“What do you want?” Luan Nian’s tone softened as he sat by Zhang Xin’s bedside, looking at her indifferently. “I never thought you would be the type to threaten suicide after a breakup. I thought we ended things well.”

“I fell into your trap. You used cold violence against me, forcing me to initiate the breakup.”

Luan Nian had thought Zhang Xin was like him, someone who disliked constraints, who believed a comfortable relationship meant mutual trust with space and freedom for each other. Initially, Zhang Xin was like that, but later she changed. She began testing him, checking up on him, clinging to Luan Nian, even hiring people to follow him. This made him extremely annoyed and tired. When he suggested breaking up, Zhang Xin entangled him endlessly.

“I came to see you today, not to get back together.” Luan Nian took the fruit from Zhang Xin’s hand, looked at it, and then put it back in her palm. “Eat your fruit, heal your wounds, and don’t call me again. As I said before, let’s end things pleasantly.”

“You have a black heart.” Zhang Xin’s eyes blinked, long eyelashes wet with tears, looking pitiful.

Luan Nian wasn’t moved by this.

Luan Nian was immune to both soft and hard approaches.

Once he made up his mind, even if you were the king of heaven, it wouldn’t matter.

“Compared to the rumors you spread about me, my heart is much kinder.” Zhang Xin wanted to smear his reputation, forcing him to return to her. Luan Nian didn’t care; his reputation wasn’t good anyway. He took out a voice recorder and showed it to Zhang Xin: “If you continue, we’ll meet in court.”

With that, he stood up and walked out.

Some people can end romantic relationships amicably, while others make a huge mess. Luan Nian had witnessed a woman’s ruthlessness—pushed to extremes, she would cut herself with a knife. Suddenly, he grew weary of intimate relationships. He had never been particularly invested in intimate relationships before; he was just that kind of heartless person. A scoundrel, as people called him.

He drove to the company and met Lumi and Alex in the elevator.

“Good morning, Luke.” Lumi and Alex greeted him, then Lumi brought up Shang Zhitao: “Flora knows how to endure hardship. That awful place where we’re filming the commercial—I never want to go there again in my life. But Flora persevered. The director said she took excellent care of the entire crew’s logistics, and not only that, she went out yesterday to find a new filming location. Impressive.”

Hearing her suddenly mention Shang Zhitao, Alex was a bit confused, but since she was his subordinate, he naturally had to praise her. So he nodded and said: “Flora is excellent, truly reliable.”

Luan Nian gave them a meaningful look. Their deliberate performance was quite clumsy. He looked at Lumi again and slowly said: “It must be exhausting to mentor such an apprentice, right?”

This question startled Lumi. The elevator door opened, and Luan Nian smiled at them as he walked out. Luan Nian was puzzled that Shang Zhitao, that silly goose, had made friends in the workplace who would take turns speaking well of her.

He had just turned on his computer in his office when a message from Shang Zhitao came in: “Luke, I’ve scheduled a report with Alex! It’s next Tuesday.”

“? What does that have to do with me?”

“Managing upward!” Shang Zhitao was applying what she had just learned. She sincerely felt that Luan Nian was right—one must manage upward, otherwise how would leaders know what you’ve accomplished? Early that morning, she had a sudden realization that she needed to manage not only Alex but also Tracy and Luke—in short, everyone who should be managed.

What if Luke gets annoyed with me? Shang Zhitao asked herself.

What’s there to fear? He’s already annoyed. She quickly answered herself.

…

Is she stupid? Luan Nian thought to himself.

Perhaps inspired by Lumi’s praise of Shang Zhitao in the elevator, Alex had Lumi quickly create a group chat on the intranet, adding the filming team, Shang Zhitao, himself, Kitty, Luan Nian, and others.

Lumi thought Alex had finally realized he should use his privileges, so she said in the group: “Joint project—thanks to our colleagues on the front line for their hard work. Please communicate any issues in this group. Alex says he’ll add chicken legs for everyone when you return.”

Everyone in the group responded, except for Shang Zhitao. Where had Shang Zhitao gone? She went to find extras. The creative center and the director had temporarily changed the script, needing an elderly female extra—clean, seemingly easy-going, with white hair. The requirements were quite specific.

Kitty said to Shang Zhitao: “Flora, please help us with this.”

“Aren’t you supposed to find them?” the director asked Kitty.

Kitty shook her head: “This is something our marketing colleagues are better at.”

Shang Zhitao thought it was just work, and she could go out for a walk, which was nice. So she left.

She was strolling around town, trying to find a suitable elderly extra. From east to west, she finally found an old woman sunbathing under an ancient tree. Shang Zhitao approached her, smiled, and said: “Grandmother, would you like to be in a commercial?”

The grandmother waved her hand; she couldn’t understand what Shang Zhitao was saying.

Shang Zhitao gestured for a long time, but the grandmother still couldn’t understand. She simply took the grandmother’s hand and led her to the filming location. When the grandmother saw the cameras, she quickly backed away, obviously frightened. Shang Zhitao had no choice but to take her back to the tree.

Finding people was too difficult. She decided to ask the driver, Liu Wu: “Could you take me to the county town?”

“Let’s go.”

Liu Wu drove Shang Zhitao to the county town. Shang Zhitao remembered a grandmother from a noodle shop there who vaguely matched Kitty and the director’s requirements. They traveled all the way there, explained their purpose to the shop owner, who asked: “How much will you pay?”

“Two thousand yuan! Originally it was one thousand, but since she’ll need to come with us to the town, and the road is a bit bumpy.” This was the first time Shang Zhitao had proactively increased the price. It wasn’t easy for the elderly to earn this money; they could have their bottoms shaken to pieces. She also experienced for the first time the joy of managing money—being able to decide how much to give, feeling in control within reasonable limits felt great.

“That works.” The shop owner couldn’t hide his joy: “Wait here, I’ll go ask. If there’s no problem, you can come pick her up tomorrow!”

“Great, thank you.”

Shang Zhitao was hungry. While the shop owner went to find the person, she treated Liu Wu to a bowl of noodles and added chicken legs for him. Seeing her enjoy the food, Liu Wu asked her: “Don’t you think some jobs shouldn’t be done by you?” Liu Wu thought Shang Zhitao was quite foolish—she would do whatever job was given to her, truly without discrimination. Kitty hung around the director every day, didn’t do any work, yet the director praised her to everyone.

“I know, but there’s nothing to do just sitting there. Coming to the county town is nice, and the noodles are delicious.”

Her phone rang, and Shang Zhitao hurriedly answered, hearing Lumi say: “Good heavens, where have you gone?”

“I’m looking for extras.”

“Oh.” Lumi hung up and called Kitty: “Where are you?”

“I’m at the filming location!”

“What did you mean by what you said in the group just now? What do you mean Shang Zhitao couldn’t find suitable extras—is finding extras Shang Zhitao’s job?” Lumi felt angry just thinking about it. In a group chat with all the executives, who gave you the right to beat around the bush?

“Shang Zhitao said she had no problem with it.”

Lumi was furious and hung up. She then said in the group chat: “Just called Flora. Flora volunteered to find extras and has gone all the way to the county town.”

Shang Zhitao knew nothing about what had happened. By the time she finished discussing the scene with the grandmother, it was already dark. They slowly drove back but encountered an unexpected problem—it started raining, and the car got stuck in the mud. Liu Wu tried many methods, but the car stubbornly remained stuck in the mud.

Liu Wu sighed, got back in the car, and started making emergency calls.

In this godforsaken place, roadside assistance would take hours to arrive, and there were no passing vehicles.

In the desolate mountains, surrounded by darkness, Shang Zhitao even thought she heard wolves howling. Sitting beside a not-so-familiar man, after thinking it over, she sent a message to Lumi: “Liu Wu’s car broke down, and we’re stuck on the road.”

“Right now?”

“Right now.”

“Alright, I understand. I’ll tell them that you and Liu Wu are on the road. Liu Wu is Luke’s driver, he should be reliable. Don’t be afraid.”

Lumi reassured Shang Zhitao, then said in the group chat: “Poor Flora has such bad luck, the car broke down in the middle of nowhere late at night. Even Liu Wu has no solution.”

Luan Nian hadn’t spoken in the group chat, but upon seeing this, he replied: “Flora, thank you for your hard work.”

Lumi waited for Luan Nian to say something more humanely, but Luan Nian became silent and didn’t continue speaking in the group.

He called Liu Wu: “Car broke down?”

“Yes. No cars are passing by, and rescue will take several hours to arrive.”

“Thanks for your effort. Take care of Shang Zhitao. Let me speak to her.”

Shang Zhitao sat there trembling, her mind already having composed several versions of stories about young women being abandoned in desolate places. Taking the phone, she heard Luan Nian ask: “Are you scared?”

Shang Zhitao nodded. Again, she forgot that Luan Nian couldn’t see her nodding, but Luan Nian could roughly imagine her state—a fresh graduate, stuck in the wilderness with a strange man, not crying already showed great courage.

“Liu Wu was hired through my interview. He’s a retired military man with a happy family. You don’t need to be afraid.” Luan Nian was unusually gentle: “Did you eat dinner?”

“I had noodles.”

“Are there any warm clothes in the car?”

“There’s a blanket. Liu Wu gave it to me.” Shang Zhitao spoke with a tearful voice, but she bit her lip, not allowing herself to cry. She needed to be strong—why cry? But sometimes, fear just can’t be stopped.

Luan Nian laughed softly: “Shang Zhitao is not bad.”

“Hmm?”

“I said you’re not bad, not scared to tears. Although you’re a bit stupid, at least you’re brave.”

“Oh.” Who the fuck wants to be brave?! What I want is a warm bed and light!

Luan Nian wasn’t good at comforting people. He was simply concerned about his subordinate’s safety. Having said what needed to be said, he hung up and left the company. He had dinner plans with Tan Mian that evening.

When he arrived, Tan Mian was already there ordering food. Seeing him come in, Tan Mian mocked him: “I heard you’re dating four women simultaneously?”

Luan Nian shrugged, not responding to Tan Mian’s mockery. But Tan Mian persisted: “Let me tell you, you should just stop dating altogether in the future. To satisfy physical needs, just find a bed partner. No interference in each other’s lives. Isn’t that great?”

“That’s indeed good.” Luan Nian didn’t want to discuss this topic and asked Tan Mian: “Are you playing ball this weekend?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t bring cheerleaders.” Luan Nian hated having cheerleaders; they gave him a headache with their noise.

“The cheerleaders are all beautiful girls. Without cheerleaders, how will you develop bed partners?”

“Have you changed careers to become a pimp?” Luan Nian gave him a cold look, then checked the time—it was past ten. Would Shang Zhitao be so scared she’d wet her pants? This thought suddenly popped into his mind. Then, thinking of the various dramas played out in the group chat today, he finally called Kitty: “Come back tomorrow.”

“Is there urgent work?” Kitty was a bit surprised that Luan Nian had called her.

“If finding extras is left to the marketing department, then your presence there seems meaningless.” Luan Nian didn’t mention Shang Zhitao’s name. He didn’t feel he was standing up for her; it was purely out of team management needs. In his team, those without responsibility would be removed and replaced with those who had responsibility. That’s how direct he was.

Kitty reacted quickly, immediately saying: “I need to explain to you. I wasn’t pushing work onto others. We temporarily changed the script and needed in-depth communication with the director. Since I couldn’t be in two places at once, I asked Flora for help. I’ll be more careful in the future, Luke.”

“Hmm. Do a review when you get back.” Luan Nian softened his tone, giving Kitty a chance to correct herself.

“You manage even such small matters?” Tan Mian asked, a bit surprised.

Luan Nian shrugged: “Occasionally I enjoy the pleasure of controlling subordinates.”

“I don’t believe that.”