It was Tracy who showed Luan Nian the video.

The video of an employee jumping off a building due to unbearable pressure that was circulating in HR circles. At the end of the video, a girl was crying heartbrokenly.

Seeing Shang Zhitao crying so painfully, Luan Nian also felt inexplicably sad. He returned the phone to Tracy and lowered his head to ask: “The name of the deceased?”

“Out of respect for the deceased, his name wasn’t disclosed. They say his surname was Sun.”

Luan Nian looked up at Tracy, then looked toward Shang Zhitao’s empty workstation.

“Josh gave her time off,” Tracy told Luan Nian. “In this special situation, we can’t force employees to come to work. After all, she’s devastated.”

“Alright.”

Luan Nian kept calling Shang Zhitao, but no one answered. He got up and left. He had been to Shang Zhitao’s home before, a cozy little place. His finger pressed the doorbell for more than ten minutes before he finally heard footsteps slowly approaching. The door opened, and he saw a lifeless Sun Yu.

“Do you need something?” Sun Yu asked him.

“Where’s Shang Zhitao?” Luan Nian asked her. Sun Yu stepped aside to let him in, then returned to her bedroom. Luan Nian’s heart ached a little. He walked to the door, pushed it open, and saw Shang Zhitao leaning against the bed, reading a book.

She looked up at him, her gaze distant, as if looking at someone she barely knew. Luan Nian sat at the edge of her bed. After a long time, his hand sought hers, his palm resting on the back of her hand, and he said to her: “My condolences.”

Shang Zhitao withdrew her hand and didn’t speak. Luan Nian just stayed with her like this. She hadn’t opened the window and had drawn the curtains, making it feel suffocating. She looked like she hadn’t slept for a couple of days, with faint dark circles under her eyes. She hadn’t bathed either; the room even had a musty smell.

“Want to go out for a walk?” Luan Nian asked her.

“Do you feel happy?” Shang Zhitao suddenly asked him.

“What?”

“Your most hated Sun Yuanzhu is dead. Do you feel a bit happy about that?” Shang Zhitao put down her book and looked at Luan Nian. “Are you happy that Sun Yuanzhu, whom you’ve slandered multiple times, is dead?”

“No, you probably wouldn’t be happy. Because he had nothing to do with you. You’ve always kept your distance from matters that don’t concern you. Selfish and self-centered.”

“You think I’m that kind of person?” he asked her.

“Aren’t you?” Shang Zhitao asked in return. She didn’t care much about the answer; she just felt something clogging her heart and desperately needed to vent. She felt Luan Nian was the most suitable target for venting. No matter what you said, at most he would get angry, at worst curse you as an idiot, but he never took it to heart because he simply didn’t care. People like him who don’t care about anything are blessed. Because he doesn’t care, he never suffers himself; he only makes others suffer.

Surprisingly, Luan Nian didn’t get angry this time.

He walked to the window and drew back the curtains. Sunlight shone through the window onto Shang Zhitao’s face. Her eyes felt a stinging pain, and she turned her head away.

“Close it,” she said to Luan Nian.

Luan Nian acted as if he hadn’t heard and turned to go to the bathroom to find a towel. There was a towel rack nailed to their bathroom wall with three clean towels hanging at moderate distances. Names were written on the wooden rack with colored pens. Luan Nian took the one under “Taotao,” turned on the faucet, washed it, wrung it out, and walked back to the bedroom.

Shang Zhitao’s book was placed beside her hand as she looked out the window, lost in thought. Luan Nian approached her, but as soon as his hand reached out, she pushed it away: “Go away! Don’t touch me!”

Luan Nian didn’t say a word. He pinned her down on the bed, disregarding her fierce struggling, and placed the towel over her face. However, his wiping motion was gentle. There were still tear stains from the night before on her face, and Luan Nian’s heart ached again.

Shang Zhitao’s eyes suddenly felt hot. She clenched her teeth, holding back her tears, and turned her head away, not looking at Luan Nian. She didn’t want to see him, especially in such a miserable state. She just hoped he would leave quickly so she could read her book in peace.

Luan Nian never did as she wished.

He brought a chair to her bedside, sat down, took out his phone to play with, and didn’t look at Shang Zhitao.

Neither of them spoke; the air was very quiet.

Shang Zhitao sat up again and picked up her book to read. She read this book, not even daring to fold the pages, turning them gently. Sun Yuanzhu’s roomful of books had been left to her.

Shang Zhitao thought, I need to buy a bigger house so I can have a wall of books to fit all these.

The two of them sat like this until dusk, with Luan Nian not saying a word. When it got darker, he went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and found there wasn’t much food in their home. So he took Shang Zhitao’s key and left. He drove home, got osmanthus flowers, syrup, and milk, then went to the market to buy groceries.

When he returned to Shang Zhitao’s home and opened the door, the house was pitch black. Luan Nian made Shang Zhitao’s favorite osmanthus milk and brought it to her: “Drink.”

“I don’t want to drink, and I don’t want to eat. I’m not hungry,” Shang Zhitao turned her face away.

Luan Nian placed the cup on her bedside table and turned to leave.

The kitchen was filled with clattering sounds. The faint fragrance of osmanthus entered her nose, and her nose stung, tears flowing again.

From outside came the sound of oil being heated and vegetables being stir-fried, and the sweet aroma of rice also wafted in. Smelling the aroma, Shang Zhitao suddenly felt a bit sleepy and dozed off, leaning against the headboard.

When she opened her eyes, Luan Nian was already gone. Food was laid out on the table, and Sun Yu sat at the table, eating with her head down.

Shang Zhitao also sat down, but after just a few bites, she didn’t want to eat anymore.

Luan Nian came for six consecutive days, but he never spoke. Shang Zhitao didn’t know why he kept coming; he didn’t care about anything. It was on the night after Sun Yu finally broke down in tears that the two of them seemed to come back to life.

The next day, they washed up and went to work normally, as if nothing had happened.

When Shang Zhitao arrived at the company, colleagues gave her sympathetic yet strange looks. Lumi, walking beside her, suddenly cursed: “What the fuck are you looking at!”

Shang Zhitao held her hand, not allowing her to curse. She had already lost a very important friend. For her remaining few friends, she hoped they would never be troubled or angry.

Shang Zhitao accompanied Lumi to buy coffee. Seeing Luan Nian standing at the counter, she waited outside without going in. Luan Nian turned and saw Lumi, and suddenly asked her without reason: “Did you sleep with Will?”

“Huh?” Lumi was somewhat shocked, not knowing why he would ask that.

“Good, I know you did. Hard to get him into bed, make good use of it.” Luan Nian took his coffee and left.

As he passed by, Shang Zhitao turned away without greeting him. She didn’t know when this pain would pass. Sometimes she deliberately ignored the sudden sadness and acted like a happy person. Only she knew how much she missed her friend, how very much she missed him.

She still went to Luan Nian’s house on weekends, but they no longer made love. Shang Zhitao had lost interest in sex; she just liked being with Luke. At Luan Nian’s house, she also didn’t talk much with Luan Nian, at most just a few phrases like “Please help me get that…” “Thank you…”

Those intense emotions she once had for Luan Nian gradually disappeared, and she could even sense the process of those emotions fading. This had nothing to do with Sun Yuanzhu’s passing; it had truly begun on the day when he flew to the Northwest to find her and they had an argument.

She wanted to take Luke home, but now Sun Yu was very afraid of noise. If Luke suddenly shouted, it would frighten her. She said to Luke, “Could you stay here for a few more days? When Sister Sun Yu gets better, I’ll take you home.”

After lengthy preparation, she finally faced her performance review.

The day of the review was an early winter day.

She wore a sharp outfit and even put on makeup. The wind was very strong that afternoon, and sitting in the meeting room, one could hear the sound of tree branches outside. Across from Shang Zhitao sat seven reviewers—it was strange; this year’s review panel was too powerful.

Tracy smiled at her: “Flora, please begin.”

Shang Zhitao talked about her past six years, the solutions to one obstacle after another, the experiences accumulated from project after project, and finally the project with enormous influence. This presentation process was even somewhat moving. After her presentation ended, Tracy suddenly said: “I still remember what Flora said during our first phone call.”

“I also remember how you looked when I first met you. Six years have passed; time flies. Before other reviewers ask questions, I want to first thank you on behalf of the company for your hard work over these six years. Thank you, Flora.” Tracy stood up and hugged her.

Luan Nian recalled the first time he saw Shang Zhitao. It wasn’t in Alex’s office, but that morning when he pushed open the back door of the coffee shop and walked out, catching sight of a girl sitting on a sofa in the lobby, her posture upright and straight. It was already 2010, yet there was still someone sitting like that, so incredibly humble.

Six years had passed, and Shang Zhitao’s humility had not faded with the growth of her abilities; that humility had always been there. She always had endless curiosity, often breaking through barriers to get to the bottom of things in various meetings. She could ask for guidance and learn from anyone, and wasn’t even ashamed to ask questions of interns. This was so rare.

Time changes people and sculpts them, but it couldn’t change Shang Zhitao’s core. She was so resilient.

Will asked Shang Zhitao about her projects while working in the marketing department; he was very interested. Shang Zhitao’s work was solid, her thinking rigorous, and more remarkably, she dared to envision and break conventions, even offering suggestions for the current budget work.

During this time, Luan Nian hadn’t asked any questions. Only after all questions were finished did he say: “If given another chance, would you still choose to go to the Northwest?”

“Yes. No regrets for my choices.” Shang Zhitao said.

Luan Nian nodded: “Let’s score.”

Ling Mei’s promotion mechanism was very rigorous. Reviewers sorted out different scoring parameters based on job level and position models, and had to anonymously score each parameter, ultimately calculating the composite score of the seven people.

Shang Zhitao watched them score. Reviewers were reviewers; you couldn’t see what they were thinking because their faces were expressionless. After the scoring was done, it was uploaded to the system.

Tracy said to her: “The scoring results will be announced later today. Thank you for your hard work.”

Shang Zhitao nodded: “Thank you, reviewers, for your hard work.”

She walked out of the meeting room and saw Lumi raising her eyebrows at her, so she walked over and asked: “What is it?”

Lumi pointed at her phone: “Miss Shang Zhitao, Will says you were excellent. He gave you the highest composite score.” After sending this message, Lumi added: “Will says it has nothing to do with whether or not you’re my good friend. It’s simply because you’re amazing.”

Shang Zhitao looked at Lumi, the person who had accompanied her for six years in the workplace. She didn’t seem to care so much about winning or losing anymore. She suddenly realized that the people before her, those around her, were what mattered most.

But Lumi disagreed. Lumi said to her: “If someone has to win, why can’t it be you?”

“If it’s not you, I’ll be the first to object.”

The bosses gradually walked out of the meeting room. Shang Zhitao saw Luan Nian give her a deep look, then walk into the conference room.

Shang Zhitao recalled how upset she had been when he hadn’t informed her in advance about Yingying joining the competition. Now she didn’t seem to care so much about him telling her the results in advance.

She watched Luan Nian frowning as he sat at his desk. After a while, he picked up the phone, and a bit later, Tracy walked into Luan Nian’s office and sat across from him. They were discussing something, both with serious expressions.

Shang Zhitao sat at her workstation, waiting for a result. She didn’t know how the result would be communicated to her; only those who had participated before would know, but strangely, everyone seemed unwilling to talk much about it.

Time passes so quickly.

Six years already.