Even though he was going to resign, Chu Mingcheng still took his work seriously today.
As it was almost time to knock off, he picked up the proposal he had worked on overtime last night and went to the office to hand it to Boss Chen, who was watching a movie.
"President Chen, this is the proposal you asked me to work on yesterday."
Boss Chen took it, flipped through it briefly, and tossed it back: "This proposal still doesn't cut it. Revise it again."
"Sure, I'll revise it again tomorrow."
Just a brief look and he had finished? And he wanted him to revise it again?
He hadn't mentioned this proposal all day, nor did he seem in any hurry about it!
But, thinking that he was going to hand in his resignation tomorrow, Chu Mingcheng resisted the urge to retort and picked up the proposal to head back.
However, Boss Chen, upon hearing he'd revise it tomorrow, was not willing to let it go: "Hey, hey, hey, not tomorrow. Work overtime tonight. The client is in a hurry for it!"
Chu Mingcheng, feeling confident, shook his head and refused: "I have plans tonight, I'm not working overtime!"
Seeing his refusal, Boss Chen sat up straight and continued with his usual spiel: "Ah Cheng, how can you be so thoughtless? Even Old Ma said 996 is a blessing. You should appreciate the opportunity!"
996 a blessing?
That's just another capitalist way of brainwashing and exploitation!
Chu Mingcheng couldn't help but laugh in anger; even if 996 were truly a blessing, it should come with overtime pay!
"According to labor law, anything over eight hours is considered overtime, and the pay should not be less than 150% of my usual wages. I'm willing to work overtime, just pay the overtime compensation."
"And don't bother with talk of learning opportunities or giving me chances; I'm here to make money, not to listen to you preach."
"Moreover, after I finish tomorrow, I won't be coming back. Remember to transfer my salary onto my card on the tenth next month. Otherwise, I'll see you at the labor bureau."
Having a debate over principles?
Chu Mingcheng was not interested. He had intended to leave things on good terms, but Boss Chen was just looking for excuses to keep him there working overtime. It was nothing but troublemaking.
"You..." Boss Chen was momentarily dumbfounded and his face darkened once he gathered his wits, "You're resigning too?"
"The company policy requires one month's notice for resignation. You can't just leave like this last minute. If you really go, the company will treat it as absenteeism."
Chu Mingcheng chuckled and shook his head: "Your company hasn't signed a labor contract, and most employees don't have the 'five insurance and one fund'. If it really came down to a dispute, you'd be the one in trouble, not me."
Seeing that he wasn't intimidated, Chen Jie squinted his eyes and threatened: "I remember you're a local, aren't you? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to find a job around here if you do this?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I was planning to stay until tomorrow so we could part on good terms. But under the circumstances... I won't be coming in tomorrow. Maybe you should just transfer the 29 days' worth of salary to my account tomorrow!"
After speaking, Chu Mingcheng ignored Chen Jie's displeased expression, returned to his own desk, packed up his belongings, and left.
The colleagues in the office had sensed something was amiss. The person next to him wanted to ask what was up, but upon seeing Chen Jie's grim face coming out, they were immediately intimidated.
...
Having left the company, Chu Mingcheng felt a sense of relief wash over him.
Sure enough, resigning is always the most exhilarating part, and he didn't have to worry about finding another job. The only trouble was explaining the situation to his family; for now, he would have to keep it a secret.
If it came down to it, he would have to move to another place and bluff them into thinking he had found a good job elsewhere.
Arriving back at the rental, Chu Mingcheng called his landlord to terminate the lease.
He had rented the place on the third of the month, and it wasn't many days away from the third now, so he wasn't losing much.
He had paid a deposit of one thousand yuan from which the monthly utilities would be deducted, leaving him with 854 yuan, mainly because the hot weather meant he was using the air conditioning daily, which consumed a lot of electricity.
That night, Chu Mingcheng packed all his belongings into his car and moved back to his old house, planning to spend the National Day holiday at his hometown.
Whether he needed to leave for another place or not, he simply couldn't leave during the National Day holidays.
High-speed train and plane tickets were probably all gone by now, and driving himself would most likely result in getting stuck on the highway, so it would be better to wait until after the peak travel period.
Chu Mingcheng's ancestral home was situated halfway up a hill, and there was a path over twenty meters long in the backyard that was just wide enough for cars to pass through.
At the other end of the path was the road leading up the mountain, so moving didn't require passing by the neighbors' doors; parking the car directly in the backyard would do.
There were scarcely any young people living on the island; most had gone off to seek their fortunes elsewhere since there wasn't much money to be made by staying.
As a result, those who remained were mostly elderly. She could handle the old man fine, but Chu Mingcheng was particularly wary of the aunties and grannies in the vicinity. If you ran into them, they could grab your ear and ramble on for ages.
But do you think they really came to chat with you?
No, they just came to boast about the younger members of their families who were doing well, to compare them with you. After outshining you, they felt satisfied.
Especially since Chu Mingcheng was nearly thirty and still unmarried, he was a prime target for their gossip.
When he got home, he took out his key, opened the door, and moved all his luggage inside.
The house was old in appearance only; in fact, it had been renovated just the year before last.
Additionally, he and his family often came to stay for short periods, so the inside wasn't dirty.
The old house had two stories. The back door led directly to a hallway that ran straight to the front door and living room, with a large kitchen on the left and stairs to the upper floor on the right, below which was a bathroom.
Following the hallway to the front, there was a living room where they usually ate.
Next to the living room was a room that used to belong to Chu Mingcheng's grandparents. However, they had passed away over a decade ago, and after the room was vacated, it was turned into a storage room, cluttered with all sorts of things.
Stepping out of the living room led to the front yard, which was not small—nearly the size of the house itself, around seventy to eighty square meters.
To the left of the yard, there was a well and a laundry platform.
Chu Mingcheng carried his luggage up to the second floor, which had a very simple layout, just two bedrooms and one bathroom.
There originally were three bedrooms, but the one connected to the bathroom was quite small, barely spacious enough for a 1.2-meter-wide bed. It was his room when he was a child.
Now that it was unoccupied, they broke down the walls during the renovation to create a shower room and even installed a bathtub.
As for Chu Mingcheng's bedroom, it was of course not one of the two larger bedrooms at the front. He moved his luggage into the attic.
He especially liked quietness when sleeping and would not sleep well with even the slightest disturbance.
He used to sleep in one of the large bedrooms at the front, but with the grannies around getting older and less able to sleep, they liked to gather early in the morning and prattle on and on and on...
Just like Tang Seng reciting scriptures, Chu Mingcheng's sleep was so disturbed that his temper grew increasingly short, until finally, during the renovation, he had to make a quiet attic for himself to solve this issue.
In the attic, with the curtains drawn and door shut, one could sleep until the next afternoon and still wake up doubting whether it was daylight yet—the quality of sleep was that good.
Entering the attic, Chu Mingcheng took out the previously aired quilts and bamboo mats to lay them out. He would make do for the night and air them again tomorrow.
He put his clothes in the wardrobe and his laptop on the desk, deciding to put away the rest tomorrow morning.
After washing up and lying in bed, Chu Mingcheng calculated his current savings.
He had earned 1580 yesterday, got back a deposit of 854 today, and currently had a little over twenty-three thousand.
He reckoned Boss Chen wouldn't withhold his wages; he had over six thousand seven hundred coming in on the tenth, so he would have nearly thirty thousand available to use.
That was enough for the time being. All he hoped for now was that Golden Finger would give him a boost, ensuring that he wouldn't starve.
As for the future, he wasn't worried about not making money.
He just needed to level up some of the more common and abundant seafood and maybe he could ensure that his life in "Japan" was decently comfortable.