"Hey, hey, hey, did you know? President Yao is coming back today!" Miss A from the photocopying room gossiped to Miss B, who was waiting in line.
"Yes, yes, I heard too. It seems like his flight arrived this morning," replied Miss B enthusiastically.
"This time, President Yao is returning with a victory. I wonder how many young men and women in our company he'll conquer!"
"Hey, according to my opinion, it's not necessarily the case. Don't forget we have President Li in our company now!"
"What do you think, between President Yao and President Li, who's more outstanding?"
The two of them discussed passionately, and even after finishing the photocopying, they left with an expression suggesting they had more to say.
Lin Tianran had no interest in their gossip. He was earnestly sorting through the waste paper in the photocopying room, trying to turn trash into treasure. These people were wasting paper left and right, tossing the misprinted waste paper everywhere. Just because it's company paper, doesn't mean it shouldn't be valued. Waste paper can be recycled, after all, saving resources!
He grabbed a few cardboard boxes and, one by one, took the staplers hidden inside the waste paper and neatly stacked them into the boxes. Lin Tianran clapped his hands in satisfaction; he had finally finished!
At that moment, a man entered with some documents.
"Xiao Tian, what are you doing?" It was Li Yicheng.
"President Li." Lin Tianran looked up and saw him holding a stack of documents. "I'm organizing the waste paper, seeing if there's a chance to recycle it."
"You're really something," Li Yicheng said, looking proud, as if his wife saved him money. He was practically wagging his tail. "Come on, help me photocopy this."
"Oh." Lin Tianran took the documents. "Um? Don't you have a photocopier in your office too?"
"Ahem, it just broke down." Li Yicheng coughed awkwardly, telling a little white lie without changing his expression.
"Oh." Lin Tianran believed him without hesitation, not thinking much of it.
"By the way, want to come up for lunch? I plan to teach you how to make charts," Li Yicheng tempted the little white rabbit with a sly smile.
"But won't that disturb your lunch break?" Lin Tianran hesitated, even though he really wanted to accept the offer.
"As long as I see you, I won't get tired, and I won't need a lunch break," Li Yicheng grinned, showing off his charming fangs.
"But, if you ever feel tired and want a lunch break, just forget it," Li Yicheng reconsidered. He might not be afraid of getting tired, but how could he neglect his Tiantian? Skipping lunch meant afternoon burnout. This saying has its reasons.
"I'm not tired, I'm not tired!" If the teacher wasn't tired, how could the student complain about this or that?
Ever since he stopped doing manual labor in the workshop and stopped working as a security guard, he had been carefree every day, just waiting for work to begin and end. How could he be tired?
"That's good, I'll be waiting in my office at noon. Don't stand me up!" Li Yicheng grinned like a sly fox that had succeeded, not giving Lin Tianran a chance to respond, and walked away with the documents.
"Well, I'll definitely study hard and work harder to repay President Li!" Lin Tianran made a serious promise to himself, puffing up his little face.
"Beep, beep, beep!" The landline phone in the photocopying room suddenly rang, nearly startling Lin Tianran.
"Hello?" Lin Tianran's heartbeat quickened. He wasn't good with words, so who could be calling at this time, and what was going on?
"Is that you, Xiaotian?" came a familiar voice from the other end.
"Yes, it's me," Lin Tianran replied. "Is this Lao Wang?"
"Yes, I'm Lao Wang." It turned out to be Lao Wang from the security office, and Lin Tianran secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lao Wang, what can I do for you?" Lin Tianran asked.
"Well, Lao Quan had a hypertensive crisis and had to go to the hospital. I'm short-staffed here and was wondering if you could come down and cover for a while?" Lao Wang asked somewhat politely.
"Of course, no problem at all. I'll inform Manager Fang and come down to help you," Lin Tianran wasn't the kind of person to forget about the people who had taken care of him in the past. He had received a lot of help from these two, and he wanted to express his gratitude even if it meant doing a small favor.
"Great, just cover for a while," Lao Wang said with relief upon hearing his agreement, fearing that he might refuse.
"Lao Wang!" Lin Tianran walked out of the office building and asked, "Where's the new guy, Zhang Yong?"
"That kid took a leave of absence, which is why I'm in such a hurry," Lao Wang said as if he had found a savior. "For now, put on Zhang Yong's security uniform."
"Alright." This security uniform, although labeled as Zhang Yong's, was actually sold to him by Lin Tianran when Zhang Yong first arrived. He never expected to wear it again at this moment.
"Wait a moment, at lunchtime, I'll go guard the back gate, and I'll leave the front gate to you. Do you remember what to do?" Lao Wang checked the time; it was almost time for the shift change.
"Of course, I remember," Lin Tianran assured him. "Leave it to me."
After a few words with Lao Wang, it was time for the lunch break. Lin Tianran tidied up his attire and started guarding the front gate.
Just like before, he did the routine checks and records diligently.
Suddenly, a man with a silver suitcase was preparing to enter the Hua Mao gate. The man was dressed in a black leather jacket and slim jeans. He wore stylish sunglasses that covered half of his face.
"Wait a minute!" Lin Tianran quickly stopped the man who seemed to be in a hurry.
The man's steps indeed halted for a moment, but he ignored the little security guard and continued to walk forward.
"Stop!" Lin Tianran rushed over and blocked the man's path with his small body, extending his hands to stop him.
"What?" The man's tone became several notches higher, mixed with surprise and confusion. Then he started laughing as if he had heard a huge joke.
"We have regulations in our factory that employees must wear uniforms with their work badges to enter. If you're a family member, you still need an employee to escort you in," Lin Tianran recited the company's rules, trying to bolster his confidence with the rules.
"Kid, do you know who I am?" The man seemed irritated but finally stopped, pulling down the big sunglasses on his face to reveal a pair of captivating peach blossom eyes, with a beauty mark at the corner of his left eye.
If Lin Tianran were a woman, he might have fainted on the spot.
However, being a man, he simply said, "I don't know."
The man almost spurted blood in anger, right into Lin Tianran's face.
"Alright, kid, for all these years, you're the first person in Hua Mao who dared to stop me. Congratulations, you've successfully caught my attention." The man seemed to figure something out, then confidently grinned at Lin Tianran, looking at him playfully. "Oh, this was intentional on your part, wasn't it? You wanted to leave a deep impression on me, didn't you? Although I've seen plenty of this style abroad, I must admit I've never tried an Asian face like yours..."
As he spoke, he circled around Lin Tianran, giving him a thorough examination, practically performing an X-ray scan on him.
"What are you talking about?" Lin Tianran, being so innocent, had no idea of the man's lascivious thoughts. He just thought the man was strange and wondered if he might be a bit mentally challenged.
"Alright, kid, if I want to in the future, I'll look for you. Now, step aside. I've been on the road for a long time, and I'm tired. I don't have the patience to deal with you!"
"If you continue to cause trouble here, I'll... I'll call someone!" Lin Tianran resolutely pulled out his walkie-talkie from his pocket.
"Manager Fang, there's a disturbance at the front gate! Lao Wang, come back to the front gate quickly!" Lin Tianran shouted into the walkie-talkie.
"Do you dare?!" Yao Wang, not expecting him to act so seriously, reached out to snatch his walkie-talkie.
Seeing that this man might use violence against him, Lin Tianran, like a cornered rabbit, used all his strength, closed his eyes in fear, and swung his fist toward the man's face...
In the CEO's office.
Li Yicheng, having finished his meal, sat on the couch, waiting, looking left and right, growing increasingly anxious.
Strange, why hasn't his sweetheart come up yet?
In the HR department.
Three men sat at the conference table, staring at each other, their expressions puzzled.
One of the men, his eye sporting a bruise, had his arms crossed over his chest, a disgruntled look on his face, clearly not pleased at the moment.
"It's all a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding," Manager Fang poured tea for both of them. "Xiaotian, this is our Sales Director, Mr. Yao. He just returned from abroad today. It's understandable you haven't seen him before. People of Mr. Yao's level don't need to wear work uniforms. You've made an honest mistake."
"Have him apologize to me, apologize!" Yao Wang didn't even touch the tea Manager Fang offered. He'd been punched for no reason, and it wasn't something that could be brushed off with "I didn't know."
"Yes, I'm really sorry, Mr. Yao. I had no idea it was you," Lin Tianran genuinely wished he could take a knife and cut off his own hand right now. How could he have possibly punched Mr. Yao?
"Humph, can apologies mend everything? Let me tell you, I make a living off this face. What if you had blinded me? What if you had disfigured me!" Yao Wang's agitation caused his facial expression to become rather ferocious, and he unintentionally tugged at the skin around his eye, which made him wince in pain.
"Speaking of which, Mr. Yao, why didn't you let me send a driver to the airport to pick you up this morning when you took the plane? You came back all alone?" Manager Fang tried to change the subject to ease the awkwardness.
"My Alice said she'd come to pick me up this morning, but she had some last-minute business and couldn't make it. I didn't feel like bothering the company's driver, so I just took a taxi back," Yao Wang explained.
At that moment, someone pushed open the door to the HR department.
"Mr. Yao, I've been eagerly waiting for your return!" Linna, striding in with twelve-inch high heels, walked up quickly and politely gave Manager Fang a glance.
Manager Fang's gaze immediately changed upon seeing Lina.
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