Su Sheng stood near the company.
A meal had passed, and he still hadn't spotted that suspicious man from earlier. Either he was mistaken, or the other party was a professional, and he preferred to believe the latter, since caution never hurt.
Another half an hour went by, and it was almost time to head to work. He might as well consider this first day as doing his older cousin a favor, so he shouldn't be late.
At the entrance of Tang Corporation, as soon as Su Sheng appeared, a few security guards took the initiative to hand him a temporary work badge, patiently explaining, "During the morning rush hour, the company uses nine elevators, corresponding to job positions from one to nine. New employees can only use the ninth elevator on the right, while the two elevators on the left are reserved for the company's senior management..."
"Thanks, I'm in a hurry, chat later!"
Several security guards stood disheveled at the door.
Su Sheng immediately entered the company's main gate, thinking to himself, it was just an elevator ride, why so many rules; surely, the quickest way was the best!
Yet, as soon as he turned around, he was startled. It seemed there weren't many people coming and going outside, but inside the lobby, it was packed with people, easily three or four hundred.
Wasn't the workday supposed to start at ten, and it was just past nine-thirty, right?
In the lobby, with hundreds of people, it didn't feel chaotic at all; rather, there was an implicit, well-ordered feeling, everyone well-dressed, almost all in business suits. However, behind this, Su Sheng could see a clear division of levels; the more back you go in the elevator line, the more people there were, while the first three elevators were almost unused.
He shook his head, thinking it was such a waste of resources.
Just then, Su Sheng felt someone trying to slip away from beside him, and almost instinctively he reached out and pulled, "Uh, it's you, the receptionist girl!"
Zeng Ling looked bewildered; she'd already lowered her head to get away, but he still recognized her.
"Mr. Su, hello," Zeng Ling said with a somewhat stiff expression, as people passed by, believing the gossip would definitely spread later...
"Don't be a stranger, call me Su Sheng. I think I mentioned yesterday I'd look out for you. Come on, I'll take you upstairs."
"What do you mean, 'upstairs'?"
Zeng Ling didn't quite understand. Why would you need someone to take you in line for the elevator? Besides, she worked on the third floor, so it was convenient to take the stairs.
Suddenly, Su Sheng grabbed Zeng Ling's arm and headed straight for the first elevator...
"Wait, wait, where are you pulling me to."
"Upstairs, of course, it's too crowded here, there are spare elevators over there."
Su Sheng made it sound obvious, but it terrified Zeng Ni. She was just a small receptionist among the more than twenty receptionists in the entire company. Having been at the company for two years, she was only a level seven employee, with no right to use the front elevators.
"Mr. Su, that's not allowed, those elevators..."
It was too late, Su Sheng's pull was strong, he effortlessly dragged Zeng Ling towards it. A security guard stood at the entrance of the first elevator, and upon seeing this scene, was instantly baffled.
"Do you know Li Meixin, my older cousin!"
With a single sentence, Su Sheng left the young security guard even more confused. Li Meixin was indeed the head of the department, also the beloved cousin of the president, and this was an open secret throughout the company.
The department head's cousin, possibly even a relative of the president himself - definitely not someone to mess with!
The security guard watched helplessly as Su Sheng opened the elevator door, pulling along a girl from the front desk he remembered, and walked right into the company-wide executive-only elevator!
"Hey, supervisor, there's a special situation to report. The department head's cousin took someone into Elevator One!"
After a while, the response came back: "We saw it on surveillance. I'll discuss this with Ms. Li. For now, you guys don't worry about it."
After putting down the walkie-talkie, the security supervisor was also quite frustrated.
Though he was a level 5 supervisor in the company, already not a low rank, this incident involved Li Meixin, a level 2 executive in the company, and her relative. This was going to be tricky indeed.
After much deliberation, the security supervisor reluctantly picked up the landline in the monitoring room and called Li Meixin's office.
As expected, it was the secretary who answered the phone. He hurriedly expressed the situation diplomatically, hoping the secretary would pass the message along—that would put an end to the matter.
"Ding!"
As soon as the elevator door opened, Zeng Ling hurried out and reached the corridor, bursting with the urge to cry upon seeing the number 12 posted there.
She was supposed to be working at the front desk on the third floor, so how had she absentmindedly ended up on the twelfth floor? Now she would have to take the stairs down, as waiting for the elevator during the rush hour was not an option.
"Hey, hey, what's the rush? You didn't tell me where Li Meixin's office is."
Su Sheng was speechless. He had genuinely gone out of his way to help a girl, yet he felt undeservedly shunned—the world was indeed making it harder for good people.
"Forget it, I'll find it myself!"
Yesterday, the HR department only mentioned that he was assigned to his cousin's department, but seemed to have forgotten to tell him the exact location. Fortunately, his quick thinking led him to ask the receptionist about the floor, and since he was already on the twelveth floor, he decided to take his time looking for it.
Thus, Su Sheng wandered alone on the twelfh floor, encountering employees who gave him surprised looks, which he found utterly baffling. What was going on?
Could it be that the glorious tales from his interview had spread throughout the entire company, making him a role model among employees? How embarrassing!
"Knock, knock!"
Su Sheng finally located his cousin's office and politely knocked on the half-open door.
Seeing someone inside, he directly asked, "Is Li Meixin here? I am here to report for my first day."
At this moment, Li Meixin's secretary, surprised, looked up and almost considered calling the police upon seeing Su Sheng, but she quickly guessed who he might be—the cousin Li Meixin's security supervisor had mentioned over the phone.
"Hello, Ms. Li has not arrived at the office yet. Please wait for a moment."
The secretary, a middle-aged woman with a neat bob, was impeccable in her interactions, a veteran employee.
This secretary considered herself experienced and skilled enough to handle any situation with ease, yet today she faced Su Sheng.
"What, she hasn't arrived yet? What time is it? Doesn't she have any professional ethics?"
Su Sheng was utterly speechless. This was absurd.
If he could arrive at work by nine o'clock, even if delayed due to unexpected issues, he would still enter the company doors half an hour early. Who knew he had been wandering around for so long and Li Meixin hadn't even arrived yet? Was she just drawing a salary without working?
No wonder his no-nonsense wife was busy every day, even working from home on weekends. He finally uncovered the root cause—indeed, the company's upper management were corrupt, just collecting money without working.
The middle-aged secretary was baffled, thinking even if you are the boss's cousin, you shouldn't speak in such a tone.
Unexpectedly, Su Sheng added, "The beam is crooked and the foundation is askew; she really needs to fix this tardiness. Where is her office? I'll go in and rest a bit. Tell her to come see me when she arrives."
The middle-aged secretary hadn't recovered when she saw Su Sheng walk past her. By the time she thought to stop him, how could she compete with the speed of a young man? Before she knew it, Su Sheng had already entered Li Meixin's office.
"Sir, you can't do this..."
"Bring me a cup of jasmine tea, thank you. Go now, no need for special attention here."
Once inside the office, Su Sheng simply found a spot to sit and took out his phone to start playing games.
Today was Monday, and the tasks in the game were quite demanding!
The middle-aged secretary caught sight of the game interface on the phone and was immediately dumbfounded.
Goodness, you just scolded my boss for being late to work, and now you're playing games during work hours? What kind of situation was this?