Thankfully, the pirate ship’s captain was probably just joking.
When we returned to Suzhou, there was an extra person in our car.
A tall young man who looked vaguely familiar. Lin Yusen introduced him as the new Deputy General Manager, surname Dai.
The tall young man smiled at me warmly, “Miss Nie, you can just call me Xiao Dai.”
…Should I call you Xiao Dai at the company too? Your position is higher than mine.
“Xiao Dai is my junior from the neighboring school,” Lin Yusen explained.
“You can have a junior from a neighboring school?” I asked, surprised.
Lin Yusen explained with a smile, “Their school’s Management program is top three nationally. I audited some classes there during university and made some friends. You met some of them when you came to my place last time—Xiao Dai was there too.”
No wonder he looked familiar.
Lin Yusen said, “After the New Year, Manager Zhang is retiring to Shanghai. I’ve been promoted to one level, but I’m also planning to take it easy. Xiao Dai will take over some specific duties. Xiguang, keep an eye on him.”
I don’t care whether you take it easy or not, but what do you mean by me keeping an eye on him?
I asked uncertainly, “He’s the Deputy General Manager, isn’t he my superior?”
“But you’re the boss’s wife,” Xiao Dai teased from the back seat.
I glanced at Lin Yusen, whose smile grew more obvious. Hmph, so he doesn’t want to work anymore and wants to take advantage of me? That won’t do.
So I cleared my throat and turned to Xiao Dai, “Call me Boss.”
Xiao Dai froze, and I solemnly informed him, “Your Manager Lin will just be a figurehead from now on—he’s going to rely on me for support.”
Xiao Dai couldn’t process this for a moment, while Lin Yusen, driving beside us, burst into hearty laughter.
At the company, of course, we still called him Manager Dai.
The parachuted Manager Dai caused quite a stir. Yin Jie excitedly called me first thing to provide a bunch of information, useful and otherwise. Like what I already knew—which university he graduated from, that he was previously an executive at some major foreign company in Shanghai—and what I didn’t know: Manager Dai was 32 and currently single.
After sharing all this intel, Yin Jie sighed contentedly, “I was feeling nostalgic about Manager Zhang leaving, but then we got another handsome deputy manager—what a bargain!”
…
Your nostalgia is completely worthless.
After hanging up, I messaged Lin Yusen: “Neighboring university is one thing, but Xiao Dai is older than you! How did you trick him into calling you senior?”
He replied after a while: “It’s based on enrollment time. With seniority, you take whatever advantage you can get.”
Oh, that’s so you.
Just as I was about to mock his shamelessness, another message quickly arrived: “You can’t tell I’m that much younger than him?”
Me: “You all look about the same to me.”
Giggling, I quickly typed another message, “Stop chatting and get back to work, see you at dinner!”
Snapping my phone shut, time to work!
I was still in the Finance Department, of course. Lin Yusen had asked if I wanted to transfer back to Management, but I immediately refused. Please, I’d only just transferred back to Finance! Moving back after just one New Year would be too frivolous.
It would make us look clingy!
Though we kind of were, how could we let colleagues see that? I had to maintain a strictly professional image at work! Besides, I hadn’t fully mastered finance yet, so there was no rush to return to core management. Anyway, for various reasons, I wasn’t going back—I’d just be a happy little accountant in the Finance Department.
However, my happy, peaceful days as a little accountant didn’t last a week before they were disrupted by none other than our new Deputy General Manager.
It was an ordinary afternoon, with snow falling outside while the office stayed warm as spring. I was carrying a large stack of last year’s financial records to the archives when I ran into Manager Dai.
Manager Dai’s eyes lit up when he saw me, and he exclaimed, “Oh my! What’s this situation? Boss, how can you carry such heavy materials?”
I froze, and Qiqi, who was following behind me with more files, also froze—though for different reasons. I coughed and strongly reminded him: “Manager Dai, we’re Finance Department employees. I only started working here in the second half of last year—I’m a new employee.”
Manager Dai had an expression of sudden realization, “Boss, so you’re still just a little accountant?”
…
I swear, through his pretense of playing dumb, I could see a thousand smirks hidden in his heart!
Could I resist telling on him to his “senior”? Of course not! And I had to make it a serious matter!
On the way to dinner after work, Lin Yusen’s car hadn’t even driven a hundred meters from the company before I’d already complained thousands of words.
“Do you know how serious this is?” First, set the tone. “Though Qiqi said she wouldn’t tell anyone, what if it hadn’t been Qiqi? What if it gets out? With him acting like this, the masses will think I got my position through you and that I’m extremely arrogant, making even the new deputy manager call me boss.”
“Didn’t you tell him to call you that?”
…Whose side are you on?
“I was joking!”
“It doesn’t matter if it gets out,” Lin Yusen consoled me. “You’ll take over the company eventually anyway. Then everyone will know I’m the one who got my position through you.”
Let’s talk about whether I can take over later…
I reminded him: “Grandfather Sheng gave you the company shares, you have even more than my family.”
“That means I got the shares because of you.”
…How could he come up with new rumors without even thinking? And somehow it made sense when you thought about it.
While I was speechless, Lin Yusen continued: “But since our Manager Dai sincerely accepts you as the boss, you shouldn’t slack off. I’m going to help him get familiar with the company situation these days—you should join us.”
Wait, from which sentence did you conclude that Manager Dai sincerely accepts me as boss?
Help! What kind of development is this?
I tried to tell on him but ended up shooting myself in the foot.
Lin Yusen acted swiftly and immediately invited Xiao Dai to join us for dinner.
As soon as Xiao Dai arrived, he gave me a thumbs up, “Boss is magnanimous.”
He sat down, took a sip of water, and continued praising me, “I thought after I joked with you this afternoon, you’d definitely tell on me to Senior, but instead you’re treating me to dinner.”
Me: “…”
I did tell you, it’s just the outcome was unexpected.
Lin Yusen seriously criticized him: “How could our Little Manager Nie tell on anyone? Though you should keep a low profile and not call her boss in front of others.”
Xiao Dai nodded repeatedly: “Understood, understood. It’s mainly because I didn’t see anyone else at first, and once I started calling her that, I couldn’t stop—I was too excited, and couldn’t control myself. After all, I hadn’t seen the boss… oh, Finance Department’s Xiao Nie for several days.”
You’re both teasing me, aren’t you?
Manager Lin said: “Now you’ll see each other every day. While I’m helping you get familiar with company business these days, Xiao Nie will join us too.”
“That’s great, whether guiding one or two people, it’s all the same.” Xiao Dai enthusiastically raised his glass to welcome me, “Come on, let’s toast to welcome you to my study group. Don’t forget tomorrow morning’s meeting and afternoon factory visit.”
As if I’d toast with you.
I struggled in my death throes: “How is this great? Stop joking around. Manager Dai is senior management, after all, I’m just a small employee in the Finance Department. It’s not appropriate for me to attend high-level meetings and visit the factory with you—people will gossip.”
“Mm, you’ve thought this through very carefully.” Lin Yusen stroked his chin thoughtfully, then quickly smiled, “Don’t worry, I’ll arrange it.”
So the next day, all departments received a notice from Management—to cultivate young talent, department heads could bring one or two young employees to attend and observe senior management meetings.
Director Wu unhesitatingly brought me along.
Soon the company issued another notice—to promote collaboration between management and production departments, management departments would now visit the factory floor to understand specific production conditions, and department heads could bring one or two employees to participate.
Director Wu naturally brought me along again.
I wonder if he was secretly instructed to do this, or if he just took the initiative…
I was too embarrassed to ask ==
So besides my regular duties, I had to follow Director Wu to various high-level meetings and learn about all sorts of production equipment, processes, and technical standards at the factory. Actually, I was fine with it—though it made things much busier, I could learn many interesting things, and watching Manager Lin’s commanding presence in meetings was enjoyable. Director Wu, however, wasn’t doing so well…
After another factory visit, Director Wu called out to me with heavy steps and an equally heavy tone: “Xiao Nie~~~”
“Yes!”
He frowned deeply, “We’ve been working for over half a month this year, why do I feel like there are more meetings than before?”
I felt a bit guilty.
“And when Manager Lin takes the new Manager Dai to familiarize himself with production at the factory, why does the Finance Department need to be involved?”
I didn’t dare speak.
“We never had to work overtime before, but looks like we’ll have to today. Last time my Supreme Lord got angry, suspected something was wrong, and came to the company to catch me.”
I felt deeply apologetic.
But Supreme Lord? Director, are you sure your wife’s anger was just about overtime?
“Well? Director, you were working overtime, so it should be fine, right?”
“Of course, there’s nothing wrong.” The director said indignantly, “But when she saw I was working overtime, she encouraged me to work more overtime—double pay after all—and she wouldn’t even bring me food anymore.”
Um… that’s not my fault anymore, right…
“And everyone thinks I’m sucking up to Manager Lin, always bringing you along… Xiao Nie!” Director Wu suddenly raised his voice calling my name, looking at me full of hope, “How about letting Director Hu take you to the factory next time?”
“How would I know about that…” I hemmed and hawed, but upon seeing Director Wu’s pitiful expression, quietly changed my tune, “I suppose that could work…”
Director Wu’s face immediately lit up. His posture straightened, his steps lightened, and he said energetically: “Come on, let’s go back and work overtime. You know, Xiao Nie, you’ve got it tough too—doing Finance Department work, attending all these meetings, and learning at the factory. You found such a good boyfriend in Manager Lin, but somehow you’re working even more?”
That question…
I looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then secretly told Director Wu: “Manager Lin says he plans to train me to eventually manage the whole company.”
The director’s light steps instantly froze. He stiffly turned to look at me, his shocked face slowly forming four words—you believe that?
The director’s steps were no longer light.
“Xiao Nie…”
“Yes.”
A minute passed.
“You believe it?”
“I do.”
The director fell completely silent.
Back at the office, I waved goodbye, about to run to my cubicle to work, when the director called me back.
He stood there, his face full of inner struggle.
“Xiao Nie, I’m not targeting anyone specifically, it’s just… it’s just…”
Director Wu tried several times, finally steeled himself, and said with resignation: “Don’t believe what men say when they’re dating.”