With Sun Qiongsi’s level of decisiveness, she could succeed at anything.
Even Chai Ya, upon learning what time Sun Qiongsi’s train would arrive in S City, immediately got out of bed and prepared to go pick her up.
On the other hand, Feng Shanshan was still dawdling at home, saying that since she was about to move into Shen Yan’s luxurious apartment, she needed to dress up properly.
Chai Ya: “Sis, if you get there early, just find a place to sit at the train station.
It’ll take me a bit to get there from my house.”
Sun Qiongsi: “No problem.
I actually brought you all some local specialties from my hometown.
I’ll wait for you so we can get them together.”
Chai Ya: “Great! Shanshan might even get there before me.”
Feng Shanshan and Shen Yan were both from City A, which wasn’t far from S City just a 20-minute high-speed train ride.
Once Sun Qiongsi confirmed which train station she’d be arriving at, Feng Shanshan finally bought her train ticket.
Shen Yan calculated the timing and figured they’d all arrive in S City by the afternoon.
Even after grocery shopping, they would definitely reach her place before 5 PM before she got off work.
She felt like she should inform the residential manager so that when they arrived at the community gate, the manager could escort them to her apartment.
But she really didn’t want to interact with the manager.
The last time, the manager had enthusiastically invited her to join the homeowners’ group chat, but she declined.
She thought about asking her mom to handle it, but then she hesitated.
She was already working halfway into adulthood and running to her mom for something so small seemed a bit childish.
In just these two days, she had interacted with more people than she did in an entire month as a student.
Adulting is exhausting.
After much consideration, she decided it would be rude to leave her friends stranded outside, especially in this hot May weather.
She couldn’t let them stand outside with all their bags waiting for her.
So, she reluctantly opened the residential manager’s WeChat and sent a message describing her three friends and asking them to escort them home.
After sending the message, she waited.
Very soon, she saw the status: “Typing…”
Her manager was super friendly, agreeing immediately and even reassuring her.
Seeing how polite Shen Yan was, constantly saying “sorry to trouble you” and “thank you”, the manager reassured her:
“This is what we’re here for! No need to be so formal!”
That warmed Shen Yan’s heart.
This apartment was really worth buying.
The more she thought about it, the better she felt.
She even shared the experience in her family’s group chat.
Her father, Shen Wei, immediately reacted with a thumbs-up emoji.
Shen Wei: “That’s the difference when you pay for good property management.”
Her mother, Xu Yue, replied quickly too.
Xu Yue: “Next time, try asking if they can help collect the laundry too.”
Shen Yan: …
How does my mom’s mind even work?
With hotpot night with her friends on her mind, Shen Yan felt extra motivated at work in the afternoon.
While writing the summary and plans, she had a creative surge, typing so fast that her keyboard clattered non-stop.
She didn’t just “polish” the department reports she even “optimized” several of Zhou Xing’s section titles.
At one point, she even started disliking the company-issued keyboard, feeling like the bad typing experience was holding her back.
She seriously began considering buying a mechanical keyboard for better performance.
The moment she had this thought, she scared herself.
Wait, what the hell?
She had only been working for two days, and she was already thinking like a corporate drone?
She hadn’t even received her first paycheck, and she was already planning to spend money on work?!
Still…
The default office keyboard was truly awful flat, unresponsive, and lagging behind her typing speed.
After a long internal battle, she forcefully suppressed her urge to buy a new one.
By 3 PM, her summary and plans were almost finished.
Since she got off work at 5 PM, she planned to send them to Zhou Xing at 4 PM, giving him an hour to review in case any revisions were needed so she wouldn’t have to work overtime.
Just as she was about to take a break, Jian Hong suddenly stood up from her desk.
“Anyone want bubble tea?”
Teacher Cheng was the first to respond.
“Yes!
Also, Xiao Shen just joined us, we haven’t properly celebrated yet!”
Hearing her name mentioned, Shen Yan immediately looked up.
Everyone was staring at her expectantly.
She suddenly had a bad feeling.
Oh no.
Oh no.
She had just restrained herself from spending money on a keyboard, and now…
Did she just walk into the office tradition where new employees treat everyone?!
She hadn’t even thought about this before, but since her colleagues brought it up today…
Was it too late to refuse?
She nodded.
“Sure… what does everyone want?”
Meng Gulan, a workplace veteran with nearly 30 years of experience, immediately saw through her hesitation and chuckled.
“Xiao Shen, you haven’t even received a salary yet!
How can we let you pay?
This is a leader’s job, isn’t that right, Assistant Zhou?”
Zhou Xing, catching on, nodded.
“Yeah.
Yesterday, the city government reports messed up our schedule.
Today’s on me.
Order whatever you like.”
Only then did Shen Yan breathe a sigh of relief.
Zhou Xing suddenly realized he had forgotten to give the usual new hire welcome treat.
He reflected on himself it was his oversight.
“In fact, it’s been a while since our department had a team dinner.
Let’s find a time to properly welcome Xiao Shen.”
Shen Yan: …
No.
Please, no.
She was fine with just the bubble tea.
She’d rather buy her own bubble tea than sit through a welcome dinner.
Jian Hong was delighted.
“I’ve had my eye on a Japanese restaurant, but it’s too expensive for me to justify going alone.”
Zhou Xing, still in generous mode, smiled.
“Sure, no problem.”
Shen Yan: …
Can I just pay my own way and not go?
But she couldn’t say that.
That would make her seem ungrateful and antisocial.
This wasn’t like the A University alumni gathering, where she could decline without consequence.
This dinner was obligatory.
Her mind immediately started calculating escape strategies maybe she could fake an illness on the day?
Even Zhou Xing’s bubble tea treat tasted bland in the face of this dreaded social obligation.
Luckily, she had finished most of her work beforehand.
At 4 PM sharp, she sent the summary to Zhou Xing.
He reviewed it, then sent back some formatting adjustments for her to fix.
Shen Yan had studied official document writing in college.
While she had long forgotten the details, seeing familiar formatting rules felt oddly nostalgic.
She adjusted the formatting accordingly and sent it back.
Zhou Xing printed a copy and brought it to Lu Yu’s office.
Shen Yan glanced at Lu Yu’s office door, suddenly curious.
Did he have a private elevator or a secret passage?
She hadn’t seen him leave his office all day.
Jian Hong noticed her staring and teased:
“Crushing on our CEO?”
Shen Yan answered honestly.
“No, I was just wondering… does he never leave his office?”
Jian Hong laughed.
“You’ll find out soon enough our CEO is a tech geek.”
Shen Yan: “Oh, that explains a lot.”
She finally understood why he never appeared in person.
Just then, her friends sent messages they had already arrived at her place, escorted by the manager.
Shen Yan: “Can you guys at least start prepping dinner?”
Feng Shanshan: “Of course, young miss! Your humble servant will wash the vegetables now.”
Shen Yan: “…”