Chapter 3: 003

After finishing her instant noodles and taking a shower, Su Xiaomi flopped onto her bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

She didn’t know how long she had been sleeping when she suddenly heard someone speaking beside her ear:
“The exam will end in half an hour. Students who haven’t finished, please hurry up…”

Su Xiaomi’s eyes flew open in shock.

She found herself sitting in an exam hall.

An old ceiling fan creaked noisily above her head, cicadas buzzed incessantly outside the window, and in front of her was a blank math test paper, half of which was stained with drool.

As she sat there, stunned, she suddenly heard the rustling sound of pages turning.

Instinctively, she turned towards the sound and saw Jiang Yi sitting by the window, one row away on her right.

Bright sunlight streamed in through the open window, illuminating Jiang Yi.

Under the sunlight, he seemed to glow.

He was still wearing the familiar blue and white school uniform, his head lowered, focused on his exam paper.

From Su Xiaomi’s angle, she could see his handsome profile—deep-set eyes, a straight nose, thin lips pressed lightly together, and a sharp jawline flowing seamlessly…

Perhaps sensing her gaze, Jiang Yi suddenly looked up at her.

Su Xiaomi froze, thinking, “Oh no, I’ve been caught staring at Jiang Yi again.”

But before she could react, Jiang Yi pushed back his chair and walked straight toward her.

Su Xiaomi looked up as Jiang Yi approached, her mind going completely blank.

It wasn’t until Jiang Yi planted both hands on her desk, caging her between the table and his chest, that she blushed furiously and stammered, “Ji-Jiang Yi, w-what are you doing?”

Jiang Yi leaned closer, stopping just short of her lips.

He licked the corner of his mouth and said softly, with a voice so smooth and captivating it made her heart tremble, “Do you like me?”

At such a close distance, Jiang Yi’s warm breath hit Su Xiaomi’s lips, and the intimacy of it felt even more embarrassing than a kiss.

Her brain short-circuited, and she could only nod mechanically.

But in the next second, Jiang Yi said, “But I don’t like you.”

Su Xiaomi felt as if an arrow had struck her chest, but she stubbornly asked, “Why not?”

Jiang Yi tapped her blank math test paper with his index finger and said nonchalantly, “Because I don’t like girls who score zero in math.”

Su Xiaomi was about to argue back, but when she looked down at her paper, she realized that the previously blank test paper was now filled with answers—all marked with bright red crosses.

At the top of the paper was a glaring “0”.

…

The sudden ring of her phone startled Su Xiaomi awake.

She sat up abruptly on her bed, her pajamas still on.

Confirming she wasn’t in an exam hall, she wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and picked up her phone.

“Hello, this is Su Xiaomi. Who’s speaking?”

“Hello, Miss Su? I’m from Yihang Media’s HR department. I’m pleased to inform you that you’ve been successfully hired. Please report to Yihang Media on Monday, March 11th, at 9:00 a.m. for onboarding. I’ll email you the required documents shortly, so please keep an eye on your inbox…”

Su Xiaomi kept her composure throughout the call and politely thanked the HR representative. But as soon as she hung up, she let out a cheer and posted on her social media:
[HAHAHAHA! Good news! I’ve officially been hired by Yihang Media!!!!]

A minute later, her colleague Shanshan replied:
[Look, what am I talking about? The director of Yihang Media will tie up those who have offended him and torture them slowly! ]

The following week was absolute chaos for Su Xiaomi.

Although she had submitted her resignation letter a month ago, there were still tasks to hand over.

On top of that, she had to find a new place to live, which involved running around with real estate agents after work.

But even by the time March 11th rolled around, Su Xiaomi still hadn’t found a suitable apartment.

With no other choice, she decided to stay in her old rental for the time being and focus on her first day at Yihang Media.

The HR representative who had called her previously greeted her warmly.

After completing her onboarding, Su Xiaomi casually asked if the company provided employee housing.

To her surprise, they did!

However, due to recent expansions and an influx of new employees, there was a waitlist for accommodations.

Delighted, Su Xiaomi filled out the application form and then headed to her new department—the Social News Department.

Yihang Media, a top 10 company in the media industry, had numerous departments, including Finance, Technology, Sports, and Literature.

Each department was as well-staffed as a mid-sized magazine company.

The Social News Department alone had an editor-in-chief, a deputy editor, three editors, two designers, one reporter, and two distributors.

With Su Xiaomi and another intern, the team now totaled twelve people.

The reporter named Putao was tasked with introducing Su Xiaomi and the other intern, Ruan Tian, to the department.

When she noticed Su Xiaomi looking a bit overwhelmed, Putao chuckled:
“You don’t need to worry too much. Even though Yihang Media has so many people, the ones we interact with most are just our own Social News Department colleagues—the Social Bros and Social Sisters, so to speak. As for people from other departments, we rarely interact with them. Especially our Director. I’ve been at Yihang Media for a year, and the only time I’ve ever caught a glimpse of Director Jiang was at the annual company gala, and even then, it was from far away. On regular days, Director Jiang is practically a mythical figure.”

Su Xiaomi didn’t even have time to explain that her real concern was about whether she’d be able to secure a spot in the company dormitory.

Before she could speak, Ruan Tian let out a disappointed “Ah.”

Ruan Tian was naturally disappointed.

She had thought that joining Yihang Media would give her the chance to be close to Director Jiang.

If she performed well, who knows—she might even become the Director’s wife!

But now, hearing that even employees rarely see Jiang Yi, her disappointment was impossible to hide.

“Really? We won’t get to see Director Jiang all year?”

Putao nodded firmly.

“Of course! Big shots like Director Jiang aren’t people we ordinary folk can just run into.”

Su Xiaomi, who had been preoccupied with the dormitory issue, finally caught on.

The moment she understood, she was overjoyed.

Before coming to complete her onboarding, Su Xiaomi had done a lot of mental preparation.

She even went to a workplace forum called “Workplace 818” and posted to ask whether she should accept Yihang Media’s offer.

It wasn’t because she was afraid Jiang Yi would retaliate against her.

Jiang Yi probably didn’t even remember who she was and had likely never given her a second thought.

Her hesitation came purely from the fear that spending time around Jiang Yi would rekindle the little crush she had worked so hard to suppress.

After all, Jiang Yi was like a piece of fragrant, irresistible flesh of Tang monk’s meat to her.

(T/N:The phrase “flesh of a Tang monk” is a modern idiom that refers to a highly desired benefit or bonus that is pursued at any cost. It comes from the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West, where demons claim that eating the flesh of the main character, Tang Sanzang, will grant immortality.)

If she couldn’t see him, it was fine.

But if he was constantly in front of her eyes, she was really afraid that she would ‘eat’ him if she couldn’t control it.

Hearing this, Su Xiaomi’s initial nervousness evaporated.

Her biggest concern had been the possibility of running into Jiang Yi frequently.

The first day was relatively easy.

The editor-in-chief handed Su Xiaomi and Ruan Tian work accounts and added them to multiple work group chats before passing them off to Putao.

With no experience in training interns, Putao simply handed them a stack of past magazines and weekly issues, asking them to familiarize themselves with the content.

Su Xiaomi spent the entire morning buried in social news and emerged pale-faced. During lunch, Putao joked:
“If I don’t know that you are a Single dog, I almost suspect that you were fu*ked by some little wolf cub this morning.”

Putao immediately realized her words were a bit too unfiltered for the fresh-faced interns.

She was used to dealing with all sorts of people while covering social news and occasionally spoke without restraint.

Su Xiaomi, poking at her rice, replied weakly, “Come on, if there were a little wolf cub, I’d be glowing with radiant right now!”

Putao burst out laughing: “Xiaomi, you really know your stuff!”

Su Xiaomi smirked: “Please, I’ve read an entire truckload of smutty manga.”

A nearby distribution staff member, holding his lunch tray, stared at Su Xiaomi for a long moment before finally mustering the courage to approach her.

“Xiaomi… can I borrow you for a quick chat?”

Su Xiaomi: “…Sure.”

And so, on her very first day, Su Xiaomi successfully integrated herself into the Social News Department using her wealth of smutty manga knowledge.

She became the most well-adjusted intern in the history of the department—bar none.

When Ruan Tian returned to the office after eating her home-packed lunch in the break room, she was shocked to find a crowd gathered around Su Xiaomi’s desk.

In the center of the group, Su Xiaomi was enthusiastically sharing gossip about a scandal involving a married male celebrity caught cheating with a married female celebrity, and how their spouses had caught them in bed together.

Ruan Tian: “…” ????

It had only been one lunch break. What on earth had she missed????