The sky grew dark earlier during winter, so people usually went to bed earlier as well.
After Lin Yao attended the dinner and returned to Chaoyang neighborhood, it was nearly nine o'clock. There weren't any more people in the neighborhood and the entire place was quiet.
The street lights in the neighborhood reflected through the rails on the fence, leaving mottled shadows on her face.
Lin Yao's phone started ringing. When she pulled it out, she discovered it was Jiang Mingshu calling.
"Hello?" Lin Yao continued to move forward as she answered the call. "How come Mengmeng cutie knew to call me at the exact same moment I was thinking about her?"
Jiang Mingshu giggled merrily and quipped, "Ye~ah~, I've been missing ~you~, so, later on~ go with me to BABYFACE~ alright~?"
BABYFACE was one of the hottest nightspots for young people in Hangzhou. It wasn't a place that Hang City Forum netizens exclusively gathered at, but it was Little Guliang's favorite spot.
Rumor has it that Mushroom Liang was among BABYFACE's initial fan base. She was very familiar with the bartenders and DJs there. She also held a VIP card numbered 0000003 and went there almost every day.
Lin Yao followed Jiang Mingshu there once. The BABYFACE venue was relatively new, the facilities were better than 571PUB's, and its ambiance was more intense, but all in all, a pub is still a pub, so they weren't that much different by nature.
"I'll pass, I still have to go to work tomorrow." Lin Yao usually didn't like going to pubs, and today she was in even less of a mood for it. "By the way, your master is there, right?"
Jiang Mingshu actually preferred 571PUB, so, unless Like Spring Breeze summoned her, she wouldn't go to BABYFACE. And as long as Like Spring Breeze was present, Jiang Mingshu would probably throw herself at him while ignoring everyone else, including Lin Yao.
"He'll be there~." Jiang Mingshu's tone changed, and her mood seemed to be more downcast. She meant half of what she said when she uttered, "But if you don't come, It'll~be~so~boring~for~me~"
Little Guliang was very popular at BABYFACE, so basically her bread was buttered on both sides.
Lifelong Love For Her would probably drink and chat with Like Spring Breeze.
It would probably be boring for Jiang Mingshu if she went there, but Lin Yao would be even more bored there if she went since they would all be in pairs. Simply imagining the scene made her feel awkward.
Lin Yao wasn't interested in rushing over in the middle of the night to be a lightbulb. "I'm busy with work since it's the end of the year. If I sleep too late, I'll be tired tomorrow. If I'm tired, I'm more prone to making mistakes, so I'll pass."
What Lin Yao said were all facts. By now Lin Yun practically tried to pin the blame for everything on her, so she dared not imagine what would happen if Lin Yun caught her making an actual mistake.
She didn't want to be fired a second time if she could help it.
"Oh, alright~then~"~. Jiang Mingshu sighed heavily, then she asked in a puzzled tone, "Huh~ isn't your company newly established? Why's your business so good?"
Lingyun Industry wasn't newly established, but it was close to a newly established company, so how many orders could they have?
In fact, Lingyun Industry's first order was placed by Mr. Wen, and it was still in Lin Yao's hands but was expected to be shipped in the middle of next month.
But, in the meantime, Lin Yao kept receiving order after order, and the number of requests for quotations that she had to deal with every day was extremely high, so she was truly quite busy.
After listening to her brief explanation, Jiang Mingshu was even more dumbfounded. Wasn't Lin Yao an office staff worker? How come she had to deal with these things?
Orlando had many more customer orders than Lingyun Industry, but Orlando also had more employees and multiple departments. Each department had different divisions according to function/allocation. Each division had a working team to facilitate management and competition.
Everyone only needed to perform their own duties and deal with one part of the process. The work content was very singular, and the specific operation mode was somewhat similar to a production line.
Jiang Mingshu was currently a clerical staff member of a certain working team in a division of Trade Department No. 7 of the Orlando Apparel Market Department under the Orlando Group. She was like a small screw in a certain assembly line. She repeated the same job day after day, year after year, and if nothing out of the ordinary happened, she could do the same job from college graduation all the way to retirement.
The Orlando Group was a conglomerated giant made up of countless assembly lines.
Lingyun Industry was a newly established small company, and its current scale was the equivalent of Jiang Mingshu's working team.
Lin Yao was an internal staff worker in name, but in reality, Lin Yun was only responsible for reviewing documents and providing signatures, and everything else was Lin Yao's work. The complexity of the nature of her work was beyond Jiang Mingshu's imagination, as someone who worked in a large company.
Although Jiang Mingshu appeared to have some vague understanding, she also understood that Lin Yao really couldn't hang out at the pub with her, so she said regretfully, "Then I guess there's~ no~way~, I'll hang out with you next~time~."
Lin Yao muttered affirmatively and warned her, "Don't stay out too late, go home as soon as possible."
"Got~it~!" Jiang Mingshu said in a disgruntled tone, "You're really~nagging~!"
After finishing the call, Lin Yao put away her phone and kept walking.
The building she lived in was located at the edge of the Chaoyang neighborhood community, so she needed to do a lot of walking. When she passed a street lamp around the corner, the old street lamp suddenly "cracked" and the lights went out completely after a few flashes. The road was pitch dark.
Lin Yao wrapped her coat around her body more tightly and accelerated her pace.
This was Chaoyang Neighborhood Community, so even though it was dark outside and it was late at night, she still didn't feel afraid.
******
Upon returning home, Lin Yao was surprised to discover Li Shulan waiting for her.
Lin Yao originally thought that Li Shulan and her boyfriend would soon return to their hometown to get married and have children, but they were still living here.
Li Shulan, as usual, cleaned up at home every day, and her boyfriend/husband went to work every day as before, and it appeared as if nothing had changed.
Lin Yao had to admit that, although people on TV kept saying one had to pay attention during the first three months of pregnancy, that rule seemed to vary from person to person.
For example, Li Shulan didn't seem to need anyone to take care of her at all, nor did she need to pay extra attention to anything at all.
As soon as she saw her, Li Shulan appeared overjoyed and greeted her, "Sister Lin is back!"
Lin Yao smiled at her and asked, "Why haven't you gone to bed yet?"
"It's still early. How can I fall asleep~?" Li Shulan appeared a little shy and timid as she spoke, and she smiled very sheepishly. After a while, she said tentatively, "Sister Lin, I have something I want to discuss with you."
"If you had something to tell me you should have called me, you didn't have to wait for me," Lin Yao said as she hung up her bag. "Spill it, what's the matter?"
"I…" Li Shulan clutched her newly cut short hair, and said a little bit sheepishly, "A few days ago... the thing is, my parents wanted to come over to visit us after hearing that I was pregnant."
Lin Yao nodded, she had no issue with Li Shulan's parents coming, but the main question was, "Where are they going to stay?"
Li Shulan smiled timidly at her and replied, "Just stay in our room."
Lin Yao was a little shocked, "Can all of you fit in your tiny room?"
Li Shulan's room was a little bigger than Lin Yao's room and spanned a total of 18 square meters, the amount of space only big enough to fit a bed.
One room and one bed would house two couples...
Truthfully, Lin Yao couldn't imagine such a scene.
The living room and dining room of this small two-bedroom apartment combined were about a dozen square meters. Even adding a sofa would make it too crowded, not to mention an extra bed, and she didn't like the feeling of coming home from work or getting up in the middle of the night to find that even the living room had people sleeping in it.
Lin Yao felt like she was facing a dilemma.
"They can fit. My husband and I can sleep on the balcony." Li Shulan seemed to sense her dilemma and added, "Sister Lin, rest assured that my parents will only be staying for a few days, and will be returning after New Year's Day. I won't let them disturb you."
Lin Yao was relieved. "If that's the case, I have no problem with it." Everyone had parents and relatives, so it was normal to have visitors occasionally. Plus they were only going to stay for a week, so what problem could there be?
Li Shulan broke out into a smile, and, appearing greatly moved, she grabbed Lin Yao's hand as she said earnestly, "Thank you, Sister Lin, you're so kind!"
What a considerate and personable young girl!
Lin Yao smiled and waved at her, "Alright alright, you big-bellied woman should hurry off to bed."
Li Shulan smiled and said good night, then the two went back to their own rooms.
Lin Yao turned on the computer, logged on to the Hang City Forum, and began to write and reply to posts. This was a must-do daily task for her.