Translator: PKitty
Editor: Pinkrainmi
Quality Check: Isalee
First Published on Chaleuria
Recently there were many reports regarding the college entrance exam, and for someone who had gone through it years ago, Gu Zhun couldn’t help but think back on his foolish self back then. He didn’t know just how fortunate he was, when his biggest headaches were just homework and the college entrance exam. For a third-year high school student, the college entrance exam was a final destination, but it was also a starting point. However, for a fourth-year college student like Gu Zhun, it was undoubtedly the end; starting from today, Gu Zhun would have to start looking for a job and become part of the white-collar workforce.
Gu Zhun jostled his fellow dormitory brothers awake and asked, “Are you going to the job fair?’’
There was a job fair today at the university that was specially aimed towards this year’s graduating students. If they went too late, those people would probably have packed up and left by then.
However, those brothers of his only lifted their hands to give a wave and continued to bury their heads under their quilts. “…Little Gu, I have just decided a moment ago to sit for the graduate entrance exam…”
“…” Gu Zhun controlled his rage. They had all clearly agreed to accept the difficult reality of finding a job. He raised his fist, wanting to punch the brother on the upper bunk. But in the end, he stayed his hand and just sulkily walked away. “You guys should hurry and get up. Your entire day depends on your morning.” In any case, he would always be alone and be by himself.
After washing up and getting dressed, Gu Zhun closed the dorm door as he left.
He was not the second generation of a rich family, and neither was he the second generation of a government official’s family. Gu Zhun had neither money nor connections; he would need to rely on his own two hands to earn everything. Speaking of Gu Zhun’s circumstances, it was really tragic. It was even comparable to those family dramas that portrayed social issues. When he was ten, his parents divorced and his older sister had just turned eighteen and entered adulthood. Their parents packed their respective luggages and left them without looking back—one headed to the east, and found a woman who coquettishly pouted her way into getting married. The other headed to the west, found a man to live comfortably with and ran a small hotel. They left the two siblings behind, all alone in the old house with no one to rely on. At the start, for the first few months, those two people would still send child support. However, that gradually changed. After a few months went by, there was not even a word from them. Under those circumstances, his sister had to give up the chance to further her studies at a university. She went out and found a job, went through arduous experiences, and only after much difficulty did she manage to put her own younger brother through university and smoothly graduate.
Gu Zhun would never forget his sister’s kindness. His sister was the one he trusted the most; besides his sister, he would not trust anyone else.
The people in this world, including himself, are all liars. As long as he studied hard, found a job, became capable of supporting himself, supporting his sister, and could get through life smoothly, then that would be the greatest small blessing in life.
When he got to the job fair, it had long been jammed packed with a swarm of people. Many of the popular companies already had their booths covered in resumes that people had handed in. There was simply no way for Gu Zhun to squeeze in.
He could only stroll elsewhere and settle for something less. If he saw a job position that was somewhat passable, he would hand in one of his resumes. Just when Gu Zhun was feeling hot enough for his soul to leave his body, he had wandered over to the front of a booth that had a different atmosphere compared to those surrounding it. He lifted his eyes to look at the booth’s banner—“Zhang Corporation”. The name was overly simple and crude. The CEO’s surname was most likely Zhang. No, he should say it was 100% likely.
He took out a resume from his backpack, planning to cast his resume into the resume box, just like he had done before at the other booths that weren’t crammed with resumes. He hadn’t even let go before he heard a man’s voice from the side: “Don’t you want to sit down and get to know more about this company?”
“…” Gu Zhun quickly turned around. Only then did he discover a muscular guy wearing sunglasses seated at this very stall. Although he had a poker face on, it was possible to tell that this person had been roasted under the scorching sun to the point of not wanting to speak much. He basically looked like he wanted to yell at someone. Gu Zhun touched the back of his head and sat down awkwardly. “Hello, I am a recent college graduate looking to apply for a job. I think my field of study may not match your company’s business. I am only here to try my luck.”
“I know. I have seen a lot of people like you before.” Yes, the muscle man was indeed experienced. He didn’t know what was wrong with today. He woke up early in the morning only to hear from his boss that the company was setting up a booth at the job fair here and let a driver go over to answer inquiries and conduct the preliminary interview. For the sake of his boss to be able to train a few trusted and capable assistants in the future, only then did the driver not lose his temper at Gu Zhun on the spot. However, this was not the problem to being with; the key point was that each and every one of these university students had been so scared that they went running right to Wen’s Enterprise next door. At times, there would be a few resumes here and there that would be randomly tossed over. He thought that it was because these university students didn’t have good judgement. Never would he think it was because he scared them away looking exactly like a member of the triad.
It was hard enough catching someone that looked as slow-witted as Gu Zhun—how could he let this opportunity slip by so easily?
“What is your major?”
“Chinese Language and Literature.”
“Your major GPA is pretty good and you even passed CET4 and CET6—do you have any other skills?”
“Management.”
“…Guess that counts. Which position would you like to apply for in the company? What is your desired monthly salary?”
Gu Zhun did not expect to be asked a barrage of questions. However, for the sake of a job, he braced himself and answered. Although this particular company was not the ideal one he had aspired for, they were at least considered well-known. Thus, he said, “I will follow the arrangements of the superiors. I can work my way up from the bottom. Just the basic minimum wage will do. I don’t dare to make unreasonable demands.”
After he finished speaking, he gave a deep bow, which gave the muscular guy a bad scare…..should he say that he was honest or…pure? Nowadays it was rare for university students to be like him, so pure of heart and free from desire, with no regard for the pay or benefits.
The muscular guy handed a business card to Gu Zhun and said, “Alright, I got it. I’ve accepted your resume. You’ve been hired.”
“Am I required to go for an interview?”
The muscular guy pushed out his chair and stood up. He waved his hand at Old Li who was sitting on the side flipping through photo books. While Old Li was packing up the documents that were not too messily arranged at the booth, on one side the muscular guy replied, “There is no need. You have been directly hired to be the boss’s executive assistant. You start work tomorrow. There are three months of probation and your salary will be the same as that of an ordinary contract worker.”
He did not give Gu Zhun any chance to reject, and even if he did, he would not do so. The muscular guy left the booth and directly walked up to a luxury car that was parked at the side of the road.
“……” Gu Zhun was still in the midst of emotional turbulence. He had been hired just like that? Which noble benefactor did he just encounter? He got a job this quickly—if his classmates were to hear of it, he would have to treat everyone. In that case, it would be better not to mention it.
The next day, Gu Zhun headed out from the dorm and smoothly got on the public transportation to Zhang Corporation’s headquarters. The office building had a total of twenty stories. Apart from a few of the lower floors which were rented out to a few scattered shops and companies, the rest of the building appeared to be the Zhang Corporation’s property.
Gu Zhun knocked on the president’s office. “Hello, I am Gu Zhun, reporting for work today. Excuse me, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
Gu Zhun pulled at the tie that his sister had ironed perfectly straight to check that it was not crooked and also patted the dust from his cheap suit. Only after ensuring that his attire and image had no issues did he pull the door handle and enter. This was Gu Zhun’s habit—everything had to be done meticulously and with absolute certainty. He would not allow any room for mistakes.
Looking around at the surroundings, the office area was really big. The layout was mainly in simple black and white tones, the interior design was commonly seen in offices, Other than the few shotguns hanging on the wall that signifies a male vitality—it was hard to tell if it was real or fake.
“Good morning.” The president was sitting on a swivel chair, with the back of the chair facing Gu Zhun. Gu Zhun was not able to see his immediate superior at first glance.
“Okay……take a seat at the side. From today onwards, that will be your workspace.” Gu Zhun turned his head to take a look at the smaller office desk to the left of the main office desk. There was a computer and some simple office stationery on it. “You’ll mainly be responsible for signing my document receipts, organizing my agenda, and being available at all times.”
“Yes.”
It was at this moment that the president leisurely turned the swivel chair around. This time, Gu Zhun saw his president’s true appearance and features completely. It’s just that this face was a bit familiar looking…familiar…
Who was it exactly?
A whole morning passed by and Gu Zhun gradually got the hang of his job. As a liberal arts student, he could still handle things like some simple document processing and writing email responses. The two of them didn’t have any other conversations the entire morning. It just happened that Gu Zhun would occasionally sneak a glance at his extremely attractive boss. This glance wasn’t anything serious; other than the first impression where his president looked like someone he knew, the other impressions would be that he was really handsome. Even for a man that was free of desires and ambition, Gu Zhun unconsciously acknowledged that his president was beautiful…no, handsome…then it meant that he must be very handsome.
Every time the girls from his club recommended certain celebrities to Gu Zhun, he would always calmly reply with the same sentence: “I feel that he is quite ordinary,” thwarting their attempts to flirt by using recommendations as an excuse. As such, Gu Zhun stayed in the club and never quit, while his dorm roommates even suspected that he was gay……Looking at it from a healthy man’s perspective, especially a perfectly healthy man living in the metropolis, wouldn’t most of them talk about dirty stories in the dorm or watch some porn?……But our Gu Zhun was nevertheless impregnable; he never talked about anything, he never watched anything, and he would even ask a million questions about why he needed to read an anatomy book…it was as though he had already cultivated into a perfect being comparable to Taiyi Zhenren.
It was approaching noon and the president spoke first: “Do you want to eat together?”
“That’s alright. Eating at the same table as my superior, I’m afraid that’s not too appropriate.”
The president’s knitted his brows. You could clearly see unhappiness in his eyes. “You’ve glanced at me so many times this morning. You still haven’t recognized me yet?”
…Gu Zhun did not expect that all of his sneaky actions had been noticed by the president.
“President, isn’t this our first meeting?” Gu Zhun did not directly look at the president but instead drifted his gaze over to the shotguns on the wall, avoiding the frigid look in the president’s eyes.
The president left his own office desk and leaned against the front of Gu Zhun’s desk, his arms folded, leaving Gu Zhun to face his imposing back. Gu Zhun could distinctly see the toned muscles wrapped by the tight fitting white shirt.
Gu Zhun didn’t dare speak, fearing that if he said anything inappropriate, he would not be able to keep his job.
“Why are you so afraid of me—just think back to high school—” It was a very obvious hint. If Gu Zhun still couldn’t remember at this point, then it wouldn’t simply be a matter of a bad disagreement; he should just go and die!
Gu Zhun racked his brain and activated its search function, continuously going through his classmates in his mind. Who was it exactly…who else had the surname Zhang? Gu Zhun had already done a profile check last night and knew that his immediate superior had the surname Zhang. However, he had unfortunately forgotten the word behind the surname as Gu Zhun never remembered insignificant things.
Gu Zhun unconsciously spilled out whatever that he was turning over in his mind: “Zhang Xiaohong? She’s a girl. At that time, her body was already quite curvaceous…Zhang Yunjing? No, that’s also a girl. She had glasses and braces back then, but I heard that she has already become an internet celebrity…there is still Zhang…”
Zhang Heng turned around to cover Gu Zhun’s mouth. If he still didn’t cover his mouth, who knew what sort of things he would say next? He could still remember his classmates pretty well—it was a pity they were all females. Is my presence in your mind just that small?
“My name is Zhang Heng!”
“Zhang Heng…I remember now…you were the one that sat behind me…the one who didn’t do so well in his studies?” At long last, Gu Zhun finally remembered.
Zhang Heng had a dazed expression as he shook his head, leading Gu Zhun out by the back of his shirt collar. Zhang Heng’s steps were quick as he walked out of the office, entered the elevator, and didn’t stop until they reached the first floor. “Let’s slowly reminisce about the old times.”
A smile that was only skin deep—that was the most terrifying.