The resignation procedure was settled.
The finance department also said that once everything had been verified, they would transfer the money to Gu Heng's usual salary card.
What needed to be said had been said...
In this respect, the company still had some conscience. At least they didn't make Gu Heng wait for months to get his resignation pay...
Of course...
It was also possible that they thought the four thousand and some change was not worth the hassle, after all, Gu Heng was leaving on his own, without any need for compensation...
Returning to his desk, and glancing at the workstation he had sat at for over two years, Gu Heng felt no attachment. He simply picked up his carefully nurtured green radish plant, donned his coat, and got ready to leave.
Just then...
A sweet and cloying standardized accent reached his ears.
"Gu Heng, have you finished writing the script for this episode? We need to shoot in a couple of days. Let me familiarize myself with the lines first."
Turning around, he saw a slightly plump girl dressed in a light brown wool coat and matching high boots walking toward his workstation, her brisk pace causing her inner pleated skirt and magic legs tights to flash in and out of view...
Looking at the girl in front of him, Gu Heng was slightly stunned and couldn't help but take a few more looks...
Her shoulder-length hair simply draped over her, crowned with an exquisite butterfly-shaped hair accessory, and she had a somewhat fleshy face that was smooth and delicate without a blemish to be seen.
Though her plump face and swollen chest may give some the impression of being overweight, her flat stomach and straight legs beneath the coat made it clear that her flesh was allocated in all the right places...
In simple terms, that is...
Very attractive.
The girl's name was He Jing, known online as Xiao Jingjing. With close to 4 million fans on Douyin, she was one of the few internet celebrities in the company to break the million-follower mark, and calling her the company's top star wasn't an exaggeration...
She was also one of the people in the company who knew Gu Heng best...
But this familiarity was just in terms of acquaintance, and they could at best be considered average friends.
This was mainly because he was the scriptwriter responsible for writing lyrics for He Jing, so it was inevitable that they interacted frequently...
Seeing Gu Heng staring at her without speaking, He Jing was also surprised. After all, they had worked together for almost two years, and Gu Heng's interactions with her were usually very cautious. Such direct and constant eye contact had almost never happened before.
But the ever-cheerful He Jing didn't think much of it. She deliberately tossed her long hair, and a faint scent of perfume wafted directly towards Gu Heng's nose.
"What's up? Have you finally realized your Sister Jing's beauty after two years?"
Having said that, she took two steps forward, tilting her head and batting her big eyes at Gu Heng...
The pose was a bit flirty...
But having known her for so long, Gu Heng was well aware that He Jing had an uninhibited nature, and he didn't delude himself into thinking she had any special feelings for him...
To say, working in a media company filled with beautiful internet celebrities, that Gu Heng hadn't ever been attracted to any of them would be a lie.
After all, he was in his 20s, an age when hormones are raging...
But over time, such unrealistic fantasies had long been cast out of Gu Heng's mind...
After all, there were a dozen or so internet celebrities in the company, each with a monthly income starting in the five figures, right?
Take He Jing, for instance, the top star of the company—her monthly income was at least in the six figures, and when she had multiple sponsorships for her advertisements, it could even be a large six-figure sum. His own savings, accumulated over a few years of hard work, might amount to just half of her monthly salary.
Even the company boss had to keep this money tree happy, let alone him, and there was also a group of big brothers waiting to protect her in her live broadcast room...
To fancy him?
Although he was a bit handsome, it was just a bit more than your average person.
But a 4500 yuan monthly salary brutally busted his lower limit; not to mention these high-income internet celebrities, even an ordinary factory girl would probably have to think twice.
However, having started to accept the facts of being bound to the system, Gu Heng was also feeling somewhat changed...
Though he didn't suddenly fancy himself the chosen one, destined for wealth and women to come kneeling for his favor, he nevertheless felt a bit more confident.
And with that, he boldly moved his face a bit closer.
In an instant...
The distance between their faces was no more than ten centimeters...
Smelling the pleasant fragrance coming from He Jing, he spoke softly, "I haven't noticed if you're beautiful or not, but didn't you see that you have patches of powder on your face today?"
He Jing: "???"
Gu Heng's boldness didn't give her much to ponder, but the phrase "patches of powder" instantly made her pupils dilate. She hurriedly rummaged through her bag for her makeup mirror and carefully searched for where her painstakingly applied makeup could have gone wrong...
After looking for a long time and still not finding any flaw in her makeup that had taken her more than half an hour to perfect, she was about to ask Gu Heng exactly where she had powdered too heavily when she looked up and saw Gu Heng's teasing smile...
Realizing she had been played, He Jing wasn't angry and cutely rolled her eyes, ignoring Gu Heng.
Although she could clearly sense that Gu Heng had changed compared to before, becoming much bolder, their relationship was not close enough to necessitate digging deeper. She then picked up the script on the work desk and flipped through it carelessly.
"What's the deal? Like them, you've started slacking and taking it easy, right?
"You usually finish my lines three days in advance, but this time you've written less than half with the shoot coming up!
"You're slacking!!!"
Looking at He Jing with her exaggerated expression and acting as if her heart was breaking, Gu Heng shrugged and smiled, "This is it. I've already handed over my work; I won't be responsible for your lines in the future."
He Jing instantly grasped Gu Heng's meaning. Then her chubby face puffed slightly, and she asked in surprise, "You resigned?"
Seeing Gu Heng nod, He Jing hastily continued, "Are you crazy? It's almost the end of the year and you're resigning? Don't you want your year-end bonus?"
If these words had been said before the system activation, Gu Heng might have felt a twinge of pain.
But upon further thought.
The year-end bonus?
As far as he knew, the year-end bonuses for other employees in the company were usually distributed based on one quarter's salary, with the least being two months' worth.
And himself?
At most, he would get one month's salary for his year-end bonus.
A 4500 yuan year-end bonus?
It wasn't even comparable to a single hair from the system's rewards!
Seeing Gu Heng not speaking, He Jing thought he was regretting his decision and quickly continued, "If you don't want to resign anymore, just tell me, and I'll take you to the boss.
I guarantee you can stay. Don't worry; I, Sister Jing, still have some clout in the company."
She wasn't boasting.
As the top female at the company, she certainly had the influence to have a marginal employee's resignation letter revoked.
The reason she was so eager to help Gu Heng stay wasn't so much that she was warm-hearted but because, having been a social media influencer for so long, she was quite clear about her fans' demographics. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the customized short drama scripts Gu Heng wrote for her played a part in her modest fame on Douyin.
She was afraid that if Gu Heng left, the company would assign her a scriptwriter who wasn't reliable, causing her to lose followers...
After all, her high income depended on the 4 million "family members" she had on Douyin...
Although Gu Heng knew what He Jing was thinking, the fact that she was the first person to care about him after his resignation did touch him, even if it were just a little.
Gu Heng first responded with a smile and a word of thanks, then continued, "Forget it, my resignation has been approved, and finance is already calculating my salary. No need to bother."
"What do you plan on doing after resigning? You're really going to deliver takeout?"
Gu Heng's educational background was not a secret in the company.
Gu Heng once casually complained to He Jing about his low salary, saying if he couldn't keep going, he'd deliver takeout; with some hard work, he could at least make ten or twenty thousand a month.
And the reality was indeed so.
In today's society where it's difficult for university graduates to find jobs, a high school diploma is at most equivalent to being literate but uneducated. Other than delivering takeout, setting up a small stall or working in a factory, there weren't many good options, especially in employment-pressed Hang City.
Of course, the above applies only to ordinary people whose parents cannot offer support.
If one's parents could casually provide a hundred or two hundred thousand yuan for starting a business, then the options are too many to count.
After saying this, He Jing also realized that her words might have been inappropriate, quickly adding with an apologetic tone, "I don't mean that. Our company's treatment is actually quite good. You're a talented person, and maybe things will start looking up in a couple of years? If you resign now, all your previous efforts will have been for nothing."
He Jing was well aware of how hard Gu Heng had worked in the past, and at that moment, she genuinely felt a bit sorry for this younger brother, who was just a few months her junior.
Seeing He Jing show concern, Gu Heng wasn't too emotional, instead, he smiled with a teasing look, "Don't you want to know why I'm resigning?"
"Why?"
"My dad called me yesterday, told me that our 800-acre rice field back home had been requisitioned, two thousand yuan per acre. I'm going to be a rich second generation soon and don't feel like working anymore; I want to lay back."
"Really? Is that true?"
"It's false."
The adorable eye-rolling expression appeared on He Jing's face again.
"The real news is that my dad told me he's a billionaire, and that all the hardship I experienced was for the sake of testing and tempering me. Now that the twenty-three years are up, it's time for me to officially take my place as a rich second generation."
"The eight hundred acres of rice field being requisitioned still seems more believable."
However, through Gu Heng's jokes, He Jing also understood that his decision to resign today was set in stone, and she refrained from persuading him further.
Without the label of colleagues, their interaction became even more harmonious. She couldn't help but crack a joke herself, "Since you're now a rich second generation, how about arranging a meal tonight? You've got to have a farewell dinner, right?"
"Sure, just the two of us—pick any restaurant in Hang City."
"Are you serious?"
Gu Heng shrugged indifferently, "Nonsense, even if I'm not a rich second generation, my savings are surely enough to treat you to a meal, right?"
Gu Heng's sudden change had piqued her curiosity. Normally, he would definitely refuse such an offer, but today, while her mind was set on refusal, her answer turned out to be the opposite, "Fine. I haven't had a meal at your expense in two years; I'll take advantage of you this time!."
"But just the two of us won't do. As a public figure, if the news of me eating alone with you gets out, what if my 'husband fans' unsubscribe? Since it's a farewell dinner, you invite a few more colleagues in the evening, and I'll bring a couple to support you. How about that?"
Maybe because she often had many suitors.
He Jing handled these matters smoothly; no matter whether Gu Heng had any interest in her or not, she preemptively eliminated the possibility of them being alone together, deftly halting any romantic notions he might develop with high emotional intelligence.
Gu Heng was emotionally intelligent himself and understood He Jing's rationale, but he didn't feel particularly shaken by it.
A moment ago, with the system's backing, he indeed had some thoughts about He Jing, but it was just a passing fancy – nowhere near the stage of 'must-have.' Inviting her to dinner was at most to put a satisfying period at the end of his two years in the company.
It was also a way to celebrate his new beginning.
Thinking of this, a more relaxed smile spread across Gu Heng's face.
"Okay, I'll send you a message on WeChat when work is about to end tonight. If you want to go to any particular restaurant, you can tell me in advance. And if you don't tell me, then I'll decide on my own."
After saying this, Gu Heng carried his green radish plant with one hand and waved with the other as he walked out of the company's main entrance without looking back.
[The host has openly displayed his true self to an excellent girl without concealment, successfully indulging once, and is rewarded with 50,000 yuan in cash.]
As Gu Heng stepped out of the company gate and heard the system's notification along with the subsequent vibration of his phone message, his steps faltered momentarily. Then, with the smile on his face growing more liberated, he continued on his way.