After Forcing Me to Work, the Boss Regretted It - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning, for once, I got up early.

Shen Yueheng was still deep asleep. Looking at his peaceful sleeping face, I couldn’t help thinking back to the last time he had fallen asleep so calmly in front of me.

It seemed like there had been many times, but the one I remembered most clearly was when we were eighteen.

The day we first arrived in City A at eighteen, the two of us rented a hotel room with terrible soundproofing.

We had spent almost the entire night falling asleep to the young couple next door whispering to each other.

Outside that shabby hotel were high-rises just beginning to glow with city lights. Two rough, thin curtains blurred the brilliant lights outside into a chaotic haze.

Cast into the room, they looked like a tiny light show.

Back then, Shen Yueheng held me tightly in his arms and promised me that he would make something of himself in City A and give me a good life.

A room that was bad in every possible way held our first night in that unfamiliar city, and also preserved the two most sincere hearts of two boys.

And late that night, I quietly slipped out of Shen Yueheng’s embrace, turned onto my side, and silently stared at his sleeping face until the city lights faded and dawn gradually broke before I finally closed my eyes.

Seven years had passed, but the boy’s wholehearted sincerity had never changed.

Shen Yueheng had fulfilled every word he had ever said to me.

My fingertip slowly traced up to his deep-set eyes. Beneath his right eye was a tiny scar, left behind when he got into a fight at the orphanage to stand up for me when we were nine.

Then I stroked along the high bridge of his nose, until my finger stopped on his thin lips.

Shen Yueheng opened his eyes.

At twenty-five, he was still young and handsome, as if he had not changed at all from that night when he was eighteen.

“You’re up so early today?”

Shen Yueheng stopped my restless hand from moving any lower and smiled helplessly. “Get up already. I’ll drive you to work today.”

Tsk. What a mood killer.

At breakfast, I spread a layer of Shen Yueheng’s favorite jam onto a slice of bread. Once I was done, I handed it straight to him.

Shen Yueheng looked up and smiled at me.

“Zhaozhao is so considerate. What did I ever do to deserve such a wonderful partner? Am I being too hasty by forcing him to go to work? Maybe I should just forget it.”

Shen Yueheng stopped chewing his bread and looked at me with helplessness written all over his face. Then he slowly sighed. “Baby, can you please stop acting as your own narrator?”

“I’m just joking.”

Before we left, Shen Yueheng deliberately switched cars in the garage, choosing a low-key basic Audi.

It was the first car he had bought after starting his business.

Back then, just the fact that it had four wheels had impressed me to no end.

I had even bluntly asked him whether he had gone and robbed a bank.

At eight forty in the morning, the car stopped smoothly in front of an office building downtown.

Urban white-collar workers hurried in and out. When I appeared among them in a crisp suit, carrying a briefcase under my arm,

for some reason, I suddenly felt as if I had only now truly grown up.

[You can go!]

I waved at Shen Yueheng through the car window, then plunged headfirst into the bustling office building.

Unexpectedly, the first thing my supervisor said when he saw me was, “Oh my, young man, you look sharp. But our company doesn’t really have any dress code requirements.”

And when I saw that I was the only person in the entire office wearing formal clothes while everyone else was dressed casually,

I instantly felt like this suit on my body was nothing more than a borrowed tiger skin.

I didn’t look like an intern. I looked more like some leader here for an inspection.

The desk next to mine belonged to a very young guy. Apparently, he had only just graduated from university.

When he smiled, two prominent little canine teeth showed, and there was still a bit of student innocence about him.

“Hello, I’m Xu Heng.”

I reached out and shook his hand. “Hello, I’m Xie Zhao.”

“You’re married already, even though you’re so young?”

Xu Heng looked at the plain ring on my ring finger, his tone a little surprised.

I shook my head. “It’s just a matching couple’s ring.”

Xu Heng smiled teasingly. “You and your girlfriend must have a really good relationship. Not many people wear rings when they aren’t married.”

I nodded vaguely and did not say much.

After all, I had only just arrived. It was better to avoid sensitive topics like sexual orientation whenever possible.

A lot of the time, going with the crowd helped avoid plenty of trouble.

Xu Heng was not only cheerful and lively, but also very helpful.

Not only did he teach me how to use some commonly used office software, he also warmly invited me to have lunch with him later.

The food in the cafeteria tasted average. I was starting to regret not listening to Shen Yueheng and letting Wu Ma prepare a lunchbox for me.

“Honestly, the food at our company has been pretty decent this month. Way better than the past few months.”

Xu Heng noticed I had barely touched my food and asked if I wanted to go to the convenience store with him later to buy some bread.

I nodded. I had just walked into the convenience store with Xu Heng when a video call from Shen Yueheng popped up.

Only then did I suddenly remember that he’d told me yesterday I had to check in with him over video at noon today.

“I’m going to take this. You go ahead and look around.”

On the other end of the call, Shen Yueheng was sitting in his spacious, brightly lit top-floor office. Behind him was a restrained black, white, and gray interior.

His suit jacket was off, and the white shirt on his upper body had a few buttons loosely undone at the collar.

Shen Yueheng looked completely lazy and relaxed.

I knew this was his break time.

That face, his brows and eyes faintly touched with fatigue, curved into a slight smile. “How does your first day at work feel?”

I shook my head, then immediately nodded. “It’s all right, I guess. The people here are nicer than I expected.”

Maybe because he saw that I looked a little down, Shen Yueheng’s tone softened even more. “Baby, the beginning is always the hardest. As long as you get through the first few days, everything after that will go more smoothly than you think.”

I nodded casually. Afraid Xu Heng would be waiting too long, I wanted to hang up in a hurry.

“I’m not talking anymore. My coworker is waiting for me. Hanging up, hanging up.”

“Hey–”

The video had already ended. Shen Yueheng immediately sent another message: “If anyone gives you a hard time, you have to tell me.”

Warmth spread through my chest. By the time I found Xu Heng in the convenience store, the smile on my face still hadn’t faded.

“Girlfriend checking in on you, huh?”

I nodded, a little embarrassed.

There wasn’t much work in the afternoon. Especially for an intern like me. In the morning, at least, I had still been assigned some odd jobs.

By the afternoon, there was truly nothing to do.

Just then, Xu Heng suddenly poked his head out and winked at me, sliding his chair closer. “Do you play games?”

My eyes lit up. “What game?”

“You play Free Assault? It’s been really popular lately.”

The answer practically flew out of my mouth. “I do!”

“But we’re still at work.”

Xu Heng looked like an old hand at slacking off, and he clearly knew the ropes.

“The boss and the manager are both out talking business. The company doesn’t have much work right now anyway. We’re just sitting around either way. As long as the supervisor doesn’t see us, we’re fine.”

I hesitated a little, but in the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation of the game.

And so I spent the entire afternoon slacking off and playing games.

At first, I was still a little worried, but after gradually seeing that everyone at their desks was secretly slacking off in their own way, I relaxed and played in peace.

It wasn’t until after I clocked out that it belatedly occurred to me.

What kind of company had the boss and manager out drumming up business while the employees stayed in the office slacking off and gaming?

“Xie Ge! Let’s keep playing tonight! I didn’t expect you to be this good. This little brother bows before you.”

After work, Xu Heng was like a duckling let loose, immediately throwing an arm around my shoulders and calling me Xie Ge over and over.

Being called Xie Ge made me feel unbearably pleased with myself. I hadn’t expected to conquer a coworker with my gaming skills on my very first day at work.

“No problem. I’ll carry you up the ranks!”

I thumped my chest and guaranteed it. The smile was still on my face even when we reached the company entrance and I saw Shen Yueheng.

“Why are you so happy?”

Shen Yueheng handed me a cup of iced milk tea. The car’s air-conditioning was blasting at full power.

Thinking back on that wonderful afternoon of gaming, I suddenly felt like this whole working thing wasn’t so bad after all.

“I’ll drive myself to work tomorrow.”

After Shen Yueheng started the car, he glanced at me again. “Let the driver take you for a few more days. You haven’t driven on the road in too long. I don’t feel comfortable with it.”

I slurped up a pearl and nodded. “That works too.”

When we got home, Wu Ma had already prepared a full table of dishes.

Seeing that I seemed to be in decent spirits, Shen Yueheng also appeared to let out a breath of relief. “Looks like your first day at work was pretty pleasant.”

I was too busy burying my head in my food. After a while, I heard Shen Yueheng call me again, his voice heavier this time.

“Baby.”

His tone was a little low.

Shen Yueheng hated it the most when I ignored what he said, so I immediately looked up and nodded. “It was pretty good. My coworker is really nice. We even made plans to play games together tonight.”

Shen Yueheng seemed a little surprised and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve already made a friend?”

“Yeah. He plays games too, and he even said I was good.”

“That’s good.”