In Zheng Shuyi's mind, writing and organizing this audio could be easily done by any person with only an undergraduate education.
So she didn't pay much attention to Qin Shiyue. The deadline for Shi Yan's interview draft was hanging over her head, and she still had to add a lot more details.
Since Zheng Shuyi started her career, she had never spent so much time on one single draft.
It wasn't because she wasn't working hard enough in the past. Her analytical, comprehension, and organization skills were all fully capable of handling the tasks she received, and most of the time she even had extra time to relax.
But this time, the difficulty of the draft jumped to a whole new level.
Zheng Shuyi felt that this was very tiring for her.
Shi Yan gave a lot of information in his words, and because of this, choosing which words of his to use became the biggest difficulty.
It seemed that if she let any words out, the following content would lack logic and wouldn't make sense.
Zheng Shuyi must carefully consider and choose what to use from every sentence.
To concentrate better, Zheng Shuyi took out the noise-canceling earbuds that she hadn't used for a long time and adjusted the frequency to the highest. The world around her instantly quieted down; even the sound of air movement seemed to have stopped.
Many people were resting during their lunch break, and the lights in the office area were also dimmed.
Qin Shiyue listened to the audio for half an hour and only managed to write three lines on her document. For most of the technical terms, she could somewhat guess what they were at the beginning, but soon, she couldn't understand anything at all.
She looked around, then moved her chair over. She was prepared to shamelessly ask her questions.
She leaned closer to Zheng Shuyi and whispered, "Sister Shuyi?"
No reply.
Qin Shiyue took a breath and raised her voice a bit, "Sister Zheng Shuyi?"
Zheng Shuyi didn't even blink.
It could be said that since childhood, Qin Shiyue has never received such a cold response before.
Qin Shiyue sat back down, stuffed her earbuds back into her bag, and prepared to leave.
But just when she was about to click the off button, she stopped, closed her eyes, and took two deep breaths.
There's nothing else I can do.
——
Zheng Shuyi was completely buried in her thoughts. When she raised her head again, it was already a quarter past six.
The working hours here only lasted until six o'clock, but rarely any social media platform workers can get off work on time these days.
After all, she was already working overtime. The atmosphere around wasn't as serious as before, some were even chattering to each other.
Zheng Shuyi faintly heard that someone was talking about the interns, so she subconsciously turned her head to look at the desk beside her.
— It was empty.
The chair had been pushed in already, the computer was closed, and even the desk has been cleaned up neatly.
She seemed to be a girl who really liked to be clean and organized.
But she didn't seem to like to work as much : )
Zheng Shuyi was a little speechless.
The first day of the internship was like this, god knows what it will be like in the future.
She rubbed her eyebrows, turned around, and leaned against Kong Nan's shoulder. She said weakly, "Stop writing, let's chat for a bit."
"Chat about what?"
Just as Zheng Shuyi was about to speak, someone behind her suddenly clapped her hands.
Everyone looked towards where the sound came from.
Xu Yuling stood there, and a young lady was behind her.
"Let me introduce her to everyone, this is Cheng Baier, a new intern, please welcome her!"
She brought the newcomer to introduce her, it was obvious that the two of them knew each other quite well already. Everyone else was also very nice and greeted Cheng Beier one after another.
In this harmonious atmosphere, the empty seat that belonged to Qin Shiyue seemed a bit unnatural.
How could a person like Xu Yuling miss such a detail? She glanced over and asked Zheng Shuyi with a smile, "Where's your intern? Why don't you introduce her to everyone too?"
The conflict between the two was never publicly announced, so everyone thought they were still good colleagues with each other.
Zheng Shuyi smiled, "She left already."
"Wow, so early..." Xu Yuling turned her head and waved to Cheng Beier, "you can continue working."
Zheng Shuyi: "..."
After she left, everyone got back to work mode, but it was difficult for Zheng Shuyi to fully concentrate anymore.
Every time she saw Qin Shiyue's empty seat, she would think of Xu Yuling's arrogance just now.
When she left for the bathroom, she happened to meet an HR and asked about Cheng Beier.
Graduated from the top media college in China, best grades in her profession, won national awards for three years in a roll, a double degree in finance, published an article as a junior, and have won national awards.
...
Zheng Shuyi felt a bit unfair.
After getting back to her desk, she heard some people discussing again.
"Xu Yuling's intern has such a special background. Her whole family is familiar with finance, and she has incredible connections as well. I think her aunt is an executive of Mingyu."
"Yeah, I was about to say. She was never interested in finding work for herself, why did she volunteer to take this intern? She sure picked up a great deal."
"On top of that, not only is her grades insane, she is also such a hard worker. Working overtime on the first day, I even feel kind of embarrassed myself."
Zheng Shuyi quietly placed on her earbuds again.
As long as I don't compare with others, I wouldn't feel bad.
——
At the same time, Shi Family's house.
Qin Shiyue has always been insensitive to the change of seasons. Every year, she only realizes that winter has arrived when the loquat1 tree in the yard started to bloom.
In this season, when the days were short and nights were long, the sky had already gotten dark. Clusters of white loquat flowers were crowded on the branches, cute and beautiful.
Scents of the flowers drifted into the house and dissolved into the smell of dinner.
In the dining room, the phone on the table vibrated several times, but Qin Shiyue didn't bother to check it.
At this moment, Song Lelan was sitting towards her left, and Qin Xiaoming was sitting towards her right.
Technically, the family of three should be happily eating together, but Shi Yan also sat in front of Qin Shiyue, making it impossible for Qin Shiyue to act normally.
The long table is more than a meter wide, and there was a row of candles standing in between the dinner plates, letting off a shadowy glow.
"How's your first day of work?"
Song Lelan talked to her daughter while checking her phone.
Qin Shiyue didn't answer right away. She took a peek at Shi Yan, and after making sure that he was paying attention to his phone instead of her, she replied quietly, "It's not very good. The job is so boring. The only thing she told me to do was type up a recording. I'm a reporter, not a typewriter..."
"Oh," Song Lelan gave herself a mouthful of grapes, and after chewing twice, she continued to ask, "Are you getting along with your colleagues?"
Qin Shiyue pursed her lips and didn't reply.
Song Lelan was a well-known pop singer, but she kept her daily life very private from others.
Even some people who knew her quite well didn't know that she was married and had children.
Because of that, she also spent very little time with her daughter.
At the moment, Song Lelan wasn't particularly interested in this topic. Then, she received a call from her agent and left the table.
After she left, Qin Xiaoming placed down his phone and asked, "Who do you work for?"
Qin Shiyue's tone changed, "I don't remember, think it's Zheng something."
The candlelight flickered and Shi Yan looked up slightly.
"Zheng Shuyi?" Qin Xiaoming asked.
Qin Shiyue raised her eyebrows, "Dad, do you know her?"
"Talked to her a few times. She's okay, and you have a lot to learn from her."
Qin Shiyue threw away the towel after wiping her hands and asked coldly, "Yeah I want to learn, but I'm not sure if she's willing to teach."
"Oh?" Qin Xiaoming's expression finally grew serious. He leaned back to the chair and made a posture of ready to listen carefully.
Even Shi Yan raised his eyebrows and started to pay attention to her.
Although Qin Shiyue was forced to go to work, she wasn't that hopeless of a person. She knew very well that her performance in this job will determine her quality of life in the future.
So she was playing safe and really wanted to work as hard as she could.
But Miss Qin has been living her life happily for more than twenty years. Wherever she went, there would be people praising her and respecting her. The graduation problem she had was the biggest thing that ever happened to her, and in the end, the school didn't do too much about it.
And today, she asked Zheng Shuyi for help several times, and yet she didn't even give her the slightest response.
When it was finally to get off work, Zheng Shuyi didn't even look at her after she picked up her bag to leave.
Qin Shiyue had never been treated so poorly before, making her quite angry as she talked.
When accusing Zheng Shuyi, her eyes slowly turned red as well.
Of course, while explaining, she also added in a tone of miserable pitifulness, making her sound wronged and hoping that her audience would feel sorry for her.
After she finished, the dining room was silent for a while.
Qin Shiyue quietly observed Shi Yan's reaction.
Shi Yan placed his phone down on the table and looked up.
But after that one glance, he looked back down and slowly wiped his hands with a towel.
The little arc at the corner of his mouth made her quite scared.
She didn't know what her uncle meant, or whether or not he felt pity for her.
——
Looking out from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the officer, the bright moon was hanging on top of the city, and the twinkling stars were like sprinkles added to this beautiful night scene.
Unfortunately, people working overtime didn't have the time to appreciate this scene.
At a quarter past ten, Zheng Shuyi revised the final details and sent the draft to Tang Yi. After cleaning everything up, she rubbed her neck, packed up, and took a taxi home.
There was a bit of traffic on the way home, and it took her almost half an hour to arrive.
Zheng Shuyi lied on her bed after taking a shower and Tang Yi's reply suddenly appeared on her phone.
The text said that she read it already, that she had no additional comments to add, and already sent it to the chief editor.
All of these were hints that Tang Yi was very satisfied with her draft.
In fact, when Zheng Shuyi finished writing the first draft, she already knew it was going to be good. She confidently knew that this would be a huge hit and increase their popularity significantly.
She rolled over, propped her chin, dangled her legs, and a smile gradually appeared on her face.
Yay, everything seems to be going great!
The only thing was that her progress with Shi Yan seemed to have slowed down.
Just like the rapidly changing weather, Zheng Shuyi's face immediately frowned as she sighed.
Only if I had his WeChat...
Otherwise, she wouldn't be stressing out every day on how to find opportunities to be with Shi Yan.
What's wrong with this man? When we first met, he was the one who was interested in me at first. After one rejection and now he gave up already?
Is he waiting for me to confess first?
While thinking about this, Zheng Shuyi gradually fell asleep.
The next day, she received the good news as expected.
The chief editor really liked her draft and has already sent it to Shi Yan, waiting for his final approval.
People would generally feel refreshed at happy moments. On her way to work, she met several colleagues, and regardless of whether they were men or women, they all praised her for her appearance today.
After reaching the building, Zheng Shuyi took off her jacket under the heater. There seemed to be a bright halo surrounding her body and following her to her desk.
Qin Shiyue arrived a minute earlier than she did. When she was applying hand cream, she heard someone coming over and looked up.
Although she didn't want to admit it, her look stayed on Zheng Shuyi for quite a few seconds.
Her hair, her face, her waist and hips, her smooth and slender legs...
When she realized that she had been staring, she immediately turned around and continued to apply hand cream with her back turned to Zheng Shuyi.
Zheng Shuyi happily waited all morning, and Mingyu finally replied.
She opened the mail excitedly.
-Rejected.
There were only a few comments.
The situation was unexpected, but Zheng Shuyi edited the draft according to the comments.
The following day, she opened the feedback mail again, still rejected.
Zheng Shuyi started to get worried and felt that something was wrong.
When her draft was rejected for the third time, she went directly to Tang Yi.
"What do you mean? There aren't even any comments and they just gave me a rejection?"
Tang Yi couldn't help it, "Well it's our first interview with him, we didn't know that he would so strict."
After speaking, she sneered, "Didn't you say he likes you?"
A restless feeling filled Zheng Shuyi's heart. She felt very uncomfortable and made it hard for her to accept this reality.
Zheng Shuyi's eyes flashed, and after a moment, she asked, "Editor-in-chief, can you give me Shi Yan's phone number?"
Tang Yi also raised his eyes and studied Zheng Shuyi while asking, "What do you want that for?"
"I'll ask him myself."
Before Tang Yi could think about anything else, Zheng Shuyi had already leaned forward to inches away from her face and asked with a pitiful face.
"Sister Yi, just give me his phone number, please. It's been several times, and if we don't publish this quickly, we'll be late!"
Tang Yi wanted to refuse but her arms were suddenly hugged and swung by Zheng Shuyi.
"Just ask normally, what's up with all this?" Tang Yi frowned and took out her phone, "Go ask him carefully to see if you messed up somewhere."
Zheng Shuyi wanted to know even more than Tang Yi. After receiving Shi Yan's phone number, she immediately went to the quiet balcony.
However, this afternoon, Zheng Shuyi called three times, all of which ended up being "The other line is busy".
She sat at her desk staring at her phone.
What a useless thousand yuan phone, just give me the reply!
A sudden thunder from outside of the window woke Zheng Shuyi up. She looked around; everyone else went home already, she was the only one left.
Zheng Shuyi decided to pick up her bag and leave as well.
When preparing to call a taxi in the elevator, Zheng Shuyi decided whether she should go to Mingyu's headquarters or Shi Yan's home. She chose the second one without even thinking twice.
The black clouds were like mountains floating in the sky, slowly trying to suffocate the city. The weather seemed like it was about to rain any instant, which made all the pedestrians on the street speed up their pace.
Zheng Shuyi didn't have an umbrella, and during the whole ride, she was worried whether it would rain heavily like that night she broke up with Yue Xingzhou.
But she didn't seem to be so unlucky today. At least when she arrived at Bay of Clouds and after signing her name in the visitor registration book, she came across Shi Yan's house and found Shi Yan's car.
The car slowly stopped. Zheng Shuyi seemed to be completely distracted and didn't notice at all.
The person in the back seat didn't speak, and the driver didn't say anything either. They just waited patiently.
The sky was gloomy, but the street lights haven't turned on yet.
Shi Yan turned his head and looked toward her through the car window.
Zheng Shuyi was standing there motionlessly with her head lowered as if she was thinking about something.
As part of her job, she was dressed nicely from top to bottom.
The wind suddenly blew the leaves and brought Zheng Shuyi back to reality. She looked up and found Shi Yan's car right in front of her.
The tinted car window was like a single-sided mirror. People on the outside can't see what was inside, but people inside could clearly see what was on the outside.
Shi Yan looked away, took off his glasses, and lowered his head to wipe them.
When he placed his glasses on again and got out of the car, Zheng Shuyi had already walked up to the car.
Shi Yan stood in front of her. He just looked at her, waiting for her to speak.
Some people may have a smile on their faces, but in fact, they were panicking so much that they had no idea what to say at all.
Do I say? "Do you have a problem with me?" No, is that too aggressive?
What if he really does?
I can't give him this chance.
In the quiet neighborhood, there was only the sound of the autumn breeze blowing on the leaves.
A few seconds later, Shi Yan seemed to be out of patience. After looking at his watch, he placed one hand in his pocket and looked down at the person in front of him, "What's the matter?"
Zheng Shuyi suddenly looked up at him and blinked.
"I think that maybe you want to see me, so I came."
"..."
The street lights suddenly lit up one after another, singing brightly on Zheng Shuyi's face.
A brief moment of silence later, Shi Yan didn't speak, instead, he laughed.
This was the first time Zheng Shuyi saw him laugh.
Although she had no idea why he was so happy.