This morning, when Lin Yao arrived at the Tianfeng Company to hand something over, several supervisors were present, and she successfully obtained the salary that rightfully belonged to her.
Before she left, she longingly stared at the office that she had been working at for the past year. She discovered that the office buzzed with the sound of telephones ringing constantly, and the scene appeared extremely hectic, but none of this had anything to do with her any longer.
She realized that she should leave and that she no longer had to return here.
She felt a sense of relief, but her feelings of disappointment were even stronger.
She wanted to say goodbye, but those colleagues that she had gotten along with quite well in the past now treated her as if she was invisible. Some even shot her quick glances before burrowing their heads down to continue working... as if it was a mistake to even glance at her.
She suddenly felt a sense of fury rise up inside of her. Did she commit a sin, or did she make some unforgivable mistake?
Why did everyone put on an attitude of hostility and aloofness towards her?
Yes, at the moment, Lin Yao had absolutely no idea what she had done wrong, nor was she aware of what had led her to this point.
******
Lin Yao dazedly stood on Stadium Road as she watched the cars come and go. She didn't even know how she left the place, nor did she know how she ended up mindlessly wandering down this road for about a day now.
By the time she snapped back to reality, Lin Yao had begun to ponder over whether or not she should stay home alone today or crash at her friend's place.
She still hadn't made up her mind, but inadvertently, she caught sight of a newspaper stand not too far from where she was, and this suddenly reminded Lin Yao that she was currently unemployed. She marched forward.
"Boss, give me the evening newspaper!"
The chubby lady at the newspaper stand chuckled as she handed her the evening newspaper.
"Here you go."
Lin Yao wasn't in a hurry to leave even after she received the newspaper since it was only four o'clock in the afternoon, so whether or not she decided to go home or crash at her classmate's place, it was still a little too early.
After unfolding the newly released evening newspaper, Lin Yao was overwhelmed by the whiff of ink, and she greedily inhaled the overpowering aroma. It was a scent that reminded her of her old school days, a period that made her feel nostalgic.
Lin Yao was no longer in the mood to read the newspaper, and she promptly flipped the pages all the way to the recruitment column.
Coincidentally, she almost immediately saw the recruitment info of the first company, and even more serendipitously, that company happened to be located right on this Stadium Road.
Lin Yao had always been someone who acted on her impulses, so she quickly picked up her phone to dial the number published in the newspaper: 879*****. A long "beep" sounded from her phone.
She felt as if she was waiting for an entire century before a melodious female voice sounded from the other side of the phone.
"Hello!"
"Hello, hello!" Lin Yao instantly felt so exhilarated that she didn't even know what to say. "So the situation at hand is this, I just saw your company's recruitment info in the evening newspaper…"
"Yes."
Lin Yao couldn't help but marvel over how pleasant the voice of the female on the other end sounded!
"So has your company finished recruiting internal staff workers?"
"We are a startup company, so we need a lot of internal staff workers. You can come in for an interview."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yao instantly felt as if she was on cloud nine. "May I ask if your company is located on Stadium Road?"
"Yes, Stadium Road... Yueyang Building, 26th floor, Lingyun Industry."
To her astonishment, Lin Yao discovered that the address the other person just told her was 500 meters to her right.
She tried her best to contain the excitement rising up inside of her as she asked, "May I inquire whether or not it would be convenient for me to go there for an interview today?"
"Of course, just come in."
Upon hearing the other person give an affirmative response, Lin Yao couldn't help but feel overjoyed, and she had the urge to make a beeline there right this instant. However, the lady at the newspaper stand held her back in time.
"Five cents, thank you!"
Lin Yao realized that she had been getting a little too excited, and was about to leave before paying for her newspaper.
After she fumbled around in her little sling bag for a while, she finally pulled out one yuan.
After quickly glancing at her phone screen, she discovered that it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. Lin Yao started to feel anxious inside. She fretted about getting there as soon as possible, or else they'll be getting off work soon!
Bu unexpectedly, she bumped into someone as soon as she turned around.
The person she bumped into was very tall. Lin Yao, who claimed to be 160cm, was just at the height of his shoulders.
He wore a black leather jacket, a white hard collar oxford shirt, a silver twill tie, and black jeans. His posture was upright, and he appeared extremely charming!
Since he was so close, Lin Yao got a whiff of his scent, which was similar to pine-wood.
She couldn't help but lift her head up, and to her astonishment she discovered that this person had features so delicate that they rivaled Qing Wenyuan's. But she was even more surprised to discover that underneath his thick and handsome brows, his eyes appeared so deep and soulful as if he had the ability to see through everything!
Lin Yao quickly snapped back to reality and retracted her gaze. Then she lowered her head as she apologized, "Sorry, I didn't see you!"
She was in a hurry to get to the interview and was waiting for the other person to say "it's alright" so she could take off running... but she didn't get any response after waiting for a while.
She smiled somewhat awkwardly, then said again, "Sir, I see you're doing fine, so would it be alright for me to leave now?"
The other person still stood there like a statue, without giving any sort of response.
"That person probably doesn't want to cause a fuss over such a trivial matter," Lin Yao thought.
She really was running out of time!
As she thought of this, Lin Yao didn't worry about the other person's response any longer, so she promptly went past him and made a beeline for the company.
******
The lady at the newspaper stand had been watching the young man in front of the stand for a while now. He wore black clothes as he stood there in a daze without buying a newspaper or leaving.
Seeing that the sun was about to set soon, the lady finally couldn't help but open her mouth to ask, "Hey, young lad, what do you want? I have the morning newspaper, evening newspaper, and the youth times as well as all the latest magazines…"
Only then did Qing Rongze snap back to reality.
He thought he had encountered her here by chance, but he didn't expect for her to not even recognize him!
Upon closer examination, he discovered that she was merely a random person that had some resemblance to her.
He stared at the hostile-appearing lady at the newspaper stand in bewilderment, and he said nonchalantly, "No need, thank you!" Then he promptly turned around and strode off.
"Hmph!" The lady at the newspaper stand muttered in a low voice, "I can tell he's a bad guy at first sight!"