“We common folk are truly, truly happy tonight…”

When the alarm clock rang, Li Weiyi’s hand fumbled out from under the blanket, randomly slapped it off, then buried her head back under the covers for a few more minutes before crawling up like she was grieving a great loss.

After washing up, she was already full of energy, staring with bright, sparkling large eyes. She changed into her professional suit at extremely fast speed, then draped on a lotus-pink long down jacket, applied light makeup, and dashed out the door in a whirlwind.

The apartment Li Weiyi rented was at the first station of the subway line. It took half an hour to traverse across Xiang City, and she could usually get a seat. As usual, she set a 25-minute alarm, leaned her head against the glass, and began to doze off. Her head nodding from time to time attracted constant glances from the young working man sitting beside her.

After getting off the subway, with just over ten minutes left before work started, Li Weiyi bought her favorite beef pie and soy milk from a street stall. After arriving at the company, she finished eating in five minutes, tidied herself up a bit, and was ready to start work!

Li Weiyi worked in the Finance Department of a women’s clothing company under the Muchen Group. Moreover, she was in the Strategic Analysis Team, which held the highest status and strongest expertise within the Finance Department. As the name suggested, they were responsible for planning, coordinating, analyzing, and reporting on the company’s overall financial situation.

Three years ago, when Li Weiyi graduated from university, getting this position had been quite precarious. Out of the six people in their team, aside from the veteran supervisor Zhou Dajie, the other four were all master’s degree graduates from 985 universities, with only Li Weiyi holding a bachelor’s degree.

However, Li Weiyi wasn’t intimidated. Back then, she had managed to dominate both the written test and interviews, standing alongside these master’s degree colleagues. Now, her work performance was no worse than any of theirs.

Everyone had survived the intense competition, so the atmosphere within the team was fairly united and harmonious. The entire morning passed by in tense busyness.

Li Weiyi invited Supervisor Zhou Dajie to go downstairs together for lunch. For the past year or so, the two had been lunch buddies.

They just went to a claypot rice fast-food restaurant, each ordering their own meal. Li Weiyi pulled out a box from her bag, smiling sweetly: “Sister Zhou, your favorite fresh chocolate cheese mini cakes—let’s eat them together after our meal!” There was a dessert shop near her home, and she had taken Zhou Dajie there before. Zhou Dajie had really loved it, so Li Weiyi brought some for her every few days.

Zhou Dajie laughed: “Oh my, making you spend money again! You silly girl, I told you not to bring anymore, but you just won’t listen!”

Li Weiyi hummed: “But I love eating them too!”

After finishing their meal and sharing the delicate, refreshing mini cakes, Zhou Dajie showed a satisfied expression. She looked around, then lowered her voice: “Weiyi, do you have any connections in the company, or in the Group?”

Li Weiyi still had that naive expression: “What connections? The biggest official I’m close to is you.”

That one sentence made Zhou Dajie burst out laughing again. Then she said seriously: “We’re close, so I’m telling you this. These past few years, although our company has been doing pretty well, the overall environment… you know. I’ve heard that the higher-ups already have a strategy for streamlining and improving efficiency…” She made a chopping gesture.

Li Weiyi’s heart sank: “Really? They won’t cut down to us, will they?”

Zhou Dajie sighed and said: “I heard it was decided by the big boss himself—all non-market departments need to reduce staff by 20%-30%, which means our department also needs to let go of 1 to 2 people. I heard the headquarters’ list has already been finalized, and next will be us subsidiary companies. Although your work performance has always been very good, and I’ve spoken up for you with the manager, who knows what the leaders are thinking? You should still try to find some connections. Also try to perform even better in your recent work—that would be safer too.”

Li Weiyi still found it difficult to associate layoffs with herself. After all, she had been doing well all along. In the past, for some important work projects, she prided herself on having contributed even more than others. But then again, she had the lowest education level—just a bachelor’s degree from a 985 university.

Li Weiyi felt somewhat anxious. At this moment, she heard Zhou Dajie say again: “By the way, isn’t your boyfriend taking the civil service exam? Have the results come out yet?”

“They should be out soon, I think.”

Zhou Dajie said: “If he passes, you should ‘casually’ mention it in front of the manager.”

Li Weiyi’s eyes widened: “Why mention that? Even if he gets in, he’d just be a low-level civil servant.”

“Hey!” Zhou Dajie patted her on the head. “At least he’s taking the exam for a department with ‘national’ in its name, and it’s specifically in charge of economic development. No matter what, others will think more highly of it. Maybe it’ll earn you points with the leader!”

Li Weiyi thought about it and nodded: “You’re right. After supporting him for three years, he should finally be of some use.”

Zhou Dajie laughed heartily, and finally said she wanted Li Weiyi to accompany her to the headquarters building that afternoon to deliver a report. Li Weiyi readily agreed.

Back at the company, the lunch break wasn’t over yet. Li Weiyi snuck off alone to the stairwell. Looking at the warm winter sun outside, thinking about what Zhou Dajie had said, her heart couldn’t settle down no matter what. She immediately shook her head and said to herself: Li Weiyi, don’t lose your composure. You’re so excellent, so hardworking, and you’ve been working for three years now. They can’t just look at education level, right? It definitely won’t be you.

She took out her phone and first sent Xie Zhilu a text message: “What are you doing?”

After waiting five or six minutes with no reply from Xie Zhilu, Li Weiyi called him. It rang seven or eight times before he answered, his voice as clear and bright as always: “Weiyi, what’s up?”

In front of her boyfriend, Li Weiyi was like a sweet, soft cat, her voice becoming somewhat coquettish: “I haven’t seen you for a week or two, and you haven’t called or messaged me either.”

Xie Zhilu paused, then answered: “I was busy with the civil service exam before, and recently my advisor has had a lot of things going on. You know that.”

“Okay, okay, I know you’re busy. So have your exam results come out yet?”

Xie Zhilu’s voice took on a joyful tone: “I passed.”

“Really?!” Li Weiyi immediately straightened up, extremely delighted. “That’s great! Is it the department position you wanted?”

“That’s right, I just received the notification a couple days ago.”

Li Weiyi was stunned. Xie Zhilu didn’t seem to notice yet and continued: “A bunch of people from our department took the exam, only two people passed, and the other person’s department isn’t as good as mine. Even the counselor said this result is especially hard to achieve…”

Li Weiyi interrupted him: “You received the notification two days ago, why didn’t you tell me right away? Not until I called you today did you say anything?”

Xie Zhilu was silent for a few seconds, then said: “I thought you were busy with work, and I’ve had a lot of things to wrap up with my advisor recently, so I wanted to tell you in person. I’m sorry.”

This explanation was barely acceptable, and since he apologized so quickly, Li Weiyi felt slightly better, but still inexplicably annoyed, so she stayed silent.

Xie Zhilu: “Are you angry?”

Li Weiyi thought to herself: I’m angry, so coax me.

However, Xie Zhilu didn’t coax her like he used to. Even over the phone, Li Weiyi could sense that he had somehow become much more reserved. Was it because he was about to start working, so he had matured?

He said: “Let me treat you to dinner tomorrow night. I have something important to tell you.”

Li Weiyi’s heart skipped a beat. She pretended to be clueless and asked: “What is it? Don’t think I’ll forgive you just because you buy me one meal.”

Xie Zhilu finally let out a laugh and said: “We’ll talk when we meet.”