As the new day dawned, the morning sunlight, tinged with a faint yellow, illuminated the area from across the road. Li Haojun gave Sienna a ride to work again on his way. During the trip, he mentioned he wouldn't be able to drop her off after work today because he needed to get home on time. Sienna understood.
当新的一天清晨,早晨的阳光蕴含着微微淡黄色,从道路的另一边照亮这里.李皓珺又顺便载着西耶娜去上班,路上他表达了今天不能再送她下班了,因为要按时回家,西耶娜也表示理解.
Sitting down at his desk, he turned on his work computer and gazed out the window at the morning light. Li Haojun couldn't help but think of Qin Wenjing—was she also getting up early to work? And he couldn't be by her side. This job was taking away more and more of his freedom.
坐到自己的座位上,打开工作电脑,眼望窗外的晨光,李皓珺不由得想到覃文静,她是不是也在早上起来工作,而自己却不能陪在她身边,这个工作给自己的自由越来越少了.
As my gaze and thoughts returned indoors, a large red warning blazed across the computer screen: KPI not achieved.
当视线与思绪回到室内,电脑屏幕上赫然显示大大的红色警示,KPI未达成.
Yesterday's SM whip incident still hung over him, yet after spending the entire afternoon diligently serving clients, some fish-farming company dared to harp on his KPIs. An inexplicable rage surged through Li Haojun as he reluctantly clicked open the notification about his unmet targets.
昨天的sm皮鞭自己还没有追问,一下午自己尽心尽力服务客户,一个养鱼的破公司反而跟自己来强调KPI,李皓珺顿时一股无名怒火上头,硬着头皮点开KPI未达成的通知查看,
The screen displayed: "Employee work error penalty: spanking not completed."
只见屏幕显示"员工工作失误惩罚,打屁股未完成."
Li Haojun couldn't help but laugh at himself. He wondered to himself, "Is this a legitimate company operation or just kids playing house?"
李皓珺一看,没把自己气乐了,心里琢磨,这到底是正经公司运营还是小朋友过家家玩.
But since he was employed here and receiving a salary, he still had to fulfill his duties. However, Li Haojun adopted a disparaging tone when communicating with his direct manager.
可是既然自己在这里任职领工资,那么还要履行职责,但是李皓珺采用了贬损的语气沟通直线经理,
My system shows an unmet spanking KPI. May I ask if the punishment was administered using the leather whip left behind by my predecessor?
"我这里显示有一个打屁股的KPI没完成,请问是使用我的前任留下的皮鞭执行惩罚吗?"
"Sure."
"可以,"
"Alright, the whip was left behind by my predecessor. So where exactly does this company policy of disciplining employees through corporal punishment come from? Which specific law does it comply with?"
"好吧,皮鞭是我的前任留下来的,那么请问体罚员工的公司规定是哪里来的?请问符合哪条法律?"
Corporal punishment is an employee's personal choice.
"体罚是员工的个人选择,"
Upon seeing such evasion, Li Haojun confronted him directly.
李皓珺一见这般推脱,直接质问,
Even if it's an employee's personal choice, you're the legal representative. Everything that happens here must be lawful, right?
"就算是员工的个人选择,你是法人,在这里发生的所有事件要合法,对吧?"
"There's no law here," Li Haojun hadn't expected such a response. This truly left him with no basis to argue back.
"这里没有法律,"李皓珺没想到会是这样的回答,这真的让他没有什么依据顶撞对方了,
"Alright, that's settled then."
"好吧,那就这样吧,"
After ending the conversation, Li Haojun immediately searched online to verify. Searching for "Kalispell Police Department" yielded nothing. Searching for "Kalispell City Government" also came up empty. There were no administrative bodies, no violent institutions maintaining order, no government public services. How on earth was this town functioning? Oh, right—did people just go home and sleep? Or were they all sufficiently upright and kind?
结束对话后李皓珺马上自己上网搜索求证,搜索"卡利斯佩尔警局",没有,搜索"卡利斯佩尔市政府",没有,没有任何管理机构,维护秩序的暴力机构,没有政府公共服务.这个城镇到底是在怎样运行着呢?哦,对了,人们都是回家就睡觉?或者他们都足够正直善良?
Amidst the speculation, the spare parts procurement list jointly drafted by Delilah Flynn and Emeline Rogers arrived at Li Haojun's desk awaiting approval. As mechanical and electrical/instrumentation engineers respectively, Li Haojun could have approved it outright—it was merely a formality. He himself was not from their technical fields and needn't delve into the details; his role was solely to authorize funds and oversee company operations.
揣测之间,黛利拉·弗林和埃米琳·罗杰斯联合起草的备品备件采购清单到达了李皓珺这里等待审批,她们是机械工程师和电仪工程师,其实李皓珺完全可以直接批准通过,因为就是走个程序,李皓珺本人和她们并不是同一个专业,技术上他不必过问,他只是负责批钱运营公司.
But after the incident with Sienna, he wanted to understand the place better by interacting with more people, so he called both of them into his office for a meeting. Delilah and Emeline were both beauties, and at first, Li Haojun wondered: with so many beauties around, how much energy would they have to devote to him? What would actually get done? Later, he let go of that fixation. What did it matter? It was just a fish farming company—how bad could it be? Besides, this company was encroaching on the time he shared with Qin Wenjing.
但是有了西耶娜的事情之后,他想通过更多地接触其他人来了解这个地方,于是便把两人叫到了办公室面谈.黛利拉和埃米琳也都是美女,李皓珺开始也想,这么多的美女,她们要花很大精力在自己身上,具体工作会做成什么样子呢?后来他也放弃了自己的这份执着,管它呢,反正是一家养鱼的公司,再坏还能把鱼养成什么样子,并且这还是一家侵占了自己和覃文静共处时间的公司.
Delilah shared her understanding of the gas and liquid pipelines in the production and laboratory sections of this enterprise. Based on the company's maintenance manual and historical experience, she drafted information regarding certain spare parts.
黛利拉介绍了她对这家企业生产部分和实验室部分气液管线的了解情况,根据公司维护手册和历史经验,起草了一些备件的情况,
"Thank you for your dedication to the company. It seems you've grasped the situation here quite quickly. Did you have similar professional experience before?" Li Haojun used a polite opening line while shifting the topic.
"谢谢你对公司的付出,看起来你对这里情况掌握得很快速啊,你是之前有过类似的职业经验吗?"李皓珺一边使用客气的开场白,一边转移话题,
No, this is my first job. It's just that the company's job description documentation is very detailed, and I can always ask Paul if I have any questions.
"没有,这是我第一份工作,只是公司的岗位职责指导文献很详细,并且有什么事情还能问保罗,"
"Huh? Who's Paul?"
"嗯?保罗是谁?"
"That robot in the lobby—it seems to know everything about the company."
"就是大厅那个机器人,它似乎知道公司所有的事情,"
"Oh, really? I'll try asking it myself sometime," Li Haojun replied, thinking to himself that he absolutely had to ask it about what was inside the piano bench.
"哦,是吗,有机会我也试试问它,"李皓珺一边对答着一边心想,琴凳里边的事情一定要问问它,
"So how did you end up joining this company after graduation? Was it through a friend's referral or some other way?"
"那么你毕业之后是怎样来到这家公司的呢?朋友介绍还是其它什么途径?"
"For campus recruitment, I came straight here. After all, it's not exactly easy to find work in this small town, and I don't really have much room to be picky," Delilah said, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.
"校园招聘,我就直接到这里来了,毕竟在这个小城镇也不是怎么好找工作,对于我来说,也没有什么挑剔的余地,"说着黛利拉耸耸肩摇了摇头,
"So you've never thought about seeing the outside world? Like the big cities on the West Coast?"
"那你没想过要去外面的世界看看吗?比如说西海岸的大城市,"
Delilah hesitated for a moment, as if deep in thought.
黛利拉迟疑了一下,好像在思索,
"No,"
"没有,"
"Alright, thanks for your service here. Honestly, is mechanical engineering your passion?"
"好吧,谢谢你在这里服务,说实话机械专业是你的爱好吗?"
Delilah laughed.
黛利拉笑了,
"That's a tough question to answer," she said, lowering her head as if deep in thought before looking up at Li Haojun and saying,
"这个问题不好回答,"她低头好像在思索,然后抬头对李皓珺说,
My supervisor asked me if I enjoy my major. Should I give an affirmative answer? Delilah lowered her head again, staring at her clasped hands, then looked up and said,
"我的主管领导问我是否喜爱自己的专业,我是不是应该给出肯定的回答?" 黛利拉又低头,看着自己交叉的双手,然后抬头说,
"What do you think the odds are that a girl likes mechanical stuff?" she asked, smiling at Li Haojun.
"你觉得一个女生喜欢机械的概率有多少?"说完带着笑看着李皓珺,
"It's okay, you're doing great right now. This is just small talk. So, what are your hobbies in your free time?"
"没关系,你现在做的就很好,这只是闲聊,那么你的业余时间有什么爱好呢?"
"嗯,"黛利拉想了想,好像没有什么,
Although Li Haojun wondered if she, like Sienna, went straight to bed after getting home, she didn't feel comfortable asking outright and ended the conversation with polite small talk.
虽然李皓珺怀疑她是不是也和西耶娜一样回家就睡觉,但是也不好直接问,就用客套话结束了交谈,
Li Haojun then summoned Emeline to his office, inquired about her perspective on the current task at hand, and then got straight to the point.
随后李皓珺把埃米琳叫到了办公室,询问了她对目前手头工作的看法,然后直奔主题,
Among this batch of new hires, you're the only one with prior work experience at another company. Could you compare the similarities and differences between these two organizations?
"这一批新员工里只有你是之前有其他企业工作经验的,你能比较一下这两家企业的异同之处吗?"
"Well, how should I put it? I haven't been here long either."
"哈,怎么说呢,我来这里也不久,"
"No problem, let's talk about the previous company then."
"没关系,那就说说之前的企业,"
"Previously, the company was in the food industry and was also locally based. There were quite a few food enterprises in the area, producing staple foods, side dishes, or beverages. I was employed by a beverage company at the time, where I was responsible for equipment maintenance and control."
"之前企业是食品行业,也是当地的,当地有不少家食品企业,主副食或者饮料都有,我当时就职的是一家饮料企业,我负责控制设备维护."
"Oh, I see. Were there many employees working together at that time?"
"哦,是这样,当时一起工作的员工多吗?"
"Not much. It's actually pretty tiring. I'm okay, but the other laborers doing odd jobs have to work from dawn till dusk."
"不多,其实挺累的,我还好,其他干杂活的工人得从早到晚地工作,"
"Forced labor? Don't they have unions?"
"强迫劳动吗?他们没有工会吗?"
"No, there's no union here, and it's not exactly forced labor. It's just that some people must work a certain number of hours within a year to qualify for basic living assistance."
"没有,这里没有工会,也算不上强迫劳动,只是有些人必须在一年之内有一定的劳动时长才会有基本生活保障,"
"Is this the basic living allowance issued by the municipal government?"
"市政府发放的基本生活保障吗?"
"No, there's no government here. These are daily necessities allocated by the social management system. In a way, they're working for themselves too."
"不是,这里没有政府,是社会管理系统调剂的生活必需品,其实某种程度上来说他们也是在为自己劳动,"
"So you're saying that the pay they receive for this period of work isn't enough to cover their annual living expenses?"
"那么就是说,他们工作的这段时间的报酬不够他们一年的生活必需品购买?"
"It seems like it's pretty tiring work, but at least it doesn't take too long—just a month. Actually, there are others waiting in line."
"看起来是这样的,那工作挺累的,还好不用时间太长,做一个月就可以了,其实还有其他人在排队,"
"Ah, you really know more about the situation here. I asked some other colleagues, but they're fresh out of school—there's really nothing to say. Li Haojun then asked,"
"啊,还是你了解这里的情况更多,我问过其他同事,她们刚毕业,真的没什么可说的,"说着李皓珺又问,
"So did any of those hardworking employees get angry, throw a fit, or go on strike right then and there? What would you do in that situation?"
"那么那些很辛苦的工人有没有发脾气,闹情绪的,当场就罢工了?那种情况怎么办呢?"
"Easy fix—just switch out the person. Let him cool off and come back to work later. He's got to finish his month anyway."
"好办啊,换人,等他没情绪了再回来做,反正他要做满一个月,"
Li Haojun had intended to ask next whether there were instances of forced whipping, but after Emeline said that, he couldn't bring himself to broach the subject.
本来李皓珺想接下来问会不会有时用皮鞭抽打强迫的情况,但是埃米琳这么一说,他也没法开启这个话题了.
The work meeting concluded, and it was nearly noon. Sienna routinely came to Li Haojun's office to inquire about his meal preferences. This time, Li Haojun casually closed the door, pulled up the red alert bar indicating unmet KPIs, and asked,
工作谈话结束,已经快到中午了,西耶娜例行来到李皓珺办公室询问他的订餐意向,这次李皓珺随手关上了门,调出KPI未达成的红色警示条,问,
"Did you enter this into the system?"
"这个是不是你输入到系统的?"
"Yes, when would be a good time?"
"是的,你看什么时间合适?"
Seeing Sienna's timid response, Li Haojun felt both annoyed and amused, and hurriedly explained,
看着西耶娜怯生生回答的样子,李皓珺又气又乐,急忙解释说,
"No, no, no, that's not important. I just have a bit of OCD—seeing it sitting there bothers me. Just enter it as "already did" in your system. Is that okay?"
"不不不,那个不重要,我只是有点强迫症,看着它在这难受,你就在你的系统里输入打过了就行了,这样可以吗?"
"Faking it? That's not right, is it?" Sienna asked.
"造假吗?这样不好吧?"西耶娜问,
"I think spanking you would be even worse. Didn't I already explain that to you?" Seeing Sienna's slightly doubtful expression, Li Haojun wondered if he had put too much pressure on her and quickly changed the subject.
"我觉得打你的屁股更不好,我不是跟你解释过了吗?"看西耶娜有点疑虑的表情,李皓珺心想是不是我给了她太大压力了,急忙岔开话题,
"Let's just let this matter rest. Why keep bringing up unpleasant things? It wasn't important to begin with."
"这件事就让它这么过去吧,何必总提起不开心的事情呢,本来也不重要,"
After speaking, he glanced at her, her expression still grave. He wondered if he'd been too abrupt in his approach. Perhaps he should elaborate further? As these thoughts crossed his mind, Li Haojun spoke in a gentler tone,
说完看看她,依旧表情凝重,心想,可能自己处理的太粗暴了?要不再详细谈谈?一边想着,李皓珺一边用更缓和的语气说,
"Please have a seat. Could you tell me—I'm just curious—what options the company offered you at the time?"
"请坐,能不能告诉我,我就是有些好奇,当时公司都给了你哪些选项?"
One is a fine and public censure, the other is a spanking.
"一个是罚款通报批评,一个是打屁股,"
"Then why didn't you choose the first one?" Li Haojun asked, thinking to himself that the first one was still relatively normal, though perhaps a bit over the top.
"那你为什么没有选择第一个?"一边问着,李皓珺一边心想第一个还算比较正常,虽然有些小题大做了,
"Well, I don't want so many people to know I messed up."
"嗯,我不想被那么多人知道我做错了事,"
Seeing Sienna's uneasy expression, Li Haojun hurriedly reassured her,
看到西耶娜局促的表情,李皓珺急忙安慰她说,
"No, no, no—that little mistake you made, anyone could have done it. I don't know why the company's operational procedures are such a big deal over such a small thing. Don't take it to heart."
"不不不,你那个小错误,谁都会犯,不知道公司的运营程序为什么那样小题大做,你别往心里去,"
"Okay,"
"嗯,好的,"
"It's just that your assessment of these two options might differ from what most people would consider. Would you like me to break it down for you?"
"只是你对于这两个选项的衡量,和一般人的理解可能不太一样,你愿意听我给你分析吗?"
"Alright, then tell me exactly what's different about it?" Sienna seemed more interested in this aspect.
"好啊,那你具体说说有什么不一样的地方?"西耶娜似乎对这方面更感兴趣,
Generally speaking, girls tend to place greater importance on personal privacy regarding their bodies, but you're different—you care more about how other group members perceive your appearance. Could this be related to your life experiences? Typically, from middle school through college, you'd likely have had many admirers of the opposite sex, leading you to evaluate your own worth. Is that accurate?
"一般对于女生来讲,可能会更看重身体的个人隐私,而你不是,你更看重其他集体成员对你的外在评价,这是不是和你的生活经历有关?一般来讲,从你上初中到大学,应该会有很多异性追求你,你会因此评估自身的价值,是不是这样?"
"Oh, but I don't remember,"
"哦,可是我不记得了,"
"Oh, alright," Li Haojun replied while sizing her up. Was she genuinely forgetful, or simply unwilling to discuss her past? But judging by how she'd gone straight to sleep upon returning home, it might be the former. With that thought, Li Haojun pulled out paper and pen, scribbled a simple quadratic equation, handed it to her, and said,
"哦,好吧,"李皓珺一边回答一边评估,她到底是真的忘了还是不愿与说她的过去呢,可是从她回家就莫名地睡觉来看或许是真的,想到这李皓珺拿出纸笔,写了一个简单一元二次方程,递给了她,说,
"You learned this in middle school, right?"
"这个是你中学学的吧?"
Sienna took it to look over and provided the solution. Li Haojun took it and glanced at it, then exclaimed happily,
西耶娜接过来看看了,给出了解题结果,李皓珺接过来一看,高兴地说,
"Look, you remember,"
"你看,你还记得,"
"No, I just know how to solve it."
"不是,我就是会解答,"
Li Haojun's smile froze on her face, and the words she'd been about to say died on her lips. She could only write another trigonometric integral and hand it to her.
李皓珺刚挂到脸上的笑容凝固了,想继续的话题也咽了回去,只好又写了一个三角函数积分递给她,
Sienna also provided an answer and handed it to Li Haojun.
西耶娜也给出了答案,又递给了李皓珺,
Li Haojun smiled as he watched.
李皓珺一边看一边笑着说,
"You're a promising kid—I almost forgot that."
"你是个有前途的孩子,我都快不记得了,"
Upon hearing the compliment, a smile spread across Sienna's face...
听到夸奖,西耶娜的脸上露出了笑容...
After finishing work for the day, I finally made it back on time to be with the one I've been longing for—Qin Wenjing.
结束了一天的工作,今天终于按时回到了心心念念的覃文静身边.
After a simple dinner, the two took their usual stroll in the backyard. Inevitably, they discussed matters from their day's work. But the damp spring weather had clouds obscuring the stars in the night sky, and finding it dull, they returned indoors.
两人简单吃过晚饭,又如同往常一样在后院散步,免不了会谈到白天工作中的事情,只是春季潮湿的天气,云朵遮挡了夜空的繁星,两人觉得无趣就回到了室内.
Qin Wenjing walked ahead, turning back to say,
"Ethan, won't you come meet my family?" She deliberately adopted a coquettish tone, then began shedding her clothes as she walked, tossing each piece onto the floor as she made her way toward the bathroom.
覃文静走在前面,回头说,
"伊森,你不来见见我的家人吗?"还故意假装娇滴滴的样子,然后边走边脱衣服,一件件,一路扔在地板上,走向浴室,
Li Haojun knew she was teasing him again, so he just grinned and followed behind her without saying a word.
李皓珺知道她又在取笑自己,就笑呵呵地跟在她的身后也不说话,
As they reached the bathroom door, Qin Wenjing casually shut Li Haojun out, turned on the shower, and asked while rinsing off,
"Is this how you looked at her in her own home?"
到了进浴室门口,覃文静随手把李皓珺关在了外面,打开淋雨,一边冲一边问,
"在她家里,你是这么看的吗?"
Li Haojun nodded while leaning against the bathroom glass door.
李皓珺趴在浴室玻璃门外面点了点头说,
"Yes," he said, then quickly shook his head.
"是,"紧接着又急忙摇头说,
"No, no, I was sitting on the couch at the time, quite far away, and couldn't see anything clearly."
"不是不是,我当时坐在沙发上,离得很远,什么也没看清,"
Qin Wenjing deliberately drew out her words, speaking in an exaggeratedly seductive tone.
覃文静故意拉长了声音,用夸张诱惑的腔调说,
"Oh, you didn't get a good look yesterday. Does that mean you should take a good look now?"
"诶呦,昨天没看清啊,那是现在要好好看清楚吗?"
"Yeah, what's up?" Li Haojun chimed in with exaggeratedly rude tone to match hers.
"是啊,怎么啦,"李皓珺用夸张粗鲁的语气配合着她说,
Oh my gosh, I totally forgot—Ethan still has that KPI he hasn't hit yet. Does that mean he'll be coming after me for it too?
"哎呦呦,我忘了啊,伊森好像还有个KPI未完成啊,是不是也要从我这里找回来啊?"
"Yeah, I'm going to spank your bottom," Li Haojun deliberately drew out his voice like a broken gong, pretending to be a boorish person, then pulled open the door and entered the bathroom too.
"是啊,我就要打你的屁股啦,"李皓珺故意扯着破锣一样的嗓子,假装粗鲁的人,然后拉开门也进了浴室,
Qin Wenjing saw him come in too, turned around, and let out a startled cry, as if she wanted to run away in fear. But the bouncing figure just stayed put...
覃文静见他也进来了,转身啊啊地喊着,好像害怕要逃跑的样子,可是蹦蹦跳跳的人却只是留在原地...