Unable to shake off the negative energy he had received from being around Rama, Lu Zheng after having sat in his office for a while failed to concentrate.
He stood up from his desk and packed his bag. Looking around his table, he chose some work files that he knew he was able to finish from the comfort of his room at home and walked out of his offices with a sense of relief without feeling bothered of the way almost every one who was still at their desks looked at him.
As usual, only Rama and a few employees stayed longer at the offices to wind up everything. Rama, observing that the remaining employees where a little jealous of the freedom that Lu Zheng had in his role seized the moment and skillfully played on their anxieties.
While positioned at one of the desks that were close to one another and a little further away from the reception, he began addressing their worry of going unrecognised in their duties. He sounded like he was so concerned for their job security and since he was in charge of most staff except for those in the upper management, it made it difficult for the rest of the workers to object him.
Rama, after getting all of their attention began to speak to them in a soothing tone.
"Guys, we are for eachother here, I want all of you to stay focused on your work and know that I am here to see that all of us work well and receive our true benefits. " He said to them convincingly and was able to quickly gain their attention as they went on to interact with him regarding the two new secretary positions that were filled secretly without being offered atleast to any of them.
Rama was also the only person they would complain to even when they were aware of his other side and because of the lack of friendship between lower and upper management staff, many presumed that they would end up replaced without warning.
But Rama being so good with words, soothed their worries by assuring them that he had direct contact with head of the district offices so nothing was going to go down for any of his staff.
"But....." He paused a little, tickling their senses and anticipation.
"I want you to show respect to everyone especially Lu Zheng and his fiancée," Rama said, giving a little room for thoughts and questions. The employees puzzled and unable to pin who he was referring to as the fiancee of Lu Zheng asked him for more details.
Anzim, taking an opportunity to show his cleverness strategically intercepted Rama with a question "is it one of the new girls?"
He asked eagerly looking at Rama hoping he would name the fiancee as Yin but Rama, not wanting to speculate for everyone avoided answering the question directly, instead he displayed a small, sarcastic smile and shifted to a serious tone.
"Your focus should be on the goals you want to achieve out of these jobs you have here." He afterwards requested them to summarize their duties and went back to his office to close up, leaving Anzim to spin the rest of the story, as he had anticipated.
Almost halfway through the ride to his house, Lu Zheng's memory started to recall of his early days working in the district offices.
At that time, Mr. Bangwan, working as an assistant to head of the human resources at the regional commissioner offices tried many ways to secure Lu Zheng a corporate job but failed as he was under a binding law that limited him from hiring any of his family members,
And since he was also residing in another town, Lu Zheng had to wait in naerang for any leads from him. Many of the people Bangwan had asked for hiring support were just not able to hire Lu Zheng.
At the height of desperation after being jobless for years, Lu Zheng upon hearing of rumours of the vacant position of office messenger at the district offices wasted no time in applying. He visited the premises in person that same afternoon and sought after the recruiting officer who was kind enough to hire him on probation after citing his enthusiasm.
After months of working diligently, Lu Zheng began to climb through the ranks swiftly, his diligence, skill improvement, and with a record of productive results, many voted on him and Rama who had made his life difficult at the district offices lost his authoritative grip on him.
Time went by and multiple reports of misuse, waste of resources, and a lack of profits in the district projects piled in the regional commissioner's office. In response, the regional commissioner, afraid of wasting time in hunting new staff to manage the district offices of naerang immediately appointed Mr. Bangwan as the New district commissioner to address the losses at the district offices leveraging on his accounting background.
In the same month, Lu Zheng, highly recognized in the political sphere for his achievements, was promoted by the regional commissioner on vote by the whole regional governing team from one of the assistant project managers to head of project management alongside his positive public image and recommendations.
Since that time, Rama intensified his schemes against Lu Zheng, often blocking his file approvals, staff training and engagements and countless times throwing baseless theories to the upper management.
As it got darker and the wind, blowed forcefully, Muri, Rama's wife got more angry as she had got tired of waiting for him. Despite her expectations of an earlier return, it seemed like Rama was ensnared in the web of endless work and their was no need to wait for him any longer.
While in the living room, the maid, acting on Muri's orders, led the children away from the chairs to the dining table. The children, after eating, went to their room and shortly afterwards, Muri dismissed her maid back to her resting chambers.
Muri then placed Rama's portion of food in the dishes at his seating position without warmers and dumped his cutlery beside the dishes.
"He can warm it for himself; after all, he used to cook before," she muttered angrily and turned off the lights in the living room.
Meanwhile, Lu Zheng arrived home a little late and his father, Mr. Bangwan who was enjoying his passive time on the front porch with a warm cup of tea in his hands, observed his son's mood as he walked closer towards him.
"Lu Zheng, what's the matter?" Mr. Bangwan inquired, cutting through the formal greetings and setting aside the tea cup he was drinking from.
"Father, I am just so exhausted," Lu Zheng replied, wearing a pretentious smile that failed to conceal his emotions.
"Sit here," Mr. Bangwan commanded Lu Zheng, fixing his eyes on him trying to understand if his boy was sick or depressed.
"You look so broken. What is the matter?"
"And all of these files? Aren't you going back to work tomorrow?"
"Of course I will dad." Lu Zheng defended his choice of bringing incomplete work files home.
"So what else is happening?" Mr. Bangwan insisted and Lu Zheng relaxing his thoughts a bit and acknowledging the need to address issues with the help of his father, spoke up, avoiding direct eye contact with him.
"I just want to get rid of rama," Lu Zheng admitted in a heavy tone, stealing a curious glance at his father.
Upon hearing that, Mr. Bangwan, placing his tea cup down on the table requested Lu Zheng to calm down. With eyebrows furrowed slightly, he cautioned him on the situation.
"I know you have struggled a lot with this man but I request you to completely avoid him for now, we will get our chance one day but for now, the regional commissioner supports him and we both still need our jobs."
"Father, it's just that am so tired of him. Can't the regional commissioner see through the acts of this man?" Lu Zheng asked in a heavier tone and his father gave him his cup of tea.
"I don't know if he knows but i am equally not at peace seeing a grown up man torturing my son and everyone else with schemes."
"If this goes beyond my standing power, I will surely deal with it myself." Lu Zheng swore and Mr. Bangwan argued him politely to take things easy.
"By the way, what preparations have you made to introduce me to your future father-in-law?" Mr. Bangwan, fed up with the conversation about Rama's name, changed the topic to brighten up his son's mood.
"Dad, be patient. I will find a perfect time for both of you."
After that, the two engaged in a lengthy conversation about their day, upcoming plans, jokes, and almost everything before winding up to join Mrs. Bangwan for her wonderfully prepared dinner, which everyone in the house loved to eat.