"