Under the night sky, Tiannan City glowed with dazzling lights. Tian Hai Media, a small company in Tiannan, was still lit up.
There was only one person working overtime in the employee area.
He was an ordinary-looking young man, staring at the computer screen. Despite the exhaustion on his face, his eyes were unusually bright. On his desk, chaos reigned—papers and food wrappers scattered everywhere.
After a long while, the young man blinked his dry eyes, licked his lips, and reached over to rummage around his desk.
Nothing.
He gave a bitter smile and crushed a paper bag in his hand into a ball.
"Pa-pa-pa," the sound of slapping glass doors echoed. A bald head poked out from the manager's office.
"Bai Xiaosheng, are you done yet? It's been days now! I need it today!" the bald man barked fiercely.
Bai Xiaosheng looked a bit grim, but in the end, just responded calmly, "Mr. Zhou, it'll be ready soon. I'll send it to you right now."
Zhou Tiansheng! Bai Xiaosheng repeated the bald man's name in his head, his gaze shadowed.
This jerk kept messing with the plans, leaving the client extremely dissatisfied and the boss fuming. In the end, he pushed all the blame onto Bai Xiaosheng, using his original concept to please the client. What an absolute bastard!
Afterward, Zhou Tiansheng suggested working overtime, but it was Bai Xiaosheng who actually put in the work. As soon as the boss left, Zhou Tiansheng would huddle in his office and sleep like a log.
"Double-check before you send it. Don't mess up again!" Zhou Tiansheng saw Bai Xiaosheng couldn't care less, scoffed coldly, and retreated.
The packaging bag in Bai Xiaosheng's hand creaked loudly.
Right now, he really wanted to punch someone.
But—
Bai Xiaosheng's hand gradually loosened.
He needed to eat to live, pay rent, utilities, and that newly-approved mortgage! All of it weighed on him so heavily he could barely breathe. Just to buy that few dozen-square-meter apartment, he'd stopped eating well, stopped buying decent clothes; he'd lost all his temper.
He needed this salary, and even more, he needed that money from the housing fund withdrawal.
Because of that, he could only endure!
"Only those who endure can be called real men. Revenge can wait ten years!" Bai Xiaosheng silently recited to himself.
Bzzz, suddenly his phone vibrated. Bai Xiaosheng picked it up, paused for a moment when he saw the name.
The caller was—Xu Fang?
Xu Fang, the blind date Bai Xiaosheng's distant relatives arranged for him. They'd met once. The girl was good-looking, stylish and trendy, but her words reeked of gold-digging; she wasn't his type, so Bai Xiaosheng had already decided not to contact her anymore.
Unexpectedly, Xu Fang was calling him.
"Xu Fang?" "It's me."
Bai Xiaosheng answered. Xu Fang giggled.
Then, they chatted aimlessly for a while.
Why'd she suddenly call me? Likes me? Bai Xiaosheng scoffed at himself. Probably just overthinking.
Bai Xiaosheng clearly remembered the contempt in her eyes when they parted last time. Would this woman ever like a broke, ordinary-looking guy? Not a chance in hell.
"I heard you have two tickets for Wei Moran's concert?" Xu Fang changed the subject, finally getting to the point.
Wei Moran, that superstar?
Bai Xiaosheng remembered his relatives had mentioned they'd help him get two tickets.
A ticket for Wei Moran's concert reportedly cost thousands, two tickets nearly ten grand. Bai Xiaosheng couldn't even imagine it, especially after he'd decided not to keep seeing Xu Fang.
"Can you give me the tickets? I have a friend who wants to go." Xu Fang said.
Not going with me?
Bai Xiaosheng froze, and asked curiously, "Two girls chasing a female celebrity?"
"It's a male friend." Xu Fang paused, emphasizing, "He can afford the tickets, but I want to take him."
"And Bai Xiaosheng, I don't think we're suitable for each other, but we could be friends. Since we're friends, you'd help me out, right?"
Male friend? Bai Xiaosheng blinked; boyfriend, right? That didn't take long!
"Boyfriend?"
"Sort of," Xu Fang mumbled. "Give me the tickets."
Bai Xiaosheng actually laughed, "Sorry, I don't have the tickets."
On the other end, Xu Fang sounded quite unhappy, "You're a grown man, why be so stingy about two concert tickets? Aren't the tickets for me anyway? My boyfriend is rich and well-connected in Tiannan. If you help me out, maybe next time I can have him find you a good job, let you…"
"Thanks for your kindness, but I don't need anyone's help with my job." Bai Xiaosheng hung up and blocked Xu Fang.
"Crazy!" Bai Xiaosheng couldn't help cursing after putting down his phone.
So what if he's rich—that's his business. If you want to marry rich, that's your business.
What's it got to do with me, Bai Xiaosheng!
Is having money really so great?
The thought left Bai Xiaosheng frustrated. Lately, he'd been worried sick about money—the landlord watched him like a thief, afraid he'd run away. And now he had to deal with someone like this.
"Asshole!" The more Bai Xiaosheng thought, the more suffocated he felt. He cursed again, hard.
After venting, Bai Xiaosheng silently sent the finished file to Zhou Tiansheng.
Less than five minutes later, Zhou Tiansheng came out of the office, rushing toward the exit.
"You lock up when you're done. I'm leaving first, been really tired these days," Zhou Tiansheng muttered.
Bai Xiaosheng just nodded silently.
Suddenly, Zhou Tiansheng doubled back, giving Bai Xiaosheng a strange smile under his puzzled gaze. "The paperwork for your housing fund withdrawal is still with me. Look, I've been so busy these days, I forgot to hand it to HR. You wait a few more days, okay?"
The docs from half a month ago hadn't even been passed to HR, still held hostage by Zhou Tiansheng?!
Bai Xiaosheng stared dumbly at Zhou Tiansheng as he briskly walked away.
"This is just bullying—damn you!" All his pent-up emotions finally exploded. Bai Xiaosheng roared, eyes red as he leapt to his feet.
In the hallway, Zhou Tiansheng sneered silently, quickly entering the elevator.
"Stop right there!"
Bai Xiaosheng shouted, but right then, his phone rang again.
Furious, Bai Xiaosheng grabbed his phone, about to throw it on the ground—then saw the caller's name: Mom.
Bai Xiaosheng froze, staring at those two words for a long time before answering.
"Son, have you eaten yet?" The familiar voice cooled the rage in Bai Xiaosheng's chest.
"Son, the weather's dropping, getting colder. Dress warmer!"
"Don't always drink those sodas, they're no good for you."
"By the way, how's the girl Aunt Liu introduced? I heard she's really pretty…"
"Son, why aren't you saying anything?"
Listening to his mother's nagging, Bai Xiaosheng suddenly felt like crying, desperately so. Only at moments like these did he feel the sting of being wronged, the bitterness—how reality and money had ground him down to nothing.
"Mom!" Bai Xiaosheng covered his eyes with his hand, his voice hoarse, "I'm doing fine here!"
Who knows how long it was before Bai Xiaosheng put down the phone, sitting there silently, staring out the window at the thousands of twinkling lights.
Mom, I'll be fine. I'll earn lots of money, bring you both over, let you live well.
I will have money! Bai Xiaosheng bit down hard on his lip.
"Bang bang bang," slow, steady knocks at the door cut into Bai Xiaosheng's thoughts.
Bai Xiaosheng got up quietly and walked to the door.
Outside the company's glass doors stood two figures.
An elderly man in a sharp suit, his hair silver, and a beautiful woman around Bai Xiaosheng's age.
"Who are you looking for?" Bai Xiaosheng frowned.
The old man's gaze flickered, measuring Bai Xiaosheng calmly from head to toe. Suddenly, he smiled, "We're looking for you!"