Please Be More Serious Chapter 14-16

Mao Huizhu returned to her work in good spirits, even though when she stepped through the door there would endless problems waiting for her. To be honest, this year has been a busy one.

But today she was happy about Zhengqing, though there had been a brand name wearing attractive younger lady declaring war to her, Zhengqing behaved in a manner that was respectful to her. Even though he did not choose her in the end, she knew he respected her and that was good for her and she knew she had made the right decision.

As she entered her office, Wu Fei came up to her, ‘Zoe jie, you’re back.’

‘How is it going?’ she asked.

Wu Fei was the general Manager, Cui Yingwei’s (Zuben: Another b.l.o.o.d.y Y name) great personal a.s.sistant. His work brought him into contact with her a lot and he sometimes came to her for guidance. Though he was not her direct subordinate, but it sometimes was like he was.

He quickly reported on the current status to her. He also told her that Cui Yingwei was on his way, he had to meet someone at the airport, so she must read the report first.

‘Why is he anxious?’ she asked, she was extremely dissatisfied. The HQ’s surprise inspection does not require manipulation or exaggeration. The work is fine, they have not done anything that they needed to hide, they had nothing to fear (Zuben: How sure are you about that?)

‘Does Zoe jie have time to look through the report first?’

‘Send it through,’ Huizhu entered her office. He told her he’d sent the doc.u.ments to her email. He also printed out the report for her and handed it to her.

‘These are the work Peter was asked to do first, there was something else I was doing first.’

‘Very well,’

Wu Fei went back to his work.

Huizhu called her own subordinates to confirm the situation on her side of things, after she began to look at Wu Fei’s reports.

The reports Wu Fei was dealing with, she mostly knew about, but there were a few projects she was not familiar with. She was unfamiliar with the content and unclear about the details. These were projects Cui Yingwei was responsible for. They had a clear division of labour between them. (Zuben: Why can’t we hear about this in a summary later on?)

There were several reports that she looked through quickly everything was fine except one; the data was a little strange. She was running a similar project and the data was not the same. But she thought the issue was not big, she read through the reports again. There was some connection. She called for Wu Fei to bring the related materials.

She looked through them and discovered the discrepancies.

She called Wi Fei again,

‘There is something off in these three doc.u.ments, but it has you and Peter’s signatures on it.’

Wu Fei looked like he was thinking carefully, ‘He was especially busy, so he allowed me to sign the doc.u.ments.’

‘And Molly?’ Huizhu asked. Molly was Cui Yingwei’s other a.s.sistant, more than Wu Fei, Molly should have looked through and signed this.

Wu Fei was puzzled, but wanted to speak for himself, ‘Peter wanted to give me the opportunity for more responsibility, so he allowed me to do this. I completed it.’

Huizhu nodded. Wu Fei was about to leave but then the turned back and asked, ‘Zoe jie, what is the problem here?’

Huizhu thought for a moment, then shook her head. He left.

Huizhu read through the doc.u.ments again then made a decision. She could not help but fish for her cigarettes. She lit it up and took a long drag, then blew the smoke back out. The smoke wafted up into the air obscuring her vision.

As she finished her smoke, Yingwei returned. She heard him call for Wu Fei to get him a file. Huizhu crushed her cigarette b.u.t.t in the ashtray. She grabbed the doc.u.ments in question and left her office. She intercepted Wu Fei, taking the requested file from him, ‘I will take this to him, you are very busy,’

Wu Fe thanked her. He seemed to be aware something was not quite right. He watched Huizhu head to Yingwei’s office.

Huizhu entered Yingwei’s office without alerting him, and placed the doc.u.ments on his desk. He looked up and his expression changed to surprise when he found her there. She did not wait for him to speak before she took a seat.

He looked at the doc.u.ments, then at her, ‘Zoe. Are your team’s reports done?’

‘Almost,’

‘Very good, when I am going to the airport to meet the investigators, we will go together.’

Huizhu did not want to beat around the bush; she asked him directly, ‘What are your plans with this? The investigators will certainly scrutinise this,’ she asked referring to the doc.u.ments.

There was a flash of surprise and panic in his expression, but he quickly got himself back together, ‘What? What did you find?’ he said in feigned confusion.

Huizhu looked at him directly for a while before she smiled and said, ‘Everything is fine,’

Cui YIngwei also laughed, ‘Zoe, you have always been very smart. You said before you wanted to return to domestic development? I will give you the position to prove my vision is good. You have done the right thing.’

Huizhu nodded and rose from her seat, ‘I will return to my office. Call me when you’re ready to leave for the airport.’

Yingwei nodded and watched closely as Huizhu left his office. He followed and watched her return to her office.

Huizhu sat thinking for a while before picking up her phone and text Wu Fei. She informed him that the figures on those doc.u.ments were wrong, and may be an indication of fraud and a violation of regulations (Zuben: China has regulations?). Since he signed the contract and doc.u.ments, he needed to gather all related emails, materials and evidence, just in case he was discredited.

Wu Fei saw the text, and paled. He did not dare look at Huizhu’s or Yingwei’s offices. He stared at his mobile phone wondering what to do. He remembered the doc.u.ments that Huizhu had been looking at. He replied; they were mostly verbal instructions. I will check.

Huizhu read the text and lit another cigarette. She had guessed so. He would be cautious and not leave behind anything that could be directly traced back to his office. The board was certainly aware of something going on, why else would there be a surprise inspection. If she pretends not to know what was going on, she would not have the slightest trouble. (Zuben: Are you sure about that?)

But did she really want to pretend not to know?

As she smoked, she looked at Wu Fei’s desk. It sat between her and Cui Yingwei’s offices. She could see him diligently working through the gla.s.s. He was only twenty-six, hard-working, earnest, polite and modest. The kind of person she appreciated. There were not many people like him, who graduated from a good university and had a good family, who were still willing to work hard. Most of them just liked to boast.

She text Wu Fei again: Find out the costings, whether other projects are involved, background information about the companies, email correspondence etc. She had always taught Wu Fei, to always do background checks on companies they did business with. Huizhu guessed that all the pre-contract cautionary measures would not have been taken because Cui Yingwei arranged things.

Wu Fei was quick to reply: Yes.

Huizhu did not manage Wu Fei after that. Before she left for the airport with Yingwei, she told him, ‘If anything comes up, make sure you call me,’

Collecting the auditors was very smooth. Yingwei behaved like he had no care in the world. He laughed and chatted merrily with the auditors and coordinated well with Huizhu. If Yingwei doesn’t know why they are here, she didn’t know why they were here. From the auditors' point of view, HQ truly believed something was going on. They asked to be at the offices at 9AM, and requested Yingwei give them the preliminary reports that evening.

Yingwei readily agreed, Huizhu maintained her composure.

The auditor did not want them to have time to adjust the reports. She knew, tomorrow was key.

After they ate, and got the auditors settled in their hotel, Yingwei and Huizhu returned to the company together,

‘Zoe. I have been in this company for twenty years, to get to where I am now. The company trusts me. I have lovingly led subordinates how are loyal to the company. If you coordinate well with me, naturally, you will have boundless prospects in this company. The headquarters also highly regard your ability, perhaps, when I retire, my position would be yours.’

Huizhi smiled in reply and thanked him.

Huizhu did not return to her office, but got into her car and went directly home. On the way, she called Wu Fei, ‘Peter returned. He asked me about a few things and to get everyone to be at the office at 9AM tomorrow and then left,’

‘Oh,’ then she said, ‘With everything you can find come to my house. We would look everything over and come up with a plan of action. Tomorrow will be very important.’

When she got home, she poured herself a gla.s.s of wine and gave her old boss in the US a call,

‘Zoe! To what do I owe the pleasure?’

She took a sip of wine and told him what was happening.

Jan was very surprised, ‘What do you plan to do?’

‘Jan, what do you think I should do if I lose all I have presently?’

Jan did not speak for a long time then said, ‘ You know, I will support any decision you make. When you said you were returning home, although I could not bear it, I did not argue and let you go. You always know what you want to do. Though now you are back in that environment, can you say you have no regrets?’

‘Yes,’

‘So do what you think you must. Although, it has nothing to do with you and you won’t lose anything,’

Huizhu was silent this time, then she said, ‘Jan, you know that I am diligent. My kind of diligence doesn’t allow me to help an evildoer commit crimes. I will certainly lose something; that is my conscience.’

‘But, you cannot go back from that, Zoe’ Jan said.

Huizhu knew as well, that there was no escape route.

 ‘I know,’ she replied

‘Good luck,’ Jan said.

(Zuben: Typical useless white person in an Asian book/drama. Honestly, what a waste of time conversation. It’s like a robot sounding board.)

Later that evening, Wu Fei arrived and he and Huizhu went through the contenscious doc.u.ments again. They tried to predict how the auditor might find the discrepancies, Yingwei’s response, how Wu Fei might be affected.

‘You have little experience, not many qualifications and little to fear. It can’t be proven that you got any benefits from these arrangements, that is what he is counting on. His best excuse would be that he was too trusting of you, therefore did not pay attention, he has given you an opportunity but you have misused it. He will say he will bear responsibility as your boss. Despite you as a fall guy, he will be hoping it is not discovered because a criminal investigation may be launched, which eventually implicate him. So he will ask that you’re not reported to the authorities, it will be detrimental to the company’s reputation and so on…’

Wu Fei was very anxious, but he bore it well and nodded.

‘His personal accounts would have already been cleaned of evidence, so I believe the worst case scenario is that you will be fired.’

Anger burned in Wu Fei’s heart. It was so unfair. This had been a very good job, of course, he did not want to kick the black pot, their field was a small one; most people knew each other, if he was fired because of this, how would he find a good job later?

‘But, he can’t prove he is completely ignorant of this matter,’ she said to Wu Fei. If Cui was questioned directly, it would be difficult for him to claim ignorance. ‘I have a lawyer friend,’ Huizhu continued as she handed her friend#s business card to Wu Fei, ‘call him and he will help you deal with this matter. Tomorrow speak to Peter(Yingwei), tell him you’re aware of the situation and you have a lawyer,’

Wu Fei gratefully took the business card, ‘But he will know someone in the company is behind me,’

‘He will know that it is I. Once this matter is exposed, I will know whether he will open his eyes to talk nonsense and throw dirty water about,’

Wu Fei could only say a heartfelt, ‘Thanks,’

Later that evening, Huizhu could not sleep. She did not know if she would regret her actions, but she hoped things did not turn out too badly. She picked up her phone intending to call Zhengqing, but she looked at the time and saw it was late. So she decided not to bother him.

Zhengqing had not gone to bed. He just finished bathing, and was checking his emails, no new mails. Zhengqin was very confused.

The next day, many people were suffering.

Zhengqing arrived at Yongkai, and saw Yufei was on time to work. The sun must be rising in the west. She had a lot of make-up on, but all that bright make-up did not help her dark expression. Zhengqing decided it was not his concern, as long as she did her work properly, he did not care.

It really did seem as though Yufei had eaten the wrong medicine, for she was going all out and working earnestly, Zhengqing was quite puzzled.

Later, Yingjie called Zhengqing and asked about Yufei. They were in a cold war, quarrelling. Yingjie decided to ask Zhengqing for help.

Zhengqing got a headache, he did not have any interest in dealing with other people’s personal matters, and certainly had no skill in dealing with this kind of mother-in-law emotional issues. This is why he thought he did not need love, as long as he got along well with his partner, the marriage would be good. Yet, he didn’t know how he was going to let Yingjie down, but he suddenly had a brainwave, ‘Why don’t you ask Xiaoting, she is friends with Yufei, perhaps she knows how to coax her,’

‘Yes, I will call Xiaotime. She is an angel, she will know what to do.’ Yingjie apologised for troubling him and rang off.

Xiaoting is an angel? Zhengqing put his phone away, then thought of Yin Ting saying Yingjie was like a prince on a white horse.

Do these people appreciate each other? Really should not.

He had a lot of emails, but none from Yin Ting. He was really curious about what that girl wanted to send him.

At lunch time, he was eating when Huizhu called him, she sounded tired.

There was an audit meeting, and there had been trouble. She had been prepared for it but there was going to be fall out. She knew no matter what the outcome was, she was not afraid.

She seemed very tired, but she wanted to talk to someone.

She did not have much time, but Zhengqing understood that her work had many twists and turns, though she was obstinate and argumentative, she was really anxious.

Zhengqing was listening to her as he looked at his mail. There was a mail from Tingting Yuli 413. Zhengqing jumped, but he could not give it his attention because he was still speaking to Huizhu.

‘Do you know why the moon has phases?’ Zhengqing asked Huizhu when she finished speaking,

‘Beacause humans are always parting and meeting?’ she asked back

Zhengqing smiled, that would be the original answer,

‘Or should I give the scientific answer?’

Zhengqing laughed,

Huizhu also laughed. Zhengqing was helping her feel relaxed.

‘Because change is beautiful, don’t be afraid of change.’ Zhengqing replied, ‘This is what a child told me yesterday,’

Huizhu laughed, ‘Thank you,’ she said.

Change was also beautiful. (Zuben: If the change was from mansion to hovel, is it still beautiful…?)

Zuben: This chapter currently owns the t.i.tle of most boring chapter in Please Be More Serious. If I were reading and not translating, this chapter would have been skipped once I read the first paragraph. Actually, I would be surprised if anyone makes it to this point to read my complaints.

Foreigners in Asian dramas are my pet peeve, I never understand what they are going for when they shoehorn a foreigner, it is so cringe! Nothing they are ever told to say makes any sense; it is usually this weird generic collection of words that make little sense in context. They are even worse that the ‘black best friend’ go-gurling her heroine.

Chapter 15: Emails, Letters and Blogs.

Huizhu rang off and Zhengqing opened Yin Ting’s email.

There were many attachments. He was dumbfounded. He had worked for many years and never has he received a report with this many attachments.

Yin Ting wrote, ‘Zhengqing ge, here are all my careful collection of love cheats, love letter examples, moving love stories, most romantic travel destinations, romantic restaurants, romantic strategies and so on. It should help you understand love more (Zuben: How?), and help you level up in love.

No need for thanks. We are allies! GOOD LUCK!

This girl and her ‘has no love,’ ally!

This email was annoying. He had been so curious for so long, and this was it?! At this point he wanted to call Yingjie and tell him not to bother calling her.

Should he forward Jingjie this ready-made email?

Hmm…maybe not. Zhengqing felt uncomfortable, he was in no position to advise people. He felt uncomfortable because this was Yin Ting’s sincerity.

He read the mail again. She was like a child, really like a child. Her lack of success in pursuing those many guys must be because they think she is childish. When he saw her again, he would tell her. A mature and charming woman; that is the kind of woman men like. Collecting love cheats was the wrong direction.

Zhengqing decided his a.n.a.lysis was correct, and as an ally, he should tell her, but as a graceful gentleman, he didn’t want to fight with a girl. Then he remembered his own G.o.ds; he had lots of work to do.

As he got into his work, his secretary knocked on his door, he had a letter.

Someone sent a letter.

He did not know anyone in this day and age who would send letters. Was Yin Ting being naughty?

When he got the letter from his secretary, he looked it over. The writing was immature yet very correct. The return address was the orphanage.

Zhengqing quickly opened the envelope; it was a thank you letter.

Dear Zhengqing-shushu, it read, Zhengqing began to smile, thank you for your kind donation to the mountain orphanage. Thank you for driving us back to our orphanage. We will make sure uncle’s kindness reaches the rural orphanage. Please be rest a.s.sured, shushu.

The letter was signed by; s.h.i.+ Liang, Han Xiadong and Liu Qin.

Three names with different handwritings, they must have each signed it.

Such a simple letter, Zhengqing thought as he read it over and over again. He was reluctant to put it away. It was not the first time he was ever thanked, nor was it the first time he had ever helped others, but he could not describe the happiness he felt.

His secretary came called him to remind him of the meeting. He gently folded the letter and sighed; he had planned to deal with some work before the meeting, now he could not.

He felt that Yin Ting was responsible for this, as he grabbed his laptop and left for the conference room.

Huizhu went to the conference room before she met Cui Yingwei. She had arrived a little late, to keep her from meeting Yingwei. Wu Fei sent a text to tell her that he has spoken to Yingwei that morning on the advice of the lawyer. He had told Cui Yingwei that if there were any problems found in the projects that had issues were solely blamed on him, he will start legal proceedings.

Huizhu thought that Wu Fei handled the situation very well. She did not regret helping him but she knew that it was going to get her burned. (Zuben: Taking steps to protect yourself as well would have been good, but hey…)

The meeting proved her hypothesis. Wu Fei was smart and strong, and Yingwei knew who was behind him. So he was looking at her, she knew his intentions. Wu Fei signed the doc.u.ments so he was centre-stage with the auditors.

Cui Yingwei’s original plan that no one knew of the situation from the beginning was best, but if someone traced; all the doc.u.ments have Wu Fei’s signature, therefore was his responsibility. Wu Fei was his junior, and he had a gentle personality, so he won’t fight back, therefore, they can make him resign with the blame on his head. No one would ever know.

In the end, the problems with the contract was attributed to negligence which cause loss to the company rather than fraud and bribery. Cui Yingwei was unable to s.h.i.+rk this responsibility.

When they came across each other, he sneered at her and said mockingly, ‘You’re so great,’

‘Thanks,’ she sneered back.

In the afternoon, Yingwei took the headquarter auditors out. He did not include Huizhu.

Huizhu was also prepared, and was calm about it. The atmosphere in the company wasn’t good. We Fei was being low key and they could not talk. Certainly, Yingwei could not speak to him either.

In her office, Huizhu lit a cigarette. She did not know what the immediate future would bring. She had made an enemy of her superior. She blew out the smoke as she recalled Yingwei’s sneer.

Yingwei would certainly convince the representatives, she guessed. He will win Wu Fei to his side and would eventually begin plans to make Wu Fei his right hand man. There were so many points to consider, but Wu Fei would not be blamed and put under investigation, would not need to be dismissed. His work history would not have this mark.

Huizhu wanted to chat with Zhengqing, even though she had spoken to him a few hours ago, she wanted to know his opinion. Although she did not regret it, she really needed someone to tell her she had done well.

The phone rang but was immediately cut off. She received a short text: In a meeting, will call you back.

Huizhu sighed; this is where a busy man is not good. When you need his time, he was busy. She suddenly felt ridiculous; she was a woman if she didn’t have work she could always get married. The thought made her scoff.

She hasn’t worked this hard all her life to give it up getting married.

Near six, Zhengqing called her back to ask her what was up. She said nothing (Zuben: ¬.¬), she had forgotten what she wanted to ask him, so it must not be important. So he said politely,

‘Alright, if you remember or need anything call me. I will hang up first, lots to do.’

Huizhu stared at her cellphone after he hung up. She was okay, but she had been in her office all day in a daze. She suddenly wondered does she and Zhengqing really fit? When she needed him, he was in a meeting. When she was trying to be strong, he said he was busy. (Zuben: If you want something, request it)

Huizhu was sad.

Yingwei, his secretary and the auditors pa.s.sed Huizhu’s office. He did not call Huizhu to come along. The boss has left, so the rest of the office began to leave as well. Huizhu remained in her office not moving. Wu Fei came to her office and asked,

‘Zoe-jie, can I ask you out for a meal?’

Zoe turned to him and replied quietly, ‘I have something on tonight,’

She picked up her things and walked out. (Zuben: Was she waiting for him?)

Zhengqing was working overtime. He asked his secretary to order some food for him. There were a lot of doc.u.ments before him. He has a habit of always finis.h.i.+ng the work he had to do. Although, it would not be the end of the world if he left it till tomorrow, it just made him uncomfortable.

Now that he was done, he settled back to eat his food.

As he ate he went on his microblog, some popular news was shared between others, and the biggest sharer turned out to be Tingting Yuli 413.

This ID was too eye-catching.

It was Yin Ting. (Zuben: We already know it is Yin Ting!)

Her latest blog post was on her bother Yin Shen cooking dinner. There was a selfie with her holding a plate laughing. She wrote under the picture: Today my brother cooked. It is a rare occasion. This is his cooking, I wanted to show it off. It is so delicious, I cried in the toilet. I got diarrhoea. It ended with an emoticon with its tongue out.

Zhengqing found it funny, and wrote a comment. She should not know it was him, he had no personal photos on his blog. So he felt a sense of security writing a comment.

A little while after, there was a sound that a private message had arrived. Zhengqing clicked on the message, it was from Yin Ting.

Zhengqing nearly choked on his food. His ID was a string of numbers; his mother’s birthday. He did not think that she would recognise him.

At the same time, he got a notification of a new follower. Her message said; It is me!

His phone rang, it was Yin Ting.

‘I am so sorry, I had to talk to you or I would seem rude.’ She said

‘What happened?’

‘I looked at your blog, it was all economic commentary, career experience, industry a.n.a.lysis, and such like. It is all too deep for me and terribly boring. I don’t understand it. I am concerned about you though. I was too hasty, can I un-follow you? You don’t mind do you?’

He did not mind! Miss ‘you have made a mistake’, how rude!

‘We usually have no intersection, you don’t have to see what I write.’

‘Can’t you write about your love life, or gossip or something…?’

Zhengqing was silently annoyed so he said, ‘You can un-follow me,’

  Chapter 16: Tomfoolery.

‘Oh!’ she said

What was it now? Was she going to unfollow or not?

‘Oh…’ she said again.

What did that mean?

‘It seems that there is a s.h.i.+elding function that I have never used.’

Zhengqing was mollified. He was being s.h.i.+elded by his follower. What was the difference? If she had said nothing and un-followed him, he would have only felt awkward, but she called to ask him made him very irritable.

‘Actually, I don’t need to do anything. You don’t update often and I don’t need to read, like or share when you do.’ She said finally. Zhengqing had nothing to say in reply. This angel, he thought, your logic is too lofty for us mortals to understand.

‘I will leave you to it then, bye.’ She said and rang off. The mortal Zhengqing stared at his phone for quite a while until he recovered. He finished the rest of his food, and threw the box away. Was she deleted him or blocking him, which one?!

Before he left his office, he went online to the blogging site again to look at Tingting Yuli’s blog. He decided that Yin Ting blocked him probably.

For the next few days, Zhengqing was busy so he did not think about the situation. He realised he had not heard from Huizhu. He thought to give her a call but he still had a lot of work to do (Zuben: Work is never done), so he forgot to call her.

Yingjie called him everyday to ask him about Yufei. Yufei came to his office everyday to ask him not to talk to Yingjie.

Honestly, he didn’t want to have anything to do with their relations.h.i.+p. Could these two adults not understand?

He went online and read an economic a.n.a.lyst's article, found it interesting and shared it on his blog with is work colleagues.

He went off to the break room to get some water and returned to his office. When he refreshed the page, he saw that Tingting Yuli 413 had commented. She wrote only one word: Sofa!!!!! And a dancing emoticon.

Zhengqing was shocked. It was the first time he had ever encountered the “s.n.a.t.c.h the sofa game”.  Well, it showed that she had not actually blocked him.

Zhengqing did not want to pay attention to her, but he found himself smiling as he imagined her raising her hands high and shouting “Sofa!” She was such a little girl. He pulled another folder and began working again.

There was a notification ping and his hands itched to see.

It was Tingting Yuli 413, this time she wrote: Hey, no one?! The sofa is mine!!! With the dancing emoticon again.

He was speechless. He felt like he should call this girl and ask her: h.e.l.lo, did you dream of me?

He certainly would not. He closed the blog and went through his work with single mindedness. In the afternoon, he got a call from Yingjie again, ‘Yufei doesn’t pay attention to me, I really need your help.’

Zhengqing frowned, he really could not help. He was busy. Was it friends.h.i.+p to intervene in the relations.h.i.+ps of others? He didn’t feel it was appropriate.

‘Xiaoting has promised to help. The both of you spoke to Yufei recently. I want to listen to your opinions.’ Yingjie said very humbly. Zhengqing’s heart softened. Besides, Yufei was wandering about in a soulless state, and it was affecting her work. She might as well not be there at all. It might be better to get this sorted out a bit faster.

‘Very well,’

After agreeing to meet Yingjie, he remembered the Yin Ting had sent him a PM on his blog. He hadn’t read it. On his blog, Yin Ting continued to occupy the comments section, and there was a reply to her: Hey, you are very interesting. I have followed you, ah. Let’s have a private chat,’

She replied: ‘No private chats. Thank you.’

That was a good att.i.tude. A girl should not just private chat with anyone. Who knew what the person had in mind.

But the person did not get discouraged: I read your blog, it’s very interesting. I also like travelling. Let’s chat.’

Zhengqing was annoyed; why was it on his blog that this person was hara.s.sing another. He checked the man’s profile, he didn’t know him.

Tingting Yuli 413 replied: I am not being polite. I have blocked you.

Zhengqing laughed. A decisive move! Did she really block the offending fellow? He also blocked the profile.

Friday rolled in and Zhengqing was early to work as usual. Many of his colleagues have to arrived yet. He turned on his computer and suddenly had the urge to post something. There were new industry policies published the night before that would be good. So he posted that. He waited a while for comments, but nothing happened. So he went to the break room to make himself coffee.

When he returned, he saw he had three comments! It was so early in the morning; there should not have been so quick a response.

Tingting Yuli 413: Sofa!!!! (Zuben: Even understanding it now makes it dafter)

Zhengqing laughed.

Tingting Yuli 413: The sofa is mine!!!!!

Tingting Yuli 413: Look out the window!!!!!

He was confused, what was out the window? Was there an angel flying? He looked out his windows, and saw nothing but sky, so he asked: What is out there?

Half a day pa.s.sed and there was no reply. He was so curious he wanted to call her.

He checked his blog again when he had a break, she had finally replied: The big beautiful sky! (Zuben: Shocking)

Zhengqing thumped his head on his desk. This girl, was she teasing him? With five exclamation marks, she sent him to the window.

She sent a message: Do you know why the clouds come in many colours?

Zhengqing was still looking at his blog, when his secretary came to call him,

‘Qiu Zong. Everyone has arrived for the nine o’ clock meeting.’

Zhengqing remembered there was a nine o’clock meeting every Friday! He looked at the clock, it really was time. He nodded, ‘I’ll be there shortly,’

He replied: Because the cloud has water droplets and ice crystals that change with atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind. You need to read to understand specifics.

He looked at the time. He should not be too late for the meeting.

After a little wait, she replied: Wrong! It is because the sky is filled with all kinds of dreams. The sky can accommodate all kinds.

He knew it. He knew she was going to give him a silly answer.

With his curiosity satisfied, he picked up his laptop and went to the conference room. Everyone was waiting for him. He felt a little guilty because he was never late.

He sat and opened his laptop. He pulled up the meeting notes and opened his blog.

‘Begin,’

The sales manager’s clear voice began to read out the sales reports. He noted there was a message on his blog.

Tingting Yuli 413: Do you know why the sky is blue?

She wasn’t finished?

Zhengqing looked at his colleagues. No one noticed what he was doing, so he typed: In a meeting.

She replied: Oh.

Then she was gone.

Zhengqing went back to listening to the meeting.

Zhengqing was happy; several of their goals have been met. Everyone was satisfied. There was a relaxed atmosphere in the conference room as they finished.

After the meeting, people remained chatting to each other as they tidied up. Someone pointed out the window at a cloud saying how long and strange it looked. Another person commented on how blue the sky was.

As Zhengqing made his way out, he pretended he wasn’t listening on the conversations. He suddenly flushed and his heart sunk as he remembered that his conversation with Yin Ting on the blog was a public forum, and some of his colleagues followed his blog, so they may have seen his silliness.

But the topic must only be a coincidence, he told himself at an attempt at comfort. He was a vice-president, he should be dignified.

When he returned to his office, his secretary handed him a doc.u.ment to sign because it needed to be sent off immediately. It took a bit of time to read through and sign. He answered a phone call from Yong Kai’s partners, then finally had time to go on his blog.

His face was green with dismay.

His blog had never been so lively.

There were comments under the serious content he posted that morning.

Most of them were with TingTing Yuli 413 chatting with other IDs that were his work colleagues.

Most people were asking her “Why the sky was blue”

Yin Ting had answered: Because the day is happy!

That joke was not funny, Zhengqing thought. But a bunch of people replied with many ha ha ha has.

Some people replied: today’s sky is very blue.

s.h.i.+t! That sounded very familiar!

Zhengqing wondered if he would have to block Miss Yin Ting.

Zuben: This was tedious.

❀