Published at 10th of September 2019 11:56 am

Chapter 122 - Missing You

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator(s): Zryuu

Editor(s): Amalea, FistFullOfDollars, Juurensha

“!” Lin Ze shouted to stop Situ Ye from always exposing the truth in such a simple and crude way.

Yu Hao thought Is this what they call a reporter’s instinct?

“We’re very good friends.” Yu Hao said, “Zhou Sheng asked him to come find me, he’s like our Gege.”

Situ Ye sat at one side of Yu Hao’s desk, “Can you ask him to help us with a campus promotion? We’ll pay him according to the market price.”

Yu Hao thought that was possible, so he contacted Chen Yekai. Chen Yekai very readily agreed and referred the promotion straight to the Student Union. Not long after, a liaison added Lin Ze. Lin Ze looked like a huge burden was lifted off his shoulders, and he had resolved a major problem.

Yu Hao did kind of want to return, but he couldn’t say it no matter what. As he faced the neverending pile of manuscripts, he vividly felt that protecting his own ideals from being forever eroded really was too difficult.

“Not published yet?” Jin Weicheng came back, “It has already been a few days.”

Yu Hao answered, “There are still a few minor issues, it’ll be done soon.”

Jin Weicheng threw a bunch of new manuscripts at him. Yu Hao was already beginning to get struck with the urge of throwing the notebook back at him, but he didn’t say anything and just lowered his head to flip through the pages, flatten them out, and open a new document.

“It’s really not easy for kids nowadays to hold on for so long.” Jin Weicheng suddenly got sentimental, then he said to Lin Ze, “How many months do the interns in your newspaper usually last?”

“There’s no problem with Yu Hao. It’s not his fault for being raised by the rich……” Situ Ye finally couldn’t endure Jin Weicheng’s issue with those ‘raised by the rich’.

While Situ Ye was composing his words to diss the other party, Lin Ze quickly interjected, “Jin Laoshi, could you verify the reimbursement for last month? If there are no problems, I’ll send it to the finance department.”

Yu Hao kept his head down, and he was silent for a few seconds. He looked up at the computer screen, then looked at Situ Ye. Situ Ye blinked at him and smiled. Yu Hao smiled back at him a little sadly.

“From tomorrow onwards, Laoshi should take Yu Hao out for interviews from time to time.” Lin Ze said to Jin Weicheng, “Let Yu Hao handle the invoices, he can be your little assistant.”

Jin Weicheng said, “Let him practice his writing first, I’ll take him out when there’s time.”

Lin Ze, “Yu Hao, try to take your manuscripts back home to write as much as possible, and follow Jin Laoshi more to his interviews during the day. You’re too slow with the manuscripts. If there are any parts you can’t keep up with, you’ll have to take time out of your personal time to make up for it, don’t take up too much work time.”

Situ Ye rejoiced in the misfortune, “Go out more often, then you’ll know what’s happening outside.”

Lin Ze’s expression suddenly changed, and he stared at Situ Ye. Situ Ye looked like he had something to say, but it was all frightened back in by Lin Ze.

Yu Hao said irritably, “Okay.”

Yu Hao looked up at Lin Ze and thought ……but he realised that Lin Ze suddenly tossed him an enigmatic smile.

“What does it mean?” Yu Hao asked Zhou Sheng again.

Zhou Sheng was shaving in front of a mirror. He tilted his head upwards slightly, revealing a sexy chin and the outline of his throat, “Firstly, he doesn’t like how your Jin Laoshi issues false invoices, so he wants you to handle the money because he thinks you’re honest; secondly, since the accounts go through you, Jin Laoshi will have to take you out when he goes for interviews. It’s not difficult to understand? And thirdly, he’s afraid that your Laoshi will just take anyone’s red packets outside. With you following along, it wouldn’t be easy for your Laoshi to take those red packets. Also, your boss is afraid that you have no motivation because you have no money, so he wants you to follow along and earn some red packet money on the side. Your leader really has his ways. Coming from a public institution, he truly is a genius.”

Yu Hao, “Was that what he meant? Are you sure you’re not overthinking it?”

Zhou Sheng smiled, “That Lady Boss of your is a true talent, he specialises in pulling the rug out from under your boss’ feet. This combination is too fun, it’s so devilish.”

In November, after three bouts of rain in Beijing, the temperature suddenly dropped like falling off a steep precipice. It was Yu Hao’s first winter in the north, and he was caught unprepared by the formidable might of the sudden drop in temperature. Before the heating arrived, the landlady wanted to collect the heating fee from him.

“So expensive?” Yu Hao uttered in disbelief, “Even if I turned on the air-conditioner for 3 months I wouldn’t need to pay 1,200 for electricity!’

“It’s like that in the north.” The landlady said, “Turn on the air conditioner? How could that be compared to heating? The heater is so comfortable , heating, the focus is on the word ‘heat’. It can warm your heart, your body……”

Yu Hao, “I have no money, I won’t turn on the heater.”

“It’s impossible for you to not use it.” The landlady said, “It has no switch, you can only pay up, there’s no choice. The country’s afraid that you’ll freeze to death, this is love! Ah? Hurry up, Alipay or WeChat?”

Yu Hao spent more than 10,000 yuan renting the house, and he had spent quite a bit over time on food and other necessities. He lent Jin Weicheng about 5,000 for his rent, then after following Jin Weicheng on his interviews, he had accumulated about 4,000 in invoices and had just handed them in to Lin Ze. Once he paid the heating fee, he wouldn’t have much left.

He asked Situ Ye when the internship salary would be paid, and the answer he got was that he could only apply for it after his three-month internship period ended. He could only receive his pay in December at the earliest. As of now, he didn’t even know if he would be able to get paid before New Year’s.

However it was only November now, what should he do? Ask Zhou Sheng for money? Yu Hao looked at his account. The 520 and 1314 red packets that Zhou Sheng had intermittently sent over effectively helped Yu Hao afford some better food.

“When will the invoices be reimbursed?” Yu Hao asked Situ Ye.

“No more money for food anymore?” Situ Ye took out his phone, “I’ll lend you some first.”

Yu Hao immediately waved his hand, “I just suddenly thought of it.”

“Did you lend Jin Laoshi money?” Situ Ye asked, “How much did you lend him?”

Yu Hao thought , but his leader, Lin Ze, who usually doesn’t talk much, seemed to be very clear about all of his and Jin Weicheng’s activities. Nothing could be hidden from them.

Situ Ye explained, “He asked Ah Ze for an advance on his salary to pay rent. Ah Ze said that he’d go apply for it, but the next day he said he didn’t need it anymore cause it was settled. So the two of us guessed that he borrowed it from you first.”

Yu Hao nodded, “I was just curious about how invoices are usually reimbursed.”

Situ Ye said, “There are no problems with your invoices, Ah Ze has already signed them, so they should get reimbursed next month. It’ll be transferred to the card you registered with. Remember not to accept all the invoices that Jin laoshi asks you to reimburse, just say that you’ll ask Ah Ze, or you can say that you’ll have to ask me first too.”

Yu Hao thought.

Yu Hao started planning, it shouldn’t be too big of a problem to hold on for another month. But when he goes out for interviews now, he has to take care of two people’s meals by himself. Reporters can’t take the bus most of the time either; if they squeezed through buses or took the subway while rushing over for emergencies, all the dishes would be cold by then. Hailing a cab would easily cost about 100. Travel fares were seriously too horrifying nowadays.

“Our column’s back.” Lin Ze said, “The public number was received really well, and I’ve already paid the money in advance.”

“Yeah!” Yu Hao and Situ Ye cheered at the same time.

“We’ll start working on features from next month onwards.” Lin Ze said, “Jin Laoshi will prepare one issue, and he’ll guide Yu Hao for that. Yu Hao has to prepare a feature as well for an issue when he’s free.”

Yu Hao suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. He felt like working himself to death for the past month or so was now meaningful. For him, perhaps the most arduous period of his life has finally passed.

“……and so,” Lin Ze drank coffee in the office as he chatted with Yu Hao about their respective interview experiences, “Before staying for the night, you must survey your escape routes first. That’s very important.”

Yu Hao and Situ Ye laughed so hard tears were coming out of their eyes.

“Why are you in a daze?” Situ Ye said, “Remember it.”

Yu Hao suddenly realised that Lin Ze was teaching him! He quickly took his notebook out and recorded the main points. Every time Yu Hao got tired of writing, or when Situ Ye got irritated from editing photos and typesetting, everyone would have a cup of tea and chat idly. Lin Ze was also very eloquent. As soon as they started talking about anything under the sun, Yu Hao would immediately have to stop and listen to his stories.

Stories weren’t merely stories. Yu Hao began to learn how to deal with officials and policemen from Lin Ze’s recounts. Everyone has their own standpoint, and reporters would of course have their own too. When to give in, when to turn tail and run, when the other party doesn’t dare to provoke you, Lin Ze would integrate all his interview experiences and analyse them vividly for Yu Hao.

He only narrated stories and never made any conclusions, to let Yu Hao think for himself.

“It always feels shallow learning from paper.” Lin Ze said to Yu Hao.

Yu Hao smiled, “One must personally undertake it to truly understand.”

Lin Ze, “Yes——”

“Hubby.” Yu Hao turned on the video function and called Zhou Sheng.

Zhou Sheng, adorned in sportswear, was running on a treadmill and sweating all over. He almost fell when he accepted the video call and quickly reduced the speed, then stood gasping for breath.

“You’ve been taking the initiative to call me Hubby quite often lately.” Zhou Sheng grabbed a towel and wiped his sweat away.

Yu Hao scrutinised him. He wanted to tell him the good news and also ask him for a bit of money too. He really had no money left. He had been eating Shaxian snacks for several days, and he was on the verge of vomiting from them.

“Are you busy?” Yu Hao smiled. He realised that Zhou Sheng seemed a little thinner now, and his countenance was a little aggressive, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

“I have an exam tomorrow.” Zhou Sheng answered, “I’ve done the PPT for the entire department’s strategic objectives meeting.”

“Exam?” Yu Hao was surprised.

“The internship period’s about to end.” Zhou Sheng smiled sadly, “The old man asked me to report on the project in front of everyone. The branch in Shanghai is expanding its business. After it’s approved, I’ll lead a department and operate under the wing of the general office.”

Yu Hao said, “That’s great! Are you ready?”

Zhou Sheng sat on the chair. He bent over and scrutinised Yu Hao, who was on his phone screen, with his sweat dripping onto the screen, “I miss you. I really, really miss you. We haven’t seen each other in a long time, do you know how much I miss you?”

Yu Hao almost cried on his side. Zhou Sheng laughed again, “Your birthday’s coming up soon; I prepared a present for you, you’ll definitely like it. Once my project’s settled, I’ll go over to find you.”

Three months, it had already been a full three months. Although Yu Hao had already anticipated this the first time he had said “see you next week”, at least all the hard work throughout these three months had not been in vain.

“I’ll report the project to you.” Zhou Sheng said, “Take a look at it later? And give me some advice?”

“Okay.” Yu Hao would want to listen to it no matter what. Zhou Sheng turned off the video call. Yu Hao went back home to take a bath and lay in bed. At 8pm, Zhou Sheng FaceTime-ed with Yu Hao on another company number. He was standing in front of a projection screen in the conference room.

Yu Hao saw several people sitting in this conference room, including Zhou Sheng’s department manager and his colleagues. Zhou Sheng had taken pictures of them before to show him. The lights in the conference room dimmed a little, and the PPT was shown on the screen. Zhou Sheng held a remote control in his hand and stood in front, looking perfectly at ease.

“Let’s start the trial.” Zhou Sheng didn’t change into a suit and wore his sports attire, “May I trouble everyone to offer some opinions at the end? This will probably be settled by tomorrow. Director Huang isn’t here, we won’t wait for him, he’ll just listen to what he can.”

The conference room was quiet. Zhou Sheng pressed the remote control, changed the slide, “According to last year’s earnings, the Major Business Department did a systematic risk analysis……”

Yu Hao, “……”

Yu Hao once again saw a Zhou Sheng that he had never seen before!

“……for the past two quarters, relative to our competitors……”

The slides of the PPT clicked forward one by one. Zhou Sheng’s expression was quite calm, and didn’t seem to have memorised a script. After moving to the next slide, he turned it back, “Data is dead. Although we are basing it off data, we must be able to make appropriate strategic adjustments, but of course we can’t just blindly follow the data……”

When he flipped to the ‘wind control’ slide, Zhou Sheng said, “This evaluation is 73-pages long. I’ve made a simple summary here……” As he spoke, he paused slightly and raised an eyebrow to indicate that he had something to say to the audience.

Yu Hao couldn’t understand Zhou Sheng’s report at all, but his movements and voice were just like what he would see in strategic conference videos. Although he hadn’t changed into formal attire, his aura was so formidable that it allowed no leeway for jokes.

Zhou Sheng spent 45 minutes on the PPT, “It’s time for a tea break, then it’ll be a Q&A session.” The trial skipped to this portion. His colleagues in the department came up with all sorts of questions. Zhou Sheng’s answers to them were quite ingenious, which aroused their roaring laughter.

Although Yu Hao didn’t know what they were laughing at, he felt that Zhou Sheng’s attitude in resisting and defusing his opponents’ offence was very interesting, so he laughed along with them.

At 12 o’clock, Zhou Sheng finished answering all the questions tossed at him. “Everyone has worked hard, please fight with me tomorrow.”

His colleagues all came up one after another to shake hands with Zhou Sheng and patted his arm to show their encouragement. After the crowd dispersed, Zhou Sheng was in the conference room as he glanced at Yu Hao’s side, “Fell asleep?”

Yu Hao said, “I’m still here.”

Zhou Sheng looked down to text and changed the video to his phone, then went to throw away his Red Bull can. Yu Hao said, “You presented it so well!”

Zhou Sheng put on his earphones, “Did you understand what I was saying? You just know how to praise me brainlessly.”

Yu Hao said, “Didn’t understand it.”

Zhou Sheng quipped, “Knew it. In any case, you’d think I did really well even if I had a lisp.”

Yu Hao laughed.

At that moment, Yu Hao felt much more strongly that he and Zhou Sheng lived in two different worlds. But Zhou Sheng didn’t detect it in the slightest. He took his phone out and let Yu Hao take a look at the office. The other employees have all gotten off work. Zhou Sheng watered the plants, turned off the lights, and picked up his bag.

“Just now, I suddenly felt like I barely recognised you.” Yu Hao said a bit sadly, “But I’m still really happy. That’s the real you.”

Zhou Sheng stopped in front of thee elevator, “My dear wife, do you know why I like you so much?”

Yu Hao lay in bed and looked at the video. Zhou Sheng went down to the lobby of the office building. Several girls passed by and Zhou Sheng nodded at them, “Go back early and rest.”

A soft scream was heard from behind.

Yu Hao, “Don’t tease girls! I’m already on the verge of collapsing from eating vinegar!”

“I didn’t tease them.” Zhou Sheng smiled, “It was just out of courtesy. It’s not like I shouldn’t greet departmental staff when I see them? Eat it, eat it. Now you know how I felt when I saw the Rubik’s cube Ou Qihang gave you?”

Yu Hao, “That’s not the same!”

Yu Hao has never felt such a strong sense of insecurity like he does now. In actuality, ever since the day he parted with Zhou Sheng, Yu Hao has felt a little upset. But that kind of feeling was quickly dispelled by him, because he has always believed in their feelings that was like an indestructible dungeon.

Yet today, he had a hunch that he and Zhou Sheng were walking further and further down their respective paths.

“What exactly do you like about me?” Yu Hao asked.

“I’ll tell you when we meet.” Zhou Sheng said, “There’s still my birthday present too.”

Yu Hao said, “I had a lot of things I wanted to say, but now I suddenly can’t say anything.”

Zhou Sheng hailed a cab by the roadside with his earphones on. He looked up at the resplendent lights in the office building opposite him, and the scene seemed just like a bustling urban forest.

“I have a lot of things I want to say too.” Zhou Sheng said, “But it’s okay, I know you understand it in your heart.”

Yu Hao’s eyes reddened, “I’ll go take a bath now, it’s past 12 o’clock. All the best today.”

“Good night.” Zhou Sheng said, “Wifey.”

Yu Hao lay in bed, and his head started to hurt. He sneezed a few times and thought that he must have caught a cold. The temperature in Beijing dropped very quickly. The heating pipe kept making noises, but there was no heating, and his neighbour was still engaged in a violent DOTA battle. Yu Hao thought

The autumn wind brought with it a chill, and Ying City’s most beautiful season arrived again.

Zhou Sheng was waiting for his Didi, but his family’s car drove over and parked by the roadside. Zhou Laichun said, “They said that you were still doing the trial presentation, why didn’t you say anything after you finished?”

Zhou Sheng said, “What? What’s there to say?”

As he spoke, Zhou Sheng got in the car. Zhou Laichun had just drunk and clearly made a trip over just to pick him up.

“Tomorrow is the major exam at the end of your probation.” Zhou Laichun said, “You know yourself how important it is.”

“Stop nagging.” Zhou Sheng said wearily, “Could you hold back a little with the crap? Who do you think you are?”

Zhou Laichun said, “There’s one in the afternoon, and another at night. After you pass both, you won’t have anymore problems.”

“At night?” Zhou Sheng was alert at once, “You didn’t tell me about doing anything at night.”

Zhou Laichun said, “Have a dinner, exchange some pleasantries, entertain the other side a little. I believe you won’t have a problem with that.”

Zhou Sheng cast a doubtful glance at his father. Zhou Laichun said, “He’s an old comrade-in-arms of mine, and is very particular about food. I can’t anymore. Over these years, I feel like I’m getting less and less skillful at cooking. But I think you should be able to talk to him a little.”

Zhou Sheng dispelled his doubts for now, “From the province?”

“Yes.” Zhou Laichun said, “He doesn’t really have many hobbies, he just likes to eat.”

Zhou Sheng, “Does he have a daughter?”

“No.” Zhou Laichun answered.

Zhou Sheng said, “Okay then. Once everything’s done, I’m taking a week off.”

“You can’t leave the day after tomorrow.” Zhou Laichun said, “You must wind up everything properly.”

Zhou Sheng said, “Another week at the latest, then I don’t care if you’ll allow me to take leave or not. I have to go, I’ll come back in December.”

“If you can arrange your work around it I won’t have anything to say. Don’t forget, Zhou Sheng — to them, this is a job, but for you, this is your career. You finally understand your responsibilities now, you’ll have to grow up eventually.”

Zhou Sheng didn’t continue talking. He returned to his rented place. It was pitch-dark, and no one was waiting for him. Fu Liqun was already asleep.

Zhou Sheng wanted to talk to Yu Hao again, but it was already 2am. He saw Yu Hao lying in bed just now, so he should be sleeping early today, thus he didn’t disturb him.

That night, Yu Hao caught a cold.

He started having a fever in the middle of the night. His whole body was shivering uncontrollably, and he dreaded the cold. He struggled off the bed to look for water, and fortunately he had prepared some fever medication so he consumed it with water. After letting out a scorching breath, he looked at his phone. It was 4am. Zhou Sheng’s message was on the screen【Asleep?】, so he replied to it and thought that Zhou Sheng should be asleep by now.

Translator's Note:

Juurensha: Awwww, ZS come to Beijing soon and take care of Haohao

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