Shang Zhitao sat with more than twenty other newly recruited colleagues. In front of them was a thick stack of contracts. While everyone else was reading carefully, she flipped directly to the last page and signed. Her action was so quick that it seemed somewhat brainless.

What was there to read? It was already great to be here. Shang Zhitao was just that grateful to Ling Mei. A world-class advertising company willing to give her this opportunity—that in itself was so cool!

Liang Xin saw her put down the pen after signing and thought this girl’s loyalty to the company was truly high. But she remained expressionless, sitting there typing on her computer while her assistant patiently answered various contract questions from others. After an hour, everything was finally settled.

Ling Mei had a rotation system for recruits, with three months in each position. If someone was confirmed to stay in a certain department during a rotation period, the rotation would end early. Shang Zhitao’s first stop was the marketing department.

The girl who came to pick her up from the marketing department was called Lu Mi, with long legs and a slim waist, quite alluring. Shang Zhitao followed behind her, smelling the fragrance emanating from her.

“Where do you live?” Lu Mi asked casually, her eyes scanning Shang Zhitao’s legs, which were so white they seemed to glow. Are there still people this pale?

“I live near the North Fifth Ring Road.”

“Wow, that’s far.”

The marketing department was located on the fifteenth floor at the edge, right next to the planning department. Lu Mi took Shang Zhitao to report to Zhang Ling. When the door opened, Shang Zhitao immediately saw the stylish man she had seen early that morning sitting on the sofa. The man looked up at her briefly, then lowered his head again.

“Alex, Shang Zhitao is here.”

Zhang Ling stood up from his desk to welcome her, extending his hand: “Welcome, Shang Zhitao.” His enthusiasm made Shang Zhitao a bit flustered. Lu Mi laughed beside her: “Not used to it on your first day? Our boss Alex is just that enthusiastic.”

“Hello, sir.”

“No ‘sir,’ our company culture is to use English names for everyone.” Zhang Ling pointed to Luan Nian: “This is Luke, head of the planning department.”

“Hello, Luke.” Shang Zhitao turned to Luan Nian with a smile.

Luan Nian looked up at Shang Zhitao again and asked Zhang Ling lightly: “The one Tracy gave the green light to?”

Zhang Ling nodded without explaining anything to Shang Zhitao, and pointed to Lu Mi: “This is your mentor. Your work will be assigned by her. If you encounter any problems at work, feel free to ask her, or me. There’s a department welcome lunch today to introduce you to your colleagues.”

“Thank you, Alex.”

Luan Nian closed his laptop and stood up from the sofa, saying to Zhang Ling: “Let’s do it that way then. Call me when you’re looking at the venue.”

He walked around the sofa, and Shang Zhitao hurriedly stepped back to make way for him. She couldn’t quite explain why, but she was a bit afraid of him. Luan Nian passed by her, his shadow covering her briefly before disappearing in an instant.

Lu Mi noticed Shang Zhitao’s nervousness and whispered to her: “Don’t worry, I’ve been here for two years and I’m still afraid of him. Come on, let’s start your first day in the workplace!”

Shang Zhitao followed Lu Mi on a tour of the company, which was very different from what she had imagined. The entire office environment at Ling Mei was very artistic, with a reading room, capsule rest areas, a gym, freshly ground coffee in the break room, and its employee cafeteria.

“Ling Mei’s corporate culture is very open, with flexible working hours. As long as you complete your work, no one cares even if you lie at home.” Lu Mi paused, clearing her throat lightly: “That’s the mentor script. In reality, we fucking have to work overtime every day. Getting off at seven or eight is considered early.”

Shang Zhitao burst into laughter upon hearing this. When she laughed, she looked like a little cat, especially cute. Lu Mi clicked her tongue: “I hope you can still laugh like this in a couple of days.”

After touring the company, the two walked toward the office area. Lu Mi pointed to a row of transparent offices: “Those over there are all the bosses’ offices. You’d better walk around the one at the far end, that’s Luke’s office. Creative people all have weird tempers.”

“Creative?” Shang Zhitao finally managed to interject.

“Come on, we’re a world-class advertising company, of course we need creative people. Those viral works from our company that you’ve seen in the country these past few years were all done by his team.”

“Oh.”

Shang Zhitao followed Lu Mi to her workstation. Her workspace was large, and the colleagues nearby were all absent. Lu Mi explained that they had a launch event in a few days, so everyone was at the site. Her office computers had already been delivered to her workstation—a desktop and a laptop for mobile work. She stood up to make room for IT to set up the computers, taking the opportunity to survey the office area. Her eyes swept over Luan Nian’s office, where she saw him standing by the window talking on the phone, his posture upright, polo shirt neatly pressed against his body. Even from behind, he looked extremely stylish.

His back view seemed much more approachable than his face.

Luan Nian seemed to sense someone watching him and suddenly turned around, catching Shang Zhitao through the transparent glass of his office before she could look away.

Shang Zhitao’s face turned bright red, though she couldn’t explain why.

She quickly lowered her head, pretending she hadn’t been sneaking a look at him, and softly asked the IT person: “Excuse me, is my computer set up?”

“All set. Give it a try.”

Shang Zhitao hurriedly sat down in her chair, curling herself into her workstation. She hadn’t meant to peek at him; it was her first day, and she was curious about everything. She had only let her gaze linger on his back for a few seconds. She wasn’t sure if this counted as impolite, so she sat lower and started logging into the system to register her entry information, check the company’s network security instructions, and complete two mandatory online courses that needed to be finished today.

Luan Nian was used to being watched by women and didn’t find Shang Zhitao’s glance strange, but her subsequent behavior seemed so guilty that Luan Nian felt she might have been ogling him.

“What is it?” the person on the other end of the phone was asking him.

“Nothing.” Luan Nian replied, then asked: “Where’s the department welcome meeting set? Give me the address.”

“Okay.”

Luan Nian generally didn’t attend department dinners, except for welcome meetings, though not because he wanted to, but because the company mandated it. Tracy said it was part of the corporate culture, and managers must respect corporate culture.

After finishing his work, Luan Nian took his car keys and left his office, coming face to face with the new recruit following behind Lu Mi.

“Hello, Luke.”

“Hello.” Luan Nian nodded, glancing at Shang Zhitao behind Lu Mi.

Remembering the earlier embarrassment, Shang Zhitao blushed again.

Young recruit, a recruit who loves to blush. Luan Nian suddenly felt a bit disappointed in the company. If this continued, would they need to go to the labor market to wholesale employees? These were just his thoughts as he walked with them to the elevator and entered.

In the spacious elevator, the transparent mirror reflected the images of the three people. Lu Mi, somewhat trying to showcase her mentor’s style, decided to break the awkwardness: “Where are you headed?” As a Beijing girl, her accent had a distinct hutong flavor that was quite amusing. Shang Zhitao pressed her lips together to keep from laughing out loud.

“Qing Yan.”

“What a coincidence, we’re going there too.” Lu Mi smiled at Luan Nian in the elevator mirror, but Luan Nian hated such pointless social niceties and fell silent, not engaging. Lu Mi’s mentor face was shattered, and she secretly glared at Luan Nian.

After leaving the elevator, they each went to find their cars. Once in the car, Lu Mi said to Shang Zhitao: “He’s always like that. Everyone’s afraid of him.”

“I can see that.” Shang Zhitao showed Lu Mi her palms: “He scared me so much I’m sweating. I just remembered, I’ve dealt with him before. He was the interviewer for my third round, but he didn’t say a single word.”

“Damn, then what was he interviewing for?”

Shang Zhitao shook her head: “I have no idea.” As they were talking, a car sped by in front of them, a figure flashing past. Lu Mi shrugged: “Although this guy is as expressionless as a stone, he’s fucking impressive.”

Shang Zhitao finally couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.